Mini Project Case

Willmontt$$s is a small OKC general contractor with $5-15$ employees depending on how busy they

get. The company has engaged in a number of construction projects which has required them to

preform a wide range of routine to innovative business practices. They have decided to diversify

their revenue and look for a new field to move in and expand their business within OKC metroplex

area. Therefore, they already performed feasibility study to assess the possibility of expanding

into other fields such as providing plumbing services or heat and air services, electrical

services or property management. After receiving the completed feasibility study,

Willmont$$s have chosen the field that they want to move on$.$ At this point they have to define

a marketing strategy.

The Operations officer and the business co$-$owner $($George Cranston$)$ of Willmott$$s has discussed

this subject with Henry Willmont, the company$$s CEO and they have decided to employ a

consulting company to

$1-$ design a marketing study project

$2-$ manage the marketing study project

Mr$.$ Cranston has made an agreement with your team as the consulting company to achieve those

three goals. Willmont$$s will customize its systems, practices and business processes to conform to

project requirements defined by you. Team leader will be the CEO of the consulting company and

lead this project. Team expects to $1-$manage the project which is mainly done through mini projects.

Generally, from the Willmont$$s perspective, the project will likely need to accomplish the

following $($all information should be collected for OK and OKC unless it is mentioned otherwise$)$:

$1.$ Market outlook for OKC

a$.$ Available market segments

b$.$ List of top ten competitors

c$.$ Market size in terms of dollar value

d$.$ Demographic study of customers

$2.$ Develop a marketing strategy to penetrate the requested market in OKC

$3.$ Communication strategy

a$.$ Advertising strategies currently being used by the companies in the field and the

problems that you can identify with current advertising strategies in the field.

b$.$ Suggest a promotional slogans$/$mottos that communicate the major benefits of the

business

c$.$ Suggest medium of advertisement and provide an estimation of the cost

d$.$ Suggest an advertising strategy to penetrate the market

$4.$ Managing the firm$$s physical evidence

a$.$ Your team suggestion over a truck wrapping.

b$.$ Develop strategies that enhance the firm$$s touch and taste appeal

Willmont$$s is considering to offer their services in the following cities.

i$.$ North of Oklahoma City

$1.$ Edmond

$2.$ Guthrie

$3.$ Nichols Hills

$4.$ village

ii$.$ East of Oklahoma City

$1.$ Del City

$2.$ Midwest City

iii. South of Oklahoma City

$1.$ Valley Brook

$2.$ Moore

$3.$ Norma

iv$.$ West of Oklahoma City

$1.$ Mustang

$2.$ Yukon and El Reno

$3.$ Minco and Union City

Willmont$$s has allocated a maximum of $$20,000$ for this market study project. Each team member

is paid $40$ USD per hour. Use this numbers to calculate the maximum hours of work that you will

be paid to work on it$.$ This hours should cover both managing the project and doing the marketing

study. You have been asked to ensure that your project does not go over this figure, and, if possible,

that the total project cost is under that amount. Willmont$$s and consulting company $($your team$)$

agreed that they would like to have the market study project by the due date.

After reading the scenario, please consider the following points for miniproject one:

$1.$ As a consulting company, you have agreed to

a$.$ Define a project to study the market and manage the project

b$.$ Perform the market study

c$.$ Present the result in a report format

$2.$ In this project, you should define the project using the concepts you

have learned in different book chapters.

$3.$ You must add the project management, communication, testing, and

training tasks as needed to make the project successful. Use the

information in the case, other assignments, and your ideas to ensure a

quality implementation throughout the project.

Mini$-$Project $1$ Task List

$1.$ Please develop an effective charter.

a$.$ An effective charter should authorize the project manager to proceed.

It should also help the project manager, core team, and sponsor

develop a shared understanding. It should further help the project

manager, core team, and sponsor commit to the project.

b$.$ A Charter is like a contract because

i$.$ it is an agreement entered into by the two parties through

consensus, and one of them cannot arbitrarily change it$.$

ii$.$ It is a living document that can be changed if both parties agree

and both receive something of value.

c$.$ In the meantime, a charter is different from a contract since

i$.$ parties agree to the project's $"$ spirit. $"$ The details are not

worked out yet, so there is no "fine print" as in many contracts.

ii$.$ The schedule, budget, exact deliverables, etc., may change, but

all parties agree to keep working hard to help make the project

successful.