Project 4 Analysis Directions: Write your answers below each question. Please do not delete the questions.
1. What strategy were you implementing? What type of product (speed, accuracy, service life, and price) did you design in Round 1? Explain how your settings for speed, accuracy, service life, and price in Round 1 were driven by the chosen strategy.
2. How did you create a sales forecast in each round? Explain. For Round 1 only, how did you use the sales forecast for capacity planning?
3. What was the level of automation in your plant? Why? Discuss the role of contribution margins, if any, in your decisions regarding automation.
4. Are you running a second shift? Why or why not? Did you have inventory issues in any round? Explain.
5. Which country (or countries) and customer segment (or segments) were you targeting with your product and why? Describe any two marketing decisions that you implemented over the four rounds to enable your desired targeting. If you introduced a region kit, describe how that affected your sales.
6. Remembering what you have learned in MBA 620 and by referencing the financial accounting ratios, calculate the net profit margin ratio at the end of Round 4. What does this ratio tell you about the profit being generated?
7. Examining the balance sheet at the end of each round, calculate the current ratio for each round. Next, perform a trend analysis based on the current ratio you calculated for the end of each round. Do you find the current ratio increasing or decreasing through the four rounds? (Keep in mind, if the current ratio is below 1, the company does not have enough in current assets to cover current liabilities, if the current liabilities were all due at once). At the end of Round 4, can the company satisfy current liabilities?
8. Understanding how efficiently your company is operating is important from an operations and finance perspective. The best way to measure operational efficiency through financial statements is through working capital. Calculate working capital for Round 4 using the balance sheet for your calculation. How efficiently is your company operating? (Keep in mind, a good working capital ratio is between 1.2 and 2.0).
9. At the end of Round 4, how aware are consumers of your product in each country? How accessible is your product to the consumers in each country? How did your awareness and accessibility change from Round 3 to Round 4, and did that have any impact on your sales?
10. Did your team’s decisions in Rounds 1-4 always align with the chosen strategy? If you found yourself deviating from your strategy, explain why. In hindsight, what decisions would you have made differently? Explain.
