Topcoder

Case Digest - TopCoder

a. If you were a senior manager at TopCoder, what are the main capabilities you would need to develop to succeed at running the firm? Are these capabilities similar or unique from managing a more traditional firm?

What makes this firm different from traditional software firm is its transformed supply chain. The change makes the company be able to meet customers’ expectation with better quality because of competition and make itself more profitable with lower fixed cost. This change also plausibly implies the switch of the skills needed to run the firm.

To run the firm, I as a senior manager would need more skills in integrating the information from clients and the programmer community. Technical skills are still needed but not for program developing but for reviewing the catalog of software that could adapt to and be reused for new projects.

As the company is the pioneer of this new business model, the managers would need to be more flexible to deal with the urgent pop-up problems, which could have never ever be confronted by other firms before. Since the partners now include both clients and supplier, the managers should be able to adjust the system/platform swiftly to better fit both sides’ needs. For example, because not everyone joins the contest can gain the cash prize as reward in the end of the competition, TopCoder developed the raking systems as a motivation for these programmer---to win the dignity and reputation! In the future, it’s possible that this method would probably not work anymore. (For instance, other new competitors offer better incentives.) By then, how to make this system working well in each case for the participants would be essential. Besides, how to make the system more valuable to attract more programmers to join would also affect the future success of the corporate. Being a manager in this firm, you need to foresee the problem and to be more creative in problem solving.

However, all...