Janet H. Kim
Case Study #2
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Managerial Self-Readiness Analysis

Case Analysis: Planning a New Program Launch at LDC

1. What adjustments would you make at this point? Would you cancel the program or run it at a loss?
At this point, I would probably run the program at a loss. There are still 10 participants for the program, which is a little more than half the usual size of the mid-level managers. The 10 participants might enjoy the program very much and refer all their managers to take the mid-level programs. Because the money for brochures and others things were already spent, there is no point of canceling the program. If anything, it would look bad on the LDC Company for canceling and failing at a new program they were trying to start. I would just try to make sure this program is successfully run so that there is a high return rate for the companies that send their mid-level managers to attend more programs. The loss with this program might be able to be made up for the mid-level manager program.

2. Draw a Gantt chart of the sequence and timing of key activities. What insights does this give you regarding the plan and its implementation?
The Gantt chart sequence and timing of events shows that there was enough time for the managers to change their plans between the time the inquiries began to decrease and the due date of the application. They could've all come together and came up with a better way to answer their inquiries or pull in more senior executives to attend. Observing from number of inquiries that came in with the number of people who submitted applications, there was obviously something missing from the program that the senior executives were looking for.

3. What do you think went wrong? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the planning process used in this case?
I think that they could've taken a different approach to advertise their program for senior executives. In the beginning the inquiries regarding the program were 100% higher than other new programs launched in the past, but they couldn't sell the program well enough for these senior executives to decide to attend. Pam should've put a meeting or convention together or visited these executives to really sell their program in a more appealing way. There was also too much time between receiving the brochure and the due date for applications. The 12-week period gave the senior executives too much time to think it over and change their minds. Maybe a shortened period of decision time would've helped LDC.

4. LDC seemed to follow a planning process that had worked well for its mid-level managerial programs. Are there differences between senior executives and mid-level managers that might explain why the plan did not seem as successful as anticipated? Could these differences have been anticipated? Should they have been?
There is a different between mid-level managers and senior executives. Senior executives may think that they do not need to take a training program for leadership because they are already in a high position. Pam should have anticipated this difference and should have addressed this by making it sound more appealing for those who have more power i.e. senior executives.

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