The Story:
Bald Spot Sports (BSS) is an Indianapolis based company that supplies racing equipment to the motorsports industry. The firm produces items such as seat inserts and also distributes racing products from other equipment suppliers. Ms. Sylvia Anderson, the sales manager for BSS, is contemplating the industry trade shows at which the company should exhibit during the next trade show season that runs November, December, January. BSS has exhibited at various shows in the past. The three major shows in the motorsports industry are SEMA, Performance Racing Industry (PRI), and Autosport International. She is considering only these three shows. Booth space at the shows and travel can be expensive, so she needs to investigate the total cost to participate for any given event. She will only purchase a 10x10 sq ft. booth space. No additional exhibit material will be purchased from a show. Any materials or exhibit items that she needs for the show will be checked as baggage on the plane or carry in a BSS vehicle. She will exhibit at more than one show this season given the increased sales this year. Working beside her at the shows this season will be Paul Clark, the top sales person for BSS. Thus, she will require two hotel rooms...one for her and one for Paul. Ms. Anderson needs to determine which shows are the most appropriate for her products and devise potential metrics to measure the company's return on investment (ROI) for the total dollars spent exhibiting at the shows. She needs to present her analysis and proposed trade show schedule to the marketing manager by the end of the month. Please note that choosing not to exhibit at any of the shows or just one show are not options. Also, just attending but not exhibiting is not an option. If she chooses to attend PRI, she will not need hotel rooms. If she chooses to attend SEMA, she and Paul will fly to the show. BSS is not a member of SEMA.
- Begin by initially defining the problem that the person in the case wants to solve. You need to decide what the person wants to achieve and write it down. This section should be no more than one paragraph.
- Generate by simply listing a number of possible solutions, but do not evaluate them.