资料简介：
LAURENTIAN BAKERIES
The decision-maker must make a recommendation on a large expansion project. Discounted cash flow analysis is required.
In late May, 1995, Danielle Knowles, vice-president of operations for Laurentian Bakeries Inc., was preparing a capital expenditure proposal to expand the company’s frozen pizza plant in Winnipeg Manitoba. If the opportunity to expand into the U.S. frozen pizza market was taken, the company would need extra capacity. A detailed analysis, including a net present value calculation, was required by the company’s Capital Allocation Policy for all capital expenditures in order to ensure that projects were both profitable and consistent with corporate strategies.
COMPANY BACKGROUHD
Established in 1984, Laurentian Bakeries Inc. (Laurentian) manufactured a variety of frozen baked food products at plants in Winnipeg (pizzas), Toronto (cakes) and Montreal (pies). While each plant operated as a profit center, they shared a common sales force located at the company’ head office in Montreal. Although the Toronto plant was responsible for over 40% of corporate revenues in fiscal 1994, and the other plants was accounted for about 30% each, all three divisions contributed equally to profits. The company enjoyed strong competitive positions in all three markets and it was the low cost producer in the pizza market. Income Statements and Balance Sheets for the 1993 to 1995 fiscal years are in Exhibits 1 and 2, respectively.
Laurentian sold most of its products to large grocery chains, and in fact, supplying several Canadian chains with private label brand pizzas generated much of the sales growth. Other sales were made to institutional food services.
The company’s success was, in part, the product of its management’s philosophies. The cornerstone of Laurentian’s operations was its including a commitment to a business strategy promoting continuous improvement; for example all employees were empowered to think about and make suggestions for ways of reducing waste. As Danielle Knowles saw it: “Continuous improvement is a way of life at Lauremtian.” Also, the company was known for its above – average consideration for the human resource and environmental impact of its business decisions. These philosophies drove all policy-making, including those policies governing capital allocation.
Danielle Knowles
Danielle Knowles’s career, which spanned 13 years in the food industry, had included positions in other functional areas such as marketing and finance. She had received an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and a master of business administration from the Western Business School.
THE PIZZA INDUSTRY
Major segments in the pizza market were frozen pizza, deli-fresh chilled pizza, restaurant pizza and take-out pizza. Of these four, restaurant and take-out were the largest. While these segments consisted of thousands of small-owned establishments, a few large North American chains, which included Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Little Caesar’s, dominated.
|
