Assignment 2: Case Study Brief Due Week 5, Day 7
Assignment2: Case Study Brief
Due Week 5, Day 7
(Weight: 35%)
For
this assignment, you will take on the role of an employee of health company
Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (CSP). You have been assigned to assist
Barbara Printup (Senior Director of Marketing) in crafting a launch strategy
for Metabical – a new weight-loss drug.
The
Chief Executive Officer of CSP is facing important decisions regarding the
rollout of Metabical. Your goal is to provide Barbara with data-driven
recommendations she can then present to the CEO. These recommendations need to
be backed up with relevant data to ensure effectiveness and persuasiveness.
You
may choose to create either a slide deck (5-slide minimum) or a written brief
(5-page minimum) for this assignment. Relevant information, such as models,
calculations, and analysis results, should be included in appendices.
For this assignment,
create a slide deck or written brief that addresses the following 5 topics:
1.
Frame the problem. Utilize your work from
Assignment 1 for this topic. Consider incorporating feedback from faculty into
your document. Guiding Questions:
a.
What
is the problem, clearly stated?
b.
What
are the key variables you will need to study?
c.
Who
is the stakeholder and what decision will they make based on the analysis
results?
d.
What
are the multiple ways you might solve this problem?
e.
What
type of analytical story will you want to tell in solving this problem?
f. What
previous findings or experiences related to this problem are conveyed in the
case study, or exist in the business industry?
2.
Solve
for demand. Guiding Questions:
a.
Barbara
has asked you to estimate the demand for Metabical. What are the forecasting options
you should contemplate? For each option, what is your estimate of the target
market?
b.
For
each forecasting option, how many packages will the target market buy in year
1? How do the purchasing assumptions change in Year 2? What is your forecasted
demand for each of the first 5 years?
c.
Which
of the forecasting models do you recommend to estimate the demand for
Metabical, and why? In addition to your forecast results, what data supports
your recommendation?
d.
Why
is providing sound guidance on expected demand important?
3.
Formulate
a sound pricing strategy recommendation. Guiding questions:
a.
Barbara
has also asked you to evaluate pricing options for the Metabical drug. Which
pricing strategy would you recommend, and why?
b.
Is
there any additional information you need to frame or solve the problem?
c. Based
on the demand forecast you chose in question 2, what are the forecasted sales
in year 1? What are the forecasted sales in year 2? What are the forecasted
sales up to year 5?
4. Make
a sound packaging recommendation. Assume that count size is based on a blister
pack of seven (7) tablets that can be in turn packaged into a SKU with 1, 2, or
4 blister packs. Guiding Questions:
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JWI
580 Assignment 2 Page 1 of 3
JWI 580: Business
Analytics
Academic Submissions and Evaluations
a. What
considerations need to be taken into account when making the packaging
decision?
b. What
additional data would you want, and what analysis would you perform to be able
to better answer this question?
5. Using
your demand forecast and pricing recommendations from questions 2 and 3,
estimate CSP’s return on investment (ROI) over a 5-year period that meets the
company’s expectations. Guiding Questions:
a.
What
are your cost assumptions? Do you anticipate any changes in year 2 and beyond?
b.
What
is your estimate of total costs at the end of 5 years?
c. Calculate
the ROI for the Metabical drug. If the ROI achieved is less than 5%, what steps
of your analytical process would you need to revisit?
The specific learning
outcomes associated with this assignment are:
•
Develop
habits of quantitative thinking
•
Frame a problem and predict potential results
• Formulate
and communicate actionable recommendations based on data interpretations and
insights
