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GROUP EXERCISE: INNOVATION

AT OAKLAND FURNITURE –

A ROLE-PLAY*

This role-play simulates the early episodes (agenda formation and selection) of an
innovation process. These episodes involve a consideration of the problems facing
Oakland, a furniture manufacturing company, and a decision about whether or not
to select a particular new technology – an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system
(earlier versions of this technology were referred to as Manufacturing Resources Plan-
ning systems – MRP2). Nine different players are involved – eight work within Oakland
with different functional role responsibilities, the ninth is an external consultant and an
expert in ERP technology. Managing knowledge is therefore critical to this decision.

>> THE COMPANY
Oakland Furniture Ltd is located on a single site near a town in England called High
Wycombe, where many other furniture companies, some very small, are also based.
Oakland is quite large in furniture industry terms and employs 300 people. There are
210 employees on the shop floor, of whom 144 are skilled (65 machine operators and
79 cabinet-makers and finishers). The remaining 66 are semi-skilled or unskilled, and
work on general handling jobs, packing and unpacking and so on. There are 90 other
staff: 25 production people including foremen and women, supervisors and manag-
ers; 25 sales field staff and managers; and about 40 clerical staff. Most shop-floor
workers and some staff are members of the furniture industry trade union, the FTAT
(Furniture, Timber and Allied Trades).
Oakland specializes in high-quality ‘English’ furniture, using oak, beech and yew
solid timber stock and veneers. Their present product range is quite restricted. It is
focused on the dining and occasional furniture (i.e. living room cabinets, coffee tables
and so on) sectors of the market. It grew very rapidly some 25 years ago, largely due
to one particular dining-room range, the ‘Oakland’, which gave the company its

* This role-play is an abridged version of the original produced by James Fleck (now Dean and Professor
of Innovation Dynamics at the Open University Business School) with two of the authors (Jacky Swan
and Harry Scarbrough). The original was part of an initiative funded by the Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC) to develop training materials in innovation. The full original version provides much more
detailed role information and is intended to run over a longer session (approximately three hours). This
can be found at http://omni.bus.ed.ac.uk/opsman/oakland/oak1.htm. The case of Oakland is a fi ctional one
but the information about the company is based upon a number of real research cases.

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