Case Analysis Form Participant Name Case Title Dr.

Syed Mujtaba Shehzad Pasha TerragCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

Key Facts

Key Players Core Business Problems o Launch a state-of-the-art product at competitive rates to other manufacturers within speculated time frame and adhere to strict deadlines during the product manufacturing life cycle o Similar products already launched by competitors and gaining popularity among the customers and possibly risks of shifting brand loyalty o Difference of priorities and opinions, along with lack of coordination and collaboration among various departments involved in the process Management Objectives o Deliver a full scale GPS product by redesigning the existing GPS platform to reduce costs and speed the development process o Ensure that the product satisfies the technical specifications outlined and is delivered within the deadline o Market the newly designed state-of-the-art GPS product at competitive rates to other manufacturers
The approach taken by TerraCog for development of new GPS product ended them with a product which was expensive to build, compromised on functionalities and had to be targeted at much higher price than the competitors Launching this product with a high price tag would eventually reduce their market shares sooner or later, with high risks of customers disappointment and dissatisfaction

Core Business Problem & Management Objective

Recommended Solution

The product would be difficult to produce and maintain, and the whole idea of launching the product would eventually result in more complications TerraCog should understand that the approach was very optimistic to enhance the existing product while keeping costs maintained to gain significant business advantage The conception of the product was sound, however, TerraCog should have considered development of a new product instead of upgrading TerraCog Management must now understand the implications of developing a half-hearted, performance-compromised and not very efficient product, therefore, has to take the responsibility for shortvision and hastened decision earlier in the product development life cycle and that changes at any point in time now would lead to further delays, drifting product specifications and business objectives Keeping aside the market share, a bad product launched would bring in more mal-alignment of business and global perspectives, and might would hit the existing product range of TerraCog The management must now has to have enough courage to declare the project as not viable for launch , keeping the consequences which might arise internally within the organization The approach should now be proactive to handle the demotivation aspects of the persons involved, and boosting the show with futuristic and more innovative product vision that has less stringent deadlines and cost ratios By the time, TerraCog would be able to deliver such product the market would already have similar products, but TerraCog brand, with heightened vision and product specification, would provide a sound balance to their product, also because of their own reliability and confidence on the product The decision of declaring the project as closed has to be communicated to the entire team through management by presenting the audience the facts and figures, future of the already built product, thoroughly indicated that although the product meets the determined technical specifications but the trade-offs are now too high for such product launch, stating the reasons for new vision, boosting the morale and appreciating the entire team, demonstrating the need for more innovations and futuristic technical vision, and most importantly giving the audience the confidence that the management has the ownership of all the decisions, consequences, failures and successes Moral of the story o Failure to plan is planning to fail, and o Decision to abandon a project is far courageous than to launch a product which is bound to fail