AsterVale: Product Strategy and the Annual Sales Plan — سؤال دراسة حالة في المحاسب الإداري المعتمد

The case

AsterVale Urban Furnishings supplies modular workspaces to libraries and shared offices. It sells compact desks and acoustic work pods under its own brand and also produces customized units for institutional buyers. Management is deciding which product families to support over the next five years while preparing next year's sales budget.

Product	Planned selling price per unit	Planned variable cost per unit	Planned annual unit sales
Compact desk	$480	$300	1,500
Acoustic work pod	$1,400	$850	600

The long-term review considers new workspace technology, changing public-space usage and the availability of future plant capacity. The annual plan must translate the selected portfolio into product prices, unit quantities and promotional activities.

Assumptions

The two listed products are the complete portfolio for the contribution-margin question. Planned quantities can be produced and sold without a binding capacity constraint.
Variable cost amounts include all costs that vary with unit sales for this exercise; fixed costs are excluded from contribution margin.
The planning-classification question distinguishes a five-year portfolio review from next year's operating sales budget using each row's explicit time horizon.

For next year's sales plan, AsterVale must establish each product's Product input , choose a planned Planning choice across desks and pods, and estimate how Demand driver will affect customer demand.

Which question most directly belongs in AsterVale's five-year product-portfolio review?

Answer What discount should be assumed for next quarter's confirmed library tenders, given competitors' recent bid prices? How much sales revenue should the coming April campaign generate across both product families and all regions? How should next year's planned unit sales be divided between the two existing products to maximize contribution margin? Will shifts in shared-space demand and workspace technology justify investing in new product capabilities and plant capacity?

Calculate the total contribution margin in AsterVale's annual plan for desks and pods. Enter a positive whole-dollar amount; no rounding is necessary.

Answer USD

A whole number.

Choose the most appropriate process for each task. Assess capacity needed for a new product family five years from now: Five-year capacity . Estimate next year's orders using next year's economic outlook: Next-year economic demand . Set next year's desk-to-pod unit mix: Next-year unit mix . Assess how the industry and AsterVale's competitive position may change over five years: Five-year competitive position . Decide whether an aging product family should be redesigned or retired over the next five years: Product family's future . Estimate the sales response to next year's campaign calendar: Next-year promotion forecast .

Select TWO analyses that would most directly inform AsterVale's long-term choice of product families.

Select two answers. Selected 0 / 2

Answer Compare multi-year trends in customer workspace use and expected substitutes for current products. Calculate the sales commissions payable on next month's confirmed orders under the current plan. Schedule production batches needed to satisfy the next six weeks of accepted desk orders. Allocate the already-approved next-quarter campaign spend between two scheduled trade shows. Assess whether future design skills, equipment and funding can support the proposed portfolio.

Which approach would best support the sales assumptions for AsterVale's coming budget year?

Answer Scale last year's unit sales by the planned percentage increase in advertising spend, assuming demand responds proportionally. Base next year's unit forecasts on the five-year review's market-share targets rather than on current order and pipeline data. Combine customer pipeline evidence, planned prices and a supported estimate of promotion response to forecast units by product. Set planned unit sales equal to planned production so the sales and production budgets reconcile without inventory changes.

The marks, the correct answers and the explanations appear as soon as the answers are submitted. Unanswered questions earn no marks.

Checking…