JWI580 Assignment 2-Case Study Brief

Assignment 2: 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