MBA 580 Project Guidelines and Rubric Competencies
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:
- Evaluate creative and innovative organizational structures
- Recommend alternative innovations to solve an internal or market need
- Implement creative and innovative processes within an organization
Scenario
You work as a middle manager for one of the top U.S. producers of luxury and mass-market automobiles and trucks.
The chief technology officer (CTO) of the company from the course scenario has been watching new technology developments that the company could integrate into its vehicles to enhance the usefulness of and access to the data acquired by the many digital sensors that have been integrated into vehicle subsystems over the past 20–30 years. The technology trend of particular interest is the internet of things (IoT)—the interconnection of embedded devices, such as sensors and computers, over the internet. By taking advantage of this trend, the CTO believes the company can seize an opportunity to provide better service and predictive maintenance to its customers, improving customer satisfaction and adding additional revenue streams.
Based on briefings by the CTO, senior management has decided to implement IoT in its product line. Your CTO has asked you to lead a cross-functional team to take this initiative forward. Your first task is to make a recommendation for how the company should approach this business problem. Do you recommend using incremental or discontinuous (that is, slow or fast) innovation? Specifically:
Should the company…
- Design a completely new product line, based on the new technology (discontinuous innovation)
or
- Add new technology features into one model and then incrementally into the broader product line (incremental innovation)
The recommendation you and your team make is an important first step in pursuing this new technology.
In Milestone One, you and your team defined what that innovation looked like: would it be disruptive (new product line) or incremental (new features in one existing product)?
In Milestone Two, you developed a strategy plan and a high-level business model. You’ve shared these with various stakeholders, and they are in agreement with your assessment of how best to get to market with this IoT innovation, which will allow the company to be competitive.
Now, the CTO has asked you to come up with a proposed organizational structure that will support the innovation implementation. In this way, you will be assisting in making the innovation sustainable for the company from the course scenario. Companies that are innovative must make sure they have structured the organization in a way that supports innovation, and a key component of innovation is keeping track of what their customers want in terms of products and services.
Directions
Complete each of the three parts of this project. Use your slides from Milestone One, your document from Milestone Two, and feedback on Milestone One and Milestone Two to complete the first two parts of your presentation. You can use the resources in the Supporting Materials section (below) for any other information you will need to complete your project.
Part One: Innovation ApproachIn this section, share your revised slides from Milestone One and make your recommendation for the innovation approach you think the company should pursue. Ensure this section includes the following information:
- Explain potential risks and benefits for options A and B.
- Overview (1 slide): Present the business problem and options A and B.
- Option A (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for option A.
- Option B (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for option B.
- Compare your competition’s products and services.
- Competitors: (3–4 slides): Evaluate the competitors’ current products and services.
- What are your competitors’ current products and services?
- Are your competitors expanding in the current market? Explain how this impacts their market strength.
- Competitors: (3–4 slides): Evaluate the competitors’ current products and services.
- Analyze your company’s capability to pursue the innovation.
- Complete a partial gap analysis (2 slides):
- Does the company own the technology, or does it need to be purchased?
- How is the technology currently being used in today’s products and services?
- What type of technology is available to purchase?
- Complete a partial gap analysis (2 slides):
- Recommend the innovation approach your company should pursue.
- Innovation Approach (2 slides): Explain which innovation approach you are recommending and why.
- Consider the different stakeholders (research and development [R&D], marketing, finance) while communicating your recommendations.
- Include a description of the incremental or discontinuous product that you are recommending for R&D.
- Include the sales forecasts for marketing.
- Include a financial snapshot for finance.
Part Two: Strategic PlanIn this section, share your revised paper from Milestone Two, which provides an overview of your competitors’ position in the marketplace, the available and future marketplace, and a plan for how to address a change in business conditions. Ensure this section includes the following information.
- Analyze the competitors’ relative strengths in the marketplace. Use Power BI to create charts on the growth rates.
- What is the growth rate of each competitor?
- How much of the market does each competitor now own? Do you see a trend of gaining or losing market share?
- Determine each competitor’s market strength by looking at the financials for each competitor.
- Explain how your company’s market share compares to your competitors’. Use Power BI to create charts on your and your competitors’ market share.
- Is your company gaining or losing market share?
- What is your company’s growth potential in the industry?
- How do your company’s financials look compared to your competitors’?
- Identify future potential total available market (TAM) and growth for chosen product/service and technology.
- What is the TAM for cars and light trucks?
- What is the TAM for IoT-connected cars and light trucks?
- What is the projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for cars and light trucks?
- What is the CAGR for IoT-connected cars and light trucks?
- Identify ways to adjust if business conditions change.
- What can you do if your customers are slow to respond (buy) the innovation?
- What can you do if one competitor is overtaking all the others, including you?
- Describe the steps your company needs to take from concept outline to launch.
- What is the size of development that will be required?
- Will you require additional capital and personnel?
- How would you approach determining the timeline from the beginning of development until initial product launch?
Part Three: Organizational Structure and Culture ReportBased on your analysis of the organization’s structure and culture, share recommendations for changing its structure and culture to be more conducive to innovation.
- Describe the current organizational structure’s impact on innovation.
- How does your company’s organizational structure support innovation?
- How effective is the current structure in addressing changes in market demand?
- Recommend changes to the current organizational structure.
- How does the new structure support innovation?
- How will your recommended changes make the enterprise more responsive to market demand?
- Explain how organizational changes support a culture of innovation.
- In what ways does the current culture work against innovation?
- How does the new structure support a culture of innovation?
What to Submit
To complete this project, you must submit the following three items:
- Innovation Approach PresentationSubmit a 10- to 13-slide PowerPoint presentation with detailed speaker notes that highlight the important points you want to emphasize to senior management on your recommendation for an innovation approach. Use the feedback you received on Milestone One to revise your original presentation. Remember to use both on-slide text and narration or speaker notes in your PowerPoint slides to convey your information effectively. If you include references, they should be cited according to APA style. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
- Strategic Plan ReportSubmit a Word document of 5–8 pages, devoting 1 page to each critical element described above in Part 2 along with an introduction and a short executive summary. Use the feedback you received on Milestone Two to revise your original report. Sources should be cited according to APA style. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
- Organizational Structure and Culture ReportSubmit a5- to 8-pageWord document using 12-point Times New Roman font, double spacing, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to APA style. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
