The Big Decision

I saw the premiere of this show last night.

This show stars Jim Treliving and Arlene Dickinson. Both of them look at two failing Canadian businesses per episode, give them challenges to complete before they show up, and then decide if they want to invest in these businesses.

The first episode has a wine-making business and a fence-making business, and both of them are in dire straits financially. Both of them were given challenges that are meant to improve them. Treliving came to each one of them, and look them over before making his decision. He decided to invest in the wine-making business and decided not to invest in the fence-making business. Fortunately for the fence-making business, they got a lucky break elsewhere and have managed to live on.

Now, a key detail to remember here is that Treliving and Dickinson are businesspeople. They are not throwing money at these businesses, and expecting nothing in return. Oh, no! They are going to invest in these failing businesses, if they are sure that they will get money back from this!

So, what do you think?

Last night's episode was interesting to watch. Arlene Dickinson examines two companies, the first one being a retail store, and the other one being a chocolate bar company.

The retail store has found itself competing against some bigger companies, and the man and woman in charge of the store have a dysfunctional relationship. They were married at one point, but it fizzled out, and it shows in the way they have little teamwork. Their jobs overlap with each other and they have Skewed Priorities.

Arlene challenges them to split it up, with the woman handling the visionary side, and the man handling the practical manager side of things. The man performed admirably and was able to sell double the usual stuff at an event. The woman...flunked. She was supposed to come up with a document detailing the vision of the retail store, and she did not. In fact, she came to the event helping out with making the popcorn when she wasn't supposed to be there. Is it any wonder that Arlene told them that she wasn't going to invest in their company and that they should sort out their partnership first, before taking on new partners?

The chocolate bar company has an interesting crisis on its hands. This company has tried to go out on a limb selling juice. They have not been able to sell much in this area, and they even have a warehouse full of boxes of unsold juice, and that is stuff that will go bad after awhile. They have spent loads of money on this, and they need $400,000 to recover from the losses!

Arlene finds out that the people in this company are good at the social aspects, but they have virtually no concept of marketing. Their marketing consists of a tiny corner office and two women who could use a marketing expert! They make different packages for their products, which is not good, because it makes it harder for their customers to recognize their stuff. They also have farmers in Third World Countries making the products, and the company apparently came up with the juice as a favour to them.

Arlene gives the company the challenge of getting rid of the juice. The people there are reluctant to do this, since they spent energy, money, and time on this. So to help them make a decision, they tried having customers try out the juice at the store to see if they would buy it. Practically nobody did. They tested out the juice with experts in that area, and the juice flunked in terms of packaging, taste, and other areas. When the woman in charge of this company saw this, she was unhappy. In the end, the company got rid of the juice. They were able to sell a number of the juice boxes to schools and kids who would not be picky about the product. Arlene decided to invest in the company, despite its flaws. She feels that the company does have promise, and while it made a costly mistake, it will hopefully learn to avoid that in the future. That, and Arlene has a big weakness for chocolate.

edited 20th Mar '12 7:55:39 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Last night's episode of The Big Decision was interesting to watch. Jim Treliving paid a visit to a beer-making company and a company that produces nuts and bolts...and wire.

The beer-making company is called Dead Frog (catchy, memorably name, by the way). They were doing alright...until they got a bad batch of beer, had to literally pour it down the drain, and lost a lot of money. Jim takes a look, and finds out that the beer bottles are being made almost completely by hand and the process needs improvement in efficiency. The beer company is selling 10 ten different brands, which would be fine, except this is a small company that is spreading its focus a little too far and a little too thin. Finally, the company needs to come up with a financial plan. So Jim challenges them to make improvements in these areas.

Dead Frog manages to make the beer-making process more efficient than it was before. It managed to clean up the factory, so now it has more space to move around and looks better. They cut down the number of brands to 4 of their best brands. They came up with a contest idea that will reward the winner with a tour of their factory. However, they left the financial planning to the last minute, and even put a picture of a dog with big, sad eyes as part of their presentation. In the end, Jim decided to invest in the company. It might seem odd, until you consider that he will pretty much own this company...and he plans to sell it to an even bigger beer-making company! If this was fiction, Jim Treliving would qualify as a Magnificent Bastard!

The nuts and bolts company used to be so great, having contracts with a number of big-time American companies. Then the Recession occurred, and now it's like a lot of companies out there now. They need $700,000 to get out of the problem they're in, and that's quite a lot of money when you think about it! Jim finds out that the employees hate the management and consider them to be a bunch of idiots. There's even graffiti on one wall in the factory saying "BANG HEAD HERE"! The management consists of older men who simply do not know how to do their jobs. In fact, the company has been unable to deliver on this one contract, and is going to shut down in a matter of weeks.

Jim decides not to invest in this company. He saw loads of problems with this company. These problems could be sorted out, but it would take a lot longer than the few weeks the company has! It will probably not surprise you to know that a few weeks afterwards, the company shut down.

What have I learned from this? One, if a company's in trouble, throwing money at it might not necessarily be the solution to fixing it. Two, if a company is failing, sometimes it's better and cheaper to just let it collapse and start again from scratch than it is to try saving it and losing loads of energy, money, and time in the process!

edited 27th Mar '12 7:42:40 AM by TiggersAreGreat

Arlene Dickinson sure was facing challenges in last night's episode! This episode featured a bath and body company, as well as a smoked fish company.

The bath and body company sells cosmetics, and the product is making money. However, the problem in this company is the management. You have three people and their personalities are clashing. One of them is the one who made the product in the first place, and she ironically knows little about business. The other two are partners who know how to make money and business, but they are not quite interested in the vision. So Arlene brings in a job coach to assess the situation, and has them make a presentation of the product to a group of tough critics in an effort reconcile their differences.

The smoked fish company is in a small town, and it's the only business this community has. If the company shuts down, the community shuts down with it. Interestingly enough, the company ran into trouble because they bought another company, and that amounted to nothing except at least 3 million dollars down the drain! Arlene challenges them to find a way to make big sales before 90 days go by and then they have to shut down. So the company makes a deal with Dominos Pizza to have pieces of salmon as a topping. They even put on a big event and have some D.P. people try out the product. Of course, the money and effort causes the company to have only 3 days left before they have to shut down.

Arlene decides to invest in both companies. The cosmetics company did manage to improve relations between the management. However, Arlene did say that she intends to make changes to the company, which will take time. The smoked fish company truly has the community united, and it would be terrible if all the potential went to waste. Fortunately, the deal with D.P. went just swimmingly, and it now boasts a pizza with salmon toppings. This means that the smoked fish company will be just fine!