Case Scenario:
The T&F Company sells CAD/CAM software applications to architectural and engineering firms in the United States through value-added resellers. The company has loyal customers, and is growing steadily. Recently, the growth rate has dropped. The Sales and Marketing Director believes if they don't adapt their business model into today's networked economy, their competitive edge will become weaker. T&F's goals are to increase the revenue growth rate and get into the international market. The CEO leads the steering committee, which is formed by T&F's department heads. You are the Director of the Technical Support Department. The company website consists of a company overview and listing of contact phone numbers.
In this year's meeting on strategy, the steering committee completed a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). These are their findings:
Strengths
- Loyal customers
- Strong reseller network
- Good products
- Focused management/staff
- Competitive product prices
Weaknesses:
- Has not utilized Internet technology
- T&F not well-known among prospective customers
- Drop in growth rate
- Profit margin is too small (company needs to reduce costs)
Opportunities:
- To create a web site to serve customers and promote the company
- To enter the international market
- To establish online sales as a new distribution channel
Threats
Other larger and more well-known competitors may enter T&F's targeted market segment
Economic slowdown could reduce demand
Competitors have utilized Internet to enhance customer relationships
You see this SWOT as justification for developing and implementing an e-business strategy, but you know that the rest of the group is not as far along as you. Over the course of the next month or so, you will need to take the group's understanding of business strategy and business models, and help them integrate e-business. You also need to convey a sense of urgency, as one of the features of e-business is compression of time: research, production, and change.
Assignment:
Details: The more T&F gets involved with its customers, the more it realizes that its customers need training and consulting services. So, T&F is planning to establish a new company that is able to focus on educating end-users about CAD/CAM software and able to provide consulting services.
Do you think this is a good idea? Instead of creating a new company, could T&F create a new division to do so?