Business 201 Project

1. Jimmy Fan, Patrick Jung, Taylor Kuper, Jianna Schirmacher

2. Positioning ………………………………………………………………………………..… 3-8
Real World Application for Positioning …………………………………………… 9,10
Sales Forecasting ………………………………………………..……………………… 11-16
Real World Application for Sales Forecasting ………….…………....………… 17,18
Financing ………………………………………………………..……………………….. 19-23
Real World Application for Financing ……………….…....…………………….. 24-25
TQM ………………………………………………………..……………………….. …….26-28
Real World Application for TQM ……………….…....…………………………... 29,30
End ……………….…....……………………………………………………………………….. 31
Work Cited …....…....……………………………………………………………………….. 32

4. Positioning is based on where you are in comparison to your competitors.
Ideal Positioning is dependent on the market your in: low end, high end, performance and size.
Over time all customers will preference, an increase in performance and a decrease in size.
You don’t always want to be in the center of the circle.
traditio
nal
performance
high
end
size
low end

5. UNDERSTAND CUSTOMER VALUES
Different customers value certain things more than
others which must be taken into consideration when
selling the product.

6. Age
- R&D
- Age at
Revision*
Ideal Position
- R&D
- Pfmn &
Size
Reliability
- R&D
- MTBF
*Age is impacted by
positioning
You can compare your pfmn, size, and mtbf to your competitors on the courier.
target
size will
decrease
target
pfmn will
increase
mtbf
remains
the same

7. Price
- Marketing
- Price
targeted price range will decrease each round and
you can compare your price to your competitors on the courier

8. Traditional - Age, price, and ideal positioning are important, however, if you can’t meet age,
make up for it with a lower price. If you can try to create more products in this market.
Low End - Focus on pricing and try to maintain an age as close to 7 as possible, even if you’re
slightly out of the circle and if age is close to 7. If you need to change your positioning, try to
make the revision date as close to the end of December as possible without getting there. If you
can try to create more products in this market.
High End - Try to invest early on in R&D and get ahead in pfmn and size and go beyond what is
expected early on by having a greater pfmn and smaller size.
Size - Like the high end market, try to invest early on in R&D and get ahead in pfmn and size and
go beyond what is expected early on by having a greater pfmn and smaller size.
Performance - Like the high end market, try to invest early on in R&D and get ahead in pfmn
and size while focusing on a low price

9. When starting your own business you must know the customer and your competitors before
positioning yourself so here are questions to ask yourself when marketing your product.
Who is your target
customer?
- Age, occupation,
gender, income, etc.
- Number of people are
in need of your product
What makes you special?
- Understand how strategic
positioning separates your
company and your product from
the competitors and is a necessity
when every competitor is
operationally effective
-There will be trade offs
How are you getting people
to see your product?
- Proper communication
channels (commercials, events
etc) and convenient to buy
- How do customers see your
company’s brand?
-

10. High End Market - Tesla chose to focus on the high end market by offering high quality
electric cars at very high prices while also offering special features like the autopilot
feature and touchscreen monitor. This is in comparison to more low end or traditional car
companies like Honda or Ford that focuses more on function over style. Therefore
targeting customers with more luxurious and eco-conscious lifestyles.

12. Stock Out:
Units Demanded
x Market Share of the Individual Product
x (1+Segment Growth Rate)
Sales Forecast
Leftover Inventory:
Last Year’s Sales Unit
x (1+Segment Growth Rate)
Sales Forecast
Sales forecasting is the process of estimating future sales. Accurate sales forecast
enable companies to make informed business decisions and predict short-term and
long-term performance

13. *This example focuses on the traditional
market, however, this information can
be found in the other market’s respective
locations
Whether or not they stocked out
Leftover Inventory Ex:
Forecasting Echo Sales
=3,243 x 1.092
=3,541.35
So about 3,542 units
Stock Out Ex:
Forecasting Daze Sales
=14,937 x 19 x 1.092
=3,099.12
So about 3,100 units
Used only
for Stock
Out
Used only
for Stock
Out
Used only for
Leftover
Inventory
Used in both
equations

14. Inserting Sales Forecast here, using the equation will override the benchmark
prediction and help you when determining how much to produce.

15. How much you
forecasted
How much you
actually produce
How much you
requested to
produce
Leftover inventory
Inventory On Hand + Production After Adj = (or slightly above) Unit Sales Forecast

16. -The goal is to be as close to stocking out without ever doing so, try to prevent having more
than 100 units leftover in inventory because it can cause very high variable costs
-Understand the impact of Marketing such as Promotional and Sales Budget, if you plan on
increasing one or both to more than your competitors you can potentially expect higher sales
-Understand the impact of Price, if you plan reducing the price more than your competitors
you can potentially expect an increase in sale
-Consider whether or not you need to adjust your positioning and how long that will take or
whether it will prevent you from making sales
-Look at your competition
-Make sure you have enough capacity and try to avoid going into second shift capacity and
you will most likely want high amounts of capacity for low end market so invest early on.

17. Reducing Costs
- Having accurate sales
forecasts can prevent losses
from missed sales
opportunity or cost of
holding onto large amounts
of leftover inventory
When starting your own business you must know how much you are expected to sell and
understand what impacts those decisions and how that impacts you company.
Understanding
Interconnectedness
- Sales forecast numbers are
based on your positioning
and will affect finances
immensely; hence
interconnectedness
Motivational tool
- Update quarterly forecast
to see if team is on track
- Set sales goals for the
company to achieve
- Compare market share
with competitors

18. - Chicken sandwich became so popular
- Popeyes had a shortage of chicken
- People went nuts over this “false advertising”
- People starting suing and one person even pulled a
gun on a worker

20. Long Term Debt
Pros: Great to guarantee cash
to cover the costs of the
company and better when in
need of large sums of money
Cons: Requires you to pay
back interest
Issuing Stocks
Pros: You do not owe any
stockholder any money unless
you decide to pay dividends
Cons: Issuing stock does not
mean you will get all the
money issued
Current Debt
Pros: No need to worry about
paying back debt down the
line and guarantees cash to
cover costs
Cons: Higher interest rates
than long term debt
Emergency Loans - AVOID TAKING OUT EMERGENCY LOANS AT ALL COST
BY INVESTING IN ANY OF THE ABOVE

21. *When
retiring
stock you
are limited
to the
amount you
can retire
each round
Projected Cash Flows will help you determine whether or not you should take out a loan.

22. Company valuations:
-Stock Price
(Changes)
-EPS
-P/E
-ROE
All determines
whether the
company’s
performance is
healthy and
profitable.

23. How to improve your stock price:
-Stock price is affected by performance, asset
base, debt, dividends, and shares outstanding
-Avoid issuing too much stocks, more stocks
outstanding will be diluted, reducing value
-Start with more stock and retire stock towards
the end, this will increase
-Offering small amounts of dividend when you
have high levels of cash is beneficial to value
Avoiding an Emergency Loan:
- Take our long term debt early on
- Check your projected Cash flows to determine
how big of a loan you may need
- Reduce costs used for marketing in products
that need to be repositioned
-Increase the number of products you have to
bring in more cash later on, and invest in these
using long term debt

24. When starting your own business you must know who is affected by financing your business
and what can benefit a company financial although it may require a short term loss.
Creating Shareholder Value
- A company should always try to maximize
shareholder value, higher stock price means
higher shareholder value
-Being able to mitigate tensions between the
powers of those in managerial positions, such as
CEO’s, and the power of shareholders is essential
to ensure all decisions are in the company’s best
interest
Long term vs. Short Term
-There will be trade offs when trying to start a
new company or create a new brand
-Starting with debt in the short term is common
and often a necessity to grow a business
-Partaking in the environmentally friendly
practices can cut costs in the long run and help
with the company’s brand, while also increasing
demand for the stock or product/service itself

25. - Stresses the importances that even great reliable products or
services still need financial aid
-The importance of financial aid and how the growth of a
business comes at a cost
-The benefits of having investors and the need for them to be
interested in you product/ service and company
- Need to prove your business’s market viability and profitability
-Be smart about business expenses and be able to cut unnecessary
expenses

26. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management process that aims to find
organizational efficiencies by quality control and improvement. From employee
training for efficiency to reducing errors in the production process, TQM is a
continual management process.
Investing in TQM can help reduce costs, increase efficiency and increase demand.

27. You should invest
$1500 in each category
for the first two
possible rounds and
$1000 for the third
possible round then $0
for the rest.

28. -Invest in TQM as early as possible to reduce variable costs
-TQM is most effective when investing $1500 for a round but no more than $4000 total
-The impacts of TQM are continuous from round to round, which is why after round 3 of
possible investments you should no longer invest
-Investing on TQM increases operational efficiencies, but overspending your resources will
actually bring diminishing returns and will only waste money
-Don’t solely rely on TQM for lower costs and efficiencies, especially in production because
other factors such as investing in automation or employees also contribute greatly to the
overall efficiency of the operation

29. - TQM is an evaluation of quality, standards to meet, check ups to stay on track, and correct
problems
- Could be compared to real life setting a goal of earning an A in a certain class
○ Set the standard
○ Plan: How are you going to get the A?
○ Do: Execute
○ Study: What grade did you end with? Did you follow your plan?
- Go through trial and error, understanding which areas of TQM needs more resources and
at which point you find diminishing returns so that you can find the perfect threshold
where your investment in TQM has maximum efficiency
*You won’t know what needs to be done better if you don’t go by trial and error

30. - Google has worked to make their workplace fun for increased productivity
- Google creators intend to keep their business atypical
- They get out what they put in
- The more value they put into their company, the more value that comes out
- Increased quality

32. Frost, Aja. “The Ultimate Guide to Sales Forecasting.” HubSpot Blog, 2019, blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-forecasting.
Revesencio, Jonha. “10 Lessons Learn from Shark Tank - Business.com.” Business.com, Business.com, 14 July 2015,
www.business.com/articles/10-entrepreneurial-lessons-we-can-learn-from-shark-tank/.
Richards, Leigh. “The Importance of Product Positioning to the Marketing Plan.” Small Business - Chron.com, Chron.com,
6 Mar. 2019, smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-product-positioning-marketing-plan-24275.html.
Roberts, Harris. “12 Examples of Great Brand Positioning Strategy (2019 Update).” Figmints, 9 Oct. 2019,
www.figmints.com/blog/5-companies-that-differentiated-in-crowded-markets-with-brand-strategy/.
Togoh, Isabel. “Customers Complain That Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Has Already Sold Out.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine,
5 Nov. 2019,www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/11/05/customers-complain-popeyes-chicken-sandwich
-has-already-sold-out/#c17575158b49.