A business is launching a new product. The launch will require a number of related activities as follows – hire a sales manager (5 weeks), require the sales manager to recruit salespeople (4 weeks), train the salespeople (7 weeks), select an advertising agency (2 weeks), plan an advertising campaign with the agency (4 weeks), conduct the advertising campaign (10 weeks), design the packaging of the product (4 weeks), set up packing operation (12 weeks), pack enough products for the launch stock (8 weeks), order the launch quantity of products from the manufacturer (13 weeks), select distributors for the product (9 weeks), take initial orders from the distributors (3 weeks), dispatch the initial orders to the distributors (2 weeks).
a. What is the earliest time that the new product can be introduced to the market?
b. If the company hire trained salespeople who do not need further training, could the product be introduced 7 weeks earlier?
c. How long could one delay selecting the advertising agency?
d. In the problem above, if the sales manager cannot be hired for 3 weeks, how will that affect the total project?
e. In the previous problem, if the whole project launch operation is to be completed as rapidly as possible, what activities must be completed by the end of week 16?