Please begin a discussion of what you see as the problems we need to address at Giberson's Glass Studio.

Table 2. Glass content. Item Weight/Piece Patterned glasses 0.5 lb. Paperweights 0.9 1b. Wrapped tumblers 0.5 1b. Vases 0.6 1b. Source: Created by author. During the 40 weeks a year when he blew glass, Giberson worked in his studio almost every day. He did, however, spend considerable time speaking to visitors and friends who dropped by to watch him work. Giberson typically spent some time on Sundays and Mondays doing miscellaneous chores and catching up on grinding, sanding, and polishing that had not been completed during the previous week. Finishing and Shipping Solid glass pieces had to be ground, sanded, and polished before shipping. For one solid piece of glass, 40% of the finishing time was spent on the initial grinding, 15% on the second grinding, 20% on the first sanding, 10% on the second sanding, 5% on third sanding, and 10% on the polishing. Total finishing time averaged 15 minutes per piece. Hollowware pieces required only polishing, with an average of three minutes per piece for glasses and five minutes for vases. The finishing procedure was referred to as "cold time," as contrasted with blowing, which was known as "hot time." Orders were packed and shipped several times each week as needed. Packaging involved wrapping, boxing, and labeling. It took about 15 minutes to pack a case of 12 glasses, and Giberson used part-time labor for packing, shipping, and general shop cleaning.Key Issues and Concerns The most critical issue facing Giberson was his rapidly deteriorating financial position. He had only a few thousand dollars of personal savings left, and he doubted that either the banks or his former wife would be receptive to providing additional financing. His need for additional resources was, of course, directly related to the lack of profitability of his business. It was clear to Giberson that he needed to make some significant changes in the way he did things, but he didn't know what or how to change. He was also troubled that he didn't know what each of his products cost or which items were most profitable. He knew his prices were too low, but he didn't know how to think about a new pricing strategy. On a more positive note, he had been receiving numerous requests from his existing customers to produce unique, made-to-order products they had designed. To date, he had not fulfilled any of these requests, primarily because he didn't know how to calculate their costs or how to price them. He was, however, quite interested in expanding his product portfolio. He was quickly running out of time and was open to whatever recommendations Coates might have