Marketing-II
Case – “Performance Indicator”
Submitted By:
Inderpreet Singh
Identification of Protagonist
Robb Osinski and Bob Winskowicz are business partners in Performance Indicator, LLC. Robb started as an entrepreneur as an undergraduate at Harvard by setting up a landscaping company. Bob started his career in sales in consumer health care. He eventually became the vice president of sales for Arnold Golf Company.
Both had quit their respective jobs to pursue Performance Indicator (PI) venture full time. PI was a technology pioneered by them and developed by Batelle Memorial Institute (BMI), which indicated …show more content…
• Robb and Bob have been unable to generate any revenue since the inception of their partnership; therefore time is running out on them.
Alternatives
1. Promote the concept through U.S. Golf Association (USGA), which specifies the characteristics of legal balls within tight parameters. If the same is mandated by the USGA, all manufacturers will be compelled to incorporate PI. 2. Promote the concept generally through media and other relevant bodies more aggressively, continue further with the testing process and make the product claims stronger, and take the story further with Dunlop Maxfli, Bridgestone (Japan market), Titleist and Spalding. 3. Develop alternate usage of the indicator technology (changing of color due to various stimuli) for different industries to indicate obsolescence, spoilage, loss of efficacy, safety or authentication and subsequent licensing to corporations. 4. Sell the technology to the prospective buyer out-rightly.
Critical Evaluation
Alternative-1
As USGA is main regulatory body for golf in US, specifying all physical and performance parameters for golf balls. It would become de-facto standard for all ball manufacturers to employ PI technology, if USGA specified to use the same. But, being a regulatory body, it would require hard bar-gaining from PI’s side to convince USGA to specify the usage of its technology. USGA may deny specifying the usage of PI technology, stating that suggesting the manufacturing