Patent ID: 7346538

Claim:
A method for analyzing a business that provides deliverable end-user products to consumers, said end-user products including components wherein each deliverable product and each component have a perceivable cost and consumer value, said method comprising the steps of: a) obtaining Average Sales Price (ASP) trend data for a deliverable end-user product provided by said business and tracking changes of said trend data over a period of time, said period divided into one or more time intervals; b) obtaining ASP trend data for a component used in said deliverable end-user product and tracking changes of said trend data for said component over said period of time, c) generating a data structure including elements for characterizing trend data as meeting certain performance criteria; d) mapping said trend changes associated with trend data for a deliverable end-user product and trend data for a component used in said deliverable end-user product for each period to said elements in said data structure; and, e) performing analysis of said elements for a component and deliverable product in each time interval, said elements indicating potential corrective action with respect to a value or cost for said component or deliverable product, wherein said data structure includes a matrix for characterizing relationships between ASP trends of deliverables and ASP trends of components, one or more elements of said matrix characterizing at least one of said deliverable and component ASP trends as being equal to or above a base level between successive time intervals, wherein said base level is zero, one or more elements characterizing said trends as being equal to or above said base level thereby defining a stability sector, and wherein one or more elements of said matrix characterizes at least one of said deliverable and component ASP trends as being below a base level while remaining flat, increasing or decreasing between successive time intervals.