Create your NAB company name and explain its significance. Develop your company’s Mission Statement and provide a rationale for its components.

BUS 599

DISCUSION 1

“Company Description”

Throughout this course, you will develop a series of written papers / projects that you will later combine into a complete business plan for a Non-Alcoholic Beverage company. For this discussion, you must first review the “NAB Company Portfolio”.  The mentioned portfolio contains the company parameters and details you must follow when developing your company. Provide the following information to set the foundation for your non-alcoholic beverage (NAB) business plan.

Please respond to the following:

• Create your NAB company name and explain its significance.
• Develop your company’s Mission Statement and provide a rationale for its components.

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DISCUSSION 2

“Growing Honest Tea”  Please respond to the following:

• Review the following documents:

• Honest Tea’s business plan for 1999 (PDF).
• A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis based on Honest Teas’ business plan (PDF).
• Suppose Honest Tea has hired you as a consultant to evaluate the completeness of their strategy for future growth. Base your evaluation on the provided SWOT analysis. Provide a rationale for your response.

https://blackboard.strayer.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/BUS/599/1154/Week2/W2_Honest_Tea_Business_Plan_98.pdf

https://blackboard.strayer.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/BUS/599/1154/Week2/W2_Honest%20Tea%20SWOT%20Analysis_StudentVersion.docx

DISCUSSION 3

Watch the following  video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYX04wiMYmQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-4ivPwMDCE

There are two (2) very different target markets and sales forces discussed in the videos. Identify some of the key differences between the organizations’ sales forces and target markets. Explain the value of developing a sales force based on the target market. Use examples from each video to support your response

PART 2

ASSIGNMENT

Before you get started on this assignment, watch the video below for some helpful tips on completing Assignment 1.

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Assignment 1: Company Description and SWOT Analysis

Due Week 3

In this assignment, you will conduct a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis for the type of beverage you have selected, and for your company overall. As you work on the assignment, consider why you have chosen one type of non-alcoholic beverage over another and the reasons for that choice. As you complete your SWOT analysis, be sure to include external factors such as industry / market trends and competition, and internal factors such as your capabilities or abilities to reach certain market segments.

Write a three to five (3-5) page paper, in which you:

1. Create your revised NAB company name and explain its significance.
2. Develop your revised company’s Mission Statement and provide a rationale for its components.
   • Hints: Use the Statement of Mission template on pp. 72-73 on the course textbook: Successful Business Plan to aid your development. Click here for help accessing a specific page number in your eBook.
   • Extracting appropriate information from the NAB company portfolio, where applicable. You should fill in other required items in the template using your personal preferences.
3. Describe the trends in the non-alcoholic beverage industry, especially the specific type of beverage category you have chosen. Justify at least three (3) reasons why you have chosen this type of non-alcoholic beverage.
   • Hints: Research and outline beverage industry trends. Consider the size and growth rate of the industry overall and the specific beverage type you have chosen. Use the worksheet in the course text (p. 88 | Past and Future Growth of Your Industry) to help you project the future growth rate. Consider the use of industry associations and search engines to find reliable, recent data.

1. Choose one (1) strategic position from the course text (pp. 142–143) that you believe is the best strategic position for your company. Explain the approach you will use to implement this strategic position in order to distinguish your beverage from other non-alcoholic beverages.

1. Provide an overview of your company’s distribution channels. Explain the manner in which your product will reach end users. Provide a rationale for your chosen method.
   • Hints: For example, will you sell your beverage in grocery stores, restaurants, or sports venues? If so, describe the types of resellers and distributors who will sell to resellers and fulfill their orders. If you are attempting to sell direct-to-consumers, such as online via a monthly subscription, how will you manage warehousing / fulfillment / shipping?

1. Outline at least three (3) types of risks (including any regulatory risks) that your business faces. Describe your company’s plan to mitigate such risk.
   • Hints: You may refer to the types of risk listed in the course text (pp. 148–149) as well as any risks not listed in the text. Regulation weighs more heavily on beverage and food businesses than many other types of companies, so be certain to consider any regulatory risks your type of beverage faces. For example, what kind of regulation and / or risks are you likely to face if you make health claims about your beverage?

1. Develop a SWOT analysis for your NAB company using the SWOT matrix worksheet in the course text (p. 153 | SWOT: Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities / Threats)
   • Hints: What are your company’s likely strengths? Have you chosen a beverage segment that is growing and lacks an entrenched competitor? Are you in a niche market that has great potential? What are the strengths that you and other team members bring to your company? Do you or other team members have previous experience in the food and beverage industry?
   • Hints: What are your company’s likely weaknesses? Is the competition in your industry segment entrenched? Is your own management team inexperienced? Will it be challenging to actually produce your product and maintain quality?
   • Hints: What are your company’s opportunities? Does your segment have more demand than supply? Have larger corporations stopped serving smaller or niche markets that you could enter? Is a new market emerging because of demographics, immigration, changing tastes?
   • Hints: What are your company’s threats? Is there a clear market leader that will be hard and expensive to displace? Are downward-pricing pressures in the segment making profit margins slim? Are there little or no barriers-to-entry for new competitors; if you have a novel idea that succeeds, can the competition easily enter your market? If you have a global aspect to your company, do factors such as currency fluctuations, political instability, offshoring or outsourcing pose threats?

1. Format your assignment according to these formatting requirements:
   1. Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any aIDitional instructions.
   2. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.
   3. Cite the resources you have used to complete the exercise. Note: There is no minimum requirement for the number of resources used in the exercise.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze the role of a company mission, vision, and objectives and the impact to business strategy.
• Describe strategic planning techniques used to formulate alternative strategies designed to achieve stated business goals.
• Analyze the external and internal environment for opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses that impact the firm’s competitiveness.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in strategic management.
• Write clearly and concisely about strategic management using proper writing mechanics.

 

ECONOMICS

DISCUSSION 1

“Supply and Demand” Please respond to the following:

• From the scenario for Katrina’s Candies, examine the key factors affecting the demand for and the supply of a good in general and Katrina’s Candies specifically. Distinguish between a change in demand and a change in the quantity demanded (movement along the demand curve). Propose two (2) methods in which organizations that provide the good may utilize this information.

DISCUSSION 2

“Estimating Demand and Its Elasticities” Please respond to the following:

• From the scenario for Katrina’s Candies, examine the procedure Herb will use to estimate the demand model developed in the scenario for Week 1. Analyze the elasticity of demand for products within the selected industry relevant to Katrina’s Candies. Determine the factors involved in making decisions about pricing these products that you believe to be the most influential.

DISCUSSION 3

“Managing in the Global Economy and Outsourcing Offshore” Please respond to the following:

• From the scenario for Katrina’s Candies, assuming the absence of quantitative data, determine the qualitative forecasting techniques that could be used within this scenario. Now, assume you have acquired some time series data that would enable you to make forecasts. Ascertain the quantitative technique that will provide you with the most accurate forecast.
• When deciding whether or not to outsource offshore, list the key factors aside from maximizing profits that managers should consider. Determine the key factors that you believe to be the most influential.

 

PART 2

ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment 1: Demand Estimation
Due Week 3

Imagine that you work for the maker of a leading brand of low-calorie, frozen microwavable food that estimates the following demand equation for its product using data from 26 supermarkets around the country for the month of April.

For a refresher on independent and dependent variables, please go to Sophia’s Website and review the Independent and Dependent Variables tutorial, located at http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/independent-and-dependent-variables–3.

Option 1
Note: The following is a regression equation. Standard errors are in parentheses for the demand for widgets.
QD       =          – 5200 – 42P + 20PX + 5.2I + 0.20A + 0.25M
(2.002)  (17.5) (6.2)    (2.5)   (0.09)   (0.21)
R2 = 0.55           n = 26               F = 4.88

Your supervisor has asked you to compute the elasticities for each independent variable. Assume the following values for the independent variables:

Q          =          Quantity demanded of 3-pack units
P (in cents)       =          Price of the product = 500 cents per 3-pack unit
PX (in cents)     =          Price of leading competitor’s product = 600 cents per 3-pack unit
I (in dollars)       =          Per capita income of the standard metropolitan statistical area
(SMSA) in which the supermarkets are located = $5,500
A (in dollars)     =          Monthly advertising expenditures = $10,000
M                     =          Number of microwave ovens sold in the SMSA in which the
supermarkets are located = 5,000

Option 2
Note: The following is a regression equation. Standard errors are in parentheses for the demand for widgets.

QD       =          -2,000 – 100P + 15A + 25PX + 10I
(5,234)  (2.29)   (525)   (1.75)  (1.5)
R2 = 0.85           n = 120             F = 35.25

Your supervisor has asked you to compute the elasticities for each independent variable. Assume the following values for the independent variables:

Q          =          Quantity demanded of 3-pack units
P (in cents)       =          Price of the product = 200 cents per 3-pack unit
PX (in cents)     =          Price of leading competitor’s product = 300 cents per 3-pack unit
I (in dollars)       =          Per capita income of the standard metropolitan statistical area
(SMSA) in which the supermarkets are located = $5,000
A (in dollars)     =          Monthly advertising expenditures = $640

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

1. Compute the elasticities for each independent variable. Note: Write down all of your calculations.
2. Determine the implications for each of the computed elasticities for the business in terms of short-term and long-term pricing strategies. Provide a rationale in which you cite your results.
3. Recommend whether you believe that this firm should or should not cut its price to increase its market share. Provide support for your recommendation.
4. Assume that all the factors affecting demand in this model remain the same, but that the price has changed. Further assume that the price changes are 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 cents.
   1. Plot the demand curve for the firm.
   2. Plot the corresponding supply curve on the same graph using the following MC / supply function Q = -7909.89 + 79.1P with the same prices.
   3. Determine the equilibrium price and quantity.
   4. Outline the significant factors that could cause changes in supply and demand for the low-calorie, frozen microwavable food. Determine the primary manner in which both the short-term and the long-term changes in market conditions could impact the demand for, and the supply, of the product.
5. Indicate the crucial factors that could cause rightward shifts and leftward shifts of the demand and supply curves for the low-calorie, frozen microwavable food.
6. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any aIDitional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze how production and cost functions in the short run and long run affect the strategy of individual firms.
• Apply the concepts of supply and demand to determine the impact of changes in market conditions in the short run and long run, and the economic impact on a company’s operations.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in managerial economics and globalization.
• Write clearly and concisely about managerial economics and globalization using proper writing mechanics.