Captiva Conglomerate - Case Analysis

Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation of the Captiva Conglomerate Vignette

I. Major Facts

Al Carpenter, the materials manager at Captiva Conglomerate, has called together the leadership from the other departments to discuss the company's ongoing contract with S.O. Software (SOS). Not all is well with this partnership, however. His inventory and spares manager is not happy with the inventory and spares module and the functioning system is acceptable, but also four months behind schedule and not useable by his staff. He requests improvements to make the interface much more accessible to his department. The regional and centralized inventory management system is also ten months late. Al Carpenters wants to take action, but it is pointed out by his supply manager that the contract calls only for broad terms like 'best efforts' and 'whenever possible'. The supplier has also used up one million dollars in development and seventeen un-priced change orders. The specs were seemingly drafted by SOS but are initialed and approved by the IT manager. Communication among departments doesn't seem to be holding up and Al Carpenter has the difficult task to keeping everyone's expectations on a realistic level.

II. Major Problem

Captiva Conglomerate's current contract with SOS is not fulfilling its needs from the perspective of the inventory and parts department. The specs seemed to have been drawn up by the IT department and haven't taken into account the less technical savvy members of other departments. Responsibility for the disaster cannot be delegated to SOS due to the broad terms and conditions established in the contract.

III. Possible Solutions/Alternatives

A. Captiva terminates the current contract with SOS and pursue another with a competing firm.

1. Advantages: Hiring another firm would more likely ensure that the project is completed on time and with a better interface that allows the company to speed up its operations. The fact that SOS had not...