Introduction
Amalgamated Mobotics was one of the first producers of lawn mowing robots, which are now known as mobots. The company was one of the leaders in this market. However, lots of competitors entered the market and the company faced a “classic problem”, i.e. the “revenues were dropping” and their “costs were rising” (Ireland, 2013, p. 5). VTI Mobotics acquired the company. Now the company is developing a new strategy to address the major issues.
New Strategy
The team makes the right decision to start with developing a new strategy. Admittedly, it is essential to have a specific plan to reach certain goals (Griffin, 2012). There are a number of possible ways to address the problem. The most important is to work on the new product development. This should be the company’s priority as the competitors have gained a great share of market and it is essential to come up with new ideas to win the market back.
While developing the new strategy, it is also crucial to pay attention to time spent on personal projects. The companies (Amalgamated Mobotics and VTI Mobotics) have quite different approaches and the staff should understand the importance of the work on personal projects. The staff should be able to provide the feedback which is crucial for the effective implementation of any project.
Communication
Admittedly, it is essential to have effective communicative channels to make the staff aware of the new strategy. One of the possible ways to communicate the new strategy is sending an e-mail. It is the fastest way and the top management can be sure that all employees will get the information.
Employees will also be able to respond and ask any questions. However, this way has certain downsides. In the first place, some e-mails are ignored and there are odds that some employees may fail to pay the necessary attention to this e-mail. Furthermore, answering all questions is very time-consuming.
Therefore, the best way is to send a company-wide e-mail and reveal the major points of the new strategy. Those who have questions and suggestions should respond with their questions.
The e-mail should contain the day of the company-wide meeting where the detailed presentation of the new strategy will be delivered and most important questions will be addressed. The employees will be able to ask questions during the meeting. This is the most efficient way to introduce the new strategy as all employees will actively participate in the process and will be unable to ignore the message.
Production
The company has one serious issue to address. Its supplier, MotorWorks, postpones deliveries. The quality of the microchip-controlled motors provided by MotorWorks is excellent, but the late deliveries lead to certain losses. Some employees think that it is necessary to start developing the motors internally and stop buying from MotorWorks.
However, MotorWorks is one of the biggest customers of the company and rejection of their products can lead to the loss of this important customer. At that, production of the motors internally requires additional funding. One of the suggested ways is to start buying motors from different suppliers. However, the company may lose one of its customers.
Therefore, it is necessary to think of another way out. This can be a formal agreement with MotorWorks about purchasing the necessary parts “exclusively” from them “in return for guarantee delivery” (Ireland, 2013, p. 10). It is also necessary to start in-house production of some parts which will make the company less dependent on suppliers.
Quality of Services
Another problem the company is facing is related to the quality of services. The customers are satisfied with the quality of the products and are not against the necessary services. The customers are ready to have the products serviced as long as the services are provided properly and within the necessary time limits. However, the company’s professionals are unable to provide high-quality services which leads to the customers’ dissatisfaction. Since the company’s employees are unable to do their job well, it is necessary to hire qualified staff.
Individual Projects
After the acquisition, the company is focused on the specific goals. Admittedly, the new strategy requires a lot of effort and every employee is loaded with certain work. Clearly, this is no time to give employees a lot of time to work on their own projects as the company should address quite urgent issues.
However, it is inappropriate to make the employees forget about their own projects completely. It is crucial to limit the time spent on the individual projects to 10% of the overall time. The employees will have opportunity to generate ideas (which is really important for the company and the employees’ motivation). However, the employees will need to report on their progress (on both their own projects and the work on the strategic projects).
Sales and Marketing Department
Since the Sales and Marketing department is working effectively, it does not need many changes. However, it could be beneficial to increase competitiveness in this department. It is possible to suggest larger compensations to the employees. It is also possible to introduce extra perks.
The New Year Strategies
Possible initiatives for the next year may include recruiting top talents, improving internal systems, analyzing customer data. The best option is to work on the improvement of the internal systems as it will enable the company to decrease expenditures. Clearly, hiring new staff can lead to extra costs and rather unpredictable results as no professional can ensure effective development of the company.
Prices Cuts
The company is facing one more problem. Two large customers (which make up to 30% of the total sales) require 10% discount, but the company does not have the policy of offering any discounts.
However, the prices are not too high; therefore the discount should not be that big. It is possible to consider smaller discounts 3-5%, but it is necessary to set certain minimum, i.e. minimal amount of supplies to get the discount. This will prove the company’s flexibility and interest in the customer’s needs. However, it may also prevent companies from asking for discounts.
Product Development
Finally, some of the company’s employees suggest that the company collaborate with another company, which has developed a new product (mobots working in high humidity). However, this suggestion should be carefully thought over. It may be necessary to hire experts to work on the new technology rather than collaborate with another company.
There are several companies working on this kind of improvement and collaborating with any of these companies will not ensure that the company will develop an exclusive product. Thus, in-house experts will be the best option for the company as this option is the most cost-effective (there is no need to pay to other companies to get innovative ideas as the ideas will be developed by the company’s professionals).
Reference List
Griffin, R.W. (2012). Management. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Ireland, S. (2013). VTI Mobotics: Paper-Based Simulation. University Canada West.