E-Business team hits the mark
Jake Strzelecki `02
Issue date: 11/13/01 Section: Features
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On September 24th, 2001, a few members of the Johnson School community were pleasantly surprised when they opened the Wall Street Journal. Intuit Inc., an accounting software firm, announced a host of new products aimed at businesses with more than 25 employees. Previously, this market had gone largely untapped by the firm. The kicker to the story is that this shift in strategy was exactly what our 11-member team from the E-Business Immersion – Spring ‘01 had recommended to Intuit.
Peter Dukes, the Intuit project sponsor and a JGSM alum, said the team did a “great job in researching the market and analyzing the opportunities available. The team had limited information, limited knowledge of the business, and a short amount of time yet recommended a strategic direction that was right in line with what Intuit decided to do.” Amazingly, development of this strategy was not the original charter of the project. The team’s mission was to develop a product marketing strategy for one of Intuit’s existing products targeted at small businesses. An intense analysis yielded the marketing solution for small businesses but also gave rise to a new opportunity for Intuit—developing higher priced products for the mid-sized business market, defined as companies with 25 or more employees.
The development process was thorough and arduous. Group members surveyed local and non-local businesses regarding their accounting software use. Periodicals and analyst reports were scoured for information on competitors, their strategies, their products, and trends in the software industry. Intuit intentionally provided little information to assist the team—preferring instead to see what our unbiased team could produce. Following hours of discussion and debate that would make a fascinating MLO case, the team set down to produce the final presentation and report. Step-by-step strategies were developed complete with business justifications, target markets, customer potential, market share forecasts, required features, product launch timelines, product positioning, pricing, alliance candidates, and full profit and loss estimates. The end result—a 70-plus page report and a 70-slide presentation.
The presentation impressed the Intuit staff and wowed Professors Conway and McAdams. It seemed as if the two of them were about to jump out of their chairs with excitement as the presenters discussed our analysis and drove home each recommendation. The effort felt above and beyond typical class work at times, but in the end it sure felt good to do Cornell and the Johnson School proud.
Editors Note: Congratulations to Jake and his team on a very impressive accomplishment!
Peter Dukes, the Intuit project sponsor and a JGSM alum, said the team did a “great job in researching the market and analyzing the opportunities available. The team had limited information, limited knowledge of the business, and a short amount of time yet recommended a strategic direction that was right in line with what Intuit decided to do.” Amazingly, development of this strategy was not the original charter of the project. The team’s mission was to develop a product marketing strategy for one of Intuit’s existing products targeted at small businesses. An intense analysis yielded the marketing solution for small businesses but also gave rise to a new opportunity for Intuit—developing higher priced products for the mid-sized business market, defined as companies with 25 or more employees.
The development process was thorough and arduous. Group members surveyed local and non-local businesses regarding their accounting software use. Periodicals and analyst reports were scoured for information on competitors, their strategies, their products, and trends in the software industry. Intuit intentionally provided little information to assist the team—preferring instead to see what our unbiased team could produce. Following hours of discussion and debate that would make a fascinating MLO case, the team set down to produce the final presentation and report. Step-by-step strategies were developed complete with business justifications, target markets, customer potential, market share forecasts, required features, product launch timelines, product positioning, pricing, alliance candidates, and full profit and loss estimates. The end result—a 70-plus page report and a 70-slide presentation.
The presentation impressed the Intuit staff and wowed Professors Conway and McAdams. It seemed as if the two of them were about to jump out of their chairs with excitement as the presenters discussed our analysis and drove home each recommendation. The effort felt above and beyond typical class work at times, but in the end it sure felt good to do Cornell and the Johnson School proud.
Editors Note: Congratulations to Jake and his team on a very impressive accomplishment!