Financial & Market Performance

ARK – Technologies: Final Analysis

Blue Team

Grand Canyon University: MKT-607

Jan 11, 2012

Financial & Market Performance

Financial Performance.

Our current financial performance (FP) illustrates how the team has been able to grow our ROI . Our current Balance Scorecard shows a FP of 17.52.

Financial performance = (Operating profit from current operations / Revenues) * 100

= (4,669,847 / 26,654,300) * 100

= 17.52

Market Performance

Our current market performance shows a 30.3% combined market share with Trav-EZ 5g holding 23.4% of Travelers, Pro-EZ 6g holding 23.7% of Work Horse, CLK 750 Extreme holding 44.7% of Innovators and 48.2% of Mercedes, and EZ Basics XL holding 41.9% of Cost Cutter market shares.

Market performance = average market share in targeted segments/100 ( 24 / 100 = 0.24)

Total Business Performance = 17.52 * 0.24 * 0.70 * 1.09 * 1.15 = 3.63

Financial Performance = 17.52

Market Performance = 0.24

Marketing Effectiveness = 0.70

Investment in Future = 1.09

Wealth = 1.15

Business Plan Review

Brand Strategy

ARK - Technology was pleased with the sales performance of the Trav-EZ 5G, however, sales of the Pro-EZ 6G was under performing in the marketplace. ARK - Technology's brand strategy included increasing the size of the monitor to 19 inches and upgrading the CD drive to a DVD/rewrite drive in an effort to make the Pro-EZ 6G more competitive and thereby increasing sales. Although these changes will increase the cost of the unit, we believe that higher sales volume should offset the additional costs. In the final review, the changes were successful making the Pro-EZ 6G, along with Micro comp's V5, the leaders in the Work Horse sector with a score of 81. Sales of the Pro-EZ 6G, Trav-EZ 5G, and the two newer models introduced, the CLK 750 Extreme and EZ Basics XL, helped ARK- Technology capture the largest total market share of computer sales.

Pricing Strategy

ARK - Technology's pricing strategy was to reduce the amount of rebates to fifty dollars ($50.00) in an effort to compensate for the higher unit cost of the Pro-EZ 6G. We felt comfortable, after careful analysis, that it would remain competitive in price while upgrading the Pro-EZ 6G at the same time. In the final analysis, ARK - Technology was able to maintain rebates of one hundred dollars ($100.00) on the Pro-EZ 6G as well as the Trav-EZ 5G in both the United States and European markets. All of the models did well in the price judgment scoring. The Trav-EZ 5G score 100 in its targeted sector as well as two others, the Pro EZ 6G score 100 in three sectors, the CLK 750 Extreme also score 100 in three sectors, and the EZ Basics XL score 100 in four of the five sectors.

Advertising Strategy

ARK - Technology planned to adjust the advertising priority by including printed media in its advertising strategy. The team is comfortable with the local media advertisements and would like to run the advertisements more often but is very cautious due to the additional costs. However, in projecting futures sales of the Trav-EZ 5G, ARK - Technology believes that the additional revenue may justify the increased expenditures on advertising. We were able to run 128 local advertising inserts and still remain very competitive on price with an average computer price of $2,883.00. Only one competitor was lower; Advanced PC with an average price of $2,788.00.

Sales Channel

In the initial marketing plan, ARK- Technology suggested opening an office in Toronto Canada and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Toronto office was opened in quarter six with the planned staff of one service member and 2 sales representatives each for the Traveler brand and Workhorse brand. ARK-Technology planned to open the Rio de Janeiro office but internal auditors warned against the choice and we followed their recommendations. In quarter eight, we opened an office in Los Angeles, California to meet the greater consumer needs there. As our business plan was adapted to the changing market, we added additional brands and thus expanded our sales representatives training to include all segments.

In the initial marketing plan, ARK- Technology planned to increase the initial sales force from 5 to 7 for each location. As the year progressed, it became apparent that ARK-Technology needed to expand at a much higher rate. By the end of the quarter eight there were between 12 to 14 staff at each office. The increase was justified by the realization that the larger sales force was needed to meet the demands of the consumers. The team realized that additional staff could increase sales enough to maintain the lead in overall market share and supply enough revenue to overcome the breakeven point, thus generating a gross profit within the first two years of operation.

Business Strategy and Performance Second Year

The mission of ARK-Technology is to exceed our customers' expectations in quality, cost, and experience and anticipate future needs by bringing tomorrow's technology to today's business leaders. The business strategy of ARK-Technology aligned with the mission statement. ARK-Technology utilized R & D to produce high quality products with the leading technology. By quarter nine, evidence of the focus on high quality and leading technology materialized in the highest brand judgment in the innovator segment.

ARK-Technology focused on the large, highly competitive markets, mainly New York and London, but by quarters six, seven and eight, we moved into Ontario, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. These markets are large geographically and in market size. In most of these markets, we were able to achieve the planned competitive posture. During year two, we maintained 30% of the market or higher. ARK-Technology held the majority of the market shares for all but quarter six. ARK-Technology did well competing for the lead in all things, succeeding in some, and in close second in others. This was true for all but the advertising.

Actions Compared to the Marketing Plan.

In order to be competitive in this market, the team had to collect information in several areas. The first would be the financial data, which included management accounting, costing, and finance sections. This allowed for the team to understand what the cost