How to Score a Goal?

Prior to 1999, because of a tight working capital situation, the plant manager controlled expenditures for new bottles closely so that just enough were available to meet demand. In 2000, extra funds became available and this policy was relaxed. Because of an unexpectedly large increase in sales during 2001, however, Benson’s new bottle order of 66,000 cases in 2000 was barely large enough. By mid-February of 2001, the company ran out of finished goods and empty bottles in the warehouse. Bottling operations were cut back in the plant, and capacity depended on the speed at which daily empty returns were washed. Delivery salesmen waited for the finished goods to load their trucks. February sales suffered with this bottle shortage crisis and were 17,000 cases less than in February of 2000. In 2001, Benson made sure sufficient bottles would be available and ordered 182,000 cases; in 2002, 195,000 cases were ordered. Empty bottle stocks at the end of February 2003 were the highest in the company’s history, and Benson reduced the 2003 order to 122,000 cases.

• 2001 was an issue, their past performance and numbers could have been better than what is shown.
• 2002, he ordered more because of the low amount he ordered before, but he should have ordered more by increasing the amount by little not a large amount. It is risky to increase order by large amount because customers might have been lost from the year before or even people or it was just a coincidence that people bought wanted more last year.

Also have to look at qualitative trends:

1999 slumped for that year and came back up because 2000 was a good year for the annual sales. I think the effects of the rise in price will still affect annual sales for 2004, because when the price went up in 1997, sales slumped 13 percent below the 1997 level. The 2003 rise in retail price is the highest they’ve ever had so the company will get affected for this year.

I did the calculations on my calculator but I came up with a solution, following every months trend. I came up with the idea that the sales amount will increase but not a large increase. One that would be equivalent to the 2000 and 2001 difference. I came up with the amount of 4187.