Escend Technologies

Author: Janet Peter

Escent technologies are a company that began like any other startup in the year 1999 with the goal of allowing semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturers to connect and collaborate with their expansive sales team. The case follows that around the time the company was formed, component manufacturers, distributors, OEMs as well as the contract manufacturers were overly disconnected and fragmented due to the issues associated with outsourcing along with globalization. It is the desire to formulate a common customer database that would allow the diverse groups to track new products through the production pipeline encompassing the design, prototype, and manufacture among the diverse stakeholders. Through the assessment of the case, it is evident that while companies engage in a lot of planning and foreseeing, there is no way they can formulate a risk-free business model.

Question one- Risk assessment

There are numerous challenges that players in the technology industry, with the case of Escend being characterized by the delayed project execution resulting, are scope creep and destabilizing the current business environment. The types of risks that characterized this technology company’s operations included:

  1. The generic risks that are found to exist in almost every other technology company. Some of the attributes that characterize these risks include losing key employees or cases of the company becoming insolvent.
  2. Technological risks are the additional category of risks faced by Escend and emanated from the fact that technology is an ever-changing attribute changing from time to time. The assertion, in this case, is that it is very complex to assess the technology landscape on a constant basis.
  3. Market risk is the other risk that Escend faced encompassing the likelihood of failing to design products that meet the prevailing market demand and consequently compete in the market. It is imperative that the management exhibits an effective comprehension of risk the best risk management practices to manage the evident risks effectively.
  4. Operational cost risk is further a risk that Escend faced, with the company constantly facing the pressure to curtail its expenses. In this case, it is vital that the management attains a comprehension of the organization’s risk about their set objectives.

The strategies used in the management of these risks were diverse and innovative. One of these strategies was in ensuring that has been a completion of an effectively risks assessment to quantify each of the perceived risks (Loch, DeMeyer & Pich, 2011). There additionally involved the assessment of the risk to establish the type, allocating responsibility to the different departments tasked with management of the respective risks and assessing for the likelihood of inability to manage the established risk (Russo, Sbragia & Yu, 2013). It was further imperative that the necessary data was used in mapping and dealing with the risk coupled with the use of the appropriate risk criteria to assess the effective resolution.

Question Two

On the assessment of the double-loop learning, the core foundation is based on the organization assessing for the errors that are evident and adopting strategies to resolve errors through introducing the diverse actions plans to correct the situation (Chatti, Jarke & Schroeder, 2012). The focus is not only on the management of the error but the customizing of the action plan via learning during the first-hand encounter with the situation. In the case of Escend learning, the emphasis is on the management of risk which is directed towards the identification and control of discrepancies, predictable and unpredictable situations that may face the organization.

Question Three

The Escend has presented an assortment of lessons that the management can use in addressing such risks better in the future. Through the challenges and opportunities realized in the course of project execution, the management can establish the strategies they can use in reducing the risks and at the same time increasing the opportunities. It was additionally imperative that the management implements a more comprehensive risk assessment platform to ensure they can assess the possible risks and additionally assess the strategies they will be using to address these risks (Loch, DeMeyer & Pich, 2011). Considering the original nature of the company objectives, it should have been essential for the management to introduce teams that would be tasked with an assessment of the possible uncertainties the company would face and also introduce a crisis management team to deal with the identified uncertainties.

In future, it is imperative that managers introduce special crisis management teams whenever working on challenging or new ventures whose risks and uncertainties are not well understood. The other lesson that the managers in future projects should take into consideration is on the benefit of including stakeholders from different departments in periodic evaluation of project success or failures (Russo, Sbragia & Yu, 2013). The assertion, in this case, is that by conducting periodic project appraisals with stakeholders in the organization, the management will be able to ensure they are aware of any emerging uncertainty and thus ensure corrective measures are implemented in time to protect the venture.

References

Chatti, M. A., Jarke, M., & Schroeder, U. (2012). Double-loop learning. In Encyclopedia of the sciences of learning (pp. 1035-1037). Springer US.

Loch, C. H., DeMeyer, A., & Pich, M. (2011). Managing the unknown: A new approach to managing high uncertainty and risk in projects. John Wiley & Sons.

Russo, R. D. F. S. M., Sbragia, R., & Yu, A. S. O. (2013, July). Determining factors in the unforeseeable uncertainty management in innovation projects. In Technology Management in the IT-Driven Services (PICMET), 2013 Proceedings of PICMET'13: (pp. 623-634). IEEE.

Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in essay writing services New York. if you need a similar paper you can place your order for a custom research paper from nursing writing services California USA.