Caltron Ltd$.$ is $100$ per cent owned by Pulsar Computer, which is one of the leading computer makers in North America. Caltron was started in $1971$ by Pulsar's founder, Jenny Jones, to supply electronic calculators to the scientific and business communities. When microcomputers were first developed in the early $1980$s$,$ Jones started Pulsar, and despite rigorous competition and merciless industry consolidation, it managed to survive as a very profitable computer maker.

Even with the rapid growth of the microcomputer industry, Pulsar retained ownership of Caltron. Jenny Jones was very attached to this unit for sentimental reasons and in $1999,$ as chairman and chief executive officer $($CEO$)$ of Pulsar, had even appointed her daughter$-$in$-$law, Kyla Jacobs$-$Jones, a recent MBA graduate, as the unit president. The board of directors was not impressed with this obvious nepotism, but Jones insisted and they relented.

ON PROBATION

During $2001,$ Jones began to feel pressure from some of the independent board members to divest Caltron because of its poor financial performance compared to other calculator makers. Old equipment, poor factory operations, an expensive unionized workforce, and intense competition from low$-$wage developing countries were at the root of the company's problems.

Anxious to appease the other directors and test the management skills of her new daughter$-$in$-$law, Jones put Jacobs$-$Jones on notice that if she wanted to stay with the company, she would have to prove herself and turn this unit around. She was to have two years and complete autonomy over the plan of action, but would not receive any financial help from Pulsar. In two years, the company's financial health would be reviewed and a decision made about Jacobs$-$Jones and the unit's future. What is the purpose and the scope of the report?