Question 6: On Attribute Importance Giventhe information shown below (from a screen shot of Market Study 15 atdecision period 0, or round 0, which your team will have access to inmaking your Period 1 decisions), what are the top 3 most importantattributes as demanded by market segments Alpha and Epsilon,respectively? How would you use this information in various pertinentaspects of strategic marketing decision-making? (10 points) Your Answer: The top 3 attributes for Alpha: The top 3 attributes for Epsilon: Decision-making implications: Question 7: On Attribute Perception Below is a screen shot of Market Study 14 (see page 19 of the Student Guide), which lists the ideal values (or needs) for all 5 segments on 6 product attributes and the performancevalues of all products in the market on all the attributes. This wouldbe a great tool for analyzing your products’ market and relativecompetitive performances. For example, the ideal Speed level forSegment Alpha (Segment 1) is at level 12.4, while the actual Speedlevels for products Faldo and Fano are -12.9 and 11.4, respectively.You may use the absolute “Performance – Need” difference score torepresent a product’s ability to meet customers’ need on an attribute,assuming major departures in either direction are increasingly bad.Please note that the values shown in Report 14 all range from -25 to+25; these are non-dimensional (or standardized) values converted fromthe original attribute scales for easiness of comparisons of productperformances across attributes. The original scales are shown in Report9. The Performance – Need difference score for Faldo is:-12.9 – 12.4 = -25.3 (for an absolute value of 25.3; or being very faraway from the ideal value). The Performance – Need differencescore for Fano is: 11.4 – 12.4 = -1 (for an absolute value of 1; orbeing fairly close to the ideal value). Based on the aboveinformation, Fano (at an absolute difference of 1) is much better thanFaldo (at an absolute difference of 25.3) in meeting Alpha customers’need on Speed. Remember to use the absolute difference values tomake your judgment as values too high and too low could be equallydissatisfying. The same logic of performance evaluations also appliesto Price, Complexity, and all other attributes (Price could be an indicator of overall quality so a very low price could be very undesirable). Question:Use the above example as a reference to determine the relativeattractiveness of Faldo and Fano in meeting Segment Gamma’s (Segment3’s) need on Frequency. (10 points) Your Answer: Hint:You may use the below figure (a screen shot of Market Study 15 for thisPeriod) as a reference to verify the correctness of your answer. Optional but highly recommended extension of your answers: Pleasegenerate an Excel table, complete with necessary formulas, whichautomatically calculates the relative performances of all products onall attributions. Furthermore, you may combine this analysis with theattribute importance information to seek to increase the informationalvalue of all available data to you in your company’s strategic marketingdecision-making. Please use this opportunity to explore such analysesso as to better help your company (team) make high informed decisions. Question 8: On Media Preferences Thefollowing Market Study (8) shows the media sources from which customersin various segments obtain product information. For example, Epsiloncustomers get 43% of their product information from Direct mail, whileAlpha customers obtain 50% of their product information from Journals. Report 3 (below) further shows how your companyallocated your total advertising budget across the media channels in thelast decision round. Question: Let’s assume that Balleris targeted at Segment 4 (Delta). How might you want to adjust yourmedia spendings for Baller in the next Period? (10 points) Your Answer: Question 9: On Relative Performance Impacts of Your Own Products Belowis a summary of Report 6. Compare the relative performance of the twoproducts (Baller and Banness) in Period 0 (the last Period of decisions)in terms of their sales percentages (of company total), gross profits(of company total), expenses (of company total), and net contributions(of company total). Which product seems to have performed much betterthan the other in contributing to the company’s bottom-line? Why? Howmight the company’s pricing decisions have caused the big differences intheir relative performances (Hint: examine the Gross Margin %)? Whatwould you do in the next round’s strategic marketing decision-making, interms of production, pricing, advertising about both products, giventhe unequal profit impacts of these two products? (15 points) Report 6 – Income Statement Run Name: TGaoDemo-W1 Company: Comp 1 (Company 1) Period: 0 Baller Banness Total Gross Sales 19,555 34,933 54,488 – Distr Margin 6,523 11,133 17,655 Sales (net) 13,032 23,800 36,833 Cost of Sales 11,081 16,459 27,540 Gross Profit 1,951 7,342 9,293 Gross Margin (%) 10 21 17 Creative 100 100 200 Advertising 1,000 1,000 2,000 Holding Costs 337 437 773 Net Contribution 514 5,805 6,319 Note: Sales, expenses, and profits in thousand $s. Your Answer: Question 10: On Advertising Experiment Readthe explanations on advertising experiment (and on sales forceexperiment) on page 18 of the student guide and examine the followingscreen shot for Market Study 11 from the perspective of Company 1.Based on this collective information, how much sales increase (in %terms) could Company 1 expect to achieve with product Baller if it wereto double its advertising expenditure in the next Period, assumingeverything else is unchanged? What would you recommend that yourcompany do with regard to total advertising spending on both products inthe next decision round? Note: The negative numbers represent how thesales of your competitors’ products will be (negatively) impacted as youdouble your advertising spending, all else being unchanged. (10 points) Your answer: Question 11: On Conversion of Measurement Units Carefullyread page 43 of the Student Guide. Note that different productattributes have different measurement units and different ranges ofcustomer preferences (as shown in Report 9). Non-dimensional (orstandardized) values are often used in perceptual maps to make easycomparisons of products relative performances against customer demandson various attributes. In Sabre, the customers’ demand levels for allattributes are expressed in non-dimensional scales of -25 to 25 nomatter what the actual attribute ranges are. For example, whereas thecustomers’ needs for Complexity range from 7 to 150, you would find theideal customer demand somewhere in between -25 and +25 using thenon-dimensional scales. When you do R&D on a product, you wouldneed to convert the non-dimensional value into actual measurement units. Using the example given on page 43 of the Student Guide,what actual attribute level would you aim for producing if the idealcustomer demand is 15 on the non-dimensional scale? (Hint: Use theformula given on page 43 but change -11 to +15 and go from there. Theresult would be much closer to 100 than to 20.) (10 points) Your Answer (Show your calculation process): Question 12. SWOT Analysis: Performancea brief SWOT analysis of your company’s (or team’s) performance at theend of Round 0 based on all the information (all reports and studies)you have in Sabre. Specifically, identify the top 4 strengths, top 4weaknesses, top 4 opportunities, and top 4 threats for your company.Then briefly speculate how you would recommend to your teammates thatyour company should do in Round 1 of decision-making. Please examinethe information contained in all the reports and studies and rank orderyour answers for each categories of the SWOT analysis. (15 points) Asa general recommendation, all the answers to why some teams would bewinning and others losing are in the reports and studies. You mayexport many reports and studies into Excel for more sophisticatedanalyses, and being able to identify, generate, and perform suchextended analyses could very well determine your team’s ultimatecompetitive performance. Your hard work in conducting these innovativeanalyses would be rewarded not only in this simulation but also in thereal world, in terms of your advanced ability to contribute to yourcurrent or future companies, as companies must perform essentially thesame analyses to make best informed strategic marketing decisions. Your Answer: