| Course | MT209 Small Business Management |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 10 |
| Paper type | Consulting report |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 7 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MT209 Unit 10
Five Changes in Twelve Months and Two Things to Stop: A Unit 10 Consulting Report for a Screen Printing Shop
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
MT209: Small Business Management
Unit 10 Consulting Report
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Northfork Print and Stitch, its owner, staff and every figure are composite and illustrative; bracketed figures stand where quotes and the shop's records would supply the numbers; the sources cited are real.
Letter to the Owner
Dear Renata,
Over this term I have studied Northfork Print and Stitch through its profile, your interview, an order followed from inquiry to pickup, a cash projection, a hiring plan, a supplier comparison, the district bid and a review of the risks you carry. This report turns that work into five recommendations, in the order I believe you should act on them, with the cost of each and the hours it will take from you. Block (2011) describes the consultant's job as offering a clear picture of the situation and a recommendation the client can act on, while leaving the decision with the client, and this report is written in that spirit.
Findings
Four findings from earlier units drive the recommendations. First, the bottleneck for most of the fall is your desk rather than the press: a typical team order spends five of its eleven working days waiting for a quote or art approval. Second, cash runs short every September, when the shop leans on most of its credit line, because schools take close to two months to pay their purchase orders. Third, buying all fall blanks from the cheapest distributor saves about [$4,000] a season and cost about that much on one missed homecoming order. Fourth, three risks are uninsured or undocumented: a breakdown of the single automatic press, the senior operator's color formulas and settings, and your position as the only person who can sign for the shop.
Welsh and White (1981) argued that small firms suffer from resource poverty, so every recommendation must be judged by the scarce resources it uses as well as the problem it solves. Each recommendation below shows both.
Recommendation One: Hire the Order Coordinator in May
Bring in the half-time coordinator planned in Unit 6, at [$18] an hour, by the middle of May. Cost: about [$25,200] a year in wages and payroll taxes, and about sixty of your hours for training in May and June. Return: about twelve hours a week of your time in the fall and faster quotes that should win additional orders. This comes first because it frees the hours you will need for every other recommendation.
Recommendation Two: Narrow the September Cash Trough
Ask booster clubs for half the order value up front, let schools pay small orders by card, and ask your current distributor for forty-five-day terms on consolidated fall orders. Cost: card fees of about [$1,800] a season and about four hours of your time to update the order form and talk to the distributor. Return: about [$15,000] to [$20,000] less drawn on the line at the September low point. Booster clubs may push back on deposits at first, so the coordinator should explain the rule at the quote stage, not when the order is ready.
Recommendation Three: Buy Fall School Colors From the Regional Distributor
For the three fall months, send school-color orders to the regional warehouse, whose shipments arrive complete far more often. Cost: about [$4,000] a season in higher prices and two hours to open the account. Return: fewer missed deadlines and protection for accounts like the one lost after homecoming. Stay with the current distributor for spring orders and for basic colors, so most of the price advantage remains.
Recommendation Four: Bid on the District's Spring Lot Only
Bid on the spring lot of the district contract, about [$54,000] a year, and not the fall lot. Cost: about [$10,000] for the performance bond, which a bonding company typically writes for a premium of a few percent, and about fifteen hours of your time to prepare the bid. Return: added sales in months when the press is half idle and a relationship with fourteen schools. A strong spring season gives you a record to point to when the next three-year cycle opens.
Recommendation Five: Protect the Shop's Single Points of Failure
Add equipment breakdown coverage for the press, pay Hector for about [forty] hours over the winter to record every school color formula and press setting, and add your spouse as a second authorized signer on the business account. Cost: an estimated [$900] a year in premium, about [$1,000] in Hector's time and an hour at the bank. Return: protection against the three risks that could stop the shop for weeks.
None of these changes needs a new machine; four of them need the owner to hand something to someone else.
Two Things to Stop
To make room for these changes, stop writing custom quotes for orders under 24 pieces; give those customers a printed price sheet instead, which the coordinator can apply in minutes. And stop extending open-ended terms to booster clubs, which have been the shop's slowest payers; the deposit rule in Recommendation Two replaces that habit.
Twelve-Month Calendar
In January, price the equipment breakdown coverage and add the second signer. In February and March, Hector records color formulas during the slow season, and the spring lot bid is submitted. In April, post the coordinator position and change the order form for deposits and card payment. In May, hire and begin training the coordinator. In June, negotiate fall terms with the current distributor and open the regional distributor account. In July, complete training and confirm fall supplier orders. From August through October, run the fall season with the coordinator, the split purchasing and the new payment terms, and track quotes sent and won. In November, compare the September low point and the fall's missed orders with last year's figures.
Measures
Next November, five figures will tell you how the year went: the September credit line draw, which should fall below [$25,000]; average days from inquiry to approved artwork, which should fall from five to two; complete fall shipments in school colors, which should reach at least [95] percent; the owner's fall weekly hours, which should fall below fifty; and a written color binder covering every school account by March.
Churchill and Mullins (2001) noted that small firms can finance more of their growth internally by shortening the time cash is tied up in operations, and Recommendations Two and Three do that. Together with the coordinator, they prepare the shop for a full district bid in three years, if you still want one.
References
Block, P. (2011). Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used (3rd ed.). Pfeiffer.
Churchill, N. C., & Mullins, J. W. (2001). How fast can your company afford to grow? Harvard Business Review, 79(5), 135-143.
Welsh, J. A., & White, J. F. (1981). A small business is not a little big business. Harvard Business Review, 59(4), 18-32.
What the MT209 Unit 10 assignment asks for
The final unit usually asks for a consulting report to the owner of the business you studied, bringing together the term's findings. Most prompts expect a letter or summary to the owner, a short findings section, ranked recommendations with costs and benefits, an implementation timeline and measures of success. Write for the owner in plain language, even if the instructor grades it. Recommendations should be few enough to act on in a year and ranked so the owner knows where to start. Each should carry its cost in money and in the owner's time, since a small firm's scarcest resource is often the owner. Many sections reward naming what the business should stop doing to make room. Earlier conclusions can change if later units warrant it, and the report should say so. Expect eight to ten pages in your own version, citing consulting and small business sources in APA 7.
How the MT 209 Unit 10 example is put together
The report opens with a letter that lists the term's evidence and, citing Block, leaves the decision with the owner. A findings section summarizes four results from earlier units, and Welsh and White's resource poverty explains why each recommendation is costed in hours as well as dollars. Recommendation one, the coordinator, comes first because it frees time for the others, which a margin note explains. Recommendations two through five each give the cost, the owner's hours and the return, from card fees and deposits to a bond for the spring lot and a binder of color formulas. The highlighted line notes that none of the changes needs a new machine. Two things to stop follow, with a second note on why they make the plan feasible. A twelve-month calendar places each step, and five measures for November close the report, with Churchill and Mullins on shortening the cash cycle.
MT209 Unit 10 rubric: what earns full points
Consulting reports are typically graded on how well recommendations follow from evidence, how clearly they are ranked and how practical the plan is. A short findings section that draws on earlier units shows the report is built on the term's work. Ranking with a reason, rather than listing ideas, earns credit, especially when the ranking reflects the owner's limited time. Each recommendation should carry a cost and a return in specific terms. Naming what to stop shows understanding that a small business cannot simply add tasks. A calendar with months and owners demonstrates feasibility, and measures with targets let the owner judge results. Writing to the owner, in plain language, matters because the report is meant to be used. Block, Churchill and Mullins and Welsh and White should be cited in APA 7, and figures should match earlier units.
MT209 Unit 10 help: mistakes that cost points
Consulting reports most often fall short by listing many unranked suggestions, which leaves the owner unsure where to begin. Another frequent problem is recommendations without costs, or with costs in dollars but not in the owner's hours. Some writers repeat each earlier unit at length instead of summarizing findings in a page. Others recommend expensive equipment when the evidence pointed to process or people. Calendars are sometimes missing or too vague to follow. Measures may be absent or impossible to check. Watch the audience: a report written to the instructor in academic language reads poorly to an owner. If later units changed your view of an earlier finding, say so rather than hiding it. Share the papers from Units 2 through 9 along with what the owner cares about most, and they can help rank the recommendations, cost each one and build the calendar.
Get an MT209 Unit 10 example written to your instructions
Gather the term's work on your adopted business, earlier submissions or just their key figures; the MT209 Unit 10 instructions and rubric belong in the same message. The report opens with a letter to the owner, ranks and costs each recommendation in money and hours, sequences them by month and names what to stop. First custom sample free, back in 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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MT209 Unit 10 questions, answered
Should the report be addressed to the owner or to the instructor?
Most MT209 prompts ask for a report written to the owner, and the sample follows that, using plain language and her own concerns. Your instructions decide. Even when the instructor is the formal audience, writing as if the owner will read it keeps the advice practical, which is what graders in this unit tend to reward most.
How many recommendations should a consulting report include?
Few enough that an owner could act on all of them within a year, often three to six. The sample settles on five and ranks them. A long list of unranked suggestions reads as a brainstorm, and in a business where every change runs through one person, the ranking and the sequence are part of the advice.
Where can I find a free MT209 Unit 10 sample paper?
This page carries a complete MT209 Unit 10 consulting report for a screen printing shop. It ranks five costed recommendations, names two practices to stop, sets a twelve-month calendar and five measures, and includes margin notes.
Why is hiring the coordinator the first recommendation?
Because it frees about twelve of the owner's hours a week in the fall, and every other change needs some of her time. Without that relief, the cash, supplier and risk steps would compete with quoting for the same evenings.
What are the two things the sample tells the owner to stop?
Writing custom quotes for orders under 24 pieces, which a price sheet can replace, and giving booster clubs open-ended payment terms, which the new deposit rule replaces. Both free time or cash for the recommendations.