There were several areas that students can improve on in future case reports:
- Recommendations should try to distinguish between what the company is doing (has done) and the recommended course of action. For instance, if the recommendation is for HTC to go into tablets, then talk about what HTC’s tablet offering are and what you would change. If the recommendation is to go to China, discuss what they are already doing in China and how you would augment those efforts. If the recommendation is to increase marketing, discuss the current marketing spending. If recommendation is to change product mix, then go to its website and discuss its products.
- Recommendations should not be overly broad, but specific enough to be actionable. Stating that a firm should go to international is too broad, so is saying “Europe” or “Asia”.
- Recommendations should incorporate numbers, especially if the recommendation is to increase/decrease an expense. Suggesting an increase in marketing or an increase in R&D but not providing any numbers on how much of an increase, to what level or benchmarking to competitors is too vague. Many of these recommendations did not incorporate data on how much HTC already spends on marketing or R&D and if this has been going up or down. (Also please remember to convert from TWD to USD if you are making comparisons to others in dollar amounts.)
- Remember competitors. What are competitors doing? For instance, one may want to compare HTC’s offerings to Samsung’s or LG’s. What is to prevent a competitor from doing what you propose HTC to do? What will competitors do in the future? For instance, if HTC were to partner with Microsoft, does it have an advantage against Nokia? Along those lines, if it were to release a mid-price phone is that what Nokia did when it cut the price of its Lumia phone to $99. One could use this example to show what the increase in sales is likely to be.
- Think through the recommendation, especially its potential pitfalls, and address the issues that arise. If the recommendation is to decrease customization, what would this do to its relationship with carriers? Is decreasing customization the same as reducing product mix? Would doing this mean that HTC has to release a “hero” or “flagship” phone? If this is the case, then the recommendation is really about releasing flagship phones that enable HTC to decrease customization and product mix. In thinking through the recommendation, it will enable you to see the key course of action.
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