Short characterization of the markets
The market parties place orders with the distributors (you) for different types of products at irregular intervals. There might be market fluctuations you have to watch.
The US market is divided into the "traditional" geographic regions: Northwest, North central, Northeast, Southwest, South central, and Southwest. Each of the distributors has a local market, but of course it is allowed to compete on the other US markets as well, or even on the international market!
Short characterization of the distributors
There is one distribution company in each of the US markets. As you are managing the distributor in the game, not much can be said about the performance or competitiveness of the distributors. The competing distributors in the USA are:
| Market | Company | Location |
| Northwest | Parqui | Portland, OR |
| North central | KochSupply | Omaha, NE |
| Northeast | Henderson | Boston, MA |
| Southwest | Tucker | San Francisco, CA |
| South central | Optive | Houston, TX |
| Southeast | Sunny | Jacksonville, FL |
Short characterization of the suppliers
Northwest: Palcoa, Seattle, WA
Palcoa is a relatively new computer supplier on the market, specialized in multimedia computers. The founders of Palcoa especially aim at business from and via Microsoft, and their company is close to Microsoft's headquarters.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Multimedia | Good | Fair | Average |
Northwest: Lips, Helena, MT
Lips has been on the market for many years. Originating in the electronics business, they have a lot of experience with getting good components from all over the world. They specialize in desktop computers and servers, but they offer a complete range of computers.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Excellent | Good | Average |
| Laptop | Excellent | Good | Expensive |
| Linux | Excellent | Fair | Average |
| Multimedia | Excellent | Fair | Average |
North central: Fairfax, St. Paul, MN
Fairfax has been started four years ago by a number of alumni of the University of Minnesota. With an early involvement of engineers, financial experts, and business experts, Fairfax has been able to supply a good product, and provide excellent services to their customers. The products are good over the entire range.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Excellent | Average |
| Laptop | Good | Excellent | Average |
| Linux | Good | Excellent | Average |
| Multimedia | Good | Excellent | Average |
North central: Liberty, Frankfort, KY
Liberty is part of a worldwide chain of computer suppliers. They source around the world, and offer a cheap set of computers. The size of the company has, however, not resulted in a fast handling of the orders. Liberty tries to keep the local inventory small, as they can call upon other members of the chain when they do not have enough stock in Frankfort. Therefore, customers sometimes have to wait long for their promised orders. Liberty offers a full range of computers.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Sometimes slow | Average |
| Laptop | Good | Sometimes slow | Average |
| Linux | Good | Sometimes slow | Average |
| Multimedia | Good | Sometimes slow | Average |
Northeast: Forrester, Dover, DE
Being close to the Washington DC area, Forrester has done business with government agencies and ministries for many years. The public character of the customers has led to prices that are a little higher than the USA average, but the prices are certainly reasonable. Forrester's customers normally take their time to order, and as a result, Forrester's handling tends to be on the slow side as well. Forrester does not offer multimedia computers, and for the past year, they have also offered a product line of Linux servers.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Slow | On the pricey side |
| Laptop | Good | Fair | On the pricey side |
| Linux | Good | Slow | On the pricey side |
Northeast: Keen, Augusta, ME
The Augusta, Maine based Keen company has as its motto: "Be keen on quality". All products offered by Keen are A brands. Keen heavily invested in workflow management and inventory management, so the contacts with customers are fast and efficient. Quality has a price, so Keen is one of the more expensive companies around.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Excellent | Excellent | Expensive |
| Laptop | Excellent | Excellent | Expensive |
| Linux | Excellent | Excellent | Expensive |
| Multimedia | Excellent | Excellent | Expensive |
Southwest: BNG, Carson City, NV
BNG (Bolden-Nash-Gold) is the result of a merger of three small computer suppliers in the Carson City area. BNG offers a wide range of services in addition to supplying computers, and their customers often make heavy use of these services as well. With the rapid growth of the company in other fields than computers, the staff's attention for their main product is wavering a bit. Last month, the CEO decided to cut back on the types of computers for large customers, and mainly focus on desktops.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Fair | Average |
Southwest: Nortal, Denver, CO
Nortal is a Unix / Solaris / Linux server company. Traditionally, the company has had good relations with the Sun Microsystems' Colorado research campus in Broomfield, CO. By closely following the developments of one of the market leaders, Nortal has been able to offer very advanced technology for a good price. Their sales and support staff is well trained, customer friendly, and fast. Since 1996, when Sun expanded into Colorado, Nortal has experienced a steep growth in sales every year.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Linux | Excellent | Excellent | Good value for money |
Southwest: Wolverine, Santa Fe, NM
Wolverine is your average computer supplier. They offer all products for a reasonable price, and can respond in a reasonable time.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Fair | Average |
| Laptop | Good | Fair | Average |
| Linux | Good | Fair | Average |
| Multimedia | Good | Fair | Average |
South central: Demco, Austin, TX
Demco has served the State of Texas with computers for many years, and it has grown enormously. Last year, Demco attempted to apply for a stock market notation, but failed. The company responded by diversifying its prices; the prices of commodity computers like laptops and desktops have been lowered; multimedia computers and Linux computers are now more expensive. Demco has recently not been very fortunate with choosing their desktop supplier; quality and prices are not in line with average prices in the USA. Demco has a reasonable support staff.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Below average | Fair | Slightly expensive |
| Laptop | Good | Fair | Average |
| Linux | Fair | Fair | Average |
| Multimedia | Good | Fair | Average |
South central: Forman, Oklahoma City, OK
Forman offers good desktops for a low price. The company has a no-nonsense attitude, and has invested heavily in optimizing their supply chain, and teams with other suppliers to experiment with i2 supply chain management software.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Good | Cheap |
Southeast: Colonial, Raleigh, NC
Colonial recently got the order for delivering all the computers for the new downtown convention center in Raleigh, NC. The company has been able to expand, and invest some budget into training of their sales staff. The focus of Colonial is on desktops, although they are also able to sell laptops. With their imports from Japan, they offer good quality equipment.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Good | Good | Average |
| Laptop | Good | Good | Pricey |
Southeast: Stillwater, Miami FL
After the death of the CEO last year, Stillwater has replaced its management already two times. Many dedicated employees have left, and the sales department is a shambles. Often, customers are not called back and sometimes orders are not delivered... Reaction times are terribly slow. The product quality is not something to be proud of either. This is typically a company to avoid! The company, by the way, does not sell Linux computers.
| Product type | Product quality | Workflow quality | Pricing |
| Desktop | Bad | Terrible | Too expensive |
| Laptop | Bad | Terrible | Too expensive |
| Multimedia | Bad | Terrible | Too expensive |
