An Introduction to Management Science 13th Edition by David Anderson,Dennis Sweeney ,Thomas Williams ,Jeffrey Camm, Kipp Martin

Exercise 16

Burnside Marketing Research conducted a study for Barker Foods on several formulations for a new dry cereal. Three attributes were found to be most influential in determining which cereal had the best taste: ratio of wheat to corn in the cereal flake, type of sweetener (sugar, honey, or artificial), and the presence or absence of flavor bits. Seven childrenparticipated in taste tests and provided the following part-worths for the attributes (see Section 9.4 for a discussion of part-worths):
a. Suppose the overall utility (sum of part-worths) of the current favorite cereal is 75 for each child. What product design will maximize the share of choice for the seven children in the sample?
b. Assume the overall utility of the current favorite cereal for children 1-4 is 70, and the overall utility of the current favorite cereal for children 5-7 is 80. What product design will maximize the share of choice for the seven children in the sample?