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Three years had elapsed since Kristin, former Senior Vice President for MBI Corporation, made the decision to make the switch from working as a senior executive in a corporate giant to working with her long time-friend and former college roommate, Becky, in a start-up small business focusing on designing mobile applications. What had started as negotiations between Becky and Kristin to establish an employer-employee relationship wherein Kristin would work for Becky, quickly turned into serious discussions of shared ownership of Becky�s company, Apps by Design, LLC. Shortly thereafter, Becky and Kristin field for S-Corp status. Becky retained majority ownership with 51% of the company. No other owners were brought into the company.
Apps by Design, LLC was a huge success within the first year of existence. Becky�s expertise as a mobile applications designer combined with Kristin�s contacts in the Information Technology in both the private and government sector resulted in great profits for the company in year 1 and even greater profits in year 2. The company was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Ten Fastest Growing Companies in 2010, and both Becky and Kristin were designated as among the Top 10 Female Executives for 2010. Apps by Design had, in 2 short years, become a major force in the mobile applications industry. A number of major large businesses firms and potential investors approached Apps by Design displaying serious interest in buying the fledgling company. Becky and Kristin graciously reviewed the offers received, but turned down each as the company embarked on 2011.
When Becky and Kristin sat down and performed a formal review of their success for 2011, realized that they had before them an opportunity to grow the business of Apps by Design far beyond their wildest dreams. They knew that the window of opportunity would remain open for only a brief period before attacks on the company would be made by their competitors.
During their review, Becky and Kristin each drew up a list of factors that believed to be instrumental in the great success. They had performed reviews of the state of Apps by Design every six months since the company was created. Both Beck and Kristin recognized the value of the reviews and pledged to continue them at six-month intervals until such time as the need was for greater frequency or less frequency. When combined, their lists were relatively short but contained a number of factors studied while in college business courses, factors they are have declared to be absolute must-haves irrespective of what the future holds for Apps by Design. The list contained the following factors:
� Frequent revisiting of the Apps by Design Business Plan accompanied by minor adjustments when necessary.
� Willingness by both Becky and Kristin to accept risk after careful analysis and determination that the returns were worth the risk.
� Foresight to establish an Apps by Design Innovations Group whose sole purpose was to generate new ideas and technologies and to reinvent the company on a regular basis.
� An unrelenting commitment to methodically recruit, train, and retain quality employees to form the Apps by Design workforce into their corporate culture of employee involvement.
� Judicious expenditure of company resources to ensure a strong but flexible infrastructure.
� Rigid adherence to an Apps by Design Code of Ethics
� Their ability to know and respect their respective strengths and weaknesses when it came to matters of obtaining professional help.
� Prudent use of the network contacts Kristin had established while working for MBI Corporation.
Becky and Kristin knew the time had come to grow the business. There were a number of questions that needed to be addressed.
� How should the business be grown? Can we do it ourselves using a company-owned approach? What about a joint venture with one of the investors who had approached Apps by Design? What about franchising? All could be considered as potential options.
� What did they hope to accomplish? What were their goals?
Becky and Kristin agreed that they needed professional help in terms of guiding them through the growth process by assisting in the analysis of the data, protecting Apps by design in its current state, assisting in the due diligence of seeking additional partners or investors, and generally acting the voice of reason as Becky and Kristin pondered the numerous decisions ahead of them. They hired an outside consultant whose reputation for helping highly successful companies grow. His first task was to collaboratively build with Becky and Kristin was to establish an initial set of goals/objectives (an end state or situation they wanted to the company to be in at certain milestones (the end of every year for the next five years). The goals/objectives list included:
� Assurance that in the event something happened to the other (death, resignation, etc.), the company would continue on without interruption with the survivor at the head of the company
� A total commitment to compliance with requirements for earth-friendly business operations
� Financial growth at the cumulative rate of 100% in year 1; 50% each in years 2 and 3; 25% in year 4 and steady state in year5.
� Establishment by the end of year 3 an endowment to Becky and Kristin�s Alma Mater, Stanford University, for the creation of a scholarship fund for young men and women who exhibited exceptional creativity, innovation, and vision in the field of mobile application development. The scholarship includes an apprenticeship with Apps by Design during the summer months and the promise of employment with the company following graduation.
� The ability to borrow money when necessary for infrastructure and research and development as needed. Preferably, use the cash of others and avoid depleting current assets.
� 100% of the work created by the growth plan will be on-shore, as has been the case since the company was originally formed.
� At the end of year 3, only 50% of the company�s revenues will come from mobile applications design.
� To retain as much flexibility as possible to make decisions quickly and efficiently without getting bogged down in bureaucracy.
� To minimize risk where possible but not at the expense of loss of flexibility.
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Student Requirements:
� Using the template below, evaluate the 3 growth strategies under consideration by Apps by Design. For each factor, write a brief comment as to how each strategy supports the factor. Rate the strategy as 1, 2 or 3 with 1 being the best support, 2 being moderately supportive, and 3 minimally supportive.
� Analyze the findings to determine which strategy aligns best with Becky and Kristin�s goals for succession planning and sustainability through innovation. .
� Present your findings in a 2-3 page report, double-spaced, in APA format. Two is the minimum page count established for this assignment, and three is the maximum page count. The page counts are not inclusive of any attachments or cover page. Please ensure that you address suggestions for succession planning in your report.
� Remember, this report summarizes what you discovered in your assessment of the 3 strategies. The meat of your assessment will be covered in your template.
� Attach the completed template to your report. There is no page restriction on the template.
Company-Owned Franchise Joint Venture
Flexibility
Sustainability through innovation
Funding for infrastructure and development
Succession Planning
Risk Management
Personnel
Management/Staffing
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