...Case Study week 3 GM 591 Leadership and Organizational Behavior March 18, 2012 When becoming a team there are several stages that the team must go through and must go through them in order. Forming is the first stage then storming, norming, performing, and then adojourning is the last stage. Christines group has already done the forming, storming stages. At this point I think they are in the norming and the performing stages. They are in the norming stage because this is where the members really start to come together as a unit. In this case they have never really completed this task to begin with. Mike seemed that he didn’t really take the team seriously from the beginning and was not really following what the team leader wanted for the team to make sure things were done. With that problem they really could not get past this stage. If Christine would have understood the stages more then she would have realized that she was going to have a problem when she was in the forming stage. In the forming stage the team members must ask themselves “What can this group offer me?” and “Can my needs be meet?” among other questions. They should be asking these questions when they were getting to know each other in this stage. If these needs were not going to be meet it should have been addressed here before moving forward with the stages. The primary problem that Christine has is that the project is due in a week and has not received Mike’s portion of his work. If they do not get...
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...Motors acquire EDS in 1984? General Motors (GM) is a multinational, publically traded corporation that specializes in automotive production, distribution, sales and maintenance. The technological boom experienced within the manufacturing industry in the later part of the 20th century created an opportunity to implement various Information Technology Systems and services to monitor all internal activities within a given organization. With the slumming stock prices and increasing pressure from international competition, GM’s only option was to automate its ongoing operations in hopes of becoming more effective and efficient in delivering top-quality products to the end customers. There were two possible options to proceed with automation of various services within the organization - outsourcing IT services to an independent body, or branching out current operations in order to have an in-house service provider. Due to specific time constraints and obligation to its shareholders to improve the stock performance, corporate managers in GM have decided to look for a strong, medium-sized IT service provider which could accomplish the much needed transition. At the time, in mid-1980’s, EDS was considered to be a mid-level provider of IT services, with expertise and corporate culture matching the GM needs. This resulted in GM acquiring EDS in 1984 for $2.55 billion, ensuing in the subsequent modernization of operations and establishing GM as a market leader, once again making it competitive...
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...Case Study---Fiat and GM: the troubled alliance An overview As trend in big businesses, the nature of the business grows there is a need for expansion and mergers. Although some of the mergers are benefiting and dangerous, they are entered into to maximize profits. This case study looks at the merger between two auto manufacturers, Fiat and General Motors (GM) and the problems and prospects they had. In evaluating the general environment facing the alliance between Fiat and GM the opportunities were for cost saving and cross--sharing of automotive technologies. Fiat saw the alliance as a means to save its ailing auto division which had been experiencing losses since the 1990s. For GM, the alliance was necessity to keep pace with current trend of the auto industry where rapid mergers had been on the rise since the 1990s. With the declining trend in its European operations, GM saw the merger as a means to enhance its operations in Europe and Latin America. However, the threats was that Fiat looses began to increase, fiat sought recapitalization and GM refraining from participating in the recapitalization thereby reducing its stake in Fiat Auto from 20 percent to 10 percent. Using the porter Five Forces model to analyze the global Automobile industry one can conclude that it’s a very attractive industry. Giving the demand for Cars the world over the competitive nature of the industry, it’s an attractive industry. The two main competitors of Fiat and GM are...
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...The GM manufacturing plant in Fredericksburg, VA had a long history of over-engineered and inefficient processes. More importantly, the plant had a long and predictable history of failing to meet its operating budget and, as a cost center for GM, demonstrated a significant lack of ability to influence revenue in order to meet its budget. The relatively small size of the plant and its position downstream from other GM manufacturing segments made it prone to “ripple effects” of strikes in other larger plants further up the production stream – most notably the plant in Dayton, OH. A March 1997 strike at the Dayton plant resulted in no customer orders for Fredericksburg. Since timely delivery of components was critical to the overall success of GM’s entire transmission manufacturing operations, the Fredericksburg plant, a strike at another plant like Dayton was a catch-22 for Fredericksburg. No customer orders meant untimely delivery of components to other plants in the production chain thusly rendering a negative effect on overall production and GM’s ability to meet demand. The rural, small town setting of the Fredericksburg plant gave rise to unique issues concerning its workforce. Many of the employees were related and a union leader might find himself working alongside Process Manager Mother-in-law. While there may be some morale benefits to family working together, there are also some sinister downsides. The case study indicates that employees were lax about properly documenting...
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...European energy markets. - Ongoing research in General Management, Organizational Behavior, Technology and Operations Management, and Entrepreneurial Management. - ERC case interviews and field research in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, Selected events: Glocoll Program on campus; MBA events in Munich, Frankfurt, Paris and London; the European Area Conference; CSR Conference in Brussels; EAB meeting in Milan; L'Etudiant Conference in Paris; ELC Meeting in Geneva. It is with mixed feelings that we say farewell to our Research Associate, Mr. Karol Misztal. Karol first joined the ERC in 2010, and quickly became a valuable member of our team. We are thankful for his contributions to our organization and, undeniably, he will be deeply missed. Please join us in wishing Karol the very best of luck and success in all his future endeavors. We were also very fortunate to welcome two outstanding Harvard College students to the ERC team for a two-month internship: Ms. Nina Chen and Mr. Roland Yang. We would like to thank them for their great work and we wish them all the best for their future careers! br> And to all of you, Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2014! Newly Released Cases Case study "FX Risk Hedging at EADS" Co-authored with Professor Carl Kester, FIN, this case describes how, in 2008, EADS, the European aerospace group that owns Airbus, was faced with the decision of how best to hedge against the risks stemming from a large and...
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...MAKE-TO-ORDER AUTOMOBILES AT GM’S GRAVATAI PLANT Case Study Analysis Executive Summary: This case study emphasizes GM’s Gravatai plant and the Brazilian Auto Industry to sell cars that were made-to-order for customers and connect assembly line and the internet-based sales system. Its purpose is to help bring a revolution to the automotive industry and the establishment of a new production model. The GMBG case study looks at the “Blue Macaw” Gravatai Plant in Brazil. This plant has revolutionized the auto industry in Brazil by becoming the first plant to sell cars directly from the customer. The plant uses an online ordering system to facilitate sales directly to consumers at a lower cost than before. The plant utilizes a make to order system and has all of its suppliers housed at the GMBG plant working together to produce the vehicles. The case study highlights the history of the Brazilian automotive industry, the GMBG plant itself, the production strategy/manufacturing process as well as the distribution strategy of this revolutionary and profitable division of GM South America. Introduction: The core notion was: to sell cars made-to-order for final consumer. This project was considered to be a true landmark for the world’s automotive industry. The Gravatai Plant brought about a true revolution in how cars were made, from its concept to the direct-sale model, through its production management system. The lessons learned during the experiment were relevant because...
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...General Motors Case Study Case 34 General Motors What are key forces in the general and industry environments that affect the U.S. auto industry, and General Motors? General Motors (GM) has suffered different threats and difficulties that have put in risk the continuity of its production. Before the year 2000, GM has been going through different production, financial, and development problems. Wagoner has tried in different ways to address each problem in order to make GM more successful. Unfortunately GM had high losses that have made it very difficult to solve those problems. All this is due to a very competitive environment in each there were different forces that affect the development of the firm. According to Porter’s Five-Forces Model of the Industry, there are five aspects to analyze, the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry. First, the threat of new entrants highly affected the firm. GM has so many divisions and units which made the firm weak in its integration. GM had 27 different units within the firm that purchase parts that made it difficult to achieve economies of scale. All those units worked independently and do not contribute each other. In other to solve that, Wagoner started working to integrate each unit, especially overseas. Also, he took the decision to reduce the number...
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...Case Study Analysis: General Motors: Packard Electric Division Ufuk Aytacoglu Southern States University – Newport Beach Campus Case Study Analysis: General Motors: Packard Electric Division General Motor’s acquisition of the Packard Company led to a considerable differentiation in the products offered by the Packard Company. Even though the GM struggled throughout the 1980s, the Packard Electric Division of GM grew at rates that were very satisfying for the managers. In year 1990, David Schramm, the chief engineer for Cable and Component Design, was asked by the Product, Process and Reliability Committee to share his opinions on whether the Packard Electric should commit to the RIM grommet for a 1992 model year car. Schramm thought of three possible scenarios for this critical path. The first scenario involved a backup RIM machine in case anything went wrong and products were out of compliance with the manufacturer’s specs. This option was not cost efficient and also was the riskiest of all three choices. Another option was to implement a system that was usable by both manufacturing lines. Design processes would be the most affected stage with this choice considered. Interdependent stages such as logistics would also be in jeopardy. The final choice was their safest and the most applicable. This option could relieve the company in the short-run. However, potential future projects would be given up due to failure of developing technology to create sustainable growth...
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...SAMPLE CASE STUDIES – MARKETING Case Study 1 Marketing and Distribution of Mushroom Sachin and Virag are two enterprising youth. They have passed out from IIM, Bangalore. They thought instead of doing a job, they will launch fresh vegetables in Indian markets. Having learnt of the future conventional foods, they decided to venture into cultivation of mushrooms. Mushrooms are known to be the best alternative food for vegetarians. For Sachin and Virag fund raising was a serious handicap for mass production. However, the first trial batch of mushrooms that they produced was bought by Star Hotel in Bangalore. Further, the hotel placed orders for supply of 20 kgs every day. Now mushroom industry is run by small entrepreneurs, like Sachin and Virag. Another big player M/s Ashtavinayak Mushrooms, equipped with cold storage facility was more interested in the export market. Sachin and Virag have set their sights high. They aim to sell mushrooms in a very big way all over India. Mushrooms have a great market potential and is a perishable food. Questions A. How will you advise Sachin and Virag, as how to increase the consumer awareness about this new food? What would be your suggestions for distribution channel for mushrooms? B. Possible Solutions A. • Consumer awareness can be created by test marketing. Through sales persons and customer response to the product. • • Samples can be distributed in big malls and Variety stores. Awareness can also...
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...Case Study – Royal Hotel 1. Briefly (2 paragraphs or less) describe the facts of the case. In order to improve the performance, Royal Hotel (RH) became one of the clients of Fancy Consultants& Company (FC). Blake Cantera was an intern and he was in charge of this case. According to the General Manager (GM), the level of the service in RH was unacceptable based on the discerning guests and RH’s self-positioning. Blake recommended RH to purchase and install M-tech’s Espresso after some short interview with some related people. Blake also gave four main advantages of the proposed information system as followed: Rapid response, Quaility control, Preventive maintenance, and Reporting. This system allow housekeepers to report problems as soon as possible without waiting so that it can reduce the chance of “slippage through the cracks” if the housekeeper forgot to communicate the problem. This system also can avoid the same problem occurred again and the manager can reward the employees according to their performance based on the data which showed by the system. While Blake got another account, so, his classmate Jack took over this case. After one month and a half, Blake was told that his solution was failed. It was useless and it just wasted money. When he came back to RH, he found that the Espresso was sitting in a corner, nobody cares about it, and every employee thought the older manual system was better than the new one. When Blake prepared to find a solution to make...
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...Royal Hotel Case Study Analysis 1 Troubleshooting Information Systems at the Royal Hotel: A Case Study Analysis Jason Willis University of Massachusetts SCHMGMT 632 Dr. Charles Mutigwe May 28, 2016 Royal Hotel Case Study Analysis 2 Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Executive Summary Case Overview Problem Statement Case Data Analysis Decision Criteria Resolutions Analysis Recommendations/Action plan Executive Summary The Royal Hotel is an all suite luxury establishment in New York City that caters primarily to traveling businesspeople. As a luxury hotel, much of their clientele consists of high level executives who, by definition, are demanding and astute when compared to the average hotel guest. The 482 suites that comprise the hotel are equipped with various amenities to allow the client to conduct business from the comfort of the hotel. These include but are not limited to: paper fax, printer, copier, highspeed internet access, twoline telephones, and voicemail. In addition, the Royal Hotel maintains a fitness center, three restaurants, a coffee shop, a 24 hour business center, suite dining, complimentary shoe shine, and highspeed elevators. The Royal has hosted 150,000 guests and earned $30 million in revenue per year. While it has maintained profitability and a strong contingent of repeat clients...
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...the grading philosophy and the grading rubrics that will be used in this course. There are 200 possible points in this course and the points allocated to each of the written assignments are self-explanatory. I will use one grading rubric for each of the individual one page written assignments in this course. There is no rubric for the case studies, but there are guidelines for them in the supplemental material. The written assignment rubrics will be returned to you when I return the feedback on the assignment. I will attach an “answer” sheet with each written assignment, including case studies. I will also use a rubric to grade your participation in this course. I will grade and return the individual participation rubrics to you each week. There are two grading rubrics, therefore, that will be used in the course. These grading rubrics are posted separately. If you have questions about them, then please ask. In terms of APA, I expect all of you to use this method for citations and references. I require a cover sheet for all assignments and a reference page. These pages do not count toward the number of pages needed in an assignment. Case study assignments should be double spaced IAW APA standards, but the one and three page papers should...
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...CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF P&G: SK-II GLOBALIZATION PROJECT FOR: Professor Howard Kupferman Written by: Andres Torres Procter and Gamble Case Study Analysis Actors: 1. Alan Lafley: Head of P&G Beauty Care GBU 2. Paolo de Cesare: President of Max Factor Japan 3. Durk Jager: P&G CEO 4. GLT: Global Leadership Team (made up of business GM’s of crucial MDO’s, people from R&D, consumer research, product supply, HR, and finance). Chaired by Lafley. INTRO: In this case study we are introduced to P&G as an organization and their changes in structure overtime. More specifically, after the acquisition of Max Factor Japan and success in its SK-II line, questions are raised about whether global expansion is feasible and profitable as a franchise. De Cesare ran this skin-care line in Japan, but he reported directly to Lafley. This is crucial because global expansion would require Lafley’s approval in budgeting and organizational support. P&G recently went through major organizational changes over a period of six years known as O2005. This created huge questions in the strategy that would be put together in the case of a global expansion for SK-II. Within the U.S. Procter & Gamble originally followed an organizational structure consisting of seven different divisions that were furthermore shattered into 26 distinct categories. Each category had its own R&D, supply management and marketing. In addition, the international organization...
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...Case Study 4.1 Background Ron Garcia, a management trainee at Mexicana Wire Winding, Inc. has been asked by the general manager to conduct an analysis seeking maximum profit under current production constraints. The company is seeking a banner year to obtain leverage for refinancing long-term debt (Render et al, 2012, p. 300). Using linear programming, we can assess the max profit potential while taking into account a series of identified constraints. Mexicana Wireworks Max Profit Analysis Overall production constraints are laid out in Fig 1.1 and include product max profit capability, April orders/Demand, key customer fills promised by the General Manager, labor requirements for each product, and maximum Hours capacity of the Plant (Render et al, 2012, p. 301). Product Profit was determined by subtracting overall costs (material, labor, overhead) from selling price. Average output per month is only 2400 units, 850 of which are rejected for winding errors, well below capacity to meet April’s customer demand. The focus in this analysis consists of the key customer demand promised by the GM and maximum profits under constraints of plant capacity. Max profit=34X1 + 30X2 + 60X3 + 25X4. After plugging numbers into the QM software, the results are: W0075C = 1100 units (>= 150) W0033C = 250 units W0005X = 0 units W0007X = 600 units (>=600) Optimum Profit = US $59900 Packaging hours become the limiting factor as far as plant capacity is concerned, wasting potential...
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...Marketing Case Studies Innovative and creative marketing is more important than even in a shaky economic climate. Here's some of the best strategies we've found for quickly moving your brand from intriguing concept to household name. Brand Marketing: Guinness How do you refresh a 243-year-old brand? By brewing a modern experience that combines the power of history with the allure of contemporary design. Guinness Storehouse, in Dublin, reimagines how a brand can perform for customers, employees, and the community. Scott Kirsner Are Brands out of Hand? A new kind of brand proletariat is on the loose, courtesy of Harvey Alpert, the man behind Brand in Your Hand. Jack Hitt Battle of the Brands John Hancock`s outspoken CEO names names and points fingers at some high-profile brand offenders in his new book. He also offers some good advice on not screwing up your own company`s brand. Jennifer Reingold Don`t Shout, Listen At Procter & Gamble, branding is almost everything. And in the age of the Web, almost everything is up for grabs. Here`s how P& G has turned the Internet into a device for listening to customers -- and for experimenting with its brands. Fara Warner Who`s Fast Hall of Fame: Brand Builders Brand builders forging product identities that endure and entice. Fast Company Cleaning Up Brand Clutter With 35 varieties of bagels, 66 subbrands of GM cars, and more than 13,000 mutual funds, American consumers are suffering a severe case of brand overload. Marketing...
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