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based on the assumptions, approach and internal external factors…
based on the assumptions, approach and internal external factors below, please help recommend me some ideas to fill in the Williams rational decision making apprioach table below
Define the Problem
Define the Criteria
Generate Alternative Ideas and evaluate
Implement
You have been engaged as a consultant to Daskalos executive to consider the information presented. You are asked to apply decision analysis techniques to the decision problem facing Daskalos Technologies and advise the company on their outcome options and recommended course/s of action.
The company is now (January 2022) considering the development of virtual reality headsets for use in the education and training sectors. As a first step, a detailed plan has been put forward to produce the virtual reality headset (code named the VRH22). Market research was conducted in 2020 and this revealed that customers make their decisions in this market on the basis of price, size, robustness, stereoscopic display (separate images for each eye), sensor quality, availability of focus wheel, degree of lag, motion tracking, high resolution screen and graphics quality.
Taking this market research information into account, the company is now seeking to develop a production prototype based on one of two different approaches, semi immersive (SI) or fully immersive (FI). SI allows learners to experience virtual environments while remaining connected to their physical surroundings. In this sense, semi-immersive virtual reality provides a partial virtual experience. FI is the type that provides the most realistic virtual experience and simulates as many senses as possible to establish a realistic experience. In fully immersive VR, users are completely isolated from their physical surroundings.
The market research and development of the designs so far have already cost $1.45 million. If a decision to continue is made, it is hoped that a successful prototype can be developed by December 2022.
Daskalos products, which have been in the market since at least 2017 have been successful staking a claim in the training and education market, specifically through sales of their data and projectors. Though the competitors are larger, global corporations, the turnover is still substantial. The company has grown confident enough to enter the market with a new product in a new category. Regarding this new product category, the following assumptions have been made.
When addressing the analysis below, it must be noted that the first full year differs. This has an impact on the timeframe of each product and its availability in the market. Though this is an assumption based on information provided by Daskalos, it is important to note as turnover on each full year will differ.
All initial calculations stipulate that capital (and therefore the discount rate) will remain at 0.09% until 2028. This is challenged in the analysis below as during 2022, the market changed significantly regarding costs of production, materials and therefore capital.
This author assumes that abandonment is not a viable option as the future of organisation is pending on this new product development, especially when the current products and their market value and turnover is assessed versus the VRH22 and its potential earnings over a five-year period, similar to that seen with other product categories. Further to this, Daskalos has several key competitors that are also going to market with similar products and the failure to release a local market product could result in significant downturn for the business.
The market research for this product was produced during the time frame where COVID-19 was significantly impacting Australia, its economy and the education sector. These years have covid years which has significant impact on classroom learning. We can however assume that the increased social isolation and reduced ability to support student wellbeing and reduced one-to-one engagement with teachers, that this product may be more well received due to the pandemic. In the same vein, it must also be considered that interruption to learning support for those children with additional needs and differing access to technology, including internet and devices is significant and may remove the ability for some educational institutes from using such a product (Price Waterhouse Coopers, 2020).
Further to the assumptions regarding COVID-19, this significantly impacted the global supply chain. It then must eb assumed that this may impact the ability to product and ship VRH22, especially as it is not locally produced, but produced in India. Issues which may further slowdown production are as follows: reduced manufacturing employees due to illness and/or quarantine measures, supply chain limitations and unstable demand of materials which will impact production capacity, leading to delayed deliveries (of both material and finished product) due to disrupted production plans.
The final assumption to be stated is that Daskalos has available capital to continue to produce this product, even with limitations as discussed above. This author has assumed that prior turnover of the three current product categories has provided the capital to ensure that the organisation is able to produce and fund the creation of new products with the ability to fund the potential delayed processes
