Smart Company

Introduction

The Smart Company Limited that manufactures the new generation cars known as the “Smart Car” intends to hit the road running for their product. The company that is credited for its innovativeness in the world of technology intends to launch their product, the “Smart Car”, in the city of Birmingham this coming spring of the year 2012. This is strategic in that they wish to associate with the good history of technological advancements the city built over the years. The city of Birmingham is known to have grown to international limelight around the period of Industrial Revolution. During this time, the world looked at Birmingham as the nerve centre of technological, economic as well as scientific development (Rajegopal and Waller, 2007). Besides, a great number of innovations that make of the modern industrial society in the United Kingdom are known to have been founded in the city of Birmingham. It is in this light that the Smart Company Limited has chosen the city to be the launching point of their innovative skill that manifests in the hybrid design that reduces fuel consumption as well as CO2 emissions. The new technology allows the engine to automatically switch off at traffic lights or in a traffic jam and back on when things get moving again. This is both economic and quite environmentally friendly, something that the city has been at the forefront promoting. In fact, the city of Birmingham was one of the cities in the United Kingdom to implement the green agenda through its volunteer driven environmental groups. As such, the company found it appropriate to give some credit to the residents of Birmingham, especially the volunteers for the extraordinary dedication they have made to a course greater than themselves. The launch is scheduled to take place on the 12^th April 2012, something that would symbolize a renewal of the human race as is embodied in its limited carbon emissions. The launch will run from morning of 12^th April through the day into the mid-night, after which guests will get to sleep as they wait to leave in the morning of the April 13^th. The company believes that this will not be an inconvenience to any of the participants, as they are all business people who value their time (Sanwal and Anand, 2007).

Product Launch Venue and Staffing

The Oriental Birmingham has strategically chosen for the event due to its situation in Birmingham’s prestigious mailbox. This is expected to provide the necessary comfort to the participants. It’s notable that well over 70 per cent of the delegates who are expected to grace the occasion include business leaders who certainly need some degree of luxury. Besides, the restaurant has an adequate capacity to accommodate the large number of the delegates who will be coming to the event. According to the confirmed invitations, fifty eight individuals will be available for the event. In addition, the restaurant has enough space for product show and exhibitions that are actually the essential part of the event (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1998).

The Restaurant is known to offer quality and stylish services that are commensurate with the mood of the event. Besides, an international business will take care of the vast diversity of the delegates’ backgrounds considering they will come from different parts of the world. As such, it will not only serve to give an international face to the product, but also allow it to reach a bigger market as the institution will also be given chance to invite the commercial attaches from their country. To maximize on the market coverage, the launch will make good use of the media with particular focus on the journalists present so that they can report positively of the event and by extension the product. In this respect, the Smart Company Limited recognizes that properly taking care of journalists’ welfare will significantly sway their perception of the whole event. That is why the event will seek to give them a special treatment by assigning them to a specific staff who will attend to them in a timely and appropriate manner. It’s widely anticipated that putting them together and influencing them to report positively will see them all making a positive report back to their stations (Sanwal, 2007).

Food and Service Arrangements

The menu will be organized so that it suits the season of the moment, spring. As such, the company intends to put an order for Asparagus soup served with some Lemon-Herb Crème Fraiche; Roast chicken served with a little black pepper maple glaze and smoky sautéed bacon served with fresh leeks for lunch. This would then be followed with a wide range of non alcoholic beverages considering that the afternoon program will require people to be sober. During this particular moment, the delegates will be given the same treatment including the journalists. However, the predefined principle of special service will be preserved especially by assigning the top crème of the Restaurant’s staff to handle them with the highest level of hospitality possible. Nonetheless, the rest of the delegation will get the quality services they desire albeit not as individual-tailored (Rajegopal, 2007).

The supper would however be used to pass some message of environmental conservation to the delegates. That implies that it will be composed of more vegetables than meat as this will resonate well with the nature of the product being launched. Further, everyone will be allowed to serve themselves their preferred food from the provided variety. In fact, including organically produced vegetables will put a special emphasis on the idea of environmental conservation and indeed show the commitment of the “Smart Company” to eco-friendly production. Besides, it will show some creativity in the organization of the event as it’s quite uncommon to have green foods in big events of this nature in the history of the United Kingdom. The evening drinks would however include alcoholic beverages as well as other kinds of beverages so that the delegates are able to drink at their pleasure. However, the journalists would be encouraged to restrict themselves to the non alcoholic beverages so that they can stay sober throughout the event and report appropriately. These are believed to meet the expectations of everyone concerning the required prestige as well capture the theme of the moment (Denney and Richard 2005).

Later on, the delegates will be treated to a ground breaking performance by the “Weapons of Sound Ltd”. This is the most prominent eco-friendly junk in the entire United Kingdom and will greatly serve to preach the gospel of environmental organization as intended by the “Smart Company”. This event will include the participation of all the delegates. Indeed, the photojournalists, in particular, will be urged to take turn in covering the events so that each of them gets a share of the joyful moments. It is highly anticipated that the performances of this band will leave the hall burst into song and dance making it impossible to hold any more meaningful events in the hall. As such, the staff of the Restaurant will be up in arms with the keys to each of the delegates’ room so that there is no waste of time for those of them who would then wish to sleep (Rutherford, 2007).

Detailed Programs of the Project Portfolio

 The preparations for the event started well over a year before the identified date. These included sponsoring several trade journals and other types of publications that gave only a brief overview of what the prospective customers should expect of the “Smart Car”. In particular, the Smart Company Limited has been publishing a monthly article entitled “Going Green on the Road”. Although it did not specifically denote how the green agenda would be achieved on the road, the articles greatly served to make the idea popular among the public in hope that the public will easily buy the idea when it finally hits the market. Furthermore, the organizers of the event wrote and sent emails to various institutions world-wide including the invitations to the delegates expected to attend. That is why there are high anticipations as to their attendance (Denney and Richard 2005).

The delegates are expected to start streaming in to Oriental Birmingham Restaurant in the evening of the 11^th April 2012. There will be enough staff of the restaurant as well a team from the Smart Company Limited to receive them on arrival. However, nothing much will take place on this day as the actual event is supposed to start the following day. The supper will be served according to the individual preferences of the delegates, but at the cost of the Smart Company Limited. Further, the joint team of receptionists will show the delegates around before giving them the keys to their prestigious rooms (Allen, 2008).

The occasion of the product launch would kick off the following morning of the 12^th April at 8 a.m. The first event will involve welcoming the delegates to the occasion as well as giving background information concerning the product to be launched. This would include a thorough explanation of the dire need for the society to ‘go green on the roads’ by using automobiles that emit the limited amount of carbon, much similar to a summary of the information that has been appearing in the media publications. Thereafter, specialists from the Smart Company Limited with powerful knowledge of the product at hand would take over to give a one-by-one account of the “Smart Car” (Cooper, 1998).

The first group of specialists will begin at 9 a.m. by tackling the fuel consumption of the “Smart Car”. They will be expected to dwell at length on the fact that the “Smart Car” is a typical hybrid design and it would reduce fuel consumption by up to 11% as well as the overall emissions of carbon dioxide. Moreover, because they would be dealing with experts from different fields, they will be required to give a short demonstration of the technology behind this as well as try it out to show the real possibility. At the end of this session, the delegates would be allowed to go round the exhibition hall and have an interactive session with the experts so that they can ask questions on the aspects they were not able to understand. This would proceed till 10-30 a.m. when a new group of specialists would pick up the product demonstrations (Shone, 2004).

The new team of specialists would specifically focus on the mode of action of the automobile. They would be keen to emphasize that the new technology allows the engine to automatically switch off at traffic lights or in a traffic jam and back on when things get moving again. Besides, they would be quick to inform the delegates that the "smart" brand is all about individualism, city coupe fashion, innovation and manufacturing of cars that are economical and environmentally friendly. The end of this session would see the delegates break for lunch at 1-00 p.m. (Denney and Richard 2005).

The afternoon session would start with a photo session with the journalists given a special occasion to capture the various aspects that suit them. Besides, the other delegates would be free to take interviews with any team of journalists so long as they are not remitted live to the respective newsrooms. This would be in acknowledgement that individual delegates would remain entitled to their personal opinions which could have adverse effects on the market view of the product. That is why an objective reporting by the journalists would be encouraged as opposed to remitting subjective opinions of the delegates who could actually be a competitor of the “Smart Company Limited”. At 3 p.m., the session at the hall would resume with a different technical team from the Smart Company taking the delegates through the economic implications of adopting the new technology. This would not only dwell on the amount of money that individuals would be able to save by adopting the technology, but also on the social implications that would result from using the eco-friendly technology. At 5 p.m., the delegates would take a break before resuming for supper at 6 p.m. Thereafter, everyone would be allowed to socialize at their own pleasure including participating in the performance by the “Weapon of Sound Limited” or proceed to bed (Rajegopal, 2007).

Implementation of the Theme of the Occasion

 The organizers of the event have picked on the “Hibiscus Fun Invitation” as the best match to put together a modern Hawaiian-style of the dinner for the delegates. The decorations are made to resemble the elegant contrast that exists between the tropical type of vegetation and the peaceful serenity that makes of the immediate surroundings. In particular, the pink and orange hibiscus flowers would be placed at the centre of each table and at every corner of the hall. This is expected to showcase the extraordinary beauty of the flowers as well as the fact that they manifest of a nature-inspired setup for the product launch (Denney and Richard 2005).

The organizers plan to rely largely on the natural elements including bamboo chargers, lush greenery and starfish to create the place settings that would have the look typical to the Hawaiian style. Besides, they would be sure to place an exotic bromeliad right at the center of the Hawaiian style table to bring out the naturalness that they intend to inject into the whole event. On the tables would be placed a variety of natural drinks ranging from pineapples to oranges and colorful glasses where the delegates can get to serve themselves at their own convenience. The seats would be bearing the names of the individual delegates but not take any patterns as regards their regional or ethnic backgrounds. Although the problem of language barrier would be eminent, the sitting arrangement would be left to stay as diverse. This would ensure that the occasion is not only reserved for the product launch, but also becomes a forum for global interaction of people from different regions of the world (Rajegopal, 2007).

The Costing of the Project Portfolio

The cost of organizing the product launch will no doubt be high. However, the “Smart Company Limited” has decided to use a large variety of eco-friendly products that are generally much cheaper as compared to the industrial products. These would perfectly show on the kinds of foods and the decorations to showcase the theme. These are expected to significantly cut on the overall cost of the event so that a good percentage of the expenditure would go into ensuring ideal comfort of the delegates as well as the journalists (Tarlow, 2002)

The aspects that have already cost the company a fortune are invitations and publications that have already cost $ 8,000. However, these were anticipated from the beginning considering that they would very positively contribute to the success of the event. Moreover, these publications will define how best the public that will not be present at the product launch are hooked up to the new technology. As such, the company does not really consider them an exercise in futility, but rather a part of the success story that the new product is expected to make once it hits the ground running in the market (Catherwood, 1995).

The other aspect that would cost a fortune is the accommodations offered to the delegates. The fact that the restaurant is situated strategically at the center of Birmingham city has made overall cost skyrocket to $ 10,000. Nonetheless, the company has chosen it considering that it offers the best environment to reach the market. The city of Birmingham has a very large population that the product launch would be able to reach even if they don’t actually participate in the actual event. This will be achieved by the curiosity that it will create among the residents as to what really is the fuss about going green on the roads. As such, very many people would develop the desire to know about the innovative product and of course the actual benefits. Besides, the organizers intend to give the journalists a tip totaling to $3,500. This would leave them with another $3,500 for organizing of the event (Allen, 2009). As such, the whole event would likely fit into the budget of £25,000 which is supposed to be raised from a client fee of $ 432 each.

Risk Management Strategies

The organizers of the event intend to plan properly for the event to curb any potential risks that may arise on the product launch. As such, all the security operations in the restaurant would be taken over by security officers hired by the Smart Company for the occasion (Shone, A. and Parry, B. 2010). They will be required to keep vigil in and out of the premises of the restaurant just to ascertain that nothing wrong happens. In particular, the organizers of the event will seek the services of the Reliance Security Group. This Security firm is known for its high quality detectives as well intelligence services. These would certainly help to eliminate any terrorist threats or any possibility of theft within the crowds (Lock, 2007).

The arrangement of the venue will be a matter of priority for the organizers with regards to ease of escape in case of any unfortunate eventuality. Specifically, the placement of seats in the venue as well as ease of spotting the emergency exits would be given special emphasis. As such, the team of detectives will seek to ensure that any combustible material does not find its way into the venue. Besides, the security officers outside the Restaurant will keep vigil on any kind of demonstrations that may attempt to disrupt the event (Rutherford, 2008). Indeed, such an eventuality would be highly anticipated considering that many companies in the United Kingdom and abroad are not happy with the eco-friendly products. Such companies may choose to roll out demonstrators purposely to paint the organizers negatively. Besides, former employees who may wish to bring down our company would not hesitate to take part in such a demonstration. As such, the security team would not be taking any chances with the security of the event (Bowdin, 2010).

Conclusion

The expectations are high regarding the attendance and the eventual success of the event. The company highly anticipates that the kind of organization and groundwork that has been put in place will ensure that the “Smart Car” hits the road running immediately after the launch. Besides, it’s expected that many institutions would readily buy the idea of environmental friendly car now when the debate on global warming is at its peak. As such, they would attempt to associate with the idea by buying the “smart car”. This technology is no doubt the technology of the future.