Odi Case Study

Optical Distortion, Inc. HBS Case Study 9-575-072 Marketing Management MKT 6301. 002 – Fall 2012 Team Members Young soo Han Kevin Yang Jay Chi Lenny Liao Brad Standridge As of 1974 the chicken population in the US is already in excess of 400 million birds, with slow but steady growth expected through 1980. Given that fact that a great many of these birds live in tight quarters on very large chicken farms, a means of combating the chicken’s natural instinct to peck other chickens is needed. Pecking can actually lead to high mortality rates in flocks (cannibalization), which in turn raises the costs of farming.Debeaking has been used for some time with good results, but it has its own set of drawbacks. The lens developed by Optical Distortions, Inc. (ODI) holds the promise of reducing the threat caused by pecking, without some of the issues associated with debeaking. The specific advantages of these lenses will be discussed in the following report, as will a plan for mark eting this new product. By permanently inserting a pair of sight distorting lenses into the eyes of an egg-laying hen, studies have shown that cannibalization can be reduced from 9% to 4. %. Moreover, feed loss due to â€Å"billing† is substantially reduced relative to debeaked birds, allowing for much greater efficiency in feed consumption (less waste). Finally, given that lens insertion does not inflict the same trauma that debeaking does, egg production is not adversely affected. Given the above advantages, it is expected that farmers could increase their profit from egg sales by more than one-third (37%) simply by employing the use of the ODI lenses (Exhibit 1).Although the potential impact of the ODI lenses is substantial, there are some important assumptions underlying the anticipated value to farmers. For example, one of the biggest financial gains could be in the reduction in feed waste, so the assumption that hens with lenses will â€Å"bill† much less is crit ical. Test results have shown that flock mortality can be cut in half relative to debeaking, so another important assumption is that these positive results can be duplicated consistently in the field.Despite its disadvantages, debeaking is a practice which is familiar to chicken farmers, and the labor and cost associated with debeaking a flock is reasonably well known. It is assumed that a team of individuals trained to perform the lens insertion could process approximately as many chickens in an hour as they would if debeaking were done instead. This would keep the cost of insertion on par with debeaking and would thus lessen the concerns of the farmer. Tied to this is the assumption that a farmer’s own personnel could be readily trained in the art of lens insertion.Should this turn out not to be the case, it could prove nearly impossible for a large number of lenses to be deployed – a small team simply could not address the millions of chickens which would need to be targeted. If millions of lenses cannot be sold in the first year of business, ODI would find it difficult to survive against bigger competitors who are waiting to enter the market. This is thus an area of potentially high risk which needs to be addressed as early in the product introduction phase as possible.Bound up in the assumptions listed above is the underlying assumption that all chickens will respond in more or less the same way to the lenses. There are a number of factors which could allow ODI’s lens technology to quickly penetrate the market. One of the most important is the potential for farmers to experience a large profit increase (> 30% increase) through lower operating costs. Chicken farming is very price sensitive due to its low profit margin (roughly 6% profit on a dozen eggs from a debeaked bird).Use of lenses could allow this margin to increase to 8% or more (Exhibit 1); promoting this possibility should entice many farmers to give the lenses a try. Another key to quick market penetration is the achievement of one or two clear success stories. Given its very small size, ODI needs to focus its limited resources on product introduction at one or two large farms, continuing the focus there until the farmer/owner is pleased with the results. The farmer’s future endorsement of the lens approach would then be invaluable in generating interest from potential customers.As a means of attracting the participation of the first one or two trial farms, ODI could offer free lenses for up to 1000 birds, including insertion labor. It should be noted that penetration of the market can only occur if ODI can supply product in sufficient quantities. Given that there are millions of chickens to be serviced, it is imperative that ODI’s supplier be prepared to likewise supply millions of lenses on a consistent basis. The fact that ODI is bound by contract to a single lens supplier is itself a risk which must be analyzed.From a business continu ity perspective, it would be preferable if ODI could obtain its lenses from two different New World Plastics plants. This would then mitigate the risk somewhat should there be, for instance, a serious product quality issue at one of the facilities. As regards target segment, it would seem that the focus should be initially on farms with a flock size of 50,000 and over, since this would limit the overhead (fixed costs) needed to service these accounts (fewer sales and technical experts required).Also, by focusing on large farms, the sales team could interface with the farms directly, and there would be no need for a â€Å"middle man† to be involved in product distribution. Avoiding this intermediary would help keep costs down. Given the density of large farms in California (flock size of 50,000 or greater), it seems prudent not only to perform the initial product introduction there but to focus the entire first year of business in this single West Coast state. The first yearâ €™s planned production volume is approximately 20 million, essentially the same as California’s chicken population.Success in this region could later force farms in other states to implement the lens simply as a means of staying competitive. Rather than relying on word of mouth alone, ODI could promote its lens technology by participating in both industry trade shows and advertising in the leading poultry industry publications. Moreover, it is also possible that California’s Department of Agriculture could become an ally in promotion of lenses as a viable alternative to debeaking. It is proposed that lenses be sold at a price of $0. 09 per pair, which would in turn provide a profit per pair of $0. 026 (see Exhibit 2).Though the lenses appear to have a value to the farmer much greater than 9 cents, keeping the price in the â€Å"single digits† has a beneficial psychological effect and could help foster the perception that they are a good value. Moreover, if t he price grows much beyond this, the product will obviously be less attractive to farmers who might already be uneasy about adopting a new technology. Given a volume of 20 million units, a price of $0. 09/pair would produce an annual profit of $520,000. This sum would easily allow $250,000 to be directed toward future R&D (so the company can become more than a one-product company).Moreover, there would be more than a quarter of a million dollars remaining to fund rapid expansion the following year (to build a new regional office, for example). Exhibit 1 – Monetary Value of ODI Lenses to Farmers As regards putting a monetary value on the lenses, this can be estimated as follows: a. ($2. 50/hr*3 workers)/225 birds = $0. 033 (cost of inserting a pair of lenses in one chicken) This is essentially the same cost involved in debeaking a bird; for this reason it need not be taken into account when considering the benefits of lenses relative to debeaking. . Proposed cost of lenses to farmer: $0. 09 per pair c. ($2. 40*0. 045) = $0. 108 per chicken (savings in allocation for replacing dead chicken, relative to debeaked flock reduction in flock mortality from 9% to 4. 5%) d. ($158 / ton)(ton / 2000 lb)(156 lb per day / 20,000 chickens) (365 days) = $0. 225 per chicken (annual savings in feed assumes elimination of feed loss due to billing) e. Let’s see how b. and c. above translate into cost of production for a dozen eggs (assuming a chicken produces 22 dozen eggs per year): ($0. 108 + $0. 225 – $0. 09)/22 = $0. 11 per dozen eggs Thus, the cost to produce a dozen eggs would drop from $0. 50 (for a debeaked bird) to $0. 489, and a farmer’s profit per dozen eggs increases from $0. 03 for a debeaked flock to an estimated $0. 041 (assuming a selling price of $0. 53). This means a farmer’s profit could increase by approximately 37% if the lenses were used throughout the flock. Exhibit 2 – Pricing Considerations for a Pair of Lenses Fi xed Costs 1) Headquarters: $184,000 annually (for volume of 20 million pair) 2) Regional Office and Warehouse: $196,000 annually 3) Advertising in Trade Publications: $100,000 annually ) Participation in Industry Trade Shows: $100,000 annually 5) Costs of Molds: $12,000 x 3 = $36,000 (3 molds are needed to produce 21,600,000 pair annually) 6) Licensing Agreement with New World Plastics: $25,000 (per year, must be paid for 1st and 2nd year of production) Variable Costs $0. 032 per pair of lenses (cost to purchase from manufacturer, New World Plastics) So, in the first year of production, if 20,000,000 pairs of lenses are sold, the TOTAL COST would be: [($184,000 + $196,000 + $100,000 + $100,000 + $36,000 + $25,000)/20,000,000] + $0. 032 = $0. 064 per pair

Book vs Movie Essay

There are different ways to get a story from different sources in modern times. Books have been good sources for stories, but movies are getting more popular and have the same story with the books. Why people still reading books; and others are prefer watching the movies? Reading books and watching movies have a lot in common, but there are some differences that makes the readers remain faithful to reading books. Reading books and watching movies are similar because they are telling the same story. They give the reader or the audience the same feelings after reading or watching about the story. The reader can feel sad of the story in a book while the audience can also feel the same after watching about the story in the movie. The general ideas, which are themes and main characters of the story, are the same. For example, Romeo and Juliet is romantic no matter it is read from a book or watched from a movie. A book and a movie both have a beginning, rising actions, and a resolution. The story are formed in the same structure regardless to it is a book or a movie. Even though there are similarities; reading books and watching movies give details through different ways. By reading the books, the reader has to open his mind for imaginations. Books only show words, and the images of the story are imagined in the brain. On the other hand, movies give a particular picture of the story to the audiences, and the audiences get details through visual and hearing. The audiences can only get what is shown in the movies but can’t think outside the box for more creative thinking. The readers can have different feedbacks to the story, but the audiences can only agree with the movies; therefore, reading books and watching movies make the readers or audiences response differently. Watching movies can save a lot of time, but reading books could take a long time depending on the speed of reading. For those who can’t read fast, they would prefer watching movies. A movie will take about two hours, but reading a book could take more than two weeks for some readers. People think reading books and watching movies are the same, so they will choose to watch the movie for their time’s sake. Watching the movie can give them a better picture about the story because it is visual and is within a shorter period of time; therefore, the audience can remember the story easier. Besides, movies keep on renewing every week, but a new book needs to be written and published which will take a long time. That’s why people who like new and fresh things will prefer watching movies. Although watching  movies seems to be more convenient, but people are still reading books. The reason is that books give more details to the readers and usually reveal more characters that are not shown in the movies. Movie producers need to cut away some details because they need to squeeze everything into one to two hours. Books can attract the reader to continue reading and give some suspense so that the reader will be hooked or tempted to finish the book to find out the truth. Reading books can improve the reader’s writing and reading skills, but watching movies brings nothing else but entertainment. Before movies were invented, most of the people read books to entertain and improve themselves. Since movies came out, people are attracted by the beautiful and colorful graphics in the movies but have forgotten the books which are full of details and meanings. People are too obsessed to the shortcuts and mirth’s from the movies, but maybe they should just grab a book, sit down, and read a good book. In my opinion I rather have the time to sit and enjoy reading a great book full of entertainment. In most cases people would watch the movie which tells the story in a short amount of time which is more convenient for them. Either they’re lazy or careless about reading the whole book ful l of fun and detail. That how I enjoy the full version of the story in which I take my time to enjoy.

Adolescence Is the Unhappiest Time in Most People’s

Adolescence is the unhappiest time in most people’s lives. Adolescence is the period of time in someone’s life between being a child and an adult. For some people it is enjoyable, for others it can be the opposite. There are several arguments in favor of adolescence. To begin with, teenagers have more free time than adults. In this time they can do after school activities, join clubs and do sports. In edition, teenagers get support from their parents. For example, parents pay for everything – their child’s studies, food, clothes and so on.That means teenagers don’t need to work. Last but not least, adolescence is the time when people can have many friends and they can go to lots of parties, when adults may work all day and have less free time. Furthermore, it gives teenagers different experience and it is a step to becoming an adult. As there are good points in favor of adolescence, there is also bad. Firstly, it is believed that most of teenagers hate school. For instance, it is boring or too hard. It’s a good reason for disliking adolescence.Secondly, teenagers can’t drive a car. A car is a good advantage of being an adult. It is quite helpful for people who need to go places farther away or for people whose house is too far from school. Thirdly, earning money for underage people is very hard or even impossible. Teenagers’ parents give them money, but not always it is enough, so there is a need to earn extra money. To sum up it is a time with both – advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I believe that adolescence is a happy time. It’s only the matter of fact how people spend it.

Articulating the Culture of Your Cohort Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Articulating the Culture of Your Cohort - Essay Example They include; The group usually holds many meetings during the day which is very different from other groups. In addition, the members of the cohort often dress in a formal manner which makes it unique as compared to other groups. There are also a number of espoused values that makes the group unique in comparison with other groups. They include; The group believes so much in teamwork, and a decision cannot be before the team members conduct discussions. The cohort also values privacy a lot, and leakage of internal affairs by a member of the group is a serious offense (Eliot, 1949). The cohort has also had underlying assumptions that are basic which makes it different from other groups. They include; The founders of the cohort had a definite assumption that for a decision to be there must be discussions by the group members to reach the decision. The other assumption is that dressing in a formal way shows the seriousness of the cohort (Kubr,

Modern Marriage, only a status symbol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Modern Marriage, only a status symbol - Essay Example The Modern American wedding has become much more of commercial saga generating a massive turnover every year. Wedding planners, florists, caterers, hairstylists, clothes, designers, have all got their fortunes connected to the wedding industry. According to statistics 2 "the average American wedding costs $22,360 and has 168 guests, who give 100 gifts that cost an average of $85 each, meaning the net loss to the couple is $13,860..the average guest spends $500 to attend a wedding-not including plane tickets." The statistics do not end here though. The figures get more and more perturbing as it is revealed that "43% of couples say they spent more on their wedding than they had planned."3There is an increase in thematic weddings like Disney World "Fairy Tale Wedding" where for the price of $2,500 a bride can arrive in a glass coach pulled by four dappled gray ponies.4 All these figures and statistics really provoke a disturbing query in our minds which is whether the modern commercial marriage is now deinstitutionalized to the extent of a mere commercial saga The United States has seen deterioration in the institution of marriage during the past many decades (Cherlin 2004:848-861). There has been a transition of the essence of marriage from So is it possible to say that while the practical importance of marriage has hit an all time low, it has gained a symbolic significance Is it merely a mark of prestige and personal achievement Consider only some of the expenses the modern bride and groom go through for the ceremony of marriage. According to a commercial website 5,the Groom pays for the Bride's rings, Boutonnire for the groom and ushers ,groom's present to bridegroom's presents to ushers and best man, ties and gloves for the ushers ,clergy member's cost ,corsages for the immediate members of both families; also the bride's going away corsage ,bachelor dinner (optional, and usually given by best man or ushers) ,rehearsal dinner (optional, but is usual) ,accommodations for out-of-town ushers and the honeymoon. This list is not exhaustive though and the bride has to pay for a similar list of expenditure. What happens then, after such a grand wedding Every year the government issues alarming figures of divorce rate statistics, many homes are broken and the children are displaced. Academic opinion and research has spoken of the weakening of the social norms that regulate people's behaviour in this regard. This is another symbol of the deteriorating society where there is a sort of a "taken-for-granted" norm that allows people to go on with their lives with nobody questioning their behaviour (Cherlin2004:848-849, Whitehead 2001:6-16). The wedding as a status symbol Recent weddings have become little less than individual achievements. "In the distant past, a wedding was an event at which two kinship groups formed an alliance. More recently, it has been an event organized and paid for by parents, at which they display their approval and support for their child's marriage" (Cherlin 2004:848-849) So despite its destabilisation as an "institution", the American Wedding has become "an

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