Samparpan Kohli (Samko) joining Value for Money Product Company (VMPC) was

asked by the General Manager, Marketing to be fully responsible for the launching of
their New Product (NP). VMPC is a renowned packaging company in the consumer
goods market providing a value for money for the product. Since this was the first task
for Sam, he straightaway started working on various aspects of launching of NP. He sat
together with some of his colleagues and identified the various activities and related
information for launching of NP. The data collected by him is presented below:

Immediate Time
Activity code Activity description
Predecessor activity (Weeks)
A Organize sales office -- 6
B Hire sales people A 4
C Train sales people B 7
D Select advertising agency A 2
E Plan advertising campaign D 4
F Conduct advertising campaign E 10
G Design package -- 2
H Set up packaging facilities G 10
I Package initial stocks H, J 6
J Order stock from manufacturer -- 13
K Select distributors A 9
L Sell to distributors C, K 3
M Ship stock to distributors I, L 5

The General Manager wanted quick response from Sam in respect of launching of NP,
more specifically, the time frame for the product launch. After finalizing the initial plans,
Sam discussed his idea in a departmental meeting. The members appreciated his plan and
also made some suggestions, which could improve the chances of success of the product
launch. One of the suggestions was to arrange for a visit of the sales people to the
manufacturers plant to understand various quality related issues. This visit could be
organized after training of the sales people and would take about one week. Another
suggestion was to arrange for some display materials for the distributors for initial
display prior to product launch. This could be undertaken as soon as the distributors are
finalized and would take about two weeks. Sam was analyzing the implications of the
suggestions on his product launch.