1.5.2 Marketing

For each product, the Marketing Department sets a:

• Price
• Promotion Budget (Promotion budgets create awareness; 100% awareness means every customer knows about your product.)
• Sales Budget (Sales budgets build accessibility via salespeople and distribution systems; 100% accessibility means every customer can easily interact with your company.)
• Sales Forecast (Forecasts are used by Production and Finance.)

At the beginning of the simulation, each product is intended for a primary group of customers, also known as a market segment. Demand and growth rates for each segment vary. Marketing determines a sales forecast by assessing last year’s sales, the segment’s growth rate and the characteristics of the product versus its competitors’.