Reference no: EM131259332

Maria had worked for many years as a Supervisor in housekeeping at the Sheraton Hotel and Spa in West Palm Beach. During the downturn of the economy, Maria lost a job and have not been able to find one since. Maria learned how to bake when her mother use to run a bakery in Colombia, she is a gardener and has other skills that she can turn into a business. Her friend Amal suggest that she goes into business for herself instead of worrying about finding a job. She listened and began baking cookies, muffins, and banana breads. Now she needs a clientele to sell these bake good to. She reach out to her attorney and couple other people she knows and they really like her product.

1. In what ways are Maria's customers most likely to judge the quality of her product?

2. Maria is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance and maintenance.

a) What kind of things would likely require forecasts?

3. What competitive advantage does Maria have over the professional competitors?