Free Critical Thinking About CCM Critique

The case identifies all the main elements a decision maker would require to make a decision. The executive summary provides a clear synopsis of the entire case by highlighting the history of CCM, its market position, CCM operating environment, future prospects of CCM, and the key recommendations. The case clearly identifies CCM problem of deciding on the best launch strategy their new 2010 U+ Pro Reloaded Skate and the allocation of $1 million launch budget to recapture market share and brand reputation.
The case provides clear objectives that CCM is trying to achieve together with an in-depth analysis that includes SWOT analysis, financial analysis, and competition analysis. This analysis help in identifying the key success factors that include; clear definition of the product and market, creating a point of difference between the new product and the past failed products, and attracting team sport players. Equally important in the case is the discussion of the key variables that may contribute to the failure of the new product which include; quality issues, access to buyers, bad timing, and poor execution of the marketing mix in particular price.
The case considers the pros and cons of four alternatives from which a decision matrix is developed before recommending to CCM to reallocate the launch budget, to change the launch date to summer 2010, and launch the product in segments with Canadian and European segments preceding the US segment. The short-term, long-term, and contingent plans give sufficient guidance on the action plans to execute. However, the case fails to resolve the issue of price. Instead of giving a dollar value of price, the case recommends CCM to adopt a range of prices that will maximize sales volume and profits. Overall, the case will provide a decision maker with important insights, though they will have to experiment with a range of prices to make the product successful.