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Human Resource and Change

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Olympus – A time for change
Melissa C. Figueroa
Grand Canyon University
Organizational Behavior and Management
July 22, 2011

Olympus - A time for change. The company that I chose to write about, that I believe needs desperate change when it comes to not only to appeal to the consumer but as well to the employees of their company is; Olympus. Olympus has been around since 1919, and has paved the way for several things including their digital cameras, their microscopes, and their medical equipment (endoscopes). Olympus has such seniority over so many companies because of how long it’s been around, and has the potential to be one of the greatest camera companies if only they would just perfect their marketing strategy. It seems to most consumers as well as to their own employees that Olympus doesn’t even have a marketing strategy in that sense. They are failing because it seems as if there’s no plan. Olympus recently just laid off around 4,000 employees, and their total employees before that was 3.2 million worldwide. Now, tell me how is that possible to a company who is the world’s fourth largest digital camera industry? The answer to that question is simple; they have no marketing strategy! Olympus is laying people off because of the marketing department, however it’s not the camera departments fault for lack of sales. You can the most amazing products in the world but if you’re not marketing them properly, they’ll never sell and they’ll never be heard of. In Center Valley, Pennsylvania there is a branch for Olympus which recently just laid off 110 employees in the camera department. Center Valley employees 900 employees, and is working on their second lay off very soon now. Now from my perspective that is fine, it just doesn’t make sense to lay off the people who are working hard for you. The finger needs to be pointed at a different department; marketing. One of things that I believe needs to be strongly changed is the integrity of the company. The Morning Call, which is a newspaper in Pennsylvania wrote an article before the lay offs were going to happen, speaking of the company potentially laying off employees. When employees came into work that day (from an anonymous source) they all had questions for the higher up employers. The only response they could give them was to not worry, and they wouldn’t be affected. A few weeks later – 110 employees were laid off. I think that it’s important to be completely honest with employees because they are what keep the business running. If the company for one, doesn’t change the marketing aspect and the integrity of the company they will lose many employees and lose respect, and possibly fall even harder as a company. Olympus has been in the papers for quite some time now with all the lay-offs happening lately, so I think they need to keep their reputation as a respected, truthful company. The marketing strategies seem to be non-existent with this company. The camera department for Olympus has fallen hard just within two years. In two years the camera department has cut in half for its revenue. One of the other things that’s hurting them as well is that they are selling less cameras when the digital camera market is in fact, growing! Olympus is known for it’s innovation and it’s top engineers and they need to put that into play with their products! It’s not that their products are terrible, it’s the fact that no one knows about these cameras that they create because their product and marketing strategy skills fail, tremendously. What does Olympus need to do for their marketing strategy? I came up with a few responses for that questions, and one was use their incredible technology from possibly one of their microscopes and be innovative with it! They have so much advance technology that they can even better if they focus more on it. They need to be better than the competition, and create better lenses for their cameras, rethink their marketing strategies, make pro cameras, they need to make less redundant products and either improve on one of the cameras or combine their camera technology from two different cameras to make one super camera. I believe they need to be firing people from the marketing department and HIRING new marketers so they can have a fresh clean slate. I think Olympus needs new minds for their marketing department, they need innovative employees who are willing and wanting to do anything and everything to turn this horrible situation around. I understand that they aren’t doing well financially but I think the last thing they need to do is fire the ones who are actually trying to do their jobs. They need employee retention and turnover. They need to have a strong foundation for their employees.
I believe one of the things that will help them tremendously is creating focus groups. I think they need to have sessions at all their branches and get opinions from their employees on what they can do to be better than the competition as far as the camera department is concerned. This would be a great opportunity for Olympus because it’s the ones who work within that will really be able to have great input. I believe they should get everyone involved who works for the company. They need to continue to be a close-knit company with their employees, they need to let their employees know what’s really going on and not try and beat around the bush. In a company you are like a family, you need to share ideas, you need to be honest, you need to be willing to hear, and take constructive criticism from those around you. Instead of laying people off, they need more employee appraisal. They need to see the hard work that ones who are at “the bottom” do. Olympus needs more training programs, I believe the marketers, the engineers need workshops to rejuvenate their minds! They need to have workshops to inspire them, so they can create new ideas. It’s important as well to get employees involved as I stated with their ideas, because in a company you are one and a company can avoid making mistakes by listening and understanding the employees. Engage employees! You want to make employees feel as if they’re needed, and that their opinion does matter to the company because in the long run, that’s what matters.

http://www.43rumors.com/olympus-terrible-financial-results-time-to-change-something/

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/history/ http://www.robroad.com/light-industry/global/200605/6437.html http://www.dalecarnegie.com/imap/white_papers/download/engagement/?keycode=google06content_corporate_TeamMemberEngagement http://retention.naukrihub.com/importance-of-employee-retention.html http://attraction-marketing-blog.blogspot.com/2011/07/bad-network-marketing-practices.html

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