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AlarmForce Industries Inc. is a developer and sales provider of home security systems with offices throughout Canada. Since the company's inception, it had become one of the leaders in the Canadian home security market and had established a reputation for being a technological innovator in the industry. The president and CEO of the company must decide whether to launch its new product, AlarmFog, which the president believed represented the future of the home security market. This case focuses on past strategic decisions the company made in differentiating itself in a mature market.

AlarmForce Industries Inc. is a developer and sales provider of home security systems with offices throughout Canada. Since the company's inception, it had become one of the leaders in the Canadian home security market and had established a reputation for being a technological innovator in the industry. The president and chief executive officer of the company must decide whether or not to launch their new product, AlarmFog, which the president believed represented the future of the home security market. The case focuses on past strategic decisions made by the company in differentiating itself in a mature market. The potential folly of making tactical product launch decisions without a solid analysis of underlying strategic issues can be discussed.

Toybox is the visual effects division of Command Post, Canada's largest full service postproduction company and industry leader in technical and creative services for film, television, video and digital audio productions. Toybox's visual special effects manager believes that an improved information system for managing digital projects is required to cope with future growth. For example, during recent production work on a feature film, difficulties in workload, signoffs and rework reached an unsustainable level. The visual special effects manager must choose between an off-the-shelf product and a custom in-house solution. However, his decision is complicated by the creative work environment and the number of systems to which the new system must be integrated.

Toybox is the visual effects division of Command Post, Canada's largest full-service, postproduction company and industry leader in technical and creative services for film, television, video, and digital audio productions. Toybox's visual special effects manager believes that future growth requires an improved information system for managing digital projects. For example, during recent production work on a feature film, difficulties in workload, signoffs, and rework reached an unsustainable level. The visual special effects manager must choose between an off-the-shelf product and a custom, in-house solution. However, his decision is complicated by the creative work environment and the number of systems to which the new system must be integrated.