“Sir, we still face the challenge of not having much in the way of merchandise." Cynthia from Supply and Procurement informed Zoli. "R&D has finished the initial backlog from Zone 1, but is still working on the basic survey, and the Zone 2 research hasn't even started yet."

  “Sir, even with the research finished, we still have only production capability for the potions and vials." Peter, Production and Manufacturing cut in "For the pendants we need a woodcarver a jeweler, and a dismantling workshop. With the latter, we could include other employee parts in the content application."

  “Of course, we would need to research the new pieces too.” Egon put a damper on any hope. Zoli wondered, how other dungeons faced such issues. Conjure up stuff from thin air with magic?! Laughable! Where was the organization, the supply chains? Corporate best practice sharing? No, surely, the competition would face the same challenges too!

  “How long to complete the current research schedule?”

  “We still have at least six days from the survey, fifty for the basic Zone 2 research, another thirty for the different little birdies, twenty for the two peacocks, and the spa in Zone 2 would take fifteen to twenty days. Of course, we were directed to look into the feasibility of a yacht for the honored CEO. That would take another month or so. We are looking for a sum total of around a hundred and seventy days. I stress the importance of getting a good Perk for speeding up the research."

  “All right, those are all valid and important points. What about Zone 3’s possibilities?”

  “The Zone Leader's tusks look promising, both as on-employee assets and merchandise. I'm confident, the Duck's feathers could be harnessed for added value. Of course, the Gem Turtles are the most valuable asset in the Zone, it is R&D's stance to put them on top of the priority list. Next would be the Web Spiders' and Spiderlings' silk. The department is confident in making it more durable, smooth, and harvestable. Depending on the exact spider species, HR wants to put there, it would make sense to look into their venom too. There are a few herbs and other natural resources in the Zone, enhancing those would take… at least thirty days, total."

  “Do I get this right? Appropriately creating an expanded array of catalysts for change and interactively engineering client-focused growth strategies would take… Close to three months?”

  “That is correct, honored CEO, sir. Not counting the other birdies for that swampy plot of land, utilizing the Turtles’ shell for further kinds of jewelry, or adapting them to already implanted pieces. Or doing anything to the fish or the Beavers. Or…”

  “Stop! The net convergence is, that our research list gets even longer, and a dynamic meta-service will be even more extensive to incentivize?”

  “Yes, honored CEO. We simply can’t keep up with researching newer and newer things. The company’s expansion is just too fast.”

  “Solutions?”

  “Acquiring licenses. Or buying up a competitor and marketing their intellectual property as ours. Stealing someone else’s idea or product. Creating everything on our own is simply too slow and probably not feasible in the long run.”

  “Finances?”

  “We don’t have the revenue to invest in licenses. All the monetary income is directed towards securing the funds to expedite Perk-procurement. Our current projection points to a few decades, up to fifty years, till we have aggregated an economically sound selection of action items. Not counting a few Perks, the utility is still discussed.”

  “FIFTY YEARS?!?!?”

  “Yes, honored CEO, sir. Fortunately, the company is large enough to have quite a large passive revenue income. If we had to build everything from the ground up, we would either need a wealthy family or centuries or even millennia.”

  “We only have a century to make all this work! If we cloudify an expanded array of leadership skills in the first five decades, we will have only another five decades to enhance the customer-directed merchandise, harness on-employee assets, and open the company to the general public. I doubt very much, the Stockholder would be pleased if we don't energistically expedite competitive architectures. The Stockholder formulated an investor expectation to have at least the Forest Biome opened within a 'few decades'. Strictly speaking, that could be only two decades, but most likely not five."

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  “Yes, honored CEO, sir.”

  “Review the Business Plan, the acquisition list for Perks and Licenses, and the Roadmap for implementing efficient functionalities. Assume, the deadline for opening up will be two decades, but make allowances to another decade."

  “Yes, honored CEO, sir.”

  “Don’t assume, the Stockholder will be as patient as me! I assure you, he is not! Expedite growth strategies! It is no matter, if we fashion a most diverse company in fifty years, if we are sent to a private hell in twenty!”

  “Yes, honored CEO, sir.”

  “I will create a Creative Department in the meantime, with a Developer Team so HR and Zoning can focus on specialized content only. Here, done. Everyone, meet Burke. Burke, everyone.”

  “It is an honor to work with a highly motivated and excellent, customer-directed team! I will professionally aim to build a compelling convergence of collaboration and idea-sharing!"

  “Good. You will fit in just fine. Peter, I will entrust you with the mentioned three workshops and the employees to run them. Make sure to maximize an effective output of deliverables!”

  “Yes, sir. I will ramp up production posthaste. Should we manufacture for stockpiling or on-demand just-in-time delivery?"

  “As for now, stockpiling. We have the warehouse capacity, just dump everything somewhere in the Grassland Biome.”

  “Honored CEO, sir, Production and Manufacturing faces another challenge with the workshops.”

  “What now?!”

  “The department can only manufacture Trash Tier merchandise at the moment."

  “And? I don't see any problems there. If we flood the market with trash, the customers will get used to it and will buy it nevertheless. This is a valid strategy. Everybody does it."

  “Yes, sir. However, in order to objectively position the company as a future-proof innovator, that leverages emerging quality products, and pleases the Stockholder for revolutionizing high-quality paradigms, it would be impactful to offer at least Common Tier merchandise. In the later Zones, Uncommon, and Rare Tier would be expected. Also, with an added Magic Workshop, we could enhance the market positioning further."

  “Magic?”

  “Yes, sir. You could call it sufficiently advanced technology.”

  “All right. Marketing and Customer Service, what is your stance on the challenge?”

  “While providing Trash Tier as throw-away promotional merchandise is a valid marketing tool, it would indeed send a positive message to supply next-generation main products. After all, the customers will constantly exceed safety limits while exploring the company premises."

  “Nice way to say, ‘they will be in mortal danger’, Jenette.”

  “Thank you, Winston.”

  “Be professional! Fraternization is only permitted with your secretaries. Anyways, how much would it cost to bring the quality up one Tier to Common?”

  “Ehm, honored CEO, sir, Trash to Common is three Tiers: Lousy, Sub-average, and only then Common. Above Common, we have Uncommon, Masterwork, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythical, and there are a few Tiers for exceptionally rare quality stuff, but I think, we can disregard those safely for the moment."

  “So, what would be the price?”

  “The investment would be 5 MPD for each Tier and workshop, for a total of 45 MPD.”

  “That is robbery! A few such workshops, and there will be no means to afford the Executive Team’s salary! We should brainstorm alternative channels to efficiently fabricate economically sound methodologies! Start brainstorming! Now!”

  “Well, honored, CEO, there are a few possibilities to face this challenge.” Raymond from Finances started “Obviously, restructuring the Executive Team isn’t a viable option. We could still deliver elastic models to the customer, and fabricate only trash. Or, as the Finance Department pointed out previously, supply the company with tailored solutions by buying a few Perks. For example, there is another Perk, we would like to visualize to the honored CEO: Efficient Workshops. The Perk, in its base form, would decrease the cost by 20%."

  “We can’t supply only trash to the customer, we also need premium-tiered merchandise.” Quality Management countered “While those can be basically trash, they need to be better trash. Right, Marketing?”

  “Of course. Conveniently branding the product could initiate distinctive deliverables. We only need to run an ad campaign. Maybe with the face of some celebrity.”

  “We don’t have those… All right. Put the new Perk on the list, and let’s upgrade the workshops.”