Gap Analysis: Harrison-Keyes
A global publisher of print products, Harrison-Keyes specialized in traditional publishing and has been regarded as a leader in the industry since the mid ‘50s. The company has developed a name for itself through the publishing of texts, journals and other educational material. However, a new era has brought about new challenges for the publishing industry and Harrison-Keyes cannot compete with the low-cost retailers. Harrison-Keyes determined that digital publishing and the sale of e-books is their answer to remaining competitive in the publishing industry.
Harrison-Keyes has continued to face new challenges in their attempt to provide innovative services. The former CEO, who introduced the e-book publishing idea, has been replaced and a lack of project support from senior management has become apparent. Asia Digital Publishing has experienced a natural disaster and Harrison-Keyes, without a contingency plan, must find a replacement firm to perform its digital formatting. Employees are feeling threatened due to rumors of outsourcing and have left the company to accept job opportunities with competing publishing companies. Corporate and project strategy are not aligned and the failures of the project are directly related to the lack of project controls.
Situation Analysis
Issue and Opportunity Identification
Numerous issues have contributed to the stagnation and failures of Harrison-Keyes' e-book project however, the aforementioned problems in retrospect provide many opportunities for Harrison-Keyes to salvage what damages have occurred, assume total control of the eBook project, realign the project with organizational goals and subsequently see the desired deliverables. Many issues were identified in the scenario that require immediate action and make available challenges for Harrison-Keyes realize and assess.
From the startup phase of Harrison-Keyes e-publishing initiative the organization did have a project selected but...