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re your lists, being Lela actor, come to a concensus on a final list of factors

ID: 396096 • Letter: R

Question

re your lists, being Lela actor, come to a concensus on a final list of factors t ding to the VP of sales that you between Ka factors. After would be comfo the future Questior 1. What a plannin MINICASE: ¡TEAM, INC. 2. What a affect it of San Francisco), that produces, markets, and sells computer systems, computer peripherals and other consumer electronic products to corporate customers and electronics retailers iT eam, Inc. is a high-tech company based in Walnut Creek, California (26 miles nort 3. What a gram? l the com iTeam, formed as an entrepreneurial start-up by CEO Andrew Taylor along with several of his classmates from business school, has had a charmed life so far. With aggressive prici and a tremendous internal research and development group, ITeam has grown exponen. tall in its first five years of existence and has customers throughout the United States ng However, a more challenging reality has begun to set in. At first, ITeam sold its products only locally and on a relatively small scale. But now that it has expanded to selling globally, it is in direct competition with larger, global firms. Because of manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies, these competitors offer equal or lower prices than iTeam with greater product diversity and more value-added services. Alth Team's past success has been based on lower-than-market prices, it now finds that its costs have increased and that profit margins have shrunk to the point that it cannot price its products any lower n addition, sales have been difficult to predict because the high-tech market has fluctu- ated and corporate high-tech spending has been erratic. Although the high-tech economy has been forecast to increase in the coming two year ITleam has attempted to keep costs low by and obtaining most of its supply components from China. Although th s, Andrew is skeptical. establishing call centers in India and Ireland ing has reduced costs, unfortunately it has also reduced product quality. The firm has also come under fire in the media for laying off U.S. employees in favor of outsourcing the is overseas outsourc- to foreign workers, and iTeam's board of directors is pressuring Andrew to be more soda responsible in this area. To further complicate matters, it has come to And Protection Agency has proposed cury levels in

Explanation / Answer

Answer: 1

The following key aspects of external environment are most likely to affect iTeam Inc’s future planning are as below

Global competitors: iTeam to compete with the global competitors who are for longer time and have established their business line.

Increase cost of business: Due to global business, the cost of iTeam business management has increased as compared to the local one. They have high expense in global business management.

High Selling Prices: Due to high cost of global business management, the pricing to be kept at higher side, which is a key issue and will impact the sales. They cannot keep lower price as earlier.

Global Market Fluctuations: The global market is very dynamic and fluctuating. It is difficult to organize the forecasting for the business.

Answer: 2

The following key aspects of internal environment are most likely to affect iTeam Inc’s future planning are as below

Product variability: The iTeam has high product variability, which will be the factor that will impact the iTeam and its production.

Lack of Global exposure /competency in the organization: This will impact the iTeam in execution of global business practices and they need to upgrade their business process to align global market:

Manage productivity with fluctuating demand: This is will be big challenge for iTeam to manage productivity with fluctuating demand.

Answer: 3

We can provide below advice to Andrew Taylor for with respect to iTeam future sale program

iTeam to figure out better forecasting method with better connectivity in the global market.

Evaluate the forecasting numbers, so that sale planning can be done more accurately.

Capture market information to the extent possible to be more connect with global market and understand its demand variations.

In our opinion, following steps to be taken looking at current external and internal environment are

Understand global demand and its fluctuations/variability so that iTeam can get reasonable demand numbers.

Improve the supply chain and manufacturing so that cost can be optimized.

Explore low cost options, so that minimum revenue generation process can be help the business to survive.

Keep focus on the market changes, making the necessary changes in the business to avoid any major issues.

Focus on customer demands and explore customer satisfaction for better future success and growth.