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MBA $580$ Project Guidelines and Rubric

Competencies

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

Evaluate creative and innovative organizational structures

Recommend alternative innovations to solve an internal or market need

Implement creative and innovative processes within an organization

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 the company from the course scenario 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 $2030$ 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...

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

or

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 innovation looked like: would it be disruptive $($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$$ve shared these with various stakeholders, and they are in agreement with your assessment of how best to get to market with this IoT innovation, which will allow the company to be competitive.

Now, the CTO has asked you to come up with a proposed organizational structure that will support the innovation implementation. In this way, you will be assisting in making the innovation sustainable for the company from the course scenario. Companies that are innovative must make sure they have structured the organization in a way that supports innovation, and a key component of innovation is keeping track of what their customers want in terms of products and services.

Directions

Complete each of the three parts of this project. Use your slides from Milestone One, your document from Milestone Two, and feedback on Milestone One and Milestone Two to complete the first two parts of your presentation. You can use the resources in the Supporting Materials section $($below$)$ for any other information you will need to complete your project.

Part One: Innovation Approach

In this section, share your revised slides from Milestone One and make your recommendation for the innovation approach you think the company should pursue. Ensure this section includes the following information:

Explain potential risks and benefits for options A and B$.$

Overview $(1$ slide$)$: Present the business problem and options A and B$.$

Option A $(12$ slides$)$: Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for option A$.$

Option B $(12$ slides$)$: Explain at least two potential risks and benefits for option B$.$

Compare your competition$$s products and services.

Competitors: $(34$ slides$)$: Evaluate the competitors$$ current products and services.

What are your competitors' current products and services?

Are your competitors expanding in the current market? Explain how this impacts their market strength.

Analyze your company$$s capability to pursue the innovation.

Complete a partial gap analysis $(2$ slides$)$:

Does the company own the technology, or does it need to be purchased?

How is the technology currently being used in today$$s products and services?

What type of technology is available to purchase?

Recommend the innovation approach your company should pursue.

Innovation Approach $(2$ slides$)$: Explain which innovation approach you are recommending and why.

Consider the different stakeholders $($research and development $[$R&D$],$ marketing, finance$)$ while communicating your recommendations.

Include a description of the incremental or discontinuous product that you are recommending for R&D$.$

Include the sales forecasts for marketing.

Include a financial snapshot for finance.

Part Two: Strategic Plan

In this section, share your revised paper from Milestone Two, which provides an overview of your competitors$$ position in the