, identify and explain how the different elements of both the External and Internal Environments impacted Silver Lake, Ltd., both for good and for bad. Analyze what went wrong, and then include suggestions on what the brothers could have done to help their company survive. Finally, offer some possible reasons why the brothers may not have followed your suggestions. What prevented them from seeing the solution(s) that you see

"Once Upon a Time.....there were two brothers who were schoolteachers; both taught English at the local High School. The two brothers grew frustrated with what they saw as the poor quality of the textbooks they were using, and felt that students were losing out on developing important critical thinking and reading skills. Following a passion and a dream, the two brothers quit their teaching jobs and started their own textbook company, "Silver Lake, Ltd.," named after their hometown.

With an emphasis on remedial reading and critical thinking skills, their new workbooks became very popular, and the company grew quickly. In just a few years the company expanded from a four-person company that rented an apartment over a store, to the town's largest employer. Within four years, Silver Lake employed 50 people full-time and operated out of a campus of five buildings located along the town's main street. The companys presence revitalized the downtown, as employees patronized local butcher shops, printers, a hardware store, delis, taverns, and other mom-and-pop stores. More than 3 million workbooks sold annually to schools around the United States and Canada.

Silver Lake treated its employees well. The employees were hard working "locals" and loyal to their community and company. Each year at Christmas the brothers gave large bonus checks to all employees out of the profits, and held a huge holiday dinner party for everyone in the company. They purchased a block of season tickets to the local NHL team's games, and gave them away each week through a free drawing to the employees in the shipping department. Employees saw each other as an extended family, and willingly stayed late or worked overtime as necessary when large work orders came in. Each Friday, employees would hold a lunchtime BBQ in the parking lot; after work, the entire shipping crew would unwind in a tavern across the street. Employees would often organize weekend trips with each other. Working at Silver Lake, Ltd became a community badge of honor.

But it wasn't to last forever.

In state legislatures around the country, bills were passed requiring that school districts across the state use the same textbooks; individual school districts could no longer purchase their own supplies, but needed to use whatever the state education departments decided to approve. The largest corporate publishers in the country were able to offer the states textbooks in a wide variety of subjects (such as science, math, and history), and Silver Lake - who only published English language & reading materials - had no other lines of textbooks or workbooks. At a time when schools were looking to save money, the fact that Silver Lake workbooks were paperbacks and consumable meaning that they could only be used once, and then a new set had to be purchased for the next years classes put them at a competitive disadvantage. They began losing customers - even customers who wanted to keep using their workbooks.

At the same time, local property taxes in the area increased, and holding on to all five buildings proved a costly proposition. Employees could sense the changes coming, and fear set in. The year-end bonuses ceased, and the season hockey tickets were not renewed. Management decided to sell two of the buildings, and lay off some workers. The company President came in to work on more than one occasion with dark sunglasses and a very obvious hangover, missing some important meetings with state education officials. He was fired by the owner-brothers, and his replacement was an individual who was widely rumored to have had a romantic affair with one of the brothers. Worse, this new President appeared to always be very nervous and in 'panic mode,' and distrusted many employees. Remaining workers lost their confidence and excitement for the company, and the afternoon BBQs and social times ended. Many quietly began searching for new jobs.

Large international Textbook publishers continued to win over state education officials. In the end, the brothers sold the rights to their workbooks to one of those large textbook Publishing houses, and the business was closed. The five large buildings remained empty for some time, creating a ghost town atmosphere in the downtownand many of the other local businesses began closing as well."