Please read the article "The Bullwhip Effect and How to Prevent It$"$ found here.

You have been contacted by a high school friend, Ringo, who owns and operates a network of six small stores in the metro$-$Charlotte area as well as an e$-$commerce distribution channel tied to the business. It's a somewhat unusual business: Ringo was a high school music teacher for more than $10$ years before, $15$ years ago, starting his present business selling new and used musical instruments to middle and high school students $($and parents$).$ Many of the customers are members of high school bands and orchestras while others are just learning how to play. More recently he has also started renting some instruments depending on available stock. Profit margins tend to be slim but Ringo enjoys running a business strongly tied to his passions of teaching and music.

Ringo employs a group of part$-$time store managers, one per store, as well as a bookkeeper$/$social media manager. Ringo makes one or two trips a month to destinations in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia to purchase new and used musical instruments. He reports that, since the pandemic, e$-$commerce sales have increased each year. While there is still regular buying and selling activity at the stores, the fixed costs of employee salaries, rent, and related brick$-$and$-$mortar expenses now exceed the modest profits at most stores. Ringo's successful marketing strategies of past years were not as effective in $2022$ and $2023.$

Ringo attributes his modest business success in past years to three factors:

Ringo seems to have a great sense of the real monetary value of an instrument and is rarely incorrect in his assessments;

Ringo is knowledgeable about the market: He has maintained a large network of music teachers, performers, and instrument buyers and sellers who are quick to let him know about promising buying and selling opportunties AND he spends considerable time on the internet researching prices and emerging trends;

Ringo places a high value on customer satisfaction and, over the past years, has developed a great reputation for reliability, good service, and fairness.

Demand for musical instruments is inconsistent from month$-$to$-$month and, as a result, demand forecasting is a challenge: As Ringo notes, demand for new and used instruments is high at the beginning of the school year but very low in the late Spring and Summer. Demand for new instruments spikes up in the weeks before Christmas. To Ringo's frustration, he has incorrectly estimated demand several times since the end of the pandemic and has lost a significant number of potential sales. And, just ast week, Ringo learned that some schools may be forced to eliminate school bands and orchestras because of budget cuts.

Ringo admits to you that the business is no longer as successful as it was before the pandemic and, in addition, there are several new competitors in the region that are being very innovative in their appoaches to the new$-$and$-$used$-$musical$-$instrument market. Ringo asks, "What's my competitive edge? I$\text{'}$m not even sure anymore." Ringo has asked you for $($a$)$ an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of his business, $($b$)$ three suggestions for implementing and using a demand forecasting strategy to predict monthly revenue, $($c$)$ three suggestions for increasing inventory turnover and monthly revenue, and $($d$)$ three suggestions for reducing the costs of operating the business.