Firm Overview and Introduction to the Case
This case was about a forty-year old small business that faced managerial challenges by expanding. Sawchyn Guitars was founded by Peter Sawchyn in 1970. It was a small private business solely owned and operated by Peter Sawchyn and his wife Kendra Sawchyn. The company deals with two main products: acoustic guitars and mandolins. (Woodwark, Wong, p.2). All the models of guitars and mandolins could be custom ordered, repaired and upgraded per customer’s precise needs. The founder of the company Peter Sawchyn had 40 years’ experience of making custom guitars and their repair. He began his career by repairing instruments, when he was a teenager. Forty years he spent in operating his business from his home …show more content…
In the beginning, Peter Sawchyn used small garage to run his business. Later, he moved to two stories dark space in his house for production because of limited space. But it was usually packed with incomplete instruments, therefore the repair and other purpose assignments stored untidy. Due to that, he was unable to take regular request of instrument repairs. Consequently, he had to stop his repair business due to inadequate space. (Woodwark, Wong, p.5). He recognized the need to expand and advance his business after forty years. In 2012, he acquired a new rental place to run a full-service music store with the help of his wife which solved most of his production problems. The retail management experience of Kendra was very beneficial to run the new store. Also, since they had sole proprietorship of their business, profit went only to him and his wife and it was quite easy for them to make business decisions because there were no other shareholders involved. The new rental space that they acquired for music store was very effective and attractive. With new shop, Peter didn’t need to run up and down stairs for material and equipment, that’s why he had more efficient production. They promoted their new store through classified ads, local papers, and festival programs. Also, they organized musical concerts to attract …show more content…
They had high demand for repairs and retail instruments. Due to that Peter was incapable to fulfill them on time and produced enough instruments for display in the shop. He had to spend more time for production and repair of the instruments while his wife was also busy in managing website, inventory, promotion, and bookkeeping. They had difficulty to handle customers that’s why they hired one of their musician customer for part-time job in the store to help customers. But Peter still faced difficulty in producing enough instruments because that employee could not help him in the production process as he was not an experienced woodworking worker. Therefore, he was incapable to help them with the workshop. (Woodwark, Wong, p.10). Handmade guitars were rare and for that reason they were difficult to find. But the production process of custom handmade instruments was much longer. That’s why it created difficulty for Peter Sawchyn in keeping up with the demand. If he remained limited in production, then he would put his new business at risk. They should had hired an apprentice to help with the production process. Another weakness of the company was offering limited products (guitars and mandolins). Among those Peter was more skilled in making mandolin which was not popular as guitar. (Woodwark, Wong, p.2, p.3). In addition to that, Peter and his
This case was about a forty-year old small business that faced managerial challenges by expanding. Sawchyn Guitars was founded by Peter Sawchyn in 1970. It was a small private business solely owned and operated by Peter Sawchyn and his wife Kendra Sawchyn. The company deals with two main products: acoustic guitars and mandolins. (Woodwark, Wong, p.2). All the models of guitars and mandolins could be custom ordered, repaired and upgraded per customer’s precise needs. The founder of the company Peter Sawchyn had 40 years’ experience of making custom guitars and their repair. He began his career by repairing instruments, when he was a teenager. Forty years he spent in operating his business from his home …show more content…
In the beginning, Peter Sawchyn used small garage to run his business. Later, he moved to two stories dark space in his house for production because of limited space. But it was usually packed with incomplete instruments, therefore the repair and other purpose assignments stored untidy. Due to that, he was unable to take regular request of instrument repairs. Consequently, he had to stop his repair business due to inadequate space. (Woodwark, Wong, p.5). He recognized the need to expand and advance his business after forty years. In 2012, he acquired a new rental place to run a full-service music store with the help of his wife which solved most of his production problems. The retail management experience of Kendra was very beneficial to run the new store. Also, since they had sole proprietorship of their business, profit went only to him and his wife and it was quite easy for them to make business decisions because there were no other shareholders involved. The new rental space that they acquired for music store was very effective and attractive. With new shop, Peter didn’t need to run up and down stairs for material and equipment, that’s why he had more efficient production. They promoted their new store through classified ads, local papers, and festival programs. Also, they organized musical concerts to attract …show more content…
They had high demand for repairs and retail instruments. Due to that Peter was incapable to fulfill them on time and produced enough instruments for display in the shop. He had to spend more time for production and repair of the instruments while his wife was also busy in managing website, inventory, promotion, and bookkeeping. They had difficulty to handle customers that’s why they hired one of their musician customer for part-time job in the store to help customers. But Peter still faced difficulty in producing enough instruments because that employee could not help him in the production process as he was not an experienced woodworking worker. Therefore, he was incapable to help them with the workshop. (Woodwark, Wong, p.10). Handmade guitars were rare and for that reason they were difficult to find. But the production process of custom handmade instruments was much longer. That’s why it created difficulty for Peter Sawchyn in keeping up with the demand. If he remained limited in production, then he would put his new business at risk. They should had hired an apprentice to help with the production process. Another weakness of the company was offering limited products (guitars and mandolins). Among those Peter was more skilled in making mandolin which was not popular as guitar. (Woodwark, Wong, p.2, p.3). In addition to that, Peter and his