...Question: Should Harbinson recommend further investment in Seven Peaks? This case depicts a typical scenario of any venture capital firm which makes investment in an early stage company. The entrepreneur, Jack Brandon, did demonstrate proof of concept with his titanium-alloy technology for cauterizing; but didn’t even define the commercial viability. Further he introduced more complexity by adding a forceps project to the initial cauterizer project. The investing partners will obviously set high targets for the new money that’s being demanded which will in turn sour the 18 month relationship between Christian Harbinson and Jack Brandon. To begin with, it is necessary to answer the following questions – the opportunity cost of not reinvesting for new project in Seven Peaks, the market size (in units per year), price elasticity, are these premium products that could outsell the existing ones because of superior performance? In my opinion, Brandon should be looking to launch a new and improved version of his cauterizer before exploring the forceps idea. Once it’s a successful product he can consider the cross-selling synergies that would arise from marketing forceps. It has been quite clear that Brandon is not a marketing expert and that why the first product didn’t reach the desired level of success. Seven Peaks essentially need marketing specialists. Harbinson himself needs to take initiative to develop Brandon’s entrepreneurial capabilities. He ask a time period of say 3 months...
Words: 411 - Pages: 2
...Mahindra Case 1. Mahindra is a multinational company that conducts business in many different industries, such as aerospace, automobiles, farm equipment, finance, hospitality and information technology. Under the “Mahindra Tractor” name they are a manufacturer and producer of tractors and other agricultural equipment. The main dilemma facing Mahindra is in regards to their fulfillment to dealers. The supply chain is as follows: first the company manufactures the tractors, and then has them sent to their stockyards. At the stockyards they are available to the dealers, who in turn sell them to customers. Mahindra’s dilemma is that their stockyards frequently have an irregular and short supply available to dealers. Since the dealers have difficulty in receiving the proper tractors, they had an accuracy level of only 63% in fulfilling sales demands. Besides for Mahindra’s issues causing a decrease sales fulfillment, their sales information is also reported to the media and impacts the companies share price. 2. -Even with their issues, by analyzing yearly data it is clear that revenue has grown steadily. Sales revenue has grown yearly from 87,768,000 in 2004 to 228,305,000 in 2011. This can be linked to improvements in crop yield and irrigation causing an increase in demand. Mahindra likely would have grown even more if they were able to provide the proper tractors to dealers. In fact, by analyzing the data from months January 2004-Decemeber 2011 we see that the tractor industry...
Words: 994 - Pages: 4
...STUDY AND COMMENTARY Should Harbinson recommend further investment in Seven Peaks? Four commentators offer expert advice. Good Money After Bad? by John W. Mullins • Reprint R0703A Jack Brandon’s initial idea has not panned out, and the cash is nearly gone. But he’s got a new plan. Will you back him a second time? HBR CASE STUDY Good Money After Bad? by John W. Mullins COPYRIGHT © 2007 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. From a rocky perch overlooking the sparkling lights of San Francisco, Christian Harbinson gazed across the bay to the hills above Sausalito. “There’s nothing like a vigorous hike,” he thought, “to clear the mind before a crucial meeting.” It was a mild March evening, and the 35-year-old venture capitalist was reflecting on the recommendation he would have to make to his firm’s investment committee the next morning about Jack Brandon’s young company, Seven Peaks Technologies. Seven Peaks had developed an innovative device for cauterizing blood vessels during electrosurgery, and although the feedback from surgeons had been excellent, sales had been slow. The Palo Alto–based venture capital firm where Harbinson worked, Scharfstein Weekes, had invested $600,000 in Seven Peaks from its newly raised second fund of $100 million. SW’s current investment strategy focused on early-stage medical technology companies, and Seven Peaks was a typical investment for the firm, which liked to get in on promising ideas...
Words: 5599 - Pages: 23
...Starbucks Coffee Company’s reputation is so exceptional; the company must maintain its outstanding brand reputation. Starbucks has been and continues to increase demand; therefore, we need to maintain exceptional customer service by decreasing the long lines during peak hours. If the standards are not the same Starbucks jeopardizes their excellent reputation. If the standard of quality were to drop, consumers would be less likely to choose to pay the premium price, resulting in a significant loss of market share. With such rapid demand, Starbucks must also ensure that its standards are met throughout the world. Recommendations: * Introduction to Starbucks new ordering application (app) to ensure high quality customer service in every aspect of the Starbucks brand. Situation Analysis Starbucks has been a leader in coffee and other beverages and is a well-known brand. Starbucks offers a variety of products to meet customers’ needs and has expanded from solely coffee and tea to include breakfast and lunch options. In this transition, Starbucks has an increase in customers during peak hours. Market Summary Starbucks is well known and is looking to decrease their long lines during peak hours. In adapting to technology, Starbucks is looking to develop a mobile app for ordering via Smartphone and picking up in-store. Market...
Words: 3396 - Pages: 14
...Entertainment Europe’s (SCEE) strategic objectives? Yes, it is an important product for Sony as Games generated 97% of operating income (Exhibit 2. Game US$939mn / Net income US$963mn among the entire business segment.) In 2003, SCEE accounted for 13% of the nearly 650 PlayStation2 titles and 26% of the more than 120 million Play Station 2 software units produced. Revitalize Play Station’s growth momentum which was declining in production and shipment since 1997-1999 peak sales volume EyeToy Play is reflecting SCEI’s core mission of creating “a new form of entertainment beyond games” via the integration of innovative computer technology with digital audiovisual technology. It drove the software and hardware along with interacting with players and game objects on display. Electronic is the Cash Cow of SONY which enjoyed >50% profit pool worldwide in high-end game segment. EyeToy Play achieved and promoted the strategic objectives of SCEE: Be the FIRST and the BEST: Technology leadership Pricing leadership Marketing leadership Q2: Although sales figures for EyeToy Play have been impressive, those for EyeToy Groove have been disappointing. What are reasons for Play’s phenomenal success—and Groove’s failure to emulate Play’s performance? Why? Discussing from point view of “4P” and “ Customer” of marketing strategy: Product: Bundling strategy as EyeToy Groove had been sold as software only and it didn’t sell with...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
...Business Proposal for Will Bury’s Price elasticity Scenario The purpose of this proposal is to provide recommendations to Will for increasing revenue, maximizing profits, determining the company’s profit-maximization quantity, increase product differentiation, and minimizing product costs. The proposal will also include the correlated processes for determining the appropriate recommendations and their correlation to pertinent economic principals. Company Overview Will Bury is an architect of innovation who has the foresight to forecast future trends in digital book technology. He has developed and patented a proprietary technology that takes printed words from text and creates a file which provides the option of reading digitally or listening to a synthetic voice rendition. Will is aware that he has access to books no longer under copyright protection at no cost. Furthermore, according to his assessment, he can significantly expand his catalog by paying an estimated $5.00 royalty fee per copy for copyrighted books. Although technologically savvy, Will appears to display deficient business aptitude which, thus far, has culminated in his lack of adequate facilities, human resources, and indecisiveness. This proposal will detail the measures Mr. Bury should take for optimal results within the present and subsequent speculative conditions. Efficiencies in production levels and price changes will be reflective of prescribed actions. This proposal was prepared under...
Words: 987 - Pages: 4
...-1- By selection of the company ‘PACIFIC BANGLADESH TELECOM LIMITED(PBTL)’, we have the intention to: Over view the mobile service sector of Bangladesh. Present the background of the company. Identify the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity And Threat of the company. Identify their target market Develop the means of market research Set up the objectives and goal for the company Develop the strategy to accomplish their objectives and goal, set by us Highlight the marketing tactics to archive the pre determined objectives Do the projections with concern to costs, revenue and budgeting information for three years Draw an over all picture about the effectiveness of the implementation and controlling tools. -2- -3- Bangladesh is a country where there are lots of people has a capability to use mobile service getting faster their life. As our population is very large Bangladesh can be a very good market. At present, middle class people are growing very fast and many mobile service companies are playing a great role to serve this large number middle class people. CityCell is one of the pioneers to serve the middle class people with high quality mobile service with fastest communication. Objective of the Study: Through this study our objective was to learn how to put a product(service) into the market with the help of different marketing strategy and to implement our knowledge of the marketing system in a real world scenario...
Words: 8376 - Pages: 34
...by doing a unique service or a product. So Jeff Bezos able to figure out this will be a new and suits to the future trend as well as market environment which is yet to come with a rapid growth of the internet and he started to sell books which was the top selling product at that time. So he was able to start and introduce a new way of selling books with the use of new updating technology. It was a new method, profitable path for the world market which was mainly used to do business with traditional market at that time. That was a good opportunity to Amazon.com to spread their online book shop all over the world with a low transaction cost and without store cost that cannot be seen in a physical book shop that are not able to maintain more than 200,000 books physically. These facts can be highlighted which was able to push Amazon.com to peak of success. But with the time changing Bezos realized that Amazon.com will not be able to remain in the online industry by selling only books due to the instability of the changing market and also due to the competition. So it results the Amazon.com to start selling music CDs and video tapes later. It is a considerable fact that Amazon.com always willing to change their selling products with the change of their market. It was a good...
Words: 537 - Pages: 3
...17, September 2012 6 5G: Future Mobile Technology-Vision 2020 Saurabh Patel EC Department NSIT,Jetalpur Gujarat,India Malhar Chauhan EC Department NSIT,Jetalpur Gujarat,India Kinjal Kapadiya EC Department NSIT,Jetalpur Gujarat,India ABSTRACT Currently, Mobile operators are busy with deployment of 4G technology namely, LTE-advanced or WIMAX 802.16m. This 4G technology will be concluded within two years. 5G technology is not standardizing yet, probably 5G standard will define in two to three years, and its deployment will start around 2020. In future, people will expect same quality of internet connectivity as the device is capable. This technology will include all types of advanced features, which make 5G technology more powerful. The main features we want to add in 5G mobile network is that user can simultaneously connect to the multiple wireless technologies and can switch between them. Forthcoming mobile technology has to support IPv6 and flat IP. This paper explains different technology which we want to include making future mobile technology more powerful and more in demand. Keywords 5G, Future Mobile Technology, IP, Mobile Networks 1. INTRODUCTION It's at the moment just over last few years since the smart phone changed the world of the mobile Internet and mobile connectivity is changing the way we live and work. Now a day Smart-phone selling is more compared to mobile phone selling, it indicates that technology is changing. With the advent of tablets,...
Words: 607 - Pages: 3
...Developing Good Business Sense Jenny Richardson BUS/210 March 16, 2014 Karen M. Wilson Developing Good Business Sense In this week’s assignment, I looked at three different businesses but three of the same field. McDonalds, Sonic Drive-in, and Kentucky Fried Chicken were the three restaurants I chose to investigate for this assignment. These restaurants run on the same basis of fast and friendly service. All three are highly successful franchise businesses and very well recognized in the fast food industry. McDonald’s primary products are hamburgers and french fries, but over the years they have branched out to many different types of sandwiches to keep customers interested and coming back for more. They offer an array of breakfast items as well. Sonic Drive-in restaurant takes us back to the carhop days of the past and brings a bit of a nostalgic feel to dining in your car. They have a large menu based on items once served at the drive-in restaurants and encourage their customers to customize their orders. They advertise over 350,000 drink combinations available. Kentucky Fried Chicken was established years ago by a man known as Colonel Sanders who had a way with making fried chicken and was famous for it to say the least. Over the years the company has added many different items to the menu but has never changed the “original recipe” which made the company famous and what it is today. All three of these restaurants run...
Words: 754 - Pages: 4
...solutions for the changing economy to keep increasing their revenue and decreasing their costs. The economy may go through a recession, expansion and peaks over their years in business. Larson, Inc. needs to analyze the difference scenarios and determine the best course of action for each type of economic future. Also, the company must consider the economy’s stage in the business cycle to make well-informed decisions. Economic projections The business cycle will have continual change and fluctuate over time. History has shown us how the economy goes through peaks, recessions, troughs, and expansion. It is important for all businesses to understand the concepts of macroeconomics and how the business cycle is affected. Larson, Inc. can plan for the changes to remain successful and innovative. The business cycle is determined by the changes in GDP or gross domestic product. The change in the GDP can occur from economic reasons such as changes in demand, taxes and interest rates. It can also change from non-economic reasons such as war or natural disasters. The company must be aware and analyze the different indicators of the changing economy. The recession, in which Larson Inc. is currently experiencing, is a normal part of the business cycle. It is said that fiscal and monetary policies can help decrease the peaks and recessions of the business cycle. The government would step in with fiscal policies. The government can provide more funding for private sectors...
Words: 1580 - Pages: 7
...Executive Summary Sport Obermeyer, Ltd was founded by Klaus Obermeyer to provide U.S. skiers with the same protective and stylish clothing and equipment available in Germany. Over the years, Sport Obermeyer developed into a preeminent competitor in the U.S. skiwear market. Their estimated sales in 1992 were $32.8 million. The company held a commanding 45% share of the children’s skiwear market and 11% of the adult skiwear market. Obermeyer offers a broad line of fashion ski apparel, including parkas, vests, ski suits, shells, ski pants, sweaters, turtlenecks, and accessories. Parkas are considered the most critical design component of a collection; the other garments were fashioned to match the parkas’ style and color. Their products were offered in five different genders: men’s, women’s, boys’, girls’, and preschoolers’. The company segments each “gender” market according to price, type of skier, and how “fashion-forward” the market was. Within each “gender”, numerous styles are offered, each in several colors and a range of sizes. In 1985, Klaus Obermeyer teamed up with Raymond Tse to establish Obersport Ltd. This joint venture was used to coordinate production of Sport Obermeyer products in the Far East. Obersport was responsible for fabric and component sourcing for Sport Obermeyer’s production. Materials sourced were cut and sewn within Raymond Tse’s own “Alpine” factories or in independent subcontractors located in Hong Kong, Macau, and China. Sport Obermeyer’s orders...
Words: 1759 - Pages: 8
...shown steady increases. (Dennis Trewin(2005)) On the other hand, the transport ticket selling system, in fact, is not effective enough to match the passenger requirements for buying tickets. The intention of this report is to introduce and recommend a brand new technology – Bluetooth technology to solve the potential threat and issues on transportation ticket selling. 1.0 Current situation – as is– The ticket selling system currently operates separate implementations on different transports: railway tickets can be bought only in the railway station while bus tickets and ferry tickets can be bought in different convenience stores. It is impossible for passengers to buy bus or ferry tickets in a train station. Though monthly ticket which includes all the transports can be bought in the station, the price by the way is expensive and it is definitely unsuitable for short-period trip passengers. At the same time, the whole ticket selling system, especially railway tickets, always confused and agitated passengers in the situation that buying tickets and the train leaves at the same time. The railway tickets selling system, which is the most essential parts for the whole transportation system, exists two main operating components working separately to service passengers: ticket machines and selling assistants. 1.1 Tickets selling automatically At present, two types of the tickets selling machines service...
Words: 1396 - Pages: 6
...evening, and the 35-year-old venture capitalist was reflecting on the recommendation he would have to make to his firm's investment committee the next morning about Jack Brandon's young company, Seven Peaks Technologies. Seven Peaks had developed an innovative device for cauterizing blood vessels during electrosurgery, and although the feedback from surgeons had been excellent, sales had been slow. The Palo Alto-based venture capital firm where Harbinson worked, Scharfstein Weekes, had invested $600,000 in Seven Peaks from its newly raised second fund of $100 million. SW's current investment strategy focused on early-stage medical technology companies, and Seven Peaks was a typical investment for the firm, which liked to get in on promising ideas modestly and then follow with additional rounds of capital after technological and market milestones had been met. The $600,000 was nearly gone; Harbinson and his colleagues had to decide whether to put more into the struggling company. Seven Peaks was looking for another $400,000 to develop a second product based on its proprietary technology, which enabled surgical instruments to do their work without sticking to tissue-a frustrating problem for most electrosurgeons. Brandon still believed in his technology and in his ability to commercialize it. Harbinson was impressed both with Brandon and with the technology's...
Words: 2760 - Pages: 12
...Product Life Cycle The product life cycle is basically all the stages that a product passes through, from the original idea, right the way to the decline of the product. The first stage of the product life cycle is research and development, where ideas are put forward and researched, leading to a prototype of the product. Once the product has been developed into the finished article, it is then introduced to the market. In this stage of the product life cycle the branding of the product is decided and the copyright and other product protection schemes are obtained. In the introduction stage the pricing strategy is decided on, which is usually either a low price to obtain a high market share, or a high price to recover development costs. In this stage while the product has yet to develop its reputation, distribution channels are limited. Generally in this stage sales are low, there is little growth and marketing costs are high to try and establish the product. An Adidas product currently in this section is the Adidas F50, as it has been recently released and yet to establish itself, also the marketing for this product is very high at the moment, which is another characteristic of this stage. Now the product has been introduced to the market, it enters the growth stage, as suggested by the name it is where the market share of the product increases and starts to stabilise. In this section the marketing starts to build the products brand and sales rise quickly, therefore...
Words: 1143 - Pages: 5
