Executive summary
The modern constantly changing market environment might pose a significant threat to the functioning of any company which is focused on the acquisition of great incomes and improvement of its positions. For this reason, the investigation of the current market situation, its peculiarities, and the main features of the target audience becomes crucial. The given paper delves into the operations of a printing press company in the Philippines and provides readers with the crucial information needed to improve the comprehending of its functioning, pinpoint the problem, and provide the data that should be processed to create an appropriate solution and make a conclusion. Finally, the paper contributes to an improved understanding of the current market environment.
Introduction
The organization under the investigation is a printing company Millennium Printing Press that was founded in 1988. It is located in Galas Quezon City, Philippines. Since the first stages of its evolution a company had several customers interested in its services. It was headed by Mr. Stephen, and later his son Stanley took over the company and reconsidered its functioning (Kim 2014). However, at the moment, Millennium Printing Press faces some significant problems as there is a significant need for some improvement because new and more efficient equipment should be used. In this regard, the creation of the appropriate solution to this problem becomes one of the basic tasks of the company’s heads.
Target Market Identification
Investigating the environment in which the company functions, it is vital to admit several basic aspects. First, the target market is rather complex. There are numerous competitors which also try to obtain a competitive advantage and continue their growth. San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Group (SMYPC) provides similar services and is characterized by a strong position. It also has the largest packaging firm in Australia, which makes it more powerful. Papercon Philippines is another rival that operates in the same environment and competes with Millennium Printing Press. Several smaller firms might pose a threat to the company’s rise. For this reason, the situation remains sophisticated.
Market Needs
The constant alteration of market needs is another problem that impacts the functioning of Millennium Press (MP). In the first stages of its evolution, the main product was paper-based cigar packing. The level of demand was stable and guaranteed a certain income. However, the alteration of the basic market needs to result in a significant decrease in the labor force. In 2010 only 11 employees were left (Kim 2014). Therefore, the company managed to become the government candidate for printing services, and this fact introduced the necessity to reconsider its current approach to the functioning and improve the majority of operations performed by them (Kim 2014) to be able to meet the requirements provided by the government.
Forms of IMC in use
Additionally, MP is also focused on cultivating relations with its customers. Mr. Stephen So was given an important task to improve the brands image and guarantee its positive recognition by the most important customers. For this reason, a set of actions needed to accomplish this task was accepted. Stephen visited every customer to assure that the product is delivered on time and the quality meets expectations. However, the rapid evolution of the market made this model less efficient as in 2013 Stephen could not afford to visit every customer to guarantee their satisfaction (Kim 2014)
Analysis of Case
Thus, the case revolves around the main operations of MP and actions it should perform to remain prosperous and beneficial. According to the information presented in the document, paper-based cigar package printing was the main source of income providing 70% of annual sales (Kim 2014). On average, the company had orders of 100000 printing papers (Kim 2014). In a specified period from January to June 2013, it got around three business orders per week (Kim 2014). This fact preconditioned the increased necessity for restructuring and implementation of new equipment that could help to improve the manufacturing process and outcomes.
Key Issues/Goals
Thus, at the moment MPs main goals are related to the replacement of the old equipment with the new one and introduction of new approaches to its functioning to guarantee the increased efficiency and prosperity. For the last several years, the company had been working on the production of their main product (paper-based cigar package prints ). However, the alterations of the market situation and the appearance of new demands preconditioned the increased importance of innovations in the sphere of its printing operations. For this reason, Stephen was sure that the needed goal could be achieved in case the bottleneck of the operations was improved. That is why the necessity to use new cutting machines became obvious.
Recommendations
Resting on the above-mentioned facts, several recommendations could be given to a company. First, it is crucial to alter the approach to public relations and use another tool to attract new customers (Eriksson 2014) and ensure that the old ones are satisfied as the method used by Stephen is not efficient. Second, it is also vital to improve the company’s functioning by implementing new and more efficient equipment that might help to perform more operations and guarantee the high quality of final products. Finally, an efficient tool to control the MPs functioning during peak seasons is also needed. In this regard, it is crucial to implement new technologies and software designed for these purposes.
Decision Criteria
Besides, several basic criteria were used when cogitating about the company’s functioning. First, the constant downsizing of the labor force could be considered a sign of problems that might await the company in the future. Eleven workers are not enough to accomplish all tasks that might appear in case MP evolves and continues its rise. Additionally, the appearance of numerous rivals could also be considered a great problem that should be given great attention.
Data analysis
Additionally, data analysis also proves the existence of certain problems. The decrease in the level of sales and incomes (see Table 1), combined with the comparatively low number of annual operations contributes to the low incomes and undermine the company’s perspectives.
Table 1. MPs incomes (Kim 2014)
Alternatives, assumptions, and predicted outcome
For these reasons, MP should be recommended to implement new equipment into its functioning to guarantee the increased efficiency of the most important process and achievement of the outlined goals. Additionally, specific software to control basic operations should also be used (Castilhos, Dolbec & Veresiu 2016). Only under these conditions, it is possible to predict the company’s further rise. It is chosen as the government candidate for printing services, and this fact provides good perspectives to it. Furthermore, its owners recognize the necessity of alterations and try to reconsider their approach to the basic management strategy.
Conclusion
Altogether, the case demonstrates the peculiarities of Millennium Press functioning and outlines the basic problem areas that should be considered to guarantee positive outcomes and its further existence.
Reference List
Castilhos, R, Dolbec, P & Veresiu, E 2016, ‘Introducing a spatial perspective to analyze market dynamics’, Marketing Theory, n.pag. Web.
Eriksson, E 2014, ‘Management of Innovation in Small Service Companies’, South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 31-40. Web.
Kim, S 2014, ‘The case for operational management: Millennium Printing Press Company’, International Teaching and Case Studies, vol. 5, no. 3/4, pp. 265-274.