Pro-Go Pty Ltd: Addressing The Emergency Caused By Camera Explosions - Essay.

Pro-Go Pty Ltd is a privately-owned manufacturer of small, high-quality action cameras based in Geelong, Victoria. Founded in 2004 it has enjoyed continuous year-on-year growth until the last financial year. Pro-Go has a track record of innovation, and technology that provides excellent quality results in a small package able to operate with small batteries for extended periods of time. The video files these cameras produce are known for having superior colour, and operate effectively in lower lighting conditions than competitor’s cameras.

They are also marketed on the basis of their extreme ruggedness, and reliability. Much of the technology used in its devices has been patented by Pro-Go and is not currently available to other manufacturers.The Pro-Go management team has recognised that the ability to capture videos is now a feature of most phones. It suggests to them that the future of the stand-alone camera may be limited. Pro-Go’s CEO has requested the executive team meet independently to develop a strategy to guide the company over the next five years.

Students are to address the assessment task from the perspective of their own functional area of responsibility. For example, the Senior Finance Officer would be mindful of issues such as risk, capital availability, likely timing and amount of returns, etc.
The deliverables required of each student are:
1. Determine three options that exist in adjacent markets or with related but different products or technologies;
2. Nominate the preferred option and state why you believe it to be so; and
3. Discuss the implications specifically relating to your part of the business, and what challenges these might represent. Separate the discussion into short-term and long-term issues. 

Pro-Go had established a firm reputation within the field of high quality action cameras. It was founded in 2004 and is based in Geelong, Victoria. Pro-Go has been consistently popular among customers on account of some of its landmark innovations which have been patented. This has afforded the organization a certain kind of monopolistic power in its niche. Currently, Pro-Go has been attempting to devise a long term plan which takes into consideration some imminent threats that might affect its position in the market. The major threat is that most smartphones are equipped with highly advanced cameras and consumers might not be willing to buy stand-alone cameras separately.

However, Pro-Go’s ambitions were put to a halt on account of a major setback that required immediate intervention on the part of the management. A number of Pro-Go cameras have started to burst into flames and reason behind the occurrence could not be deciphered. As a result, a retail chain in China which was Pro-Go’s largest customer, accounting for about 70% of their sales, terminated their contract. Within the span of 24 hours Pro-Go’s sales have dropped by 50% and therefore, it shall require quick action in order to remedy the harm that has come upon the organization.

Considering the above situation, a white paper needs to be prepared that shall address the emergency. It has to be made sure that the reason for the disastrous occurrence is unearthed and other customers have to be notified about the potential dangers that the cameras might pose. In addition, a proper strategy has to be formulated that shall resolve the problem.

Aim

The aim of this report shall be to devise a strategy that shall be able to address the above emergency that has arisen for Pro-Go and come up with effective solutions.

Discussion

In the meeting the chief executives of Pro-Go discussed the various aspects related to the situation. The possible implications of the occurrence were also duly considered by the team and a plan was made in order to address the threats that were imminent on the organization. The team had decided upon working in the following avenues in order to approach the problem in a holistic manner:

Investigation of the Problem:

The investigative process shall require the intervention of an expert who shall have to be hired to look into the technical issues of matter as it is advisable in case of such matters (McNeil, Frey, & Embrechts, 2015). The employees have to be intimated immediately about the crisis and they shall have to be asked whether they faced any issues with the handling of the products. In such cases, the research and development wing might be able to provide valuable information (Wolke, 2017).

On the other hand, it would also be of help if the customers’ experiences are put into account as well. Staff have to be sent to the sites where the explosions have occurred in order to determine whether there were external environmental factors in play that affected the mechanism of the devices in an adverse way. Environmental conditions or bugs from other connected devices might also be the reason for the problem. Often it is seen that there may be a disorder in the electric connection or battery issues due to incorrect pairing or connecting with other devices, and this may have been also the issue of explosion.

Aim

Discussion of key themes: -

Legal Issues to be Considered:

Different legal issues have come up in the way of the failure towards meeting the demands and requirements of the customers. There has been several issue of non-compliance with safety standards and other legal measures to be taken while conducting the manufacture of the Pro-Go cameras. As per Section 27 of Work Health and Safety Act, the issues should have been checked by the officers before giving permit at the selling of the products (Model WHS Laws, 2018).

As per the Privacy legislations: Privacy Act 1988 and the Telecommunication Act, 1997, as an individual has the sole right to own and preserve his/her own personal information. Due to manufacturing of faulty products, the cameras have exploded and this has caused loss of private data, thus hampering the theme of privacy. With the defects that have come upon, the company has to abide to measures that would help them from facing legal consequences. Violation of Safety measures and privacy legislative measures has led to making the products unsafe and unreliable for use. In these situations, as per the legislation, the products should be recalled.

As per the Schedule 2 of Competition and Consumer Act (ACL), 2010 (Cth), the defective products have to be recalled as per the guidelines laid down in (ACL, Sections. 122-127) (Consumer product safety recall guidelines, 2018). As per Section 128(2), Pro-Go should voluntarily recall all the products and in written form to be notified to the consumers [Sections 125(3) & 128(5) of the ACL] (Consumer product safety recall guidelines, 2018). If any changes in the recall or follow-up of legislative issues occurs, the company has had to notify the Commonwealth minister, otherwise of which, they can be charged of guilt under Section 201(1) of the Australian Consumer Law.

Remedial Measures:

First of all, all customers and retailers dealing in Pro-Go cameras must be notified about the issue that has arisen regarding the devices. Sufficient reparations should be paid to the customers who have been affected by the bursting and their medical expenses have to be cleared by the organization if it is revealed that the fault was internal to the devices.

Moreover, since the retailer in China has terminated the contract, attempts should be made at initiating dialogues with the retailer again by assuring it that the issue shall be properly identified and measures shall be taken to repair the faulty products. Further, the company as of now has to diversify in other product and try to find alternative and adjacent markets so that they can sustain themselves and their activities (Bromiley, McShane, Nair, & Rustambekov, 2015). 

Preventive Measures:

The current issues that have come up has to be considered at the first and the overall long term plans have to be given up for the time being. In order to get out of the grave issue and liquidation of the company, some important preventive measures have to be taken apart from the first one. Staffs have to be offered redundancy and redeployment of staffs have to be done so that the overall skilled staffs remain employed in each the department. For the time being, the total production level has to be cuddled in order to bring a decrease in the level of demand (scale back production). This also has to be done at that the defective products can be recalled. The company also has to consider an exchange plan along with the recall plan which has done by Samsung company when the Note 6 models started catching fire and exploding when the customers used them.

Discussion

Samsung exchanged and immediately recall the products. Apart from this measure, the defective products available at the stock have to sorted out as per serial numbers, they have to be repaired and alternative technology have to be used so that such issues do not arise. Further, the company has to communicate properly with the supplier and enquire about the product mechanisms and standards that are being followed by them. If it is found that the supplier does not comply to proper standards while manufacturing and does not maintain proper quality, then the contract with the contractor has to be terminated. In that case, an alternative and more responsible supplier has to found and contacted.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be observed that the issue is of utmost urgency and the key members of the management have taken up the issue with the seriousness it deserves. The looming problem has been categorized and classified under the four head mentioned in the discussion section. This helps in systematically approaching the problem. However, it must also be remembered that the four categories are not separate entities and they require to function in an integrated manner. Therefore, a proper communication network must be established among the teams that shall be deployed in order to resolve the specific issues.

Recommendations

In order to bring forth proper development and issue resolution, the issues have been identified and they have been categorized on the basis of main for themes. The themes have been arrived upon based on finding the basis of the issues and defining the legal considerations that have come up, the remedial terms that can be taken and preventions that can be taken so that in future such an issue does not occur. The company has to be more systematic and strategic in order to get rid of the issues and revise its overall status and health. The management body has to organize teams based on common aptitudes and a transparent form of communication has to be inculcated in them (Hopkin, 2018).

The problems have to be immediately discussed with the members as well as the immediate reporting person and innovative solutions have to be taken. The team members have to be given autonomy and each of their prescriptions have to be taken into account in order to make the remedial strategy more innovative prevent the liquidation of the organization (Lam, 2014). Further, the company, apart from scaling back the rate of production also need to focus on developing new and better products and establish their existence in adjacent products and markets in order to revive their overall health. For example, the threat posed by competition from smartphones have to be countered through making groundbreaking technological advancements that shall make consumers choose Pro-Go cameras over the ones available in smartphones.

References

Bromiley, P., McShane, M., Nair, A., & Rustambekov, E. (2015). Enterprise risk management: Review, critique, and research directions. Long range planning, 48(4), 265-276. Doi: 10.1016/j.lrp.2014.07.005

Consumer product safety recall guidelines. (2018). 

Hopkin, P. (2018). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers. Retrieved from: books.google.com

Lam, J. (2014). Enterprise risk management: from incentives to controls. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from: books.google.com

McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., & Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools-revised edition. Princeton university press. Retrieved from: books.google.com

Model WHS Laws. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/law-and-regulation/model-whs-laws

Wolke, T. (2017). Risk Management. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. Retrieved from: books.google.com