Description of the project:
The project involves a two-month tour to the East African market, which is aimed at creating brand awareness for AGCO products. In particular, the tour is aimed at raising awareness for Massey Ferguson tractors and combine harvesters, which will lead to increased sale of the products in the region. The tour will be undertaken by 10 marketing personnel who will visit the countries where agriculture is widely practiced including Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition, the team will try to understand the problems the farmers in the region are facing in the effort to solve them by designing and providing them with the most suitable tractor model.
Strategic objectives that relate to this p
roject:
Increasing the sale of AGCO’s products
Making AGCO the global leader in selling Agricultural machinery and equipments
The main target audience:
Ministry of Agriculture in the target countries
Farmers
Investors
The intended outcomes/deliverables of the project:
Increase awareness of the Massey Ferguson brand in East Africa
Increase the sale of the brand in the region by at least 20 percent within 6 months after the visit
The particular aspects of the project:
Time span: 2 months
Team size: 10 people
Project area: East Africa
Other comments:
After the proposed marketing tour has been completed, frequent visits to the region are necessary as direct impacts of the project may not be seen immediately. Direct and main impacts involve the ability of Massey Ferguson tractor to compete with equivalent tractor models, particularly New Holland, which is entering the market at a high rate.
Proposed project timeline
Time (weeks)
Notes
Project lifespan: include dates or total time required for completion
Phase 1: Scoping and feasibility
Phase 2: Planning
Planning will begin 2 weeks after the start of the feasibility and scoping phase. Therefore, it will run for 1 week after the first phase
Phase 3: Implementation
Implementation will only begin after phase 3 is complete
Phase 4: Evaluation
Evaluation will begin two weeks after implementation. Therefore, it will run for two weeks after the project is complete
Proposed budget
Detail proposed budget or financial constraints for the project.
Item 1: Air ticket for the entire team
$ 7500
Item 2: Food and accommodation
$ 26250
Item 3: Load transport in East Africa
$ 5000
Item 5: Communication
$ 500
Item 6: Business Meetings with audience
$ 1000
Item 7: additional allowances for participants
$ 15000
Total of proposed budget
$ 55250
Scope signoff
This scope has been approved by:
Project Sponsor
Part 2: Scoping Report
Introduction
East Africa provides a huge market for Agricultural machinery and equipments especially due to extensive Agricultural activities taking place in East African countries, particularly Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Salami, Kamara and Brixiova 2010). This makes the region an open market for different manufacturers, which is characterized by the presence of various brands, such as Massey Ferguson, New Holland, Case and SAME tractors (and combine harvesters). To dominate this market, extensive marketing is required, which will make the Massey Ferguson brand to the preferred brand in the market, which will increase the sale of Massey Ferguson brands in the region.
Project Scope
Definition of the scope of the project
The project involves a tour to the East Africa to meet governments, farmers and investors for business purposes. The trip is aimed at creating brand awareness for Massey Ferguson tractors and harvesters, which is aimed at increasing the sale of the products in the region. Further, the trip is aimed at interacting with farmers to understand their problems and needs to design and provide them with suitable models of the two products. Meeting with investors and governments in the aforementioned countries is aimed at establishing business relationship with the countries through dealership and franchises. The tour will be undertaken by 10 marketing personnel. The outcomes of the tour, which will take some times to be visible, are increased sale of the two products, market dominance by the products and consequent improvement in overall AGCO’s income.
Identification of the stakeholders in the project detailing the area of involvement
The project involves a number of stakeholders whose involvement will contribute towards the success of the project. The company, AGCO, is the main stakeholder. Particularly, the marketing department, which will finance the project, is the main stakeholder. The marketing department will also provide 10 marketing professionals who will participate in the project. Governments, farmers and investors in the countries being visited comprise a crucial stakeholder in the project. Collectively, they are clients to whom the company, AGCO, is willing to sell the aforementioned products. Their willingness to participate is crucial to the success of the project. The transport system, comprising of air travel agencies and load travel agencies comprise another crucial stakeholder. Air travel agencies will provide transport to and from the United States to East Africa. Road transport agencies will provide the team with road transport services while in East Africa, which will enable the team to move around the countries when implementing the project. Hotels and catering services also constitute another crucial stakeholder. These will provide the team with food, drinks and accommodation while in East Africa.
Identification and explanation of the issues/limits/constraints for the project
The project is expected to face a number of constraints especially during the implementation stage. Unfavourable weather conditions may prevent effective and efficient implementation especially when meeting farmers. In addition, convening meetings with farmers will be challenging considering the limited time available for the team in East Africa. Cultural and language difference is also expected to be a potentially serious issue that may face the project especially when meeting farmers who do not understand English (Chiswick and Miller 2004). Team members will be English speakers (with little knowledge, if any, of East African Languages). In case some farmers do not understand English, communication will be a problem. Human resource issues will also affect the project in that there will be consequent adjustment period before the team resumes to its normal working schedule (University of Technology Sydney (UTS) 2006)
Identification and explanation of the assumptions of the project
Language and culture barrier has been highlighted as an issue likely to affect effective implementation. However, it is assumed that, due to the high level of education in the country, a high percentage of our audience, particularly farmers, will understand English and that they will help their colleagues who do not understand English to understand us and vice versa.
Specification of initial timelines
The project is comprised of four phases: scoping & feasibility, planning, implementation and evaluation (Berkun 2008: 260).
Proposed project timeline
Activities
Proposed time span
Proposed start date
Scoping & Feasibility
Feasibility
2 weeks
1st January, 2013
Planning
Team selection
Getting travel documents
Flight booking
Booking accommodation
4 weeks
14th January, 2013
Implementation
Visiting relevant government ministries, farmers and investors
8 weeks
14th February, 2013
Evaluation
8 weeks
1st March, 2013
2.6 Representation of task allocations
Allocate person/party/department
Conducting feasibility study
Marketing department
Selecting team
Project leader (senior marketing manager)
Applying for travel documents
Relations manager
Booking flights
Relations manager
Booking accommodation
Relations manager
Implementing project
Project team
Evaluation
Marketing department
Explanation of the relationship of the project to other projects and to the organisation
This project contributes towards the organization’s strategic objective, becoming the global leader in Agricultural machinery and equipments (Massey Ferguson 2012) since it will increase awareness and increased use of its products. Further, the project contributes towards product development projects since it will facilitate the collection of user needs, which will serve as inputs for the development projects.
Estimation and explanation of costs, resources requirements and other relevant factors
The project requires 10 marketing professionals to implement. This number is sufficient to visit the aforementioned countries within the proposed time. The total cost of the project will be $55250, which will cover travelling costs, food, and accommodation, meeting expenses, communication expenses and additional allowances for the participants. Additional allowances will serve as risk allowances for the people who will implement the project.
Conclusions and recommendations
The project will help AGCO to realize its strategic objective, to become the global market leader in Agricultural machinery and equipments. Further, the project will help product development projects being undertaken by the organization. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the marketing department finances the project soonest possible so that the project will proceed as planned. Follow ups are necessary after the project has been completed to ensure brands lead in the market.
References
Berkun, S. 2008. Making things Happen: Mastering Project Management, Revised Edition.
O’Reilly, p 260
Chiswick, and Miller, P. 2004. Linguistic Distance: A Quantitative Measure of Distance
between English and Other Languages. IZA Discussion Paper
Massey Ferguson. 2012, Massey Ferguson. Accessed 22 August, 2012 from
<http://www.masseyferguson.us/>
Salami, A. Kamara, A.B. & Brixiova, Z. 2010. Smallholder Agriculture in East Africa: Trends,
Constraints and Opportunities. African Development Bank Group. Accessed 22 August
2012 from
<http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/WORKING%20105 %20%20PDF%20d.pdf>
August, 2012 from <http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/stepbystep/planning1.html>
