Alpha-Beta - Beta Facts
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School
Washington University in St Louis *
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Course
MISC
Subject
Industrial Engineering
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by KidCheetahMaster1297
ALPHA-BETA
ROBOTICS
317
ALPHA-BETA
ROBOTICS
Private
Information
for
Beta
Inc.
Five
months
ago,
your
firm
was
approached
by
and
held
preliminary
discussions
with
Alpha
Inc.
about
a
possible
robotics
manufacturing
and
marketing
relationship.
Some
tentative
understandings
have
been
reached
regarding
the
general
nature
of
a
collaborative
arrangement,
but
a
number
of
specific
details
still
need
to
be
worked
out.
The
Alpha
Inc.
bargaining
team
will
be
arriving
in
Beta
to
discuss
these
points
with
you.
Beta
Inc.'s
strategic
plan
calls
for
significantly
boosting
overseas
sales
of
robots
so
as
to
attain
greater
scale
economies
in
production.
You
especially
want
to
develop
a
presence
in
the
currently
small
but
rapidly
growing
Alphan
market.
This
implies,
of
course,
the
need
for
a
high
quality
industrial
sales,
distribution
and
service
network.
You
have
considered
the
options
of
exporting
directly
to,
or
establishing
a
joint
venture
or
wholly-owned
subsidiary
in,
Alpha.
However,
given
the
large
cultural
differences
between
Alpha
and
Beta,
the
difficulties
of
servicing
robots
from
overseas,
and
the
rapid
technological
change
in
robotics,
Beta
Inc.
has
decided
(as
have
other
Betan
robot
producers)
that
the
Alphan
market
at
this
time
can
probably
best
be
served
via
a
licensing
arrangement
with
a
local
Alphan
company.
You
can
offer
that
company
proven,
high
quality
robotics,
either
in
the
form
of
fully
assembled
units
or
the
technology
and
components
needed
to
produce
them.
t
Alpha
Inc.
looks
like
an
ideal
candidate
to
become
your
licensee
—
it
has
the
desired
technical
competence,
industrial
marketing
expertise,
service
network,
quality
control,
distribution
system,
general
management
and
business
reputation.
You
are
a
bit
concerned,
however,
that
by
helping
Alpha
Inc.
you
may
create
a
competitive
monster
that
may
come
back
to
haunt
yQu
in
the
future.
In
preliminary
talks
with
Alpha
Inc.,
it
was
tentatively
agreed
that
(1)
the
relationship
will
be’
for
7
years;
(2)
that
initially
Alpha
Inc.
will
receive
fully
assembled
Beta
Inc.
robots
from
Beta
Inc.'s
current
model
line
to
be
sold
under
Alpha
Inc.'s
name;
(3)
that
later
on
Alpha
Inc.
will
begin
to
assemble
robots
using
Beta
Inc.
technology
and
components;
(4)
that
the
agreement
will
be
non
exclusive,
meaning
that
Beta
Inc.
can
enter
Alpha
Inc.'s
markets
directly
at
any
time
and
can
also
enter
into
relationships
with
other
firms
in
Alpha.
Four
issues
(listed
here
in
order
of
their
priority)
that
still
need
to
be
decided
include:
(1)
The
matter
of
technology
sharing
You
very
much
want
access
to
Alpha
Inc.'s
R&D
technology
related
to
artificial
vision.
You
are
certain
that
with
your
manufacturing
expertise
and
your
line
of
universal
assembly
robots
that
together
you
and
Alpha
Inc.
could
be
the
first
to
the
market
with
low
cost
universal
robots
with
vision.
This
is
the
most
important
issue
for
you.
318
PART
III:
NEGOTIATION
SIMULATIONS
AND
EXERCISES
You
have
tentatively
agreed
to
help
Alpha
develop
its
own
robotics
manufacturing
processes.
Just
when
this
transfer
of
technology
will
occur
was
left
open.
If
Alpha
Inc.
does
not
mention
it,
you
will
not
bring
it
up.
You
will
only
make
a
firm
commitment
regarding
the
transfer
of
manufacturing
technology
if
you
get
access
to
their
artificial
vision
technology
and
you
are
able
to
hold
down
the
number
of
models
provided
to
Alpha,
Inc.,
thereby
controlling
capital
expenditure
costs.
(2)
The
number
of
Beta
Inc.
units
to
be
imported
and/or
produced
under
license
by
Alpha
during
each
year.
You
would
like
the
number
to
be
500
of
each
model.
Your
reason
for
entering
into
this
licensing
agreement
with
Alpha
Inc.
is
to
implement
your
strategy
of
rapid
growth
and
deep
penetration.
If
Alpha
Inc.
cannot
meet
these
strategic
objectives,
they
are
not
a
strategic
fit.
What
matters
most
is
not
the
total
number
of
robots
produced
(#
of
models
times
#
of
robots
per
model),
but
that
for
every
model
you
do
provide,
you
produce
as
much
as
possible.
(3)
The
number
of
different
models
to
provide
to
Alpha
Inc.
You
currently
have
six
models
in
production.
You
would
like
to
provide
Alpha
with
only
four
of
them
for
the
following
reasons.
Supplying
Alpha
Inc.
with
robots
will
require
increasing
production
capacity.
You
would
like
to
control
capital
expenditures
by
phasing
in
the
increased
capacity.
You
are
also
concerned
about
increasing
capacity
to
service
Alpha
Inc.'s
sales
and
then
losing
that
capacity
when
Alpha
begins
assembling
robots
itself.
(4)
The
royalty
rate.
You
believe
a
rate
of
5%
on
gross
sales
just
and
reasonable.
If
absolutely
necessary
you
might
consider
a
royalty
rate
as
low
as
3%
in
order
to
get
access
to
the
artificial
vision
technology.
While
there
are
other
firms
distributing
robotics,
no
other
organization
in
the
world
has
adopted
Alpha
Inc.'s
strategy
of
being
a
full-service
supplier
of
automation
equipment.
If
no
agreement
with
Alpha
Inc
is
forthcoming,
you
will
have
to
negotiate
with
several
other
distributors
in
order
to
have
the
distribution
capacity
that
your
strategy
requires.
This
will
cause
a
delay
in
the
implementation
of
Beta
Inc.'s
strategy,
since
there
have been
no
negotiations
with
other
distributors.
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