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Mission to Mars (A)

MacCormack, Alan

Product #:603083
Supplier:Harvard Business School
Discipline:Operations Management
Setting:California, 2000 - 2000
Details:Case (PDF) • 26 pages • 2003-02-07 (Rev: 2004-01-15)

Subjects:

Cross-functional managementDisruptive innovationInnovationProduct developmentProject managementRisk managementManagementProduct managementStrategyBusiness managementOperations and supply chain management

Industries:

Public administration and nonprofits

Geography:

CaliforniaUnited States
Your Price:$11.64

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This case is set in spring 2000, several months after two successive, failed missions to the planet Mars. Students are asked to evaluate the reasons for these failures in the context of NASA's Faster, Better, Cheaper program, which was initiated in 1992. They are also faced with the task of reconstructing a program for the exploration of Mars that considers the many uncertainties--political, financial, outcome related, and scientific--that can impact the program. Includes color exhibits.

Learning Objectives

To evaluate the relationships between risk, budget, and schedule in the development of complex technology-based projects. To determine how a mechanism for learning across projects can best be implemented. To assess how a sequence of successive projects can be developed into a more robust program.
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Case Study: Mission to Mars (A) (English version) | Ivey Publishing