Managing the Supply Chain

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Sales Questions
1 Sales Promotion Strategy 
Q1: The meaning and effect of consumer sales promotion?
Consumer sales promotion is a method of marketing that a company uses to obtain a specific objective—such as the growth of its share of the market or to introduce a new product to the market. Consumers are targeted by advertising to purchase a specific product over a limited course of time. An example would be Tesla introducing a new product to the market—the Model 3—an EV for middle class consumers. The effect is that it attracts more interest to the company and helps the company to grow its market share and sell its new product.
Q2: Price promotion and non price promotion difference?
Price promotion is a type of marketing that aims to attract interest by reducing the price of a product. Non price promotion is a method of marketing that aims to attract the consumer through some other incentive not tied to price—for example, the product might offer better quality performance, or come with more options than others in its class, and so on. An example of a price promotion marketing strategy would be to offer a consumer a discount on a product, a free gift with purchase, coupons, or buy-one-get-one free. The latter is often used in grocery stores: buy one loaf of bread, get a second loaf free. Non-price promotion strategies would include the following examples: advertising a new cell phone by highlighting its superior camera, light weight, size, and technology.
2 Selling Strategy 
Q1: Discuss the types of online shopping.
B2C is business-to-consumer shopping. B2B is business-to-business shopping. Online shopping is conducted via online retail sites like Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, or Walmart.com. PC shopping is shopping that is conducted using one’s own personal computer. There is also P2P shopping—i.e., peer-to-peer shopping like that which is conducted on eBay or on Craigslist, where bartering is also often conducted (in which one consumer trades an item for another). There are also online auction sites that allow individuals to bid on items, such as Everything But the House, where the highest bidder wins the right to purchase the item.
Q2: Discuss factors that determine consumers buying online shopping?
Factors that determine consumers buying online shopping include price, convenience, shipping (time and cost), availability (brick and mortar retailers often do not have items in stock that online retailers can store in warehouses and ship easily to consumers). Online shopping allows consumers to purchase items without having to leave the comfort of their own home. They can purchase at any time: they do not have to wait for store hours but can make a purchase late at night or early in the morning or in the middle of the day. There are no waiting lines and none of the hassle of having to go out in traffic.
3 Research Methodology 
Q1: Define measurements and explain why measurement is important to scientific research?
Measurements are methods of obtaining data to be analyzed in scientific research. Measurements are obtained using instruments, such as Likert-scale in survey methodology, or formal assessments in education research. Quantitative and qualitative measurements differ in that the former provides statistical data that can be quantified and statistically analyzed to produce objective, empirical evidence. Qualitative measurements can be obtained by conducting interviews and analyzing themes or content.
Q2: Discuss the idea of sampling error and how it helps researchers to construct confidence intervals around their sample estimates. Give examples of how this information could influence your anticipated survey results?
Sampling error refers to the extent to which a sample represents an entire population. For example, when pollsters conduct polls leading up to an election, they may have a sizeable sampling error based on the fact that they sample more Democrats than Republicans or more women than men or more young voters than old voters. Obtaining a sample that represents a population equitably is difficult to do, but reducing sampling error is a necessary part of conducting research.
Confidence intervals help to do just that. No two samples from a population are likely to produce the same results—but the more samples that are obtained the more likely the parameter of confidence is likely to be defined. Confidence intervals describe the parameter of interest by assessing sampling error. For example, if you take 20 samples from a population and 19 of them provide results within a specific range, the confidence interval dictates a 95% confidence level that the population as a whole will provide results within the same range.
This information could influence anticipated survey results by altering the manner in which researchers go about surveying a sample. Taking the example of the pollster once more, a pollster that wants to indicate that the population is leaning towards one candidate over another may heavily sample a specific demographic. This would impact the outcome of the research in way that skews towards the preferred candidate but that in reality may not actually reflect the entire population.
4 Distribution Channel Management 
Q1: Consider the supply chain for a domestic automobile. 
a: What are the components of the supply chain for the automobile? 
The components of the supply chain for the automobile consist of: raw materials suppliers, parts and subsystems suppliers, the manufacturer, transportation, and auto dealers (sellers). In some cases, such as Audi in Germany, the suppliers of materials and parts are literally right next door, which allows the company to conduct just-in-time supply chain management.
b: What are the different firms involved in the supply chain? 
Various firms involved in the supply chain include the raw material suppliers—i.e., plastics firms, steel firms, mechanics firms, rubber firms; parts suppliers—i.e., engine manufacturing firms, seating manufacturing firms, electronics firms and so on; the manufacturing firm—i.e., VW, Audi, Chrysler, Toyota; the transporting firms—i.e., the auto shippers, trucking, rail transportation providers and so on; and the auto dealers—i.e., the local market retailers who park the cars on their lots and sell to consumers.
c: What are the objectives of these firms? 
The objective of all firms involved in the supply chain is to achieve a profit. Firms make a profit by reducing costs and maximizing revenue streams. There are different strategies to achieve these aims. Some firms may focus on quality in order to achieve customer satisfaction and thereby win more contracts; others may focus on reduced prices and thereby achieve more sales. Others may focus on reducing costs associated with inventory and so on.
d: Provide examples of conflicting objectives in this supply chain? 
Conflicting objectives can often occur. Manufacturers may want long production runs with flexible delivery times, but suppliers may require pre-arranged schedules. Retailers may want a big range of cars to sell at low prices, but manufacturers will want cars sold at higher prices to cover their costs and may want to limit range for the same reason.
e: What are the risks that rare or unexpected events pose to this supply chain? 
Unexpected economic risks are always factors: a downturn in the economy (caused by a trade war, for example) can cripple supply chains and cause manufacturing to slow down or move altogether. Revolutions in design concepts (such as the electronic vehicle concept) can also pose risks to the supply chain, causing certain raw materials to plunge in value and others to rise.
Q2:  When is a buy-back contract appropriate? When is a payback contract appropriate? What about an option contract? How are they related?
Buy-back and pay-back contracts are special types of options contracts that are used to manage risk. A buy-back contract is appropriate when attempting to coordinate prices by looking at the distribution of demand. If demand is high, it makes sense to have a buy-back contract because it keeps costs low. If demand is low, the contract can backfire because a supplier may be required to buy back a great deal of product. Payback contracts are used to move the risk from the manufacturer to the supplier and buyer. In this option, the buyer purchases the excess product so that the manufacturer does not eat the loss. An option contract gives the buyer a right to buy the underlying at a pre-determined price at a future date; the buyer pays a premium for that right. This locks in the price for both buyer and seller—but it does not necessarily lock in the sale because the buyer does not have to exercise his right to buy; the buyer has simply purchased the right to buy if he desires. All these contracts are related because they are all ways to mitigate risk among stakeholders and to hedge against fluctuations in price and demand in the market.