MBA 580 Project Guidelines and RubricCompetencies In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies: Evaluate creative and innovative organizational structuresRecommend Original Papers

MBA 580 Project Guidelines and RubricCompetencies

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:

• Evaluate creative and innovative organizational structures
• Recommend alternative innovations to solve an internal or market need
• Implement creative and innovative processes within an organization

Overview

Companies that are innovative must make sure their organization is structured in a way that supports innovation. A key component of innovation is keeping track of what customers want in terms of products and services. Your CTO has asked you to lead a cross-functional team to develop an innovation strategy and a plan for moving the strategy forward.

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 your company 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…

1. Design a completely new product line, based on the new technology (discontinuous innovation)

or

1. 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 IoT innovation looked like: would it be discontinuous (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 shared these with various stakeholders, and they agree with your assessment of how best to get this IoT innovation to market, which will help the company stay competitive.

Now, the CTO has asked you to propose an organizational structure that will support the innovation implementation. In this way, you will be assisting in making innovation sustainable in your company.

Directions

Your final project includes three parts. You will use your slides from Milestone One and your document from Milestone Two to complete the first two parts of the project. In Part Three, you will focus on your organization’s structure and culture. You should incorporate the feedback you received on your milestone submissions and add it to your initial research to maximize the quality of your final project submission. It is important to remember that “Proficient” was the highest possible rating for the Milestone One and Milestone Two rubric criteria. Revising the work done in your milestone assignments allows you to enhance your final project submission and aim for “Exceeds Expectations” ratings across the final project rubric criteria.

Use the resources that you referenced in your previously submitted assignments to support your work on the 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.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Explain potential risks and benefits for Options A, discontinuous innovation, and B, incremental innovation.
   • Overview (1 slide): Present the business problem and an overview of Options A and B.
   • Option A (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and two potential benefits for Option A.
   • Option B (1–2 slides): Explain at least two potential risks and two potential benefits for Option B.
2. Evaluate your competitors’ products, services, growth, and market strength.
   • Competitors: Dedicate at least one slide to each competitor.
     1. What products and services with IoT or similar technology are your competitors offering?
     2. Do the products and services offered by each competitor give them a competitive edge in the market?
     3. How does each competitor’s growth impact its market strength?
3. Analyze your company’s capability to pursue the IoT innovation.
   • Complete a partial gap analysis (2 slides):
     1. Does your company already own the IoT technology, or does it need to be purchased?
     2. How is the IoT technology currently being used in your company’s existing products and services?
     3. What types of technology are available to purchase?
4. Recommend the innovation approach your company should pursue.
   • Innovation Approach (2–3 slides): Explain which innovation approach you are recommending and why.
   • Consider how different stakeholders (research and development [R&D], marketing, finance) may be impacted while communicating your recommendations and justification.
     1. Include a description of the incremental or discontinuous product(s) you are recommending for R&D.
     2. Include the sales forecasts for marketing so that they can plan how and when they will promote the new product(s).
     3. Include a financial snapshot of the costs, potential profits, and risks for the finance team.

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.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Analyze the competitors’ relative strengths in the marketplace. Use Power BI to create charts on the growth rates.
   1. Write a short paragraph describing the growth rate of each competitor based on the data included in the comparative growth data sheet.
   2. How much of the market does each competitor now own? Do you see a trend of gaining or losing market share? Present your findings using the comparative growth data sheet and Power BI.
   3. Determine each competitor’s financial strength by looking at their comparative growth data.
2. Explain how your company’s market share compares to your competitors’.
   1. Is your company gaining or losing market share from 2020 to 2030? Expand on the analysis done in Task 1 above and explain the major factors behind the change in market share.
   2. What is your company’s growth potential in the industry?
   3. How do your company’s financials look compared to your competitors’?
3. Identify future potential total available market (TAM) and growth for chosen product/service and technology.
   1. What is the global TAM for annual cars and light trucks in 2020, in billions?
   2. What is the global TAM for IoT-connected cars and light trucks in billions?
   3. What is the projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for cars and light trucks?
   4. What is the CAGR for IoT-connected cars and light trucks?
4. Identify ways to adjust if business conditions change.
   1. What strategies can you implement if your customers are slow to purchase the innovation?
   2. What actions can you take if one competitor is overtaking all the others, including your company?
5. Describe the steps your company needs to take from concept outline to launch.
   1. What is the size and scope of development required to successfully launch the IoT innovation?
   2. Will you require additional capital and personnel to support the development and the launch?
   3. 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 your organization’s structure and culture, share recommendations for changing your organization’s structure and culture to be more conducive to innovation.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

What to Submit

To complete this project, you must submit the following:

Project RubricCriteriaExceeds Expectations (100%)Meets Expectations (90%)Partially Meets Expectations (70%)Does Not Meet Expectations (0%)ValuePart One: Risks and BenefitsExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains the business problem, two risks, and two benefits of innovating products for either discontinuous or incremental integration of the technologyShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include citing both risks and benefits for both Options A and BDoes not attempt criterion5Part One: CompetitorsExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerEvaluates the products, services, growth, and market strength of competitors with IoT or similar technologyShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include discussing if competitor’s products and services are expandingDoes not attempt criterion5Part One: Company CapabilityExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerAnalyzes the company’s capability to pursue the IoT innovation based on partial gap analysisShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include completing a partial gap analysisDoes not attempt criterion5Part One: RecommendationExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerProvides a recommendation and a rationale for which innovation approach the company should pursue, including the impact on stakeholders, a sales forecast, and a financial snapshotShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include considering stakeholders’ interests when making recommendationDoes not attempt criterion5Part Two: Competitors’ Relative StrengthsExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerAnalyzes industry’s competitors and their strengths and weaknesses using charts and growth ratesShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include analyzing both competitors’ strengths and weaknessesDoes not attempt criterion5Part Two: Company’s Market ShareExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains how to maintain or grow market share based on their analysisShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identification of additional ways to maintain or grow market shareDoes not attempt criterion5Part Two: Future Potential TAMExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerIdentifies future potential total available market (TAM) and growth for chosen product/service and technologyShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include discussing projected compound annual growth rateDoes not attempt criterion5Part Two: Business Condition ChangesExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerIdentifies ways to deal with a change in business conditionsShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include identifying more than one way to deal with changes in business conditionsDoes not attempt criterion5Part Two: Concept to LaunchExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the steps the company will take from concept to launch of the new productShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include discussing if additional capital and personnel are requiredDoes not attempt criterion5Part Three: Current Organizational Structure’s ImpactExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerDescribes the current structure’s impact on innovationShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include a more detailed description of whether current structure can respond to changes in market demandDoes not attempt criterion15Part Three: Recommendations for Changes to Organizational StructureExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerRecommends changes to the current organizational structureShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include a more detailed description of how the recommended changes are better than the current structureDoes not attempt criterion15Part Three: Organizational Changes to Support CultureExceeds expectations in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative mannerExplains how organizational changes support a culture of innovationShows progress toward meeting expectations, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include additional explanations on how current organizational structure works against innovationDoes not attempt criterion15Clear CommunicationExceeds expectations with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understandingConsistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audienceShows progress toward meeting expectations, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understandingShows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication5Citations and AttributionsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errorsUses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errorsDoes not use citations for ideas requiring attribution5