1. Trolltech (Norway) - Will Cenapio Steal Christmas?
Brett O’Grady, Thomas Wall, Sean Beniston, Paula Sewter

2. Agenda Company Overview Key Individuals Timeline
Perceived Management Problems/Issues
Alternatives
Recommendation
Where is Trolltech today?

3. Trolltech - Company Overview
Code Less. Create More. Deploy Everywhere.

4. Cenapio Project - Key Individuals
Eirik Chambe-Eng - President and Co-founder of Trolltech
Haavard Nord - CEO and Co-founder of Trolltech
Dr. Ogawa - The Director General Manager of Cenapio’s Embedded Product’s Division.

5. Timeline 1994 - Trolltech founded in Oslo, Norway
First Sale of Qt
Created KDE Free Qt Foundation
Released Qt/X11 under the QPL
Qt 2 Released
Opened Australian Office

6. Timeline - Continued
Received First-Round Funding of $2.4 million for 10% of the Company
Released Qt/Embedded
Opened U.S. Office
Trolltech Approached by Linaware to Collaborate on Cenapio Project

7. Management Problems and Issues
Scandinavian style management versus the push to get the Cenapio PDA to market.
The branding conflict - Cenapio and Linaware were not providing Trolltech with adequate recognition for Qtopia.
Communication problems - technical interaction channeled through Linaware gave rise to frustration and misunderstandings.

8. Management Problems and Issues
Fatigue - Trolltech employees burning out.
A number of employees had requested to be transferred off of the Cenapio project.
The Christmas holiday dilemma - cancel the 10-day holiday period?
The inherent issues involved with partnering between different sized organizations in diverse national settings

9. Alternative 1 1. Trolltech should abandon the Cenapio project entirely
Pros: The staff at Trolltech were exhausted. The project’s “finish line” seemed to keep being pushed out - the Cenapio project was eating up the vast majority of Trolltech’s resources. Abandonment would allow the company to refocus on its proven product, Qt.
Cons: The project has the potential to be a major breakthrough for Trolltech. If the project was a success, Trolltech would be right in the middle of Cenapio’s PDA and smart mobile phone strategy.

10. Alternative 2
2. Trolltech should create a separate autonomous unit to manage the project
Pros: Project deadlines differ from traditional Trolltech environment - separate unit develops its own culture. Reduce the drain on valuable resources used to develop Qt, Trolltech’s established product.
Cons: Added costs associated with the management of an autonomous unit. The difficulties surrounding the balance of resources between the Qt unit and the new Qt/e unit.

11. Alternative 3
3. Status-quo - continue to crash the Cenapio project in hopes of completion by February
Pros: If successful, reap the benefits associated with exposure through marketing surrounding the Cenapio Centaur PDA. Gain widespread acceptance that the Qt/e investment was worthwhile
Cons: Risk losing more employees to sickness and exhaustion. Continued strain on the resources for the Qt (established) product, and its next release. A failure would be a serious setback.

12. Recommendation
Trolltech should create a separate autonomous unit to manage the project
This is due to:
Poor fit with organization’s values
Good fit with organization’s processes
As a small company, Trolltech is quite capable to pursue emerging growth markets

13. Recommendation

14. Further Recommendations
10-day holiday period - remains for regular employees. For the autonomous unit - reduced to a 5-day period (+ bonus paid).
Emphasize the importance of emergent strategy, sometimes deliberate strategy targets need to be changed due to emergent issues.

15. Further Recommendations
Evans, Philip and Wolf - Transaction costs constrain innovation.
Trolltech needs to foster improved communications with both Linaware and Cenapio.
Encourage teaming
Keep work visible

16. Where is Trolltech today?
Qt/e was successfully implemented in many electronics following Cenapio.
Trolltech completed an IPO an the Oslo Stock Exchange on July 5, 2006.
Nokia has offered to buy Trolltech for 844 million Norwegian kroner or $153 million USD equivalent.

17. Discussion Questions
Do you agree that Trolltech should manage the Cenapio project in an autonomous unit?
Is Qt/e & Qtopia disruptive or sustaining to Trolltech?
Is the Cenapio Centaur PDA disruptive or sustaining to Cenapio?

18. Works Consulted
Christensen C., Raynor M The Innovator’s Solution. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
Evans, Philip and Bob Wolf (2005) Collaboration Rules. Harvard Business Review, July-August,
Karif, Olga Nokia deals Google a Trolltech-sized blow. BusinessWeek - The Tech Beat. Accessed February 28, [
Sayer, Peter Nokia to buy software developer Trolltech for $153M. IDG News Service.
Trolltech - Milestones Official Trolltech Website. Accessed March 28, [