Skull Candy Company is an entity launched in 2003 by Rick Alden based on an innovative idea of having headphones which connects to both a cell phone and a MP3 player. The first prototype of the same was built by a Chinese Manufacturer in 2002 prior launch of the Skull Candy Company in 2003.
Rick Alden had a vast background in Snowboarding industry which influenced him in developing an action sports brand for Skull Candy. Thus he developed head phones which were integrated into items related to snowboarding industry such as Giro Ski, Snowboard helmets, watches and MP3 equipped back packs. This led to the development of the brand name Skull Candy a composition of hip hop culture and action sports making it a fashion accessory brand and action sports brand.
In the year 2009, the company expanded further with partnering with key music icons such as Snoop Dogg and Mix Master Mike. This led the company of the introduction and development of products such as;
Skull Crusher - A head phone which resulted due the collaboration with Snoop Dogg.
Ultimate DJ Head Phone - Resulted due the collaboration with Mix Master Mike.
The new product development of the product Ultimate DJ head phone is targeted on disk jockeys and turn tab lists. The detailed analysis of the new product development structure of Skull Candy Company is as below. Product development structures are of four types, namely Functional, Light weight, Heavy weight and Autonomous. The analysis identifies which type of characteristics meet the product development structure of Skull Candy Company for development of Ultimate DJ head phones.
Skull Candy Company's Product Development Structure for Development of the Product Ultimate DJ head phones.
The product development team of Skull Candy Company consists of following personnel;
Internal Personnel
Skull Candy's Director of Industrial Design
Skull Candy's Vice President of Marketing and Creative
Skull Candy's Creative personnel
Skull Candy's Product Manager
External Personnel
Mix Master Mike
External Industrial Design Company
The product Development team of Skull Candy Company structure consisting above personnel is as below;
The product development team of Skull Candy Company structure is a Heavy Weight Team structure.
Below characteristics of a Heavy Weight team structure is met by the Skull Candy Company.
In a Heavy weight team structure, a project manager is appointed to oversee cross functional integration. Functional personal work will be directed and collated by the project manager and Functional workers are reported to functional manager/ Head directly as well.
In this case study, this meets criteria's of a heavy weight structure because there is a dedicated project manager appointed by the CEO, who is namely Josh Paulsen. He has a high authority over the project work and high degree of integration with the cross functional activities namely production, marketing, design, creative and external personnel.
Another criteria of a heavy weight structure which can be seen via Skull Candy set up is that the product development of ultimate DJ headphone project is long term but temporary. At the end of the project, the project team will join back with the respective functional departments.
Also, 100% time is spent on the product development activities by the team because frequent face to face meetings are scheduled with the external parties such as Mix masters and external designers.
The product managers' degree of integration with cross functions namely production, marketing, creative design is high. But performance evaluations of the team members were done by product manager and the respective functional head and team members are not rewarded financially on an individual basis.
Hence it can be concluded that Skull Candy Company's product development structure is a Heavy Weight structure since it is a long term but a temporary project, there is a project manager who has a high power and responsible for cross functional interrogation and achieving the milestones/deadlines and 100% time of the team members are spent on the project with frequent meetings with external parties.
Comparison of Skull Candy Company's Product Development Structure against other product development Structures.
Other product development structures available are namely Functional, light weight and autonomous and Skull Candy Company's product development structure does not fall into any of these categories due to various reasons.
In a Functional structure workers will be directly reporting to the respective functional head and there is not cross functional interrogation. There is no dedicated project manager who will work closely with the cross functions with a high authority. Hence Skull Candy Company's structure does not fit in the functional structure characteristics. As per the details in the case study Josh Poulsen who is the product manager will directly liaise with functions such as production, marketing and design to ensure the project milestones and deadlines are met. Thus Skull Candy's product development structure for developing Ultimate DJ head phones is not a functional structure.
The Light weight structure is similar to Heavy weight structure however the difference is that light weight structures are used for short term temporary projects and the time spent by the workers on the project is about 25% unlike heavy weight projects where 100% of the workers time is spent on project work. Further the product manager may have a high level of power in terms of coordinating and interrogating cross functional work in the heavy weight structure. However, in a light weight structure the product manager's level of power and authority is low. Thus Skull Candy Company's structure does not fall into light weight structure because the level of power assigned to the product manager is high as he will be directly liaising with cross functions to ensure the project meets its milestone. And also the product development project of ultimate DJ head phone is of a long term temporary nature project which does not fit in to light weight structure.
The Autonomous team structure is where all the team members or project workers will be directly reporting to the product manager. In this case the level of power and authority of the product manager is very high. Workers are not directly controlled by the respective functions and will be working independently. And projects which are long term and temporary of nature will be adopted by this structure. Skull Candy Company's product development structure does not fall into autonomous category since the functional workers are not directly reporting to the product manager however they are being reported and controlled by the respective functional heads. The product manager is appointed to ensure effective coordination and interrogation of the cross functions.
Question 02
Discuss the main sources of innovation, and what are particularly important for a company such as Skull Candy and Why?
Answer
Sources of innovation are of various types. Some sources are within the business or the industry and some sources are outside the entity or the industry. Various sources of innovation are as below;
Sources within the Business / Industry
Unexpected success / failure
Incongruities
Changes in industry and market structure
Process needs
Sources outside entity/ Industry
Changes in Demographics
New knowledge
Changes in perception
The unexpected success or failure is one of the main sources of innovation which exists within an industry or a business. For an example if there is an unexpected success in a product or market segment the management need to brainstorm and generate ideas as to how the entity should exploit the same and if there is an unexpected failure similarly the management of the company will brain storm for ideas and innovate new products to cover up the failure.
Changes in the market and industry structure also lead to generate new ideas / innovation since new products need to be launched to meet the customer expectations of the changed market and industry structure. Similarly changes in perception and demographics lead to innovation and are main sources of innovation.
In the context of Skull Candy Company sources of innovation has been affected in two main ways. The company has been formed due to an innovative idea generation and the development of new products to expand the business also has been done by innovation. Thus sources of innovation are particularly important for a company like Skull Candy Company.
At the inception, the unexpected idea creation or generation of using a head phone that can be connected to both cell phone and Mp3 player was an innovation which leads to the formation of the company Skull Candy.
And the products such as skull crusher and ultimate DJ head phone were innovated using internal research and development. The sources of innovation may include internal research and development and collaborative networks.
Key music industry icons namely Snoop Dogg and Mix master mike were used to for innovation of the above products evidencing innovation through collaboration of external networks and changes in industry structures.
Thus in the context of Skull Candy Company sources of innovation has been a vital aspect and a vital factor for its success.
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