Coffeeville: Business Analysis, Strategies, and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coffeeville, a business facing operational and financial challenges. It examines the company's performance, identifying key issues such as rising costs (utility expenses, wages, rent, and coffee bean prices), declining customer spending, and competition. The report assesses the company's financial statements, customer feedback, and management meeting summaries to determine the root causes of the problems. It explores the role of management information systems and decision support systems in addressing these challenges, and offers recommendations for strategic improvements. The report also includes data on forecasted net profit, budget variance correlations, and the types and sources of data used in the analysis, emphasizing the importance of reliable data and the rejection of misleading information. The report concludes with a discussion of how internal and social networks played a vital role in identifying and understanding the issues and problems, and can be used for constructing the precise action course.

Running head: MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Manage Knowledge and Information
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Table of Contents
Assessment 1..............................................................................................................................2
Assessment 2..............................................................................................................................6
Assessment 3............................................................................................................................12
Assessment 4............................................................................................................................16
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................19

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Assessment 1
This formal report is given to Rufus and Emma in order to provide them with the
information that is associated to their falling Coffeville business. The assessment of the
business framework and the business information indicates that there are several issues and
problems that are having an impact on the operations of the firm. The case study indicates
that currently Coffeeville is having four stores all around the CBD area of Melbourne.
Initially one shop was opened and the Rufus and Emma had the idea of expanding their
business along with making a brand name for their company in the market. The company has
highly motivated and trained employees and has the idea of controlling their indirect and
direct costs. The company was able to expand themselves from one to four stores within a
time period of 5 years and Rufus and Emma has been the spine of the business.
The level of employee turnover has been very low for the company and the shop has
been able to update their menu within every 12 months. They have even incorporated hot
dishes in the restaurant as well and thereby diversifying them from a coffee shop to a
restaurant. Coffeeville has been developing steadily but there have been certain issues and
problems that have been hindering their growth effectively. The issues can be highlighted
according to their significance thereby it would help Rufus and Emma to understand them
easily and undertake steps accordingly. By assessing the operational activities, it has been
observed that utility expenses have been increasing at a steady rate from the past 18 months
due to rise in price for the raw materials. With the rise in prices of the products in the market,
there has been a significant rise in the wages of the employees by 15%. The rise in wages has
even been as the employees are now trained and experienced and due to shortages of skilled
labours their wages have been increased. There have been increases in the rent of the
properties that have been taken as rent for the functioning of the stores. There has been a
significant rise in the prices of coffee beans as well due to the shortage of coffee bean

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
production globally and rise in demand. It has even been predicted that the price of coffee
beans would rise again. There has been a general downfall of the business due to the fact that
the customers have been reducing their level of expenditure due to the poor financial
performance of their employers. The customers have even reduced their level of consumption
due to health issues as well. One of the other issue that has been discovered has been that
Rufus and Emma has mainly concentrated on their fourth store more and has looked to
increase their sales there and in that manner has overlooked their other three stores. This has
led to fall in their active members for their year of establishment. The rise in the prices of red
meat has even had an impact on Coffeeville and therefore has forced them to raise their red
meat food prices as well. Therefore, it can be said that changes in the environment and
economic concerns along with rise in the interest in the home loan and terrorism has been
main issue that has led to fall in the revenue and rise in cost for Coffeeville. Rufus and
Emmna therefore need to undertake strategies with respect to the same in order to improve
their profit level.
The attainment of this conclusion has been possible by going through the case study
that has been provided by Rufus and Emma. Coffeeville has been experiencing losses and
this can be identified by looking at their financial statements for the past few years where
their sale of beverage, food external catering has decreased drastically. These issues can be
regarded as authentic when the feedback of the customers from the feedback form and even
from the Facebook pages have been assessed. Even though the customer spending pattern
indicate that there have been rise in customer consumption from the year 2011 to 2014, but it
is actually not the same as the prices of the products have increased and not the spending of
the customers and thereby showing false results. The survey results even indicate that the
issues that have been highlighted are true and have a key role to play in the decline in the saes
of the company.

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
The management and the team meetings summary even explains the same as Rufus
and Emma themselves reveal that catering services have decreased in the past few years.
These are the main data and information that have useful for reaching the conclusion with
respect to the issues that have been identified.
A list of the types and sources of data has been useful for the determination of the
probable causes of the issues and that can support the process of decision making can be
understood. The sources of the data have mainly been the financial statements of the shop
from 2011 to 2015 that has indicated that there has been a fall in the level of profit with
respect to the overall expenses. The survey feedback that has been attained from the
customers even indicates that these are the main issues that have an impact on the operations
of the firm. The answering of these issues can be fundamental for assisting in the process of
decision making. The two most significant problems that have been identified has been that
rise in the prices of the products in the economy has led to rise in the prices of the raw
materials thereby compelling them to raise their food prices. The other issue has been
shortages of experienced and skilled labour in the economy and in that manner Coffeeville
has to increase the wages of their employees in order to retain them and maintain their
competitive edge. These issues have significantly had an impact on the operations of the firm.
The two sources that have been fundamental for the gathering of the information has
been the financial statement of the company along with the budget variance that have
indicated that there have been a rise in expenses over profit and the survey feedback from the
customers have even been an evidence of the same. The validity and the reliability of the data
was identified with the help of various tools like SPSS and excel spreadsheet with the help of
which the data has been assessed and then authenticity of the data have been recognised.

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
The information and the data that have been rejected comprises of the data gathered
from the customer purchasing pattern as this data reveals that purchasing among the
customers have increased for the past few years even though expenditure level among the
customers have declined. The false data has been due to the fact that rise in the prices of the
products have balanced the fall in the customer expenditure. The internal business network
and social network has played a vital role in the assessment and recognition of the issues and
these have been the best methods with the help of which the issues and the problems have
been identified and can be used for constructing the precise action course.

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Assessment 2
This report has been constructed in order to have an idea about the objectives of the
analysis procedure with respect to the functioning of Coffeeville. It will even provide a small
explanation of the management information and recognising the patterns and the trends. It
will even answer how the management information system and the decision support system
can be helpful for the assessment of the indented courses of action and their effect on the
business.
The objectives of the analytical procedure have been to identify the issues that are
related to the shop that is having an impact on their operations. The financial statement of the
shop indicates that the net profit of the company has been reducing from 2011 to 2015 and
therefore the cost of the company has been rising over the revenue of the firm. The aim of
the analysis process has been understand and construct strategies with the help of which the
company can improve their level of operation and undertake the changes that would be
influential for the development of the shop. The main objective of the analysis process has
been to understand the core problem related to the shop and undertake comparative analysis
with the help of which key aspects of shop can be understood.
The management information system or the decision support system is a tool that aids
the management to understand the information that is crucial for them and to assess them in a
distinct manner that would aid them to construct effective decisions that would lead to the
development of the company. The management information system is a distinctive process
which provides present, past and anticipated information on the internal operations as wel as
internal intelligence in order to assist the process of decision making.
Due to a rise in the advancement of the technology, the company are making use of
the management information system in order manage themselves effectively and efficiently.

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Information is the knowledge that is gained from the analysed figures and facts. The presence
of an effective management information system can lead to competitive edge in a developed
country and even in a market that is competitive in nature. The management information
system can be tailored in order to facilitate the several functions of business and operations.
An effective information system is helpful for providing reports with respect to each and
every function in a business.
The management information system can be used by Emma and Rufus in order to
manage the effective flow of data by managing the data in an accessible and practical
manner. The system can monitor the business performance in the market and recognise the
opportunities and threats with a distinct market. The management information system will
gather the data from the outside and inside of the business and thereby will assess the data in
rder to bring out relevant and productive information which can be exploited to assist the
marketing functions. The processed data can be recorded so that it can be used in some future
course of time. The system would therefore determine the patterns and the trends that would
be followed in order to enhance the operations of the shop.
The management information system assists in the assessment of the proposed action
course and their effect on the business. The management information system explains and
processes the gathered data with the help of which the management of the shop can gain idea
about the functional activities of the shop and thereby undertake decisions that would
improve the operations of the shop and thereby increase their level of profit over the
expenses.
The forecasted net profit and net sales stores 2 and 3 for the year 2014-2015 for each
of the store has been given as follows:

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
Aug
Oct
Dec-14
Feb
April
June
$-
$10,000
$20,000
$30,000
$40,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
Store 2: Forecasted sales
2015–16
Food sales
Beverage sales
External catering
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
April
May
June
$-
$5,000
$10,000
$15,000
$20,000
$25,000
Store 2: Forecasted net profit
2015–16
Net profit
July
Sept
Nov
Jan-15
Mar
May
$-
$10,000
$20,000
$30,000
$40,000
$50,000
$60,000
$70,000
$80,000
Store 3: Forecasted sales
2015–16
Food sales
Beverage sales
External catering

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb
Mar
April
May
June
$-
$5,000
$10,000
$15,000
$20,000
$25,000
Store 3 Forecasted net profit
2014–15
Net profit
The correlation to the budget variance from the year 2011 to 2015 has been given as follows:
Jul–Dec
2011
Jan–
Jun
2012
Jul–
Dec
2012
Jan–Jun
2013
Jul–
Dec
2013
Jan–
Jun
2014
Jul–
Dec
2014
Jan–
Jun
2015
Jul–
Dec
2015
Jul–
Dec
2011
1
Jan–
Jun
2012
-
0.5370861
56
1
Jul–
Dec
2012
0.2333641
26
0.4141
3315
1
Jan–
Jun
2013
-
0.9176462
24
0.7977
4877
0.1105
3698
1
Jul–
Dec
-
0.8006407
0.9316 0.1821 0.955116 1

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
2013 69 9499 6981 472
Jan–
Jun
2014
0.3516054
23
0.4637
1302
0.9540
835
0.010965
862
0.1626
5001
1
Jul–
Dec
2014
-
0.9434563
53
0.3659
6253
-
0.1192
581
0.845954
212
0.6546
5367
-
0.3194
3828
1
Jan–
Jun
2015
-
0.3516054
23
-
0.1909
407
0.2311
1339
0.263180
678
8.8173
E-17
-
0.0476
1905
0.6388
7656
1
Jul–
Dec
2015
-
0.9470784
13
0.4584
7465
-
0.0459
709
0.871945
791
0.7097
4034
-
0.2154
8665
0.9808
9424
0.600
2842
1
Jul–
Dec
2011
Jan–
Jun
2012
Jul–
Dec
2012
Jan–
Jun
2013
Jul–
Dec
2013
Jan–
Jun
2014
Jul–
Dec
2014
Jan–
Jun
2015
Jul–
Dec
2015
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
Jul–Dec 2011
Jan–Jun 2012
Jul–Dec 2012
Jan–Jun 2013
Jul–Dec 2013
Jan–Jun 2014
Jul–Dec 2014
Jan–Jun 2015
Jul–Dec 2015
The decision analysis report would indicate the trends and patterns that would be
followed with the help of which Coffeeville can improve their current operational activities

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MANAGE KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION
with the help of which Rufus and Emma can attain their profit and maintain their competitive
edge in the market.