Summarize the case? What are they talking about?

.

Write it in your own words.

Case Study Read the below case study titled "Logitech" and answer the following questions When's the last time you used a computer mouse or keyboard? What about a universal remote for your home entertainment system, external speakers for your iPod, or a controller or racing wheel for your PlayStation 3? If you've used any of these things recently, chances are good that it was designed and manufactured by Logitech, a Swiss company known for highly innovative and reasonably priced personal peripherals" involved in computer navigation, Internet communications, digital music, home entertainment control, and gaming. Founded in 1981, the company has experienced double-digit growth in sales each year for the past decade, with revenues of almost $2.5 billion per year. Logitech's success can be attributed to its ability to bring a large number of highly innovative products to market. In a recent year, for example, Logitech introduced 130 new products, many of which were honored with industry awards for superior innovation and design. Today, it ships approximately 165 million products to customers in more than 100 countries. So what gives Logitech the ability to offer such a large number of innovative products? Logitech's success in bringing a large number of innovative products to market can be attributed to the type of teams they use to accomplish product development and manufacturing. The teams consist of members who are highly specialized in a given functional area and who are geographically dispersed across different countries and continents. Additionally. Logitech manages these teams in such a way that they can accomplish work continuously. Specifically, work in these teams is accomplished on an on-going basis as members in one location use electronic communications to coordinate their efforts and to hand off their work to members in other locations. Consider, for example, the team that developed and manufactured Logitech's mouse, the Revolution. Product design and mechanical engineering took place in Ireland, electrical engineering took place in Switzerland, tooling took place in Taiwan, manufacturing took place in China, and software engineering and quality assurance took place in California. Although you might be inclined to believe that time zone differences would be a hindrance to this sort of team, Logitech turned it into a competitive advantage by letting the work follow the sun. Specifically, work was accomplished continuously because members of a team who finished their workday in one country electronically handed off the work to team members in another country who had just arrived at the office. Because these electronic hand-offs occurred continuously, product development and other work needed to bring the mouse to market was completed much more quickly. Although "follow the sun" teams are gaining attention in many companies that operate globally, there are some issues that need to be considered. As one example, imagine how difficult it must be for members of this sort of dispersed team to find convenient times to communicate with one another. If a team member in California needed to meet virtually with the team on Friday at noon (Pacific Standard Time), it would be 8:00p.m. Friday evening in Ireland and 4:00 a.m. Friday morning in Taiwan. More important, perhaps, language and cultural differences among team members can create misunderstandings that prevent work from being accomplished effectively. Peter Sheehan, a creative director from Ireland, noted that people tend to approach the work very differently based on their functional areas, which is a problem because the members of the Logitech teams are very specialized. Although all members may understand that the ultimate goal is to develop a successful product, members from different areas may have different ideas about what successful" means and what processes and outcomes need to be achieved to get there. Because of the geographical separation, inconsistencies in the way different members are approaching the work may not become apparent until significant problems occur. Other companies in the electronics industry that use the "follow the sun" approach are struggling with similar issues. For example, IBM uses the approach in its chip design business, whereby design changes made during the day in North America get sent to India for additional work and physical implementation. As noted by Mike Gruver, an IBM program manager, it's often difficult to tell whether someone from a different culture really understands what you're saying, and it's uncomfortable to keep on asking if they want you to restate something that you said. As another example, Kathleen Gillam, a manager from Intel, noted that despite the positives from the use of globally distributed virtual teams, there are very simple things, such as having different holidays and working days, that make the process difficult. In the end, the follow the sun approach to accomplishing work appears to have advantages, but there are also significant challenges having to do with managing differences among members in their functional and cultural backgrounds