1. As a potential product line manager at DS, what is your reaction to the memo in Exhibit 2?
For the product line managers the new system brings clarity and makes us more responsible. Specific goals for profit contribution, providing us with measurable assessment of performance, allow us to track and improve processes. What’s more with individual measurement of financial positions such as sales, revenues, costs etc. we can influence on each of them by increased level of responsibility for making profit. Similarly, each product line will have individually measured costs for each product which will contribute to cost control.
We would also explain the new system to our employees, its rules and the reason for implementing it.
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measurements, 2. transfer pricing and 3. the organizational structure?
The product line concept seems to be an appropriate choice for DS mostly because of the size of the market it is operating on and its complicated character which also has a reflection in variety of the products DS offers. This approach allows each product line to focus on its own goals, find problems occurring within the product line and undertake steps in order to solve them. As we mentioned before, the product line structure has a many positive aspects beneficial for the company. First of all specific, measurable goals, as mentioned before allow to quickly undertake proper actions and asses the performance. What’s more, it encourages managers to look more often into a finance practices and enhance cooperation between line managers and financial managers. Secondly, increased ability of the product and process development to work together support both manufacturing and development. Of course everything has its disadvantages, product line concept divide product lines into more independent and separate entities which may lead to the competition between each product line. It can increase the amount of disputes between business units and headquarters, especially about the transfer pricing.
5. Will the product line concept change the behavior of the division? Is there anything else DS can do to change the culture?
As mentioned in the previous question the competition may increase. The change from
A bill-and-hold transaction is when the seller bills the customers for a product and records it as revenue, but does not ship the product to the customer until a later date. FASB states that revenue can not be recognized until the product is shipped to the final customer. Kelly Electronics will be receiving the products by March 31, 2017, but the final customer, Victor Systems will not, so under FASB, revenue should not be recognized until the goods are shipped to Victor Systems. The SEC also has certain criteria that needs to be met before South City Electronics can recognize this revenue. A few of these criteria’s are: “the risks of ownership must have passed to the buyer”, “the buyer, not the seller, must request the transaction be on
Assuming that the company’s goal is to maximize profits, the current cost system is not an appropriate tool for strategic planning. The ambiguity of the overhead costs per product makes it difficult to accurately analyze the cause and effect relationships of changes and/or improvements to specific product line.
Elizabeth Blackwell showed herself as a dedicated and diligent doctor during five years of work in Neurological Associates, and made a significant contribution to the profit margin of the partnership. The partners were delighted with hiring Blackwell in 2005 and they introduced her to medical physicians at a conference. But the referral base Blackwell went through was not the result of that investment by the partnership but instead it was the evidence of her professionalism in neurological sphere.
CompuCo is attempting to move from a domestic producer to that of an international producer. In order to achieve this feat, the company must have an international focus in regards to its overall business operations. It is quite apparent from the case, that CompuCo does not have the will or desire to be proactive with its international subsidiaries. In order to achieve greater international success, Dr. Durand must first alter the company culture. First, all international subsidiaries should be treated as a primary business irrespective of their individual performance. It seems, through reading the case, that much more emphasis is placed on French product development and applications that is given to its international counterparts. This is a detriment to business as many of CompuCo's international customers have differing tastes and sentiments in regards to product offerings. The case cites numerous examples of this between both French and American consumers. French consumers, for example, like to read product manuals and prefer complexity over simplicity. Their American counterparts however prefer ease of use, and a simple design. The company was slow to discern these changes in consumer demands and elected instead to emphasize its French product design. This created consumer ill-will and
* In what ways do the goals of R&D conflict with those of the brands?
We at ALMS Consulting Co. have been hired to analyze the way product lines and product managers are being evaluated at the Thomas J. Lipton, Incorporated (“Lipton” or the “Company”) entity. We will review the performance metrics utilized at the corporate level of Lipton, explain the current methodology utilized to evaluate the individual product lines, and then detail the benefits and potential downfalls of the methodology proposed by Don Logan. Finally, we will provide our own recommendations and opinions as to how
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.
In this scenario Margret Weston, received a letter. In the letter she found out that Yossarian acquired 10% of the company’s stock. This aggressive move by Yossarian was motivated by the company management not doing their job to maximize shareholders wealth. Moreover, the managers were having issues with the hurdle rate, because it is just generally accepted, but not scientifically proven. On the other hand one TV Commentators opinion about Teletech Corp. is that “there is no way to have a hostile takeover in this sector, but for the Teletech Corp. there are many reasons to try.” Teletech Corp. has two major business segments, Telecommunication Services and both Product and System Manufacturing make up the other segment we will analyze.
The image of the company is a lot dependent on how everyone will interpret and implement the message of the Statement of Vison and Values. Clients now view O&M people as “uninvolved, distant, and reserved”. Beers needs a way to reach all employees as effectively as she has done with the few key people: challenging them to be more creative, to toss aside the old rules and really embrace the new Vison.
Kirkham’s strategy was to integrate the different systems of each division into an “all-inclusive” product and also to involve all the divisions together with regards to product development, instead of letting each division be responsible for just products within that division. Mr. Donaldson chose Kathleen Quinn, Vice-President of R&D, to be responsible for coordinating the development of new products. This proved to be quite a challenging task considering that each managing director (of each division) still retained responsibility for the turnover and profitability of their respective decisions and also for the strategies to achieve the goals of their divisions. In addition, regardless of the trend of their customers in purchasing integrated systems, the majority of each division’s turnover came from the sale of stand-alone products.
2. What do you think of the way the team set out to find a market for the Kittyhawk? What correct turns and what wrong turns did they make?
In order for Mikes business to grow physically in this technological era they must set the direction with the four A’s
Any product or service that can be exchange in return for money will fall under this category. It may be a single product or a series of products that falls under a product line. This is because the more the goods sold; the demand for that particular item will rise increasing the sales eventually making it a successful product.
Product Development – The company markets new products to existing customers. Here the company should be innovative, responsive, and truly in touch with their customer’s ever changing wants and needs.
After conducted customers’ preferences, clear product lines should be developed as those existing are overlapped in styles. Therefore, similar product lines should be eliminated and combined into one to save cost and meet target customers’ preferences. For example, edc man and edc esprit can be combined as they are undeniably similar to each other.