Case Study on Frank Drake Business Planning and Decision Making
Business planning
Case study
This case study has three separate sections to it. The case material is given below, and then there is: • A worksheet based on the case study (including the development of a full business plan) • An interactive quiz
Taktical.com
Frank Drake is a software engineer with a major multinational firm and a highly experienced programmer. He is also a keen racing sailor, and for many years in his spare time he has been developing a piece of software to help racing sailors plan their tactics for a race. The software enables you to input a wide range of variables, including the weather, the tide, the nature of the course, the boat characteristics and information about the competition. From this you can then develop a strategy for the race. After the race you can input your decisions and test them against what the software considered the optimum strategy. Frank has used it widely and found it very effective and he has also given copies of it to sailing friends for them to test. They have frequently commented that he should sell it, and he has finally decided to leave his job and set up a company to sell and market the product.
He has decided that the most effective way to distribute it would be through the internet and so he is planning to set up a sales and promotion web site called taktical.com. The software itself will be available through a CD. To make the software more marketable he will need to employ some other programmers and designers.
He is planning to work from home initially and he estimates his initial set-up costs to be as follows: • Software costs - £4,000 • E-commerce set-up and hosting - £1,250 • Design costs - £950
He has allocated £3,600 for his marketing budget, though he has not yet decided the most appropriate marketing methods to use.
He has investigated carefully to see what other similar products are available and believes he has found a niche in the market, though there are some other
Case study
This case study has three separate sections to it. The case material is given below, and then there is: • A worksheet based on the case study (including the development of a full business plan) • An interactive quiz
Taktical.com
Frank Drake is a software engineer with a major multinational firm and a highly experienced programmer. He is also a keen racing sailor, and for many years in his spare time he has been developing a piece of software to help racing sailors plan their tactics for a race. The software enables you to input a wide range of variables, including the weather, the tide, the nature of the course, the boat characteristics and information about the competition. From this you can then develop a strategy for the race. After the race you can input your decisions and test them against what the software considered the optimum strategy. Frank has used it widely and found it very effective and he has also given copies of it to sailing friends for them to test. They have frequently commented that he should sell it, and he has finally decided to leave his job and set up a company to sell and market the product.
He has decided that the most effective way to distribute it would be through the internet and so he is planning to set up a sales and promotion web site called taktical.com. The software itself will be available through a CD. To make the software more marketable he will need to employ some other programmers and designers.
He is planning to work from home initially and he estimates his initial set-up costs to be as follows: • Software costs - £4,000 • E-commerce set-up and hosting - £1,250 • Design costs - £950
He has allocated £3,600 for his marketing budget, though he has not yet decided the most appropriate marketing methods to use.
He has investigated carefully to see what other similar products are available and believes he has found a niche in the market, though there are some other