A

DOCUMENTRY REPORT AND PRESENTATION

ON

CASE ANALYSIS
CASE NO. _1_

In the Title of
“Mrs. Fields cookies”________

Submitted to

INDUKAKA IPCOWALA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT (IIIM)

M.B.A. PROGRAMME
Constituent of Charotar University of Science and Technology
(CHARUSAT)

Presented by
____ASIFALI SAIYED_____
M.B.A. (10-12) Semester – I ID NO:.10MBA094

December 2010
 DECLARTATION

I, ASIFALI SAIYED, hereby declare that the CASE ANALYSIS AND

DOCUMENTATION on “Mrs. Fields cookies” (case no:.1) is a result of my own
work and my indebtedness to other work publication, if any, have been duly
acknowledged.

Place : Changa (Signature)

Date : 25/10/2010 Asifali Saiyed

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This case is talking about the Mrs. Fields cookies business. Mrs. Field after
getting marriage with randy fields started cookie business with the borrowing of
$ 50000 in august 1977 and she got good response in California so she decided
to expand her business and open second store in san Francisco in 1980. there
were 14 stores in 1981.

There was an international expansion of Mrs. fields cookie business in 1982.

Cookies are not accepted in Japan because it was wrong for the Japanese taste.
The store manager in Hong Kong was not sampling cookies but after rearranging
the tray he took Mrs. fields cookies cam in 14 varieties and all cookies should be
sold within specified time, other wise discarded. 80% of Mrs. Field outlets were in
malls. Mrs. Fields delegate the authority as she would not in 2 places at one
time. She also believed in treating employees as they were customers. Fields
was refusing to franchise their stores.

Initially fields got very difficulty for getting financial support but afterwards they
easily got from the public. Revenue of Mrs. Fields business increasing year by
year. She believed that more managing people less to managing key business
process. So she staffed store clerks, store manager and district and regional
manager. And all the executive had to provide daily reports to their to their
executives. There was an 100% lobour turnover in the cookies business. All
employees getting good salary and sometime also bonus if they meet their sales
quotas. Mr. fields use policy of promote from within which placed on loyalty.

Controllers have to provide daily reports to the aggregate level. In MIS system of
the fields business most of the employees were depend on a technology, so they
could lose their creativity. Randy believed in keeping small group of people for
working who can take quick decision. Mrs. Fields cookies stores typically divided
in to 2 areas. Field using the strategy of mixing information. It tells manager
answers how many cookies to baked per hours and what the projected sales per
hour was. The manager would enter the types of cookies to be made on that day
and the system would respond with the number of batches to mix and when to
mix them. Managers communicating through email.

In April 1987, randy reduce the subsidiaries administrative staff from 53 to 3 and
left 2 people in operation and 1 in R&D. Debbie was involved with designing the
new combinations stores. And planned to have existing senior managers work in
them. For a moth or two, in order to become familiar with their operation. Randy
viewed as record revenues were reported by the press as a record losses in
1988.
 TABLE_OF_CONTENTS

Preface

Declaration

Executive Summary

SR. NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. Original Case Source
2. About the Case
• Probable Dimensions

3. Case Analysis
• Identify Problem
• Establish Problem
• Define Objectives
• Generate Alternatives
• Evaluate alternatives
• Prioritize Alternatives

4. Comments
ABOUT THE CASE

 Probable Dimensions

• Mrs. Fields started business in august 1977 and got good response. Their
objective was not to make money, the point was to bake great cookies
and sacrifiese for that principle.
• Mrs. Field open second store in San Francisco in more than year passed
of first store. And others in northern California in 1980.
• By 1981, company had 14 stores.
• The field tried to attract shopping malls manager at 1982 trade show in
Las Vegas.
• The international expansion of mrs. Fields business came in 1982 in
Japan, Hong Kong and Australia.
• Mrs. Fields cookies came in 14 verities which followed by Brownies,
muffins, ice candies and ice cream in 1988. 80% of Mrs. Fields outlets
were in malls.
• Mrs. Field delegate authority for growing the business.
• They did not believe in giving franchise.
• In 1987 randy announced the future growth would be funded by cash flow
and debt. not by further public offering.
• At the year end 1987, field introduce store staffs.
• The average no. of stores under the supervisor of a district sales manager
decreased from 5.3 to 4.2 in 1987.
• In 1987, randy reduced the subsidiary administrative staff.
• In April 1987, mrs. Fields company acquire 119 stores of French bakery
and La Petite Boulangerie.
• In the year 1988, Company expanded its portfolio by entering into Candies
and Ice Cream segment.
CASE ANALYSIS

STEP-1: IDENTIFY THE PROBLEMS

• There is a non acceptance of cookies in japan because it was not

according to the Japanese taste.
• Store manager in hong kong not showing interest in sampling mrs. Fields
cookies. There is a 100% labour turn over in cookies business because all
the store managers are on average 20 to 25 year old college student.
• They were set on volumes that would tell mnager :”at 8 a.m.mix 31
batches of cookies use the dough from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.At that time is no
longer up to their standards ,so discard any remaining dough.At 1 p.m.
mix 7 batches for use from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.”this shows that they were
become more dependent on computer based process,which had reduced
employee’s creativity.

STEP-2: ESTABLISH THE PROBLEM

• Mrs.fields Resisted in delegating authority.Randy wanted to pay for future

expansion with profits and he was convinced that the greater profits
generated by the combination stores would enable them to open more
new stores but for that delegaton of authority shold be needed.
• Mrs.fields did non want to give authority to anyone so the firm can not
utilize the profit of the MIS system.The employees need to be trained in
proper way or there should be experienced employees only.so that they
ca get more advantage of the system.There was lack of maximum use of
MIS become problem for the firm.If the information treated well, it leads to
bette decision making.
 • Their initial objective is to provide better quality to consumers a’ feel good
factor. But after a some time instead of quality they believes that profit
could be earned by the expansion but they proved wrong and made loss.
Mrs. Field face problems with their work to provide better quality.
• MIS systems provides too many information system that create problems.
They are not getting idea that which information is useful and which is not.
They had more information available to them people can act
upon.company also reduce no. of employees is also harmful for them.
• Fields cookies were not ready to delegate authority. She was fored and
kicked to delegate authority because she belived that there was the only
way the business could grow.

STEP- 3: DEFINE OBJECTIVE

• The owners believed that less people and small group of people can make
quick decisions. But the same thing can nto be applied when she want to
expand her business the span of control is limited under the owner. If size
of the firm increases the flat structure is less effective.

• To come up with a strategy on how the company should be handled so as

not to commit the same mistakes in terms of its control, growth and
technology.

STEP – 4: GENERATING ALTERNATIVES

• If the company don’t have sufficient fund and it want to expand the
business, it should go for franchisee.
• Authority should given to store manager for making decision.
• Firm has to give training to employees.
• company should focus on its employee turnover ratio.
STEP – 5: EVALUATING ALTERNATIVES
• If the company go for franchisee, they can easily expand the business and
also get sufficient fund for expansion of business activities.
• Authority should be given to store manager so that they can make quick
decisions and at the same time as they are in touch with the problem and
knowledge, the quick decision is also in favor of business. It creates good
relation with top executives.
• If the firm give proper training to the employees, they can gain more
advantages of their knowledge and it also increase the profit.
• As employees turnover ration is 100%, they should maintain the relation
with the workers, so that they can stay for a long period of time.

STEP – 6: PRIORITIZE THE ALTERNATIVES

1. The first priority should be give to authority delegation.

2. The second priority should be given to franchisees.
3. The third priority goes to labour turnover.
4. And the last priority goes to proper training to employees.
COMMENTS

Initially they believe in providing quality goods but afterwards they believe in
profit motive. They have to stay on their initial objective. MIS system providing
so many information, it also create a problem. Most of the employees are
depended on technology, which reduces their creativity. They should have to
go for franchisee.