Project 1-Applying
the Five Disciplines of Growth
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is for you to learn to apply
the Five Stages of Small Business Growth model and the Five Disciplines of
Growth management theory to a real-world scenario. Learning how to apply management theories
to the mistakes made in a business will
help students know how to make the best decisions for growth.
In this project, you will demonstrate research and writing
skills, the ability to identify and use source material, use critical thinking
skills in the application of the course material and use APA to support ideas,
reasoning, and conclusions presented in the project.
Outcomes Met By Completing This Assignment:
demonstrate an understanding of the small business
environment and how to manage in a global marketplace
evaluate and measure forward-thinking enterprise strategies
relevant to sustainability and succession through innovation
NOTE: All submitted
work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another
student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse. You are expected to understand the Academic
Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to
learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper
citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed.
(Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated
reference list only).
Instructions:
Read the following case scenario:
Hannah’s Hats is an online hat retailer with a
brick-and-mortar store in Chicago, Illinois. The company has 27 employees and
was founded by Hannah Hanks in 2008. At
that time, Hannah was a single mother of 3-year-old twin boys. After five years, sales were $1 million. The
company topped $7 million in 2015.
Hannah’s Story
Working as a freelance children’s clothing buyer, Hannah
Hanks could work from home and have the time to be a “proper” mother to her
twins, Harry and Harold. This was important to her and to her husband Howard, a
software designer. However, on one cold
night in November, Hannah was contacted by local police who informed her that
her husband had been killed in an auto accident. He was returning to the office after having
been to see a client in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights.
Devastated by the news, Hannah did everything she could to
keep herself together for the kids. She needed help; she decided to send them
to day care three days a week so she could deal with getting her life
together. Everyday Hannah noticed the
caretakers trying to find the hats and mittens of the children when she came to
take the boys home. Hannah noticed that the many of the children had mitten
clips that seem to help reduce the number of lost mittens. The hats; however, were another matter.
Chicago winters are exceptionally bad for children because
the wind whips across Lake Michigan and freezes every part of the face that
requires using moisturizer especially the mouth. While many of the children’s
coats had attached hoods, this was not enough. Parents used wool scarfs tied
around the children’s face (below the eyes) to stop the painful feeling of the
cold. The scarves were awkward and bulky
for the children who often pulled them off or dropped them in their
travels. Hannah decided to design a hat
that could be attached with Velcro onto a coat hood or a coat collar and
designed to fit closely around the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes of a child just
like a ski mask. The hat could be easily attachable relegating the need for
scarfs to the past. Hannah knew the hat
could come in a variety of colors and have various child-friendly designs.
Several months passed.
Hannah discovered that payments from Howard’s workmen’s compensation and
from his life insurance would provide her and the children some financial
freedom for years if invested wisely.
Hannah thought a better way to change her family’s life would be to
invest some portion of the money in her hat idea. Founded as a small storefront shop near
Marshall Fields, Hannah’s Hats also developed a loyal following online. Through
its creative use of social media, sales took off. She expanded her product line to include
matching winter gloves and socks.
Beginning in the fall of 2012, Hannah fell into the trap of
thinking that the success in selling children’s hats could be directly applied
to successfully selling hats to adults. The company invested $150,000 in new
designs and inventory for attachable hats for adults. By offering seasonal
products for the whole family, Hannah thought Hannah’s Hats would double their
sales in three to five years.
With visions of becoming a destination store like LL Bean’s
flagship store, Hannah’s Hats moved from its old store near Marshall Fields to
a large space on the Navy Pier. This
cost Hannah’s Hats $25,000. Hannah also
moved the warehouse from a 10,000 sq. ft. space near the old store to 20,000
sq. ft. closer to her home in Arlington Heights. This location was considerably further from
the store.
As the boys grew older, Hannah left most of the work to her
staff. She set out to increase the sales through travel and spent most of her
time marketing projects through numerous marketing initiatives. She was determined to have her hats available
to every possible cold weather clothes customer. She introduced numerous marketing
initiatives, including a partnership with Blizzard Relief, an organization
intended to increase awareness of the clothing needs of the homeless during
massive cold weather storms.
To sustain these efforts, Hannah Hats bulked up its
marketing staff that consisted of Hannah and three of the employees who worked
in the warehouse. Gradually, the marketing team grew to 5 full-time employees.
Additionally, Hannah hired an IT person to handle the online store.
From 2008 to 2015, Hannah’s Hats grew at an annual rate of
as much as 50 percent. Hannah’s talks and marketing pitches to large retailers
attracted the attention of two investors.
The investors told Hannah that with their help she could grow the
company to be a $75 million dollar business.
Hannah began to think bigger, “If the investors think they can grow Hannah’s
Hats to be a $75 million-dollar business, why can’t I”? This plan became her objective. Hannah
doubled her marketing trips and went after WalMart and Target to broaden her
customer base. Although both companies
liked her product, they felt that a cheaper version was needed.
Hannah put in place many strategies to grow even
larger. She was sure her efforts would
pay off in increased sales. Just the same, in March of 2016, sales flattened.
Expenses spiraled upwards. “We were spending too much money marketing”, Hannah
thought. Hannah Hats’ sales were dropping slowly. Hannah limited what she had been taking as a
salary to buy time to rethink her growth plans.
Her expansion plans were put on hold. Employees were worried. Morale
suffered as well. Hannah Hats was no longer the family business where employees
shared personal updates during morning huddles.
Instructions:
Write an Introduction
Create the introductory paragraph. The introductory paragraph is the first
paragraph of the paper and tells a reader the main points covered in the
paper. To help you know how to write an
introduction, view this website to learn how to write an introductory
paragraph: http://www.writing.ucsb.edu/faculty/donelan/intro.html
You will use the 5 Stage Life Cycle theory and the Five
Disciplines of Small Business Growth to analyze Hannah’s growth plans mistakes.
The paper should discuss the following:
Write a synopsis of the “Five Stages of Small Business
Growth” Model and why it is a useful management tool.
Identify the stage Hannah’s Hats was in when Hannah began
her growth plans and what implications the stage should have had for her plans.
Give a synopsis of the “Five Disciplines of Growth”
management theory.
Apply the theory to the case scenario identifying at least
three major mistakes that Hannah made in planning for her company’s growth.
Explain the reasoning behind they selection of each mistake.
Include in the discussion ways that she could have avoided each of the
mistakes.
Using the theories as a guide, identify the stage of growth
Hannah’s Hat is currently in and make three recommendations as to how Hannah
should move forward.
Write a Summary Paragraph
Write the summary paragraph. A summary paragraph restates
the main topics of the paper. Make sure
to leave a reader with a sense that the paper is complete. The summary paragraph is the last paragraph
of a paper and does not need a heading.
Review the Paper
Read the paper to ensure all required elements are
present. Use the grading rubric to
ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.
Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and
third person writing.
Read the paper aloud as a first measure;
Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;
Have someone who has excellent English skills to proof the
paper;
Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing
Center (EWC). The EWC will provide 4-6
areas that may need improvement.
Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder (The assignment
submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered a student’s final product
and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify
the assignment is the correct submission.
No exceptions will be considered by the instructor).
How to Set Up the Paper
Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is
double-spaced, 12-point font. The final
product will be between 3-5 pages in length excluding the title page and
reference page. Write clearly and
concisely.
The body of the paper should consist of a heading for each
required element.
APA and writing is a main focus of this paper and should be
executed with the utmost attention to detail.
In this regard, note that the project calls for at least one primary
source. Be sure to include this resource as part of your supporting material
choices. Should you need help in any
these areas of APA or writing, please refer to the APA module located in the
content area of the course or ask the professor for guidance.
Use the grading rubric and instructions as guides. Be sure
to cover all that is asked of you in the assignment and do so in a way that
will guide the professor into giving a high grade. Finally, all work that you submit for this
project should be your own. Remember your pledge to uphold academic integrity
in all work that you prepare and submit.
Requirements for the Assignment
Before you begin writing the paper, you will read the
following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA
requirements.
Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the
paper to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible
grade.
Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words
such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you
or your” (second person writing). If
uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are
expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.
You are expected to paraphrase and NOT use direct
quotes. You are expected to paraphrase,
which can be learned by reviewing this link:
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.html.
You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a
reference list.
The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the
course readings to support ideas, reasoning and conclusions.
You may not use books as source material.
When using a source document, the expectation is that the
information is cited and referenced with a page or paragraph number. Note that a reference within a reference
list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.
