University of Phoenix
MBA590
April 2007
Gap Analysis: Harrison-Keyes
Harrison-Keyes’ plan for reconstructing their traditional publishing to new digital e-publishing is their strategic plan to maintain their industry standing and compete with the changing publishing market. This has placed them in extremely atrocious predicaments with their current outsourced publishers, Asia Digital, who continuously fail to meet deadlines, with the public, who now view them with a negative outlook, with the authors who fear copyright infringement on their published work, and for the employees, whose morale is low and turnover seems to be the solution. Their plan to outsource the new digital publishing to Asia Digital was the idea of former CEO Meg McGill, who has since resigned, but Asia Digital failed to meet expectations and an act of nature has completely ruined the overseas outsourcer’s site and all work that would have helped launch this new e-publishing venture. From the executive stand point, interest in such a venture does not take precedence in the company budget or strategic planning and public perception of Harrison-Keyes is already damaged by the negative press associated with this new venture. The new CEO does not support this idea at all and it is driving employee morale so low that two associates have chosen to go to a competitor. The big question is how can Harrison-Keyes increase profit, and at the same time meet the needs of employees and authors alike without compromising their reputation in the industry?
Situation Analysis and Problem Statement
At Harrison-Keyes, there is a division in the team regarding the e-publishing venture. There is a lack of communication between the team members, low employee morale, and l ...