Question

You need to write 5-8 sentences per paragraph for a total of 20-32 sentences overall.

Case A: From Dragon’s Den Manjit Minhas is a Canadian entrepreneur, television personality and venture capitalist. She is the co-founder of Minhas Breweries & Distillery, manufacturer of beer brands such as Mountain Crest Classic Lager, Boxer Lager, Lazy Mutt Ale and Huber Bock. She specializes in marketing with interests in branding and sales. Your Task: You are an entrepreneur and CEO who sees Manjit Minhas as a possible investor in your brewery located in North Cyprus called Five Fingers Mountain Brewery. Your brewery has been in business for one year and you are having troubles with finding qualified brewers and marketing your specialty beer. Choose two business strategies for convincing Manjit Minhas to invest in your company. Decide on how much money you need and what percentage of the equity you are offering Manjit Minhas. Consider whether you are you in a strong or weak BATNA position for convincing Manjit Minhas to invest in your brewery. How does culture play a role in your strategy?

BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement):

There are two possibilities for the buyer and seller roles—

• a weak BATNA (buyer needs a car now, and seller needs to sell the car now), and

• a strong BATNA (buyer has other alternatives, and seller is considering keeping the car)

Essay Writing Structure for Essay

Essay Topic: The Dragon’s Den case

I am looking for specific business ideas, your evidence, and your reasons for negotiating the situation in the Dragon’s Den case. If you can tie in a cultural aspect, great! As I said in class, "Remember that you may not need to answer every question in the case." You need to write 5-8 sentences per paragraph for a total of 20-32 sentences overall.

Try applying the following format/structure for your essay. Of course, creativity of ideas is your part. You would not write an essay using the same language every time. For example, the topic sentences provided are not the only topics to talk about the problem in the case. You need to adjust the paragraph's information according to your own ideas. Since I gave you an introduction, it may be hard to change it into your own words at this point…but please try.

In the introduction, describe your company, decide on how much money you need and what percentage of the equity you are offering. In the body of the essay, for paragraph 2 describe the problem at your company, what you have in place at this time, and your future projections (Considerations: personal investment to date, previous sales records, sales projections, and your technical knowledge or expertise.) In paragraph 3, discuss the advantages for Minhas if she invests in your company. In the conclusion, provide a summary reiterating why a Minhas should invest in your company.

Introduction paragraph and thesis statement (idea and format) (5-8 sentences): Locals and tourists in North Cyprus consume beer at our local restaurant, cafes and bars. Five Fingers Mountain Brewery is a local brewery that is having hiring troubles finding skilled labor in North Cyprus. In the case presented, Minhas has vast experience in the brewery industry. As the CEO of Five Fingers, I am offering her 15% equity in my company for £40,000. This paper is going to discuss a strategic plan that addresses the cultural and business aspects for pitching a deal to Minhas for financial support in Five Fingers Mountain Brewery.

Supporting paragraph 1 topic sentence and body structure (5-8 sentences): Hiring skilled and qualified brewers for Five Fingers Mountain Brewery is a challenge. Add four sentences that address why it is difficult to hire employees in North Cyprus. Include a sentence with a reason why the evidence is important. Then state, “Based on the previous reasons, this places me in a weak negotiating position” and add a sentence or two on how you can be in a strong position.

Supporting paragraph 2 topic sentence idea (5-8 sentences): In the case presented, being aware of one's negotiating position is an advantage when pitching a deal to Minhas for a partnership with Five Fingers Mountain Brewery. Add 4 more sentences in support of how you will accomplish the task by describing her advantages for investing in your company.

Concluding paragraph's topic sentence idea (5-8 sentences): This essay presented both the weak and strong positions for Five Fingers Mountain Brewery to negotiate a partnership with Manjit Minhas. Add 4 more sentences by summarizing the advantages and disadvantages in a business and cultural aspect. The final sentence includes an optimistic outlook for the future.

Answer 1

The Dragon’s Den Case

If you are a beer lover and live in North Cyprus or if you have been to North Cyprus, it would be difficult to believe that you haven’t heard about ‘Five Fingers Mountain Brewery’. Even after earning a reputation like no other, Five Fingers is still having problem in finding qualified and proficient labor. As Minhas has ample experience in the brewery industry, I am more than happy to offer 15% equity in my company to her for £40,000. The paragraphs that follow give an in-depth shape to the cultural and business aspects about the working and financial state of the Five Fingers Mountain Brewery.

Hiring skilled, professional and competent labor is a task for any business that exists in the world and the same problem is being faced by our brewery. A lot of young graduates leave for foreign countries because of better standard of living. Most of the locals feel it is not suitable for them to work in breweries even after visiting them quite often. Also, they believe that the salaries being offered to them are low for the work they do. Based on these unavoidable reasons, I am in a weak negotiating position. The main reason that I believe puts me in a strong position is the fact that we are the first priority of a lot of people, be it locals or tourists. Moreover, we are the oldest in the business but changes around us are dynamic and we have to deal with them.

In my defense, I would like to say that I at least know the problem being faced by my business and am willing to take corrective steps to rectify the problems. I plan to investing newly raised fund in training the labor and awarding them on incentive basis, apart from the regular pay being offered. I believe what motivates an employee to work hard is the ability to earn more by doing a little more effort. If you are ready to invest, you would definitely see the positive results of your investment within a duration of two months, provided everything goes as per the plans being formulated by the HR and R&D teams. These two teams have been working consistently in developing plans to attract the right kind of employees and retaining them.

After going through all the paragraphs, one can point out the strengths and weaknesses of the Five Fingers Mountain Brewery. The challenge is to work on strengths, eliminate or reduce weaknesses, tap the opportunities as soon as possible and look out for threats to the company. Being the oldest and most favored brewery in the town makes us a good investment option but we have to work on managing our workforce. The additional funds being raised would add to the value of the company and would also help us in improving our services in order to increase the footfalls by at least 20% to 25%. All these reasons put together definitely give a hope that our brewery will rise above everyone else in the market. We hope to have a long partnership with Minhas and this investment can be a seed of that partnership.