QUESTION 1 Introduction: We are assessing students ability to evaluate available information, determine its relevance/its use in problem-solving. Read the given hypothetical company situation below carefully. At the end, you will need to select THREE sets of information that is most relevant and useful to the business problem in this situation Haute as Heck Foods One week ago, the CEO of Haute as Heck Foods (HHF) had announced his intention to grow the firm by expanding its current product offering into markets in regions of the country the firm was not currently in. A market development team had quickly been formed and tasked with recommending a single new market for HHF to enter this year. Jon Olmstead, the manager of business development for HHF, spearheaded the project. HHFs primary business was production of gourmet frozen food products based upon traditional European recipes and ingredients. HHF was a small regional player located in New York State that sold to several local grocery chains. HHFs products were relatively expensive for frozen food, but would cost less than similar items at a restaurant. Most of HHFs customers were middle to upper middle income. They also tended to be middle aged and highly educated. Up until now, the company had focused on increasing the breadth of its product offering rather than broadening its distribution area. Entering new geographic markets would increase complexity and require substantial additional investments, such as buying new trucks and building frozen storage facilities. More distant locations were expected to require higher investments. Initial market entry could be facilitated with the current sales staff, but as the new market grew, additional staff would also be required. Selecting a new market was part art and part science. There was no single metric that would sum up the attractiveness of a specific market to HHF. Jon considered five broad requirements for success in a new market. First, there had to be a large number of potential HHF customers. Second, the food culture had to fit with HHFs offering. Third, the market had to be growing. Fourth, there had to be suitable outlets for HHF to sell to. And finally, the new market had to be cost effective to service. If no single market scored high in all of these, tradeoffs would have to be considered. Data was also problematic. Some kinds of data, such as demographic profiles of the potential metro areas, were available. Quite often available measures werent ideal, however, and proxy measures would have to be used. Further, some aspects could be difficult to quantify and would require the market development team to develop a qualitative understanding of them. Finally, while HHF already had some data, other data would have to be acquired, at additional cost. The market development team had identified three markets for further consideration and evaluation. These were: (1) Boston, Massachusetts, (2) Providence, Rhode Island, and (3) Portland, Maine. The team had already calculated the distances to these markets and obtained estimates on the sales of prepared meals in each area. HHF already had a database with much of the demographic data that included measures of the populations age and income. Jon had asked Angela Cho, an analyst on the team, to investigate what other data the HHF might be able to obtain to assist in the decision.Cho responded to the team with the memo below. ----------------------------------------- Memo From: Angela Cho To: Market development team members Fellow team members; I have been searching for additional data on the three markets we identified earlier today. Based upon our budget for data gathering, we should be able to obtain data for any three of the six types I mention below. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to purchase more than three at this time. a. Size of regional economy (in $) b. Average retail rent in the metro area (in $ per square foot) c. Interview data on local food preferences d. Propensity to eat out (% of total meals) e. Number of gourmet grocery stores in the region (number of locations) f. Number of people employed, by the profession they belong to (e.g., medical doctor, clerical worker, assembly line worker, etc.) ------------------------------------------------ Question: Given the data that HHF already has and the types of data HHF still needs to use in its decision making, which three items in Chos memo should HHF spend its budget on? Select only THREE items.

		a. Size of regional economy (in $)
		b. Average retail rent in the metro area (in $ per square foot)
		c. Interview data on local food preferences
		d. Propensity to eat out (% of total meals)
		e. Number of gourmet grocery stores in the region (number of locations)
		f. Number of people employed, by the profession they belong to (e.g., medical doctor, clerical worker, assembly line worker, etc.)