Case Scenario:
Science and Technology Inc. (STI) is a high-tech consulting firm. The core business is helping firms and individual scientists transfer basic scientific discoveries into partial applications. Their 40 consultants provide consulting and training services for developing strategies and implementation processes for the commercialization of new technologies. These employees are grouped into teams that operate from offices in different cities, from coast to coast. These teams are frequently on the road and individual employees often work from home.
In addition to its work with private companies and individual scientists, SCI recently was awarded governmental grants to pursue the development of businesses based on new technology. Each of these business owners has a different set of circumstances that must be address in making the business a success. Also, there are widely differing types of technology that need to be commercialized. The basic training already has types of technology that need to be commercialized. The basic training has already been developed by STI, but the consulting will require the expertise of different STI consultants, based on the small-business owners' needs and situations.
STI has several challenges to overcome to fulfill the government grant and successfully move its core business forward. Your task is to:
1) Provide basic technology commercialization training to the 150 small-business owners and ensure that they have learned the material.
2) Provide customized consulting to each of the 150 small-business owners.
3) Develop a method for small-business owners to be able to get the appropriate consultation and be able to document that the consultation was provided.
4) Develop a system that would capture the learning provided by each of the STI consultant and make that available to all STI consultants. This would allow STI to develop their consultants' knowledge base.
5) Ensure whatever is developed is as cost-effective as possible because government grants leave little room for profit.