Group Assignment

Organizational Ethics, Values and the Law-MOL 606

05/30/2009

Business Cycles and Employment Practices in a Domestic Garment Company

Executive Summary

A domestic garment company is a privately held apparel company whose marketing mix is primarily focused on product and place (U.S operations vs. foreign countries) rather than price. The company is projecting $150 million in sales next year which is a 50% increase than last years’ sales. Their target market has been consumers who will pay more for fashionable styles due to the speed and flexibility of their operations. Therefore, price is not important as there are some psychological influences within an individual and the market motivating their actions (needs, wants, desires).

Since poor working conditions are common in the apparel industry, the company’s philosophy is to be profitable without exploiting workers, but by treating employees as valued partners. The company has invested several thousand dollars in training for newly skilled workers to meet the increased production demands.

Apparent Problem

The principle dilemma presented in the case study, ‘Business Cycles and Employment Practices in a Domestic Garment Company ’, finds the management team of a US based, privately held garment manufacturing factory, facing the difficult responsibility of deciding how to balance and manage the task’s of keeping up with the pace of garment orders, retaining staff during winter seasons and/or reduce production based on the projected orders and the maximum inventory they can afford to carry.

Analysis

In our team’s analysis, the management team is dealing with 2 problems: (1) the cyclic nature of the garment manufacturing industry and (2) potential damage to their burgeoning reputation as being leaders in