Business
Comparative Case study of the Allentown Materials Corporation: The Electronics Division and Classic Airlines
The Allentown materials corporation was established in the year 1800s and considered as one of the leading specialty glass manufacturing company. The company’s ability to manufacture and invent new glass items became the base of their reputations and reason for their steady growth. The Electronics division of the company has based on the structure similar to the other divisions of the company. The company made two separate departments for sales and marketing to make sure that they are following their individual goals but failed to understand that these two departments should work as a team, as marketing department will be able to recognize the scope of development of new products and sales will be able to generate ideas for promoting and selling of the new products (Allentown Business Case, 2014). ED of Allentown clearly highlighted a misalignment in their vision. Instead of working as a team, these departments showed increased rivalry. The company was facing a loss in terms of sales and profits due to internal and external factors. Although the company considered the external factor for separating these departments into two, they failed to understand the increasing lack of communication between the departments. The departments were failing to meet the requirements of the customers as well as also unable to generate new thoughts for products. The company’s objectives were more focused on manufacturing and R&D and less importance was given to sales and marketing department. Customers were looking out for manufacturers who were able to meet their pricing and deadlines. The division was unable to generate new products to attract customers (Ellet, 2007).
A similar scenario can be seen in the case of Classic Airlines. It is a 25- year old airline company, which fleet of more than 375 jets, serving 240 cities and having more than 2300 daily flights. The company was facing lots of issues due to external and internal factors. With the increasing demand of the customers, the company has failed to innovate and failed to tackle increasing cost issues. The organization has not been able to meet the demands and service request of the customers and now their customers are looking for other options. The company was losing money and sales decreased drastically. The departments and employees lack trust in each other and there is no unity in the workplace. The company wants to ensure that they are giving enough importance to efficiency, innovation, quality, customer service and products (Tokhi, 2009).
ED of Allentown was able to identify the gaps and wanted to re-implement their organizational and management programs. They wanted to form new goals to make sure all the departments are aligned and work as a team. The company wanted to make sure that they are able to merge their sales and marketing department for increasing their efficiency. On the similar lines, Classic Airlines wanted to make sure they are investing in their marketing and service department. They needed to forecast the future requirements and merge their visions together. They need to make sure they are giving priority to product and sales as these are directly linked to the customers. (Tokhi, 2009)
Research has always proven that department in an organization working as team has always contributed towards the growth of the company. Allentown ED was able to recognize that they need their sales and marketing department to work as a team for sustaining their market space. On the similar note, Classic Airlines were able to recognize that they need to focus on their marketing and sales strategies if they wants to increase their customers and become the leading airline company.
References
"Allentown Business Case." Retrieved on 31 Oct 2014. 123HelpMe.com. <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=163586>.
Ellet Williams. (2007). The case study handbook: how to read, discuss, and write persuasively about cases. Harvard Business School Press
Tokhi, Milaly (2009). A Case Study on Classic Airlines: Practical Marketing Solutions, Journal of Business Studies Quarterly. Vol. 1. No. . pp. 16-25
