Screening

Magic cooker is an electronic household appliance whichis able to cook more than 600 dishes in 21 different cuisines all over the world from China to Italia. All the raw materials that needed for the cooking will be added to the machine through a special tray. Users will choose the dishes, the recipe that they want. Cook button be pushed. The machine will do the rest, including cook the dishes and decorate them.

The market place

With the increase of the world population, there are more and more households. As a result, the household appliances market is predicted to continue to grow in a fast rate. This industry contributed nearly 57 billion US dollars in 2012,and is expected to growth by nearly 30% in the next 6 years, which means USD 79.8 billion in 2018 [1]. The market is mature with the domination of popular and big companies like LG electronics, Panasonic, Phillips, etc. The key to success in this established market is to quickly respond to the need of the customers. In this particular case that means toprovide either a brand new and advanced product or an environmental friendly one [1]. According to a survey conducted by our research department early this year with more than 10000American participants (Appendix A), 80% of participants will buy the Magic cooker if the price is under $500, while nearly 93% claims that they will buy the product if the cost is no more than $350. Also in the same survey, 90% of students want a magic cooker and more than 96% of woman from 20 to 60 years old will surely have one in their house.From all analysis and data, we conclude that the company is in a very good position to start working on making Magic cooker a business. The industry is in its prime and will continue to grow. The product will bring people, especially busy working wives, students, bachelors a more comfortable life. We can start with making the business in the US, where the majority of customers have shown their excitement for the entrance of the product, and will expand the distribution to others regions, especially Europe and Asia Pacific.

Competitive advantage

There is no product like Magic cooker on the market. We are also the only company that has been working on this direction. This ensures us the leading position. This also means that

there will be no strong competitors and by the time they can produce products with the same functionality, we are predicted to pay back our investment and can provide the product with even more competitive price. The Product Development department estimates that it would take $200 to make a product and expects to sell one at $490. This will ensure 80% of customers are likely to buy the product. Another advantage of us is that we own the unique technology architecture to make this kind product. Magic cooker will be the most innovative, advanced and unique product on the market. The idea has been applied for patent and the product name Magic cooker has been registered as our trademark. Our marketing department also ensures own smooth entrance by starting to promote the product on the companys website. The first model of the Magic cooker (Magic cooker 1.1) had been a success when we exhibited it at the Retail Business Technology Expo in December 2012. The marketing department also established a partnership with Lowes retail company, the second biggest retail company in the USA [2]. The company provides the service to around 15 million customers per week through a system of approximately 1800 stores all over the USA, Canada and Mexico [3]. Lowes has also offered to make Magic cooker their private brand, which means the product will be found only at Lowes stores. In return, Lowes will invest us $100,000 for the developing of the product in the next 2 years.

Sustainability
Since our partnership with Lowes retail company, the marketing costs and distributions costs are expected to be small. The production costs, which include material cost, labor, administrative costs etc, are calculated to be around $190,000 per year. The product will be delivered to Lowes by Lowes containers and the product deliver cost is also being covered by Lowes.

The team

Our Product Developing Department has the best engineer team working on this project. The team leader, Dr. Rodney Brooks is the first person who invented this cooking machine. He graduated from RMIT university in 2000 and have been working on this project ever since. His work, a robot named Baxter, has been listed as one of the best inventions in 2012 [4]. Ph.D.Ly Nguyen is currently working with design the IC controller for the Magic cooker. She has a profound knowledge on IC design, IC testing,andprogramming from her working experience in

Intel Vietnam. The other team members are all very good with robotics. They all have experiences working with intelligent systems, electronics and mechanics. The team is on the last stage of the project. The IC architecture is complete. The first finished product is expected to come out in June, 2013. The user interface through LCD screen is being developed and is expected to be finished at the same time.

The risk
The most risky part of this business is the limited outlet. The partnership with Lowes ensures the company a long-term sustainability. However, this also means the success of the idea completely depends on Lowes ability to promote and sell the product. As far as we can see, Lowes is a big and strong company. The partnership with them in this early stage of our business brings us more advantages than disadvantages. As a backup plan, our marketing department is also working with other retailers for other outlets incase Lowes fails to distribute the product. Besides, Mrs. Catherine Wallace the head of Marketing Department is working with Lowes to negotiate the possibility for us to self-promote and sell our product on our companys website. Another risk concerns the company target market. The product aims at high income housewives and bachelors in the USA, where people always eager to experience new things and the demand for new and innovative home appliances are high. By working with Lowes, we have a wide entrance to this particular picky market. However, since the policies are different between the two countries, we see the need to establish a profound understanding about the USA home appliance market in particular and the countrys business policy in general. We are contacting Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank of the US Department of Commerce to gain a better knowledge about business in the USA.

Works Cited
[1] Transparency Market Research, "Household Cooking Appliances Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2018," 2013. [2] Twice. (2011, June) Twice.com. [Online]. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:wrMlzqKh7vAJ:www.ftc.gov/os/comment s/energylabelamend/560957-0001783017.pdf+&hl=en&gl=vn&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiSkz4ge70wpRKYcQtS8qN_CLo8Tas _SvmW8PCSO_0mpeBrxWe6_f_imPjonp8mQw_POhudRueQpANuvHu5yDb8qsh5vm_R19nO1uAy [3] lowes. lowes.com. [Online]. http://media.lowes.com/about-lowes/ [4] Time tech. (2012, November) techland.time. [Online]. http://techland.time.com/2012/11/01/best-inventions-of-the-year-2012/slide/baxter/