Organizing Paper: Cintas Corporation
MGT/330
August 10, 2011
Awilda Irizarry
Organizing Paper: Cintas Corporation Cintas Corporation is a publicly traded company which operates more than 430 facilities throughout North America, South America and Asia. “Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services, carpet and tile cleaning and document management services for approximately 800,000 businesses.” (Cintas Corporation, 2011). Cintas is the largest company in the industry, employing more than 30,000 employees and is widely recognized as the industry leader. Such standards are not reached easily and they are not reached without proper organizing in all facets of the business. In order to earn the title of industry leader Cintas managed to effectively develop and use its organizational resources. Technology, physical assets and human resources are just a few of the organizational resources that set Cintas apart from its competition.
Technology
Cintas Corporation is generally recognized as a uniform rental company, and it is exactly in that division where the technology Cintas uses sets it apart from its competitors. Because Cintas carries such a wide range of rental products and serves approximately 800,000 businesses they rely on mass customization to meet demand. Mass customization is process of producing high-volume and high-variety products at the same time. Each Cintas location has a production team whose sole job is to fill highly customized, large volume customer orders. One of the main selling points for Cintas is name recognition through the use of company specific uniforms, in other words, Cintas with customize a company’s uniforms however the company desires. The possible uniform combinations are endless, and were it not for a well thought-out plan that uses the technology available to the company, orders would take months to put together. Uniforms are put together in a series of different modules that are operated by partners (employees). Test and trails throughout the years have allowed Cintas management to create a specific order in which these modules operate at the optimal effectiveness.
Physical Assets Another way Cintas Corporation distances itself from its competition is through the use and acquisition of physical assets. Sheer size alone gives Cintas a competitive advantage over its competitors, but being able to favorably manage those assets is where Cintas really pulls away. Having such a large workforce allows the various service departments to provide services that other companies can’t provide. Also, having over 400 locations in North America alone allows Cintas to provide service to companies that are outside of the service area of other rental companies that must limit their service range because they lack the numbers to cover more rural areas. Cintas has experienced continuous growth for the past couple of decades not only because of the demand for the quality service they provide, but also because they are always looking to acquire smaller companies that show promise in a field that interests Cintas. Also according to Forbes (2011), “Cintas’ long-term strategy involves acquiring other local and regional competitors.” (para, 1). The company does incur some risks through these acquisitions, for example, integration into the corporate culture is not always a smooth process. However, careful planning of this strategy has shown that the benefits of these acquisitions far outweigh the risks.
Human Resources Human resources at Cintas Corporation are very similar to human resources at any other company, with one big difference. At Cintas, human resources play a very big role in selling partners on the corporate culture, Cintas calls this culture the “Spartan culture” or ‘having a Spartan attitude”. Having a Spartan attitude means that Cintas partners know and accept the fact that sales offices are not the nicest, vehicles are not the newest, and in general the company does not spend its cash on superficial things. But like the Spartans once did, Cintas partners deal with not having the nicest toys, but still succeed in the business world. This type of culture is not for everyone, and it is the role of human resources to weed out the “weak” through an extensive interview process. This process which consists of several interview with managers from different divisions and human resource managers have proven to be effective in the selection of qualified applicants. Cintas Corporation has some of the lowest employee turn-over in the industry.
Conclusion
Cintas Corporation has optimized these organizational resources for effectiveness and efficiency. Being the generally recognized industry leader does not come easy, especially in such a competitive industry. Cintas, through the well managed use of technology, physical assets and human resources has managed to stay at the top for over three decades.
References
Bateman, T. S., & Snell, S. A. (2009). Management: Leading & Collaborating in a Competitive
World (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Cintas Corporation. (2011). Corporate Culture. Retrieved from http://www.cintas.com/company/corporate_profile/
Forbes. (2011). CINTAS CORP (NASDAQ: CTAS). Retrieved from http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/BuyHoldSellAnalysis.do?tkr=ctas
