University Project: Strategic Project Management Case Study Analysis

This project analyzes three case studies related to DeGrandis Sporting Goods, focusing on strategic project management principles. The assignment evaluates the company's projects, including the launch of new running shoes, a partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), and the introduction of a new line of sporting apparel. The analysis covers project performance, ethical considerations, and the adherence to strategic goals. Each case study is assessed based on commentary regarding ethical conduct, a Project Performance Scorecard (PPS), conclusions, and recommendations. The analysis highlights both successful and unsuccessful project outcomes, examining factors such as budget management, adherence to timelines, market analysis, and ethical compliance. The assessment also explores the impact of strategic decisions on the company's reputation and financial performance, providing a comprehensive overview of the challenges and successes in project management within the sporting goods industry.

S T R AT E G I C P R O J E C T
M A N A G E M E N T:
D E G R A N D I S S P O RT I N G
G O O D S
N A M E O F T H E S T U D E N T :
N A M E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y :

PROJECT A –
DEGRANDIS
RUNNING SHOES• In this project, a new brand of running shoes have been released in the
market.
• The project ran over budget but was successfully delivered within the
specified timeline.
• The new shoe has been commercially successful and has earned huge
amount of profit in the market.

PROJECT A –
DEGRANDIS
RUNNING SHOES• The company launched a new product with unique feature i.e. the new sole
cushioning technology in the running shoes.
• Due to the uniqueness of the technology and the comfort of the sportsmen
using the shoes, the product has been massively successful.
• Furthermore, the product was delivered and commercialised within the
predetermined timeframe.

PROJECT A –
DEGRANDIS
RUNNING SHOES• Due to the some improper planning, the project was significantly over-
budget.
• In addition to having improper planning of the project, there were certain
delays within the project and hence, significant overspending was required
for delivering the project within time.
• In spite of these factors, the project came out as a success both internally
and externally.

PROJECT A –
DEGRANDIS
RUNNING SHOES• However, the board was not very much satisfied with the project.
• The main cause of the dissatisfaction is that the board was not informed by
the project team regarding the use of a Chinese supplier.
• The dissatisfaction was that the supplier use child labour in its factory,
which is strictly against the company’s Code of Conduct.

PROJECT A –
DEGRANDIS
RUNNING SHOES• The project depicts the type of situation when the project team works on its
own accord after the plan is approved by the board.
• The project team also did not update the board about the suppliers, vendors
and other external entities utilised during the project.
• Moreover, the project team was either not aware or did not deliberately
follow the Codes of Conduct published by the company.

PROJECT B – AUSTRALIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (AOC)
PARTNERSHIP
• In this project, the company established an official partnership with the
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).
• The partnership was officially started once all the required obligations,
contracts and other activities were successfully fulfilled.
• The project was delivered six months late but it was successfully completed
nevertheless.

PROJECT B – AUSTRALIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (AOC)
PARTNERSHIP
• The company set out with the objective of tying a partnership with
Australian Olympic Committee for supplying sporting equipments to
Australian Olympic Team.
• All the relevant stakeholders and contractual obligations were successfully
identified during the project.
• Due to some unforeseen issues and inevitable delays, the overall project
was delayed by six months.

PROJECT B – AUSTRALIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (AOC)
PARTNERSHIP
• Once the partnership was established, the sales of the company increased
significantly and generated strong revenue.
• The board was happy with the success of the project and the customers
were satisfied until a public scandal surfaced.

PROJECT B – AUSTRALIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (AOC)
PARTNERSHIP
• As per the news, one of the senior executive members of DeGrandis
company paid a significant amount of incentive to an AOC official in order to
ensure the approval of the partnership.
• Once the press became aware of the news, it soon became a public scandal
resulting in significant defamation of the company.

PROJECT B – AUSTRALIAN
OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (AOC)
PARTNERSHIP
• The company encountered severe reputational damage that also affected
its existing businesses.
• The planned marketing campaigns were not executed as they would further
draw more public attention towards the scandal.
• As per the company’s Codes of Conduct, bribery for gaining business or
contract is strictly banned.

PROJECT C –
LADYBIRD
SPORTING
APPAREL
• In this case, the company launched a new product brand of sporting
apparels.
• Before the launch of the product, the company did not perform any detailed
market analysis or review the quality of the products.
• The business of this product was not successful for the company for various
reasons.

PROJECT C –
LADYBIRD
SPORTING APPAREL• From the project management aspect, this project was successful.
• The project was delivered within the predetermined time limit.
• The project also successfully fulfilled the budget that was provided and no
factors resulted in overshoot.

PROJECT C –
LADYBIRD
SPORTING
APPAREL
• However, from the quality management aspect, the project was a failure.
• During the project, there was not sufficient quality planning that hence, the
team failed to set a particular standard for the products.
• Moreover, there was no quality monitoring performed before the products
were released commercially.

PROJECT C –
LADYBIRD
SPORTING
APPAREL
• The project also failed in terms of the marketing aspect.
• Before the commercial launch of the product, proper market testing was not
conducted by the company.
• As a result, the negative reviews started gathering from the customer end
regarding poor quality of the products.

PROJECT C –
LADYBIRD
SPORTING APPAREL• In this case, there are no ethical issues and the Codes of Conduct of the
company were not breached.
• Also, the project was successful from a project management point of view.
• However, the project team failed to perform some basic but important
activities that were essential before the commercial launch of the product.

REFERENCES
Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information technology project management. Cengage
Learning.