Educational Technology Corporation: Crossing the Chasm

Todd Wilson, manager of partner development at Educational Technology Corporation (ETC), needed to determine the targeting, positioning, and selling strategy for its innovative Interactive Mathematics software for the college market. He needed to decide what types of colleges to target, and what stakeholders to focus on within the institution. His task is complicated by the unclear objectives of non-profit institutions and by the differing motivations of teachers, students, and college administrators in adopting software-based learning technology. The case highlights the difficulties in innovation adoption within large non-profit institutions, and the challenges in marketing to institutions with complex decision-making processes, multiple influencers, and conflicting motivations.