Project Description Business Background Class Project

Project 1(Marketing Computer Drives) – Main Goal Product (Class project)- T/2 Mega Company(Class project)- Storage Tech Determine optimal price & quantity for a T/2 Mega (new product)

Business Background- Production decisions One of the most important decisions made by companies Determining how many units of each product to produce and sell

Business Background-Market Structures Perfect Competitive markets Eg: Wheat/Corn Monopolies Eg: Microsoft/Standard oil

Business Background-Market Structures Perfect Competitive markets Large number of buyers & sellers Easy Entry and exit Totally undifferentiated product Individual company has no control over PRICE Production decisions-OUTPUT Monopolies One seller Significant barrier to entry(Eg: control over vital raw materials/ Legal restrictions/Economies of Scale) Product differentiation Has control over PRICE Production decisions-OUTPUT and PRICE

Perfect Competitor- Supply & Demand Curves

Monopoly- Supply & Demand Curves

Demand Function Demand Curve- A monopolist has a downward sloping curve Demand function-relates the price that a company can charge for each unit of its product to the quantity of the product it sells Can estimate properties( Eg:We will find the equation of the demand function to build the project) Overall slope has business implications(Eg: Downward slope linked to monopoly)

Revenue Function Revenue function q -the number of units of a good that are sold p- the price per unit at which that good is sold(unit price)

Total cost function Total Cost= Fixed Cost + Variable cost

Total cost function Fixed costs of production- incurred even if the company produces no units of its goods Eg: Executive salary/Rent/Insurance/Production facility and equipment Variable costs – incurred on a unit-produced basis Eg: cost of raw materials/wages of assembly workers

Business Background-Profit Profit = Revenue – Cost Positive Profit When Revenue>cost

Business Background-Test Marketing to predict national sales Used to forecast the demand for a new product Test marketing is extremely useful Because it is 1. Cost effective 2. Time saving

Class Project Company –Storage Tech Product –the T/2 Mega The company has exclusive rights to produce and market new technology during the coming 3 years Temporary monopolistic power Hope to find I) how to price the T/2 Mega in such a way that it will produce the maximum profit during the coming year ii) How many drives that they expect to sell iii) How much profit they might hope to realize from sales

Goals 1. What price should Storage Tech put on the drives, in order to achieve the maximum profit? 2. How many drives might they expect to sell at the optimal price? 3. What maximum profit can be expected from sales of the T/2 Mega? 4. How sensitive is profit to changes from the optimal quantity of drives, as found in Question 2? 5. What is the consumer surplus if profit is maximized?

Goals-Contd. 6. What profit could Storage Tech expect, if they price the drives at $299.99? 7. How much should Storage Tech pay for an advertising campaign that would increase demand for the T/2 Mega drives by 10% at all price levels? 8. How would the 10% increase in demand effect the optimal price of the drives? 9. Would it be wise for Storage Tech to put $15,000,000 into training and streamlining which would reduce the variable production costs by 7% for the coming year?

Class Project Number of Potential customers- 350 million 6 test markets – to determine the fraction of the potential buyers who would actually purchase the 12-GB, at various price levels Results – Marketing Data CBD.xls Project Assumptions 12-GB drives will have a quadratic demand function Assume you have a temporary monopoly for the sale of all similar items

Test Market Details

Production Cost When a new product is developed Production & engineering departments provide estimates of these COSTS (show excel file marketing data for class project)

Production cost estimates Fixed overhead cost - $135,000,000 Variable cost First 800,000 - $ 160 per drive Next 400,000- $ 128 per drive All drives after the first 1,200,000- $ 72 per drive

Team Project Each team will receive an Excel file Test market data Trend line directions Production cost estimates

Team Project Each team will have similar questions as in the class project goals

Preliminary Report Preliminary Report Teams & Data for Project 1 on Class website 3-5 minutes PowerPoint presentation You will be asked 1-2 questions about the presentation You need to give me a copy of the PPT presentation (size 6X4) Dress Code- Business Casual Evaluation Form for the Presentation is posted on the class website

Preliminary Report-contd. Should start the presentation by introducing the team Give a name and description for your Team product ( Show example team 1 excel file) & pick a name for your company A Discussion of the problem Definitions Project Assumptions Study of Historical Data Analysis/calculations/logical process used to find the results for your recommendations Recommendation(optimal price,quantity, profit)

Preliminary Report-contd. Tentative decisions for the following questions should be your objective for the presentation. You need to decide on an optimal price/optimal quantity/optimal profit. 1. What price should you put for the Team product, in order to achieve the maximum profit? 2. How many drives you expect to sell at the optimal price? 3. What maximum profit can be expected from sales of the Team product? (based on problem data/common sense/ business considerations)