Swot Analyis of a Startup Company: Music Games International (Essay Sample)

Management
Name of Student
Institutional Affiliation
Executive Summary
Music Games International is a start-up company that was began by three individuals to farther their musical interests. They built a great team and for several years explored various ideas in ensuring that they created a saleable product. The team was a little diverse though was mostly composed of creative actors in the form of accomplished musicians. However, the company lacked a business concept that could enable them solidify their presence and market themselves. In need of a business plan, the company teamed up with two Harvard Business Graduate students to work on one. The team was tasked with the crafting of a business plan for the Harvard Business Plan Contest (Polzer, 2003).
Synopsis
Harvard Business School holds an annual business plan contest in which graduate students are given an opportunity to show case their talents. Participants can include groups or companies from outside the school as long as one of the members was a second year business student at Harvard. In this case, Music Games International wanted a business plan to be crafted for its business segment development. It was a small start-up company founded by Alexander (Sasha) Gimpelson, Igor Tkachenko, and Roman Yakub. They were immigrants to the United States from the former Soviet Union. In the year 2000, they got together to form a company that would create original music and sound effects for Web sites. The business had a successful start until the Internet bubble burst (Polzer, 2003). It rendered them less competitive because few people could afford to spend on extras like music for Web sites.
In a bid to turn the tide, the company ventured into other fronts and created the music puzzle software. It involved selecting the correct music tracks to recreate the original music piece or mix a completely fresh composition. The creative aspect of the game is what made it more attractive and so the Nutcracker product was launched. The team did not have a business plan and so invited Henry Tam and Dana Soiman to help develop their vision into a viable business. The plan was to take it through the Harvard Business plan contest. While the founders were going to achieve business viability of their product, the students were going to have priceless experience and could be possible employees if the plan succeeded. Other team members included Alexander Jan Sarkatov who had a wealth of experience in the business end of the music world. Dav Clark was a critical member of the team as he brought in the technological aspect of the business to the team (Polzer, 2003).
Issues or Problems
* Vision
The team set out to work and beat the contest deadline but there were several challenges in the crafting of the business plan. Firstly, there was no clear vision of what the team was to achieve. Everybody owned the concept and exhibited passion but did not know where or what they wanted to achieve. In fact, the strategy to be followed was not there because the founders were majorly creators. It was the reason why there were significant differences between the Russians and the Harvard group. Lack of a proper vision is what led to frustrations especially on the part of Dana Soiman.
* Time management
Time management was not there because initially, no time plan was drawn. The business plan contest date was known but step by step time plan was lacking that could build on the progress. As a result, the meetings kept on growing longer and longer while achieving less and less. In addition, Henry and Dana ended up spending more time on this project than they expected. Arguments and differences in opinion also wasted lots of time (Polzer, 2003).
* Structure and Leadership
The team had no leadership and role structure. Initially as noted, Dana and Henry did not know what their roles were exactly. There was confusion as to what role each played. While Sasha took Henry and Dana as interns, Igor appreciated them as essential members of the team and stated how much they were needed. Issues were made complex when Dav Clark from MIT was brought in abruptly by Sasha. It confused Dana and Henry because MIT had a similar contest. There was no leader to offer direction or lead team meetings. Everybody said whatever they had whenever they felt like. There was no structured coordination on how the meetings would be carried out. In addition, no one knew their roles. Everyone was everything (Polzer, 2003).
* Strategy
Dana and Henry approached strategy formulations based on the business capabilities and market realities. As a result, they proposed that MGI should focus on the education sector. On the other hand, the founders wanted the focus to be on the entertainment sector. Dana and Henry did not have market experience but had data and numbers to back up their proposal. According to the Harvard people, they appreciated the target market of the founders but faulted it in one aspect (Polzer, 2003). They suggested that for a company still in its infancy, it should venture in the education sector and test itself as a short-term strategy. Meanwhile, all these can work within the long-term strategy of being in the entertainment sector.
* Diversity
There were cultural differences between the Russians and the students. Igor, Sasha and Roman held onto their positions strongly before letting go. And when they did, they still forgot and defended their original positions. They are impulsive as compared to Henry who is calm and collected and focused on the goal. The Russians are everywhere at once while the students desire composure. Then there was diversity in terms of age. Alex was in the same age group as Dana and Henry as compared to older members. There were differences in background that brought in immense strength. Roman had connections in Russian and in teaching. Igor was an accomplished composer while Sasha had sales experience (Polzer, 2003). Dav injected the technological touch while Jan brought in views from the production world.
* Personality Differences
According to Myer and Briggs Test Indicator, Sasha and Dana are judgmental that is why it was easy for them to dismiss others points of view. The Russians are mainly extroverts as is the nature of performers. They are innovative and creative but not organized or focused. Dana is strict while Henry is calm and accommodative of others views. Alexander is an introvert and preferred to keep quiet. It was a personality clash between those from the creative world who don’t value structures and those from the business world who value plans and systems.
Analysis
Lack of a clear strategy led to the frustrations experienced in the team. A good strategy would have involved having every team member having a designated role. It would have led to use of less time in the meetings because much of the work would be done on the background. In targeting the education sector, it was a bright idea because the education sector is not that tough to penetrate as compared to the entertainment world (Polzer, 2003). Marketing and sales would be easier and cheaper because the sales people w