1. i2 Technologies, Inc. - A Case study
Arunkumar Kandaswamy
Hemnandan Patil
Jocelyn Choo
Ramanan S. Tiruvannamalai
Shivasai Rengarajan

2. Agenda Company Background Key issues SWOT analysis Recommendations
Vision & Mission
i2’s product offering
Key issues
SWOT analysis
Recommendations
Questions

3. Company Background Established in 1988, Irving, Texas
Core competence – SCM software (B2B)
Public in 1996
First project funded by Timken steel
1,500 employees with 65% graduates & annual turnover of $213 million in 1997
Ranked 8th in 100 “Hot growth companies”- Business week(1997)

4. Vision & Mission Vision:
“We want to be known as an electronic business process optimization (e-BPO) company”
Mission:
“We will add $50 billion of value in growth and savings for our customers by the year 2005”

5. "Factory planning company" to "Supply chain optimization company"
Transition in 1990 from
"Factory planning company" to
"Supply chain optimization company"
"Take care of the customer and everything will take care of itself." — Ken Sharma

6. i2 product offering Focuses on supply chain planning segment
Product – RHYTHM
Two dimensions
Type of decisions to be made (ie Buy, make, move , store, or sell)
Planning time horizon (Time from decision to task occurrence)
Products of RHYTHM include
Demand planner, Factory planner, Supply chain planner, Distribution planner and Transportation planner

7. Key issues Product strengths Talented knowledge workers
i2’s marketing & sales strategy:
Effective client engagement methodology

8. Key issues (Cont.) Sound management philosophy
Demand for SCM software in dynamic marketplace
Intense competition
Transition to eBPO: Diversify or Specialize

9. Product strengths Innovative use of IT and OR techniques
Object-Oriented Programming
Optimization techniques
Custom products
Strategic acquisitions
Consistent high investments in R&D
20% of total revenue in R&D(1996) to 25% in 1997
Academic research

11. Talented knowledge workers
Highly knowledgeable and educated workforce
Graduates and PhD’s
Industry specific experts
Backbone for delivering innovative products
Bright professionals working towards strong company vision

12. i2’s marketing & sales strategy
Ability to sell ideas
Identify opportunities and apply IT
Strong sales philosophy
Effective implementation technique
Implement different products based on success of prior implementation
Effective client engagement process
Satisfied customers

13. Sound management philosophy
Vision for success
Motivation from top management
Diversify out of the niche market by moving towards eBPO - Sidhu
Will the vision and confidence help in their transition to eBPO?

14. Demand for SCM software in dynamic marketplace
Trends in ERP implementation
Single supplier option for ERP and SCM
Global financial crisis
i2 stock lost 25% of its value in a single day

15. Intense competition Competitors - Manugistics, Inc.,Numetrix, Inc.
Price war
SAP offers SCP package with lower price tag
Competition from ERP vendors

16. Transition to eBPO: Diversify or Specialize
Expand beyond supply chain optimization
Finance, Marketing and Human Resources
Focus on domain knowledge
Diversify or Specialize ????
Is i2 ready to go………………

17. SWOT analysis Strengths Opportunities Threats Weakness
Years of sound research
Knowledge enriched workforce
Strong leadership
Satisfied customers
Ability to sell and implement ideas
Opportunities
Diversify outside of supply chain
Strike partnership / alliance with ERP vendors
Threats
Shrinking market for SCM software
Entry of new competitors
Decreasing investors confidence
Price war
Global financial crisis
Weakness
Employees were not confident about the transition
Overconfidence : In Acquisitions/Expansion

18. Recommendations Don’t diversify – specialize in your core area
Acquisitions not the only solution
Strike partnership or alliance with ERP vendors
Regain employee confidence - change management
Continuously fund academic research projects at universities

19. Questions Diversify or Specialize, which would you prefer and why?
What should competitors do if i2
implements e-BPO?
3. What are the key factor(s) for i2’s success?

20. Questions (Cont.)
Do you think making schedulers as Internal Champions is a good idea? Comment from i2’s and Client’s perspective
What do you think are the factors for i2
losses over the years?