Edmunds Corrugated Parts Essay

The issues that Edmunds Corrugated Parts and Services have been faced with all lead the company to be in position that they are in. This company issues could be sum up as employment and competitor advantage. The employee issues started from the beginning of the company. According to the case Larry, the owner and operator, was not only given a loan but also a barn to start his business. Which was a great start for Larry because he was able to employee about 100 people which many of them were his neighbors. Just as in any company Edmunds Corrugated Parts and Services was face with the fact of replacing employees because they were nearing retirement. As time change the younger generation sought to move away and not stay local so Larry was face with a potential unemployment issue in his company. The other issue that Edmunds was faced with was the fact that they were losing several industries in the United States. According to the case consolidation in the paper industry had wiped out hundreds of the U. S plants that Edmunds once served, with many of the survivors either opening overseas facilities or entering into joint ventures abroad. This was causing the loss of business for this company. Especially when the manufactures were investing in higher quality machines that broke down less frequently. This was the beginning of companies not utilize Edmunds parts because the parts were not needed. This issue was halting the growth and the even the potential to keep the company at the standing they were in for the past years. Create and describe a strategy for addressing the situation at hand. There are various ways of address the two situations at hand. As for the employee issues that they would be facing it is as simple of being proactive. Since the younger generation is leaving the area than there must be incentives for them. The New York Times reported that a Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, known as Midwest I. S. O was faced with a similar problem. It was even reported that the jobs are so complex that summer interns and college graduates can’t step right into them. Just as the problem of the younger generation moving away and not wanting to stay both companies had similar issues. One of the first things we did was to enhance our employee referral program. Employees now have several opportunities to make money by referring candidates. First, we give any employee who refers a candidate a scratch-off card with a discount for coffee, food or a movie, and we enter their names into a monthly drawing. The monthly winner gets $300, even if we don’t hire the person who was recommended (Begley 2008). When employees refer new employees that general means that the current employee is vested and want to see the company succeed. When the new employee performs below standards than that reflects the current employee and they generally will police themselves. This would allow the current employee to essential hire their replacement and the company could continue with its business. As far as the other issue of growth and losing clients there are many ways that Edmunds could fix it. Edmunds could look into a joint venture. A joint venture or strategic alliance is a form of partnership where businesses come together to share knowledge, markets, and profits. Joint ventures can take on various forms. Small companies can band together to take on the goliaths of their industry. Big companies can form alliances with quicker and nimbler small businesses. And small companies have the opportunity to forge strategic alliances with big name companies for expanded geographic reach (Zarhorsky 2012). This strategy could help them serve the companies that they had lost. If they are in a partnership with the company that services the newer machines they could reach all of the clients that both companies have. In essence it would they could be one company for all machine and equipment needs. Assess which element in the strategy you just described would be the hardest to implement and explain why. Within any business a partnership the difficult part is the implementation of it. The problem that Edmunds would have is the fact of trying to join with a competitor. The companies that are servicing the newer machines are his competition because they have the same clients he uses to. The advantage that Edmunds has is they still have a market share and both companies would benefit from this. According to Business Link a joint venture can also be very flexible. For example, a joint venture can have a limited life span and only cover part of what you do, thus limiting the commitment for both parties and the business’ exposure. This does not have to be a longer term but just to make one stop show to server all of the machines whether they are new or older model. A joint venture can help your business grow faster, increase productivity and generate greater profits. A successful joint venture can offer access to new markets and distribution networks, increased capacity, sharing of risks and costs with a partner, access to greater resources, including specialized staff, technology and finance (Business Link 2012). With all of these factors this would cause the company to grown and be able to stay in business. The difficult part would be to implement the changes that come with a partnership. The companies would have to adopt each other policies and produces to assure they are serving the customer on the same level. Describe what strategies Edmunds could use in the future to reduce potential crises before they happen. One of the main issues that Edmunds was having was centered around employees. Edmunds employees were soon to retire and there were no plans to back fill them. Today, many companies recruit and hire to fill holes â€Å"in the moment† and don’t always consider their long-term business goals or the future needs of the organization. This can potentially lead to bad hires or ultimately, lost opportunities (Hess 2011). There was no recruitment strategy in place to assure that there were back fills for the employees. The only mention was that of the younger generation leaving and not wanting to stay local. As the war for talent continues to escalate, it’s essential that key business leaders are involved with the development of your recruitment strategy to ensure that every hire you make is a good one – for today and tomorrow. Hiring to your business strategy is paramount to ensuring that you’re not only hiring the best available talent – but you’re hiring the best available talent with the desired experience and competencies, to meet both current and future needs of the organization. The future success of your company depends on it (Hess 2011). If the company would hired based on their business model this would help attach the right qualified people. They were only concern with going after the younger generation but the experience was with a older generation. Older generation still has at least 10 years or more and would be significantly younger than that of the retiring work. This strategy with help fix one of their major issues. With a new set of employees brings on a new set of ideas and ways of conducting business. Another area that could help prevent or reduce a potential crisis is developing a Research and Development program. According to Business Exchange research and development (R&D) taken on a more prominent role in businesses, as consumer are looking for quality and innovation at a reasonable price range. This is why Edmunds began to lose clients because the machines changed and there was not a need for their parts on the newer machines. More and more companies are looking to their R&D teams for the â€Å"next great things† as they navigate through the current recession. When revenue is low companies will begin to look for new innovative ways of doing business. Edmunds was not prepared for this shift in the market. If a R&D program was in place this would help prepare for them what lies ahead.