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 marketing staff in Colombia, Egypt, Iceland,
Russia and the Philippines.
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.

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 Strategic and Operational Plan 2021 – 2023

Welcome
Welcome to the Strategic and Operational Plan for Worlducation.
This document sets out our vision for the next two years and how we hope to achieve it.
We hope you enjoy reading this document.

Lucas Lopez
CEO
Worlducation

Executive Summary
Founded in 2016, Worlducation is a social startup that manufactures tablet computers for primary
school students. Our focus is not only on the hardware, but also creating software, content and
activities to better engage and educate primary school 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. Worlducation envisions a world in which every child
learns how to read and write – a world without illiteracy. This is why, for each classroom that buys our
product, we donate and train a classroom somewhere around the world that can’t afford the same
technology. We then connect the classrooms together so that they can grow and collaborate
throughout their learning cycle.

Vision Statement
To see a world without illiteracy.

Mission Statement
To be the change and facilitate a world without illiteracy by changing the way children learn at school
and the number of schools that have access to technology.

Our values are:

Core values underpinning our activities are:

 Ethical principles

 Innovation

 Collaboration.

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Strategic Priorities
 To be well led, high performing, profitable and accountable.

 Ensure that all financial operations, performance indicators and results support the strategic
policies

 Identify new and expand existing sources of revenue and ways to help more classrooms in need

 Achieve profits of at least 10% per annum.

Increase our reach

 Increase range of products and services offered to reach a larger target market

 Increase sales to increase donations to needy classrooms.

Continue building deeper customer relationships

 Customer-centred practice, with a focus on meeting their total needs for high-quality technology

 Strengthen the skills of our people, to better support customers

 Have an effective help desk function in order to meet customer needs

 Strengthen the effectiveness of internal customers through provision of effective systems within
each team

 Drive innovation to better meet customer demands.

Attract, engage and develop the best staff

 Continuing the drive to a customer centred, high performance workforce and culture

 Strengthening the skills of our people, to better support customer needs

 Empowering innovation and responsiveness to change

 Continuing to enhance the diversity of our workforce

 Exploring the use of technology in human resources.

Our organisation structure

Senior Management consisting of the CEO and General Manager heads up the overall organisation.
The company consists of key teams as follows:

 Sales Team consisting of the Sales Manager and 3 x Sales Representatives

 Operations Team consisting of the Operations Manager, Administration Officer and Accounts
Officer.

 IT Team consisting of the IT Manager, IT Support Officer and Help Desk Officer.

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Each team develops its own performance plan each year for the upcoming 12 months. Each team is
expected to:

 Set its overall objectives to align with its key function and our strategic directions.

 Define overall responsibilities according to the function within the company.

 Set outcomes.

The Market
The technology market is a growing and ever-changing industry due to the rapid rate that technology
is being updated. Emerging technologies include artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IOT).
There is an increasing focus on cyber security.
Due to the global pandemic, the issues with the manufacturing industry have impacted on the supply
of hardware components.
The trend for consumer spending during the pandemic has taken a downturn but this has not affected
the ICT industry as due to more people working from home, consumer appetite for tablets has
increased.

Situation Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

 Value and quality  Brand name not developed as well it could

be
 Strong management
 Growing organisation
 Customer loyalty

 Friendly organisational culture

 Level of available finance for investment

Opportunities Threats

 Schools needing to upgrade technology  High level of competition

 Opportunities to offer a range of services  Economic downturn meaning less spent

generally
 Opportunities for synergies across all
services and products  Failing to satisfy clients demands

Marketing Strategies
Our marketing strategies aim to:

 build our brand

 generate leads now

 convert those leads quickly

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 have every part of the business supporting each other.

We plan to develop our market share by:

 improving our marketing and advertising

 continually improving the quality of service given to clients

 maintaining effective communication channels with all stakeholders to ascertain industry

requirements and then develop products and manage services accordingly

 continually improving communication channels with all our stakeholders, ensuring a flow of timely
and accurate information to facilitate effective planning and decision making

 targeting identified growth markets with planned, market appropriate campaigns employing a
variety of promotional strategies and advertising mediums

 offering attractive fee structures to our clients

 continually improving the skills, knowledge and effectiveness of our team through our
commitment to training and development

 regularly reviewing the effectiveness of all our operations and making improvements when and
where necessary.

Collaboration
As a company we focus on collaboration both within and outside of the company. Currently our
external partners are:

 Lion Marketing – our marketing agency.

 IT Biz Solutions – Internet Service Provider and web hosting.

 Oz Aid – informs of us education projects in need.

Key projects
The following key projects will commence in 2022:
Due to global economic conditions, a wait and watch attitude is being adopted while we brainstorm
and provide cost estimates for future business models. Options include 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).

Operational Plan (focus on 2022)

As an introduction to the Operational Plan, it is important to understand the following information.
Worlducation has a complex supply chain that begins when a sale is made usually via a sales
representative or through an 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

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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.
Since COVID-19 and the closure of the factory due to government restrictions, of the 2000 tablets due
to be shipped by April 21, only 500 were completed on schedule.
In the past, senior executives have 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).
Recently a decision has been made to start working on a cloud based solution but continuing with the
existing model.
Operational activities for 2022 are indicated. Responsibility for each area is to be determined based
on staff member skill sets or potential.

Operational Activities When Who

New activities

Finalisation of proposal for cloud- Mid 2022 To be allocated

based solution

Research into cloud-based solution Mid to end 2022 To be allocated

Finalisation of cloud-based solution January 2023 To be allocated

Education

Prepare paper for Global Education January 2022 To be allocated

Conference

Submit paper for Global Education February 2022 To be allocated

Conference

Present paper at Global Education January 2022 To be allocated

Conference

Implement new Professional 2022 To be allocated

Development system – all staff to
identify two PD events of their choice

Events

Identify suitable events for 2021, January 2022 To be allocated

including sustainable opportunities e.g.
virtual events

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 Operational Activities When Who

Organise attendance at events, January 2022 To be allocated

including setting up a stand

Ongoing activities – focus on 2021

Increase the number of customers by 2022 To be allocated

10%

Identify and then implement a suitable 2022 To be allocated

CRM that can be linked to the ERP
and to the Accounts system

Focus on increasing service 2022 To be allocated

satisfaction through help desk support

Identify and implement a continuous 2022 To be allocated

improvement system

Review all policies and procedures 2022 To be allocated

and update as required – particularly
need to focus on formal continuous
improvement and innovation systems
and processes as this is lacking and
so needed in our organisation.

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Our people

CEO General Manager

Lucas Lopez Irene Green

Sales Manager IT Manager Operations Manager

Jade Somers Hal Hyland Albert Biden

Sales
IT Support Officer Accounts Officer
Representative
Helen Hunt Alicia De Souza
Jay Santos

Sales
Help Desk Officer Administration Officer
Representative
Hayley Hill Alan Ibrahim
Jane Stone

Sales Representive
Jala Singh

Our people skills are as follows:

CEO: Lucas Lopez Established the company. Social entrepreneur with

experience in establishing a number of companies. Spent
10 years working a volunteer in Africa.

General Manager: Irene Green Former high school principal with a strong social
conscience. Member of 2 NGO Board.

Sales Manager: Jade Somers Strong sales history having worked in sales roles for the
last 15 years. Loves to inspire the sales team to do their
best. Always interested in learning and improving skills.
Goal for this year is to increase the sales team.

Sales Representative: Jay Santos Has been with the company for six months. Jay speaks
several languages which assists with communicating with
customers in a range of companies.

Sales Representative: Jane Stone New to sales but loves learning. Wants to do more sales
training to make sure she can used tried and tested sales

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Sales Representative: Jala Singh
IT Manager: Hal Hyland
IT Support Officer: Helen Hunt
Help Desk Officer: Hayley Hill
Operations Manager: Albert Biden
Accounts Officer: Alicia De Souza
Administration Officer: Alan Ibrahim
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methods.
Has been in sales for 10 years, also within the ICT
industry. Loves talking to people and has shown himself to
be an engaging public speaker at various staff events.
Could move more into this promotional/public relations
role.
Joined the company recently. Has been in the IT industry
for 10 years. Interested in cloud technology. Currently
studying a Masters of IT part-time.
Strong experience in IT support for the last 5 years. Good
with customers and solving problems. Currently studying a
Bachelor of IT part-time. Interested in cloud technology
and the power of technology to host virtual events.
Recently joined the company. Has an IT background, as
well as customer service background. Always puts the
customer first. Somewhat frustrated by the rather inefficient
systems in place for help desk support.
Highly efficient in organising and scheduling. His
background in as a high level public servant.
Alicia is a trainee also studying accounts administration.
She is an excellent team player and already bringing
insights to the role.
Highly efficient in organising and scheduling. Has a good
eye for systems and procedures. A great team player.
Studying for a Diploma of Business Administration in his
spare time.
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 Financial reporting Policy and Procedures

Purpose of the Policy

Worlducation will operate in a financially sustainable manner balancing revenue and expenditure.
Our financial planning process are as follows:

 Financial objectives set for each year.

 Budgets set for each year.

Procedures
Budgets are set for each applicable department. Budgets are based on expected sales and expenses.
Budgets will be set by the finance team. Each manager must review their budget and may contact the
finance team for any revisions. They must present a clear argument for any changes.
A contingency amount is usually included in each budget to account for unexpected costs.
Managers are expected to inform their team of the budget and to provide them with the required
resources and systems so as to fulfill their roles. Generally this will include regular meetings to
monitor the budget. Team members are expected to report all expenses to managers by providing
receipts and so on.
Budgets should be monitored by each Manager every month using our accounting system, Xero, to
make sure expenses are on track. Where changes are required, the finance team may be contacted
to discuss this. This should also include where contingency amounts need to be varied.
Each manager must review their budget amount versus actual amount at the end of the reporting
period. Variances of up to 5% over budget are acceptable. Differences between actual and budgeted
amounts must be described, as well as justifications for such.

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Information required to complete Section 2 of your Portfolio

Innovation report

In 20XX Worlducation decided to develop a bespoke software that could be downloaded onto the
tablets. This came about through a brainstorming session as part of a staff meeting. Senior
management were very enthusiastic about the idea and a contract was immediately awarded to an
acquaintance of the CEO to develop the software. The acquaintance happened to be available at that
time and so it worked well.
The total cost of the project was $50,000 and the development time was 3 months. Projections were
that at least 60 organisations would buy it within the first year.
The product was launched to market immediately after development. Unfortunately 12 months after
launch the software has been purchased by 10 organisations ($1,500 outright purchase price). Of all
the customers that bought it, only 1 has not complained about IT issues.

Staff survey comments

A survey of staff regarding the processes associated with the continuous improvement and innovation
process implementation. The comments are outlined below.

Experience of the continuous improvement process

Sometimes it makes you feel unsettled, so I experience a bit of anxiety.
While there is an attempt to communicate by management and to be as open as possible, I still have
a fear of the unknown.
If I had to pick on one emotion, it’s probably “disillusionment” because at the end of the day, I don’t
believe the organisation is being honest with us when it comes to change. I’m scared this continuous
improvement system is just an attempt to scrutinise use more closely.
I actually love and look forward to the challenges of continuous improvement and innovation. That’s
what keeps me vibrant and keeps me interested. So I embrace this with excitement.
Change is good. I don’t think I have any reservations so the way I feel about these changes is that I
accept it. I am motivated by it.
Personally, I get to experience the opportunity to have an impact on an improved way of operating in
the organisation.
I experienced a lot of different things. I am not sure whether it is disappointment or excitement.
I guess it’s more a wait and see approach will lead to a bit of unease and nervousness. Not sure
about some of the ideas, could create divisions within the organisation.

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I think that some people go through varying emotions when they experience change. For me, I am not
sure. I don’t know if it has affected me or not at this stage.

Resistance to change and new processes

I guess I personally haven’t resisted change. There’s no point in resisting change because it is
inevitable. The best thing is to try and understand what it is all about and put yourself in the best
position to achieve whatever needs to be done.
No. I don’t resist change practices because I often do not see the point, particularly in restructures.
Management will do whatever they want to do and you just go along with whatever it is they want you
to do. I often don’t think there’s necessarily any point in resisting change.
I think they employees resist if they don’t understand why we are doing it, that is, change and change
management. I think if they understand what we want to achieve, then ‘yes’, they will not resist
change and change management. If they don’t understand, then there’s going to be resistance. Why
will they want to change if they don’t understand what we are trying to achieve?
No, I do not resist change if the change is meaningful and if I understand the purpose for the change.
I have had a lot of change in my life and I always like to see the positive in things and see things as a
challenge. Likewise, I see change in this organisation as a challenge.
Well, no. No, I don’t resist change. I said earlier that change is part of the workforce. It has to be.
Different strategies are needed so change is with us. I don’t resist it.

Communication
I have to say that communication is pretty good. I mean they don’t hide things from you.
There needs to be more ways of communicating with staff than meetings and newsletters.
I feel that there is good communication within the group
There needs to be an open line of communication from top to bottom. We get more information from
rumours than we do from bosses and that is something that is sad and not healthy. You need to give
employees a general overview of what is happening.
I don’t think that all information is presented in an open manner. Quite often one gets the feeling that
some decisions already made are being sold to you. So I don’t think this organisation fosters open
expression or opinions if your viewpoints happen to differ from those being presented to you.
I cannot stress how important communication is and my experience has been that when you are not
communicated to truthfully then you do not trust. If your communication channels are open and
honest, change is an easy thing.
I believe the company does try to be seen to be providing as much communication as it can. There
are regular staff meetings. I suppose there is a good flow of communication but whether we can
expect what is being told is correct, is true, I am not sure.
Communication needs to be timely. Often people with my experience are very aware of changes that
are going on a long time before it is formally articulated which leads to a lot of rumours, suppositions
and misinformation. So timely communication is a fundamental sort of thing.
I think communication can be improved. I have said earlier that there are board, executive and
leadership meetings but I am not sure to how well the outcomes of these meetings are communicated
throughout the organisation. So perhaps the only weakness that I see in this organisation in terms of
change management would be overall communication and consultation. There are pockets of people

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who do change management very well but I’m not sure that it cascades right down to the bottom
levels. People usually hear about the change after the event.
They give us information so that they are hoping we’ll make the opinions they want us to make based
on the information they provide. They don’t actively seek any feedback from us. I don’t believe they
want feedback.

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