Case Analysis: Job Dissatisfaction and High Turnover

Case Analysis: The Treadway Tire Company: Job Dissatisfaction And High Turnover at The Lima Tire Plant Case Analysis Questions: 1. Briefly describe the situation today at the Lima Tire plant. 2. What is the relationship between line foremen at Treadway’s Lima Plant and other groups within the plant: general supervisors and area managers, top management, the union, hourly workers, each other? Why do you believe the relationships are as they are? 3. How do you feel line foreman feel about their jobs and why? Be specific about their sources of dissatisfaction.How engaged are the line foreman? How would they respond to Gallup’s 12 Questions of a Strong Workplace? Expand on your position. 4. What are the costs of turnover within the Lima plant? Direct? Indirect? How would you calculate the cost of turnover if you were Ashley Wall making a presentation to top management? (Hint: Look at number of hours worked per month, salary plus benefits, and how long it takes to come up to speed in the role) What is the magnitude of the turnover problem? formula for calculating the direct cost of turnover:Average Hours Worked/Month x Wage/Hour (including benefits) x Number of Months for Learning Curve x Productivity during Learning Curve x Number of Positions Turned Over = Direct Cost of Turnover 5. Discuss the elements of the current work system that are contributing to the problem. How does each negatively impact engagement and job satisfaction? 6. What action plan should Ashley Wall recommend? Be specific in describing your recommended actions. 7. What key lessons will you take away from this case relative to building an engaged work culture and being an effective manager?Analysis Q. 1]Treadway Tire’s Lima Plant is faced with a critical problem of employee dissatisfaction and high turnover among its line foremen. The turnover rate ran 46% in 2007. Additionally, the plant was facing skyrocketing raw materials costs and intense global competition. The plant, at Lima, Ohio, had 970 unionized hourly employees and 150 salaried employees. 50 Line foremen were floor level managers who supervised hourly employees. The plant operates 24Ãâ€"7, with four rotating shifts.Problems associated with the foremen are part of deeper concerns with workforce management and the role that these people play in the production process. The foremen are caught in the middle of an adversarial relationship between the union and management. Ashley Wall, Director of Human Resources at Lima plant, identified the cause of turnover as serious morale issues with line-foreman segment, and their job dissatisfaction. Turnover is one obvious area where plant could focus to reduce costs & increase productivity. Analysis Q. ]An employee satisfaction survey and exit interviews of departing foremen revealed significant discontent in the plant and highlighted concerns about the line-foreman position. Several other incidents highlighted tension between hourly workers and foremen . Foremen expressed concerns about their lack of authority and adversarial relations with the hourly workers. General supervisors, the next management level after line foremen, judge foremen by their ability to meet or exceed forecasts. Foremen express that a lot of expectations, are beyond their control and management does not understand that.Serious morale issues in the line foremen segment also lead to imperiled relations between management and the union. Serious morale issues in these relationships are apparent as every group feels isolated. Foremen were only expected to achieve production forecast. They were not communicated about long run goal or strategy. Be it foremen, hourly workers or upper management, they had not shared a common value-based work environment. Foremen often pulled in different, conflicting directions by management, workers and the union. They had no clear understanding of upper management expectations.They were not involved in the grievance committeeâ€⠄¢s ruling and disciplinary decisions. Hourly workers had trust issues with foremen. They did not understand what kind of authority and tools a foreman would require in meeting the objectives. Analysis Q. 3]Unequipped: Line foremen complained that they were placed on the job without any training and given no coaching once they got there. They felt disengaged on the job without the required skills and competencies. In a Lima Employee Survey, 96% foremen do not feel prepared to accomplish duties of their job.Little discretion dealing with employees: Union contracts dictated annual pay raises, & grievance procedures had not involved foremen. General supervisors appear to look favorably upon traditional management methods which tended to be adversarial. Career frustration: Few foremen, those were external hire, must have felt frustrated by their low potential for advancement as almost all of promoted positions at Lima were filled from within the plant. Isolated / not involved: Foremen h ad not felt recognized or connected. Foreman lack required authorities to perform assigned duties. 6% foremen felt the management is not sensitive to their problem. Although foremen’s job involved different duties, they do not feel engaged due to lack of communication with hourly employees as well as with upper management, conflicting situations and morale issues. Gallup’s 12 questions: Based on the current scenario, foremen’s responses would reflect their dissatisfaction and disengagement at work: Foremen would not agree to the Base Level questions. Due to conflicting management direction, they were not sure what is expected from them.Foremen would not agree they had required development tools, training and authorities to drive their work duties. They would not agree to Level 1 questions. They are expected to meet or exceed forecasts in their 12-shift but they also had to perform other administrative duties that had little to do with their daily deliverables. T hey expressed insensitivity of upper management in the survey where only 3% foremen see their supervisor is a positive role model. Their responses to Level 2 questions would also be alarming.Upper management had lack of communication with them and operated according to their own priorities and had unresponsive and unsupportive to the foremen. They were not involved in union grievance process and had lack of control over various tasks measured as their duties. Their responses to Level 3 questions would be concerning too, as illustrated in the employee survey where 68% foremen thought they had no opportunity for career progress. Due to lack of trainings, foremen felt their learning and development curve is not much forwarding. Analysis Q. ]Turnover costs are categorized as direct costs and indirect costs. Based on the research, referenced in the attachment, we considered employee benefit as 40% of the base remuneration; 4 months for new hires to become 100% productive and 50% producti vity during the period of learning curve for new hires. Based on the case study, average days worked in a month for line foremen was about 15 days, with 12-hour shift or workday, giving us 180 work hours; foremen’s hourly rate as $42 (including 40% benefits with current base rate of $30); Positions turned over in the current year is 23.Based on the cost model, provided in the questionnaire, direct turnover cost will be: 180 x $42 x 4 x 0. 50 x 23 = $347,760. Indirect turnover cost may include loss of productivity from other employees filling in for vacant position; hiring costs; administrative costs; training/induction costs etc. These costs are more difficult to quantify and assign a dollar figure to, but they are very real. Based on the references, provided in attachment, the indirect costs of turnover can be 2 to 5 times higher than direct costs.Taking an estimated figure of 2 times direct turnover cost, the indirect cost can be calculated as: $347,760 x 2 = $695,520 This will give us total turnover cost in Lima plant as: Direct Cost $347,760 + Indirect Cost $695,520 = $1,043,280. This calculation although not a comprehensive assessment of the cost of turnover, but it is a quick way to illustrate the fact that turnover is indeed expensive, even when looking at the most basic costs. We see that Lima plant could save $589,680 as annual turnover cost even if the turnover rate could be reduced to even 20%; that is twice the average turnover rate in manufacturing industry.Attachment provides a more detailed analysis of this saving*. Analysis Q. 5]Following key elements contributed negatively towards building a strong work force at Lima plant. These elements had resulted in unprepared, isolated and despair foremen that kept them from putting their best at work and provided dissatisfaction. 1. Lack of training: Many of the foremen are placed on the line after only a few hours’ training: â€Å"The general supervisors expect them to just sink or swim. † Foremen felt unmotivated by their lack of preparedness.Such lack of knowledge made commitment to the total organization difficult and enhanced feelings of dissatisfaction and disengagement towards the job. Ashley Wall initiated training program, was not considered a priority and removed from the budget. 2. Lack of communication: Much of the alienation felt by line foremen was due to the almost total lack of communications from other groups within Lima plant. Other departments operated separately, according to their own priorities and seemed unresponsive and unsupportive to the foremen. . Motivation and Development: General supervisors were not connected to their team. They had no understanding of where an individual will fit right or what area he is stronger in. Supervisors’ expectations from foremen had no intention of personal advancement of every foreman. 4. Support and Recognition: 94% foremen did not think their immediate supervisor is a role model. With this en vironment, foremen would not consider themselves as part of the company nor would they see any opportunity to advance themselves further. 5.Recruitment process: There was little evidence that interpersonal skills such as the ability to communicate, ability to delegate, ability to work well with others, etc. , were given much weight at all in the recruitment and screening process, the emphasis seemed to be on the task and short-term results rather than selecting best talent for the job. Analysis Q. 6]Action Plan 1. The training programs need to be a top priority and should provide new foremen with extensive, formal, and on-the-job training that can make them feel stronger while performing job duties.The benefits of the training program will outweigh the costs in reducing time for a foreman to work at 100% productivity and providing tools necessary to be successful on the job. Wall must provide Bellingham* with a cost-benefit analysis. 2. Instead of expecting lower level managers to m eet forecasts and control hourly employees, immediate supervisors should be more involved with the team and leadership should connect and communicate long term vision to help make their lower management feel involved. 3. Technological innovations should be introduced to reduce foremen’s efforts and operating costs.Pay for performance and other psychological rewards should be made available to help increase both productivity and employee engagement at work. 4. Human Resources should institute regular meetings with salaried work force & bring in representatives from every department to help make flexible organization structure and to discuss common issues, problems, and concerns. Lower management should also be given opportunity to express their opinions and proposed changes that may prove cost effective and high productive. . Balanced hiring policies should be adopted like the one proposed by Ashley Wall i. e. ; 60% internal hires, 30% college graduates, and 10% company transf ers. Then foster formal & informal interaction among foremen, by promoting the exchange of individual skills and competencies. Analysis Q. 7] Lessons Learned 1. Although high expectation from employees is an important key yet they should also be provided with required tools and trainings necessary to make them feel strong for the job.Based on individual employees’ talent at job, they should be provided with advance learning and development opportunities to advance their career and personal progress. 2. Employees should feel connected to the organization. This can be achieved by recognizing their work, rewarding their performance, develop them regularly, and continuously communicating with them to listen their concerns, appreciating their achievements and providing necessary help to increase their job satisfaction. 3.Management could incorrectly think about saving time and reducing cost by ignoring employees’ concerns and job related learning & development. On the contr ary, organization could save more by having satisfied employees that helps in reduced turnover cost and increased productivity. 4. Long organization hierarchy only creates isolated groups and lack of clear communication. Flat structure is necessary to improve communication and make strong connections. Attachment *Turnover cost saving by reducing turnover rate to 20%: Current turnover rate is 46% that resulted from 23 foremen turned over from total 50 hence 23/50 = 46%.As part of the 2007 edition of its Compensation Data Survey, CompData Surveys publishes 10. 2% as average turnover rate in the manufacturing industry. By the turnover cost presented above, it can be illustrated that if Treadway Lima plan could reduce turnover rate to a conservative 20% then cost savings will be $884,484 (Turnover reduced to 20%; 50 x 0. 20 = 10. 23 – 10 = 13 fewer foremen turning over. Using above mentioned costing model, and considering 13 positions turned over, Lima plant could save Direct Cos t $196,560 + Indirect Cost $393,120 = $589,680). Brandon Bellingham is the plant manager at Treadway’s Lima, Ohio Tire Plant. References: http://www. workforce. com/article/20000126/DEAR_WORKFORCE/301269997/idear-workforce-i-indirect-cost-of-turnover http://www. workplaceinfo. com. au/human-resources-management/hr-strategy/costs-of-employee-turnover http://www. jemperformance. com/Articles/highcostofturnover. htm http://www. beta. mmb. state. mn. us/doc/wfp/turnover. pdf http://www. compensationforce. com/2008/02/2007-turnover-r. html

Nintendo Marketing Mix

QUESTIONS & IDEAL ANSWERS: . 1. Conduct a 4C's Stakeholders Analysis of the Nintendo Wii Market in 2006. Please note that an analysis is more than just a list. You need to describe each stakeholder and how they affect the strategy. †¢ Consumers (note: there's more than one target segment): The case notes that Nintendo targeted non-gamers in addition to gamers. This included consumers of any age and gender. Conversely, competitors like Sony focused on teens and males. The case also mentions moms/housewives and families as targets of Nintendo marketing. The ideal answer analyzed gamers and a few non-gamer segments, such as moms. Analysis should have included qualitative description — why is this segment interested in the Wii? — and quantitative data, such as the segment's size and value. Finding quantitative data required research beyond the case, perhaps to the U. S. Census website. Such data is not easy to find, but this extra effort is what distinguishes an â€Å"A† paper. Extra credit was given to creative segmentation, such as targeting businesses and office workers, who might play the Wii on breaks, or doctors who would recommend Wii to their patients. Company (keep this brief: focus on 2006 — no Nintendo history required): A company analysis is not a history report. It should describe the company's brand, resources, internal stakeholders, strengths and weaknesses. An ideal answer noted that Nintendo has a long reputation in gaming, but with the Wii it built a family-friendly brand â€Å"that puts smiles on surrounding people's faces. † In contrast, the competition had numerous violent games. In addition, unlike Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo is not a diversified company. Its total income is much lower than either of its primary competitors (the case Appendix contains these figures), which meant fewer resources and much more at stake. Either the Xbox or the PS3 could fail, and the parent companies would survive; Nintendo could not afford to have the Wii fail. At the same time, the gaming focus helped position Nintendo as the only pure gaming company: its name is synonymous with electronic gaming. In terms of internal stakeholders, the case talks at length about Satoru Iwata, whose vision drove the company. In a footnote, the case mentions that Iwata had experience as a game developer. By contrast, the CEO's of Sony and Microsoft have no game development experience. †¢ Competitors (keep this brief: describe both direct competitors and indirect competitors, but focus on strengths and weaknesses — how much of a threat do they pose? ) The case discusses the key direct competitors, Sony and Microsoft. Sony had a strong reputation in high-quality electronics, and its PS2 and PS3 systems emphasized technological sophistication. Sony focused on hardcore gamers with increasingly violent games. This recipe translated into early sales success — but also high prices. Sony's weakness was its increasingly bureaucratic nature, and the decline of its other businesses. While Sony was cutting costs and laying off workers, they also had production problems with the PS3 — a complicated and expensive piece of technology that is supposed to be a multimedia entertainment hub. This made Sony vulnerable to a challenge. Microsoft was primarily a software company with a controversial brand. Research beyond the case reveals criticisms of Microsoft's monopolistic tendencies, and the fact that Apple was positioning Microsoft as dull and low quality. Research also reveals significant quality-control problems with the Xbox. Microsoft relied heavily on market timing and quantity of games to promote the Xbox, along with Xbox Live, which enables consumers to play each other online. Despite weaknesses, Microsoft and Sony were still formidable competitors — Nintendo knew it couldn't compete by doing the same things they were. Nintendo had to do something vastly different — even disruptive. Indirect competitors include PC games, Web-based games and phone-based games. You could even mention non-gaming entertainment, such as YouTube and Facebook, as indirect competitors. Community (focus on complements and collaborators): Game-software developers were both collaborators and complements. These developers worked with Nintendo to create games exclusively for the Wii — such games do not work on any other platform, so their fate is tightly tied into the Wii's. They were complements in that hardware sales affected software sales, and an interesting game could boost Wii sales. The broader community, according to the case, includes doctors and therapists who recommend the Wii Fit to patients. Thinking outside the case study, the community also includes the news media — like the New York Times — reviewed the Wii and reported on the shortage and long lines of buyers. This increased desire for the product, and enabled Nintendo to limit its advertising expenditures. 2. Create a positioning map. Your map must include the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, and the target consumer segments you described in question 1. You may hand-draw the map or use any software you prefer, but the map must be pasted into the body of your document. †¢ You choose the criteria that are most relevant and important. You're allowed to guess what the consumer segments want, but you will receive extra credit if you can find any research or data on gamer preferences. †¢ Do you see any opportunities on this map for new competitors? We discussed positioning maps in the forum. You needed to draw a similar map here. The two criteria must be product features important to consumers. For video games, this might include price, complexity, family friendliness or graphics quality. It does NOT include sales (few consumers care how much money a company makes) — though you could argue for â€Å"scarcity† or â€Å"popularity† as viable criteria. Consumer segments should appear on the map according to their preferences. This example uses Price and Game Complexity as criteria: [pic] The blue star represents the Wii, the green triangle Xbox, and the red circle PS3. The PS3 combines the highest price with the highest complexity, while the Wii combines the lowest of both. Consumer segments are represented as letters: NG = Non-Gamers, CG = Casual Gamers, HG = Hardcore Gamers. The Hardcore Gamers prefer the PS3 in terms of complexity, but would like a lower price. The Non-Gamers want a low price (they don't want to pay anything) and a simple game. The Casual Gamers want something in between, but are closest to the Wii. You can see that the Wii appeals to two segments, while the PS3 and Xbox fight over just one segment. This leaves an opening in the middle for a competitor who can appeal to the Casual Gamers — the iPhone, perhaps? All these positions are based on qualitative analyses presented by the case. For this exam, I allowed you to simply estimate what consumers wanted. In the real world, you would conduct market studies and consumer surveys to find exact preferences. If you actually did find actual research or survey data on segment preferences in video games, I gave you extra credit. Also, on an ideal map, the symbols vary in size depending on sales and value. Since Wii led the market, its star would be bigger than either the circle or the triangle. Hardcore Gamers might be the most valuable segment, since they're willing to spend more money on games; the HG would then be bigger than the other letters. Drawing a positioning map tends to be the most challenging question in this exam, so I am fairly lenient in grading. However, many students still have trouble with it. That's why it's important to participate in the forum. 3. Describe Nintendo's Marketing Mix strategies for the Wii. Be sure to describe the strategies behind each element of the marketing mix, and how they differentiated the Wii from the competition. †¢ Product (keep this brief: focus on Wii's Unique Selling Proposition — what makes it truly different): The Wii's unique selling proposition — compared to the Xbox or PS3 — is simple games based on physical motion. Consumers don't need thick manuals or long learning curves to enjoy the Wii, which attracts casual gamers and non-gamers. You could also discuss Wii's family-friendly, non-violent games. †¢ Price (for the United States only): In 2006, the Wii sold for $250 (or $249) and included five games for a â€Å"complete† product, yet Nintendo still profited on each unit sold. (The games are less sophisticated and cost less to produce than the competition's. ) Sony's PS3 started at $599 and was cut to $499. The Xbox sold at $479. Despite these significantly higher prices, both Sony and Microsoft lose money on each unit sold. Neither the PS3 or the Xbox originally came with games, so to make a profit, Sony and Microsoft charged high licensing fees to game developers. This in turn translated into expensive games. †¢ Place (think in terms of retailers and product supply): The Wii sells through traditional and online retailers, such as Best Buy. More significantly, in 2006, the Wii was continuously in short supply. This is an important distribution (place) issue. If consumers can't buy your product, you not only won't make money, you send business to your competition. However, in the case of the Wii, the shortages actually increased consumer desire for the product. Since there were long lines and waiting lists for the product — and numerous major news stories about it — consumers assumed the Wii was good. Since there was a greater supply of PS3's and Xboxes than demand, consumers assumed they weren't as interesting. Consequently, some consumers simply waited for new Wii shipments; others searched stores and websites and paid higher than the retail price. Some analysts believe Nintendo had a policy of intentional scarcity. This is a common practice in marketing: some companies produce a limited supply of a certain product to increase its perceived value. For example, luxury car companies have â€Å"limited edition† models, fashion designers produce a few of each product, most universities do not accept everyone who applies. The Wii shortages increased both consumer desire and news coverage — which was key since Nintendo could not compete against Microsoft and Xbox in advertising. †¢ Promotion (describe the advertising budget and any ads): This required research, since the case was not explicit about advertising expenditures. Searching for Nintendo advertising budget on Google reveals a number of estimated figures, ranging from $85 million to $200 million. Any reasonable estimate was fine if it was referenced and came from a trustworthy source (not someone's personal blog). The important point was to have you practice corporate research, and to show that Nintendo did not rely on â€Å"word of mouth† alone to generate sales; it spent millions of dollars to get the word out. More research reveals the Nintendo Wii commercials (http://us. wii. com/tvcm_usa_gallery. jsp), which emphasize people enjoying the game, not the graphics. The very first commercial (found on YouTube and other video sites) shows two Japanese men visiting American homes with the game and announcing, â€Å"Wii would like to play. † This underscored the Japanese origins of the Wii, which enhanced its credibility. In addition, the case mentions a word-of-mouth campaign in which suburban housewives were given games in hopes that they would share its value as family entertainment. Overall, the promotions establish the Nintendo brand as family friendly, fun and physical. By contrast, ads for the Xbox and PS3 emphasized the sophisticated graphics and often fast, violent action — not an attraction for casual gamers. 4. Answer just ONE of the following questions. If you answer more than one, only the first answer will be accepted. This is your opportunity to use your imagination, so be creative. Your recommendations here had to make sense based on the company's brand and resources. You couldn't just say â€Å"spend more money on advertising† or â€Å"increase distribution. † Of course, all companies would like to do that (unless product scarcity is part of their plan) — but could they afford to? Your answers also had to be specific — you couldn’t just say you would make your product â€Å"higher quality† or â€Å"more fun. † You needed to state exactly what you wanted to achieve. More points were granted for originality and creativity. If you decided to work for Sony or Microsoft, and all you did was copy Nintendo, you didn't get many points. Above all, your answers had to be marketing driven. If you talked about improving factory efficiency or hiring the best engineers, those were answers for another class. A. If you were the VP of Marketing for Nintendo, what would you have done differently? This is the hardest of the three questions, since Nintendo was already successful. You could make more products available so that there weren't any shortages, but how would this affect the benefits of product scarcity? Also, assuming Nintendo was already producing as many games as it possibly could, where would it get the extra production capacity? You could argue that Nintendo should have launched with a higher price, using a skimming strategy to profit off early adopters, and then lower pricing as production caught up. That would make sense — but it wouldn't have created the buzz of the product shortages. Some other ideas could involve different target segments, such as schools or hospitals. B. If you were the VP of Marketing for Sony, how would you respond to the Wii? One of Sony's advantages is that it's the only one of the three companies to produce entertainment content, such as music and movies (like â€Å"Spider-Man†). How could they have leveraged that content to make the PS3 more attractive? Sony also produces other electronics equipment. Could you have integrated those products, perhaps in a bundling special (buy a Sony HDTV and get a PS3 free) or by making a game that uses a Sony Camcorder? C. If you were the VP of Marketing for Microsoft, how would you respond to the Wii? Microsoft's key advantage is that it creates the operating system that runs most of the world's computers. Is there a way to combine personal computers and the Xbox? (That would have helped them compete against Apple, as well. Since Microsoft lost money on the Xbox console, why not just focus on the software market? D. Is there another competitor that might be a significant threat to all three of these companies? If so, who is it, and why are they a threat? How should Nintendo respond to them? PC Games and the phone-based games are two possible competitors. Dell, for example, makes sophisticated gaming computers under its Ali enware brand. Nintendo's response could include making its controllers compatible with Dell computers. Or perhaps Nintendo could collaborate with Apple to make iPhones interact with the Wii. There were lots of possibilities here.

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Interview - Assignment Example All the children are male except for the youngest, who is a female. Her children are 40, 37, 35 and 31 accordingly. She and her husband are currently residing in their own home, which is not far from that of her children, and therefore of her grandchildren as well. The purpose of this paper is to examine the selected woman's opinions and notions of marriage, family and children as she was raised to believe, according to which she's lived her life, and then compare and contract those to those of my own. The woman interviewed, my grandmother, believes, and was brought up to believe, that marriage is supposed to last forever. It was a very different time from today, two generations ago, and this perception was much more common and popular than, in contrast to the very different one of today. Strangely enough, though, people used to get married at a young age and perhaps without even knowing their intended spouse for as long as people do today prior to marriage. This seems quite odd and bizarre for me today, but my grandmother says that that's how it was back then. If you knew the person for a year or two and thought you were compatible, you got married. Sex before marriage was also much less acceptable or appropriate. It was also common opinion that one has to do whatever he or she possibly can in order to save and preserve the marriage if it falls under a hard time (Author, Year). What she describes is very reasonable for that time, but seems quite obsolete today. Few are the people who still hold these beliefs today, and they are considered to be very unusual and the exception of the codes of behavior and norms of today. Things have changed a lot in these years between her generation and mine. Along with the emancipation of women, women's right movements and the changes in society as well as in the legislature, there's been a major shift towards living life each person sees fit. There is much less pressure today from families or others to get married quickly, an d less criticism or eyebrow-raising if a woman isn't married. This is truer for men than for women, but it also applies to women. Men are often thought to be less mature for serious relationships, commitments and marriage, let alone starting a family, while women are typically seen as more marriage and family oriented. While it may hold some truth (and women do indeed think more about relationships and the desire to be married and have children than men do), it is most definitely not true for everyone, and sometimes it is completely the opposite. Back in my grandmother's time it was quite unheard of. A woman was supposed to be married and was expected to do so until a certain age. Today it is not like that at all. Being married and becoming a mother were considered to be an inseparable part of being a woman (Author, Year). Today, there are women who opt never to get married, even though some of which are in long, committed relationships. It is now believed by some that marriage isn' t for everyone, and some do choose not to get married. Coupled with the current divorce rates, things have certainly changed in the decades since my grandmother's time and until now (Author, Year). It is interesting to note, in this context, that although marriage has become less essential to some women today and perhaps because of it, the wedding industry has grown immensely, and the wedding day is now considered to be one of life's more important milestones. In the past, while it was also significant, people didn't make such a big

Lego Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lego - Case Study Example This has been a silent trait of this firm. The well maintained relationship and the support close all the inevitable people, like consumers, customers, business partners and all stakeholders was successfully extended to a more advance level during this year. Looking at LEGO's dedication, it will not be an understatement that this work and their motives will always mark their presence in the coming years. In 2007, the LEGO Group has covered the four years period out of its seven-year strategy. This was a very affective move with the motive, which is kind of acquired so far, that is to bring a complete change to the entire market and business scenario while developing LEGO as the best brand exhibiting their commitment towards creative building and playing the key role in providing effective learning techniques through play. As per their strategy, various aspects like processing, procedures, structure and relations to stakeholders will undergo a primary change during the years 2004-10 (Annual Report, 2007). The prime objectives for all the stakeholder groups were well defined by the group in the year 2006 (Annual Report, 2007). These have been further intensely developed in the year 2007. The rigorous balanced approach to different stakeholder groups will certainly provide a significant platform for the future operations of this group. The strategic move is divided into different stages, where every stage is targeting on some specific motives. The very initial stage was acquired in the year 2004-05 by enabling the Group to step out of the financial crisis situations due to the number of years of poor financial results as a result of unprofitable growth (Annual Report, 2007). Year 2003 for LEGO Group The cut-throat competition in the toy market brought a considerable loss of market share in most markets, due to the competitors, novel product trends and private labels by the retailers. The US market noticed around 35 percent drop in market share as compared to the previous year, where as Asian markets noticed a fall of around 28 percent (Annual Report, 2003). The year 2003 was very disappointing for the group. The net sales fell by around 26 percent from DKK 11.4 billion in 2002 to DKK 8.4 billion, where as the play material sales declined by 29 percent to DKK 7.2 billion and thus resulting in a pre-tax loss on earnings of DKK 1.4 billion, which showed a drop of DKK 2 billion as compared with the previous year (Annual Report, 2003). The retardation shows the failure of the growth strategy resulting in a considerable loss of the market shares. Finally by the end of the year 2003, the group decided to change its business