Questions

Case Study – WORLDUCATION

Worlducation is a social startup that manufactures tablet computers for primary school students. They not only focus on the hardware, but they also have a competitive team creating software, content and activities to better engage and educate the students. 

Worlducation aims to change the way children learn at school by implementing artificial intelligence technology that can follow up on each child’s progress and adjust to their needs as they learn, creating the optimal path learning experience.

So far, Worlducation only sells their tablet computers business to business (B2B) as they realised that their content and hardware proved most effective when a whole classroom was using it, and a teacher was coordinating the activities. Also, this helped the sales team focus on larger sales, and minimised the potential number of problems that could arise from individual customers. However, the long-term plan is to also tackle a business to consumer strategy (B2C). 

What makes Worlducation completely different from their competition is that they envision a world in which every child learns how to read and write – a world without illiteracy. Given this vision, for every classroom that buys their products, they donate and train a classroom somewhere around the world that can’t afford the same technology. Furthermore, they connect the two classrooms (those who bought the products and services and those who received the donation) so that they can grow together and collaborate throughout their learning cycle. 

Worlducation was founded in 2016, and by the end of 2019 they had sold over 35,000 tablets to over 550 schools in 23 countries, generating revenue in hardware sales and software subscriptions. 

Worlducation headquarters are in Sydney’s CBD but they have a development team in Bulgaria, a manufacturing team in Hong Kong, and operation and sales/marketing staff in Colombia, Egypt, Iceland, Russia and the Philippines.

Worlducation has a complex supply chain that begins when a sale is made usually via a sales representative or through and online enquiry that is handled by the sales team. Sales are recorded in an internal Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP System) which notifies the operations team that an order needs to be delivered. The operations team verify the sales order and authorise the delivery of a manufacturing request to the factory in Hong Kong. Manufacturing team in Hong Kong notes the order specifications and delivery details and incorporates this within its production schedule. The order is manufactured and the operations team arrange freight and shipping directly to the customer.

Worlducation started 2020 with a huge sale to a school in Portugal. Although it was a great start, the context for the rest of the quarter was highly uncertain due to COVID-19. Surprisingly the pandemic brought hundreds of new leads and that led to an unprecedented growth that brought alongside dozens of operation and production problems.

The factory in Hong Kong closed down for 1 month due to government restrictions limiting supply, the sales team was overwhelmed with sale meetings over ZOOM, the tech-support team had to re-adapt the software to remote learning for many of the schools, and the founders had to start thinking on how education was going to change after this worldwide event. 

Since COVID-19 and the closure of the factory due to government restrictions, of the 2000 tablets due to be shipped by April, only 500 were completed on schedule. Furthermore, the rising tension between mainland China and Hong Kong has added to the uncertainty.

In 2019, Worlducation generated a revenue of $35 million, a net profit of $7 million and net cashflow of $4 million. They budgeted revenue of $45 million for 2020, net profit of $9 million and net cashflow of $5 million. However, following the unprecedented growth in demand and disruptions to the supply chain, management now projects 2020 revenue will amount to $55 million, net profit of $5 million and net cashflow of negative $3 million. The decrease in profit was a result of the disruption to the manufacturing process and the associated solutions implemented by Management.

The projected growth in revenue is expected to require a significant investment in working capital (both inventory and debtors) and this combined with an expected decline in profit margin is projected to result in significant cash flow pressure in the latter half of 2020. Management is considering its options to fund this investment.

In the past, senior executives met to brainstorm and provide cost estimates for future business models. Options included establishing a second manufacturing facility (estimated cost $5 million), outsourcing manufacturing to a third party (lost margin of $200 per unit sold or $2 million per year assuming 10 000 units are sold), developing a cloud based solution where customers can access the software remotely on their own devices (estimated cost of $2 million), purchasing off the shelf tablets (lost margin of $300 per unit sold or $3 million per year) or repurposing used tablets ($100 per unit sold or $1 million).

Information relevant to this assessment:

At a recent board meeting, the Board of Directors approved the development of a cloud-based solution where customers can access the software remotely on their own devices. This decision aims to address the cashflow and current manufacturing limitations.

Summarise organisational policies and procedures

Which policies/procedures are applicable to your project/issue and/or workplace communication?

How are they applicable?

Attach policies/procedures to your portfolio.