Introduction
Fusilier Technology company was leading in the past until for the previous five years when the sales revenues remained flat. The loss of the company's one of the largest and most loyal customer, Chase made the company re-evaluate the new strategy the company had formulated of changing its line of business from product to solution services. Some issues emerged as follows and solutions to how the company CEO will restore the company's glory in the market suggested.
The company realized its stagnation and formulated an integrated solutions strategy to stimulate growth that would scrap the old line of business of selling products to selling solutions to its company (Cespedes 31). Abandoning the old line of business altogether could be detrimental to the company’s sales revenue since some of the old customers may still want the products. The management was hopeful the strategy would change the company’s sales revenue but after losing one of its biggest account; Chase, it was clear that implementation of the strategy had failed terribly.
One of the major factors that had led to the failure was the lack of a clear timeline within which the strategy was to be implemented, 18 months is a long time for a strategy to be implemented (Cespedes 31). The second major issue was the lack of understanding of the importance of the new strategy by the senior management and the subordinate staff (Cespedes 38). The senior management is responsible for implementing set strategies in a company after understanding the importance of the strategy and explaining it to the rest of the employees. The Fusilier CEO was not convinced that selling solutions instead of products were the best strategy that is why it took the company 18 months to start on the implementation. In fact, he was in support of the managers skeptical to the adoption of this new line of business.
The third issue was the lack of knowledge about the new strategy by the various departments in the company. Employees need to be trained especially if the new line of business is completely different from the former, which was not the case with Fusilier Technologies where the plan to train the sales people and the rest of the employees had failed (Cespedes 32).
The fourth issue is resistance and competition among employees (Cespedes 32). Successful implementation of a new strategy requires that departments and employees work together as a team towards a common goal and embrace change.
Solutions to the Critical Issues
Dynamism in customers’ needs and preferences requires that companies are constantly changing their products and services to meet such needs and remain relevant in the market. The new integrated solution strategy will work for Fusilier Technologies, but it is advisable that the company does not abandon its traditional line of business completely. Even though customers' needs may have changed, it is also possible that a section of the customers will still need the traditional products. The company management, starting with the CEO should notice that the old line of business alone is not working and therefore must accept to incorporate the integrated solution strategy to remain relevant in the market.
The management should set a timeline within which the strategy must be implemented (Cespedes 38) , train the subordinates, reassign roles and explain to the subordinates why it is necessary for the changes in roles and positions and hire experts where needed (Cespedes 34). Employees should be assured of their job security, to avoid resistance. New incentive plans should be put in place to motivate the employees (Cespedes 36).
Work Cited
Cespedes, F. V. Old Hand or New Blood. Harvard Business Review. Print.
