Eco-Res Technology Assignment - Case Study Example

MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING OF TECHNOLOGY By + General Report The Eco-Res project is a fully integrated and independent initiative. It is a procurement technique that delivers award winning and tested solutions to healthcare, housing, student accommodation and hotel sectors. Eco-Res provides solutions that are cost effective, environmental friendly, healthy, affordable, practical, resilient and inspirational. The Eco-Res project has a vision to create an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for the people in their consumption matters. To make this project successful, there is a great need to get clear and working solutions to market uncertainties and financial constraints. Landowners, occupiers, developers and investors need to feel that their desires of value for money, affordability, cost reduction, premium quality and waste reduction are met in order to carry out business effectively. The Eco-Res project is a groundbreaking initiative that was achieved by the University of York in an attempt to attain a world-class level in environmental impact and sustainability of its staff and student accommodation. The aim of the project is to cut down on consumption of energy by staff and students living within the campus premises by 30% in a period of the coming five years. Electricity, water and gas are examples of the energy being consumed. The team responsible for Eco-Res project is expected to procure the Technology Design and give a report to the Sustainability Steering Group of the University of Yolk. The Eco-Res team aims to create a self-funding project in that all investments in technology design and their maintenance will be offset by a cost saving system that the university develops from the energy efficiencies. Another objective is to generate additional savings to aid the university in developing further activities concerning the environment over time. A secondary aim is raising staff and student awareness on issues concerning the environment and educating them on the impacts of their actions. Discussion of company’s technology management initiative The Eco-Res initiative has been integrated into management and it proposes to deliver several aspects: A technology solution to help staff and students residing on campus to reduce and monitor their residential consumption of energy A maintenance system to ensure that the technology solution operates effectively and efficiently at all times, any emergencies fixed correctly and ensuring that technology development is incremental as learning is acquired on the effectiveness of Eco-Res project. A management evaluation and reporting program that demonstrates clearly appropriate delivery of technology implementation and ongoing performance and also the reduction in energy consumption on a continuous basis. The procurement process It is worth to note that the project’s capital budget in one year is one hundred thousand pounds with twenty thousand pounds allocated for maintenance per annum for the five years of the project. The first step in procurement is the issuing of Competitive Proposals by the Eco-res initiative. The issuing of proposals leads to award of Technology Design together with the maintenance contract. Willing candidates are invited to submit tenders for Technology Design and Maintenance Contract. This step is done according to the attached questionnaire. The Eco-Res initiative and University of York have the right to call candidates to answer additional questions that Eco-Res initiative and University of York may want to ask including Best and Final Offer negotiation. The procurement process must comply with the requirements established by the European public sector procurement legislation. In evaluation methodology, all submissions are checked to ascertain that candidates comply with procedural requirements e.g. ensuring that all tenders are complete and submitted within the required time without delay (Fleming, 2003). All candidates with an intention to take part in the procurement are required to give a Competitive Proposal. Through the Competitive Proposal, candidates provide their information and supporting evidence required by Eco-Res team to demonstrate their suitability for the contract. Submissions are required to be complete according to the instructions of the Information Memorandum. Candidates may be excluded from the procurement exercise on grounds of omission of supporting evidence where requested, provision of misleading or incomplete information or failure to fill the prescribed form correctly. Candidates who have fulfilled the procedural requirements are then assessed to find out whether they meet minimum qualification criteria. Candidates not meeting the criteria may be left out of the process. Minimum qualification criteria are in terms of financial and technical matters. In minimum financial criteria, the candidate is required to meet the minimum capital and maintenance cost for the five year period as set by Eco-Res initiative. In minimum technical criteria, the candidate is required to demonstrate effectiveness and competence of technology. Reliability is also a factor under consideration in minimum technical criteria and it should be at least 95%. Further scores are achieved as shown in the table below. Leadership Project Management Innovation Marketing Maintenance Stakeholder Liaison Contracts Management Human Resources Finance The Technology Design and Maintenance Contract is anticipated to be a management contract that will commence in September 2015 and will cover a period of five years. Mobilization period will be between the contract signing date and the date of commencement. Some of the contractor’s obligations include installation of the technology to service specification, technology safety plan management, creation of additional developments and management of all staff and student interfaces and communications. According to the sources of resistance manual, the Eco-Res initiative may face resistance because of the following reasons: Power bases. If the project is likely to disrupt the lines of authority i.e. who reports to who, then many people are likely to oppose the project especially those who are likely to be affected by the change. Culture. Different peoples adopt different cultures and live by them. If a unique culture that is not in their favor is introduced to them, they are likely to resist however the change that the new culture tries to inculcate. If the Eco-Res initiative is against the culture of the University of York then the students together with the staff may not support the project because it’s likely to interfere with their way of life and generally may interfere with the way of life the community around that place (Harvey & Broyles, 2010). Fear of uncertainty or insecurity. The management of University of York may not be sure if the new technology is going to work or not. If the technology fails then they will have incurred a lot of financial losses in awarding a contract to experts. Many other resources like human resources and time will have been wasted. Some individuals in the management will, therefore, be reluctant in endorsing the Eco-Res initiative (IFIP WG 8.2 Working Conference On Information Technology And Changes In Organizational Work, & Orlikowski, 1996). According to hard and soft changes manual, Gartner’s hype cycle comprises five phases. Technology trigger. In this stage which is also called breakthrough, a product or service is launched which generates significant interest. Peak expectations. In this second phase, publicity develops unrealistic expectations and over-enthusiasm. A technology experiences many failures with a few successful applications. This phase may appear to be promising but it may turn out to be ineffective. Trough of disillusionment. When a technology enters this phase, it fails to meet the people’s anticipations and becomes unfashionable at a very fast rate. The press is normally forced to abandon the technology and the topic. Slope of enlightenment. Here, some business continues with the fact that the press stops to cover the technology Plateau of productivity. As technology reaches this phase, its benefits become accepted and widely demonstrated. Technology, therefore, evolves and stabilizes in the second and third phases. The final phase will depend on whether the technology only covers a niche market or benefits the market at large. According to managing transitions manual, key elements in the change process include: types of change and in what context, culture of the organization and force field analysis. This will help identify change agents and levers of change. 2) Marketing strategy Marketing strategy comprises of all long-term and basic activities in the marketing field that involve the analysis of a company’s situation. After the analysis, the company managers formulate, evaluate and select market oriented strategies which contribute to the company’s goals and marketing objectives. A proper marketing strategy is aimed at increasing a company’s sales and gaining a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. A market strategy is a plan that is designed to fill market gaps and attain the objectives as set out in the marketing department of a company. Most marketing strategies are developed to be in operation throughout the whole year with detailed actions to be accomplished in the current year. However, the market strategies vary in time depending on the level, size and nature of the organization. When setting the market strategy, a company should consider the dynamic environment and set strategies that are flexible to adapt to new changes in the environment whether internal or external. To come up with an effective marketing strategy in an attempt to encourage and promote the use of Eco-Res solution by university students living on campus to reduce energy consumption for the next 5 years, the following elements must be critically analyzed: market research, market segmentation, motivation theory and marketing mix. Market research, This exercise must come first when one wants to formulate a proper marketing strategy. The main objective of research is to collect data about the situation at hand. Two surveys were conducted to ascertain the viability of Eco-Res initiative. During the first week, a qualitative survey was carried out by use of questionnaires. The target group was the students living on campus. The objective of the study was to find out the knowledge of campus students concerning saving energy. The research exercise should be tangible enough to enable Eco-Res team determine the sustainability of the technology for the next 5 years. During the second week, a quantitative questionnaire was issued to the students. This was meant to find out if the staff and students had knowledge concerning the initiative and if they would direct their habits towards reducing energy consumption. After researching, the concerned team must come up with key findings. At this point they can tell whether the technology will be successful or not. The team can also tell the number of staff and students who support the initiative. The key findings will help the Eco-Res team to know whether to proceed and carry out the project or not depending on the response from staff and students living on campus. In the research done, respondents gave the following propositions: being rewarded for saving energy, displaying information signs in key places for saving energy and developing a system to put off lights when not in use. A large percentage of the students (97%) expressed their willingness to change their habits to save energy (Bolner & Poirier, 2004). In conducting research, different methods can be used but face to face interview is the most recommended methods because the researcher is able to find out the attitude of each respondent. Face to face interviews also enable the interviewer to seek clarity of messages and it prevents distortion of messages compared to online survey. The Eco-Res initiative team should therefore adopt one-on-one interviews and not online survey. If the findings are misleading then a negative impact may be caused on the project leading to loss of resources like time and money that may have been set aside to be used for the next five years. Marketing mix There are four main elements which form a complete marketing mix. These elements are product, price, place or distribution and promotion. Marketing theorists have come up with the fifth element which is people. Product refers to the products or services which a firm offers to its customers, their physical outlook, their benefit to clients and how they differ from competitors’ products. Price explains how a firm charges consumers for its products to ensure that it remains competitive in the market and achieve its profit target (Hutt, & Speh, 2013). Place describes where a firm sells its products and how it distributes the products or services to customers i.e. distribution channels. Promotion is how the firm informs its customers about its product e.g. through advertising. People element explains the competencies and abilities of the people working together in a firm and how they help the firm become outstanding in the market. In this case, the University of York’s service is the Eco-Res technology solution. The team concerned must ensure that this service is going to be in operation for the next five years without becoming irrelevant or obsolete. The team must convince the power consumers (on-campus students and staff) beyond doubt that the initiative has the capability to save energy by 30% over the next 5 years as stated in the market research manual. The service should not have negative impacts which are likely to affect the lives of students and staff on campus for the stated period (Codita, 2011). Customers always consider the value of the service or product that the producer is offering to the market. The service (technology) should also be unique and have an added advantage over the services and products of other universities. If the staff and students are convinced that the project can save energy for five years and be environmental friendly, then they will be encouraged to adopt the project hence its promotion. Price refers to the financial implications that the students and staff are going to incur. The concerned team must consider the cost charged to the beneficiaries of the Eco-Res initiative for the next five years whether in lump sum or in installments. In order to promote and encourage the use of Eco-Res solution by university students and staff, the cost charged to them should be affordable. High costs will lead to resistance from students, staff and other stakeholders. The cost may be charged as service fee for benefiting from the new technology created (Armstrong, 2002). The cost charged should be distributed over the five years to make it friendly to the students and reduce the burden on them. Promotion is another vital element in marketing mix. It refers to creating awareness to students and staff living on campus about the Eco-Res initiative and its benefits. Promotion aims at product or service acceptance, ensuring brand loyalty, creating a corporate image for the organization among other things. The information that an organization presents to the public about the product must be true to avoid misleading the customers (Oliver, 2010). The Eco-Res project can be advertised to the students and staff through the media and holding seminars. In promotion, the Eco-Res team must disclose all the facts relating to the projects. The place of selling the initiative is within the campus premises. In this case there are no distribution channels because it is a service being offered and not a product. Market segmentation This refers to the definition and subdivision of a large market that is homogenous into identifiable segments which have similar wants, needs or demands. Its aim is to come up with a proper marketing mix that matches the customers’ expectations in the segment under target. The Eco-Res team should subdivide the stakeholders and differentiate them depending on their needs. The students staying on campus can form one category and the staff be in another category. This is because students have common needs which are different from the needs of the staff. This segmentation will ensure a marketing mix that will match the expectations of both students and staff. (Mcdonald & Dunbar, 2012). Motivation theory According to the incentive theory of motivation, people increase their efforts towards given tasks to obtain rewards. This theory is derived from the reinforcement principle. To promote and encourage the use of Eco-Res solution, those students and staff who put in more efforts to cut down on energy consumption should be rewarded. If this is implemented then many students will change their habits to conserve energy in an attempt to work hard to be rewarded. (Beck, 2004). According to theory X, human beings are generally lazy; they dislike work and avoid responsibility. On the other hand, theory Y states that human beings are hardworking; they like work and will always accept responsibility. To motivate the lazy staff and students, rewards should be given to those who make greater efforts to save energy. Reference HARVEY, T. R., & BROYLES, E. A. (2010). Resistance to change: a guide to harnessing its positive power. Lanham, Md, Rowman& Littlefield Education. MCDONALD, M., & DUNBAR, I. (2012). Market Segmentation: How to Do It and How to Profit from It. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons. BOLNER, M. S., & POIRIER, G. A. (2004). The research process: books & beyond. Dubuque, Iowa, Kendall/Hunt Pub.Co. CODITA, R. (2011). 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