...Problem Framing – The MGA team is currently suffering from organizational mismanagement and numerous internal conflicts which have prohibited the group from making meaningful strides towards achieving its goal of submitting a viable proposal to the upcoming business plan competition. In order to address these shortcomings, the following proposals seek to address the structural problems within the group and attempt to get it back on track to achieve the shared goal the group members share. Managing Personal/Team Conflicts Given the differing educational and professional backgrounds of the team members, certain personality conflicts have arisen which are hurting team unity and practical discourse in the decision-making process. • Team members need to spend some time discussing each team member’s background and experience. From this, the team can use similarities between different team members to create a sort of bonding between the team. • Disagreement between members needs to be aired in the open and team members must work out differences. • What does success look like to each team member in terms of the group and for themselves? Establish what each member wants to get out of the project and what they feel they can be contribute. Identify and Commit to Team Norms Committing to developing and maintaining team norms will be essential to providing structure to meetings and ensuring that the group’s decisions are made with the best information available rather than allowing...
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...you accept the offer from MSG? From my point of view, I would not accept MSG’s offer. Instead, I would make a counter offer. The main reason is that MSG didn’t like the deal and proposed a very different deal, which basically wants to control the company and hire all the founders as its employees. And as a founder, I would be very uncomfortable with MSG trying to wrest control from me. In other words, at this stage, I prefer control over wealth. From the founder’s viewpoint, all of them have a promising future following HBS and working for MSG as their fulltime employee would mean that they would be settling for much less as compared to what they would get otherwise. Also, accepting MSG offer would mean that Smartix will lose the opportunity to shape the culture of their startup, establish their version of fairness and reward philosophy in the company. If they had to work for an organization, why would they settle for MSG, wouldn’t they aim for something more financially rewarding? The MSG offer itself lends to what Smartix can expect in the future from MSG. MSG potentially could hijack the idea, make it a proprietary preventing Smartix from implementing elsewhere, seriously limiting the ability to Smartix team to reap rich dividends later. Moreover, MSG didn’t like the idea of VC, as MSG considered VC couldn’t bring any value other than money on the table. MSG only cared about minimizing the risks instead of thinking about the upside of the business. This shows discrepancy between...
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...Contents Welcome How Do I Get Paid? Retail Payouts Team Payouts Compensation Plan Chart Luxury Payouts Customers and Structures Conclusion Income Disclosure Statement 1 2 4 6 8 11 18 19 20 WakeUpNow: Live the WUNLIFE. Income Disclosure available at wakeupnow.com/ids. Avg. IBO earns less than $100 Version 3.2014.001 Welcome Congratulations on joining WakeUpNow! WakeUpNow’s business model is built on the oldest type of advertising: wordof-mouth. Instead of buying advertising like television and radio ads, WakeUpNow pays commissions for sharing its amazing products and services with others. It is important to understand that all commissions are based on the sale of products and services to end consumers—that is to customers who purchase WakeUpNow products for their personal use. When you elect to convert from a Preferred Customer to a distributor (Independent Business Owner or IBO), you have taken the first step to earning commissions. You don’t earn commissions for recruiting other IBOs, but you can earn commissions whenever those IBOs or their customers buy products and services—and the more IBOs you bring in, the more products your organization can sell. This guide is your quick look at how WakeUpNow IBOs make money when they share the business with others. Income Disclosure available at wakeupnow.com/ids. Avg. IBO earns less than $100 Version 3.2014.001 How do I get paid? WakeUpNow pays three types of commission: Retail Payouts, Team Payouts, and Luxury Payouts. The most important...
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...Succeeding the Founder How to Lead a Successful Transition as the Successor Photo Copyright © 2012 Judd Patterson Photo Copyright © 2012 Judd Patterson Reprinted by permission from The CEO Advantage Journal, a publication of CEO Advisors, LLC. Visit w w w.tcajournal.com. by Ben Anderson-Ray and John Kobasic N AUGUST 24, 2011, Steve Jobs resigned his role as Apple CEO and was replaced by Tim Cook. This followed a seven-month period in which Cook was already functioning O O as CEO while Jobs focused on fighting the health problems that ultimately took his life on October 5. Many are watching to see how this unique leadership transition will work out for Apple, but it is not the first unique leadership transition they have faced. Jobs, of course, was the cofounder of Apple, but organizational infighting led to his ouster when John Sculley took over in the mid-1980s. Sculley oversaw the growth of the Macintosh and thus the company, but when that growth slowed and new internal issues arose, a series of CEOs failed to get the company back on track. In 1997, a more experienced Jobs returned and drove tremendous growth. The leadership history of Apple is a good reminder that a leadership transition–particularly one involving the founder– presents both risk and opportunity to any organization. If done poorly, it spawns uncertainty, conflict, and stress, stalling growth and exacerbating misalignment that may or may not have already been there. If done well...
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...outside, Henry seemed to be part of a well designed and diverse team. However, the lack of team preparation has led to poor team processes and left MGI with no tangible business plan three weeks before the deadline. However, MGI’s team processes can still be improved through Henry’s integration efforts. The real crux of MGI’s poor ‘Team Process’ or, the “the interactions that group members undertake in a team environment that convert members skills, expertise, and other inputs into a group project or other form of output” (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094), was based on the following: a lack of common goals, lack of team roles, and lack of information exchange. Fundamental components such as the 'Available Resources', 'Incentives or Rewards', 'Roles and Responsibilities' were never reviewed during the Launch Meeting (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094). The MGI team’s failure to agree on common team goals and to define formal roles for its members upfront are the root causes for its poor team processes. Henry and Dana saw the business plan competition as an opportunity to gain business development experience with a start up and contribute to MGI’s vision; however, Sasha envisioned them as “interns”. When Sasha handed them an envelope of alumni names to cold-call, the initial conflict between Sasha and Dana began (Polzer, HBS Case #9-403-094). Such misalignment had certainly led to some discomfort. The divided team also failed to agree on which market segment (Education vs. Entertainment)...
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...for every founder was pretty logical at the moment when NanoGene was created, but as it seems through time this should have changed. As time went by roles within NanoGene were changing and also responsibilities, so compensations and salaries may have changed according to the duty the founder perform and some equivalence with market salary for the same job. As a potential venture investor the way the equity is divided within the founders is relevant, because it´s easier to negotiate and get to agreement when you treat with one or two, rather than a group of people (with common interests, but potentially different points of view). •Evaluate the size and composition of the founding team. What is the difference between being a founder and an early employee? Hint: try to understand well what it means to have "options". The founding team was too big, this is a problem when decision-making time comes, you have to agree with everybody else, so agreement tend to be simpler when less people( and opinions) are involved. In respect to the composition of the team, it is better that somebody owns at least a minimum amount more than the others, so he can have the decision control. A founder owns a percentage of NanoGene Technologies´s equity, while an early employee has an amount of options, what refers to a discount when he wanted to acquire shares. So an early employee has a potential participation in the NanoGene if they decide to do effective. Also the salary of a founder is bigger...
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...in the IT trade, Google has to adapt to a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. They have also been expanding into other markets such as making operating systems for cell phones and even making the hardware themselves. Thus, an organic structure is best suited for the needs of Google. The Economist (2010) supports this claim as the two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, mentions Google as not a conventional firm, hinting that Google adopts an organic structure for itself as opposed the traditional mechanistic structure. Span of control refers to the amount of people directly reporting to the next level. Google works by having many cross-functional teams (Treasure Valley Business, 2013), to handle the various projects and endeavors in which the company undertakes. Levis (2009) talks about Google being a company strictly for Alphas and the founders' tried to hire only the best people possible. Thus, most of the teams are highly self-directed, which allows Google to have a wide span of control over their employees, therefore cutting back on operational cost. With regards to decision making authority, Google use of cross-functional teams decentralizes power to allow for better response time for potential problems that may arise during the course of work as managers are empowered to make decisions...
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...The way the founders split the equity and compensation would be of substantial concern to me as an investor. When one is evaluating the potential profitability of a company, all aspects will be considered; this includes the distribution of pay amongst the founders. If I were a venture capitalist and saw that the CEO of a company was taking less pay than he/she should, and the co-founders were receiving more than they should I would instantly be inclined to think that the CEO is not aggressive enough to run the company. The main reason I would tend to think this way is that if a CEO is not willing to take at least the standard entrance salary, he/she would either have reasons to doubt his ability, or would be looking to please him co-founders rather than to run a successful business. In terms of the compensation policy being considered for the company, as a venture capitalist I would be very open to having multiple options as opposed to a fixed salary. One must be cognizant of the different backgrounds and situations involving each employee. A fixed salary may paint the picture of “robots” each doing a specified task, while multiple options for compensation illustrates a dynamic workforce. The founding team in place at NanoGene is larger than the average team. They are well rounded and each well-versed in their areas of expertise. This could result in an excellent group dynamic, but it could have negative connotations as well. The largest issue being, none of the backgrounds’...
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...Early in the 20th century, Joseph Schumpeter, a Moravian-born economist, gave the modern definition of an entrepreneur as a person who destroys the existing economic order by introducing new products and services, by introducing new methods of production, by creating new forms of organization, or by exploiting new raw materials (Bygrave and Zacharakis, 2010). It was however, been taken into consideration that just very few organizations can achieve the scale implied by Schumpeter with regards ‘destroying the existing…order’ and ‘…introducing new products and services…’, and thus, a newer and more robust definition has been given for who an entrepreneur is. An Entrepreneur can therefore be described as an individual who discovers a market needs and launches (a) new firm(s) to meet that/those needs. They are risk takers who provide an impetus for change, innovation, and progress in economic life (Longenecker, 2008). It should be noted that this definition of an Entrepreneur is very broad, as it encompasses quite a lot but for the purpose of this report, we would limit the scope of an Entrepreneur to the Small Business owner/manager. The definition can extend as far as second-generation business owners who inherited a business, or saw the potential in an existing business and decided to acquire it. It could also extend as far as top-level managers in larger corporations, who go sourcing for business opportunities for the companies remunerating them. They, after all, identify...
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...the case text and the exhibits when you prepare your analysis. 90% of the score will be based on content, as discussed in the critical thinking grading rubric. 10% will be based on style. While it will be okay to fill in the table below with bullet points, each bullet point should be a full sentence. The analysis should be comprehensive, yet concise; there is no minimum or maximum word count. Grammatical and spelling errors will lower your style score. Total value: 22 points. 1A. Please analyze the opportunity: Customer value 1. Who is end user and purchaser/decider? Is this a Pro or con and why? The target market is something the team struggles with throughout the case. The students (Henry and Dana) believe the ideal market is the education market (i.e. elementary school aged children), however the founders believed they should be going after the entertainment market (i.e. junior high and above). Both have sound reasoning for their opinions; however I tend to side with the students that the best approach in the beginning would be to go after the education market because of the inherent benefits available. I will be answering the questions based on the standpoint their target market is the education market. In the education market, the end user would be younger children (elementary school aged children) with the decision maker being their parent or their music teacher at school. By targeting the younger students, MGI can help develop a sense of...
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...HENRY TAM AND THE MGI TEAM CASE STUDY Introduction In our opinion, this case study is deemed an exercise in management technique. The case study is detailed with diverse factors and encompassing the breadth of management science. The Music Games International (Hereafter referred to as “MGI”) team comprised of seven (7) members as stated - The group is extremely diverse comprising of the following, Henry Tam and Dana Soiman were final semester students at Harvard Business School (Hereafter referred to as “HBS”) working on the business plan not just for the competition, and as a professional challenge as soon. For the founders, Sasha Gimpelson was known for his unconventional ideas. Igor Tkachenko, an accomplished musician and Roman Yakub, a composer. Alex Sartakov -introduced to the group through a mutual friend of Igor and Sasha, he had music background, Dav Clark was a MIT graduate had a software background and was also planning to enter the MGI case for the MIT business plan contest. To our understanding, the gist of Henry Tam and MGI Case Study refers to development of a business plan for MGI (as a submission to the annual business plan contest of HBS and, the business plan should be the blueprint for the future; to commercialize their products via educational learning tool and/or an entertainment/gaming portal). Question 1 What is your evaluation of the MGI’s team process? What were the roots causes of the team’s process problems? In evaluating the team's...
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...BEY2OLLAK Table of content. Abstract-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4-5 What is bey2ollak-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5-7 What they do and how they do it----------------------------------------------------- 7 Success factors---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 1. They fulfilled a need------------------------------------------------------------------ 8-9 2. Creativity and using existing resources-------------------------------------- 9-10 3. They had what it takes----------------------------------------------------------- 10-11 Why bey2ollak is such a success-------------------------------------------------- 11-12 Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------------13 Abstract The frustration caused by everyday traffic in Egypt’s biggest cities such as Cairo and Alexandria made people wish if they only knew that the road they are planning to drive thru is blocked they would have probably took another route to where ever they hoping to go.Bey2ollak nowadays is helping to achieve such wish throughout all Egypt. With almost one million trusted users and more than two thousand active monthly users. This five years old application is now an award-winning...
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...Kate Spade Kate Spade's founders are evaluating how to finance and grow their luxury handbag and accessories business. As the case ends, the founding team must decide among four potential strategic partners offering to purchase different shares of Kate Spade at various valuations. Their focus is on growing and expanding the brand and product line. Customers are those seeking a bridge level fashion accessory. Competition are other bridge level fashion accessories such as Polo Ralph Lauren. Kate Spade is a fashion label which was created to offer customers a handbag that was just below the established luxury handbag brands. The company differentiates itself by focusing on fabric bags. The company has experienced a fair bit of success and the founders are now considering various options to grow the brand and extend its product line. They are considering four options of potential investment into ate Spade. People: Katy Brosnahan. Co Founder of Kate Spade. She began the original ground work to build the company. She is also the chief creative force behind the company. She has a clear vision for Kate Spade and a which position it should occupy in the fashion market. Elyce Cox. Coowner of Kate Spade. She was instrumental in the birth of the Kate Spade idea. Before coming back to join Kate Spade, she gained extensive marketing and public relations experience and Marithe & Francois Girbaud North America. Andy Spade Co-founder of Kate Spade and husband of Katy Brosnahan...
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...Tam and the Mgi Team Henry Tam is a student looking for a challenge and jumps right into one when he decides to join with the MGI (Music Games International) ownership as part of a school competition (The HBS Business Plan Contest). There are seven members in the team comprised of the three founders of MGI– Igor Tkachenko, Alexandra (Sasha) Gimpelson and Roman Yukab, Henry Tam Jr. and Dana Soiman of HBS MBA class students, Dav Clark from MIT and Alex Jan Sartakov from Boston Berklee College. The team had little success thus far working together having experienced conflicts and tensions. But there are several issues in the team. The problems in the team are: 1. They did not divide the task into sub tasks. 2. There seemed to be a main group and subgroups with no integration. 3. No team leader was officially appointed or nobody was empowered to define the role structure, the decision-making process and assessing team performance. 4. They did not set the norms and values and did not spend time developing a good working culture from the start. Actually the team demonstrated some key strength. The team is consisting of multi talented team composition. The founders' commonality in ethnic background, close friendship and shared passion on their product was great and there was complementary skill sets contributing from the various team members and their shared commitment to the business. However, there is issue for the personality of the MGI team founders. They had a history...
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...Plan Contest). There are seven members in the team comprised of the three founders of MGI– Igor Tkachenko, Alexandra (Sasha) Gimpelson and Roman Yukab, Henry Tam Jr. and Dana Soiman of HBS MBA class students, Dav Clark from MIT and Alex Jan Sartakov from Boston Berklee College. The team had little success thus far working together having experienced conflicts and tensions. But there are several issues in the team. The problems in the team are: 1. They did not divide the task into sub tasks. 2. There seemed to be a main group and subgroups with no integration. 3. No team leader was officially appointed or nobody was empowered to define the role structure, the decision-making process and assessing team performance. 4. They did not set the norms and values and did not spend time developing a good working culture from the start. Actually the team demonstrated some key strength. The team is consisting of multi talented team composition. The founders' commonality in ethnic background, close friendship and shared passion on their product was great and there was complementary skill sets contributing from the various team members and their shared commitment to the business. However, there is issue for the personality of the MGI team founders. They had a history of not getting along with outsiders very well as indicated in the case. Hence when evaluating if the team's differences was an asset or liability. We concluded that this team was a liability as they had not met the objectives...
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