MBA 5010 CU Product Pricing Recommendation for Acme Pickle Company Project

Product Pricing RecommendationIntroduction
This portfolio work project will help you to assess a request, complete an analysis
to understand the impact on an organization, provide a recommendation, and
communicate that recommendation.
Scenario
The Acme Pickle Company has distributed pickles under the “Florida’s Best”
brand for eight years from its production facility in Jacksonville, Florida. It sells
the pickles to stores in the southeastern United States. Acme normally produces
between 8,000 and 10,000 cases of pickles a month but has the capacity to
produce 12,000 cases without adding equipment or personnel.
The owner of a twenty-store supermarket chain in Wisconsin, called Super
Deals, visits friends in Florida and is impressed with the quality of “Florida’s Best”
pickles. He approaches you, an Acme Pickle account manager, with an offer to
buy 2,000 cases of pickles to use in a special promotion at his stores. He is
thinking of something such as:
“Free jar of Florida’s Best pickles with every purchase of forty dollars or more—this
month only!”
He offers Acme a price of $9.50 per case, knowing that it is a very substantial
discount from the normal selling price of $20 a case. Acme’s management is
inclined to turn the offer down, because their cost is calculated at $10.00 a case.
They believe they would lose money if they sold at $9.50 a case. You, on the
other hand, believe that some errors have been made in the cost accounting.
Your Role
You are the account manager for Acme Pickles.
Requirements
Your analysis for the Controller and Sales Manager is needed to suggest a
different way of calculating the pricing of the pickles that may be lower. As part of
your analysis, address the following items:
•
•
o
o
Explain why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.
Analyze the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production.
How would you recalculate it?
What would the result be?
o
•
o
o
•
What is the benefit to the company of recalculating the cost?
Analyze how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial
accounting of production cost.
Explain the difference between the two accounting methods.
Identify the benefits and drawbacks of each method.
Recommend a plan of action to management regarding Super Deals’ offer.
Below is the cost report for a recent month. In this month, Acme produced 9,000
cases and sold them at $20 per case, which is Acme’s normal selling price. Nine
thousand cases are well beyond Acme’s break-even point, enabling Acme to
record a substantial profit at the nine-thousand-case level.
Acme Pickle Company Cost Report
Item
Cucumbers
Cost
$15,000
Spices and vinegar
11,000
Jars and lids
10,000
Direct labor, paid by the case
30,000
Line supervisors, on salary
10,000
Depreciation on factory
10,000
Property taxes on factory
3,000
Insurance on factory
1,000
Total Costs:
$90,000
Cost per case (9,000 cases produced)
$10.00
Deliverable Format
Your team lead wants to share this analysis across remote locations of the
organization and is hoping you will set the standard for how analyses and
decisions of this type should be presented and supported. Your team has
requested either a recorded presentation (including slides and notes) or a
presentation and supporting reporting that can be distributed as a model.
Prepare a presentation of at least 9 slides using PowerPoint or software of your
choice detailing your recommendation and the information you used to make
your recommendation. You can either record the presentation or prepare a
separate report supporting the presentation.
If you choose to record your presentation, you may use Capellasupported Kaltura Media or Adobe Connect, or another technology of your choice
that produces a shareable URL.
Recommendation requirements:
•
o
o
•
o
o
•
•
o
o
o
o
Presentation slides:
Create at least 9 slides detailing your recommendation and the information you
used to make your recommendation.
Include additional details as slide notes.
Supporting information. Choose one of the following options:
Record your presentation.
Create a 2–3 page report to support your slides.
Related company standards:
The recommendation report is a professional document and should therefore follow
the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, including
single-spaced paragraphs.
In addition to the presentation or report materials, include:
Title (slide or page).
References (slide or page).
Appendix with supporting materials.
At least two APA-formatted references.