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YOU ARE THE MANAGER: QUADRATICS TASK
I was promoted to general manager of a computer company in January, however, the business at the time,
was at a loss of US $400,000. Changes were made to the managerial and staff levels, thus resulting in an
increase in profit. The task is to optimize profit for the company, and to design a strategy that would
allow the company to make its maximum profit.
Profit of the company over the course of one year
Given that I look over the company in January, the graph shows
that the company was at a loss of US$200,000 at that time. I can
see this because the line crosses through the -200 on the y-axis in
month 1, which represents January. The graph clearly shows that
the company is at a loss until the beginning of February, at which
the company is making a steady profit and reaches its vertex near
the end of May, and after that, decreases at a steady rate. As
shown in the working on the right, the company actually made its
maximum profit on the 23rd of May, at 6:00 AM, with a
maximum profit of US $261,250.
There will be a board meeting discussing the
financial status of the company, and at this time,
the company will be at a loss of US $20,000. On
average, there are 21-22 working days per month,
assuming Saturday and Sunday are days off. By
the 15th of September, there may only have been
10 working days (as is the case in 2012) out of a
total of 21. This means that 0.5 for the 15th in that
month may not represent half of the working days,
thus decreasing the accuracy of the results.
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On the 30th of November, I must give a financial
update to the board in order to evaluate my
management before the end of the year. There are
30 calendar days in November, the 20th
representing 66.7% of the month. However, in
2012, for example, there will be a total of 13
working days by November 20th, out of a total of
22 working days. The actual percentage for the
work days completed by the 20th of November
would be 13/22, or 59.09%. It would be more
accurate to use actual workings days, rather
than calendar days, to determine the results.
The financial manager informed me that although the profit falls after hitting its vertex at the end
of May, the profit picks up again in the beginning of September. Therefore, my prediction does
not represent the actual variation in profit over time. A more appropriate graphical model would
not only have one variable for time, but e.g. a variable representing time per quarter of the year
(t1, t2, t3, t4). Therefore, the following graph would better represent the graphical model based on
what the financial manager informed me of.
I would recommend that we keep the current strategy. However, it would be critically important for the
company to closely monitor whether or not the decrease in profit continues as per the original
prediction/graph, or if sales increase in September as the financial manager said. If the profit continues to
decrease, there will be a need for a new strategy.
In conclusion, after taking over the company in January, the company has made severe improvements
towards making a larger profit. It is also important to consider the real-life scenarios that could make the
data less reliable. The formula that was used was effective to give an accurate representation of the profit
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made by the company, however the results that I collected were not exact, as, for example, the formula
reflected the profit made every day of the month, however it is unrealistic to assume that the people in my
company work every day of the month. Therefore, the formula should reflect the profit made on the work
days in the month/year. This assignment helped me understand that it is important to consider the real-life
contributions that could hinder reliabilities in the data.
You will be marked on Criteria C & D. Please read the criteria carefully before submitting your
final work to the dropbox. Ask your teacher if you have any questions about how to meet the
criteria.
Criterion C: COMMUNICATION
Criterion D: REFLECTION