Marketing Essay Sample: Elite Book Holder Project Plan

Abstract

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In 2013, Bright Stationeries Company Limited introduced a book holder to the market. The purpose of the book-holder is to accommodate books to enable organized storage at home, in the office or anywhere it is needed. The book holder includes a support device which can fit onto anything that has a clamp and a flexible arm which has the actual book holder. Unfortunately, after the first introduction of this product to the market, Bright Stationeries discovered that the flexible arm was sometimes not strong enough to handle the weight of some books. It was not fit for use. The company had to recall the product to work on improving the efficiency of the product, beginning with the arm.

The proposed name for the new product is Elite Book Holder. This paper is a project plan that describes the process of re-introducing the book holder to the market as a new, improved product. In the new product design, Bright Stationeries has contracted Allan & Co Ltd Carpentry firm to help build a stronger, more appealing and more efficient product. The company's aim is that the new product is undoubtedly fit for use by consumers and is sold at a price that maximizes the profit margins. The project commences on 1st May 2017, and the end product is scheduled to be launched on 30th June 2018, a year and one month later.

The project has been distributed throughout various departments of the organization, from the production unit right to the sales and distribution department. Each department is acutely aware of its duties and responsibilities to ensure that the end product is a success. Full planning of Elite Book Holder lies in the hands of Bright Stationeries, but in the case of any mishaps or clarifications, they consult their contractor. The price of the product has been established using a cost-benefit approach to avoid making losses. Finally, the paper outlines the various risks that the project is likely to face and how to overcome them.

Background

Bright Stationeries Company Limited is a multinational organization that is leading in the production and supply of stationery. The company is based in Denver, Colorado. It has branches in more than sixty states and countries all over the world. The company has various product lines, including Bright pens, Bright pencils, Bright marker pens, Bright books (counter books, A-4, A-3, A-2 and A-1 sized books), Bright clipboards, Bright staplers, Bright staples and in 2013, Bright Book-holder which is bound to be re-introduced as Elite Book-holder. Each branch has various departments such as the production, Research and development, purchasing, sales and marketing, Human Resource Management and Accounting and Finance departments.

The Elite book-holder project is a sequel of the 2013 Bright book-holder which failed in the market due to an unforeseen contingency. The arm of the book-holder was not robust enough to hold the weight of some books. Hence the proproject is duct was deemed unfit for consumption. Bright Stationeries Company Limited is the sole sponsor of the project. The book holder project is the companys debut product of its kind. The company is motivated to make the product a success so as to expand its ventures and attract more investors. Furthermore, this project is in line with other continuing projects of the company, that is, it does not interrupt the production and distribution of other products.

The headquarters of the company will spearhead the project, whereby the finished product will be tested in Colorado. If successful, the branches of the company will be approved to produce the improved book holder. The only parties involved in the project development are the sponsoring organization (Bright Stationeries Co Ltd) and the contractor (Allan & Co Ltd). The Sponsor is in charge of project planning, development and funding while the contractor oversees the actual building of the product. It is the duty of the contractor to advise the sponsor on what changes can be made to the product in case the plan does not fit its purpose.

Project result

Elite book holder project is an improvement of the Bright book holder which failed to satisfy customers. Bright Stationeries Co Ltd has a reputation as the leading stationery producer and distributor globally. It would taint the name of the company if a project failed in the market and the company refused revive it smartly. Furthermore, investor confidence would be lost. The end product is expected to be an improved version with an arm that is strong enough to hold up to 20 kilograms of book weight. The final product is, therefore, a result of the problem-setting. It is aimed to correct what requirements the Bright book holder did not meet.

To complete the project, the project group has established SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) (Copeland, 2017). Setting SMART goals enables the project team to be motivated, informed and focused, and this will enable the group to achieve success (Copeland, 2017). The primary purpose is to design, produce and distribute a book holder that can hold up to 20 kilos weight. Different sub-goals that the company hopes to achieve with the Elite book holder are to gain a global market share of at least 45% with the product, to increase the share value of the company and to increase the shareholders returns per share.

The group has set specific goals, in that the end product is supposed to meet the requirements and specifications that satisfy customer needs. The flexible arm should be strong enough to uphold numerous and substantial books, unlike the arm in the previous project which was weak. The goals are also measurable. The company wants to modify the arm to comfortably hold a weight of up to 20 kilograms of books without breaking. The goals are achievable as they are within the budget of the company. Furthermore, the contractor concurred that it is possible to construct such a book holder. The relevance of the goals is that they are necessary to expand business activities, increase market share, broaden the profit margin and maintain investor confidence. The goals are also time-bound. The project is estimated to take a duration of a year and one month until the launching of the product.

Project activities

Defining the project activities means specifying the tasks which should be carried out to achieve the goals of the project. This specification enables the management to determine the resources and duration of time needed to complete the project. Bright Stationeries Co Ltd documented its project plan in a Gantt chart as will further be explained.

The project activities are grouped as follows:

Planning: Identifying goals of the project

Defining the requirements of the project

Pre-production: Hiring and training of personnel

Purchasing raw materials

Transporting raw material

Production: Designing the book holder

Producing the product

Sales and distribution: Promotion, sales, and distribution of the product in all branches

Post-sales analysis of the product.

Milestones: Searching for tenders

Identifying and requesting tenders

Identifying available contractors

Choosing a contractor

Project boundaries

The designing and production of the Elite book holder is a project set to commence on 1st May 2017. The improved product is expected to outdo the old model and identify as a fresh, smart product in the market. It is supposed to showcase uniqueness and be distinctive from other such products. Its strength and durability should be no doubt to the consumers. Furthermore, if it succeeds, the product will be the first book holder produced by the company. For these reasons, the project group has set aside a period of one year and a month until the final product is launched on 30th June 2018. This is ample time for the group to model and remodel the product until perfection is achieved. When the contractor approves the final design, production may begin.

The width of the project includes the activities described above, which are to take place during the project development. They include production, sales and distribution and the milestones of the project. Milestones are those activities which cannot be assigned a time duration. The project needs to be supervised to ensure that the activities are carried out to the letter, and no activities which do not contribute to the success of the project are carried out.

Complete cooperation among the members of the project group is necessary for the success of the project. The sponsor and the contractor must be in agreement on the model and design of the book holder to achieve the desired results. The sponsor must make resources available on time and demand. The project group needs to be aware of the goals that had been set before the commencement of the project. They must be conscious of the time factor to beat the deadline. The group should also make maximum use of allocated resources: human and non-human alike. There should be no wastage to ensure that goals are met.

Interim results

The project plan set aside a budget of 100,000 USD for the production of the Elite book holder. This budget included factors such as the cost of labor, the cost of raw materials, transportation costs, labor training, paying the contractor and included a margin of 20,000 USD for overheads in labor, raw materials, and other unforeseen contingencies. In establishing the budget, the contractor was consulted to develop a product design that was both affordable and achievable using available technology.

The project group intends to periodically document and forward the interim reports of the product to the management of the company. These reports shall be presented to the shareholders. The project group aims to document results which are parallel to the project plan so as to encourage the project investors and to achieve the goals of the project. However, in the case of any deviations from the original plan, the project manager is expected to provide a logical explanation and an alternative course of action. The final product should essentially be acceptable to both the shareholders and the consumers, be durable and have a high rate of return.