Case Study J. Deans has just been appointed consultant to Mountaineer Corp. Mountaineer Corp is a retail organisation specialising in Palm Assistants which is an electronic product used extensively by business people as a digital organiser. Mountaineer Corp is concerned about inefficiencies in its supply chain. Competitors of Mountaineer Corp have launched an effective marketing campaign guaranteeing customers fast response once orders have been placed. Due to rapidly changing technology and updates to electronic gadgets, customers were attracted to the idea of getting the latest equipment before any chance of the item becoming outdated. Mountaineer Corp has suffered in the past from overstocking and having to heavily discount items once they were not quickly disposed of and were therefore reluctant to have excessive inventory. This policy led to a decline in responsiveness. As consultant J. Deans has been tasked with exploring some options relating to forecasting and network design. The following data was provided for a 6-month period: Months Sales units January 6000 February 5200 March 5800 April 7500 May 8000 June 8200 Required:

D. Describe THREE (3) factors that Mountaineer Corp may need to consider if they attempt to improve efficiency through an enhanced supply chain network. (6 marks)