Case Name :      TerraCog Global Positioning Systems: Conflict and Communication on Project Aerial

Authors :           Michael Beer, Sunru Yong

Source :             HBS Brief Cases

Case ID :            2184

Discipline :        Organizational Behavior

Case Length :    10 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

TerraCog, a successful privately held high-tech firm that develops GPS (global positioning system) and similar products for consumer markets, has recently been caught off-guard by a competitor’s new product that makes novel use of satellite imagery. When TerraCog pursues development of a directly competing product, dubbed Aerial, the projected costs threaten to scuttle the project. The key unit managers gather in a pair of contentious meetings that feature anger, blame, and bewilderment, but produce no effective conclusion. At the end of the case it falls to Emma Richardson, a newly-promoted executive vice-president, to push the group toward a go/no-go decision.