Pro-Go Company: Strategic Management Assessment Stakeholder Meeting Simulation and White Paper

This report discusses the emergency situation faced by Pro-Go Company due to the explosion of their cameras and the termination of their contract with their largest customer. The report suggests preventive measures and a better business approach and strategy to avoid such issues in the future. The report also discusses legal issues and remedial measures that can be taken. The report concludes with recommendations for the company to diversify and focus on developing new and better products.

University:
Individual Assignment
ASSESSMENT 2 Part B BRIEF
Subject Code: MGT604
Subject title: Strategic Management Assessment Stakeholder
Meeting Simulation and White Paper
Name:

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Executive Summary
The whole work has been based upon the terms of carrying a detailed study related to the case of
Pro-Go company. The issues of the company have been considered including their defects in the
products, fall in demand, rise of competition from smartphone cameras and loss of their contract
with their main customer. From a perspective of a General Manager of the company, the issues
associated with the disaster brought on the company has been analyzed keeping in mind the
prescribing of certain ways of remittance which could help the company to avoid the issue and
align to other alternatives ways. Preventive measures have been suggested and a better business
approach and strategy has been devised here.

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Table of Contents
Introduction 5
Aim 5
Discussion 5
Conclusion 8
Recommendations 8
References 10
Appendices 11

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Introduction
Pro-Go had established a firm reputation within the field of high quality action cameras. It was
founded in 2004 and is based in Geelong, Victoria. Pro-Go has been consistently popular among
customers on account of some of its landmark innovations which have been patented. This has
afforded the organization a certain kind of monopolistic power in its niche. Currently, Pro-Go
has been attempting to devise a long term plan which takes into consideration some imminent
threats that might affect its position in the market. The major threat is that most smartphones are
equipped with highly advanced cameras and consumers might not be willing to buy stand-alone
cameras separately.
However, Pro-Go’s ambitions were put to a halt on account of a major setback that required
immediate intervention on the part of the management. A number of Pro-Go cameras have
started to burst into flames and reason behind the occurrence could not be deciphered. As a
result, a retail chain in China which was Pro-Go’s largest customer, accounting for about 70% of
their sales, terminated their contract. Within the span of 24 hours Pro-Go’s sales have dropped
by 50% and therefore, it shall require quick action in order to remedy the harm that has come
upon the organization.
Considering the above situation, a white paper needs to be prepared that shall address the
emergency. It has to be made sure that the reason for the disastrous occurrence is unearthed and
other customers have to be notified about the potential dangers that the cameras might pose. In
addition, a proper strategy has to be formulated that shall resolve the problem.
Aim
The aim of this report shall be to devise a strategy that shall be able to address the above
emergency that has arisen for Pro-Go and come up with effective solutions.
Discussion
In the meeting the chief executives of Pro-Go discussed the various aspects related to the
situation. The possible implications of the occurrence were also duly considered by the team and
a plan was made in order to address the threats that were imminent on the organization. The team

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had decided upon working in the following avenues in order to approach the problem in a
holistic manner:
Investigation of the Problem:
The investigative process shall require the intervention of an expert who shall have to be hired
to look into the technical issues of matter as it is advisable in case of such matters (McNeil, Frey,
& Embrechts, 2015). The employees have to be intimated immediately about the crisis and they
shall have to be asked whether they faced any issues with the handling of the products. In such
cases, the research and development wing might be able to provide valuable information (Wolke,
2017). On the other hand, it would also be of help if the customers’ experiences are put into
account as well. Staff have to be sent to the sites where the explosions have occurred in order to
determine whether there were external environmental factors in play that affected the
mechanism of the devices in an adverse way. Environmental conditions or bugs from other
connected devices might also be the reason for the problem. Often it is seen that there may be a
disorder in the electric connection or battery issues due to incorrect pairing or connecting with
other devices, and this may have been also the issue of explosion.
Discussion of key themes: -
Legal Issues to be Considered:
Different legal issues have come up in the way of the failure towards meeting the demands and
requirements of the customers. There has been several issue of non-compliance with safety
standards and other legal measures to be taken while conducting the manufacture of the Pro-Go
cameras. As per Section 27 of Work Health and Safety Act, the issues should have been
checked by the officers before giving permit at the selling of the products (Model WHS Laws,
2018). As per the Privacy legislations: Privacy Act 1988 and the Telecommunication Act, 1997,
as an individual has the sole right to own and preserve his/her own personal information. Due to
manufacturing of faulty products, the cameras have exploded and this has caused loss of private
data, thus hampering the theme of privacy. With the defects that have come upon, the company
has to abide to measures that would help them from facing legal consequences. Violation of
Safety measures and privacy legislative measures has led to making the products unsafe and
unreliable for use. In these situations, as per the legislation, the products should be recalled. As
per the Schedule 2 of Competition and Consumer Act (ACL), 2010 (Cth), the defective products

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have to be recalled as per the guidelines laid down in (ACL, Sections. 122-127) (Consumer
product safety recall guidelines, 2018). As per Section 128(2), Pro-Go should voluntarily recall
all the products and in written form to be notified to the consumers [Sections 125(3) & 128(5) of
the ACL] (Consumer product safety recall guidelines, 2018). If any changes in the recall or
follow-up of legislative issues occurs, the company has had to notify the Commonwealth
minister, otherwise of which, they can be charged of guilt under Section 201(1) of the Australian
Consumer Law.
Remedial Measures:
First of all, all customers and retailers dealing in Pro-Go cameras must be notified about the
issue that has arisen regarding the devices. Sufficient reparations should be paid to the customers
who have been affected by the bursting and their medical expenses have to be cleared by the
organization if it is revealed that the fault was internal to the devices.
Moreover, since the retailer in China has terminated the contract, attempts should be made at
initiating dialogues with the retailer again by assuring it that the issue shall be properly
identified and measures shall be taken to repair the faulty products. Further, the company as of
now has to diversify in other product and try to find alternative and adjacent markets so that
they can sustain themselves and their activities (Bromiley, McShane, Nair, & Rustambekov,
2015).
Preventive Measures:
The current issues that have come up has to be considered at the first and the overall long term
plans have to be given up for the time being. In order to get out of the grave issue and liquidation
of the company, some important preventive measures have to be taken apart from the first one.
Staffs have to be offered redundancy and redeployment of staffs have to be done so that the
overall skilled staffs remain employed in each the department. For the time being, the total
production level has to be cuddled in order to bring a decrease in the level of demand (scale
back production). This also has to be done at that the defective products can be recalled. The
company also has to consider an exchange plan along with the recall plan which has done by
Samsung company when the Note 6 models started catching fire and exploding when the
customers used them. Samsung exchanged and immediately recall the products. Apart from this

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measure, the defective products available at the stock have to sorted out as per serial numbers,
they have to be repaired and alternative technology have to be used so that such issues do not
arise. Further, the company has to communicate properly with the supplier and enquire about the
product mechanisms and standards that are being followed by them. If it is found that the
supplier does not comply to proper standards while manufacturing and does not maintain proper
quality, then the contract with the contractor has to be terminated. In that case, an alternative and
more responsible supplier has to found and contacted.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be observed that the issue is of utmost urgency and the key members of the
management have taken up the issue with the seriousness it deserves. The looming problem has
been categorized and classified under the four head mentioned in the discussion section. This
helps in systematically approaching the problem. However, it must also be remembered that the
four categories are not separate entities and they require to function in an integrated manner.
Therefore, a proper communication network must be established among the teams that shall be
deployed in order to resolve the specific issues.
Recommendations
In order to bring forth proper development and issue resolution, the issues have been identified
and they have been categorized on the basis of main for themes. The themes have been arrived
upon based on finding the basis of the issues and defining the legal considerations that have
come up, the remedial terms that can be taken and preventions that can be taken so that in future
such an issue does not occur. The company has to be more systematic and strategic in order to
get rid of the issues and revise its overall status and health. The management body has to
organize teams based on common aptitudes and a transparent form of communication has to be
inculcated in them (Hopkin, 2018). The problems have to be immediately discussed with the
members as well as the immediate reporting person and innovative solutions have to be taken.
The team members have to be given autonomy and each of their prescriptions have to be taken
into account in order to make the remedial strategy more innovative prevent the liquidation of
the organization (Lam, 2014). Further, the company, apart from scaling back the rate of

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production also need to focus on developing new and better products and establish their
existence in adjacent products and markets in order to revive their overall health. For
example, the threat posed by competition from smartphones have to be countered through
making groundbreaking technological advancements that shall make consumers choose Pro-Go
cameras over the ones available in smartphones.

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References
Bromiley, P., McShane, M., Nair, A., & Rustambekov, E. (2015). Enterprise risk management:
Review, critique, and research directions. Long range planning, 48(4), 265-276. Doi:
10.1016/j.lrp.2014.07.005
Consumer product safety recall guidelines. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.productsafety.gov.au/publication/consumer-product-safety-recall-
guidelines?source=recalls
Hopkin, P. (2018). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and
implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers. Retrieved from:
books.google.com
Lam, J. (2014). Enterprise risk management: from incentives to controls. John Wiley & Sons.
Retrieved from: books.google.com
McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., & Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts,
Techniques and Tools-revised edition. Princeton university press. Retrieved from:
books.google.com
Model WHS Laws. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-
regulation/model-whs-laws
Wolke, T. (2017). Risk Management. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. Retrieved from:
books.google.com

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Appendices
Teamwork Log
Meeting Pro-Go Pty Ltd Stakeholder Meeting
Date of meeting 23 October Time 6:30pm – 7:06pm
Place of meeting Zoom
Invitees Ross Miller (Chair), Ian McFarlane, Nick Ehrlich, Natalie Brown, Allen
Zhuang, Harry Lam
Apologies Amanda Miller
Discussion;
● The group discussed the Part B brief and the tasks of all stakeholders, and the short-term and long-term impacts
of the disruption and the focus moving forward.
● Natalie discussed the impacts from a financial perspective and the costs to mitigate any risks or address any
reputational impacts.
● Ian discussed the reputational impacts from the GM Supplier perspective and how this could assist in the
mitigation on-behalf of Pro- Go to reduce impacts on their business.
● Harry identified the procurement responsibilities in identifying where in the supply chain the issue may have
occurred and how this could be addressed. Use of Samsung Note similar issue to be used as a case study.
● Nick requested the Union remain updated on the impacts for resources.
● The group discussed the options in regards to surplus stock and the 70% production lost.
● Allen suggested immediate recalls of products and then putting in place measures to identify stock that has been
rectified and has not i.e. battery numbers.
● Harry identified the need for a quick response to ensure the safety of the public and to mitigate any further
issues occurring.

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● Harry recommended customer management through providing encouragement to continue use of product
moving forward i.e. vouchers
● Ian posed the question on if the move forward should be to write-off current product or to seek the cause of the
issue. Ross identified that liability is to be considered and the risk by removing the faulty product will address
this. The group was in agreement.
● Decision to scale back on current production in the short-term – all in agreement.
● Warehousing for surplus stock – team agreed there is a just-in-time manufacturing approach and this would not
be a primary concern.
● Discussion regarding the reallocation of resources or the possibilities of cutting back on the workforce. Methods
for managing staff in the short-term discussed i.e. unpaid leave, redeployment, opportunities for optimization of
the current processes and ways of working.
● Discussion of long-term preferences to address initial brief – agreement approach remains the same despite
disruption.
● Agreement to focus on discussion and post on the Discussion Forum during the week in preparation for the next
Stakeholder Meeting.
Next Meeting: 30 October @ 6:30 pm AEST

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Meeting Pro-Go Pty Ltd Stakeholder Meeting
Date of meeting 30 October 2018 Time 6:30pm – 7:10pm
Place of meeting Zoom
Invitees Natalie Brown (Chair), Ian McFarlane, Nick Ehrlich, Amanda Miller.
Apologies Ross Miller, Allen Zhuang, Harry Lam
Discussion;
● The group discussed the Part B brief and the tasks of all stakeholders, and further elaborated on the short-term
and long-term impacts of the disruption.
● Items discussed included:
o Privacy and Legislative requirements – all organizations have the need to adhere to privacy. Discussed
the safety requirements and legislation around recalling of products.
o Partners for new technology options presented may no longer be interested in partnering due to the
defect with the camera.
o Discussed some immediate term options, but agreed the longer term strategy has not changed.
o Discussed the need for a response team to immediately respond to questions and concerns raised by the
major customer looking to break their contract (response team)
o Ian asked if we have we adequately addressed the response to the threat of liquidation
o Discussed the need to enact Critical Management Plans (Survival mode) to avoid liquidation
o Discussed the need to make assumptions around the company (as outlined in the brief)
o Privately owned company’s ability to raise extra equity might be limited
o Natalie discussed the ‘how’ and ‘why’ – The Why: requirement to recall, How? Threat to cash-flow
o Discussed the potential reputational damage, the need to rebuild the customers’ trust. Discussed the
Samsung exploding batteries example – Samsung had two battery supplies and they refused to defame
them in the process. Samsung provided timely and factual communication. Relationship management
o Discussed the requirements by the ACCC: mandatory requirement to notify the minister within 2 days
o Ian offered to copy and paste the forum log – ready for Appendix for Assessment 2B. Thanks Ian
o Discussed that Stakeholder Meeting will not be required next week as discussion is taking place on the
forum and will allow students to finalize their submissions based on the information from the forum

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Working notes obtained from Blackboard
Ian McFarlane
Re: Pro-Go Assessment 2B
Notes in preparation for our Zoom tomorrow night.
Task instruction extracted from assessment brief:
- Pro-Gos are catching fire, cause unknown.
- As a result, our main retailer in china has canceled contract. They represent 70% of our production.
- Emergency stakeholder meetings required to address concerns, and develop a modified strategic
plan/white paper.
GM of Key Supplier:
- First priority should be to determine why Pro-Gos are catching fire.
- Short term survival. 1/ Scale back production to offset the 70% reduction in demand. 2/ Reduce
operating costs by offering voluntary redundancy/unpaid leave to staff.
- Responsibility - is the issue with Pro-Go or is it somewhere in the supply chain? Key Supplier could
take some of the blame. Cons = this will reflect badly on the key supplier organization. Pro = as the
supplier's income is dependent on Pro-Go's continued trading, it could be in the supplier's best interest to
take some of the blame.
- Pro-Go's diversification into phones/drones/cars doesn't seem prudent until core product is rectified.
- However, as the supplier is producing 70% less parts, this gives the supplier capacity to develop and
produce new components for Pro-Go's future diversification into phones/drones/cars.
Ian
Natalie Brown
Thanks, Ian. Looks like from the brief there’ll be a possible second disruption given there are 2 video
links.
From my perspective as Snr Finance Manager the impacts on cash flow from the loss of a key contract,
and the surplus inventory impacts on balance sheet this will cause as well as any costs that will incur from
risk mitigation impacts.
I’ll be on the collaborate session later today, and can update the team on the call tonight.

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Cheers
Natalie
Amanda Miller
Hi All
Just to clarify for anyone who wasn't on the collaborate session (I listened to the recording because I
forgot about daylight saving time and dialed in one hour late), that Dan indicated there probably wouldn't
be a second disruption video (he had been asking Torrens about it and they have not advised). He advised
to work off the first Disruption Video. That was my understanding anyway.
Amanda
Nicholas Ehrlich
Thanks also Ian for starting this thread for 2B and I agree with Nat, it seems a second disruption is
imminent.
From my perspective as union rep, there is the obvious seriousness / shock here coupled with the health &
safety concerns for our customers who have been impacted by the camera failures. This is very
concerning for the company’s reputation and also for its suppliers and customers. The union therefore has
concerns around Pro-Go’s forthcoming response to this situation and the impacts to employment (if any)
for our members. The union requests regular and transparent communication from management on this
matter, as well as an email detailing indicative timeframes of the company’s overall response and
investigations, from the General Manager and within 1 week.
I’ll be on the 2pm collaborative session this afternoon and will talk more tonight,
Regards,
Nick
Ross Miller
Hi All,

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Thank You for your discussion tonight. I have thought further about it and am thinking in two different
directions as the production manager:
1. In line with our discussion we could scale back production to reflect the temporary existing
market loss until an alternate market is found or product developed. As discussed this would also
involve:
a. Workforce stand downs (leave, training, reallocation). I assume the reduction in
production will only be temporary and retrenchments would cause problems when
upscaling
b. Product recall, fault finding & isolating production issue. Recall to ensure product does
not damage others/property and create liability issue. Identify fault and isolate fault to
production runs/product serial numbers
c. Manage relationships/protect brand- with end user (camera user), large buyers (as in the
case of large Chinese shop)
d. Product development- with modular design new model can be released quickly
e. Focus on product quality to avoid recurrence of this or similar issues
2. Alternatively- Given that we had decided recently that the current market was delivering
substandard results, the need for an alternative product to sell in parallel market is required as the
future of a stand-alone camera is limited. Therefore, does the ‘disruption’ purely hasten
implementation of the existing strategy? Given that:
a. the existing product/market is not sustainable
b. we already have a strategy in place to deliver on an alternative
c. the cost and merits of the alternative have been agreed
d. an alternate product would be good way to distance ourselves from current problems
e. production is modular and could be easily adapted to a parallel product
f. it may take a similar length of time/investment in alternative to that required to fix the
current product issue.
Thoughts?
Ian McFarlane
Hi Ross,

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I agree with your above post. But I don't think 1 and 2 are mutually exclusive, I think the strategy would
benefit from factoring in both 1 AND 2.
Ian
Ian McFarlane
Hi everyone,
I have tried to simplify the Amended Pro-Go Strategy to three main actions. I wanted to share this to see
if we're all thinking along the same lines?
Action Required
1. Resolve disruption
1a. Identify the cause of product’s spontaneous
combustion.
1b. Product recall of affected products.
2. Ensure short term survival of
organization.
2a. Reduce production to offset the 70%
reduction in demand.
2b. Reduce operating costs by offering staff
voluntary unpaid leave.
3. Continue with long term objective of
entering adjacent market by developing Pro-
Go Drones.
Nicholas Ehrlich
Greetings,
Ian I agree on your actions table here and provide these additional comments;
1b - similar to Samsung Note 7 in 2016, do we offer an ‘exchange’ alongside the recall as a sign of
commitment to our customers?

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2b – agree and should we include Natalie’ suggestion to have some quantity of staff redeployed to support
roles to focus on initiatives/process improvement/etc.?
3 – my preferred strategy was partnering with a smartphone company, etc.
Regards,
Nick
Ian McFarlane
Hi Nick,
Great, sounds good. I think the finer details are going to be slightly different for each of us.
I totally understand that point 3 is going to be different of everybody - I should have said 'our preferred
and original long term strategy'.
Thanks,
Ian
Natalie Brown
Hi All,
I support all of the above direction and recommendations, and will write my paper accordingly.
Has anyone been able to access feedback on Part A? I can see an updated mark in 'My Grades' to be now
a score out of 30, which to me seems to include the 10% from Part A, but there is no link to click on for
feedback as per Dan's message in the Discussion Board. It would have been great to have feedback
before further developing the paper over this weekend.
Cheers
Nat

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Natalie Brown
Hi Team,
Upon further review of the Assessment Brief, Disruption Video and Dan's comments in the collaborate
session, I think we may be missing one crucial aspect in our short-term approach, which for my role as
Senior Finance Manager is particularly important.
The brief states that sales have dropped by half in last 24 hours, and the video mentions the focus is on
addressing the immediate threat of liquidation, which Dan also commented on in the collaborate
discussion. I think this needs to be clearly included in the initial response. I think our actions are on-
track with cut backs on cost and addressing the reputational issues, but possibly adding in compensation
or incentives for return may not be prudent in our response.
Cheers
Natalie

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Natalie Brown
I also think we're missing the legislative requirements on what needs to be undertaken by law in regards
to defective products that have possible impacts on public safety. The brief mentions privacy legislation,
but there would be other legislation that would need to be factored into our immediate response.
From reading this it to me it looks like we are required by law to recall the product due to the safety risk.
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/treating-customers-fairly/product-safety
Cheers
Nat
Nicholas Ehrlich
Hi All,
Just a thought regarding our Action table above, would we need to have a customer sub-action such as;
2c: Form a working party dedicated to focus immediately on repairing our reputation and relationship
with major customer X -?
Regards,
Nick
Ross Miller
Nat/Ian. Good pick up.
if a faulty part is identified, then presume like the car airbags that the faulty part manufacturer would be
liable for the issue (and associated costs) and not Pro-Go
Ian McFarlane
Hi everyone,
In the 2B assessment brief it says we need to address:

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- privacy legislation
- technological advances
- connected devices
- adjacent products/markets
I'm not sure of the relevance, or why it's applicable. Does anyone else have an understanding on this? If
not, I will raise with Dan before we catch up tomorrow night.
Ian
Natalie Brown
Hi Ian,
I saw that also, and thought the last 3 were covered in the response to Part A. I did look at the privacy
legislation aspects and I struggled to see the relevance also with the exception perhaps of the recall and
privacy of customer information etc.
Cheers
Natalie
Nguyen Ngoc Lam
Hi guys,
I am at the airport waiting for boarding, internet poor, very slow. I don't think I can attend this week
meeting. My apology and I will be there next week Monday.
I got some research done, will post my idea/strategies tonight or tomorrow.
Harry

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