Fermer
Loading
Fermer

Fermer
You consult a document to analyse its content and determine whether it is useful for your teaching purposes. You order a document to use it in class. Note that the use of certain cases is subject to charges. These cases are easily identified by our business partners’ logos. When you want to use one of these cases in an educational context, you are redirected to the trading partner with which you will carry out the transaction.

Ça Va de Soi: A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of a Failed IT Project (A and B)
Case 9 65 2016 002A-B
Case published in the International Journal of Case Studies in Management, Vol. 14, No. 3
Languages : 
  • English
Keywords: 
  • Project failure,
  • Information technology projects,
  • SMEs,
  • Project risk management,
  • Project vision
Year of production : 
2015
Registration date : 
2016-06-14
Teaching notes included : 
Yes
Case document count : 
2
Abstract

This two-part case study of a Canadian knitwear SME called Ça Va de Soi (CVDS) presents a real-life situation: an IT project failure (part A) and how the project was “resuscitated” and transformed into a success (part B). The case highlights (1) the challenges and risks of IT projects for SMEs, (2) the importance of evaluating and selecting the right IT supplier and managing relationships, and (3) how, during a retrospective, lessons learned from a project failure can be transferred and applied to other IT projects.

Primary domain : 
Information technology
Secondary domain : 
Management  - SME management
Sectors : 
  • Consumer goods
Source : 
Elsewhere
Type : 
Traditional case (Descriptive or analytical case)
Type of data used in the production of the case : 
Factual data that is not public wherein the identity of the company/person is disclosed
Event location : 
Montréal, QC, Canada
Year of start of the event : 
2015
Year the event ended : 
2015
Business size : 
Small- and medium-sized
Main themes covered
  • Key characteristics of SMEs and IT adoption drivers;
  • Importance of a strategic IT vision and IT project alignment;
  • Challenges and risks of IT projects for SMEs;
  • Importance of evaluating and selecting appropriate business partners;
  • Lessons learned from an abandoned project (transforming drifting projects);
  • Project failure and project success
Teaching objectives

This case aims to have students reflect on and discuss the following:

  1. The challenges and risks of IT projects carried out by SMEs
  2. The importance of carefully evaluating and selecting IT suppliers and managing relationships with them, and
  3. How lessons learned from a failed project can be transferred and applied to other IT projects

 

Concepts and theories related to the case
  • IT adoption drivers of SMEs
  • Strategic IT vision and project alignment
  • IT project risk management and success factors
  • The application of lessons learned to other IT projects