Marketing Report Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Marketing Report - Case Study Example Support 11 D. Conclusion 11 References 13 I. Analysis A. Marketing Challenge The marketing challenge is to grow revenues and to find the perfect marketing mix for the new product to be launched in June, to aid in the achievement of the revenue growth targets for Mackenzie and Marr Guitars (Finnbogason, 2013). B. Internal Analysis B.1. Finance The company is working on a tight cash flow situation, with some budgetary constraints emanating from that cash flow restriction. While they pay suppliers cash, deliveries for orders only occur about 90 days after the payment. This has implications on the ability of the company to convert capital to revenues, and has a bearing too on the ability of the firm to generate cash flow from inventories. Inventories take time to reach the trade, and this compounds the problem of not being able to turnaround capital into cash. All these things besides, the company is still open to increasing the promotions budget from $1,000 to $4,000, and though this is miniscule in comparison to the overall sales target of $1 million dollars for the whole year, from a cash flow perspective this can be a significant amount especially if the revenue targets on a monthly basis are not met, and the margins cannot justify the added promotional expense (Finnbogason, 2013). B.2. ... On the other hand, where the company lacks muscle in terms of promotions budgets, it makes up for with word of mouth and focusing on the price and the product attributes of the marketing mix for its guitar lines. The main positioning being high quality and low price, this positioning strategy is complemented well by its chosen promotions, place and general advertising strategies (Finnbogason, 2013). B.3. Operations One can glean from the way the company is set up that the online presence handles orders processing including payments processing, while orders fulfillment is done via third party logistics and fulfillment services. Product manufacturing meanwhile is outsourced to suppliers in China. That supplier has enough capacity to be able to run the projected volume sales of 100 guitars per month of Mackenzie and Marr Guitars, but may have problems doing so if any new customers engage them. That aside, the rest of the operations is concentrated on marketing, as well as product design , which are basically handled by the CEO John Marr. The other partner, Jonathan Mackenzie, is understood to have a hands off role in daily operations, leaving that to John. One can see that this operations model leaves the physical handling of the processed goods to third parties, from manufacturing to orders fulfillment, leaving the core operational functions of processing orders and payments, doing the promotions and marketing, doing the strategy work and doing product design work for new launches as the core operational competencies of the company itself (Finnbogason, 2013). B.4. Human Resources Outside of the partners, there are no significant personnel in the organization. All of the third party

Free Will and Moral Integrity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Free Will and Moral Integrity - Essay Example ....and chaos from recommencing her topsy-turvy reign" (William James, Essay p. 5) This essay intends to show, in the final analysis, that compatibilism and determinism can in fact operate side by side, but it is his argument on free will, or 'chance' as he likes to term it, which willbe explored. The philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, as presented in his work 'Leviathan' will be used to refute the concept of free will and morality, with E. M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops' as a counter argument in support of James. For the purposes of this discussion, free will is defined as 'being able to make a choice, without constraint, given the circumstances of the individual.' (A personal definition) William James - Free Will, Morality and 'The Dilemma of Determinism': James argues that if we take the word 'chance, consider it to be the possibility of different choices and subsequent outcomes, then free will is being applied. Following on from the quotation, an interpretation of his words might be that he considers that determinists believe chance decisions and ambiguity of outcomes are not how the universe or the world work If such a preposterous notion were to be accepted and acted upon, (can we call this notion free will) then everything would fall apart, given that the history of the universe is fixe... Yet there is much weight behind his claim that a dilemma exists, as he cites the possible response to the Brockton murder, which determinism, of necessity, would have to make - he fears the possible outcome to be a pessimistic acceptance of evil, almost, that's how it is, what can be done His argument brings to the fore, the moral questions of right and wrong, good and evil, coming down squarely on the side of free will. The beliefs in an outside Providence, in man's own ability to make moral decisions, may well be translatable to the concept of compatibilism and determinism going hand in hand. But it is the aspect of free will and morality which drives his argument, and when he states, "Chance" is ---what Just this, -- the chance that in moral respects the future may be other and better than the past has been. This is the only chance we have any motive for supposing to exist." (James, p. 19) we are convinced of his sincerity. He further contends that whether it be our creator or ourselves who decides to choose good over evil, matters little, it is necessary to admit that all decisions are in the here and now, we make them, and he describes it thus "gives the palpating life reality to our moral life and makes it tingle." (James p. 21) James is convinced that man has and uses free will, and in so doing, demonstrates a moral integrity. He considers that determinists face a dilemma in accepting that chance and choice can play a part in understanding self and the world, that a philosophy such as this denies man choice or the right to belief in Providence or humanity. The argument is supported by the events depicted in 'The Machine Stops', portraying a reality of the