Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats within the Robin Hoods Band - Case Study Example

Answers to Prompt

Q1

The number of Robin Hood’s band recruit kept rising each passing day, something that was a concern for him. The growing number had resulted to scarcity. The resources in the forest which once was food declined with the increasing number of new recruits. The unlimited human needs kept rising while the resources remained the same. There was the need to find an alternative means of getting food to sustain the band. The scarcity had forced the band to obtain food from the outlying villages using their financial reserves. Robin had to make a choice because the money used to buy the food was coming from their reserves. The choice would be satisfying the most necessity needs, for this case food. Spending the reserves on food would result into tradeoffs.

Robin ought to find the means of increasing the income so as to ensure both productive and allocative efficiencies are met. The band needs to have the unceasing supply of their basic needs as a way of fulfilling their unlimited wants. Robin has an opportunity cost which is to forego the outright confiscation of goods to the best alternative which is a fixed transit tax. Robin was facing a high resistant to his opportunity cost because his lieutenant’s believed in the slogan of raiding the rich and giving to the deprived. The farmers and the Merrymen townspeople were the greatest allies to the band in a war against the Sheriff. Therefore, the opportunity cost from Robin’s choice is possible.

Q2.

Robin is facing a problem of an increased cost of food which leads to a negative marginal cost. Robin has to find a solution to ensuring maximized marginal revenue, possible with increased conversion rate. Forest food was no more enough for the band. Since the policy of outright confiscation of goods was becoming unfeasible, Robin had thought of a fixed transit tax. Unless the profits maximized and the revenue increased, Robin faces a challenge from the Sheriff. The Sheriff had money and men and was now harassing the band probing their weakness. Robin now had an option of collecting the tax which would mean failure of Sheriff to collect tax thus his removal.

The best choice for Robin would be to join the people in receiving the ransom for releasing King Richard. The fact is, taking the role of collecting the ransom from the people and in return, the villagers would feed his band. Making the wish of the villagers by showing solidarity would mean the band has food. When the food supplied at no cost from the villagers, it means the band will have enough to save. There would be no need for collecting the tax, and the group will continue with their outright activity even though with the reduced number of travelers. Robin has to find and use the niche of people wanting the release of their King Richard because they are tired of Prince John’s activities.

Q3

As his economic advisor, there are three good pieces of advice that I will give to Robin Hood. First is to reconstruct his relationship with the sheriff. The sheriff plays a very big in the forest and community in which he is conducting his act ivies. He has the manpower to control and political power to control whatever is going on in the forest. His inability to control the population of people joining the forest is also another challenge since he cannot clearly know whoever is joining the camp. This influx can be exploited by the sheriff and put a spy on the camp.

Secondly, I would advise Robin to apply economic development strategy. This strategy can enable him to identify band members who are not contribution economically to the group. After identification of these members, action can be taken to weed them out one by one so that he can remain with a number that he can manage. Reducing the number of people in the band can also reduce the amount of money being spent on food and upkeep.

Lastly, to be economically stable Robin could increase the number of invasions so that they can acquire food for the population. He should also make sure that Scarlock accounts truly reflected what was being brought from invasions. He should also make improvements on security and monitor discipline among members.

Q4

Even though Robin currently has a very good market where he can conduct his business, he has seriously slept on this opportunity. His current position gives him an option of organizing as many raids as he can. The population provided by the band members should also be utilized to maximize profit. The topography of the area also provides a good ground for protection while conducting raids within the area. The topography also makes it hard for sheriff and his crew to invade the area thus providing a good environment for his business.

Robin has a very good market which he can supply with whatever he produces. His first market is the band members. The band members constantly keep on increasing in numbers as time goes by. One of the products that Robin could make a huge profit if he made an investment is on food. Everybody requires food to survive; this can force every band member to part ways with some amount in order to eat. Robin could also regulate the amount of food given to the band members in order to maximize profit.

Since they are mainly based in the forest, Robin can supply members with jackets at a reasonable cost to curb them from cold at night. During winter, everybody in the forest would be a force to put on a jacket to prevent their bodies from freezing. This in itself could provide a readily market for his products within the forest.

Q5

The main consumers in this case study are the band members. I believe that the band members are the main consumers even though others such as the tax, collectors, rich merchants and even the sheriff's crew also consume a little. From the introduction to the end, I can consider band members to be the biggest consumers. There are several things that band members consume. To begin, band members consume food. From the excerpt, there is a place where Robin gets worried by the high rise of numbers of band members and imagines where he will get food.

Customers on that other can be described as impulsive customers. These customers care less where these good are coming from. These customers comprise of rich merchants tax collectors and I also believe that some band members also purchased some goods. Robin Wood provides them with products ranging from illegal raids and some from his archeries. They don’t mind even if the good are acquired through illegal means but all they care about is their product. These customers only need their products and Robin Wood can only increase the number of raids to satisfy their needs.

Q6

According to the study, the supply is being accessorized through looting of high value merchandise from rich travelers and tax collectors and re selling it to earn value. Despite of the forest being under close siege by the Sheriff, Robin Hood boldly forms his own strategies to run the venture secretly. His supply demand is favored by a readily available market of the high value products in the villages. To pursue his course, Robin incorporated a number of comprehensive strategies to meet the demand supply. They involved formulation of a competent team to help in securing supply by robbing travelers within the forest zone. With verification from Robins study, traces of movement of rich men and tax collectors were made from whom they robbed valuables from. With intelligence logic from Scarlett, the crew would plan and execute their quest to perfection.

Robin target scope was influenced by his philosophy of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Being an effective team, their goods would get a readily available market and demand in the villages. However, in quest to convert the looted products to value, the pricing of the products was a bit lower in comparison to their real worth. They pursued cheap pricing for their merchandise while they could find hind outs for the surplus goods. As stated in the study, the group was characterized by high level of discipline and professionalism. However, the group depended wholly on the lootings they made to acquire resources like food. High discipline levels also served as an effective measure of keeping shadowing the sheriffs away. In my opinion, the future of Robin lies at risk. Being a rebel to the Sheriffs, and his practice of looting from rich and giving to the poor, I suppose his strategies would not last a while with the impelling nature of disagreements in his team. Robin may get into trouble again if his current operations happen to unfold

Q7

Supply and demand is verifiable in the case study of which Robin Hood set effective strategies to manage the demand and supply as follows. First, Robin gathered a crew that forged to be a disciplined band that took him to recruit. Ready to take the risk, the crew was ready to live outside the law. From a critical point of view, Robin has done a market analysis and identified demand and supply for value products. However, to implement his quest, he had to engage superior strategies of which he took time to buildup. It involved the developing of the fake band and reassigning task to each member. He resolved to meet his strategies by being the head of the team and making all the decisions. Despite from the roles assigned to the members, the band maintained a quality discipline culture that sought their operational success. Management strategies lay by Robin included intelligence base to monitor the logic in which moves would be made. Use of the forest as a base for their robbing. Maintenance of high discipline level and professionalism to enhance operations and a product to value plan to change loots made to cash. As a result of conformance to all the strategies and specifications set by the team, perfect synchrony was achieved in the operations.

Q8

Externalities in this case would be viewed in terms of forces that posed risk to the operations of the crew. First, the trend at which the group was growing and gain of fame was a major drive that risked to expose the operations of the group. High numbers of the group led to scarcity of available food resources. As a result of the increasing number, the level of professionalism and discipline among the team members was quit compromised. Another external factor that affected the operations of the crew was the Sheriff. In course to the operations of the band, the sheriff was a greater force to reckon with. It was characterized by Robins’ desire to murder the sheriff, which became more difficult as he grew to be more organized and stronger with time. However, Robin could overcome these external forces through the following strategies. By ensuring that the discipline levels of the band remained intact by maintaining a low manageable number of members.

Q9.

Robin should use the SWOT analysis strategy in coming up with the decision on the ways of approaching the problem. Recognizing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that exist within the team and outside is significant in finding the solution. The Strengths for Robin is his team and the people, Weaknesses are the scarcity that is proving to be a problem. Opportunities are prevalent and as an alternative best for Robin would be introduction of fixed transit tax. Lastly, Threats from introducing fixed transit tax will involve opposition and even pulling out from the group. After identifying the SWOT next is to come up with an action plan that involves asking the What, Who, by when what resources and communication. The answer to these questions would be in the following format:

What action is meant to occur from Robin and the team deciding to impose fixed transit tax? Who will execute the plan and how competent is he to be. By when is the fixed free tax to be applied or to take effect? What resources will be significant in carrying out the action? Communication to the villagers about the tax and when is to take effect. The action plan will ultimately ensure the success of the foregone best alternative.