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Logo Design and Crowdsourcing

CASE FLYER, MARKETING MANAGEMENT
ET Cases, 4 pages
AUTHOR(S) : Syed Abdul Samad and Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary

Case Preview

Logo Design and Crowdsourcing

 

Expected Learning Outcomes

• The concept of Crowdsourcing and its increasing relevance in the current times
• The issues of credibility and trust between the Crowdsourcing company, its client and the ‘crowd’ to whom the task is assigned
• When should a business opt for Crowdsourcing?
• How Crowdsourcing companies can scale up and compete with bigger players in the industry?

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Crowdsourcing: The Concept

1. Explain the process taken up by the Government of India to design the symbol for Indian Rupee ( )? Do you think it was an effective strategy? Why?

2. Did you come across any other such events/companies that allocate a part of their work to a large crowd and then select the best from the responses? Give examples.

3. What is Crowdsourcing? How is the concept of Crowdsourcing different from Outsourcing, Freelancing and Consulting? Why do you think it has gained importance in the recent times?

4.What are the various forms of Crowdsourcing that are generally taken up by individuals, for-profit and non-profit organizations? Do you think Crowdsourcing would be suited to complete all the tasks related to business firms effectively and efficiently? Explain with examples.

5..............

Crowdsourcing: Business Dynamics (Business Model) and Suitability

1. What kind of activities do you think would the companies opt for Crowdsourcing? Should it be limited to designing logos or can it be taken up for other individual or integrated tasks of the company? Explain with examples.

2. The accompanying article states that, “A number of online platforms are offering designers a chance to bid for work outsourced by businesses. These young ventures, which have adopted the Crowdsourcing model, are also making design affordable for Small and medium enterprises (SMEs).” According to you is the Crowdsourcing model meant only for SMEs? If yes, why? If no, why not?

3. ................

Crowdsourcing Companies: Scalability to Compete

1. “If design is integrated with various businesses, such as marketing, there is a tremendous scope and scalability for start-ups that use Crowdsourcing,” opines the author of the accompanying article. Do you think that a Crowdsourcing business model could achieve scalability? Support your argument with examples.

2. CrowdStudio, 99designs (Melbourne-based), Jade Magnet, Idiom Design, Printmind, etc., are some of the design Crowdsourcing companies, which act as middlemen between business owners and graphic designers. Within this industry, what do you think are the points of differentiation that can help a company carve a niche for itself? According to you, what practices would make them stand above the rest of the crowd?

3. ...............


Exhibits

Exhibit I: Cost-Scope of Work Matrix


Teaching Note Preview

Logo Design and Crowdsourcing

 

Synopsis

The case flyer discusses the concept of Crowdsourcing and the issues related to it. It is an activity of outsourcing a task to a large, often anonymous group for a nominal fee. While the article talks only about Logo Design and highlights the cost and creative advantages that small and medium firms gain through it, it also points out that even big firms are opting to Crowdsource. Though there are pros and cons of Crowdsourcing, the usage of the concept is on a rising trend. However, there are issues like the payment and security concerns of the designers’ ideas, credibility of the Crowdsourcing Company, etc. Moreover, in a scenario where such firms are cropping up, what would be the points of differentiation within the industry? How could such firms scale up to compete with established conventional players?

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • • The concept of Crowdsourcing and its increasing relevance in the current times
  • • The issues of credibility and trust between the Crowdsourcing company, its client and the ‘crowd’ to whom the task is assigned
  • • When should a business opt for Crowdsourcing?
  • • How Crowdsourcing companies can scale up and compete with bigger players in the industry?

 

Positioning and Setting

The case flyer can be used in the following courses:

  • a) Business Strategy – Value Chain concept – how to reduce the cost by outsourcing a business necessity
  • b) Business Model – from the point of view of Crowdsourcing companies

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Suggested Orchestraton

Before The Case Flyer Discussion in the Classroom

a) Students/participants were asked to read Jeff Howe’s article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing” and Paul Dombowsky’s article “Crowdsourcing Risk and Reward – How to Evaluate Options for Success”

b) Reading these two articles would give them a complete idea about the concept and diverse perspectives about the operations of such a business model. This provided the students/participants with enough points for the classroom discussion.

c) The students were asked to visit the websites of a few Crowdsourcing companies – Printmind, Jade Magnet, CrowdStudio, Idiom Design, 99designs, etc., – to understand their customer value propositions, and business dynamics (business model, operating model, revenue model, etc.).

d) Most importantly, the students should be encouraged to analyze all the questions given in the case flyer (either individually or in learning teams or appropriate discussion forums) to enable them to participate effectively and enrich the learning outcomes.

During the Case Flyer Discussion in the Classroom

This case flyer can effectively be discussed in the classroom under three broad related topics.

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The flow of questions to be discussed in the classroom has been elaborated in Annexure (TN)-I: The Board Plan

I. Crowdsourcing: The Concept

• The class was initiated by posing a question to the students, about the process that the Government of India undertook to design a symbol for its currency (the Indian Rupee). On March 5th 2009, the Government of India announced a contest to create a sign/logo for the Indian rupee. From around 3,331 responses received, the symbol created by Udaya Kumar ( ), Associate Professor, IIT Guwahati, was chosen on July 15th 2010. Students were asked if they knew about any other such initiatives by any firm and whether they have participated in any such events. They shared a few examples of Crowdsourcing for films, start-up funding, etc. A few said they participated.

• Once their knowledge regarding these was assessed, the concept was introduced and the basic difference between Crowdsourcing and other related concepts like outsourcing, consulting and freelancing were discussed.

• Following which the business model, operating model and the revenue model of these companies, were explained [Exhibit (TN)-I].

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Exhibits

Exhibit (TN)-I: Crowdsourcing: Business and Revenue Model

Exhibit (TN)-II: Crowdsourcing: Cost of Work vs Scope of Work

Annexure

Annexure (TN)-I: The Board Plan

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Product code: MKTG-4-0001, MKTG-4-0001A

Abstract


This case flyer explores the evolving concept of Crowdsourcing and enables a discussion about when a company should opt for Crowdsourcing. This case flyer is based on an article1 from The Economic Times. There goes an old saying - A problem shared is a problem halved. Then again, what do you get, when it is shared with an anonymous crowd - a feasible solution or worthless suggestions? Crowdsourcing is a varied concept of outsourcing, which has been on the rise in the recent years, mostly because of the cost advantage and the range of solutions that a business issue gets out of it.
The case flyer is suitable for teaching courses in Business Strategy (Value Chain concept - how to reduce the cost by outsourcing a business necessity) and Business Model (from the point of view of Crowdsourcing companies). The case flyer provides scope for discussing the pros and cons of crowdsourcing on businesses and deliberates on the issues of trust and credibility between the clients and individual designers. Finally, it offers the scope to debate the scalability of crowdsourcing firms and their competition with the conventional designing agencies.



Pedagogical Objectives

  • To understand the concept of Crowdsourcing and its increasing relevance for the businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • To debate on the issues of credibility and trust between the Crowdsourcing company, its client and the 'crowd' to whom the task is assigned
  • To debate and discuss on when a business should opt for Crowdsourcing
  • To deliberate on how Crowdsourcing companies could scale up and compete with bigger players in the industry


1 Swathi Akella, 'Logo Design? Just Crowdsource it for 1/10th the Cost' The Economic Times, November 12th 2013



This Case Pack Includes:
- Abstract
- Case Flyer
- Analysis


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