Management Information System

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CASE-STUDY - ROCKETTHEME: THRIVING ON THE WEB

When it comes to doing global digital business, RocketTheme sells digital products in the form of templates and extensions that are used with the open source content management system (CMS) Joomla. The Joomla CMS allows anyone with at least a limited knowledge pf Website construction or internet technologies to start a Web site. Joomla essentially puts advanced Web technology at the fingertips of 'newbies'. Current estimates suggest that Joomla is being used on 1.5 to 2 million Web sites globally.

Andy Miller, a former member of the core developer group of the award winning Joomla CMS, started the RocketTheme template club with the goal of making professional-looking Web sites available to the average Internet user. Competition in the industry is fierce. However, RocketTheme attempts to differentiate itself from other template clubs through originally, a user-oriented focus, and flexibility of design. Currently, it is branching out into other different CMS markets, providing templates for other open source CMS solutions, such as Drupal, WordPress, and phpBB3.

RocketTheme sells its products directly to its customers through a membership system. Growth of the club is mainly organic. For each type of membership, RocketTheme charges a different fee. Members are differentiate by whether they are light or heavy users (e.g., regular members vs. developer members), which is visible through the pricing schedule. Marketing efforts are targeted at the online community. To attract new customers, RocketTheme uses an affiliate system and makes use of Google ads.

The RocketTheme template club was launched in 2006 and has experience exponential growth. According to Miller, " I started the RocketTheme Template Club with a whopping three templates in the inventory. Membership has steadily grown since that time probably due to the increase in number of available templates. It's been a relatively consistent ride and I think a huge part of that is just due to how great, Joomla is and how it's popularity has risen. Sure, some templates are more popular that others, that is just the way these things work. I try to ensure that we provide a very well-rounded selection of designs, not just the same old "business" templates every month."

How did the club get its start? Miller says, " I have been involved in Web developmentsince my days in University, back in the early 90s, when hypertext was a new conceptand gopher was the most common method of sharing information across networks. I was computer engineering major and quickly got caught up in the excitement around the internet. Anyway, long story short. I've been doing web development ever since."

RocketTheme is privately owned, Miller is the sole partner of the RocketTheme Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). As much, he is also the day-to-day operational manager. Miller focuses on energizing his staff and creating a common goal for his employees-the success of the RocketTheme template club. The organization can be characterized as flat and nonbereaucratic. It has full time staff of 12 and has 14 support staff. The support staff consists mainly of subcontractors and several volunteers. New staff are attracted straight from the RocketTheme community or from online advertisement. Thus, the organizational structure is fluid and flexible. The organization retains specialists from different parts of the world, highly skilled in their respective fields.

RocketTheme presently has a user base of well over 40,000 registered members. It stands out because of its international orientation and collaboration. The team responsible for support and development of new templates and extensions is an international team consisting of members from around the globe- the United States, England, Italy, Holland, Germany, India, Canada, Poland, Greece and Japan-from different backgrounds and different age groups. All communication and information exchange between the employees of RocketTheme and between RocketTheme and its customers performed using the electronic superhighway. RocketTheme attracts its customers from all over the globe; like its team; its customers come from different backgrounds, different age groups, and different countries. The target group of customers is, in essence, anyone who wishes to run a Web site using the Joomla CMS.

RocketTheme focuses mainly on development of templates for the different content management systems to which it caters. Other services provided are mainly in the area of support. Customer support is provided through an online forum in which RocketTheme club members can post their template and extension-related questions and general problems with Joomla.The online community at RocketTheme.com and its collaborative atmosphere is representative of open source ideals. It is one of the pillars of RocketTheme's success.

Reference : Management Information System, Jane P. Laudon, Kenneth C. Laudon, Pearson Custom Pub, 2004

Case Study Questions :

1- Describe RocketTheme's business model and business strategy. What challenges is it facing?

2- What systems have the company used or planned to use to overcome these challenge? What types of systems are they? What role will each play in helping RocketTheme overcome these challenges?

3- What other types of system could help RocketTheme overcome its challenges?