S11 Managing New Product Development

1. What is a failed new product (from any company) that comes to your mind? Which of the 3 key objectives do you think played the biggest role in its failure?
2. Which of the 3 objectives do you feel is where Apple focuses the most attention? Why?
3. How important do you feel new product development is to Apple both financially and reputationally?

Please answer questions in a paragraph, thank you!

1. Safeway supermarkets sells, among thousands of other items, delicious scrumptious bananas. They’re fantastic, but spoil easily, so they can’t keep too many in inventory at a time.   Their temperture-controlled storage unit can hold 600 bunches of bananas, which is how much they order at a time. Annual banana demand is 12,000 bunches. The annual holding cost rate is $1.5 per banana bunch, and each order costs him $50 to place each order. Assuming a uniform rate of consumption:   

a) How much does Safeway spend on total inventory with their current ordering policy?

b) How much would Safeway save in inventory costs if they used an economic order quantity (EOQ) model for order quantities?

Type or paste question here

QUESTION 76

1. Retailers are increasingly creating:

   	a.	superior training for sales associates
   	b.	private store brands
   	c.	discount offers on all store brands
   	d.	overseas branded outlets

1 points   

QUESTION 77

1. The "value of a like" is a means of:

   	a.	selling "likes" on Facebook
   	b.	trying to put a value on likes and clicks
   	c.	selling "likes" on EBay
   	d.	trying to measure the unmeasurable

1 points   

QUESTION 78

1. The concept of “retail as theatre" is attributed to:

   	a.	Broadway shows as retail format
   	b.	Marvin Traub at Bloomingdale's
   	c.	how Macy's trains its sales associates
   	d.	an outdated sales manual

1 points   

QUESTION 79

1. Complementary positioning is a brand strategy that:

   	a.	ensures a brands unique identity
   	b.	is found only in mass brands
   	c.	avoids cannibalizing portfolio brands
   	d.	requires consumer buy-ins

Subaru’s Sales Boom Thanks to the Weaker Yen

For the Japanese carmaker Subaru, a sharp fall in the value of the yen against the U.S. dollar has turned a problem—the lack of U.S. production—into an unexpected sales boom. Subaru, which is a niche player in the global auto industry, has long bucked the trend among its Japanese rivals of establishing significant manufacturing facilities in the North American market. Instead, the company has chosen to concentrate most of its manufacturing in Japan in order to achieve economies of scale at its home plants, exporting its production to the United States. Subaru still makes 80 percent of its vehicles at home, compared with 21 percent for Honda.

Back in 2012, this strategy was viewed as something of a liability. In those days, 1 U.S. dollar bought only 80 Japanese yen. The strong yen meant that Subaru cars were being priced out of the U.S. market. Japanese companies like Honda and Toyota, which had substantial production in the United States, gained business at Subaru’s expense. But from 2012 onward, with Japan mired in recession and consumer prices falling, the country’s central bank repeatedly cut interest rates in an attempt to stimulate the economy. As interest rates fell in Japan, investors moved money out of the country, selling yen and buying the U.S. dollar. They used those dollars to invest in U.S. stocks and bonds, where they anticipated a greater return. As a consequence, the price of yen in terms of dollars fell. By December 2015, 1 dollar bought 120 yen, representing a 50 percent fall in the value of the yen against the U.S. dollar since 2012.   

For Subaru, the depreciation in the value of the yen has given it a pricing advantage and driven a sales boom. Demand for Subaru cars in the United States has been so strong that the automaker has been struggling to keep up. The profits of Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, have surged. In February 2015, Fuji announced that it would earn record operating profits of around ¥410 billion ($3.5 billion U.S.) for the financial year ending March 2015. Subaru’s profit margin has increased to 14.4 percent, compared with 5.6 percent for Honda, a company that is heavily dependent on U.S. production. The good times continued in 2015, with Subaru posting record profits in the quarter ending December 31, 2015.

Despite its current pricing advantage, Subaru is moving to increase its U.S. production. It plans to expand its sole plant in the United States, in Indiana, by March 2017, with a goal of making 310,000 a year, up from 200,000 currently. When asked why it is doing this, Subaru’s management notes that the yen will not stay weak against the dollar forever, and it is wise to expand local production as a hedge against future increases in the value of the yen. Indeed, when the Bank of Japan decided to set a key interest rate below zero in early February 2016, the yen started to appreciate against the U.S. dollar, presumably on expectations that negative interest rates would finally help stimulate Japan’s sluggish economy. By late March 2016, the yen had appreciated against the dollar and was trading at $1 = ¥112.

Question 1: As Subaru expands into different countries, we will face increased foreign currency risk. Discuss different modes of currency risk and how each should be managed.

Question 2: When evaluating which foreign markets to serve, Subaru must consider certain variables that influence the location-specific costs and benefits of serving those markets. Identify several of the most important variables to consider and the implications of each on potential profitability.

Question 3: As Subaru implements it international operations, we will need to consider to what degree we delegate decision making to our foreign subsidiaries. Explain several advantages and disadvantages of centralized versus decentralized decision making.

Question 4: What are some of the most important considerations we should evaluate to best configure our production and supply chain operations. Provide specific details for each consideration.

Question 5: Discuss political, economic and legal criteria to assess the attractiveness of doing business in different country-specific locations.   

Safeway supermarkets sells, among thousands of other items, delicious scrumptious bananas.  They’re fantastic, but spoil easily, so they can’t keep too many in inventory at a time.   Their temperture-controlled storage unit can hold 600 bunches of bananas, which is how much they order at a time.  Annual banana demand is 12,000 bunches.  The annual holding cost rate is $1.5 per banana bunch, and each order costs him $50 to place each order. Assuming a uniform rate of consumption:    

a)  How much does Safeway spend on total inventory with their current ordering policy?

b)  How much would Safeway save in inventory costs if they used an economic order quantity (EOQ) model for order quantities?

Use your knowledge of decision-making and problem solving to select the term that best completes the sentence.

Many were made after a tornado devastated the small town with little warning.

Use your knowledge of decision-making and problem solving to determine which term best represents the given example.

USE EXCEL TO SOLVE

The Sav-Us Rental Car Agency has six lots in Nashville, and it wants to have a certain number of cars available at each lot at the beginning of each day for local rental. The agency would like a model it could quickly solve at the end of each day that would tell it how to redistribute the cars among the six lots in the minimum total time. The times required to travel between the six lots are as follows:

The agency would like the following number of cars at each lot at the end of the day. Also shown is the number of available cars at each lot at the end of a particular day. Determine the optimal reallocation of rental cars using the computer.

Organizing for Innovation:

1. Do think you Tesla will become a household name in the auto industry with its electric vehicles? will they achieve an affordable electric vehicle for the masses?
2. Would you agree with the idea that flexible and open environment is conducive for employees to innovate, Why or why not?
3.   How much of Tesla’s success or failure would attribute to Elon Musk? would you in any way compare it to Apple and Steve Jobs?

Please answer in a paragraph for each question! Thank you!

The answer to your essay must be written in complete sentences and be comprehensive in nature. Your answer should be between 200-225 words.

Please answer ONE of these questions: 1. Explain the communication process: include a discussion of the major objectives of promotion and the four major promotional mix elements.

OR

2. Describe and give examples of the major types of advertising, and discuss how they are similar and how they differ.

True or false and explain why.

“Is Brick and Mortar Retail Dead?”

please give many details why and how

The Government has recently launched a new and innovative transport system in the country, which is managed by the Metro Express Co Ltd. The CEO of the company is aware that a big challenge lies ahead in managing a new company and to run it efficiently. The Chairperson of the Board of Directors has stated, at the first meeting, that “Managing an organisation requires various skills and the ability to organise various resources. All these tasks must be executed with an understanding of how actions influence the organisation, both internally and externally.” Furthermore, the Board of Directors of the Metro Express Co Ltd has stressed that one of the significant influences on how an organisation is managed is the system of corporate governance.

You are requested to advise him on: (i) how to structure the corporate governance of the organisation?

trace the historical development of the port of hamburg as it relates to Bird any port model.

Three suppliers located in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Kansas City provide four customers with a special component every year. These customers are located in Cleveland, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Houston. The yearly requirements of these customers are given below. Annual Requirements (in thousand units) Cleveland Charlotte Atlanta Houston 16 20 25 34 Suppliers’ annual production capacity will be decided by your student number. The third, fourth, and fifth of your student number will be the capacity of the supplier in Baltimore, the sixth and seventh of your student number represent the capacity of the supplier in St. Louis, and the eighth and ninth of your student number decide the capacity of the supplier in Kansas City. Below is an example of suppliers’ capacity if your student number is A01234567 (Please change each supplier’s capacity based on your student number.) Capacity (in thousand units) Baltimore St. Louis Kansas City 123 45 67 The unit cost for supplying each customer from each supplier is given below (in $/unit). Baltimore St. Louis Kansas City Cleveland 97 100 93 Charlotte 132 85 90 Atlanta 125 91 90 Houston 104 112 115 Slippery Rock University Spring 2020 Page 2 of 2 a) If all customers' demand should be satisfied, use Linear Programming technique to formulate a mathematical model to minimize total cost. Solve the model in excel with your objective function colored in green, decision variables colored in yellow, and resource utilization colored in blue (15 pts). Please also prepare a short statement to explain your model results to your manager (5 pts). b) In a separate worksheet, suppose all customers' demand will be tripled next year and remain at this new level for a relatively long period of time. Solve the problem again in excel. Is the solution feasible and why? (10 pts) c) In another worksheet, with new demand requirements (all tripled), consider the situation in which 1) Requirements coming from Houston must be satisfied 2) All suppliers need to operate at full capacity to satisfy demand as much as possible 3) Total cost should be minimized Solve this problem in excel and answer the following questions. i. What’s your new minimum total cost? (15 pts) ii. Please create a designated row or column, named unmet demand, in excel to indicate whether all customers’ demand would be satisfied. (5 pts) iii. Please create a designated row or column, named excess capacity, in excel to illustrate whether all suppliers are operating at full capacity. (5 pts) iv. Prepare a short statement to explain your model results to your manager. (5 pts) d) If the solution for problem c) is not feasible, consider the scenario in which you have the option to increase supplier’s capacity by 50,000 units with a cost of $25,000 for St. Louis and $23,000 for Kansas City, while increasing capacity by 100,000 units will cost $45,000 in St. Louis and $49,000 in Kansas City. Baltimore only has the option to increase capacity by 30,000 units at a cost of $20,000. Moreover, each supplier can have at most one option to increase its capacity and all customers' demand should be satisfied. Please develop a mathematical model to help your manager to decide which option or combination is the best in order to minimize total cost. Write down your algebraic formulation in a worksheet (Objective function, decision variables, and constraints). (10 pts) e) Solve the model you developed for d) in a separate worksheet and answer the following questions. i. What’s your new minimum total cost? (15 pts) ii. Please create a designated row or column, named unmet demand, in excel to indicate whether all customers’ demand would be satisfied. (5 pts) iii. Please create a designated row or column, named excess capacity, in excel to illustrate whether all suppliers are operating at full capacity. (5 pts) iv. Prepare a short statement to explain your model results to your manager. (5 pts)