Blue Orb: A Company in Transition

This report is consistent with my signed Academic Integrity Form on file with the instructor.

Team 6

February 17, 2015
Critical Issues

After an analysis of the current situation, Blue Orb Inc. needs to address the following:
• Transition Path from a research-orientated organization into retail oriented business
• Strategic business decision regarding marketing plan for SwitchBlade Pro o Inability to convert free subscribers to paid subscribers o Whether to accept The FightWare Proposal as a part of marketing campaign o Whether to do in-house promotional SwitchBlade Pro gaming competition as a part of marketing campaign

Situation
It is estimated that major video game competitions will attract roughly 18,000 attendants . Blue Orb hopes to attract 25% of the attendants which is 4,500 subscribers from the FightWare proposal. With this option, Blue Orb will not gain experience on how to run competitions and will have to rely on FightWare in the future.

3) Blue Orb to host the video game competition in-house

The third option is to have Blue Orb themselves to host the competition. This option allows for Blue Orb to showcase their products to the local gaming clubs. The cost of this option will be $5,000. This option will allow for hundreds of local gamers to participate in using LAN network. In addition, Blue Orb will be able to gain experience on how to run competitions for future events. However, the fact that they do not have experience may affect the smoothness of the competition. Blue Orb hopes to attract 20% of the participants and attendants at the in-house competition and will charge $15 per player to participate in the competition.

Recommendation
In order to establish 10,000 paid subscribers, it is recommended that Blue Orb implement options 1, 2 and 3. These three options will help Blue Orb attract more subscribers for SwitchBlade Pro.
These options alone will not help to achieve the desired goal, however when linked together, the chances for Blue Orb succeeding are increased. Option 1 will eliminate