Executive Summary
Recommendations made by Jerry on Core Computer Company are good; he can be described as a leader who has a big vision for the company. He has done it before and for Corecompute Company he is ready for the job. Upon his arrival, he has begun identifying issues which are hindering the growth for the company. He has quickly noticed that although the company has grown in terms of employee’s numbers, he is concern that there were no strategic plans to guide the company. Four mangers will be reporting to Jerry and Harry. This is an indication the even the owner of the company Harry has entrusted Jerry on the decision he will be making. This is a very senior position and comes with a lot of responsibilities.
The company has some added advantages; its employees are considered to be the best and for that reason the number of client is increasing. Jerry will not have a hard time to strategize on how to market their services this has already been catered for. A company that has a clear and good structural management system is easy to run. The top management has come up with modern business strategies which are making it easy for a company to compete with big companies, in terms of service delivery and customer satisfaction. The major focus is for the company to grow and to increase its services as it enters into new businesses in the same industry. This essay will identify appropriate methods of strategic analysis; develop appropriate plans for undertaking organization change, and addressing the challenges arising from strategic activities.
Introduction
This easy is about core Compute Company that deals mostly with repair of computers; it started as a young company with four employees but has grown to employ hundreds of employees within a short period of time. The growth that has occurred to the company has been with no strategic plan, and this has been a major issue main of concern. The company’s financial sector has been experiencing major weaknesses, the deterioration of the sector without the knowledge of those responsible. This means that the employees in the finance sector are incompetent. With the arrival of new director things have begun to gain shape by first identifying the problems that the company is facing.
Harry Jones was the founder of Corecompute; he started the company with four employees. The company initially started as an in depended offsite computer repair facility, though it has advanced its services and with the skilled employees it has employed, the company is able to handle technical and complex hardware and maintenance. It has build goodwill over its time of operation and customers depend on the company to fix problems that may arise on their computers. In the industry, it has been realized that there are still untapped areas which require to be exploited such as the networks.
The company has invested heavy on the appropriate skilled labour, and for that reason the company is able to compete with same service providers whom are presumably to have the competence but are less skilled. Apart from that, the company operates on a well laid business principles, where its main focus is on customer satisfaction.
Within the organization major changes have occurred in, employees are given more responsibilities. They have been empowered so that they can deliver on their mandates. To make it easy to manage and to deliver on quality services, the company is made up of three main client service areas that are the technical, support and the lab. Core Company is now competing with it large competitors on bidders of new business in connection with Boeing. All the successes are attributed to how the company is run and managed, this is putting into consideration the strong culture the company has. Employees are seen as part of the family, and everyone is made comfortable on the working environment.
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Company’s strength and weakness
The company’s top customers are a hundred companies with complex computer problems. It has business partners such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Approximately, the 74% of the company’s revenue comes from Boeing’s business. The core compute company has about three hundred material customers and about two hundred contract clients.
Core compute’s financial situation was deteriorating, although the company's president and principal stockholder, Harry Jones, unaware of the situation. In Harry's opinion, given these two positive trends, how the financial situation could not be anything other than solid. There have been some problems with overstaffing in 2005, but the company had still made $128,000 in operating income last year.
Jerry had discovered a number of existing problems that led to Companies recent financial deterioration, but did not have a clear diagnosis. In Jerry's best approximation, the company had grown extremely fast without any formal strategic plan.
Another weakness is that Core compute was always curious to attract new customers and would do anything to win business. There has been competition from other companies who are also trying to establish one-stop shop arrangement as that provided by the core compute company. Finally, democracy in decision making by all staff is time consuming. Core Compute Company employees are from the military background the management should emphasis on employing people with managerial skills (Ragin & Charles1987)
The company is committed to promoting its employees who have helped it advance to its current position. It, therefore, gives them first priority before making external advertisement, thus saving much money with external advertisement. The employees are motivated in the process and hence remaining loyal. The company promotion comes from within; managers and supervisor were once bottom employees in the company. They promote individuals on the basis on skills and performance.
The company has important principles that act as a guide to their development. They pledge never to disappoint their customers since they can always talk and walk. They also promise that the client will not suffer without equipment for more than four hours. The engineers from the core compute company will fix the problem on the site. The company promises to replace the machine with another as it gets fixed.
The external environment surrounding the Core- Compute Company
The company has placed its self in a more strategic position in providing repairs to its client. It has qualified professionals in this sector, and this is the area that is maximizing on, the company is a service provider and, it has specialized in microcomputer hardware and related peripherals. It is true that the company has build its goodwill, and it is trusted by most of its client because of the quality services it provides to them. It delivers on its promises, by distributing the required spare parts within the set time frame. Therefore, contracts out the repair and maintenance of its computer equipment to Corecompute.
The company is described as one which is able to provide its customers with a one-stop shop for computer hardware problems and quick response. Corecompute focuses upon fixing technology as opposed to fixing the products of certain manufacturers. According to Harry, this competency differentiates Corecompute from the service operations of original equipment manufacturers such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and DEC, all of whom presumably have a competency in fixing the equipment they produce, but are less skilled at fixing the equipment of other manufacturers and may not be as quick as Corecompute.
Swort analysis
The companies intend to provide a one stop shop for all its customers this will be a great achievement and, as a result, it will increase its revenue thus increasing the returns to the investors. It has succeeded in doing so and has a lot of customers and several partners. One can conclude that the company is in a good position compete with the others providing almost similar facilities. There has been an increased repair and maintenance providers which have resulted to increase in competition.
As a result, profit margins have declined notable increase in the intensity of competition, there have been many players in the industry providing similar services, and in order to maintain and attract new clients the company has resulted to decreasing its charges thus reducing its revenue (Sodhi& Lee 2007). The decline of profitability, it is important to inject more investment into the company in order to maintain its relevancy and increase the market share. Employees need to be trained so that they can increase productivity, in addition to that, training will improve the way customers are handled. The company will need to examine the viability of their activity in this industry most the company board is aware of financial deterioration. Providing an explanation to the rest of the organization on how we intend the plan to work will be the best approach. Strong line of communication in the company’s program ensures that feedbacks are communicated back effectively and on a good time. Communicator feedback is provided through Q& As, and both formal and informal responses received from employees. The creation of a communications team who will be updating relevant messages will be relevant.
Since Michelle Dancer the administrative manager in charge of Human had tried to communicate to people on the importance of taking the managerial courses, a proposal should be in place that will ensure that those with managerial skills have raised the salary. A proposal on the change in the vision and the vision of the company will not to sound as the statement of purpose for a non-profit save-the-world organization but as a statement for a competitive business (Palmisano& Samuel 2009)
I suggest use of the literature that is available in core Compute Company to achieve the maximum benefits. The company should engage other clients and stakeholders apart from Boeing (Sodhi& Lee 2007).The company should also avoid lowering their cost so much in order to win customers. They should focus on the gain as they help their clients. A better empirical base is necessary to understand the innovation effect of different risk management strategies. Development of a strategic plan to record the growth of the company and the deterioration so that everybody is aware of how it is performing (Rahman, Motiar & Kumaraswamy 2002)
Michelle Dancer the administrative manager in charge of Human has noted that there was so much democracy in decision making over the last few years. It has resulted to misuse of time. There should be effective ways of giving feedback by every employee through meeting and use of questionnaires. The manager decisions will be made by top management.
Bob Sailor is the director of operations did not understand why the was board of directors felt it necessary to bring Jerry Smiles into the company as CEO, while it was Harry who has grown this business due to his personal relationships with key players at Boeing. In order to avoid such resistance a strong line of communication should be created back to the program team. It will help in explaining any changes and the reason it is necessary. It will also help in assessing progress, issues and risks Reduces resistance through active leadership and employee involvement (Porter & Millen1997)
The co-operate level persuaded by the company.
Many of Corecompute’s customers highly depend on the skills they have to fix problems on their computers and laptops. Operating initially as an independent offsite computer repair facility, Corecompute quickly expanded its capabilities to include on-site repair Harry sees Corecompute focuses upon fixing technology, as opposed to fixing the products of certain manufacturers. According to Harry this competency differentiates Corecompute from the service operations of original equipment manufacturers such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and DEC, all of whom presumably have a competency in fixing the equipment they produce, but are less skilled at fixing the equipment of other manufacturers and may not be as quick as Corecompute
Analyzing business strategy
Harry developed a number of fundamental business principles that had been crucial in guiding the development of Corecompute. First, Corecompute pledges never to let the customer down and to always ‘walk the talk.’ Second, consistent with this philosophy, Corecompute promises important customers that four hours maximum down time they will have to suffer as a result of equipment failure. If an equipment problem is not fixed on-site by a Corecompute field engineer, Corecompute will replace the malfunctioning part or machine with a backup from its own supplies, ship the malfunctioning item to its repair depot, and fix the problem there. Third, Corecompute also pledges to its customers to have any part necessary, anywhere in the world, within 24 hours. Fulfilling these promises requires Corecompute to hold an extensive inventory of parts and equipment.
Fourth, Corecompute makes a concerted effort never to get involved with any political issues involving its clients. Fifth, Harry also pledged to keep close contact with the employees, this is the only way that the company can advance and increase its market share. Close contact with employees will increase their motivation because they feel to be part of the company; they should be involved in setting up budgets and in policy making, in the organization (Wikstrom, 2008). To avoid the spread of rumors, he and his management staff hold regular all employee meetings.
Recommendations
In order to minimize cost losses in a business, it is necessary to procure goods and services at the lowest total cost. This is done through leveraging state’s buying power by using the appropriate channels to deliver economic value
Customer Focus it is important to manage the stakeholder’s expectation in good time and responsive manner.
The company should employ more field engineers who will be attending to clients needs; this will ensure direct contact with the clients.
The company should have all its items build from one lab to avoid defectives on the spare parts, this move will also ensure that, the parts are available.
The technical team should be trained on customer service from picking the phone to addressing the issue at hand.
The organization should maintain and execute a standardized procurement process supported by the technology in order to achieve the target outcomes.
Compliance and Accountability It is critical for a company to insist on compliance with the right administrative codes and policies while enhancing transparency for stakeholders through monitoring and reporting the activities.
For an organization to meet its goals and objectives the management, should work together with the employees in policy formulation.
Management, on the other hand, has a corporate social responsibility; this will guide them to maintain a healthy relationship with its stakeholders thus maintaining a friendly working environment.
Quality of service delivery should be the main focus; this should be achieved by training more employees and specializing on one area where customers will not be disappointed.
The company managers should come up with an appropriate method, of measuring performance so that rewards can be accorded fairly to them.
It is important to increase motivation to employees by setting them high targets which are an achievable.
Conclusion
It is important for the companies to improve the quality of their service delivery by investing in employees. Using appropriate methods of strategic analysis; develop appropriate plans for undertaking organization change, and addressing the challenges arising from strategic activities.
Customers should be very close to the company’s management and to the employees as well. Any arising issue from the client should be taken seriously and action to resolve the problem should be ready. It is an important lesson leant from Core Compute Company that, for any business to thrive, everyone must take part in the business. The company operated as an independent offsite computer repair facility; it focused on one area where it could maximize returns and attracts more customers because of the quality of work it offered.
References
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