A CASE STUDY IS GIVEN BELOW READ AND ANSWER THE BELOW QUESTIONS.

You are employed by General Mills Canada and are the brand manager for Pillsbury chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough. The product is available in three flavours: chocolatey chip, chocolatey chunk, and milk chocolatey chip. The brand is in an enviable position in the market: it is a dominant leader with a 65 percent market share. There is little doubt that the Pillsbury brand name has an excellent image and reputation among consumers for its various product lines in the baking products category. Nestle Toll House ranks second in market share in the refrigerated cookie dough category, and there are some private-label brands to contend with.

Refrigerated cookie dough has been a good profit contributor for the company. Just recently, however, the costs associated with producing the product have increased to the point where a price increase is necessary. In addition, some other external forces are having a negative impact on sales volume. Market growth for all baking products, household penetration, and cookie segments growth is flat. With costs rising and sales projections for the brand in the upcoming year being flat, the profitability of the brand will decline. Your job is to protect the profitability of the brand.

You are evaluating whether to increase the wholesale price to distributors, who will pass the increase on to consumers. The price increase is expected to be in the area of 10 percent. You don't know how consumer will react to the price increase. Might it negatively impact sales? Another option is to consider ways of reducing the cost of the product in order to avoid a price increase or to keep any increase to an absolute minimum. Since raw material costs are firm for the next year, you can't alter the product. You could reduce the size and weight of the package but don't know how consumers would react to such a change. What recommendations do you have to protect the profitability of the product?

Please provide answers to the following questions

As the brand manager for Pillsbury chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough, consider the external and internal influences on price: market structure, consumer demand, channel members' expectations, and production and marketing costs.

1.Take the information provided in the case and classify the information using a SWOT analysis. Identify the company's strengths and weaknesses. Identify the opportunities and threats that the company faces.

2. What is the market structure and how does that influence price?

3.Do you think demand for refrigerated cookie dough is elastic or inelastic? What about the demand for Pillsbury chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough specifically? What does that mean for the company?

4.How would wholesalers react to a potential 10% increase in prices?

5.What options does the company have related to production and marketing costs?

6.Given the corporate objective of maximizing profits, what would you recommend?