Becky’s Bright Idea

Becky’s Bright Idea Part 2 The Board of Directors

Her First Day of Business On Monday: Becky sells 30 Glo-Sheets to her class and teachers By Wednesday: she sells 70 more to the classes in the years above and below her in school By Friday: she manages to sell 150 more to almost everyone in the whole school 250 Glo-Sheets sold for $1 each = Becky earns $250!

What Should Becky Do? Option 1 Pay back her family. Use left over money for materials. Option 2 Pay back her family later. Buy lots of material and a bike Pro: Can make lots of Glo-Sheets with the money Will use the bike to sell the newly made Glo-Sheets to lots of schools in her area Con Family get their money back later • Pro: • Family get their money back sooner • Con • Becky is back to almost the same money she started with • Who will she sell to now almost everyone in school has a Glo-Sheet?

You Chose Option 1 Becky Pays back the $100 her family lent to her. She has $150 let over, and uses the money to make 400 new Glo-Sheets and has $10 left over for herself as profit. Monday: She sells 20 to people at school, but now everyone that wants one has one. Tuesday: A compliant! A child in her class has used it so much that the paint is rubbing off on their hands and books! By Friday: 20 complaints in total and Becky has spent all her time dealing with them!

You Chose Option 2 Becky tells her family to wait. She buys a bike with a nice big front basket for carrying supplies and has enough money left over to make 300 Glo-Sheets. On Monday before school she cycles to other schools near her house and asks the Head Teachers if she can sell her invention. They all say yes and she visits them after school each day to sell Glo-Sheets. Monday: She sells 20 to people at school, and 100 around other schools By Friday: Becky completely sells out of all 300. She now has $300 in cash and lots more orders at all the other schools!

What Should Becky Do About The Complaints? Option 1 Do nothing – ignore them Option 2 Refund the customers or replace the old Glo-Sheets Pro: Becky will have a better reputation Customers might be happier Con Becky loses time and money when she refunds or replaces the Glo-Sheets • Pro: • Becky loses no time or money • Con • Becky might get a bad reputation

What Should Becky Do Next? Option 1 Pay back her family now. Option 2 Still pay back her family later. Buy even more materials Pro: Can make lots of Glo-Sheets with the money Making more Glo-Sheets means meeting all her orders and selling to lots of new customers Con Family get their money back even later • Pro: • Family get their money back • Con • Becky will lose out on some money and she will not be able to make as many Glo-Sheets • She will have a hard time meeting all her orders and selling to new customers

An Unexpected Helping Hand Even though there were some complaints, Becky’s invention was still very popular. One of the mums from school happened to be a very important person in a big bank. And she was very impressed with the Glo-Sheet that her child had brought back from school one day. She agreed with the bank that Becky should be given a loan. In fact, a very Big Loan. It was so much money that Becky could afford to pay back her family and build a factory where thousands of Glo-Sheets would be made every day without the mistakes that mean they rub off on people. Becky and her family were very excited. They were going to be rich! But there are many hard choices ahead ...

A Helping Hand Becky’s invention was by now famous in the local area. One of the mums from school happened to be a very important person in a big bank. And she was very impressed with the Glo-Sheet her child had brought from school one day. She agreed with the bank that Becky should be given a loan. In fact, a very Big Loan. It was so much money that Becky could afford to build a factory where thousands of Glo-Sheets would be made every day, and sold all over the world! Becky and her family were very excited. They were going to be rich! But there are many hard choices ahead...

What Should Becky Do With The Loan? Option 1 Use the loan to build a factory in a poor country where wages are low and materials cost less. This will mean that the company will make more money. Option 2 Use the loan to build a factory in her local town where the materials cost more and the wages are higher. This will mean that the company will make less money. Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

You Chose Option 1 Becky builds a factory in another country and her Glo-Sheets start being produced by the thousands every day! Soon big boxes full of Glo-Sheets are being sent all round the world: some are flown in planes others are transported by trucks and some are shipped all over the oceans in great big boats called tankers. Becky and her family, along with the board of directors, soon get very rich. But soon there is a problem. The cheap materials and unskilled labour in this country mean that the workers made a mistake and with a toxic chemical. Some people are having an allergic reaction to them. The reaction causes a rash and itching in certain people who hold a Glo-Sheet for just a few minutes.

You Chose Option 2 Becky opens a big factory in her local area where 100 people work. Becky, along with the board of directors, get very rich. But there is a problem. Most of the workers are men and the women say this is unfair. A lot of the men have got together and formed something called a Union. This Union of men has meant they have got these workers more pay, but the women do not get this. Also the men have been able to get more breaks than women. The women think that having this many men getting all these extra things is making working at the factory unfair. Employees at the Factory Women Workers Men Workers 10 90

What Should Becky Do About The Toxic and harmful Glo-Sheets? Option 1 Get rid of all the workers and replace them with machines. Machines can work far longer and never need a break. They do not make mistakes and keeping them running costs less than paying workers Option 2 Move the company back to Becky’s home town. Here she can make sure they are properly trained and keep an eye on the factory herself. Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

What Should Becky Do About The Workers? Option 1 The Union suggests: “Keep things as they are! There are far more men than women, so why make a change that’s worse for the most to benefit the fewest?” Option 2 The Women ask: “Make things fairer by getting rid of some of the men. Make the factory fair by having half men and half women. Then we can make sure we get treated equally.” Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

You Chose Option 1 Because the factory is run by machines, it costs even less to make Glo-Sheets now. Becky, and the board of directors, are making a fortune. A lot of people that lost their jobs at the factory are upset though. But there is now a new problem. It turns out that it was not the workers that were wrong. It was the ingredients. The factory is making products that a lot of people will not want because they can be harmful. Becky is told about the problem as soon as it is found. But by this time, Becky has thousands and thousands of Glo-Sheets in her factory ready to be send out.

What Should Becky Do With All These Thousands Of Glo-Sheets? Option 1 A Chemist offers to test the Glo-Sheets to see how harmful they are and who they effect. Obviously, it is too dangerous to test on humans. So they will need to be tested on animals to protect people from harm. Option 2 A Trader offers to sell the Glo-Sheets to countries that do not know about the harmful effects. Other companies will make adverts telling people how good Glo-Sheets are without telling them about the harm they can cause. Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

You Chose Option 1 The Animal Testing reveals that the paints involved in making Glo-Sheets are slightly toxic to a certain kind of skin. The Chemist advises that you put a warning on the product and cover the Glo-Sheets in a protective layer of clear plastic. With his advice, Becky improves all the existing Glo-Sheets and keeps bringing in more money. Although, a lot of animals were harmed in the testing and some people are very upset by it. But Becky’s company still keeps growing and attracting interest from bigger and bigger organisations that want to buy the Glo-Sheet, until ...

You Chose Option 2 Becky sells her product into a foreign market where they do not know the dangers. At first, business is better than ever. But soon people start to get the itchy rash that others did before. And a newspaper reveals that the adverts have all been lies, and the people start to feel very upset that such a product has been sold to them without them knowing all the facts. But you did manage to sell thousand and thousands of Glo-Sheets. But Becky’s company still keeps growing and attracting interest from bigger and bigger organisations that want to buy the Glo-Sheet, until ...

You Chose Option 1 You decide to keep things as they are. Some of the women at the factory leave their jobs because they think the work is unfair, and Becky’s business gets a bit of a bad reputation because of this. Now time has gone on and everyone at the factory is a member of the Union. Becky and her directors are older and richer than ever. But the Union thinks this is unfair. They still do not get paid very much compared to you. You and Becky get to have mansions, they get normal, small houses. They decide to go on strike until they get better pay.

You Chose Option 2 You decide that the work place must be made more equal and more women are brought in. The men are very angry about this, and Becky’s reputation suffers. But life at the factory seems to be better than before. Now time has gone on and everyone at the factory is a member of the Union. Becky and her directors are older and richer than ever. But the Union thinks this is unfair. They still do not get paid very much compared to you. You and Becky get to have mansions, they get normal, small houses. They decide to go on strike until they get better pay.

What Should Becky Do About The New Demands? Option 1 Becky and the directors sell all their nice mansions, fine cars and expensive things, agree to get paid far less money. All the money that this saves will get divided up and given to the workers. And so the workers will come back to work. Option 2 The workers are all told that unless they get back to work, they will all be fired. You can get more workers to replace them and make them sign contracts to promise never to have a union or strike. You could even replace them all with machines instead. Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

The Big Opportunity Becky’s company now looks very different compared to the little girl painting in her bathroom all those years ago. It makes millions of dollars each year with contracts all over the world. But two big offers come along that will mean Becky and you can retire forever. The offer is so big that the company is able only to make 1 deal. The first is from the military. They say that the Glo-Sheet will mean that soldiers will be able to read their orders and information in the dark without needing torches, a power supply or giving off too much light. It could save the army a lot of money and save lives. The second is the health service. They say the Glo-Sheet could be used in hospitals so that doctors can read about sick patients in the dark without waking up the patients or wasting electricity on lights. It could save the hospitals a lot of money and save lives.

Which Deal Should You Make? The Military Becky’s invention will be used for years to come in military conflicts the world over. It will become as normal a part of military uniform as a gun or body armour. The Hospitals Becky’s invention will be used for years to come in hospitals the world over. It will becomes as normal a part of a doctor’s tools as a hospital bed or medicine. Pro: ??? Con ??? • Pro: • ??? • Con • ???

The End And that is where your career as a board of directors came to an end. Well done! You have guided Becky’s company from a one-girl operation in a small town through many twists and turns to a huge company that has made a fortune. In real life, Becky really did start her own company and it really was a success. She is now head of a company that not only makes Glo-Sheets, but helps inventors just like she was turn their great ideas into inventions that can change the world.

Becky’s Bright Idea