Question 1 (LO3) (18 Marks Total) Based on the success of your recent interview with Roger Coleman, the Research & Development Executive Officer for the Sorensen Group, they would like to offer you a...

Question 1 (LO3) (18 Marks Total)
Based on the success of your recent interview with Roger Coleman, the Research & Development
Executive Officer for the Sorensen Group, they would like to offer you a three month internship.
Appointment to the internship will be partly based on your successful completion of the following tasks.
As a possible internship student, contribute by:
a) Using case study 1 to detail six (6) barriers that are in place that stop the Sorensen Group from further
improving their performance through innovation.
(0 - 6 Marks (120 to 180 words) for barriers = 6 marks)
b) Providing a brief set of six (6) written recommendations on what you believe the Sorensen Group
could do, to overcome each of the six (6) barriers you identified in part (a). Your recommendations
must assist the group improving its performance. Your six (6) recommendations must also include
what resources the Sorensen Group needs to access to overcome the barriers you identified.
(6 x 0 - 2 Marks (240 to 360 words) for recommendations = 12 marks)
Case Study 1 – The Sorensen Group
The Sorensen Group is a privately owned company based in Wellington and employs around 450 staff.
Sorensen comprises of four main divisions; management of livestock, contract manufacturing, fuels and
security. Sorensen was founded in the 1940’s when Michael Sorensen produced his first electric animal
fence. The company has developed into one of the world’s leading supplier of electric fencing systems.
Sorensen has had to evolve to remain successful and competitive. Historically it was reliant on the NZ
market for their livestock management product range. Sorensen began to export livestock management
products in the late 1970’s. A significant shift in New Zealand agriculture sector caused by the removal of
subsidies in the 1980’s resulted in Sorensen needing to focus more offshore to explore new markets for
their products. Sorensen also found an early opportunity to explore IT to extend their core products into
a vastly different market, security systems. This product diversification is partially attributable to the
acquisitions made by the Sorensen group for example the acquisition of ODB’s swipex security access
system. By the early 2000’s Sorensen products were being distributed to over 105 countries with its
product range rapidly diversifying but ultimately being underpinned by its core products associated with
its livestock handling systems. The agricultural sector continues to provide approximately fourty five
percent of the group’s annual revenue although the product range has changed to include weighing and
electronic tagging systems.
The group has grown to a scale now achieving revenues in the order of $160 million per annum. Sorensen
has become a truly global company with regional offices around the world to provide product support.
Sorensen is renowned for their innovation and has won many awards over the years. Michael Sorensen
won his first innovation award in the mid 1970’s. More recent awards include winner of the New Zealand
Engineering Innovators of the Year Award 2008, Sustained Innovation Excellence Award 2011 and the
New Zealand Diploma in Business (Level 6)
4
Gold Award from the Design Institute of New Zealand 2013. The Sorensen range of innovative products
in the livestock management sector includes the ‘j-series electric fencing system’ released in 2008 the
‘cow auto drafter’ released in 2010 and the ‘electronic identification tagger’ released in 2009. The group
describes itself as ‘constant innovators’. Private ownership of the company enables Sorensen takes a long
term approach to R&D. The company has over 115 worldwide patents.
You recently had the good fortune to meet with Roger Coleman, the Research & Development Executive
Officer for the Sorensen Group and interview him to learn more about how the group views innovation.
What follows is a summary of your findings from your interview:
• He described the group’s recent innovation as being stagnant of late. He said they are not delivering
as much cutting edge disruptive innovation as he would like. Most innovation is largely incremental.
• He described new product development is not R&D to them but business as usual. R&D has a big role
to play although needs close collaboration with the business side. Innovation is about a business
model. Sorensen is more active in the development space than the research space and any research
that is conducted is applied.
• He described the innovation model for Sorensen as closed collaboration with universities and R&D on
specific projects where they don’t have the internal capability. They sometimes collaborate with other
organisations.
• He said Sorensen has been using the same innovation model for the last 50 years. Collaboration has
increased over time. Sorensen has done some explorative sessions with scientists but these haven’t
led to any big changes. They don’t do fundamental research and are unlikely to. They develop product
technology roadmaps, doing forward planning on a timeframe of two product generations. Some
products last 25 years, others shorter.
• He stated that innovation sets Sorensen apart from its competitors. Brand identification is also a main
driver. Innovation is part of Sorensen’s organisational culture. Other drivers include regulatory
standards as an element of competitive pressure.
• Sorensen has different business units each responsible for innovation and each business unit has its
own market product team. They develop road maps based on the overall business strategy. The board
see innovation as important and part of the core business.
• Sorensen has different product category teams. Process innovation is around continuous
improvement. Marketing innovation looks at communications and web design. Product management
groups are formed around product categories and are led by product managers. People involved in
R&D go across different groups to ensure cross pollination and avoiding any duplication of work.
• Steering committees are responsible for the innovation governance within Sorensen. Roger and senior
executives of the other business units oversee execution and approve projects. They meet monthly
and don’t use the likes of a science advisory board.
• The key sources of innovative ideas for Sorensen are several competitor analysis market insights,
market research, customer feedback and internal sources, sales and distribution channels.
• 80% of your Sorensen’s annual revenue is invested into R&D and Innovation. It varies by business unit.
There is more in security than livestock management. The percentage has increased over recent years
used to be about 8%. Growth in investment has been faster than growth in revenue.
• Roger stated that he wanted the Sorensen Group to innovate faster. They are trying to improve.
Question 2 (LO4) (32 Marks Total)
Question 2 is designed to provide learners with practical experience in applying project management
concepts. Specifically, the objectives of this question are:
• To apply what content taught in DBN609 to prepare a simple project plan with access to resources.
• Simulate managing a case study project to ensure resources are managed effectively to minimise
waste and improve performance.
In order to complete the Question 2 activities you will need access to Microsoft Project 2013. This
software has been made freely available to all Aspire 2 students learning DBN609 via Microsoft's Imagine
Academy (https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/education/imagine-academy/default.aspx). Your DBN609
course tutor will provide you with instructions of how to obtain, download and install Microsoft Project
2013. Those activities are not part of this assessment and no marks will be awarded for undertaking these
activities.