Assignment 2

Case: Activision: The ‘Kelly Slater...’ project

For the course Innovation Management 2011
Handing in your assignment

This assignment regarding the Activision: The ‘Kelly Slater’s Pro-surfer project case
should be delivered through the Assignment Section on Blackboard before Wednesday,
April 20, 2011, 12.00 hours. Be sure to use internet explorer when uploading your
assignment!

Delivery after this date and time will be rejected. If you have any problems or questions about
this assignment or the delivery process, please send an e-mail to: im-I ba@rsm.nl

Naming the file you hand in

The name of the file to hand in through assignment should be in the following format:

“Student number”- “surname”- “first name”-Assignment2-IM2011

Answering the Assignment Questions

You are asked to answer the assignment questions in a copy of this document.
Please use the answering Boxes in the assignment. Please provide answers in the following
format: Times New Roman, size 10, and single spaced. There is absolutely no necessity to use
more space than given in the box (in fact, correct answers can easily be given in about halve
the space in the box).

In the assignment, space is reserved for grading purposes. These are the yellow boxes. Please
do NOT use these for the answers to the questions.

Notice that there are 4 pages in this document including 3 questions.

Student number: 318890

Surname:
Teijgeler

First name:
Claudia
International BA
(IBA) or
Dutch BA
IBA
(DBA)

Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 1 of 6
 Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 2 of 6
Assignment question 1

a. Please answer the following brief questions about the Activision case:
 How expensive is it to develop and launch a typical new game in the industry?
 What is the chance that a newly introduced game makes a profit?
 What is the length of the product life-cycle of a computer game?
 What is the most expensive stage for Activision in the development of a video
game?
b. Give two reasons for the delay of the Kelly Slater project and explain why they cause
delay.

Question 1a results in 4 brief answers that can all be found in the text of the case and
require only one word or number. The answer to question 1b requires two reasons for
delay, including a brief explanation why each of them is a cause for delay

(BKB0028 students may write their answers in Dutch)

Box for Answering Box

grading
purposes

Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 3 of 6
Assignment Question 2:

In the article of Sethi and Iqbal it is argued that the use of strict gate criteria makes the new
product development process inflexible.
a. Answer the following questions:
 What is output control according to the above article?
 What is process control according to the above article?
 What is according to the other article (Iansiti) meant by freezing the product
concept?
b. Assume that after the concept development stage the product concept has been
“frozen”. Is this an example of process control or output control for the next stage of
the product development process? Give one argument why it is the one you selected
and one argument why the other control type is not correct.

Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 4 of 6
The answer to question 2a consists of a list of three brief descriptions from the article.
The answer to question 2b requires a comparison of the control types of the one article
with the concept of design freeze in the other article and should result in one argument
pro the chosen control type and one argument against the other control type
Box for Answering Box
grading
purposes

Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 5 of 6
Assignment Question 3:

In the article of Iansiti the overlap between different stages of the product development
process is discussed. Compare this with gate conditionality (article Sethi and Iqbal)
a. What is gate conditionality?
b. Compare gate conditionality (Sethi and Iqbal) with overlap of stages (Iansiti). Give
one difference and one similarity, including an explanation why it is a difference or
similarity.

The answer to question 3a is a description from the article. The answer to question 3b
consists of one difference (plus explanation) and one similarity (plus explanation)

Box for Answering Box

grading
purposes

Assignment 2
Case 2: Activision
For the course Innovation Management 2011
Page 6 of 6