Project Part
Description/Requirements of Project Part
Evaluation Criteria
1
Dirt Bikes U.S.A.—Case Study
Task 1:
Examine the Dirt Bikes U.S.A.case
study and review How to Analyze a Case Study.
After reading the case study, review the following
information:
·Company History and Background
·Organization Chart and Employees
·Products and Services
·Sales and Marketing
On the basis of this information,
answer the following questions:
Which
products should the company restock?
Which
stores and sales regions would benefit
from promotional campaigns and
additional
marketing?
When
(what time of year) should the company
offer products at full price and when
should it offer discounts?
Task 2:
Dirt Bikes’ management wants to be sure that it is pursuing
the right competitive strategy. You have been asked to
perform a competitive
analysis of the company to find the information you need.
Prepare a report that
analyzes Dirt Bikes using the value chain and competitive
forces models. Your
report should include the following:
1. Which activities at Dirt Bikes create the most
Criteria
Points Assigned
Points Earned
Did the students answer the specified case study questions?
Did you provide answers that follow a logical pattern and
include an explanation for assumptions and appropriate
examples?
35%
45%
Did you include appropriate spreadsheet data to support
their answers?
20%
2
BU131Project
Project Part
Description/Requirements of Project Part
Evaluation Criteria
value?
How does Dirt Bikes provide value to its
customers?
Who are Dirt Bikes’ major competitors? How do
the prices of their products compare
with those of Dirt Bikes’? What product features do they
emphasize?
What are the competitive forces that can affect the
industry?
What competitive strategy should Dirt Bikes pursue?
What information systems best support that strategy?
(Optional) Use electronic presentation software to
summarize your findings for the management.
Task 3:
Dirt Bikes would like to implement new software for
production planning, quality control, and scheduling. The
software will be
used by 25 members of the company’s manufacturing staff. The
management is
wondering whether to purchase the software from a commercial
vendor along
with the hardware required or to use a hosted software
solution from a
Software as a Service (SaaS) provider. (The hosted software
runs on the
service provider’s computer.) You have been asked to help the
management with
this rent-versus-buy decision by calculating the total cost
of each option
over a three-year period. The cost of purchasing the software
includes the
initial purchase price of the software (licensing fee of
$100,000 in the
first year), and the cost of implementing
3
BU131Project
Project Part
Description/Requirements of Project Part
Evaluation Criteria
and customizing the software in the first year ($20,000).
Hardware costs include a server to run the software (a
first-year purchase of
$4,000), one information systems specialist devoting half his
or her time to
support the software ($55,000 in full-time annual salary and
benefits with a
3 percent annual salary increase each year after the first
year), and user
training in the first year ($10,000).You also need to account
for the cost of
annual software upgrades ($5,000). On the other hand, the
costs of renting
hosted software include the rental fees ($2,500 annually per
user),
implementation and customization costs ($12,000 in the first
year), and
training ($10,000 in the first year).
Use your spreadsheet software to calculate the total
cost of renting or purchasing this software over a three-year
period.
Identify the lowest- price alternative that meets Dirt Bikes’
requirements.
What other factors should Dirt Bikes consider,
besides cost, while determining whether to rent or buy the
hardware and
software?
(Optional) If possible, use electronic presentation
software to summarize your findings for management.
Other samples, services and questions:
When you use PaperHelp, you save one valuable — TIME
You can spend it for more important things than paper writing.
