Reference no: EM134016761 , Length: 4 pages
Assignment:
Fact Pattern:
You are the Chief Program and Project Officer of a diversified technology conglomerate with a portfolio of projects based on recent developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics.
The company has recently expanded into the oil exploration and pharmaceutical industries.
The company plans to use its AI, machine learning, and robotics technology to get a competitive edge in oil exploration and pharmaceuticals.
This will require investments in R & D, drug development, and oil exploration and extraction projects.
With this in mind, the Board of Directors has asked you to review Modules 1 through 5:
Module 1: Introduction and Overview
Module 2: Project Conception and Initiation
Module 3: Enterprise Analysis & Project Requirements
Module 4: Project Complexity, Types, and Methodologies
Module 5: Project Timeline
The Board has also asked you to read Real Options: A New Paradigm
Actions
and to choose at least two of the short case studies discussed in it:
- Expansion and Compound Options: The Case of the Operating System
- Expansion Options: The Case of the E-Business Initiative
- Expansion and Sequential Options: The Case of the Pharmaceutical R&D
- Expansion and Switching Options: The Case of the Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
- Abandonment Options: The Case of the Manufacturer
- Expansion and Barrier Options: The Case of the Lost Venture Capitalist and Compound Expansion Options: The Case of the Internet Start-Up (these two count as one case study)
Questions:
The Board would like a 4 page memorandum in which you use what you learned from Real Options: A New Paradigm, the two case studies you chose, and what you have learned in Modules 1 through 5 of the course to answer the following questions:
- When should a company start a project?
- When should a company consider changing the timeline of a project?
- Should a project already underway be abandoned? And if so, should the company switch to another project with the same or analogous project goals?
- Should a company with a project underway expand the project? How does project complexity affect these decisions?
- How do market uncertainty and other types of uncertainty affect these decisions?
Please be sure to discuss how real options analysis is relevant to projects involving:
- Research and Development (R & D), as a general matter
- The development of new drugs
- Oil exploration and extraction