Introduction
Innovation will, probably, always remain among the hardest issues for the companies that have achieved certain success. When one starts a brand new business, it is clear that it has to keep in pace with time; when the business performance sways back and forth, innovations often turn out to the key to improving the current state of affairs.
However, when a company already is a success, maintaining its high standards often turns out to be very hard. Despite the fact that at present, Canadian National Railway is at the top of the list of the most successful companies in Canada, it is most likely to face a number of challenges in terms of tackling the competition issues unless the company, mainly because of the lack of initiative concerning its innovation strategies.
Chosen Strategy
Among the latest breakthroughs that the Canadian National Railway Company has had since recently, the idea of resorting to a more environmentally friendly policy must be mentioned, as the 2012 report on the Canadian railroad transportation services says (CN Railway Explores Natural Gas to Reduce Emissions from Trains).
The strategy that brought the company at the top of the list of the Canada’s most successful businesses, the given approach seems to have been working well for the CN Railways for an entire year. However, now that the environmental awareness has died down, the fact that the CN Railways is now making its customers a part of the plan for saving the Earth has clearly worn out its welcome. While CN railways is yet enjoying its triumph, there are obvious signs that the company has stuck.
Current Issues
However, now everything seems to flow well in the Canadian National Railway Co. According to the recent news, there have been a couple of railroad accidents that must have brought the amounts of customers’ trust towards the company down a few notches.
In addition, the fact that the company has been using the same approach for several years running seems rather sad. As long as the environmental awareness policy was a thing, it was natural to hear the CN emphasizing its pollution-safe concept; now that being environmentally aware is taken for granted, the emphasis on what should go without saying seems weird at the very least.
Means to Address Emerging Problems
According to what White says in her paper, among the key factors of the Canadian National Railway’s triumph, which allowed the company to become one of the most successful railroad companies in the state, the deficiencies of its few competitors must be named firsthand.
Indeed, when taking a look back at what made the company so remarkable, one must mention the fact that success has always cared about keeping its services updated, unlike its rivals. In addition, the fact that the latter were quite few can also be considered the basic reason for the company’s success.
In the XXI century, however, the Canadian National Railway Company seems to have taken a back chair to maintaining the strategy that made it hit the list of the top hundred most successful organizations in Canada, and it clearly needs new means to boost the customers’ interest.
Seeing how the environmental craze has become less influential since recently, it will be required that, apart from announcing its environmentally friendly policy, the Canadian National Railway needs to incorporate a new idea into its current innovation policy, which will boost the company’s rating among the customers and help the Canadian National Railway Co. make its services even better.
According to Stitch and Miller, there has been a rapid increase in the demand for railroad freight transportation: “Railroads are increasingly moving finished consumer goods” (Stitch and Miller 605). Therefore, it is necessary to consider the possibilities that technological innovations open for transporting finished goods faster and safer. At present, it will be most reasonable for the Canadian National Railway Co. to check the
Competitiveness and the Related Challenges
In addition to the issues regarding transportation safety and speed, it will also be require to keep an eye on the possible rivals. Even though the company does not seem to have any in the observable future, it is still necessary to keep in mind that railroad freight transfer may lose points in comparison to, say, airway goods transportation (King, Case and Premo 77).
Indeed, the idea of alternative transportation services being the rival of the Canadian National Railway Co. is quite threatening. After all, it must be admitted that railway is not the fastest means of transport. Therefore, airways and other transportation means have impressive chances in the contest with the Canadian National Railway Co.
Suggestions and Recommendations
When it comes to defining the further avenues for the company to develop, one may assume that the best way for the Canadian National Railway Co. to handle its current issues is to reconsider its values and get the company’s priorities straight. Although it might seem that the organization needs some urgent measures to be undertaken to address the emerging issue an prevent the possible catastrophe, it is clear that hasting things up will not do the Canadian National Railway Co. any good at the moment.
Instead, it will be necessary to evaluate the company’s chances for success and figure out how much time exactly it has to balance at the top of the most valuable companies list. As soon as the customers’ demands are taken into account and the company’s course in terms of innovations is redefined, it will be safe to say that the Canadian National Railway Co. is going to do well in the next decade.
Conclusion
As the assessment of the Canadian National Railway’s assets and evaluation of the challenges that the company is facing currently has shown, even for a company of that great a scale, it is important to make sure that every single element of the mechanism that allows for the company’s performance is updated in accordance with the latest demands in the specified sphere.
As the example of the Canadian National Railway Company shows, it is important to make sure that the potential customers are not only aware of the innovational strategies adopted by the companies, but are able to appreciate the effort that the company makes.
Since in the given case, the environmental awareness issue seemed to have died down by the time that an environmentally friendly approach was undertaken by Canadian National Railway, it would be reasonable to announce a new concept that the company could follow in order to both improve customer service and show that the company is doing its best to keep the tack of the latest advances in technology, economics, management, etc.
Therefore, the given case shows how important it is to carry out a well-balanced policy and to keep an eye on both economical and social changes.
Works Cited
“CN Railway Explores Natural Gas to Reduce Emissions from Trains.” Corporate Knights (Fall 2012), 14.
King, Darwin L., Carl J. Case and Kathleen M. Premo. “2012 Mission Statements: A Ten Country Global Analysis.” Academy of Strategic Management Journal 12.1 (2013), 77–91. EBSCHOHost.
Stitch, Bethany and Chad R. Miller. “A New Public Philosophy for a New Railroad Era.” Administrative Theory & Praxis 34.4 (December 2012), 602–621.
White, Susan. “CSX’s Proxy Contest: A Battle of Metrics.” Journal of Financial Education 39.7 (Spring/Summer 2013), 149–173.