BA 301 Research and Analysis of Business Decisions

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BA 301Research and Analysis of Business Decisions

• Maureen OConnor
• Instructor

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According to Peter Drucker, the manager does five
things.

• Sets objectives
• The manager sets goals for the group and decides
  what work needs to be done to meet those goals
• Organizes
• The manager divides the work into manageable
  activities and selects the people to accomplish
  the tasks

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• Motivates and communicates to create a team of
  people, based on decisions on pay, placement and
  promotion
• Measures The manager decides the appropriate
  yardsticks for success

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• Develops people people are a companys most
  important asset, and it is up to the manager to
  cultivate and develop talent

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BA 301 Business Problem Solving Framework

• Explore the problem-solving context

• Find, define and prioritize problems

• Research causes and develop alternative solutions

• Evaluate alternatives, choose the best solution

• Build the business case for your solution

6.) Achieve

• Implement and evaluate your solution

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Common Blunders in Business Decision-Making

• Blunder 1
• Rush to judgment

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Common Blunders in Business Decision-Making

• Blunder 2
• Misuse of Resources

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Common Blunders in Business Decision-Making

• Blunder 3
• Using tactics bound to fail

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Blunders leads to traps

• Failure to uncover concerns and reconcile
  competing points of view
• Overlooking peoples interest and commitments
• Leaving expectations vague
• Limiting search for solutions
• Misusing evaluations
• Ignoring ethical questions
• Failure to reflect

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PSU SBA

• Provides a critical decision making model to
• Understand the context within which the
  organization operates
• Identify the problems worth solving
• Consider the broad range of stakeholders
• Creatively generate potential solutions
• Build a convincing business case

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Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Ability to analyze evidence and discern the key
  information
• Considers multiple perspectives
• Sifts through conflicting information to achieve
  justifiable assumptions and analysis
• Requires both hard technical skills and soft
  interpersonal skills

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Terra Cog GPS Systems

• Privately held high tech firm that manufactures
  GPS systems for consumer markets, largely in
  sporting goods (fishing, hiking, camping and
  boating)
• Known for its ability to respond to consumer and
  channel demands/needs with quality products.
• Carved out a successful, differentiated position
  in the outdoorsman category

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Competitive Context

• Its primary competitor introduces a similar
  product that uses satellite imagery a clear
  advantage over Terra Cog. BirdsI
• Terra Cog isnt impressed. Functionality isnt
  any better it just looks cooler.
• Despite some good buzz from the channel and the
  media, Terra Cog decides not to enter the
  satellite imagery business.
• Concentrates instead on entering cycling and
  fitness markets

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Market Response

• Market loves BirdsI!
• Introduced through two retail channels close to
  Terra Cog
• Terra Cog pooh-poohs the response and chalks it
  up to holiday hype

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Second thoughts

• Sales reps notice growing customer demand for a
  hand-held satellite GPS system like BirdsI
• VP of Sales presses management to reverse the
  decision and begin to develop a prototype to
  compete with BirdsI

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What do they need to know?
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The Go-ahead

• CEO authorizes the go-ahead
• Price point to compete with BirdsI
• Get it to market by holiday season 18 months
  later
• Use the basic platform already in use by Terra
  Cog
• Make it a quality product to preserve reputation

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Whos involved and what are their issues?

• Design Team
• Not enough time to develop a quality product
• Takes the team away from other product
  development projects with growth potential

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Other players

• Sales team
• Retail channel wants a product to compete with
  BirdsI
• Consumer demand appears there
• Sales reps are compensated based on hitting sales
  targets

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Other players.

• Production
• Product is expensive to build
• Cant be sold for less than 550, or 100 more
  than the competition
• Cant reduce production costs by much without
  compromising functionality

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Whats the problem?

• Should Terra Cog proceed or pull the project?

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How could Terra Cog avoided this problem?