Day 152 One year ago we introduced our first product, Bargain Brand breakfast cereal

The following appeared in a memo to the board of directors of Bargain Brand Cereals.

“One year ago we introduced our first product, Bargain Brand breakfast cereal. Our very low prices quickly drew many customers away from the top-selling cereal companies. Although the companies producing the top brands have since tried to compete with us by lowering their prices and although several plan to introduce their own budget brands, not once have we needed to raise our prices to continue making a profit. Given our success in selling cereal, we recommend that Bargain Brand now expand its business and begin marketing other low-priced food products as quickly as possible.”

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

五问：

（1）“One year ago we introduced our first product, Bargain Brand breakfast cereal”和“Although the companies producing the top brands have since tried to compete with us by lowering their prices and although several plan to introduce their own budget brands”是事实，“we recommend that Bargain Brand now expand its business and begin marketing other low-priced food products as quickly as possible”是结论，值得反驳吗？

（2）一年前的情况与现在的情况是否相同？现在的情况与一年后是否相同？ Bargain Brand早餐麦片去年卖得好并不能说明以后也会卖得好。哪些外部因素可能会影响人们对不同特质商品的偏好？例如：经济衰退时期，人们更容易对低价商品有所偏好。

（3）早餐麦片的成功除了价格低之外是否还有其他因素？例如口味、健康程度等。这些特质在产品线扩张后是否能得到延续？如果不能，将会如何影响本文的结论？如果口味、健康程度是人们选择该麦片的主要原因，那么这些特质不能得以延续的话，即使价格低廉，人们或许也不愿继续购买。

（4）在早餐麦片产品上竞争不过我们的企业，在其他产品上也一定竞争不过我们吗？或者在新的领域是否存在新的强大的竞争对手？其他公司的策略对我们一定构不成威胁吗？

（5）尽管我们现在能够获取利润，但要进一步扩大企业经营规模，除了增加新的产品线外，是否可能有其他的路径，例如：继续在早餐麦片领域增加投入、提高利润、扩大优势。另外，低价策略一定适用于其他食品吗？