Running head: PROJECT 1
PROJECT 4
Project
Name:
Institutional Affiliation:
Course:
Date:
Project
Part 1
Projects are usually selected by organizations to help in managing some tasks and improving the performance. There are several stages that go hand in and are sequence to follow each other consistently. There is a particular time that is usually set to complete a particular task, and resources as well are set for the purpose of the projects. After the human resource has allocated several resources, the project manager takes the responsibility of allocating the resources accordingly to the weight of the stages that are supposed to be undergone to finish the project successfully (Morais & Grygiel, 1994 August).
Project is a sequence and series of tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve specific objectives. It can further be referred to as inputs and outputs that are used to perform a certain goal. Some projects are usually simple while others are complex, and in all that they are managed according to the amount of work available, for instance, a complex project can be managed by hundreds while a simple can be managed by one person. When are divided into stages so that tasks can be tackled with a lot of accuracy and knowledge for better results? This can be achieved when the team members have a division of labor and specialization. Division of labor is the ability to distribute work equally, for instance, distribution, packaging, and manufacturing to employees that are better at that particular task for efficient and excellent work. Specialization is the ability of an expert to concentrate on one particular skill and pursuing it. This enables workers to be more effective in the work they partake as they have enough knowledge of what they are doing (Bouet, 2009).
Ongoing operations are activities that have neither been completed nor abandoned, that means that they are under construction. This is a type of operation that is most crucial as it is under activities that take place in a project. Operations usually follow a direction from the management or project manager. It is conducted with relevant procedures that enable results to be produced systematically. Operations are usually permanent, for instance, production, manufacturing, processing, packaging, and distributing. The task that currently being handled is the one that is usually known as an ongoing operation. Ongoing operations help not to produce new things but to sustain a particular system or project, so that is completed successfully. The main identification of an ongoing operation is resulted by making a profit at the end of the process, though at times, to results in a loss that has been made.
Part 2
There are several examples of projects that an organization can engage in. For example, a company can be industrial in nature that involves the construction of the building of any kind. The company will need architectures and engineers to be able to facilitate this project, and it will be guided by a project manager. The work will need to be broken down into different stages so that it can be systematic. After the whole project is finished, it will then be handed back to their client. The project can be; to build a church, a normal house, or even an industry. Another example is one that consists of the development of a new product or service. For example, Microsoft Windows Company producing Windows 10 was a project that they were working on, and it eventually was finished after a particular period of time. This was a project that was meant to solve a particular problem, and it enhanced better serves and faster and easier ways to use their computers (Adler, 1995).
The first example of an operation is the manufacturing of cars in an industry; cars will be produced daily depending on the demand and the timetable that will be set. An industry will run because of the manufacturing of cars that will be set in place. This industry will be repeating the same task daily, and it will define it as their operation that will be their ongoing operation. Manufacturing is a process that is usually done daily in an industry, and that makes it their operation. Secondly, a company that produces milk can be high on demand, and it requires more than what they produce during the normal days. They will be forced to do processing and distribution so that the demand and supply can be at an equilibrium eventually. In summary, ongoing operations are done with the aim of bringing out profits from the sales they will make. Both of them have a vital significant to an organization in one way or the other (Winch, 2009).
References
Adler, P. S. (1995). Interdepartmental interdependence and coordination: The case of the design/manufacturing interface. Organization Science, 6(2), 147-167.
Bouet, S. (2009). U.S. Patent No. 7,640,350. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Morais, B. G., & Grygiel, M. (1994, August). Application of Systems Engineering into an Ongoing Operation. In INCOSE International Symposium (Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 787-792).
Thiry, M. (2002). Combining value and project management into an effective programme management model. International journal of project management, 20(3), 221-227.
Winch, G. M. (2009). Managing construction projects. John Wiley & Sons.
Go Pro or Go Home What to do when a company’s market share slips away
GoPro Company Background
GoPro, Inc. engages in manufacturing and selling camera and camera accessories. The company provides
mountable and wearable cameras and accessories, mainly used for recording and documenting sporting,
outdoor, and recreational actives, which it refers to as capture devices. Its brands include Hero7 & 8,
Fusion, GoPro Plus, Quik, GoPro App and Karma Grip. It also offers an ecosystem of mountable and
wearable accessories. The company was founded by Nicholas Woodman in 2002 and is headquartered in
San Mateo, CA.
Current Situation
Recently, shares of GoPro Inc. are down nearly 95% from their all-time high in late 2014, making it one
of the most disappointing new companies on the stock market over the past decade. The company has
suffered from everything from failed product launches to inventory missteps that have led to hundreds of
millions in losses over the last three years.
When GoPro went public, it was trying to bill itself as a media company, not just a camera maker. It
began developing original content and launched its own channel on Red Bull TV, hoping to expand into
content the way Red Bull did with its film arm. GoPro even launched apps where users could upload their
own content, hoping to be something of a YouTube for action sports.
The problem was that GoPro didn't have any real advantage in the media business and was never the best
software creator. As companies like Netflix, Amazon, and HBO poured billions into their own original
content, it became clear that GoPro couldn't compete, and finally, its media business was shut down in
late 2016.
Another investment GoPro made was in drones, where it seemed to have a natural line extension. GoPro's
cameras were the standard camera for early DJI drones that captured consumers' imaginations, but GoPro
messed up its drone product in myriad ways.
By 2016, when GoPro finally launched the Karma drone, DJI had taken the drone world by storm. It had
drones that had proximity sensors to avoid collisions, integrated cameras, and even hand gestures to
control drones. Karma launched with none of those features and a bulky, cheaply designed form factor.
GoPro simply didn't know how to make drones, and by the time it got in the game, it was too late.
What GoPro has always done best is action cameras. When it has tried to expand beyond that, it's run into
a wall of competition, and when it had a legitimate opportunity, it tripped on its own poor execution.
Inventory may sound like a snooze-worthy topic, but for cyclical product companies like GoPro, that sell
most of their products during the holidays, it's a matter of life and death. GoPro's problems really started
to get bad late in 2015, when it released an uninspiring update of six cameras in the Hero camera line.
Naturally, the company had to build inventory for the holiday season, but when sales didn't go as well as
planned, the company ended up with tens of millions of dollars of unsold inventory and began
discounting what it had left. There was nothing to do but try to unload it at a discount. It took $97 million
in charges for the year for price protections for retailers and excess purchase order commitments, and that
was only the beginning of the losses.
The chart below shows the inventory problem, exemplified by the sharp drop in inventory turnover. The
metric measures the number of times per year inventory is purchased, put in a warehouse, and eventually
sold to a customer. If inventory turns over quickly, it's good for a company, and if it doesn't, it can be a
sign of problems. In 2015 and 2016, you can see that inventory turnover plunged.
GPRO NET INCOME (TTM) DATA BY YCHARTS.
Over-building inventory was a critical mistake by GoPro's management, and inventory continues to be a
challenge to this day.
Since going public, GoPro has seemed to think it can turn its camera business into something more.
Media, drones, and now 360 cameras are all extensions the company has tried, but there's no reason
customers of these products need to stay in the GoPro ecosystem. For example, when you take images on
a drone, they're usually offloaded to a computer or mobile device, just like GoPro camera content, so
what does it matter if the drone is a GoPro or a DJI drone. Since GoPro didn't have a competitive
advantage, it couldn't overthrow DJI's leading market position.
Another good example of failing to understand where it had a competitive advantage is in software like
Quik and Splice, apps the company pushed as editing tools for GoPro content. The company spent $105
million in 2016 to acquire Stupeflix and Vemory, the app creators that eventually became Quik and
Splice, but the deal never added value for GoPro. Most of what Quik and Splice do is available on any
smartphone for free, so why use a specific GoPro app?
Where to go from here?
GoPro's products have always been ideal for action sports and applications where a compact device is
needed, but as GoPro tried to expand into new products, it wasn't able to recreate the same magic. It
always seemed to overestimate the competitive advantage GoPro's cameras had in the market.
GoPro was supposed to be a great growth stock just a few years ago, but strategic missteps have cost the
company hundreds of millions of dollars and are leaving it on life support today. At best, GoPro's
investors are hoping for a buyout offer from a bigger tech company. At this point, that may be the best
option GoPro has to add value to shareholders.
Exam Prompt: Write a five step case analysis from GoPro management’s point of view.
Hoium, T (2018 , April 21) Three lessons from GoPro’s three biggest missteps . Retrieved
from https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/04/21/3 -lessons -from-gopr os -3 -bi ggest -
missteps.aspx
ELEVATOR PITCH
Using exactly one hundred (100) words you will provide an elevator pitch/business case for one of the Projects you selected to review for Week 1. This pitch/case should cover the important elements of the project: who, what, where, when, and why?
This assignment should be single-spaced so do not change any of the formatting for this document.
News source (APA reference):
Web address:
City:
Elevator Pitch (100 words):
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