Olpc - Marketing the $100 Laptop

Recommendation - OLPC should continue to attempt to expose children in developing countries to technology, but change their approach.

* OLPC should decrease their minimum commitment of laptop orders before beginning mass production and should not require the 1 million laptop commitment per country.

o Use the absolute minimum needed to "break even" for manufacturing/unit price.

* Instead of only marketing to BRIC, OLPC should branch out to other developing countries.

* Although OLPC is a non-profit organization, they should develop a more comprehensive global marketing strategy to be able to meet their benchmarks and goals.

* Keep the current design and technology of the laptop unchanged.

Continue venture, but with changes in approach

Pros Cons

Although most computer growth is expected to come from BRIC, developing countries outside of BRIC have shown a lot of growth potential when it comes to technological advances. The problems that plague developing countries are much more than just educational, and these problems could slow down the growth of the OLPC initiative.

The design of this laptop does not require supplied power, which many of these developing countries are lacking. Although OLPC can be considered a first mover, there is a lot of competition from companies that are already in the PC business.

With a lowered minimum of laptop orders, OLPC will be able to ship out laptops faster. Once they're being used en masse, the benefits will be proven. Lower benchmarks for shipping will ultimately increase price per laptop, but over time as the technology is perfected, the price will lower, as previously planned.

If the minimum number of laptops ordered is decreased, developing countries may see the lower out of pocket costs more manageable than if there was a minimum. OLPC's strategy does not include training the teachers even though it has been proven that students achieved higher test scores when teachers incorporated computers into their teaching plans.

Although developing countries are quick to embrace advanced technologies, the out of pocket costs may still be too exorbitant. The countries may still be inclined to resort to traditional educational tools.

With different parts coming from different countries, OLPC is not fully minimizing their manufacturing costs

Mitigating Risks and Implementation Challenges

* OLPC's supplier has committed to 1 million utins per month. Instead of holding individual countries to a 1 million unit commitment, they should start shipping once they have a million orders.

* Finding one million non-fickle commitments