Introduction of a New Product to Ease Market Entry - Research Paper Example

Cover page A Title: Introduction of a new product to ease market entry To: Client’s name, position title and Organisation From: Consultants (need to have a group name) Copy to: Dr Carmen Joham, University of South Australia Date: Table of contents Cover page 1 Table of contents 2 Background 3 Overall aim and purpose 3 Objectives 3 The Scope 4 PR0JECT STAKEHOLDERS 5 EXPECTED PROJECT OUTCOMES 5 Upon successful development and implementation of the proposed project, the company will realize various benefits that will help achieve the company objectives. The following are some of the benefits: 5 APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY 6 Project Risk management 8 Resources 8 Recommendation 10 Conclusion 10 APPENDICES 11 References 14 Background The clients need a tool to help them introduce a new product in the market and help them penetrate the market by taking a large share of existing market. The organization has been experiencing problems in the past because new products have been failing to create an impact in the market. This failure of products not penetrating the products means that the company has been earning losses and incurring a lot of cost in re-launching the product. In project management it is very essential to have projects and products that are beneficial to the organization so as to avoid losses. The project will help the company to make the decision while launching new products in the market to ensure that the move is right and beneficial to the company. The company should not invest in products that do not give returns in terms of profits and cost reduction in the market. The company requires the project to ensure the introduction of the product in the market creates an impact and takes a market share that will be sustainable. Another problem is the failure of the company to identify the right products to introduce in the market. This will involve project management as the key guideline to how the company should base their market research to identify the most needed products in the market. The right product in the market will help in penetration of the market and creating a lasting impact in the faces of the customers. Overall aim and purpose The intention of this project to ensure that every product introduced in the market does not fail. The project will ensure that the products are sustainable and do not lead the company into the losses. The main aim of this project is to ensure that the company gain market in the industry when it introduces new products. This will help in shortening the process that the products take to reach the market. Objectives The project objectives are in line with that of the company so as to ensure that the project does not strain the company to move away from it long term set objectives. These project objectives include that as a project management consultant there is need to develop an effective plan for the project, avoiding inconsistencies and unnecessary alterations, ensuring that the projects objectives are met on time. Another objective is that the project will help the company come up with a plan that will help the company penetrate the market through introduction of new products. This is counter how the company products have been failing in the market in the past. The project consultants are able to save on the costs involved as well as the time factor. This has a positive implication on the project in that they are able to deliver quality results within their planned time frame, and meet the demands of the project sponsors. The project will also help Identify positive risks at the start of the project gives the team an opportunity to take advantage of the opportunities by making the most out of them and at the end it will have a constructive change to the initial plan and a positive implication to the project. The project will also ensure there is communication of risks ensures that every member of the team is aware of what to expect therefore eliminating the occurrence of shock and surprise. Every member is involved in the process of treating the risks thus avoiding failure. The project will also help create a risk management involving every member of the team results into a sense of job satisfaction and as a result the team realizes satisfaction for their customer or client due to effective service delivery. The Scope The scope will also include the source of the project costs and other resources that are required to help achieve the objectives of the company. The scope of this project should be narrow so as to create a great impact in the market and help realize the organization needs. There are limitations to this project that might hinder full realization of the set objectives. The project team is faced with the limitation of time. There is a need to identify and assess objectives and prioritize their actions within a given time frame so be it at the beginning of the project or in the course of implementing it. Another limitation to the project is that project management process involve gathering of data which can be expensive given the nature of the project. These costs may override their financial budget therefore they may have to overlook project management in order to run within their budget. This makes the companies to take short cuts in investing in projects that require massive research and development so as to realize the required objectives and results. There is the likelihood that companies do not plan on risks, therefore, projects risk identification is not invested in and this affects the realization of the company goals in its projects. The project will not involve pricing of the company products because that will be determined by the company in terms of the costs involved. PR0JECT STAKEHOLDERS Stakeholders are the people who contribute mostly in the completion of a project. The project main stakeholders are: Project manager. Institution staff and administration. Marketing executive. Customers. EXPECTED PROJECT OUTCOMES Upon successful development and implementation of the proposed project, the company will realize various benefits that will help achieve the company objectives. The following are some of the benefits: Short process in production system. Provide faster customer service. Save time and resources. Become fast and efficient. Minimize cost of operation. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY The project will be expected to be complete within 2 months. The management of the project will follow the conventional project management and project development life cycle. The project work breakdown structure is as follows. The project will undergo the life cycle; initiation planning, design, execution, testing and closing out. The project time estimates are as follows: Task Duration Initiation 1 day Planning 1 week Project Design 2 weeks Project Development 1 month Testing 1 week User Training 3 days Close-out 1 day Table 1.0: project time estimates Responsibility matrix: Team member 1 Team member 2 Team member 3 initiation Develop Project Charter √ √ √ Review of Project Charter by Project Sponsor √ Milestone: Project Charter Approval √ √ planning Create Preliminary Scope Statement √ Create a Project Team √ Create Project Plan √ √ Create Communication Plan √ Create a Resource Plan √ Create a Financial Plan √ √ Create a Risk Management plan √ Milestone: Project Plan Approval √ √ √ Project design √ Project Kickoff Meeting Requirements Gathering √ Project Design √ √ Database Design √ √ system development Coding √ Unit Testing √ Testing System Testing √ User Training Install Developed System √ √ Train System users √ √ close out Launch New System √ √ Document Lessons Learned √ √ √ Gain Formal Acceptance √ √ √ Project Risk management The risk to the project is limited funds for research; research is an expensive venture that requires a lot of resources to maintain it, but this is a vital shortcoming because the funds are scarce due to other investment that the company is venturing in, research need to be taken care of, which is also expensive and increases in operational costs. Another risk is the development of technology; with the current modernization of the internet, people tend to research on the internet about the products which have been in the market for long, this is highly reducing popularity of other forms of product promotion especially to the young generation. Another risk is managing the demand; the organization being a new one, will find it hard to handle the increasing demand that will arise from their products. Another key risk is maintaining quality; the company might find it hard to maintain the quality due to changes in the preferences of the customers. Overcoming these risks will mean that the company will be able to penetrate the market and maintain its status in the market. Resources The first resource that is very important is the finances. The source of finances will be from the company capital because this is part of their investment. Human resource strategy is the critical aspect that influences performance of a company or a firm. Human resource strategy is the factor behind competitive advantage in international markets, and it has a long term hub in an organization. Human resource strategy is the same as an arrangement that involve the board of directors or the top executives of a firm or organization. Strategy in human resource management is a general structure that gives room to a perspective charged with selecting specific procedures and policies. The company should employ human resource strategy for it to be a success. As much as technology was in place and contributed largely to the airing of the events through the media and the internet, the force behind the technology is human beings. Most services provided in the world are delivered by people, hence the essence of putting human beings’ welfare in check. Research shows that, human resource management is essential in running the world, as poor quality customer service is caused by low quality human resource management and poor quality human relations. Every business venture requires the human resources input for its operations and to realize its goals. Employees just like any other assets are vital in the function of an organization since they bring major benefits, but also come with some labor associated costs such as salaries, wages, allowances and benefits. The project management requires higher standards of management than the other resources utilized by any organization, whether public or private. During the era of industrialization, the human resource was driven to work under harsh conditions and in return the compensation was very poor. This led to the need for regulatory standards to advocate for fair treatment of employees. The company should have been developed since the industrial age and have been revised and amended over time. The human resource manager being in direct contact with employees needs has an obligation of leaning the labor laws governing their operations in order to create a favorable working environment. Task Human Resource Other Resources Initiation Project Manager and project Steering Committee 1 laptop for project manager Planning Project manager and steering committee Project Design Project management team 3 laptops and Research and development. Project development Project manager and 2 developers Testing Project manager and 2 developers User Training Project Coordinator 4 computers, 1 projector Close out Sponsor, project steering committee Recommendation The company should ensure that every part of the project is followed so as to give the best results. Every project manager should ensure that the planning process is taken care in the best way possible to ensure that all the required resources are available before any project starts. The managers should also ensure that they lead from the front so as to motivate their employees to perform their duties in the best way possible. The managers should also plan for human resource to be deployed in the project. There should be emphasis on dedication to organization goals so as to hire and plan for the resources that will enable the company move in the right direction. In this aspect, techniques of career development and reward play a significant role where human resource planning is important. Success of a business or an event is linked directly to the performance of the workers or employee. The critical path will be followed to the letter to ensure that there are no deviations from the project. Conclusion In conclusion, project planning is very important for any project to achieve its goals and objectives. This part of management ensures that an organization that before any project is undertaken the required resources are available. In this project it is required to have extensive planning and project management. This calls for a strong project team with experience and knowledge in handling such issues. The lessons learnt from this project are that there is need to review results of the past projects so as to identify the gaps which led to not achieving the best results. Human resource planning is also important in project management and planning because they are the real executors of the project. APPENDICES Fig 1.0 work breakdown structure and responsibility matrix Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish WBS Resource Names Manually Scheduled initiation 1 day 2013 Jun 20 2013 Jun 20 1 Human Resource, Laptop Manually Scheduled Develop Project Charter 1 day '13 Jun 20 '13 Jun 20 1.1 Manually Scheduled Review of Project Charter by Project Sponsor 1 day '13 Jun 20 '13 Jun 20 1.2 Manually Scheduled Milestone: Project Charter Approval 0 days '13 Jun 20 '13 Jun 20 1.3 Manually Scheduled planning 1.2 wks '13 Jun 26 '13 Jul 4 2 Human Resource Manually Scheduled Create Preliminary Scope Statement 0.5 days '13 Jun 26 '13 Jun 26 2.1 Manually Scheduled Create a Project Team 0.5 days '13 Jun 26 '13 Jun 26 2.2 Manually Scheduled Create Project Plan 1 day '13 Jun 27 '13 Jun 27 2.3 Manually Scheduled Create Communication Plan 1 day '13 Jun 28 '13 Jun 28 2.4 Manually Scheduled Create a Resource Plan 1 day '13 Jul 2 '13 Jul 2 2.5 Manually Scheduled Create a Financial Plan 1 day '13 Jul 3 '13 Jul 3 2.6 Manually Scheduled Create a Risk Management plan 1 day '13 Jul 4 '13 Jul 4 2.7 Manually Scheduled Milestone: Project Plan Approval 1 day '13 Jul 5 '13 Jul 5 2.8 Manually Scheduled project design 2 weeks '13 Jul 5 '13 Jul 23 2.9 Laptops Manually Scheduled Project Kickoff Meeting 0.5 days '13 Jul 24 '13 Jul 24 3 Manually Scheduled Requirements Gathering 0.5 days '13 Jul 24 '13 Jul 24 3.1 Manually Scheduled System Design 4 days '13 Jul 25 '13 Jul 31 3.2 Manually Scheduled Database Design 1 wk '13 Aug 1 '13 Aug 8 3.3 Manually Scheduled system development 4 wks '13 Aug 8 '13 Sep 11 3.4 Human Resource Manually Scheduled Coding 3 wks '13 Aug 8 '13 Sep 3 3.4.2 Manually Scheduled Unit Testing 1 wk '13 Sep 4 '13 Sep 11 4 Manually Scheduled Testing 1 wk '13 Sep 12 '13 Sep 19 5 Human Resource Manually Scheduled System Testing 1 wk '13 Sep 12 '13 Sep 19 5.1 Manually Scheduled User Training 3 days '13 Sep 20 '13 Sep 25 5.2 Laptops Manually Scheduled Install Developed System 1 day '13 Sep 26 '13 Sep 26 5.2.1 Manually Scheduled Train System users 2 days '13 Sep 27 '13 Oct 1 5.2.2 Manually Scheduled close out 1 day '13 Oct 2 '13 Oct 2 5.2.3 Human Resource Manually Scheduled Launch New System 1 day '13 Oct 2 '13 Oct 2 5.2.3.1 Manually Scheduled Document Lessons Learned 1 day '13 Oct 3 '13 Oct 3 5.2.3.2 Manually Scheduled Gain Formal Acceptance 1 day '13 Oct 4 '13 Oct 4 5.2.3.3 Figure 2.0 Time plan Figure 3.0 milestones and Gantt chart Figure 4.0 Resources References A Guide to project Management Body of Knowledge,(2004), 3rd Edition, Project Management , USA. Burke, R 2006, Project Management: Planning and Control Techniques, 5th edition, www.burkepublishing.com. Hartley, Stephen 2009 Project Management, Principles, Processes and Practice, Frenchs Forest, NSW, Pearson: Prentice Hall. Read More