Today is your first day working for MarmaMed, a firm that produces and sells a small range of medical diagnostic products.MarmaMed's main product is the DiagnoKitTM, a simple-to-use test for the rapid diagnosis of Hepatitis C. The test is intended for use by trained personnel in medical facilities, clinical laboratories, emergency care situations, and physicians' offices as a screening assay capable of providing a result in less than 30 seconds. There is only one competing product in the marketplace, the HepaFindTM, which is manufactured by the firm JerryPharma .
Last week, MarmaMed's business analyst, Jo Green, didn't show up for work. Rumour has it that Jo went to Vegas for the weekend and ended up joining Cirque du Soleil, but nobody really knows. The police have been informed.
Before she disappeared, Jo was working on an important and time-sensitive project for MarmaMed's CEO, Harry Harrison. The project involves four interrelated tasks:
1. Estimate an empirical demand function for DiagnoKitsTM.
2. Interpret the estimated demand function for DiagnoKitsTM.
3. Make pertinent recommendations to senior management based on the empirical demand function.
4. Write a short report summarizing the results of the analysis and any recommendations.