preview

Terracog Case Study Essay

Better Essays

TerraCog Case Study Background TerraCog, Inc. is a privately held company specializing in high quality GPS and fishing sonar equipment. Although TerraCog was not always first to market with their new products, they were known for surpassing their competitors in addressing consumer needs because of their innovation in creating exceptional product design and functionality. In 2006, TerraCog’s competitor, Posthaste, launched BirdsI, the only handheld GPS with satellite imagery. Caught off guard by the product’s success, TerraCog President, Richard Fiero, makes a snap decision to satisfy the “gadget” appeal of BirdsI by launching the company’s own version of the competing GPS called Aerial. However, as TerraCog moved forward with the …show more content…

As a result, departments greeted the decision to launch Aerial with a not so enthusiastic response. Because group decision making generates more complete information and knowledge and offers an increased diversity of view, the executives would have benefitted more by meeting with stakeholders and explaining the challenges the company faced with not initially responding to BirdsI and discussing the go forward plan to develop a competing product. When choosing group decision making techniques, the best approach for TerraCog seems to be the interacting group technique. This approach is most effective for achieving commitment to a solution which in this case, is the decision to launch Aerial. When stakeholders participate in decision making, they are more likely to enthusiastically support the decision and encourage others to accept it. Not only was there a weakness in the decision making process at TerraCog, Project Aerial was also operating with a working group and not a true working team. A work group’s goal is to share information leaving each individual accountable for their own work while the group’s synergy is neutral, sometimes negative. Furthermore, the group lacked cohesiveness as each department worked in individual silos. The sales team did not have input into the product, nor was the production team given a chance to review the design and offer

Get Access