MBA641 Strategic Project Management: DeGrandis Sporting Goods Analysis

This presentation provides a performance evaluation of three strategic projects undertaken by DeGrandis Sporting Goods: the introduction of DeGrandis running shoes (Project A), a partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee (Project B), and the launch of Ladybird sporting apparel (Project C). The evaluation assesses each project's alignment with the company's strategic goals, ethical standards, and overall impact. Project A is deemed crucial for growth despite ethical concerns regarding child labor in its supply chain. Project B, while strategically sound, faced ethical issues related to bribery. Project C is considered a failure due to poor product quality and marketing. Recommendations include continuing Project A with ethical improvements, maintaining Project B with corruption prevention measures, and discarding Project C. The analysis uses PPS snapshots to summarize each project's performance across dimensions like stakeholders, project process, benefits, and use. Desklib provides access to similar assignments and study resources for students.

Performance evaluation
for DeGrandis Sporting
Goods Projects
NAME
PROFESSOR
COURSE
DATE

Introduction
Strategic project management is often regarded as tactical process that involves combing the
aspect of business strategy and that of project management. (David, 2011 p.89).
This presentation aims to look at the various strategic plans of DeGrandis Sporting Goods
developed by the CEO of the Australian based company Fergus DeGrandis.
A performance evaluation will be conducted on these three projects developed by the
CEO[00:32].
The three projects developed are;
Project A-DeGrandis Running Shoes
 This project was specifically aimed at introducing the DeGrandis running shoe to the entire
company’s range of products.
Project B-Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) Partnership
 The primary and sole goal of this particular project was to enable DeGrandis Sporting
Goods become the sole and official supplier of various forms of sporting equipment and
gears to the Australian Olympic Team (Zhu, 2014 p.89).
Project C-Ladybird Sporting Apparel
 This project set in the new Ladybird brand of sporting apparel to the DeGrandis Sporting
Goods range of products. This product was environmental friendly also internationally
recognized.

DeGrandis Strategic
Goals1. Financial Strategic Goals
a). Growing Shareholders value-This is a goal that is aimed at increasing the value and worth of DeGrandis Sporting
Goods and thereby increasing the values of all the shareholders and owners of the company.
b). Management costs- Management costs are an expense, DeGrandis Sporting Goods aims at reducing the
management costs as much as possible so as to avoid future insolvency (Sun, 2010 p.23).
c) Ensuring Financial Sustainability-Remaining financially stable is one of the key objectives of DeGrandis Sporting
Goods. This even involves seeking outside sources of revenue to manage extra costs if need be.
d). Maintaining a high level of profitability-DeGrandis Sporting goods aims at ensuring a balance between its
revenues and expenses and by so doing maintaining a reasonable amount of profitability
\e).Balancing the budget- It is the goal of DeGrandis Sporting Goods to display high level of discipline in terms of
good planning by having a balanced budget. A balanced budget shows good planning skills and a high level of
management excellence.
f). Increasing Revenues-Basically, revenues imply the growth of an organization or a company. It is therefore the goal
of DeGrandis Sporting Goods to increase its revenue as much as possible so as to display a high level of growth and
expansion.

Cont.….
2. Customers objectives
a). Best Value for the cost-This involves matching the price of a particular product with its corresponding price. DeGrandis Sporting goods aims at
ensuring that the price of their products have proportional value to the value and quality of the product (Tannenbaum et al,2013 p.90).
b). Broad Product offering-This involves offering a wide range of products that are of the best quality and class regardless of the price.
c). Reliable Products and services-This involves on the reliability of DeGrandis products and services. The products we offer should be reliable and
customers should put some level on dependence on us to deliver.
d). Partnering with customers to increase and provide solutions to issues affecting them-This objective was specifically proposed by DeGrandis
Sporting Goods so as to reflection upon the level of customer intimacy. It involves listening to the customers with an extra ear and even forming
partnerships with them so as to deliver the solutions on issues affecting them.
3. Internal objectives
a). Investing on a certain amount in innovation-This involves investing in various innovative activities in regard to the company’s products and way of
doing things
b). Differentiating the company’s products-The features and aspects of the various products should be differentiated so as to enable customers tell the
difference among these various products.
4. Operational Excellence objectives
a). Reduce the cost of operation by a certain level annually-Involves reduction of the overall company’s operational costs.
b).Investing more in Total Quality Management-This involves quality improvement in regard to all aspects of the company.
c). Reducing the levels of bureaucracy-This involves the continuous reduction of the lengthy processes that are involved in the acquisition and issue
of various staffs in the company[2:00].

DeGrandis ethical standards
Ethical standards refer to the fundamental principles and values that need to be
adhered to and followed by an organization (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017 p.201).
The following are the ethical standards of DeGrandis Sporting Goods
a). Ensure environmental protection
b). Ensure good relationships with the customers
c). Ensure good relationships with the stakeholders
d).Acting with at good-faith when dealing with customers and other relevant
stakeholders (McDavid et al,2012 p.89).
e). Abiding by the rules and laws of Australia and acting in line with all the appropriate
legal requirements
f). Transparency in regard to the company’s operations[3:00].

PROJECT A:STRATEGY AND ETHICS
Alignment with strategy
 Project A introduced the DeGrandis running shoe to the company’s range of products. This strategy was very
crucial and there are a number of ways in which this particular project aligns itself with the projects strategies
despite the few ways in which it goes against some of the company’s strategic objectives (Bititci et al,2012 p.13).
Ways in which it agrees with the company’s strategic on objective
 a) This project is in consistent with the projects objectives in that it delivered a new brand of shoes within the
required timeframe, one of the DeGrandis objectives is improving focus on research and development, this
objective was fully met by the introduction of this particular project
 b) Customer satisfaction. This product ensured customer satisfaction; we see that the customers loved the new
brand of shoes.
 c) Increasing Revenues, we see that the new product has increased the company’s revenues by over five million
us dollars. This is a very good indication and it ensures company’s financial sustainability (Rummler & Brache,
2012 p.56).
Ways in which it disagrees with company’s strategic objectives
 Looking at this project, there are no any possible ways in which it disagrees with the company’s strategic
objectives.
Alignment with ethics
 This project is not in consistent on some of the most important ethical aspects of DeGrandis Sporting Goods. For
instance, in this particular project there were some cases and instances of child labor related to the Chinese
suppliers. This is totally against the company’s code of conduct that prohibits child labor[4:00].

PPS SNAPSHOTS
Dimension Score
Stakeholders 4/5
Project process 3/5
Benefits 5/5
Use 3/5

CONCLUSION
Project A is very crucial for not only company’s survival but
also growth.
It facilitates the rates of expansion of DeGrandis Sporting
Company by meeting almost all the strategic objectives ranging
from financial, operational and even customer affairs
(Poister,2010 p.41).
Although it does not consider an important ethical standard by
having some essence of child labor in it, it is a very good
project that should be perused at all costs if necessary since its
returns are way much better that the expenses[6:00].

RECOMANDATIONS
 This Project should continue being implemented by DeGrandis Sporting
Goods as it promises maximum returns in terms of both revenue and
market share of the company (Kwakkel et al,2010 p.20).
 The aspect of child labor in this project should be looked at and the
appropriate measures taken to rectify it[6:30].

PROJECT B:STRATEGIES AND
ETHICS
Alignment with strategy
 This is a strategy that was meant to enable DeGrandis Sporting Goods become a
renowned and official supplier of various sporting equipments to the Australian Olympic
Team.
The following are some of the ways in which this particular projects aligns with the
company’s strategies
a). All the stakeholders were consulted and their needs recognized. This is a very important
aspect of DeGrandis Sporting Goods of customer and stakeholder’s satisfaction (Kwakkel et
al,2010 p.200).
b). Requirements for this particular project were all met.
c).The project increased sales to up to over 3million dollars.
Alignment with ethics
 This project had some aspects of unethical issues in that it was later found out that the
project sponsor who happened to be a member of the company’s management team had
paid an extremely high ranking official an incentive to approve the partnership.
 This is a form of bribing which is against the key standards and ethical values of
DeGrandis Sporting Goods[7:30].

PPS SNAPSHOT
Dimension Score
Project Process 4/5
Innovation and learning 3/5
Quality 4/5
Benefits 5/5
Use 4/5

CONCLUSION
This project’s sole purpose was making the company become
an official supplier of sporting equipment to the Australian
Olympic Team(Albrechts & Balducci, 2013 p.35).
It was very crucial and the CEO of DeGrandis Sporting Goods
played a very important role in proposing this project.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 This project is very crucial for the development
and growth of DeGrandis Sporting Goods.
 It should continue being implemented (Teigão &
Partidário, 2011 p.65).
 There are certain amendment that needs to be
made in regard to this particular project, the
incident of bribe that was noticed in this project is
unacceptable and measures should be taken so as
to rectify that[11:00].

PROJECT C:STRATEGY AND
ETHICS
Alignment with strategies
 This is a project that introduced the lladybird brand of sporting apparel to the
DeGrandis Sporting Goods product range. This project was in alignment
with the strategies for DeGrandis Sporting Goods in the following ways;
a). It introduced a new range of products, this is one of the strategies for
DeGrandis Sporting goods which states that there should be a wide range of
products that should be dealt with (Teigão & Partidário, 2011 p.65).
b). The aspect that this particular brand is internationally recognized is very
crucial and means a lot for DeGrandis Sporting Goods
c). The project budget and time frame for the project were not met
d). The new line of clothing was not properly marketed and tested before the
product was actually launched.
e) Customers consider this particular brand of product of Ladybird clothing as
having an inferior quality and this has really affected customer’s satisfaction
(Sirat,2010 p.41).

PPS SNAPSHOT
Dimensions Score
Stakeholders 3/5
Project process 3/5
Innovation and learning 3/5
Quality 2/5
Benefits 1/5
Uses 3/5

CONCLUSION
The introduction of the ladybird brand brought about
some serious negative consequences.
For instance, we see that customers consider this
product to be of inferior quality and they have even
raised complaints.
This is an operational issue that should have been
considered so as to see how the product would
perform (Boyne, 2010 p.71).

RECOMMENDATIONS
 This project should be discarded by the company
and a new project be introduced that would bring
with it positive results.
 Before any project is implemented, it should be
tested prior being launched so as to make it
successful and to avoid any possible causes of
future losses as is the case for this project
(McLean, 2018 p.10).
 Customer satisfaction should always be
considered and up held by all means necessary so
as to make customers loyal[15:00].

References.
 Albrechts, L. and Balducci, A., 2013. Practicing strategic planning: In search of critical features to explain the strategic character of plans. disP-
The Planning Review, 49(3), pp.16-27.
 Bititci, U., Garengo, P., Dörfler, V. and Nudurupati, S., 2012. Performance measurement: challenges for tomorrow. International journal of
management reviews, 14(3), pp.305-327.
 Boyne, G.A., 2010. Strategic planning. Public Service Improvement: Theories and Evidence; Ashworth, R., Boyne, GA, Entwistle, T., Eds,
pp.60-77.
 David, F.R., 2011. Strategic management: Concepts and cases. Peaeson/Prentice Hall.
 Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
 Kwakkel, J.H., Walker, W.E. and Marchau, V.A.W.J., 2010. Adaptive airport strategic planning. EJTIR, 10(3), pp.249-273.
 McDavid, J.C., Huse, I., Hawthorn, L.R. and Ingleson, L.R., 2012. Program evaluation and performance measurement. Sage.
 McLean, M., 2018. Understanding your economy: Using analysis to guide local strategic planning. Routledge.
 Poister, T.H., 2010. The future of strategic planning in the public sector: Linking strategic management and performance. Public Administration
Review, 70, pp.s246-s254.
 Rummler, G.A. and Brache, A.P., 2012. Improving performance: How to manage the white space on the organization chart. John Wiley &
Sons.
 Sirat, M.B., 2010. Strategic planning directions of Malaysia’s higher education: University autonomy in the midst of political
uncertainties. Higher education, 59(4), pp.461-473.
 Sun, C.C., 2010. A performance evaluation model by integrating fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS methods. Expert systems with
applications, 37(12), pp.7745-7754.
 Tannenbaum, R., Weschler, I. and Massarik, F., 2013. Leadership and Organization (RLE: Organizations): A Behavioural Science Approach.
Routledge.
 Teigão dos Santos, F. and Partidário, M.R., 2011. SPARK: Strategic planning approach for resilience keeping. European Planning
Studies, 19(8), pp.1517-1536.
 Zhu, J., 2014. Quantitative models for performance evaluation and benchmarking: data envelopment analysis with spreadsheets (Vol. 213).
Springer.