Round One

Team- The Procrastinators

Member 1- Sanjana Salsabil Momo
Member 2- Rakibul Hasan
Member 3- Hridita Rahman Dintu
 The Case Summary

The case is about “Cooper’s Pipeline”- a gas bar and convenience store, who are currently in the
situation where they need to find a feasible way to utilize their interior unused space in such a way that
it benefits their business as well as attracts the customers.

Here Cooper Pipeline, a gas bar and a convenience store, apparently being bankrupt has been sold out
to an enthusiastic marketing major, Mike. In spite of having young energetic employees, the company
could not do well and got bankrupt. And now, as the new owner takes over the responsibility of the
company, so many challenges are there for him to overcome. He could be able to find out some
problems and is working on those along with deciding which alternative to adopt. One of the problems
those are discouraging the customers is lack of enough parking space, which has become one of the
major challenges for Mike. There is also unused space over there, which was a weakness for the
previous owner but has become a good opportunity for Mike for using it as an extra source of income.

Situation analysis

The company

strength weakness
 Faster service by the employee  Lack of enough parking space
 opportunity to start new business in  Mismanagement of Space
unused spaces  Strictness of municipality regarding
parking space allotment
 Disorganized office management

So it stands that the store has a lot of short comings in its management.

Competitor analysis and comparison

companies Gas bar Convenience store Service bay

Cooper’s pipeline 1 1 x
Metro-Canada 2 2 x
Esso-gulf 2 x 1
Metro- 1 (large) 1 x
Canada(proposed)

So it stands that cooper’s pipeline does not have any extra attraction for customers for which it needs to
bring a differentiating strategy and some new service which the other convenience stores or gas bars
are not providing. On the other hand it needs to manage its interior space to get the maximum output
from this new idea concept.
 Core Problem

“The utilization of unused space to add it to the benefit of “cooper’s pipeline”.

Our core problem consists of 5 key areas of consideration:

• Area of consideration 1: which new business to choose

• Area of consideration 2: how to solve the parking problem for the customers if one additional
business is started

• Area of consideration 3: how to manage an office space

• Area of consideration 4: how to solve accounting section problem

 Area of consideration 5: how to increase storage space problem

Area of concentration 1: which new business to choose

Option A: only Japan camera franchise

Option B: only own business by Kodak

Option C: both Japan camera franchise and over-the -counter postal franchise

Recommendation: we recommend option C that is incorporating both japan camera franchise and over
the counter postal franchise

Justification:

Japan camera franchise Own business by Kodak Both the franchise

 More costly
 Franchise benefit
 Less workloads
 Estimated sales of
$250000
 Less financial terms  Easily accommodated
 No franchise facilities with a photo
 No personal time for processing center
setting up this business  May increase sales in
peak hour

The owner wants to utilize the unused 200 sq. feet of the interior for new business and as both the
franchise can be accommodated within 200 sq. feet; both the franchise should be incorporated as the
competitors do not have this kind of facilities at this moment and this will increase the sales of the store.

Area of consideration 2: how to solve the parking problem for the customers if one additional
business is started

Option A: additional parking space for extra customers

Option B: running the new photo processing and postal business for a fixed time

Recommendation: we recommend to go with option B initially and to apply to the municipality

authority once again for option A.
Justification: initially going with option B includes fixing a separate time for photo processing and postal
service. That means to run these two business when it is off-time for gasoline service. It will decrease
the risk of having a large traffic for the inadequate space for parking.

Initially the store can go with option B; but soon enough the customers will demand the 24/7 service of
the new two business and for facing this issue the store should ask permission for extra parking space
removing the green space. Because if there is not adequate parking space the customers turnover will
increase resulting in no use of the beautification by the green space. Customer satisfaction is the most
important case in a business and in this situation the customers will need more parking space and not
the greenery to stay satisfied.

Area of consideration 3: how to manage an office space

Option A: using 8 feet of magazine rack

Option B: using remaining space of 500 sq. feet eating space

Recommendation: we recommend option A that is to go with 8 feet of magazine space.

Justification: the office space does not need that much space as it only would require a one person desk
with a computer and for these equipment 8 feet space is enough. And moreover the magazine business
was a slow moving business and a failure to attract customers. On the other side this business needed
extra cleaning people with some extra problem from distributors and retailers.

Area of consideration 4: how to solve accounting section problem

Option A: by incorporating computerized works

Option B: by incorporating another experienced person in this field

Recommendation: we recommend option A that is to incorporate computerized works

Justification: there is already someone working in accounting section but the problem is the system is
not computerized and thus takes long time. On the other hand there is no inventory counting machine
and it is creating a load amount for the accounting section. There for adopting computerized works and
bringing one inventory counting machine will keep track of the progress very easily.

Area of consideration 5: how to increase storage space problem

Recommendation: we recommend using the remaining 300 sq. feet after using 200 sq. feet in new
business.

Justification: 300 sq. feet of eating space remains unused and this total amount of space is not needed
as people tend to take food out more. So we recommend to use some portion of 300 sq. feet for
storage. Storage space is only 50 sq. feet and it can easily be doubled by using extra space of the eating
corner. Then the store can have two storage space located at two different places.
 Conclusion

We can conclude that the business is yet to shine more if all the decisions are correctly taken based on
we have provided the solution. Proper use of time and space is all that matters in this case, which,
following the solution can fulfill.