actually required in order to counter ' 'over- estimation" phenomenon that had occurred in tlw previous two prcxluct launch circumstances that had adversely affected the final outcome. Ms. Bose had sincv worked on said proposal and deve10Nd such ' 'worst-case" venario@s per the advice of the CEO) in core; ultation with the umcvrned mrsoruwl of variou; departments of the company and her estimations are provided in Exhibit I (endosed) for ready referem-e. Mr. Dasgupta studied the ' 'worst-case" scenario as developed by Ms. Bose (in depth) and commented that it appears that she had missed out on the ' 'working capital investments" aspect that may be specifically req uired in the instant However, Ms. Bose opined that the "working capital investments" that may be sm-cifically attributable to the case an review may be regarded ' 'negligdle" due to the followin g reasolb : (a) As the company i'tends to (Vrate on "cash and carry" basis so far as this new product is concerned, the investmert in debtors may be ignored altogethcy. (b) So far as th new product is concerned, the pr oduction scheduK' would only be developed on order; received from prospective customers and, hence, the investmene; in finished goods inventory would be rwgligible as well. (c) Moreover, the raw material required for production of this new product is readily available from suppliers and, lead time in delivery of raw material is not a crucial consideration in the irr;tant case. Therefore, the company would operate tlw "just-in-time" model so far as raw material inventory management issues are concrned and as hence, there is no need to provide for investments in raw material inventory in the proposal under Mr. Dasgupta was pretty impressed (rather, convim-ed) with the arguments provided by Ms. Bose and they both agreed that the crucial parameter that needs to be thoroughly examined before going alwad with the said product launch happens to be the ' 'minimum average annual market demand" of this mw product. Thus, ruturally, next assignment to be undertaken is a detaded market survey/ demand analysis in order to the prosrctive future demand of such mw prcxluct in the market. Ms. Bose commented that while tlw marketing team undertakes such market survey/demand analysis assignment, she would unurtake a simple exerci* of computing the ' 'break-even point (in units)" based on the ' 'worst-case" financial estimates as already deve10Nd by explained that if the outcome of the market s ur vey report finally suwests that the ' 'average annual market &mand" of product would exceed the "break-even lever ' (to be computed by lwr, shortly) comfortably, t}w product (as currently being contemplated by CEO) is to succeed. Mr. Dasgupta ruturally lot of merit in the approach suggested by Ms. Bose and requested to un&rtake such '"break- even analysis" exercise. He agreed that this exercise may aid in visuahhng and ascertaining the operating risk exposure of the proposal under Ms. Bose had since conducted a simple break-even analysis (based on the ' 'worst-case" financial estimates) and gemrated the "break-even" informa- tion as well. Such "break-even analysi' is provided in II (emiosed) for ready referem-e. Mr. Ehsgupta observed that the new product would break mren at average annual demand of 7 units, he ilbtructed his marketing team to undertake a detaikd m arket s urvey/ demand analysis exerci*'. I---h' specific-ally requested their team to spell out the minimum anticipated annual demand of the product under a ' 'worst-case scenarid' as well. TIW market survey was duly mnducted by the marketing team and key information obtairwd their report is provided : (a) Avera ge Annual Market Demand would range between 9 to 10 laklb uniB (b) Even in the scnario" annual &mand would amount to 8 lakh units Mr. Dasgupta Was extremely happy with the outcome of the market survey report because he realized that the new product launch is sure to The evening before was officially exr-cted to give dear am-e to the prcxluct laumh proposal, a relieved Mr. Dasgupta was attending an informal get-together where he happened to meet one Mr. Basak who is a renowned freelance financial mrr;ultant by profession. In of conver-