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IA - 2
module - 1
Dhanush S
1ic17me007
1 a . What is decision support system (DSS). Discuss the components for
building DSS.

1 ans A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system

that
supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve
the
management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to
make
decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in
advance.
DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an
interactive
software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful
information
from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business
models
to identify and solve problems and make decisions.
Typical information that a decision support application might gather and
present are:
 inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data
sources,
cubes, data warehouses, and data marts),
 comparative sales figures between one period and the next,
 Projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions.
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Components of DSS
Three fundamental components of DSS architecture are:
1. the database (or knowledge base)
2. the model (i.e., the decision context and user criteria)
3. the user interface
The users themselves are also important components of the architecture.
DSS components may be classified as:
1. Inputs: Factors, numbers, and characteristics to analyze
2. User Knowledge and Expertise: Inputs requiring manual analysis by the
user
3. Outputs: Transformed data from which DSS "decisions" are generated
4. Decisions: Results generated by the DSS based on user criteria .
1 b What are the different factors for estimating market opportunities
for new product?
1 ans Market Size

The first and most important factor to consider while determining market
potential is the market size of your product. Market size is the total
market sales potential of all companies put together

Market growth rate

The PC market as compared to the laptop market or the smartphone
market is declining. So if you are a company which makes PC’s, then you
have to be aware that you are entering an declining market.

Profitability
Going back to the E-commerce example, many small businesses have a mixed
feedback for E-commerce businesses.
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ROI – Return on investment

ROS – Return on sales
RONA – Return on net assets
ROCE – Return on capital employed

Competition
You need to know and understand the competition in an industry to determine
the market potential for the product you are going to launch. If the
industry has high competition, the entry barriers are going to be high and
at the same time, establishing yourself will require deep pockets.

Product and consumer type

Is your product a repeat buying product or one time sale only? In the
above examples, Soap and shampoo is a repeat buying product. But once you
buy a refrigerator, i doubt you will need another for the next 10 years.

module 2
3 a .Discuss the various steps involved in implementing new product development.

ans Idea generation - Is the first step of new product development. This
process of new product development requires gathering ideas to be
evaluated as potential product options. Upto a large extent the idea
generation is an ongoing process with contributions from inside and outside
the organisation for certain companies.
Screening - After gathering many ideas from various sources, the
marketer goes through all the ideas, analyse them and select the most
feasible and workable idea.
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Concept Development and Testing - After gathering and screening ideas,

the concept of development and testing starts with a few ideas in hand
the marketer now attempts to obtain initial feedback from customers,
distributors and its own employees. Usually, focus groups are convened
where the ideas are presented to a group

Marketing Strategy and Development - After testing, the new-product

manager must develop a preliminary marketing-strategy plan for
introducing the new product into the market.
Business Analysis - On this stage, in the new product development process
the marketer has reduced a potentially large number of ideas down to one
or two options. The key objective at this stage is to obtain useful
forecasts of market size .

Product and Marketing Mix Development - At this stage a prototype is

finally produced. The prototype will clearly run through all the desired
tests, and be presented to the target audience to see if changes need to
be made. Ideas passing through business analysis are given serious
consideration for development.

Test Marketing - After designing, the next step is testing the product in
the market. The term ‘test marketing’ is also sometimes called ‘field-
testing’. The word ‘test’ means examination or trial. Test marketing means
testing the product within a specific area.

Commercialisation-Launching the Product - Decision regarding launch of the

product on a nationwide scale is taken only when the results of test
marketing stage are successful and promising, along with a number of
factors considered before-hand.
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3 b Discuss the steps involved in product redesign ?

ans Idea Generation - The design process begins with understanding the
customers and their needs. Ideas for new products can come from a
variety of sources both within and outside the firm.

Screening Ideas - The purpose of screening ideas is to eliminate those

ideas that do not appear to have high potential and so avoid the costs
incurred at subsequent stages. Using group of people, proposals would be
supported by graphics, models and an outline specification and judged
against a set of criteria such as necessity to the firms survival .
Feasibility Study - Initial screening of the ideas is designed to stop
the ideas, which are unsuitable for further considerations. Feasibility
study consists of a market analysis, an economic analysis, and
technical and strategic analysis.

Preliminary Design - Design engineers take general performance

specifications and translate them in to technical specifications. The
process of preliminary design involves building a prototype, testing the
prototype, revising the design, retesting and so on until a viable design is
determined. Design incorporates both form and function.
Pilot Runs and Testing - In the preliminary design stage, prototypes are
built and tested after several iterations, pilot run of the manufacturing
process is conducted. Adjustments are made as needed before finalizing
the design .
New Product Launch - Launching a new product or service involves ramp up
production. The process has been refined and debugged, but it has yet to
operate at a sustained level of production. In ramp up, production
starts at a relatively low level of volume as the organization develops
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confidence in its abilities to execute production consistently and marketing’s

abilities to sell the product, the volume increases .