Peer-graded Assignment: What should

eTypes do going forward?

Why a strong strategy is essential for the future business success?
The reason why having a strategy is essential for the future of e-Types is because it gives business
time to get a sense of how they are preforming, what their capabilities are, and if these capabilities
are able to help them grow.

Formulate a business strategy that suits the needs and visions

Before making any strategic decision, e-Types need to examine their position simply by making a
SWOT analysis, which will help them take strategic actions:
STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES
• Strong and skillful team that believes • Edgy design style that cannot be
in their capabilities applicable to all clients’ needs or
• Representative edgy style that projects
distinguishes from the competition • Lack of opportunities for growth

OPPORTUNITES THREATHS
• Invitation to a contest that will enable • High competition of prominent design
them to show off companies
• Eventual winning will open many • Contest that unofficially expects
other business opportunities for conservative design entries
growth
Having the situation analysis like this, it is easier to make strategy formulation:

‘Use team’s readiness and commitment to success to grab the given opportunity, which eventual
positive outcome will enable the company wider exposure and growth opportunities. Such exposure
not only will overcome the current weaknesses from market and financial perspective but will also
put the company in a position of high demand, hence possibility to pursue the design style with
clients of their choice.’

Why managers too often formulate sub-optimal strategies

Suboptimal practices in companies are a situation whereby responsible managers fail to do the right
thing just to take advantage of existing controls and procedures.

Although it is good to have the recognizable work style as a company value, and build the brand and
image upon that, in the case with the Team Danmark’s contest, e-Types should be reasonable and
make the design proposal close to the more stereotypical expectations.

There are two reasons why.

First, it is a design project that should match wider audience’s perception of the national symbol and
make the people identify with it. And when it comes to a design project of such category, ‘edgy’ is
the wrong choice. Majority of the audience do not have the sharp eye for design and the organizer of
the contest will not go with an option that is hard to be understood.

Second, sticking strongly to the company’s ‘edgy’ design principles in the contest, is a barrier for
winning it from the start, as we had the chance to see the odds made by the e-Types team in one of
the videos.
And that will mean, loosing a chance to win a financial award and prestige to have a won project that
is of a national interest.

e-Types faces a serious challenge that affects the main value and the pillar of their existence so far.
The design options should be perceived as growth options. And growth means coming out of the
comfort zone and be able to see the business potential of the opportunities that come on the way.
Submitting the ‘conservative’ design increases the chance of winning the contest and moreover
means that e-Types team has gone upper in the maturity scale by understanding that the best
design is the one that fits the needs of it.

They can make enough money with being edgy, but they won’t grow with the desired pace. So, the
way to success should be grabbing the options that arise and adapt to the actual needs that the
design projects have. That is the only way to get on the fast lane to greater success.

Measures to optimize current business strategies

e-Types should continue to follow the principles of their work, but also go for clients and projects that
will help them get out of the barriers of being edgy. That will help them improve their financial picture
and will allow them to invest in finding clients that will be ready to accept the progressive style that
this company offers. By having a wide portfolio of clients and projects they could still present their
most edgy work and position themselves as a company they want to be.

Every opportunity is important to be considered especially the ones that promise high income.
Clients should not be turned down because of their design preferences. Such challenges should be
considered as a test for claiming the maturity of being able to understand client’s needs and the
needs od the design they are asking for.

So, starting ‘from tomorrow’, e-Types should participate in the contest by submitting their first design
even though the team is not satisfied with their work completely. Even they don’t win the contest
they will win over the barrier of their reasoning. On a mid-term they will start to see the benefits of
the work of scale and that will reflect on the longer-term strategy where they will handle large
portfolio of clients and sizes of projects. This will give them freedom on longer term to present a
portfolio of the most edgy designs and position themselves as a company based on their core value.
Peer-graded Assignment: Which Design
Strategy formulation

What should the e-Types strategy be going forward?

Before making any strategic decision, e-Types need to examine their position simply by making
a SWOT analysis, which will help them take strategic actions:
STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES

• Strong and skillful team that believes
in their capabilities
• Representative edgy style that
distinguishes from the competition
OPPORTUNITES
• Edgy design style that cannot be
applicable to all clients’ needs or
projects
• Lack of opportunities for growth
THREATHS

• Invitation to a contest that will enable • High competition of prominent design

them to show off companies
• Eventual winning will open many • Contest that unofficially expects
other business opportunities for conservative design entries
growth

Having the situation analysis like this, it is easier to make strategy formulation:

‘Use team’s readiness and commitment to success to grab the given opportunity, which
eventual positive outcome will enable the company wider exposure and growth opportunities.
Such exposure not only will overcome the current weaknesses from market and financial
perspective but will also put the company in a position of high demand, hence possibility to
pursue the design style with clients of their choice.’

Should they continue to prefer "edgy" work and build a reputation for that? Or should
they "grow up" and broaden their approach to appeal to more clients?

Although it is good to have the recognizable work style as a company value, and build the
brand and image upon that, in the case with the Team Danmark’s contest, e-Types should be
reasonable and make the design proposal close to the more stereotypical expectations.

There are two reasons why.

First, it is a design project that should match wider audience’s perception of the national symbol
and make the people identify with it. And when it comes to a design project of such category,
‘edgy’ is the wrong choice. Majority of the audience do not have the sharp eye for design and
the organizer of the contest will not go with an option that is hard to be understood.
 Second, sticking strongly to the company’s ‘edgy’ design principles in the contest, is a barrier
for winning it from the start, as we had the chance to see the odds made by the e-Types team
in one of the videos.
And that will mean, loosing a chance to win a financial award and prestige to have a won
project that is of a national interest.

Remember, this is an ambitious company; they want to grow large, but growth costs
money -- what direction will allow them to fulfill their ambitions?

e-Types faces a serious challenge that affects the main value and the pillar of their existence so
far. The design options should be perceived as growth options. And growth means coming out
of the comfort zone and be able to see the business potential of the opportunities that come on
the way. Submitting the ‘conservative’ design increases the chance of winning the contest and
moreover means that e-Types team has gone upper in the maturity scale by understanding that
the best design is the one that fits the needs of it.

Can they make enough money being edgy? Or must they broaden their appeal to grow?

They can make enough money with being edgy, but they won’t grow with the desired pace. So,
the way to success should be grabbing the options that arise and adapt to the actual needs that
the design projects have. That is the only way to get on the fast lane to greater success.

Strategy implementation

How should e-Types implement their strategy going forward?

e-Types should continue to follow the principles of their work, but also go for clients and
projects that will help them get out of the barriers of being edgy. That will help them improve
their financial picture and will allow them to invest in finding clients that will be ready to accept
the progressive style that this company offers. By having a wide portfolio of clients and projects
they could still present their most edgy work and position themselves as a company they want
to be.

Should they refuse to work on certain kinds of jobs? Should they turn some clients
down? If so, what kind of clients? Describe a step by step plan for implementing this
strategy, including short term (e.g., staring tomorrow), medium term (next few
weeks/months) and long term (next year and beyond) actions.

Every opportunity is important to be considered especially the ones that promise high income.
Clients should not be turned down because of their design preferences. Such challenges
should be considered as a test for claiming the maturity of being able to understand client’s
needs and the needs od the design they are asking for.

So, starting ‘from tomorrow’, e-Types should participate in the contest by submitting their first
design even though the team is not satisfied with their work completely. Even they don’t win the
contest they will win over the barrier of their reasoning. On a mid-term they will start to see the
benefits of the work of scale and that will reflect on the longer-term strategy where they will
handle large portfolio of clients and sizes of projects. This will give them freedom on longer
term to present a portfolio of the most edgy designs and position themselves as a company
based on their core value.
Peer-graded Assignment: Strategy
Implementation Plan for e-Types
1. The three implementation areas for e-types
- Goals and metrics
- Organizational structure
- Resistance and risks

Each of them is elaborated in the following sections of this document.

2. Select a strategic option for e-Types

Before making any strategic decision, e-Types need to examine their position simply by
making a SWOT analysis, which will help them choose the right strategic option:
STRENGHTS WEAKNESSES

• Strong and skillful team that believes
in their capabilities
• Representative edgy style that
distinguishes from the competition
OPPORTUNITES
• Edgy design style that cannot be
applicable to all clients’ needs or
projects
• Lack of opportunities for growth
THREATHS

• Invitation to a contest that will enable • High competition of prominent design

them to show off companies
• Eventual winning will open many • Contest that unofficially expects
other business opportunities for conservative design entries
growth

Having the situation analysis like this, it is easier to make strategy option:

Use team’s readiness and commitment to success to grab the given opportunity, which
eventual positive outcome will enable the company wider exposure and growth opportunities.
Such exposure not only will overcome the current weaknesses from market and financial
perspective but will also put the company in a position of high demand, hence possibility to
pursue the design style with clients of their choice.

3. Implementation plan
Goals and metrics
Description: E-types team has pretty much SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic
and Time related) and one obvious and single goal which is:

‘Create one design proposal within the deadline for submission and WIN the contest’
Substantiation: The state of this aspect for strategy implementation is halfway through. The team is
up for participating but still not sure which design style to follow while creating the proposal.
Recommendation for specific actions:

- Work on several design proposals

- Test the proposals among random people and make decision based on their opinion

Organizational structure
Description: E-types is a small organization which, given the setup, is working by a flat
organizational structure
Substantiation: In such an organization where each one’s opinion matters equally and employees
share the same passion for the work, only a small an informal chain of command should appear.
Recommendation for specific actions:

- Inclusion of everyone in the team while make the agreement on the design proposal
- Choose a team lead that will take care of the project milestones

Resistance and risks

Description: Applying with more conventional design solution at the contest will mean breaking the
ideology and principles of work of the company. In other words, for some team members it may
perceive it as a wrong sign for the direction the company is taking, and that situation won’t be
accepted gladly.
Substantiation: Employees may object to the approach of ‘going conventional’ for the purposes of a
single project. That may increase the risk of not participating equally and eventually loosing the faith
in what was meant to be.
Recommendation for specific actions:

- Provide all team members with a clear overview of the benefits which eventual win of the
contest may bring to the company, both from financial and from image perspective