You have been hired as a consultant by a major company that produces college textbooks to determine why the last products introduced into the market were failures. You begin by interviewing the Project Manager that is responsible for deciding which products are introduced into the market and for making sure the project launch is successful.
As a very senior member of management the Project Manager, Martin, feels a huge sense of personal failure because of the recent disappointing results of their new products. You ask Martin why he believes the products were not successful. Martin replies, "I believe we failed because we moved away from what made this company successful in the past. For decades we provided high quality text books that were widely used in colleges across the country. Our Accounting Team convinced us it would be more cost effective to switch to providing e-textbooks. Our marketing team didn't know how to promote a product based on such new technology and it confused them and our customers. In the future I am going to recommend we step back and depend on the technologies and products that have proven track records."
Martin suggests you interview the member of the team responsible for marketing new products to hear her perspective on the issue. When you arrive at Carol's office you find her half hidden behind a huge stack of paper fliers and pamphlets which describe the new text books in glowing terms and brilliant colors. She is very enthusiastic about this latest marketing campaign, "According to our research our target customer is between 18-21 years old. Our research tells us they enjoy bright colors and eye-catching advertisements". When you ask if they had researched what type of technical upgrades their target customer prefers she shrugs and says, "We have been producing text books for decades, and our customers have never complained about our features. While it is true that there are many other companies entering the market we feel that our product is strong enough to stand the test of time".
Because of time constraints you interview the balance of the rest of the Project Team together and they are eager to share their insights. One young man, who works in Research and Development, waves his hand in frustration. "I know some of the new features on the last product didn't fulfill all the promises made in the advertising but we were rushed into production to make some arbitrary print deadline. Our customers are leaving us in droves because our competition offers the latest features and their features deliver." Another member of the team complains that their products are essentially the same as the products the company offered five years ago.
For this assignment, analyze the situation at the company in the Case Study. Where do you think the current product, e-textbooks, is in the Project Life Cycle? Based on your analysis of their current situation, write a 2-3 paper that does the following:
Describe in detail where the current product is in the Project Life Cycle.
Is the current product (e-textbooks) in the same position in the Project Life Cycle as the earlier product (hard copy textbooks)?
Describe what you believe led to the failure of the last two product launches.
What recommendations would you give to Martin? Susan? And the rest of the Project Team? Make certain your recommendations include specific examples of possible future action.
Your submissions should follow the essentials of APA (i.e., cover page, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, reference section at the end, in-text citations, etc.). For more information on APA, please visit the Online Library, which is available through the Resources tab.