Reference no: EM132266910

Exercise

Scenarios:

1. Location

In the 20th Century, many organizations focused on goals, cost, and efficiency in production to keep a business profitable. In today's business environment, for businesses to remain sustainable a competitive advantage must be maintained either by price, new product ventures, location, innovation in the marketplace, etc.

You will begin to put together the process of bringing a new product line into Biotech's business model to stimulate growth in a new product sector, infant formula, while remaining true to the company's current Mission "To develop products that are safe, effective, affordable and natural with the customer's health always their primary goal."

This new Infant Formula Division of Biotech will be located in a U.S. location or overseas and the company intends for it to be a leader in the use of sustainable products using the latest innovations for production and delivery to our global customers.

Consider this information:

Recently, Geraldine Barney Garrett, the granddaughter of Wilford Barney who held the reins of the R&D department for Biotech Health and Life Products in 1965, retired and Geraldine's own granddaughter, Melanie Malone, took over the department. Melanie is qualified for the job.

She was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland College Park with a double major in Botany and Food Science. She minored in Business Management. She had worked in the plant in Chicago every summer since High School and had reproduced and revised all her grandmother's and great-great grandmother's recipes.

Starting full-time at 22 years of age Melanie got along with everyone in the department but at 27 Geraldine thought she may be too young to assume the position, but Melanie has shown strong managerial and leadership qualities since stepping into the role. Melanie wants the company to be a leader in innovative ways to be a sustainable company using green technologies as well as friendly to the environment, animals, and human health.

Maximillian Barney, the President, CEO and Wilford Barney's grandchild, decided the challenge of deciding on a location for the new Infant Formula Division as well as the search for a Division Director would fall on Melanie. Since Melanie is passionate about keeping business focused on all-natural products and developing ecofriendly packaging, Max felt she would ensure the company would bring in someone who would seek innovative, green, and sustainable ways to bring Biotech into this new venture effectively, while also ensuring the products are designed, developed, tested and delivered with the organizations Vision and Mission in mind.

Melanie has contracted a small minority owned consulting firm, Expert Foods Consultants, to conduct research on the best location for the new plant that meets Biotech's expectations. The consultancy firm is also able to launch the new products per Melanie's mandates for green sustainability and innovation. A group has been assembled within the firm to decide on a location for the plant. Melanie has narrowed her preferences down to Ohio and China and wants the firm to present the best option to her.

2. Candidate

In week 1 the question, "Who is a manager and what is their job in an organization?" was asked. As Biotech launches a new product division to design, develop and deliver infant formula globally, the company will need to bring in someone to manage this division.

The desire from Melanie Malone, the head of R&D who has been tasked with identifying the person to lead this new division, is that the new Executive Director for the Infant Formula Division will be open to new innovative ways to develop green and sustainable products that will not only be popular among the traditional Biotech customer base, but will also be the face of the organization when marketing the products. Partnering with the small consulting firm, Expert Foods, Melanie will be vetting three potential candidates who will jump right in and begin the development of management plans that will be used to establish the new division.

A senior representative from the firm was on the panel for the interview, and the transcripts of the interview have been given to the Expert Foods team that is helping Melanie with her tasking. The new Executive Director will be a Manager of the 21st Century who will be able to incorporate the values, culture and traditions of Biotech with the values and traditions of the host nation employees that will be hired as managers and employees.

In addition, the Executive Director will be the face of the marketing brand in the beginning and this new employee will need to be able to motivate not only the employee base on these new products but also motivate a new customer base for Biotech on the ‘difference' Biotech will bring to the infant formula industry.

Currently, the infant formula industry has a lot of well established companies, and a strong entry will be key to grab market share. Innovative and well made products, good marketing, and a clear strategy will be critical to the strong entry, so bringing in a strong director will be key.

Candidates

Maddie Connors

Maddie has been working as the Deputy Executive Director of the European Division for the last year mainly focused on helping the Protein and Fitness branch become more environmentally and human friendly. Maddie currently holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from State College and her MBA from UMUC. Prior to her current position with Biotech Maddie was a production manager for the New Mexico facility for eleven years and was regarded highly within the employee ranks as a fair manager who was inclusive in her decision making.

This allowed her to keep her employees involved in the daily operations of the plant and helped foster a cohesive workforce. On her resume she discusses her research in organic ingredients becoming a major reason for the ascension of Biotech in Europe's list of environmental and human friendly companies. Prior to joining Biotech twelve years ago Maddie spent one year as an intern for a small non-profit company researching the long-term effects of soy based and animal based products imported from Asia.

During her initial screening, Maddie admitted she currently does not have any marketing experience to help be the face of the new product, but has a strong desire to work on those skills and believes she has the managerial and leadership qualities to guide the team to success regardless.

Maddie stated in her cover letter that though she only has twelve years of experience she would be a great fit for this executive position not just due to her familiarity of Biotech; their core values; understanding of their mission and vision; but also her desire to see Biotech become a leader in sustainable production with a focus on being environmentally and human friendly. Her degree in chemical engineering paired with the desire stated previously, would also allow her to focus on finding ways for Biotech to become the leader in quality, clean infant formula products.

Sloan Abbott

Sloan has spent the past 25 years working or Little Ones Formula, a mid-sized infant formula company currently operating out of New Jersey, which recently was bought out by a large health food company looking to expand to formula. The past 2 years Sloan was serving as the Vice President of Operations and Marketing where, according to her statements in the interview, she was instrumental in helping Little Ones gain a 12% increase year over year in market share.

Before being named as a VP for Little Ones, Sloan worked for 10 years as a Regional Director for Asia responsible for importing ingredients from Singapore. During her run as a Regional Director she was responsible to make visits to the production plants in China to ensure compliance to company, federal, and local safety and production regulations. She credited her success in that role due to her strict management style of ensuring she was able to be a part of each plants decision making regardless of how small the issue.

She did this thru modern communication channels that allow personnel to work remotely from anywhere in the world. The previous 13 years with the company were spent rising up the ladder starting with the company in the production line at the New Jersey plant where the company got its start.

During her interview Sloan stated that Biotech should consider getting into the infant formula industry with less focus on sustainability and green initiatives as it can be a difficult industry for new entrants and just make quality products with animal and soy based milk. Once established the company could begin to move to being more environmentally and human friendly as well as introducing products like non-GMO formulas and others. She stated she is an ‘old school' manager who was able to have success in Asia due to her ‘hands on' approach. Sloan stated in her cover letter that she is an experienced executive with a track record of success.

Bennie Hughes

Bennie is the current owner, along with his wife Stephanie, of Hughes Infant Supplies, focusing on organic infant products, with over $400M in sales annually.

Biotech recently agreed to purchase the company and Bennie is to receive a position within the organization as part of the purchase agreement; his wife Stephanie will take over as Director of Operations for the Biotech's Personal Health operations. Max has asked Melanie to vet Bennie carefully to see if maybe this position would be a good fit for his executive level management and leadership skills. Max also believes that since ‘Bennie can run his own company he should be able to run a new division'.

The purchase of the company by Biotech has a stipulation that Bennie must be provided with a ‘high level' position within the organization.

Seventeen years ago, prior to starting his company, Bennie was an officer in the US Navy working in logistics, and his wife worked for a local pharmaceutical company.

During Melanie's conversations with Bennie, he admitted that he handled the operations and financial side of the company for many of its initial years and Stephanie led the marketing campaigns that helped the company grow exponentially for the first few years, and then allowed them to maintain steady growth after that. However, he believes that since he has been leading Hughes through its growth that he could easily manage Biotech into a new venture.

Bennie spent 10 years in Japan as a Logistics Officer with the Navy, which is where he met his wife who was a Japanese citizen at the time. Bennie believes he has the cultural awareness to be successful in Asia or the U.S., and since he is guaranteed a position with the company, he feels this would be the perfect fit and the remaining interview process for this position should be merely a formality.

Exercise Instructions:

For this exercise, you will act as the group lead from Expert Foods Consultants, assigned to Biotech's. You are preparing your research and putting together a document with your rationale for the selection of the location and best candidate. Make sure the document clearly provides a heading for the Best Location and the Best Candidate.

Best Location

Determine the best location for Biotech's new manufacturing and distribution plant.

Possible locations: Ohio or China.

1. You will research the two locations to assess the following. In completing the research, you will draw from various source documents that provide you specific information about the country.

You will also use a wide array of course material. What this means is that external sources are related to the information about the country and the internal material is used to support your reasoning.

• The cost to acquire real estate;

• Sustainable/green products;

• Access to affordable but knowledgeable labor;

• Ease of distribution of manufacturing products to the plant;

• Ease of distribution of products to customers;

• Other relevant information to determine the best location for the manufacturing/distribution plant that is found through research or provided in the case scenario facts.

2. Compare and contrast the differences between the two locations;

3. Make a determination of the best location supporting your reasoning using both the research and the course material. Students must use the course material to support the reasoning. Course material is the eBook for the course and is not external sources to the classroom.

Best Candidate

Determine which candidate Expert Foods Consultants should recommend to Melanie Malone with Biotech.

In completing the research, you will draw from various source documents that provide you specific information about the country. You will also use a wide array of course material.

What this means is that external sources are related to the information about the country and the internal material is used to support your reasoning.

Candidates:

• Maddie Connors

• Sloan Abbott

• Bennie Hughes

1. You will evaluate each of the three candidates considering each candidate's full body of experience and how their experience aligns with Melanie's expectations for the new position as well as how each will lead within the context of Biotech's mission and vision.

2. Make a determination of the best candidate supporting your reasoning using both the case scenario facts and the course material. Students must use the course material to support the reasoning.

How to Set Up the Exercise

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is in a narrative format, which requires a double-spaced document. Use Arial, 12-point font. You will cite within the document and provide a reference list on a separate page.

Do not use a question/answer format but using the headings: Best Location and Best Candidate

Provide a title page and a reference list on a separate page.

Submit the Exercise in the Assignment Folder (The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered the student's final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor. It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission. No exceptions will be considered by the instructor).

Completing the Exercise

• Read and use the grading rubric while completing the exercise to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

• Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as "I, me, my, we, or us" (first person writing), nor is there use of "you or your" (second person writing).

• Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them.

• Paraphrase and do not use direct quotation marks. Paraphrase means you do not use more than four consecutive words from a source document.

Instead put a passage from a source document into your own words and attribute the passage to the source document. Not using direct quotation marks means that there should be no passages with quotation marks and instead the source material is paraphrased as stated above.

Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, as doing so would require direct quotation marks. Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.

If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations of academic dishonesty.

• You are expected to use the case scenarios and weekly course material to develop the analysis and support the reasoning. There should be a robust use of the course material along with thorough analysis of potential location information.

Material used from a source document must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks. If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations of academic dishonesty.

• Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains the reference associated with each in-text citation.

• You may not use books in completing this exercise unless part of the course material. Also, do not use a dictionary or Wikipedia.

• Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented. If the eBook does not have pages, provide the chapter title and topic heading. If using a video, provide the minutes and second of the cited material.