Question

A business is launching a new product. The launch will require a number of related activities as follows – hire a sales manager (5 weeks), require the sales manager to recruit salespeople (4 weeks), train the salespeople (7 weeks), select an advertising agency (2 weeks), plan an advertising campaign with the agency (4 weeks), conduct the advertising campaign (10 weeks), design the packaging of the product (4 weeks), set up packing operation (12 weeks), pack enough products for the launch stock (8 weeks), order the launch quantity of products from the manufacturer (13 weeks), select distributors for the product (9 weeks), take initial orders from the distributors (3 weeks), dispatch the initial orders to the distributors (2 weeks).

What is the earliest time that the new product can be introduced to the market?
(a) 35 weeks
(b) 40 weeks
(c) 45 weeks
(d) 50 weeks

Answer 1

The earliest time for the new product to be introduced to the market is determined by the longest path of necessary activities, which is 33 weeks. This accounts for the ordering and packing of the products as well as the time required to plan and conduct the advertising campaign.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the earliest time that a new product can be introduced to the market, one must analyze the sequence and duration of the required activities. Some activities can occur concurrently, while others must follow in a sequential order. Here is a breakdown of the timeline:

• Hiring a sales manager (5 weeks).
• The sales manager recruiting salespeople (4 weeks), which can start after the sales manager is hired, so this is a total of 5+4=9 weeks.
• Training the salespeople (7 weeks), which can start after the salespeople are recruited, leading to 9+7=16 weeks.
• Selecting an advertising agency (2 weeks) can happen in parallel with previous steps.
• Planning an advertising campaign (4 weeks), which can start after the agency is selected, so this is 2+4=6 weeks.
• Conducting the advertising campaign (10 weeks), which can start after the campaign is planned, hence 6+10=16 weeks.
• Designing the packaging (4 weeks) can begin independently of these events.
• Setting up the packing operation (12 weeks), which can begin concurrently with packaging design, with a total time of 12 weeks as this is the longer process.
• Packing enough products for the launch stock (8 weeks), which can only begin after the packing operation is set up, leading to 12+8=20 weeks.
• Ordering the launch quantity of products from the manufacturer (13 weeks) is the step that takes the longest and can start independently, setting the base timeline.
• Selecting distributors (9 weeks) and taking initial orders from them (3 weeks) can begin any time, resulting in a total of 9+3=12 weeks, which is less than the base timeline.
• Finally, dispatching the initial orders to the distributors (2 weeks) which can only happen after orders are taken, so this is included in the 12 weeks already calculated.

Thus, the longest path (which determines the earliest launch time) consists of ordering from the manufacturer (13 weeks) and packing for the launch stock (20 weeks). Adding these together gives us 13+20 = 33 weeks. However, after adding the time for the advertising campaign to be conducted (which is 16 weeks, including planning), we reach a total of 33 weeks for product availability and 16 weeks for the campaign to complete. Since these can occur concurrently, we take the longer duration of the two which is 33 weeks. Therefore, the earliest time that the new product can be introduced to the market is after 33 weeks.