Target Costing: Quality Function Deployment Bridal Photography Inc. (BPI) specializes in prepar- ing wedding pictures, including a large book of photos for the wedding couple. Each BPI couple works directly and individually with a single BPI photographer who helps the couple plan the pho- tos to be made on the wedding day and make the selection of photos to go into the wedding photo book and the choice of a wedding-photo book. The standard fee for each wedding is $6,000 which includes all of the firm's services including the book of wedding photos. BPI has several experi- enced photographers and has been managed well but is experiencing increased competition, espe- cially based on price. BPI wants to protect its reputation and to continue to expand its business, and for this purpose has decided to use Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to better understand the cost and value trade-offs in its business. As a first step, BPI defined the four key "buying criteria" that couples use in choosing and evaluating photographers - (1) fast service, (2) great photos at the wedding, (3) quality of the photo finishing (color, clarity . . .), and (4) the quality of the photo book. A select sample of prior customers was asked to rate these criteria and, on a 300 point scale, provided scores of 30, 120, 60, and 90 respectively.

The BPI accounting records showed that the cost of the average wedding was $5,000, and the cost could be traced to four activities: (1) the planning meeting in which the couple and the photographer determined what types of photos were desired, set dates for the photography and proofs, etc., (2) the photography on the wedding day, (3) the preparation of proofs from which the couple would select the photos to be used in the book, and (4) the preparation of the final photos and the wedding photo book. The average costs of the four activities were $800, $2,400, $600, and $1,200, respectively.

As a final step, BPI managers, photographers, and staff worked together to determine an esti- mate of the contribution of each of the four activities to achieving the four buying criteria. The result is as follows (for example, the criteria of fast service was equally served by the planning meeting, the preparation of proofs and the preparation of the photo book, and only 10 percent from taking photos the day of the wedding):

Required

1. Determine which activities are most valuable to the wedding couple and compare this finding to the cost of the activities. Which activities should be given greater attention in time and cost, and which should be given less time and cost?

2. Indicate some business and competitive issues that should be taken in account in considering your answer to part 1 above.