Project Motorcycles - Assignment Example

? Assignment 2: Project Motorcycles Introduction Motorcycle market is one of the most important parts of global automobile industry. Efficient processes of manufacturing, distribution and sells of motorcycle in the global market have made a competitive global market of two wheelers. This paper deals with detailed analysis of a case of a midsized motorcycle manufacturing company. The aim of this study is to develop effective strategies for the company by analyzing the case. The company manufactures motorcycles with small and medium size engines ranges from 500cc to 100cc. Recently the management of the company has decided to manufacture new segment of motorcycles targeting to the customer who are frequent travel of long distance by motorcycle. The demographic segment of the target customer of this new segment of motorcycles is males aged between aged between 35 and 60. Another demographic characteristic of the target segment of customers is income level which lies between USD 55000 to USD 100000. After selecting the target customer with specific demographic characteristics of segmentation, the management of the company is planning to develop new strategic decisions for this new product. Along with keeping high concentration on this business of this new product the company will also continue business of its existing product to retain the existing customer base and its brand identity in the market. Analysis and Discussion In this part of the easy, detailed analysis and discussion of the case will be done to develop new strategy for the new motorcycle for niche segment of customers. Process steps for developing the new motorcycle and rationale for the response Before starting the production process of the new touring class motorcycle, the company should conduct proper market research, mainly primary research. For this purpose they need to study the market for indentifying the target segment of the available products of the competitors. This will help them to identify whether any existing category of motorcycles is available in the market that satisfy the same need of the customer what they are thinking to offer. Therefore, by conducting effective market the management of the company can easily understand the feasibility and possible demand of this touring motorcycle. Again they can identify a competency which they can use as effective promotional tool. Next step of the new development process is development and implementation of efficient project management strategy. The management of the company should employ an efficient and experienced project manager for this new product development process. The roles and responsibility of the project is very crucial for overall success of this kind of bid project. First of all the project manager needs to identify the suppliers of major raw material and accessories. They also need to engage efficient suppliers for the high power or higher CC engine if they decide not to manufacture the engine. There are many automobile companies that outsource the manufacturing of main part of car or motorcycle i.e. engine and use those in their own products by tagging their own brand name. Next important step of the process is getting skilled labor especially for the technical works in the manufacturing process. Employees with different technical skills are required for the whole process staring from manufacturing of each of the body part of the motorcycle to assembling the motorcycles. Though, now a day, the automated assembling processes have been used but to run that advanced system, skilled labor are required. According to the case the organization is a new quite new in this industry and it is a mid size company. Therefore, the management needs to develop cost effective budget for this project. According to the budget the project management team needs to focus on comparatively low cost manufacturing of these motorcycles. For this purpose they need to engage suppliers of raw materials with low barraging power. Again, as this segment is for touring purposes, so stability of engine as well as overall body of the motorcycle need to be better than other existing motorcycles available in the market. Therefore, they should provide high quality parts and accessories to gain quick attraction of the above mentioned potential target customers. According the niche segment of these motorcycles, the power of engine and stability of the body will be two main competitive advantages of this product (Menoni & Margottini, 2011). Next important step of product development process would be use of advanced technology in both manufacturing and distribution of the product. Again, these employing new technologies in this new segment of motorcycles would be another competitive advantage. After implementing the above steps of product development process, now the company needs to focus on effective marketing and promotion of the product in the market. They need to develop attractive promotional strategy for their niche segment of customer with specific age group, income level and most importantly the need of motorcycle for touring. Last but not the least the company must need to ensure hassle free after sales service. Recommended Strategy Though the company is highly focused on the new business strategy still they need to give equal priority on their existing business with high demand. This will help the company to maintain its market existing customer base, brand identity and market share. Again, the company should develop this new product development strategy based on profitability of its existing business. Therefore, they need to study the business of their existing products and should rectify mistakes, if any in the new strategy development process such budgeting, financing strategy, marketing and promotion strategy etc. To reach long term goal or vision of the company, they always need to have high concentration this kind of effective product differentiation and re-launch of the products that are in maturity and decline stage of product life cycle. On the other side, short term needs of the company would create proper brand awareness, especially the awareness of the features and benefits of the new product to its existing customers as well as potential new customers (Damodaran, 2008). By this way they can stimulate some percentage of the existing customer to buy this new product. This strategy will be more effective if the company provide exchange offer which one of the most important marketing strategy of all leading automobile companies around the world. Project Management Leadership Style Effective leadership style is most important for organization as well as for a single project management team. In this case the leader would be the project manager or project head. The main objective of project manager’s leadership style should be to keep all workers of the project highly engaged with high dedication and responsibility. The leader also needs to allow the workers to share the risk of failure of the project as well as monetary and non monetary benefit if it gets success. The project manager should present varied types of ideas and information to his juniors and at the same time might also gather their views regarding any aspect. However, this might be possible only if the leader comprises a very good interpersonal relationship with their juniors and other executives. Other than this, he or she might be extremely tactful and sincere so as to tackle any sort of situations in an effective way. Moreover, the leader might also comprise of the experiences so as to present effective training programs so as to enhance the level of skills and talents of the employees. They might be able to cope up with any challenging situations in an effective way and sustainable growth of the business might be increased for long. The productivity and profit margin might also remain in a growing scale in any type of situations (Smulders & Collins, 2005). Three risk mitigation strategies In order to manage the risks of the organization in an effective way, proper planning and evaluation is extremely essential. Other than this, it might also help in enhancement of the growth thereby reducing and controlling all sorts of risks. Some of the important strategies mainly implemented within the organization are: Focus on proper documentation- this might prove effective in reducing all sorts of financial risks thereby amplifying its productivity and reputation. Along with this, it might also help in increasing sales and enhancing brand value of the organization in the entire globe. And, any sorts of financial decline also get reduced significantly. Training and development programs- in order to enhance the level of skills and talents of the employees so as to cope up with varied challenges, training and development is an essential strategy. Without which, the performance and devotion of the employees towards work and responsibilities of the organization. As a result, the efficiency and sustainability of the organization also gets enhanced in the entire market among others. Implementation of innovative machines- innovative machines is the most essential requirement for any organization. It is essential for any organization to present varied types of innovative features to its customers to fulfill their demands and requirements to a significant extent as compared to others (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, 2011, p: 123). Conclusion From the above analysis and discussion it can be concluded that if the management needs to have equal focus on every aspect of this starting from manufacturing, distribution, leadership and marketing. The most important factor for overall success of this project would be implementing each of the new strategies within specific time period or step by step. For example, publishing digital or print advertisement of the product by not showing the actual look of new motorcycle. This type of marketing strategy can make the customer of their competitors curious about the new product and help the company to build new customer base. References Damodaran, A. (2008). Strategic risk taking: a framework for risk management. Germany: Grin Verlag. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. (2011). ICD-10 transformation: five critical risk-mitigation strategies. Retrieved from: http://himss.files.cms-plus.com/HIMSSorg/content/files/icd10/G7AdvisoryReport_ICD10%20Version12.pdf. Menoni, S. & Margottini, C. (2011). Inside risk: a strategy for sustainable risk mitigation. New York: Cengage Learning. Smulders, F. J. N. & Collins, J. D. (2005). Risk management strategies: monitoring and surveillance. New York: Cengage Learning. Read More