Case Study : Westlake Lanes : How Can This Business Be Saved?

They have secured a loyal customer base as well as made a name for themselves in the downtown Raleigh area. Furthermore, there is value in the fact that they are a family owned business. Many consumers are supportive of family owned businesses and therefore Westlake Lanes should definitely exploit this capability. Their location is also very valuable due to the fact that they are the only bowling alley in the downtown area. Furthermore, their introduction of bowling leagues has been a very valuable asset to them because it ensures a steady flow of business. Givens has also managed to make this asset more valuable to them by greatly reducing the time frame of the leagues and pitching the concept to firms and students. Finally, Westlake Lanes’ long-standing and loyal staff has also proven to be very valuable. Although Givens has made changes to the staff team, three of the four full-time employees have proven themselves of high value to her in terms of maintenance of the building, business knowledge and supplier research.

It is my understanding that Westlake Lanes is considering the following three options for its

Entering the market requires heavy investment in establishing a name and make lots of outlets. It is a growing market with lots of pioneers that can make branches anywhere and threat the other chain in there selling areas.

The Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors in an Industry (High): Equally balanced competitors exist within the industry such as BCF and KMD; these firms also face competition from retailers and wholesalers. The growth of the industry is relatively agile in both financial and technological aspects. The intensity or rivalry is further accentuated by relatively high storage and fixed rental costs, extensive product differentiation and minimal switching costs.

The strength of a claim is in the empirical evidence presented and this case study “The Mall of America” (Mall) is no different. The Si-Minn Developers Limited Partnership (Si-Minn LP) defense and disclosure of their decision to purchase the material interest in MOAC LP are reflective of their fiduciary duty to Melvin Simon & Associate stakeholders their parent company. On the other hand, Triple Five Minnesota Inc. (Triple Five) indifference in the investment returns was reflected in their tacit indolent response to the initial offering by “Teachers”, confirming that Si-Minn LP acted in the beneficial best interest of both the seller (Teachers), and partnership with Triple Five in spite of their dissatisfaction.

Shelby Givens, G.M of WBL could not get the business on track to repay the funds the board had loaned it 16 months before. In Jan 2010, the business profited for the 1st time in two years. But, now she wants to decide on a future direction for the business, so that the debt payment can be speedy and her job gets more interesting. She also deals with multiple external and internal challenges, such as, boosting employee morale, revamping the underperforming F&B section, and growing the customer base.

Rivalry among existing competitors describes the intensity of competition between “Broadway’s Café” and existing coffee shops in an industry. A highly competitive industry might result from many players of about the same size, on single dominant competitor, little differentiation between competitors’ products and services

What explains the high failure rate of small business startup in the City of Brownsville? There are several influences that contribute to the failure of small business. According to (SBA, 2015) small business provides approximately half or 4.3 million of Texas’s private workforces. In 2010 there was 38,760 small business established in Texas only 68.3 percent of those business remained open two years later. This would indicate that approximately 31.7 percent of those businesses failed and the City of Brownsville is no exception. One major issue is that the City of Brownsville is a disadvantaged economically distressed region. The City sets on the Mexico boarder along the Rio Grande Valley, with a population of 183,887 within their community,

The obvious concern regarding the Whalen Court project is the large initial investment required to get it off the ground. Of this cost, the most pressing financial concern is the requirement of leasing the building as opposed to building and owning its own store. As a result, our measures of profitability are not as attractive due to the high costs of doing business in an urban environment. This is reflected in how it measures up to the prototype Target store. Although the sales generated absolutely crush the prototype sales, the total net investment exceeds that of the prototype by $90

1. WIthin the wealthy suburbs competition with chains not burden with the reputation of being a blue collar warehouse.

Southwest Freeway Retail Center Houston, Texas PROFORMA INCOME & EXPENSE STATEMENT CURRENT RENTAL REVENUE $432,229 Vancant Space at Market $31,959 GROSS POTENTIAL RENTAL INCOME $464,188 Other Income: Reimbursable Expenses $0 Signage $15,000 Total Other Income $15,000 Total Potential Income $479,188 Less: Vacancy & Collection Loss $0 EFFECTIVE GROSS INCOME $479,188 OPERATING EXPENSES: Administrative $3,000 Utilities $8,000

| Westlake Lanes had the capability to bring back old memories by playing the seventies and eighties music which is unique. Also, loyalty is not easy to buy. West lake also has a very good relationship with its lenders.

In the bowling industry the degree of rivalry is fairly high since Westlake faces a number of large bowling centres in the United States. The industry is

The economies of scale in the retail industry are huge. All of the companies in this industry have first mover advantage. Many of the competitors in this industry already have immense and diverse relationships with many of the suppliers they obtain and any new competitor will have a tough time trying to squeeze into the dealer network in order to establish themselves as any type of threat to another retailer.

Porter's First force is the threat of Potential Entrants. Statistics have shown the industry to be slowing down, therefore making competition high and the threat of new entrants low. Broadway Cafe has a small market presence, but the presence of its competitors like Starbucks