Cambridge Software Corporation Case solution

The economic value of the existing customers can be calculated by multiplying the customer lifetime value of each segment by the segment’s size and then summing the value of all segments.

Note: Due to the issuance of certain new accounting literature, changes in the status of ongoing projects during the past year, or evolution of practice, the following updates to the existing cases should be noted.

Customer profitability was a determinant used for segmenting and targeting, studies were done on customers’ likes, dislikes and types of products they would benefit from and models were developed to determine their propensity to buy.

4. Distributing services using activity based costing reveals that Customer A is a highly more profitable consumer to Western than Customer B, despite identical net sales (see attached). Customer A uses less storage, delivery services, has fewer requisitions and a smaller inventory balance, making them a more inexpensive customer to service, in comparison to Customer B.

Using all the transactions in the data set, determine the revenue maximizing price for Copa. Here is a step-by-step approach: a) Fit a logit price-response curve to the data using the MLE approach discussed in class. (NOTE: For better numerical precision and to get good results in Excel, use prices in 100s. That is if the quote is $150 per person for a contract, use $1.5 per person in the MLE calculations.) b) Based on the fitted logit curve, what is the price (per person) that maximizes expected revenue per event? What is the expected revenue per transaction for that price? c) Assuming the annual number of inquiries remains the same, what would be the total expected revenue for the company if the price you determined in part (b) is used? How does the annual expected revenue compare to the total revenue earned by Copa in 2007? 2) Analyze the data to determine whether there are multiple price segments. a) What is your segmentation criterion? Explain clearly. b) What is the revenue maximizing price for each segment? What is the expected revenue for each transaction in that segment? (You have to repeat the analysis in part (1) for each of the segments.)

All segments are critical for the implementation of our company’s strategy because we chose to be broad cost leaders. Cost leaders maintain a presence in all market segments by focusing on low production costs and competitive pricing. With that in mind, one segment is considered to be slightly more important than the others: the low end segment. We will compete in every market segment, but this is one of the most important due to the fact that price is the main consideration of the buying criteria at 53% importance. Our costs will be much lower than our competitors which translates into a lower market price for this product, which is ideal for our customers.

1. Complete the table below with a description of the products and services for at least two commercial organisations, public organisations and third sector organisations.

When trying to determine the correct price, a number of factors must be considered: the market and its segments, the size of each segment, the ability to reach each segment, what distribution channels to target, whether to vary price by segment, the usefulness of promotional offerings, and whether the goal is to skim or penetrate each market.

The difference in profitability between the two customers is a direct result of the large variance in number of orders between Customer A & B. While Customer A had 12 different orders, Customer B had 100 different orders, which cost nearly $9,000 more than the cost for Customer A. (See Number of Orders cost in section iii.)

However, there are several factors for the company to choose its pricing strategy. In this case, it may be better if the company choose to sell its product at $21.50 instead of $15.50. This is due to the fact that price-cutting appears to be not a good strategy in this industry. If every player in the same industry starts to lower the price of their products, every company will end up having the low price, which in turns lead to a low profit margin. Moreover, referring to the calculation in a below table, it also implies that if the price is lower than $12, sales will not be able to cover the variable cost incurred, thus it will bring about a loss in net profit.

Kate is the owner of a successful business, selling women’s shoes. Her business is expanding fast and she wants to upgrade her business structure to a more appropriate one. What would be your recommendation to Kate and why? What are the factors that influence you with this advice?

Q: Was the decision to attract ultra HNI customers through a separate dedicated branch a good idea?

Tait Communications ltd is a global company with some millions of people around the globe depending on tait products to keep their lights on cites flowing and communities safe. The core business operation of tait is to manufacture radio equipment for emergency services departments. Other wing of tait is to provide communication solutions to its clients. The company clients are spread across the globe but its key clients are from North America, United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It has more than 40 years of excellence track record in engineering.

We have evaluated different segment options based on relevant attributes such as growth potential, accessibility, loyalty, and other criteria (Exhibit 1). For example, even though the segment of customers who are buying flowers for weddings/funerals has huge revenue potential, it is not easy for C&C to convince that segment to place a mail

4. Should we maintain a single sale force or separate sale force dedicated to the new product? What kind of commissions and how much authority should we set up for the sales force regarding to the new product?