Product Launch Failure, Essay Example

According to Megan Rose Dickey’s Report on Startup CEO: We Had The Perfect Product Launch Planned, And Then It All Went Splat

With the trusted system in the internet, Vibhu Norby, a newbie in the e-commerce process but an expert in other computer operations including social network setups, was rather thrilled to present his very own iPhone-only social network system which he entails to use to entice iPhone users to join the website. Through this, Norby wants to increase the rate of advertising contracts that he has from top performing companies [apart from the ones he already has] that specifically trust the system of online marketing. To make sure that that product would call attention, Norby funded the need to include accelerator Y combinatory in the system to provide full and untroubled access to the target users. Relatively though, he also needed to make sure that the launch would generate specifically several thousands of respondents to get the network operating immediately and the site’s advertising system to become more enticing to investors and business partners.

Several days before the actual launching date, it has been recognized that the rate of signups of interested individuals about the product-service that Norby offers slowed down up to the point that it stopped. This was not what Norby and his team expected. They specifically thought that with all the press releases, the launch would be successful enough to get ample attention from online network enthusiasts. The flop of the operation caused the said launch to be rather one of the most expensive, yet most frustrating contracts that Norby and his team needed to contemplate with.

What went wrong? Through analyzing the matter based on the six-sigma principle, it could be understood that the first thing that went wrong is the survey on who actually wanted to be served through another online network portal. Norby, being an expert in the field of establishing successful social networks and other online systems like Everyme knew what he wanted, but he had only a few ideas on who to target and how to reach them. Most often than not, it could be realized that with the confidence that one builds on the past projects he has finished, there are instances when the new projects become a little bit weaker than those of the former due to lack of attention that the project managers put into the matter. Over confidence both on the product-service and the capacity of the system itself to attract the right people particularly caused the downfall of this launch.

Any project being managed should be scaled down to the different possibilities that it might encounter in later years of being established. Relatively, such considerations should already be present even at the beginning of the project’s operation. Alternative resolutions should be prepared to support the operation, thus not completely making a negative impact on the already unstable position of the system. Norby had to know what should be expected and how he and his team should actually react upon it.

Reaching out to the right people is a necessary step that Norby neglected during the preparation period before the project proper. Apparently, the expectations and the reality did not coincide with each other since the actual survey process that is needed for the feasibility study based on public opinion was not given proper attention to when it was supposed to be a vital part of the preparative conditions that the pre-launch project had to undergo. In resolving such issues, Norby and his team could still come up with a much better plan especially through retracing their track and making more effective marketing approaches with lesser need for high expenses that would likely support the expectations of the organization as a whole.

References

Dickey, M.R. Startup CEO: We Had The Perfect Product Launch Planned, And Then It All Went Splat. http://www.businessinsider.com/perfect-launch-gone-wrong-2013-4#ixzz2g0QlPCOG. Retrieved on September 26, 2013.

Mikel J. Harry; Prem S. Mann; Ofelia C. De Hodgins; Richard L. Hulbert, Christopher J. Lacke (20 September 2011). Practitioner’s Guide to Statistics and Lean Six Sigma for Process Improvements. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 30.

Keller, P.A. (2010). Six Sigma Demystified. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 40.