Case Study: Sharp Printing AG

Sharp Printing AG
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Sharp Printing AG
If I were the project manager, I would recommend that we partner with another organization and share the costs of developing the laser printer. Although this partnership would mean that we would have to share the laser printer technology too, I think that it would be the best way forward because, with time, our competitors would catch up to our new technology. Besides sharing costs and technology, partnering with another organization would increase the labor force at our disposal. For instance, when designing the laser printer, two design directors would look at the most appealing designs. This means that there would be an array of design options to choose from.
If sharing cost and technology is not something that the top management would find strategically smart, I would recommend that we cancel the project and commission a breakeven study for the laser printer. It would not serve us well to create a laser printer, which would most likely be recalled due to technical issues or poor design. Instead, it would be better if our designers had enough time to go through various options and settle on the best. Also, even though we were to develop the laser printer at the estimated time, we would have to incur additional costs, which the top management had not accounted for.
Top management was not acting correctly in developing a cost estimate because they based it on prior experience. The fact is that this laser printer is new. It is unlike any other laser printer produced by the company. Therefore, this means that plenty of technological and human workforce would be required in the project. Also, given that we have never made such a laser printer before, the pro...