Question: What component features should Tesla use in their design (for this question, we will assume that your choice is actually an automobile) in order to
What component features should Tesla use in their design (for this question, we will assume that your choice is actually an automobile) in order to maximize profit. Refer to the morphological box below.
You have decided on six main features that define the product. All other features are produced at minimum cost, and thus are basic. There are no energizers. These six differentiator features are add-on package choices:
motors,
performance,
software,
roominess,
suspension,
paint-trim
Your marketing department has, through quizzing, determined your customers valuation of features (their Willingness to Pay or W-to-P) (maximum potential revenue) derived from sales meetings and quizzing; and
Your production department, through study of the supply side feature map, knows the cost of these features and marginal cost of adding or choosing each particular feature for the completed product.
The following table consolidates these marginal revenue / cost decisions in terms of the added unit sales dollars and added unit profitability (unit sales minus unit costs).
S = Sales Price
P = Profit (Sales-Cost)
| Feature | S.mtr | P.mtr | S.perf | P.perf | S.sftwr | P.sftwr | S.room | P.room | S.spn | P.spn | S.pnt | P.pnt |
| 1 | 450 | 100 | 450 | 100 | 300 | 50 | 4500 | 1150 | 450 | 100 | 450 | 150 |
| 2 | 1800 | 300 | 1050 | 300 | 450 | 100 | 6000 | 1250 | 1800 | 400 | 1050 | 200 |
| 3 | 3600 | 1000 | 1800 | 350 | 2400 | 350 | 6000 | 1700 | 3600 | 700 | 1800 | 450 |
| 4 | 6750 | 2100 | 5250 | 1200 | 5250 | 1550 | 6000 | 1750 | 6750 | 1000 | infinity | 0 |
| 5 | 7500 | 2000 | 6750 | 1500 | 14700 | 1150 | 6750 | 1750 | 7500 | 1650 | infinity | 0 |
| 6 | 9750 | 4350 | 6450 | 1600 | 11700 | 2750 | 16500 | 4750 | 12150 | 2650 | infinity | 0 |
| 7 | 10950 | 2950 | 3450 | 750 | 12150 | 3050 | 17700 | 4200 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 |
| 8 | 12900 | 3000 | 8400 | 2750 | 14100 | 2900 | 8850 | 1300 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 |
| 9 | 13500 | 3100 | 15000 | 4650 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 |
| 10 | 13650 | 3200 | 16500 | 4900 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 | infinity | 0 |
In addition, your accounting department has determined how overall sales price influences (reduces) sales volume
Volume (units) = 30000 Sales Price
It is important to note that:
Profit depends not just on unit profit, but volume of sales
The more expensive the entire product, the lower the sales volume
There are infeasible choices where either sales price is infinite (no demand) or volume is negative (customers are returning cars faster than you sell them
Answer the following questions based on your analysis:
What is the feature set of your most profitable automobile?
Note: You need to choose the combination of feature choices that will yield the greatest profit. You have to use all of the components (it wouldnt be a complete automobile without all of them)
What would you call this product?
Is it high end, low end, or intermediate?
Who are your competitors?
What are substitute products for this one (if any)?
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