Birch Paper Company Case Study Solutions

Owens & Minor is a distributor of surgical and medical supplies to hospitals and other health care facilities. Due to changing demand from customers, the company is facing increased operating costs, which has resulted in lower profit margins and even losses. In 1993, O&M recorded an $18 million profit, which was reduced to a loss of $11 million in 1995. The entire industry is experiencing similar difficulties. In an effort to resume profitability, O&M is evaluating alternatives to “cost-plus pricing”. Cost-plus pricing does not reflect the true cost of the services provided by O&M. Customers are demanding more of O&M while

DO YOU AGREE WITH MR. WILSON 'S ESTIMATE OF THE COMPANY 'S LOAN REQUIREMENTS? HOW MUCH WILL HE NEED TO FINANCE THE EXPECTED EXPANSION IN SALES TO $ 5.5 MILLION IN 2006 AND TO TAKE ALL TRADE DISCOUNTS?

7. (10 pts.) Westinghouse and General Electric are competing on the newest version of clothes washer and dryer combinations. Two pricing strategies exist: price high or price low. The profit from each of the four possible combinations of decisions is given in the following payoff matrix:

Because they have faced cash shortage trouble. Their profitability has grown for 1993 ~ 1995 period, as we can see from their I/S (e.g. Sales and Net Income, etc.). However, as its business size grows, their A/R increased, which means that it is getting difficult to collect cash. On the other hand, A/P decreased for the same period, which means that the company paid cash for A/P, resulting in critical cash shortage. Furthermore, the A/P payment period is shorter than A/R collection periods, the company’s cash problem happens to be accelerated.

In the case of Mendel Paper Company which produces four basic paper products lines at one of its plants: computer paper, napkins, place mats, and poster board. Although the plant superintendent, Marlene Herbert is pleases with increased sales he is also concerned about the costs. The superintendent is concerned with the high fixed cost of production, the increases in fixed overhead and even variable overhead. He feels that the production of place mat should be discontinued. His reason for the discontinuation is that the special printing is driving up the variable overhead to the point where the company may not find it profitable to continue with the line. After reviewing the future predictions of the

Develop an activity-base cost system for Dakota Office Products based on Year 200 data. Calculate the activity cost-driver rate for each DOP activity in 2000.

2. If the department that produces Item 345 was a profit center and if you were the manager of that department, would it be to your financial advantage to lower the price?

Although the West Paper Company looks at first to be the best choice, the truth is to be the Thompson Division as it has the lowest cost if we assume that all transfer prices within the company were calculated at costs. The lowest costs that associated within the company would make Birch Paper Company to earn the highest profits and revenues.

1. What is the competitive situation faced by Wilkerson? The critical product in term of market competition is the pumps of Wilkerson Company. The pumps are Wilkersons major product line with a production of about 12,500 units per month. Pumps currently have the lowest gross margin among all products, because competitors had been reducing prices on pumps and Wilkerson adopted its prices in order to remain competitive and to maintain the volume. 2. Given some apparent problems with Wilkersons cost system, should executives abandon overhead assignment to products entirely by adopting a contribution margin approach in which manufacturing overhead is treated as a period expense? Our conclusion is, that they should not adopt

Synopsis and Objectives The owner of a midsize folding carton printer is considering the replacement of an old machine for cutting sheets of paper from rolls (a sheeter) with a new one. This standard capital budgeting analysis, which requires identification of both the relevant cash flows and the relevant discount rate, is enhanced by an alternative that is not explicitly stated but can be readily identified and analyzed—to outsource all sheeting and close down the sheeting operation. This alternative, which turns out to be financially optimal based on quantifiable case facts, forces students to consider strategic and other nonquantifiable

In a desire to increase the company’s working capital for the company’s future financial investment in a plant modernization and expansion program, Beauregard Textile Company increased the price of its Triaxx-30 product to bring its profit margins up to that of their other products. In a sequential-move game theory Calhoun & Pritchard, Beauregard’s primary rival, did not raise its price even though its costs were assumed to be similar. As a result, Beauregard’s unit sales dropped significantly as their customers purchased the cheaper competitor’s product, causing Beauregard’s profit contribution to decrease. A closer examination of Beauregard’s cost analysis revealed that it includes fixed costs, which when

Being the world’s largest paper maker indicates having a larger inventory, more current assets (esp. since it owns timberland and several facilities), and higher cost of goods sold than other paper makers. The inventory for Company J (10.9) is larger than the inventory for Company I (8.8); the current assets for Company J (32.6) are higher than that for Company I (27.2); and the cost of goods sold for Company J (82.9) is higher than that for Company I (75.3). We also expect that, as the world’s largest paper maker, their products will move on the marketplace better than a smaller producer of

A Make-or-Buy Decision at Baxter Manufacturing Company Scenario Summary Baxter Manufacturing Company (BMC) is a leader in deep-drawn stampings. It has been in business since 1978 as a privately held company. The process for making these stampings is very involved and complex. BMC developed methods for efficiently producing large volumes of stampings while keeping their quality very high. BMC uses state of the art machines to make the stampings and they make all the tooling necessary for those machines. In the years since their founding, many changes have impacted the industry – especially when it comes to computer networks and software. In the 1980s many of BMC's customers went to Just In Time

Currently Atlantic’s existing Ohio linerboard mill produces 780 tons per day of linerboard, which represents a mere 1.8% of the nation’s linerboard capacity. This is far below the 150,000 tons of linerboard that Atlantic purchases every year from its competitors. Consequently, with such a tight market, linerboard could either become unavailable or available at very expensive prices. If Atlantic pursues their acquisition strategy in purchasing the linerboard mills from Royal, this could help greatly in strengthening Atlantic’s linerboard capacity and ensure to retain their box plants profits. With Royal’s current Monticello mill producing kraft paper and linerboard, this would require $140.8 million to convert all of the mill’s kraft capacity to

Synopsis and Objectives The owner of a midsize folding carton printer is considering the replacement of an old machine for cutting sheets of paper from rolls (a sheeter) with a new one. This standard capital budgeting analysis, which requires identification of both the relevant cash flows and the relevant discount rate, is enhanced by an alternative that is not explicitly stated but can be readily identified and analyzed—to outsource all sheeting and close down the sheeting operation. This alternative, which turns out to be financially optimal based on quantifiable case facts, forces students to consider strategic and other