Description
Selecting two of the competing companies you researched in the Module 2 Discussion, use Canva* to create an infographic you believe shows each brand’s positioning strategy.Outline their positioning strategies. discuss the differences and similarities in strategies. Briefly illustrate/discuss why each of their positioning strategies works for the brand.Save your infographic as a PDF to submit.*Note: Canva is a free web-based software, required for working on this module’s Critical Thinking assignment. It has many tutorialsLinks to an external site. to help you if you are unfamiliar with this tool. You can create your Canva account hereLinks to an external site..Your infographic should be 1 page in length and utilize Business Writing Format. Include at least 2 scholarly or industry-specific references. The CSU Global Library is a good place to find these references.Plagerism check needs to be providedafter completion (0%)
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A Profile for an Audio Partners Customer
The Demographics
1
2
Identified Need
The Psychographics
Women in America
Age 45 and Up
loss of hearing An Interest in fashion
Easy to use
Enjoys wearing earrings
3
Various Behavioral Factors
History of purchasing jewelry
Would to avoid stigma of wearing traditional hearing aid
.
Customer Profile
Products/Services Used
Customer uses intelligent fashion accessories to Improve communication.
Customer uses intelligent fashion accessories to Filter out background
noise of traditional staticky hearing aids.
Customers use intelligent fashion accessories to regain their
independence.
Customers use intelligent fashion accessories to avoid the stigma of
traditional hearing aids.
Customers use intelligent fashion accessories to decrease strain of
hearing.
Demographics
Customer Benefits
Customer Pain Points
• Career: Banker
• Industry: Banking
• Location: Panama City,
Florida, United States
• Gender: Female
Rechargeable battery.
Tinnitus therapy.
Decrease strain of hearing.
Hard of hearing.
Struggling to complete work tasks
in a timely fashion.
Communication problems.
Customer Story
Customer Communication
Talking Points
Maria, a Middle-aged female,
age 45, suffering from hearing
loss. She works in customer
service and needs to be able to
clearly understand and be
attentive to clients. She knows
she needs a hearing device but
does not want to wear
traditional hearing aids due to
embarrassment.
Natural sound quality.
More fashionable than traditional
hearing aids.
Less expensive (Price point)
Corrects hearing loss in a more
convenient way than traditional
hearing aids.
.
.
Customer Retention Tactics
Tinnitus therapy.
Remote monitoring.
Automatic programming.
.
The decision-making process for the customer for audio partner
When looking at decision making. It is especially important to identify all the problems.
Problem recognition is something that requires a motive like a desire and or a need to even begin
the purchase decision process. There will always be a trigger that will initiate the prompts in the
recognition like I mentioned earlier a need and or a desire.
Considerations
When thinking about information search the first thing that comes to mind is research on
the consumers. Products have various brands, and these brands can help to identify the different
options that are available. This will help to identify the needs of consumers and help fulfill
criteria such as the budget and availability. Consumers tend to conduct more research on exciting
and more expensive purchases versus necessities. This part of the informational research will
lead to the evaluation of alternative options. The consumer narrows down the options that are
available by comparing different. Features, prices, and the quality of the product itself, this is
known as evaluate alternatives.
Purchasing Decision
When making purchases, we can look at the various products and identify how these
products are able to meet the needs of the consumer. When it comes down to making the final
decision. Price points really play a vital role throughout the entire process. The other big
consideration when making a purchase decision would be the quality of the brand under
consideration, in this case it would be the intelligent fashion accessories. This will then lead into
the post-purchase behavior and help the consumer feel satisfied with the purchase and or
unsatisfied later with the decision itself. When we are looking at positive post purchase
experience this can either help lead to a repeat purchase or this will help lead into a positive
world of mouth and potentially lead to more sales later on. When a consumer has a negative
experience the loyalty to the brand will typically tarnish and not lead to a repeat purchase. The
power of word of mouth is very influential, and it is crucial that brands ensure the post purchase
goes well to help retain previous business and keep the customers inquiring about new
acquisition.
Identifying the Benefits of Intelligent fashion accessories
For this assignment, it is important to cover hearing loss. It is becoming a more common
subject amongst Americans. “Approximately fifteen percent of American adults (37.6 million)
have reported some trouble of hearing” (Han, W. 2021). As we age our senses and vison will
start to get gradually weaker over time. Having the ability to hear has many benefits such as the
ability to communicate with other people and within depth detail and communicate in a much
quicker way. We can identify a lot of benefits when we are talking about the ability to hear.
The ability to hear comes with many benefits such as more longevity of life, this is due
to the person being more active and staving off isolation, in other words to include themselves in
a more social environment. Identifying the importance of the benefits and top features of
Intelligent fashion accessories is worth noting. Intelligent fashion accessories will help to prevent
the loss of more hearing in the future if they are used responsibly, Intelligent fashion accessories
will not sacrifice the quality of hearing and will help to avoid any stigma that a traditional
hearing aid would have caused in the past.
Consumer Insights
Hearing loss is a growing problem here in the United States, when we are identifying
benefits of intelligent fashion accessories, we must note that they are extremely light weighted
compared to the older bulkier hearing aids. Now on to the importance of reviews, when looking
at the reviews this is what can be considered, the consumers eye along with the available website
data that can back that information the customer said. Reviews can be considered a double-edged
sword due to the influential power these reviews have on future sale projections. The next
important piece of data I want to discuss is the demographic data. This data is something that we
constantly want to monitor due to it going into consumers specific interests along with helping to
contribute to future sales leads, demographical data can be used to help lead and find the right
path for purchasing a product.
The numerous benefits to intelligent fashion accessories consist of increased
independence, overall better health, natural sound quality, blue tooth availability and also being
noise reductant. The benefits of intelligent fashion accessories are quite endless and worth
considering.
Conclusion
To conclude there are a lot of considerations when a consumer is looking into purchasing
intelligent fashion accessories and this is due to all the numerous factors to consider such as how
intelligent fashion accessories will perform. longevity of the product along with the quantity of
the intelligent fashion accessories will play a noticeably key role in the customer decision’s more
benefits to the product along with the quality of the product will make a noticeably significant
difference.
References
Han, W. (2021). Purchasing decision-making process of online consumational Conference on
Public Relations and Social Sciences (ICPRSS 2021).
The decision-making process for
the customer for audio partners.
The decision making process for the customer for audio
partners.
1. Problem Recognition – Consumers identify a need or desire that motivates them to start the
purchase decision process. An external trigger often prompts this recognition.
2. Information Search – Consumers research different products and brands to find options that
satisfy their need and fit within constraints like budget and availability. (Han, 2021) notes
that consumers tend to conduct more research for exciting purchases versus necessities.
3. Evaluate Alternatives – Consumers narrow down the options by comparing factors like
price, features, and quality. This evaluation identifies the product that best matches their
criteria.
Continued
4. Purchase Decision – The consumer decides to purchase the chosen product that meets their
needs, quality standards, and price point barring any disruptions to the process.
5. Post-Purchase Behavior – After purchasing, the consumer will feel either satisfied or
dissatisfied. Positive post-purchase experiences lead to repeat purchases and positive wordof-mouth. Negative experiences decrease loyalty and discourage future sales. Because wordof-mouth is influential, the post-purchase stage is critical for customer retention and
acquisition (Reinartz et al., 2019).
Reference
❖ Han, W. (2021). Purchasing decision-making process of online consumers.
Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Public Relations and Social
Sciences (ICPRSS 2021). https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211020.214
❖ Reinartz, W., Wiegand, N., & Imschloss, M. (2019). The impact of digital
transformation on the retailing value chain. International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 36(3), 350–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2018.12.002
A Profile for an Audio Partners Customer
The Demographics
1
2
Identified Need
The Psychographics
Women in America
Age 45 and Up
loss of hearing An Interest in fashion
Easy to use
Enjoys wearing earrings
3
Various Behavioral Factors
History of purchasing jewelry
Would to avoid stigma of wearing traditional hearing aid
Introduction to the Audio Partners Portfolio Project
You will do a final Portfolio Project based on this company. By way of introduction to the Audio
Partners Portfolio Project, the final assignment and grading rubric are based on the SPOT
framework (Situation, Problem, Opportunity, and Tactics).
You will be presented with a business situation. Your task is to spot the problems, recommend
solutions, and rationalize your recommendations.
The situation is presented to you as a story. It describes a group of people who have a business
idea. It is not a business plan but a concept, but the story provides sufficient information to
serve as the point of departure for creation of detailed business plan for them—by you.
The story implies a number of problems (or opportunities) that echo issues encountered during
each of the six core courses in the CSUG curriculum. It also hints at issues related to the seven
Integrated Themes threaded through the MBA curriculum.
As you read the story, it will become clear that the founders need competent business advice to
transform their concept from an idea into a viable business plan—one with a high likelihood of
operational viability, attractiveness to investors, and sustainable competitive success.
You are to be that advisor.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT PART 1 — SPOT (Situation, Problem, Opportunity, and Tactics)
Viewing the story through the lens of your current MBA Core Class, the first part of your
assignment is to recognize and resolve each of the issues raised by the story—spot the issue,
recommend a course of action, and provide a supporting rationale.
The SPOT framework suggests a grading rubric:
1. Spot issues—3 points per issue
2. Recommend a course of action (opportunity)—2 points each
3. Support with a cogent Rationale—1 point each
See Appendix A for suggestions regarding how to approach this project using the SPRR
framework.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT PART 2 — Present a Plan
In addition to your critique and advice, Audio Partners needs a business plan to present to
prospective stakeholders—investors, suppliers, regulators, customers.
Viewing what’s needed through the lens of your current MBA Core Class, the second part of
your assignment is to use the information you have gained from the class AND the SPOT
exercise and present a plan.
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Audio Partners Portfolio Project ……………………………………………………… 1
YOUR ASSIGNMENT PART 1 — SPOT (Situation, Problem, Opportunity, and Tactics) ……………………1
YOUR ASSIGNMENT PART 2 — Present a Plan ………………………………………………………………………1
The Audio Partners Story …………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
Audio Partners Background ………………………………………………………………………………………………4
Dr. Darya Amiri, MD …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Mr. Kermit Duncan …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Dr. Jeffrey Lee, PhD ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Ms. Rebecca Mallory ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
Mr. Trevor Meredith …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Dr. Larry Novotni, PhD ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
The Founding of Audio Partners ………………………………………………………………………………………..7
Audio Partners Business Description…………………………………………………………………………………..7
Current Status………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8
Trevor’s Conversation with Jeffrey ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Session Notes, Audio Executive Meeting, San Francisco Presidio ……………………………………. 11
Opening Remarks, Introduction to the Technology……………………………………………………………… 11
Topic 510: Marketing, Mr. Kermit Duncan…………………………………………………………………………. 11
Situation and Problem: Hearing loss, Stigma, Convenience, CAGR …………………………………………………………. 11
Topic 520: Accounting and Management Reporting, Dr. Darya Amiri and Dr. Larry Novotni ……….. 29
Forecasted 5-Year Financial Projection of Income and Expense …………………………………………………………….. 29
Recommended Form of Ownership to Supersede Partnership ………………………………………………………………. 29
Company Valuation ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 30
Assets & Liabilities ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 30
Costing & Financial Benchmarks ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 31
KPI s & BSC ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31
Topic 530: Finance, Mr. Trevor Meredith…………………………………………………………………………… 32
Status Today, Completed Seed Goals, Fund Creation of MVP ………………………………………………………………… 32
Seed Stage is Complete …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 33
Equity Investment & Funding Request Scenarios …………………………………………………………………………………. 33
Mission – Nanoscale Devices……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 34
Osborning & Premature WOM …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 35
Valuation, Partnership, Trevor’s Investment, Investors’ 25% Stake ………………………………………………………… 36
Valuation of Company Assets & Future Earnings ………………………………………………………………………………….. 36
S-Corporation, Start Date, Stock Issue, Call for a Financial Plan ……………………………………………………………… 37
Protection of IP/Trade Secret …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 40
Topic 540: Joint Session – Operations and Operations Strategy, Ms. Rebecca Mallory, Dr. Jeffrey
Lee, Dr. Darya Amiri ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 40
Outsource Supplier Selection, Sensor Cost, and Yield Impact ………………………………………………………………… 41
Single Threaded, Supply Chain Risk Factors …………………………………………………………………………………………. 44
Volume Forecast, Fabrication, & Team Capacity Planning …………………………………………………………………….. 44
Warehouse Team & Customer Loyalty ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 46
Artisan Team……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 46
Capital Equipment and Labor Expense Benchmarking ………………………………………………………….47
Jewelry Operations Responsibilities ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 48
Plating Variations & Mass Customization ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 48
Quality Management ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 48
Plant Lease, Location, Build, or Outsource …………………………………………………………………………………………… 49
Jewelry Fabrication Facility, DFSS, Quality, Delivery to Promise …………………………………………………………….. 50
Price/Volume Fallacy ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 51
Kimberly Certification ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 51
Business Operations, AWS, Business-Wide Integration …………………………………………………………………………. 52
Project Management ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 52
Topic 550: Joint Session – Digital & Data Analytics and AI Strategy, Dr. Darya Amiri and Dr. Jeffrey
Lee ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 53
Topic 560: Strategy Wrap-up, Dr. Jeffrey Lee ……………………………………………………………………… 55
Sideline Conversations and Key Takeaways ………………………………………………………………………. 55
Conversation A: Jeffrey’s Note on IoT, BMI, and Audio’s Technology Competitors …………………………………… 55
Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 56
Appendix A: Suggested Approach to the Portfolio Project ……………………………………………………. 56
Situation………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 56
Problem ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 57
Recommendation …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 57
Rationale …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 57
Ambiguity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 57
Take Risks………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 58
Customer Development Manifesto …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 58
Appendix B: Online Research Resources …………………………………………………………………………… 58
Wearables / Hearables Business Landscape ………………………………………………………………………………………… 59
Wearables & BMI Technology Landscape ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 59
Business Plan Touch Points ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 59
Regulatory Touch Points ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 59
Financials & Features Benchmarks ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 60
Jewelry Making Touch Points …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 60
The Audio Partners Story
Audio Partners Background
Audio Partners is a start-up owned in equal shares by six founders:
Dr. Darya Amiri, MD
Dr. Amiri received her BS in Biology from the University of Chicago, MS in Biomedical
Engineering from the University of Minnesota, and MD from Stanford University, After
completing her residency at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Amiri turned to research, and currently leads
the Critical Implant Technologies Group within Boston Scientific’s Institute for Advancing
Science, in Maple Grove, MN.
Persona
Darya is 35 years old. Married for three years, she resumed using her own name following
her divorce. Both of Darya’s parents emigrated from Iran, and she is very proud of her
Persian heritage, tracing her family back as far as 1720. She is an informal student of ancient
Persian culture, and she can be a little sharp with people who assume she is Arab. Like
Jeffrey Lee, Darya is a highly analytical strategic thinker. She stopped seeing patients to join
Boston Scientific when she discovered that she finds medical innovation more interesting
than medical practice. She continues to serve on the Advisory Board for the Future Grant
Program at the Mayo Clinic.
Mr. Kermit Duncan
Mr. Duncan received his BFA with a concentration in Media and Communication from Pratt
Institute, where he was an Apple Design Scholarship winner, and his MFA from the Rhode
Island School of Design. He rose in two years to Senior Creative Director at Ruckus
Marketing in New York City, established a new Emerging Brands practice at Landor & Fitch
in San Francisco, and now leads the AI Opportunities Group at Alphabet, in Sunnyvale, CA.
Persona
Kermit is 29 years old and lives with his husband Zachary, an account executive at Hubspot,
in a San Francisco Victorian house where they host dinner parties and cocktail gatherings
almost every weekend. One of his favorite things is to introduce new people to one
another; his friends call him “Yente” (the match maker) even at work. Traveling
internationally for Landor, he was often tapped to lead projects that presented crosscultural challenges: “Haha, that one we need to assign to Yente!” Kermit loves
improvisational comedy, and toyed with becoming a writer in Los Angeles or New York, but
decided he would rather woo an audience from on stage than work behind the scenes. His
exuberance, empathy, and genuine joy in the company of people, energize everyone
around him.
Dr. Jeffrey Lee, PhD
Dr. Lee received his BSEE, MS in Chemistry, and PhD in Physics from the University of
California at Berkeley. While an assistant professor working together with Larry Novotni,
then a Berkeley postdoc, Dr. Lee’s research explored techniques for the design and
optimization of nano-scale sensing and actuation devices that could achieve the technical
and economic (production cost and yield) performance suitable for high-volume
manufacturing and commercialization. In addition to delivering numerous articles and talks
in electrical engineering and device chemistry, Dr. Lee holds seven patents, including three
mask patents securing exclusive rights to the device architecture at the heart of Audio’s
product concept.
Persona
Jeffrey is 32 years old, married to wife Cynthia, with a three year old daughter, Xiang. Jeff
and Cynthia met at Berkeley, where is Cynthia is completing medical school preparing for
her residency. Both of Jeff and Cindy are highly analytical and share a love of ideas,
discussion, and debate. Jeff respects strategic thinking and believes people are responsible
for the future and, like Cindy, is less interested making his career a path to prosperity than
in devoting himself to making life better for people. Both are devoted to their daughter, and
Jeff even has a reputation for bringing her along when he teaches or speaks. Jeff and Cindy
also find time to be actively involved in the arts, as donors to the San Francisco Symphony
and the de Young Museum, and avid enthusiasts of the opera. They make it a point to
attend at least one cultural event each month, they always make an evening of it—formal
jacket and tie—and they always bring Xiang along.
Ms. Rebecca Mallory
Ms. Rebecca Mallory received her BA in Anthropology from San Francisco State University,
and an MFA from the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) where she continued as Artist
in Residence for jewelry design in metal and gemstone, and she holds a DFM Certificate
(Design for Manufacturability) from the University of Washington. She has been exhibited in
San Francisco, New York, Paris, Bangkok, and Arezzo (in Tuscany), and even before leaving
OCAC, her work had been recognized by houses including Cartier, Dior, Bucherer, and
Damiani, with whom she has since collaborated. Her designs are known for their complex
delicacy, softness, a graceful flow and transformation of light, and for exquisite
craftsmanship.
Persona
Rebecca is 28 years old, and lives on 12 wooded acres north of San Francisco, near the
California wine country, with two friends (also fine artists) with whom she shares studio
space, and jointly operates a community vegetable growers co-op. She enjoys long walks for
conversation with friends, always including her two Bernese Mountain Dogs, Bilbo Baggins
and Gandalf the Grey. She prefers soft color patterns and natural fabrics in her clothing, and
believes clothing becomes more beautiful as it ages with use. An informal follower of
Eastern philosophies, she feels a deep sense of connection with people, almost
experiencing their emotions along with them, and she strives to make herself, her
environment, and her art a source of positive, lighthearted harmony for the people around
her. Her signature greeting is to laugh and say, “Go placidly amid the noise and
haste, Kiddo. And hurry it up!”
Mr. Trevor Meredith
Mr. Trevor Meredith is a graduate of Olin College with a BS in Chemistry, and received his
MBA from Santa Clara University. He served as a senior executive vice president and general
manager at Philips Medical, and has held executive positions at Siemens Medical (where he
oversaw intellectual property matters and FDA approval / compliance matters), as well as
several Silicon Valley semiconductor companies, rising through marketing and sales
management.
Persona
Trevor is 73 years old and retired, although he prefers to say, “semi-retired” because he is
still active as a private equity investor and currently serves on the boards of three earlystage healthcare start-up companies. He provided much of the seed funding for Audio as an
angel investor, but he has refrained from active oversight of how the funds are used,
preferring instead to protect his status as a silent partner. Early in his career, he was
personally acquainted with Eugene Kleiner at Fairchild Semiconductor, and Tom Perkins at
Hewlett-Packard, and he is still well known at both Kleiner Perkins and Intel Capital.
Trevor is a highly analytical, systemic thinker, wants to understand the detail as well as the
big picture, and believes that, second only to making good hiring decisions, an executive’s
most important role is to ask lots of questions—most often “How do you know…” and
“What’s your plan if… ” Trevor respects hard work, diligence, intelligence, competence and,
especially, collaboration. He is frankly miffed when younger executives overlook his
expertise, insights, and suggestions. Although Trevor has very high standards, he also has a
sentimental and generous nature; he has forged many lasting friendships, some dating back
to college and even high school, and he takes his relationships with people seriously simply
because he considers that the right way to be. Although Trevor has a very substantial net
worth, he drives a modest car, lives in a lovely but unpretentious home, and follows a
modest lifestyle. Trevor and his wife, known by her friends as Jonny, maintain a vacation
home near Lake Tahoe, California, where he enjoys golf and hiking. They look forward to
resuming annual trips abroad when Covid passes. Trevor and Jonny especially take great
pride in their two children, and savor their career successes.
Dr. Larry Novotni, PhD
Dr. Novotni received the B.S. (Hons.) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS)
from UCLA, and a PhD in Quantum Mathematics from Stanford University. He was recipient
of a Graduate Fellowship Award from IEEE, and the first recipient of the Directors Best
Thesis Research and Innovation Award from Cornell University, Solid-State Circuit Society
(SSCS). Dr. Novotni currently teaches part time at Stanford and leads research on resonance
physics in nanoscale semiconductor devices, on a fellowship at the University of California,
Berkeley.
Persona
Larry is 32 years old and lives in San Francisco. In his spare time, he is a champion triathlon
competitor, rock climbing instructor, and extreme ski enthusiast. He pushes himself and
enjoys achieving, in both his athletic and professional careers. Although he is disciplined and
deliberative in his thought process, he prefers experimentation to theory, and he is decisive
and action-oriented. “Short of life or death gambling, a go-for-it pitch summits faster than a
conventional one.” A well-liked leader, he is at his best under pressure, and has been
recognized “Most Trusted Expedition Leader” by board members of the American Alpine
Club for three consecutive years.
The Founding of Audio Partners
The initial founders of Audio Partners were Jeffrey and Larry, who developed the core
technology on which Audio’s products are based. They brought in Darya as an advisor and
Rebecca as the fine arts voice, and then it was Rebecca who enlisted Kermit. In each case, the
founders had either worked together before or were friends from school. Trevor, semi-retired,
is an angel investor, and has been a business mentor to the other founders, most of whom lack
business experience.
To bring their product idea to market, the founders thought it would be sufficient to set up
manufacturing and a website, and then perhaps also look into advertising, maybe in those
magazines everybody finds in the seat back pocket on airlines.
They were happy just to begin selling product and generating revenue and income with a view
to eventually being acquired if an interested buyer can be cultivated, or possibly become a
public company. Before they can accomplish any of that however they must raise funds to
establish production and selling capability, and so they are deciding how to prepar
