Management at Gulmarg Skis was surprised in the previous season when a competitor, Kitz, discounted their skis by $50 in October. In a market in which discounting was rare, this was an unusual move by Kitz. As a result, Gulmarg saw a significant drop in sales between October and January. The company did not want to be caught unprepared for the upcoming season and was planning its response. Two alternatives being considered by Gulmarg were to promote in October or December. Gulmarg could not precisely predict what Kitz would do regarding promotions but felt that Kitz was likely to repeat its October promotion, given its success in the previous year.
Gulmarg and Kitz competed in high-performance skis and sold direct to end consumers. The companies prided themselves on outstanding craftsmanship, using only the best materials. Both were known for the high quality of their skis and the fact that customers could design their own top sheet. Although each company had a loyal following, there was a significant fraction of customers who were happy to buy skis from either. It is this group that the two companies were competing for through price discounts.
The sale of skis was highly seasonal, with all sales occurring between October and March, as shown in Table 9-9. Production capacity at the manufacturing plant was limited by the number of employees that Gulmarg hired. Employees were paid $15/hour for regular time and $23/hour for overtime. Each pair of skis required 4 hours of work from an employee. The plant worked 20 days a month, 8 hours a day on regular time. Overtime was restricted to a maximum of 40 hours per employee per month. Gulmarg employed a total of 60 workers and felt that it could not let any of them go, even in months when demand was below the capacity provided by 60 workers. Given the high skill requirements, the company had difficulty finding suitable people and as a result could hire only up to a maximum of 10 temporary employees. In other words, the number of employees could fluctuate between 60 and 70. Hiring each temporary employee cost $500, and letting each one go cost another $800.

Each pair of skis used material worth $300, mostly in the form of expensive carbon fiber, plastic, and alloys. Carrying a pair of skis in inventory from one month to the next cost $10. Given the seasonal nature of demand, Gulmarg started October with an inventory of 2,000 pairs of skis and preferred to end in March with no inventory to carry over. Any leftover inventory at the end of March cost Gulmarg the equivalent of $500 a pair because of the discounting required to sell it. Customers were not willing to wait for skis, so Gulmarg lost all sales that it could not meet in a month because of insufficient inventory and production. Gulmarg’s skis were normally priced at $800 a pair.
Before making its production plans, Gulmarg had done market research to fully understand the impact of promotions on customer behavior. Dropping price from $800 to $750 attracted new customers, but also resulted in existing customers shifting the timing of their purchase to take advantage of the discount. Customer behavior was also affected by actions taken by the competitor, Kitz. If only one of the two companies promoted in a given month, it saw a 40 percent increase in sales for the month and a forward movement of 20 percent of demand from each of the three following months. In other words, If Gulmarg promoted in October but Kitz did not, Gulmarg observed a 40 percent increase in October demand and a shift of 20 percent of demand from November, December, and January to October. The competitor that did not promote experienced a 20 percent drop in sales for the promotion month and a 10 percent drop in sales for each of the three following months. If one of the companies promoted in October and the other in December, changes in demand were cumulative, with the October promotion having the first impact, followed by the December promotion. In other words, demand for each company shifted from that provided in Table 9-9 based on the October promotion. The December promotion then affected the revised demand. For example, if Kitz promoted in October and Gulmarg chose to promote in December, Gulmarg would observe a 20 percent drop in demand in October and a 10 percent drop in demand in November, December, and January compared with the figures in Table 9-9. The December promotion would then increase demand in December by 40 percent of the reduced amount (because of the earlier Kitz promotion).

Similarly, forward buying from January would also be based on the reduced amount because of the October promotion by Kitz. Forward buying from February and March would be based on demand not affected by the October promotion by Kitz. If both companies promoted in a given month, each experienced a growth of 10 percent for that month and forward buying equivalent to 20 percent of demand from each of the three following months.
Should Gulmarg promote? If so, in which month should it promote? If not, why not?

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Table 9-9 Demand Forecast for Gulmarg Skis