Mba 590 Harrison-Keyes Solution W/tables

Problem Solution: Harrison-Keyes Inc.

A leader in publishing for more than a century, Harrison-Keyes, Inc. is a successful company on many fronts. Some of the company’s earliest publishing accomplishments included renowned authors, and they still maintain certain author relationships. Finding their niche in the 1950s, Harrison-Keyes selected a viable means for increasing market share by focusing on educational materials. With nearly 23,000 current publications, the company strives for an additional 2000 new titles annually. As with several publishing firms, stiff competition and low-cost retailers are eating into margins and Harrison-Keyes is once again seeking additional venues to increase profits and cut costs (University of Phoenix, 2006).

In the University of Phoenix scenario, Harrison-Keyes recently hired a new CEO, Meg McGill, to “revitalize the company”. While there are truly several opportunities to turn around the declining sales and address market share, Meg has focused on one primary factor, e-publishing. With advancing technology, many publishing companies are turning to the option of print once and distribute many. The Harrison-Keyes board of directors has agreed to pursue this venue, and an extensive Gantt chart shows production schedule with critical factors for achieving this lofty goal. It appears that the chart may have been put together from a top-down perspective, as many of the efforts lack cohesiveness. There are a number of critical success factors that must be met in order for Harrison-Keyes to realize the full potential of e-publishing. Other top management needed to be fully supportive of the initiative and strategies aligned. While there are several project opportunities to address in the scenario, this paper will hone on some of the technical implementation factors. The Harrison-Keyes Information Technology (IT) department is especially lacking on more than one front of the project.

Describe the Situation

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Critical success factors, as outlined the Harrison-Keyes PowerPoint presentation include employee buy-in as well as successful implementation of new technology, and digitizing the right books. With a short time-frame, and outside vendors to consider, the project plan needed more research and development before implementation. The first aspect is that the e-publishing project will require additional technological factors, of which the CIO, Mack Evans has limited knowledge. Forced to rely upon his team for input, the direction handed down from the top left little margin with which to play. Secondly, Harrison-Keyes must outsource the digitizing of the manuscripts to a more experienced and technically savvy company. Asia Digital was chosen for this task, but time zones and general business principles are creating cultural differences. The third item addressed is in-house servers are expected to maintain the e-sales generated from the e-publishing project.

Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas

In order for e-publishing to become a reality, several stakeholder issues must be faced and resolved. Pete Ross, or another member of Pete’s team, needs to communicate effectively with Asia Digital, even if this means arising earlier or staying later then normal. Goals, deadlines and milestones must be clearly defined and any deviation from the written implementation plan should have work-arounds and consequences. If Pete has problems with foreigners, he needs to have someone available that can effectively negotiate the best alternatives. If Asia Digital cannot fulfill the requirements, this must be addressed immediately and another vendor sought to complete the digitalizing of the current e-books.

Failing to recognize the true extent to which the technology must be updated to handle the additional load and demands of the software, Mack has already had to ask for additional funding to the dismay of Robert Smith, Chief Financial Officer. At an additional $325 thousand dollars, this will throw cost overruns and still not have a working model on line in time to handle the e-commerce. Mack is taking full accountability for the dilemma, yet this still does not diminish the oversight of alternatives, nor the lower return on the investment. Harrison-Keyes is a global company with 40% of the company’s revenue generated from foreign funds. While the solution to choose another vendor will ensure the data is compiled and completed per the negotiated contract, Pete still needs to address whether he can actually complete business with outside entities.

Frame the “Right” Problem

The University of Phoenix’s PowerPoint for the Harrison-Keyes scenario states, “Our vision is