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A&D High Tech (A): Managing Projects for Success
Description
The case is based on a real $25 million project at a major U.S.-based computer manufacturer. For confidentiality reasons the company has been disguised as A&D High Tech. The Web-based online ordering system project is required by sales and marketing for the fall holiday season. If the project misses this window, the firm will lose substantial market share to competitors. The A&D High Tech case examines how to create and analyze a project plan in Microsoft Project. Specifically, data is given to build the project plan step-by-step and then analyze the plan using the Microsoft project management tool. In order to make the case manageable for students we reduced the size of the project, and corresponding number of resources, to approximately $1 million, but retained all of the features of the original project. The project plan that students construct from the data given in the case is fraught with risks, and students must apply risk management techniques to diagnose the plan. Ultimately, students must answer the management question: Will the project be completed for the holiday shopping season? This case is the first in a series; the second is the case entitled "A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change." The case can also be taught using other project management software tools, such as Primavera.
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A&D High Tech (B): Managing Scope Change
Description
The case is based on a real $25 million project at a major U.S.-based computer manufacturer. For confidentiality reasons the company has been disguised as A&D High Tech. The Web-based online ordering system project is required by sales and marketing for the fall holiday season. If the project misses this window, the firm will lose substantial market share to competitors. Part (B) takes place three months into the original project plan. The project manager has just been fired and the management challenge is to find out what is wrong with the project and recommend fixes. In addition, the scope of the project has changed: the VP of marketing has an additional promotional bundle requirement. A&D High Tech (A) examines how to create and analyze a project plan in Microsoft Project. In order to make the case manageable for students we reduced the size of the project, and corresponding number of resources, to approximately $1 million, but retained all of the features of the original project. Part (B) gives actual work done on each task three months into the project. Students must answer the management questions: Can the project be fixed and completed in time for the holiday season? Can the additional requirements be incorporated, and if so, what is the best approach? In order to answer these questions, earned value data can be extracted from Microsoft Project and analyzed. These data provide important insights into the root cause of problems with the project. The next step is to reduce the scope of the project and reassign resources. However, one must be aware that indiscriminately adding people can slow a project down, not speed it up. Finally, the additional promotional bundle requirement from the VP of marketing provides an important outsourcing management discussion. The case can also be taught using other project management software tools, such as Primavera.
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A1.Training
Description
A1.Training is an international, scoreable, two-party, six-issue negotiation with integrative potential. One party is a Romanian energy company that wishes to buy consulting services and worker training from a large US-based technical training and consulting company. The six issues of A1.Training represent all three types of negotiation issues: distributive (zero-sum), compatible (shared), and integrative (tradeable). The twist here is that the payoff matrix is asymmetric—one party has more upside potential from this deal. Thus, the negotiation is perfect as an early exercise to teach basic integrative techniques of finding compatible issues and trading off priorities, and it clearly demonstrates to students the folly of comparing their outcome to their counterpart’s outcome and/or worrying about making sure both parties get an equal outcome. This negotiation is also perfect to use in a negotiations course if New Recruit has already been used in a prior core management course.
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Across Currents
Description
Across Currents is a two-party role-playing distributive negotiation exercise to determine the selling price of an app. An independent game developer, Scarlett Wolf, has designed a Wordle-like game that is climbing the app charts and is looking to sell it so that they may focus on developing new games. Chance King is the M&A director of Digital Media Inc., looking to purchase a game that is going viral and that fits their firm’s strategic portfolio. The issue for negotiation is Across Currents’ selling price.
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Air France Internet Marketing: Optimizing Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Kayak Sponsored Search
Description
Rob Griffin, senior vice president and U.S. director of search for Media Contacts, a communications consulting firm, is faced with the task of optimizing search engine marketing (SEM) for Air France. At the time of the case, SEM had become an advertising phenomenon, with North American advertisers spending $9.4 billion in the SEM channel, up 62% from 2005. Moving forward, Griffin wants to ensure that the team keeps its leading edge and delivers the results Air France requires for optimal Internet sales growth. The case centers upon Air France's and Media Contacts' efforts to find the ideal SEM campaign to provide an optimal amount of ticket sales in response to advertising dollars spent. This optimal search marketing campaign is based on choosing effective allocation of ad dollars across the various search engines, as well as selecting appropriate keywords and bid strategies for placement on the search result page for Internet users. In determining the optimal strategy, the case presents background information on the airline industry as well as the Internet search options available at the time, including Google, Microsoft MSN, Yahoo!, and Kayak. Additionally, background information is provided on SEM and its associated costs and means of measuring the successfulness of each marketing effort. The case illustrates how one must first determine the key performance indicators for the project to guide analysis and enable comparison of various SEM campaigns. Cost per click and probability to produce a sale differ among publishers. Therefore, using a portfolio application model's quadrant positions can be used to determine optimal publisher strategies. Additionally, pivot tables help illustrate campaigns and strategies that have historically been most successful in meeting Air France's target Internet sales. Multiple recommendations on how Media Contacts can assist Air France in improving its SEM strategy can be derived from the data provided.
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Albion Basin
Description
The Albion Basin is a watershed located within the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City, Utah. This negotiation exercise calls on multiple parties (7 of them) with interests in the Albion Basin to try to reach an agreement concerning sustainable land use of the basin. The exercise challenges negotiators to identify and value issues and options. Directions walk students through how to develop a scoring sheet that values and prioritizes the issues for their role. (Raiffa’s Formal Analysis, 1982). During preparation participants meet with same-role others. The negotiation can be run with individuals or teams representing the 7 parties. Webinar available!
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Alexa: A Pandora's Box of Risks
Description
Launched in 2014, Amazon's Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers led the category's rapid adoption by households and enabled the penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) voice assistants into the everyday lives of millions of people. By 2019, Alexa the virtual brains behind Amazon's smart speakers was able to play music, create reminders, get weather reports, control lights and other home appliances, shop, and do much more in response to voice commands. Amazon had developed significant new capabilities for Alexa, developed an entire ecosystem around it, expanded Alexa's user base to more than 100 million users, and made significant progress in monetizing its digital voice assistant. However, Alexa's progress also created new challenges for Amazon, its Alexa-enabled customers, and society at large. Amazon needed to identify and address these challenges in order to encourage continued consumer acceptance and preclude detrimental government or regulatory action.
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All in the Family
Description
All in the Family is a two party exercise that illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of four different procedures for distributing a set of ten items between two parties: 1) “Divide and Choose” works off parties’ own priorities and estimates of the other party’s priorities and encourages students to use and understand the maximization procedure, called Solver, in Excel; 2) “Alternating Selection” illustrates first mover advantage effects; 3) “Bargaining” – face to face or electronic – often leads to suboptimal agreements; 4) “FOTE” (full, open, and truthful exchange) illustrates in what ways students can improve their outcome over their bargained outcome. This exercise includes an Excel spreadsheet for students to use to compare and contrast the different procedures, teaching notes, and a second Excel spreadsheet for the instructor to use to post student results.
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Alpha Beta
Description
DRRC's version of Alpha Beta is a cross-cultural, team-on-team negotiation of a potential alliance. The exercise requires the two parties to enact a cultural style during the negotiation.
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Alpha Beta - Spanish version
Description
DRRC's version of Alpha Beta is a cross-cultural, team-on-team negotiation of a potential alliance. The exercise requires the two parties to enact a cultural style during the negotiation.