Stanmore Corporation makes a special-purpose machine, D4H, used in the textile industry. Stanmore has designed the D4H machine for 2017 to be distinct from its competitors. It has been generally regarded as a superior machine. Stanmore presents the following data for 2016 and 2017.

Stanmore produces no defective machines, but it wants to reduce direct materials usage per D4H machine in 2017. Conversion costs in each year depend on production capacity defined in terms of D4H units that can be produced, not the actual units produced. Selling and customer-service costs depend on the number of customers that Stanmore can support, not the actual number of customers it serves. Stanmore has 75 customers in 2016 and 80 customers in 2017.
Required
1. Is Stanmore's strategy one of product differentiation or cost leadership? Explain briefly.
2. Describe briefly key measures that you would include in Stanmore's balanced scorecard and the reasons for doing so.

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2016 2017 1. Units of D4H produced and sold 2. Selling price 3. Direct materials (kilograms) 4. Direct material cost per kilogram 5. Manufacturing capacity in units of D4H 6. Total conversion costs 7. Conversion cost per unit of capacity (row 6 ÷ row 5) 8. Selling and customer-service capacity 9. Total selling and customer-service costs 10. Selling and customer-service capacity cost per customer 200 S40,000 300,000 $8 250 $2,000,000 $8,000 100 customers $1,000,000 S10,000 210 SA2,000 310,000 S8.50 250 $2,025,000 $8,100 95 customers $940,500 $9,900 row 9 row 8)