Intrapreneurship Staffing Plan
Intrapreneurship Staffing Plan
The decision was made in the previous assignment to design and market a digital camera in an intrapreneurial relationship with GoPro. GoPro is a smaller firm with top-line performance of $1.2 billion in 2015 (Roberts, 2016) By partnering with GoPro, Apple works with small, competitive and innovative firm an GoPro gets to realize the benefits of marketing a product with an industry leader that can produce volume and market to sell high volumes in Apple. Apple is recognized for having high-quality camera devices built into a number of their technologies. The iPad, iPod and iPhone all come with cameras built into the device. When Apple began marketing devices with cameras built into them the consumer market was satisfied, and the digital camera market has declined ever since (Shih, 2016). Between 2011 and 2013 the disuptive nature of the Apple devices was most pronounced, as Canon camera sales declined 26% and Nikon’s declined 30% from 2012 to 2013 (Weeks, 2015). Industry leaders consider the digital camera market to be dying a quick death; however, the development of new camera technologies that can do what other Apple devices cannot could re-awaken the digital camera market. A team of qualified personnel must be assembled in order to draft new innovations that will respond to the problem of designing a better digital camera and re-invigorating a market that Apple helped kill only a few years prior.
The digital camera represents an entirely new line of business for Apple. Many of Apple’s devices are based on similar designs, therefore product development, manufacturing and marketing processes are similar and different products can be handled by the same staff. This is not true for the proposed camera. A temporary cross-functional project team should be assembled to research and develop the new camera, however a permanent manufacturing team will need to build and market the new product (McConnell & Brue, 208). The project team will require engineers with experience designing camera hardware and software. The project team will also need to have engineers with a background in Apple operating systems who can design modifications to the operating system for an Apple digital camera. The team will also need to have a business process engineer who will be able to design the system in which the camera is manufactured from the point of receipt of raw materials to the delivery of the finished good to the consumer. Accounting, supply chain management and marketing staff should also be a part of this team in order to consult with project leadership about issues such as procurement, sales and financing the new product.
Team Recruitment
An advantage of the decline of the digital camera market has been that the firms that design digital cameras are now letting go of skilled and experienced staff (Das & Ghosh, 2015. Apple is a second chance for these workers, hence Apple may be able to encourage camera designers who are currently out of work and designers who do not feel that the future is bright for the market to join the Apple project. Apple is also engaging in an intrapreneurial agreement with GoPro, therefore there are a number of innovative camera design engineers to select from.
Team recruitment should be done from several different sources where the core competencies of each firm can be optimized and the resources that neither firm has can be obtained. Camera hardware design staff should come from GoPro almost exclusively. This is because GoPro competes in the market and has successfully grown whereas other competitors have shrunk. Members of the team who will handle this responsibility should be recruited by offering by selling to them the Apple brand and that if they are a part of the team they can have on their resume that they successfully completed a project with apple. Camera software should be a joint project between GoPro and Apple software engineers. Engineers of the Apple OS software and camera-related applications should take the lead on software, however GoPro engineers should be consulted with regard to the unique nuances of digital camera operating systems. Members of this team should be sold on the idea that the are introducing Apple software to a new device, and that this experience makes their skills more marketable. Finance and supply chain consultants should come from Apple. Apple handles the hardware and has a great deal of experience and relationships globally; therefore, Apple supply chain professionals should lead. Apple is also the larger firm; therefore, their finance staff will have control of additional project spending. Marketing responsibility should be on the shoulders of both firms. Apple has encroached on the digital camera market, however, Apple does not understand it extensively. GoPro market professionals can leverage their knowledge and experience to respond to the marketing of the camera. Staff such as a business process engineer should come from outside of the company. This product is going to be something new, the design of business process should not reflect the practices of either firm.
Team Leadership
Leadership of this project should be taken by the group designing the new hardware. This is because the group designing the new hardware will be the starting point for how software will work, the cost of materials and how the camera will be marketed to the public. Hardware engineering should give information to all other groups of the team and solicit feedback and manage the feedback received so that it aligns in a better product.
Job Posting for Hardware Engineer
Employer Description
Apple/GoPro is an intrapreneurship of two leaders in the digital device industry. These two firms seek to design an innovative new digital camera that will revitalize the digital camera market.
Apple has been a leader in information systems and innovator in digital devices for decades. GoPro is a start-up that has had success growing in the past half-decade.
Job Description
Apple/GoPro will design and manufacture digital cameras. A creative Digital Camera Design Engineer is sought to develop the camera and image system.
Duties
The engineer will design the specifications of the new camera.
Salary
$113,866 (“Hardware Engineer”, 2016).
Conclusion
In closing, Apple has a difficult challenge in re-creating a market that their own innovations helped kill only a few years before. Skilled, knowledgeable and able staff will be necessary on a project team if the firm will be successful. The members of the team need to be experienced in the digital camera realm and should be capable of engaging in paradigm-shifting innovation. Participating in an intrapreneurial relationship with GoPro facilitates this effectively as the firms are able to capitalize on elements of the core competencies that fit with the design and manufacture of the new camera.
References
McConnell, C., & Brue, S. (2008). The business enterprise: Economic concepts supplement (17th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Roberts, J. (2016). Mobile Tech Report 2016: Technology news from 2015 and predictions. Beaverton, OR: Mindwarm Incorporated.
Shih, W. (2016). The Real Lessons from Kodak's Decline. MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(4), 11.
Weeks, M. R. (2015). Olympus and the micro four-thirds camera system: disrupting the digital camera industry. Journal of Business Cases and Applications, 14, 1-20.
Hardware Engineer. (2016). Salary.com. Retrieved from http://swz.salary.com/ SalaryWizard/Hardware-Engineer-III-Salary-Details.aspx.
Das, J. K., & Ghosh, S. (2016, April). Stress Caused by Retrenchment and Attrition in Information Technology and Retail Sectors: A Critical Review Based on Case Studies. In Globsyn Management Conference 2015 (Vol. 1, p. 91). Allied Publishers.
