Dan and SKM Seaprende

This was written for a paper due to Moore School. Sorry about the 3rd person talk but it give you a chance to see what I am doing here.

Dan will develop a business strategy for SKM Seaprende of Santiago, Chile. SKM provides knowledge management software to the Latin American market. Dan will assess all areas of the firm with a focus on marketing and technology. As the final product, Dan will create a strategy on how to take SKM from US$1 million in annual sales to US$10 million over 5 years.

Using US$100,000 in seed money, Max and Abishai founded SKM in 2000. By 2007, the firm reached $1 million in annual sales and had over 30 employees. SKM’s sells mainly to Chilean firms, but also has patrons in other Latin American countries. SKM’s products facilitate online course administration and SKM provides online classes too. The firm also has a novel format that allows drug companies to teach pharmacy sales people. This format turns into a “win-win” for both companies as this training leads to higher sales.

Like all companies, SKM always scans its situation. To this end, the owners hire interns each year from internationally recognized MBA programs. Interns bring fresh ideas and an objective eye to SKM.

Dan will work with Anandha, another Moore School intern. As a team, they will gather data, analyze current strategy and modify that strategy as needed. Each stage will require input from the owners, employees and clients. Many of these people only speak Spanish, so Spanish proficiency will be critical. The team will use other skills learned during the IMBA program like Porter’s four forces model, S.W.A.T. analysis and Gartner’s Hype Cycle. Due to his previous experience, SKM expects Dan to pay close attention to information technology during his internship.

Dan and Anandha will construct many documents for SKM. Deliverables will include financial analyses, marketing plans and client reports. Beyond written documents, the team will present their findings and the status of the project every Friday to the owners of SKM. The deliverables and presentations will culminate into a final ten-page strategy. SKM will use this roadmap strategy as it seeks to increase sales to US$10 million.