Kudler

What is the difference between an issue and a problem? What are some issues at Kudler Fine Foods?
According to Marx (2006), an issue is a trend, condition, critical uncertainty, or wildcard, internal or external that may, will, or does affect the successful accomplishment of our objectives. The definition of a problem, as published at Word Net Web Princeton, is a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved.   The difference is in the solution, in other words, if a problem is not resolved it escalates to an issue, which then threatens accomplishment of objectives. At Kudler Fine Foods there is one major issue threatening the company’s overall objective of growth and sustainability and that issues is overextension. This trend starts from the top with Kathy Kudler being the biggest offender. Kathy is the president and founder of Kudler Fine Foods and, in addition to those responsibilities Kathy overextends herself to be the catering manager, purchasing department, promotions/demonstrations chef, advertising department, and merchandising department. In taking on all of these responsibilities on her own, Kathy is not only stretching herself thin, but she is committing a great disservice to her employees who are not learning how to do their jobs fully nor feeling the trust from a President who allows them to take complete responsibility of their positions.   In addition to Kathy overextending herself, she has overextended her family relationship with her sister-in-law Anne Shousha and has allowed her personal relationship with Anne to cloud her business-sense. Anne is a tax attorney and does not practice the type of corporate law that would best serve Kudler Fine Foods.   Lastly, the issue of overextension is a concern because the business plan includes expanding to several new locations, implementing a new POS system and several customer retention initiatives. While all of these are exciting advancements in the company, there are some operations processes that should be...