FINC 330 Disc + Quizzes ***Zeek the Geek***

Joe:

Simply “Googling” the New Coke experiment finds several references to the “Worst Marketing Blunder of All Time”.  Coca-Cola has never admitted to just how much they lost as a result of New Coke, however reports estimate $4 million in product development, and over $30 million in unsold inventory (business2community.com).

The losses sustained as a result of this project could be narrowed down to a failure in marketing.  Marketing is the skillful analysis of the consumer base with the purpose of bringing to market product and service features most desirable at an appropriate price.

In the case of New Coke, the Coca-Cola Company mistakenly assumed that its customers valued taste above all and invested its time in producing a product that was consistently ranked higher in taste.  However, they quickly discovered that Coca-Cola customers valued the history, cultural relevance and tradition (in other words, its brand) and actually identified with their cola habits (Panwar).  

REFERENCE:

Panwar, Tapish.  “Marketing Failure #1 – New Coke (Coca-Cola) Retrieved June 22, 2016 from: http://www.slideshare.net/TapishPanwar/marketing-failure-1-new-coke

 “The Real Story of New Coke” November 14, 2012 Retrieved June 22, 2016 from: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-new-coke

Benjamin, Joe. “Market Research Fail: How New Coke Became the Worst Flub of All Time”. June 22, 2015.  Retrieved June 22, 2016 from: http://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/market-research-fail-new-coke-became-worst-flub-time-01256904#QafGqoZZTeqgyOPy.97

2) Synthesize your one-paragraph position on what 3-5 specific factors you believe most likely to contribute to capital project analysis failure.

When it comes to capital project analysis failure, the key cause can often be attributed to a misunderstanding or misalignment in the following areas of the business:

1. Strategy – It is necessary to have a clear understanding of the business’ environment and clear, compelling objectives along with a critical pathway to get from “here to there”. The strategy describes “why and how” of the capital project.

2. Priorities – The organization must make the capital project preemptive to other work and initiatives. Priorities must be both spoken and acted upon.  It is said, “commitment shows up in the schedule”, which means that leaders must make the time and resources available to give due attention to the project. 

3. Metrics – People will do what they’re measured on. One of the ways projects fail most frequently is when the goals of the project are not explicitly tied into the goals of the people.  Metrics should be designed to measure and reward project contributions in line with the performance management system. This means that individuals will find they are recognized and promoted when they add value to the capital project, and are penalized when their actions are inconsistent with the project objectives. 

4. Culture – This is a “soft” component of the organization that frequently is both the hardest to capture but can absolutely cause a project to succeed or fail. Culture captures the values and beliefs that motivate people to think and act the way they do in an organization (Cameron & Quinn).  Without a culture that is adaptive to change and vested in the success of the organization, thereby willing to work through the discomfort of change, it will be very difficult to succeed.

5. Business Acumen – This is where efficiency occurs. Every person involved in the project should have at least a basic understanding of the work processes both up and downstream from their position in the value chain.  They should also be able to quantify (in dollars) their work processes and have some idea how their work both creates and costs money.  This understanding allows for the on-the-ground decision making and initiative that enables every other step of the project.

REFERENCE:

Cameron, Kim and Quinn, Robert. “Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture”.  Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Nathan:

Hello Class,

Part 1: The capitol product failure I would like to discuss is a product called the Microsoft Zune. (Leonhard, 2013) The Zune was created to rival apple in the music realm. The Zune was released in 2006. During this time Apple’s iPod shuffle was a very lucrative product. Initially the Zune was fairly successful. The Zune’s failure was caused by them remaining behind the latest technological updates. They’re operating style was found to be not as effortless as other products. With a technological product like this one convenience is a key aspect.

Part 2: Factors that led to the capitol failure of the Microsoft Zune:

· The introduction of Wi-Fi everywhere

· A difficult to use music store

· The use of a hard disc to upload music

· The ability to add music to a touch screen cell phone

 

Reference: Leonhard, W. (2013). Microsoft's 13 worst missteps of all time; DOS 4.0, Zune, and Windows 8 are but a few of the landmarks among 25 years of failures Redmond-style. InfoWorld.com