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