Terracog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

Situation Analysis:

TerraCog started with manufacturing fishing sonar equipment has now sales extensively and specialized in providing high-quality and durable Global Positioning System (GPS) products too. TerraCog’s skill in converting the external feedback to exceptional design and functionality has fuelled the company’s growth. Even though the company was not the first to market most of the past instances, this did not hinder the growth of the company. With this kind of record in the past, TerraCog has the comfort of entering the market late and still come out with good sales.

The problem began in Summer 2006, where a competitor named Posthaste announced its product ‘BirdsI’ which integrated the satellite imagery with existing GPS. TerraCog wrote off quickly stating that according to their research it lacks in both accuracy and reception quality. But as soon as the product launched it was a great success because it was more compelling to look than conventional GPS. Underestimation of the competitor and ignoring the evolving market trends always is a mistake. They could have researched a bit more from the customer perspective and decided completely writing it off.

Ed Pryor, VP of Sales, finally began pressing to consider the decision of developing a satellite imagery-based GPS product to meet the customer and retailer demand. Richard Fiero, President of TerraCog, agreed to take the product development further and gave the team goals as the product should be completed right the first time and the company’s reputation for quality should be paramount. They also agreed on trading off the speed for meeting the sophisticated graphics requirement. This initiative was dubbed as Project Aerial and the team decided to redesign within the existing GPS product to avoid costs for new moldings and reconfigurations. This decision can also not be welcomed by the customer as it was just an upgraded version of the existing product. With the resources of the company, TerraCog could have developed a superior product which could be the next big thing.

Terracog expected that Aerial should be available in stores by the 2008 holiday season. But the product development didn’t welcome this as it is pushing several other ideas backseat on which the company can capitalize. By the end of 2007, the design team completed