1. What additional information should Juan gather to help him develop his plan?

Explain how you would use the information.

When Juan Hernandez was first given the position of head buyer for the Connery Manufacturing Company, he visualized the job as merely an expansion of his old position as a commodity buyer. He had no formal training when he took the position, having been promoted to commodity buyer from his position as inventory clerk, which he had gotten directly out of high school.

The lack of formal training was not a problem when he first took the job. The Connery Company was small but growing, and the major concern of the purchasing department was to obtain adequate purchased material to support the production and the growth in sales. There was little done in the way of price negotiation. The reason was that there was little competition for their products and all costs could easily be passed along in the product price, leaving room for the healthy profits that have helped Connery grow so rapidly.

As is often the case in these type of situations, the luxury of little competition and flexibility in pricing was fairly short-lived. The success of the products Connery produced attracted a lot of attention, and soon Connery found itself in a market with several strong competitors.