Quarter #4 (July - September)

In the last fiscal quarter Universal really placed most of its energy on increasing net profits. As done in previous quarters, increasing net profits was done by strategically increasing rental costs in areas where Universal had increased market share (Tampa and Miami). This strategy has worked successfully in all four quarters. This strategy has allowed the company to maximize its’ weekday and weekend capacity utilization to 100% consistently. Maximizing utilization was one of my primary objectives from the start and I’m happy to see that the company managed to hit the max from June to September.

My other primary objective was to maximize profits. When I began working for Universal in October the company's accumulated profit for that month was $0.

Here's how Universal completed the year fiscally:

Monthly Net Income

July --------------- August ----------------September

$102,557,707 ----$119,844,191 -----------$138,603,364


With a yearly accumulative profit of $138,603,364, I would argue that Universal did fairly well given where the company was in October. I would also argue that this was a good year to be managing Universal. Although the company 12 months ago was struggling, this allowed for new management to come in and observe the situation with new perspectives. It definitely was not an easy year to be managing Universal, but I think the challenge equaled the reward. With this year's increasing elasticity of the market, this allowed for more business opportunity and big sales...who wouldn't want to manage a business in this setting?

After reviewing this year's sales I do feel that there are several areas of opportunity/improvement that should be considered as we head into the next fiscal year. The most important aspect we should consider is increasing our fleet sizes to meet market demand. We lost a considerable amount of sales by not meeting customer orders. This could have been easily resolved by steady implementation of a larger fleet added per month (again, I did not have this option in the simulation). Second, Universal should strive in making more promotional activities. Some of the promotional offerings mentioned earlier in this blog included offering lower prices during non-peak seasons, extended mileage travel, no late return fees or offer a no empty tank fuel charge upon rental car return. These options are all plausible choices that consumers may find very appealing and it doesn't cost the company and overwhelming amount of money. Universal should also increase brand equity by implementing brand management strategies. Given Universal's stellar performance and the steady increase in market demand Universal should increase marketing in several media applications. Some of the applications that should be considered include, airport advertising, e-advertising, short well-informed TV commercials and newspaper ads. By advertising in these key traffic areas, Universal is sure to increase brand equity and bound themselves for future success.

I'm looking forward to another year!