Answer the questions after reading the case study. adhere to the guidelines

CASE STUDY: HAPPY FEET

Happy Feet is a family owned business, that specialises in the manufacturing and retail selling of leather footwear. Their shoes are sold through 25 Happy Feet stores in malls in every province as well as in 47 pharmacies in South Africa. Manufacturing has been done in their factory in Cape Town for more than 30 years and they employ 310 people. Happy Feet is one of three comfort / health shoe manufacturers in South Africa specialising in high[1]quality comfort footwear and are dedicated to the promotion and maintenance of healthy feet. They manufacture infant sandals, ladies' sandals and court shoes, and mens' shoes and sandals. All the shoes are orthopeadically designed and genuine leather is used which makes it expensive. The shoes compete with shoes that are mass produced in countries like China and imported to South Africa. The imported shoes are available in most stores at much lower prices than the leather shoes. Apart from the fact that several changes have occurred in the industry, the financial statements that were reported at the annual general meeting show a decline of 9% in shoe sales and a large decline in the profit for the past financial year. Management views it as a very critical situation for the business. It is not the only problem that the management of Happy Feet is experiencing. Customers are complaining that some of the advertised shoes are not available and it has to be ordered from the factory, which is taking a longer time most customers are willing to wait. This leaves the customers unhappy and shop assistants frustrated, resulting in unfriendly conduct towards the customers. These complaints were conveyed to management, but nothing was done about it. In a heated argument between the marketing and financial managers the proposed new marketing strategy was not approved.

BEING AWARE OF THE CHALLENGE

1st, decide what you want to achieve. When management wants to identify their aim based on the specific situation/problem the company is experiencing, this step is used.

Establish the aim by (1) listing the problems from the scenario, (2) doing the essential steps (hits & hotspots), and (3) deciding on the relevant problem using the evaluation criteria.

-compose down a rudimentary problem statement.

2nd, collect further data. When attempting to solve a problem. Using various strategies, more information can be acquired.

To get more information about the situation, use the 5WH approach.

3rd, Identify the source of the issue. It is critical to investigate the root causes of the problem; else, the solution will only be temporary.

Use the Fishbone diagram to figure out what's causing the issue. At least three root categories should be used.

Examine the diagram.

Make a list of the final problem statement.