You have just graduated from the MBA program from University Canada West (UCW) and are so excited about the upcoming graduation ceremony.

After several years of hard work and study at UCW, you feel very proud of yourself and more than ever readytoputyourbusinessknowledgeandyourownideasintopractice. Youareveryconfidentthatthe knowledge your professors transferred to you will be very useful and you cannot wait to put it into action.

You have always dreamed of having your own small manufacturing business producing sustainable, eco- friendly organic whole coffee beans. You feel now is the right time to think about your dream and to put it into action. Your destiny that you have been dreaming about for so many years, could become a reality. However, you are aware that opening a business in Canada is easy but staying in business and being successful could be very challenging. You remember from your accounting and other business courses that sale is a very crucial factor and without sales and customers your business will not be able to survive for long. You decided to give it a try and start your business this year.

Think of your proposed business and answer the following questions.

What will be your business strategy? Product differentiation or low-cost provider?

How much money do you have for investing in your business and how much money do you

need? How do you plan on raising the cash needed for your business?

What will be your selling price per one organic coffee bag of 1 kg? What factors do you need to

take into consideration when pricing the product?

What variable costs will incur once you start operations?

What will be your fixed costs? Think of them on an annual basis.

To simplify your analysis, think about producing only one product (i.e., organic whole coffee

beans of 1 kg medium roast). Based on your selling price per unit (coffee bean bag), unit variable cost, and total fixed costs, perform a break-even analysis to compute how many units (coffee bean bags) you need to sell to cover all costs from your revenue and generate zero income. What do you think, is it feasible to break-even in the first year in operations? Briefly explain.

You are now curious to know how many units (coffee bean bags) you need to sell to earn an income of $60,000 Canadian Dollars. What do you think, is it feasible in first, second, or third year? Briefly explain your findings.

Note: During your quantitative and qualitative analysis, be reasonable and objective. Do not consider only costs but other factors as well.