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Profits for one of Company

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by akhpad » Mon May 17, 2010 10:18 pm
Source: MGMAT CAT

Profits for one of Company X's flagship products have been declining slowly for several years. The CFO investigated and determined that inflation has raised the cost of producing the product but consumers who were surveyed reported that they weren't willing to pay more than the current price. As a result, the CFO recommended that the company stop producing this product because the CEO only wants products whose profit margins are increasing.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating whether the CFO's decision to divest the company of its flagship product is warranted?

A: Does the company have new and profitable products available with which to replace the flagship product?

B: Will the rest of Company X's management team agree with the CFO's recommendation?

C: Are there additional features which could be added to the product and for which consumers might be willing to pay a higher price?

D: Is there a way to alter the manufacturing or distribution processes in order to reduce the cost to produce the flagship product?

E: What percentage of Company X's revenues is represented by sales of the flagship product in question?

OA: D

Initially, I selected A but when I saw answer D make sense.
What would be the criteria for A to reject?
Is A a general statement and D focuses in cost of manufacturing process?
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by kstv » Tue May 18, 2010 3:53 am
A: Does the company have new and profitable products available with which to replace the flagship product?

As a result, the CFO recommended that the company stop producing this product because the CEO only wants products whose profit margins are increasing.
The CEO is not interested in venturing into new products. CEO wants to continue with those products which show increasing profitability. Option A is in a way out of scope.

D is viable option as here Price has to remain same so the cost component other than material can be reduced.
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by nikhilkatira » Tue May 18, 2010 5:10 am
Whats wrong with option C ??
Best,
Nikhil H. Katira
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by bupbebeo » Tue May 18, 2010 6:19 pm
nikhilkatira wrote:Whats wrong with option C ??

C is wrong because if we add some addtional features to our current products. the cost to produce the product may rise. so even customers are willing to pay more. nothing makes sure that price that customers pay for the product exceeds the cost added.
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by nikhilkatira » Tue May 18, 2010 8:02 pm
bupbebeo wrote:
nikhilkatira wrote:Whats wrong with option C ??

C is wrong because if we add some addtional features to our current products. the cost to produce the product may rise. so even customers are willing to pay more. nothing makes sure that price that customers pay for the product exceeds the cost added.
Pls correct me if I am wrong.

Option C says "high price". This price will obviously include the cost + profit ?
Best,
Nikhil H. Katira
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by nikhilkatira » Wed May 19, 2010 8:18 pm
Is there anyone who can help ?
Best,
Nikhil H. Katira
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by ballubalraj » Thu May 20, 2010 1:11 am
Option C is not wrong as such. In fact, all of the questions mentioned are the valid questions which could be asked to validate CFO's suggestion.

But, the this problem states, which question is MOST useful to evaluate CFO's suggestion.

Clearly, the profit margins are decreasing because of the increased manufacturing cost. So, if there is any way to reduce the overall manufacturing cost, the profit margins would increase. This question is most useful to evaluate whether to stop manufacturing the flagship product or not.
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by ballubalraj » Thu May 20, 2010 1:17 am
kstv wrote:A: Does the company have new and profitable products available with which to replace the flagship product?

As a result, the CFO recommended that the company stop producing this product because the CEO only wants products whose profit margins are increasing.
The CEO is not interested in venturing into new products. CEO wants to continue with those products which show increasing profitability. Option A is in a way out of scope.
From my understanding, the text is not giving any clue whether CEO wants or not to introduce a new product. Even the new products could have increasing margin (of course after a certain period of time).

Rather A is not the best option as option D is best among the available options for the reasons mentioned in the above post.
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by diebeatsthegmat » Mon May 24, 2010 10:46 am
kstv wrote:A: Does the company have new and profitable products available with which to replace the flagship product?

As a result, the CFO recommended that the company stop producing this product because the CEO only wants products whose profit margins are increasing.
The CEO is not interested in venturing into new products. CEO wants to continue with those products which show increasing profitability. Option A is in a way out of scope.

D is viable option as here Price has to remain same so the cost component other than material can be reduced.
hi,
how come the answer could be D. the point is the company's investors want to sell products/flagships with high profits so that they can collect more profit, and if no more profit, no investigation!
that decision wont be warranty if the company's main revenue comes from selling flagship!
i am confused
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