OPS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

I am choosing Circuit City as if it was still in business and I am a company with a project scope trying to help them. We need to assess a sequence of tasks that must be completed to attain a better outcome of the company which is in failure. Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines. Also please break down the steps and who is in charge of what exactly in which department. Track costs, budget , responsibilities of each department in my company. What information needs to be collected from Circuit City and by when and who does it need to be submitted to. Who has access to certain information. Are our meetings done in person or web based with Circuit City ? How will we help this company? Please also refer to the pdf guidelines for the writing and also INCLUDE references. I have gave an sample of someone else paper if you need help. Can also include charts

ANSWER

Introduction

Circuit City is a US-based electronic goods retailer founded in 2016 by Ronny Shmoel as part of his purchase of the store brand and trademark rights held by Systemax, who previously managed the CircuitCity.com site before it was merged into the TigerDirect brand. Despite its accomplishments, the company has been suffering from financial crisis and recession. Most of its stores have been experiencing layoffs due to deteriorating profit margins and liquidity challenges as shown in figure 1. By 2000, the company had more than 60,000 workers spread in 616 locations across the country (SEC, 2010). By 2008, these numbers had reduced to just about 34,000 employees in 567 stores nationwide (SEC, 2010). This document outlines a strategy that would save the company from inevitable failure due to diminishing earnings and growing competition.

Figure 1: Circuit City Stores statistics | Source: (SEC, 2010)

Issue

Circuit City is one of North America’s major consumer electronics retailers, with over 700 stores in the United States and 500 company-owned stores in Canada. The Canadian market accounts for around 5% of total sales. The company sells a wide range of products, including video and audio equipment and personal computers. Unfortunately, the company has been enduring financial difficulties and a lack of a distinct market identity. In recent years, the corporation has pursued a strategy of reducing the number of stores to manage the costs. The COVID-19 epidemic has added to the operational problem, as revenue from in-store sales is insufficient to cover the operational expenditures (Roggeveen & Sethuraman, 2020). In 2000, the company’s revenue and stock price were at an all-time peak but still trailed those of competitors such as Best Buy in terms of revenue per store, aggregate sales, and market dominance in the United States. The company’s management implemented several modifications to increase earnings, but this strategy looked to flop. In essence, the critical issue affecting the company is mismanagement and the outdated layout of the stores. Customers may find it unpleasant moving around disorganized stores (Orr, 2019). Some consumers have complained about the unclean surroundings, empty inventory, and lousy customer service. For example, in 2001, the company discontinued selling appliances, which accounted for 10% to 15% of its total revenue. By discontinuing this product, the corporation lost out on the residential real estate bubble that ensued when appliance sales in the market skyrocketed.

Solution

The key to restoring Circuit City’s profitability is to redesign the current store layout to provide customers with better reasons to visit and shop at the company’s stores. This redesign includes a mixed store layout design, shown in figure 2, to provide big storefronts and integrate additional in-store services like haircuts, coffee machines, cash machines, and fitting services. A proper project strategy is vital in enabling Circuit City stores to outperform other traditional retailers in terms of sales. The restructuring project would save Circuit City from losses and return it to profitability as described in greater detail within this paper.

Figure 2: Proposed mixed store project design

Project’s Main Objective

The project’s main objective is to boost the accessibility of the Electronic store and change its moderate growth into high growth status by harnessing the growth potential within its surroundings and giving traditional and prospective clients more reasons to visit and shop at the store.

Project Deliverables

The project objective would be met through several deliverables. They include:

• Review the existing stores to identify those that do not comply with the project’s main objective – a handful of Electronic shops are placed in unappealing locations with little traffic from potential customers. The closing of such locations would allow the firm to restructure only essential ones and result in improved financial performance by reducing wasteful spending.
• Rebranding, refurbishment, and redesign of the identified stores – performing stores would be redesigned to comply with the project objective. In contrast, non-performing stores would be relocated to better sites that are more modern and appealing to a broader range of customers. The new stores should offer a new prototype and model of considerably smaller suburban stores to meet market demands. Most importantly, the new stores would be equipped with distinctive supplementary services such as free Wi-Fi or a children’s play area. It is no longer about what a store sells but rather what the company represents in the eyes of its customers.
• Incorporation of extra in-store services like haircuts, coffee machines, cash machines, and fitting services into the new stores to assist in attracting clients. Clients will find it convenient to integrate such services alongside shopping. For example, when people go to the salon to get their hair done, they have the opportunity to buy more than they would if they were shopping online, where such services are unavailable.
• Adoption of e-commerce strategy to complement the in-store visits – increasing investment in e-commerce is critical for supplementing the current brick-and-mortar paradigm. E-commerce is quickly becoming a favourite among today’s consumers. Online shopping provides consumers with the exceptional experience of comparing costs, ordering products, and delivering them to their door. Circuit City should get into this area and leverage its clientele that appreciates similar services.

Project Milestones

Several milestones must be met for the project to be completed effectively. The first step is to approve the project and its deliverables. This milestone will necessitate the initiation of communication between the project manager and the CEO concerning the company challenges. Since some of the issues touch on mismanagement, there is a need for adequate communication with the key stakeholders concerning the company’s revamping initiatives. Stakeholders should be informed of the time it will take to complete the deliverables and other factors such as cost and funding sources (Derakhshan et al., 2019). Stakeholders must be included from the start so that they can provide input early on. Second, it is critical to secure the cash needed to carry out the agreed project. This milestone focuses on determining the amounts required, the sources of the money, and the necessary steps to meet each financial objective. The third milestone entails identifying the individuals who will lead the project. Such individuals may work within the organization or be brought in as outside expertise. In most circumstances, it is preferable to engage both internal and external staff to mix knowledge and unique insight from the outside in completing project deliverables. The next step is to look for vendors who share the same goal and sign contracts with them. The supply requirements will be defined per the deliverables, and then proposal requests will be submitted to various vendors. The project updates will then have to be communicated regularly. Stakeholders require regular updates from the project team. Set project timeframes to define when stakeholders are informed on project accomplishments, budget use, and future needs. The last milestone entails testing project deliverables and reviewing stakeholders’ and customers’ reactions to the project. Some project deliverables would be piloted to spot possible difficulties and modified to suit project requirements.

Technical Requirements

The project’s technical requirements are entrenched within the scope of standards, configuration management, and quality assurance. The project scope has been shown in figure 4 below, and it highlights that the entire project would take 45 days. It summarizes the tasks, with the major ones being a review of existing stores, redesign of identified stores, implementation of the design proposals, testing of the new layouts, enactment of e-commerce strategy, and project closure. A total budget of $26,830 is estimated to cover the entire project scope. The distribution of these costs is highlighted in figure 3 below. Structural leadership would be critical in defining project standards, determining project requirements, and procuring resources (Safapour et al., 2019). Configuration management includes establishing the monitoring tools required to track delays and modifications. It also aids in the analysis of potential difficulties that could jeopardize the project’s completion and the identification of solutions to minimize disruption. Quality assurance is an essential technical need since it ensures that all steps are carried out under the relevant procedures and standards.

Figure 3: Project cost overview

Figure 4: Project scope

Limits and Exclusions

This project’s scope depends on the defined objective and deliverables. As a result, the project will not go beyond what is stated in this paper. Matters relating to increased revenue, more brand awareness, and improved services are primarily outside the work’s scope, but they are attainable once the project is completed. Since many people have become loyal to the company brand, the firm name would be preserved.

Reviews with Customer

The entire project scope will be delivered to the client for evaluation and authorization. The consumer must be engaged from the start to help identify where they might have to alter from a consumer’s standpoint. Their contributions are critical to the project’s success. For example, their input on project costs and funding sources is vital to the project’s success. Every stage and milestone of the project will be discussed with the customer so that any modifications requested by the client can be adopted earlier in the project, avoiding extra costs associated with redesigning.

Risks

The biggest risk associated with the failure of this plan is that the whole firm will suffer due to the large number of resources put into its success. It would imply that all financial, personal, and other resources and efforts put into the project would also be futile.

Conclusion

This plan was developed to aid Circuit City Stores in regaining profitability by improving sales and customer service. Some of the primary challenges that have recently plagued its operations include a lack of a distinct market identity and diminishing sales. For acceptance and approval, the proposed modifications necessitate continual contact with stakeholders. There is also a need to include the company’s leadership to achieve strategic coherence with the company’s objectives and to increase good market feedback.

References

Derakhshan, R., Turner, R., & Mancini, M. (2019). Project governance and stakeholders: a literature review. International Journal of Project Management, 37(1), 98-116.

Orr, E. M. (2019). Designing the Electronic Store: Display and Retail at the Turn of the twentieth Century. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Roggeveen, A. L., & Sethuraman, R. (2020). How the COVID-19 pandemic may change the world of retailing. Journal of Retailing, 96(2), 169.

Safapour, E., Kermanshachi, S., Kamalirad, S., & Tran, D. (2019). Identifying effective project-based communication indicators within primary and secondary stakeholders in construction projects. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction, 11(4), 04519028.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331048741_Identifying_Effective_Project-Based_Communication_Indicators_within_Primary_and_Secondary_Stakeholders_in_Construction_Projects

SEC. (2010). Circuit City Stores Inc SEC Registration – SEC Report. Circuit City Stores Inc. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://sec.report/CIK/0000104599.

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