Business problems based on research and evaluation

You are part of the Bryce and Dancetty Consulting firm, specializing in solving business problems based on research and evaluation. You have just been hired by the new president of Wordplay Greeting Cards, an established company that sells greeting cards and collectibles to its own line of company-owned and franchise stores. The president wants your firm to research the causes of a downturn in their business and identify solutions that may benefit the organization.

During your first meeting, the president of Wordplay Greeting Cards informed you that the company is unprofitable and is operating inefficiently. In addition to the company-owned stores, it sells a limited supply of the exact same items to other national retailers, which compete against the smaller stores. Strong competition from competing companies has taken its toll in the past several years and has eroded Wordplay Greeting Cards annual sales and market share. Because the industry is changing in several ways, survival will be more difficult in the future.

Your task is to write up an overview of your first meeting and make recommendations on how to proceed. In your memo, take the following action:

• First, review the key problems—as you understand them—in your memo.

• Next, identify two or three research questions based on the problems discussed.

• Then, since this is your first project with this company, include a review of how your consulting firm researches business problems for clients. That is, review the scientific method and how it relates to conducting research at the client site. As you create this section, be sure to use business language appropriate to the audience. For example, you might use the phrase "research question" instead of using the term "hypothesis."