Reference no: EM132900244

Question

Review the case study and respond to the following questions:

Did Lloyd choose the correct communication medium (email) to share his message? Explain why you agree or disagree with this choice.

Which organizational culture type is Lloyd's Landscaping in its current (pre-franchise) form, and what organizational characteristics lead you to that determination?

Is it ethical of Lloyd to ask former employees to become his business partners? Explain your reasoning behind your answer.

If Lloyd wanted to work with her employees through a decision making process to develop a way to solve her current problem, which strategy development technique (brainstorming, delphi or nominal) would you recommend he use and why?

Case study

Landscaping Company Outgrows its Roots

Lloyd's Landscaping began operating as a one-person business out of Lloyd Kramer's family garage when Lloyd was 15 years old. What started as summer job mowing lawns quickly expanded into an innovative entrepreneurial business, with a reputation for using the latest lawn care products and doing so in interesting new ways. Lloyd never expected to become an entrepreneur, but he always had a solid understanding of chemistry, and his natural charisma meant that he could talk to anyone about anything. One of his favourite topics was the latest and best way to achieve a great lawn without overusing harsh chemicals. Lloyd was creative, so if a fertilizer instructions said to apply in the spring, Lloyd would try using it in the fall to see if it performed better having settled into the ground over the winter.

When Lloyd graduated from high school, Lloyd's Landscaping was doing so well that Lloyd registered to attend a local college and maintain his business, rather than attending a college away from home. He recruited some of his high school friends who were also attending the local college to work for him and employed them each year over the spring, summer, and fall. It was a great working relationship, and Lloyd hired six of his former classmates as part time staff. In the spring, they did lawn clean up and fertilizing, in the summer there was lawn mowing and trimming, and in the fall they raked and bagged hundreds of bags of leaves. In the winter months, everyone focused on their coursework, and Lloyd researched the latest products and tools for his business.

Once Lloyd and his staff were in their final year of college, Lloyd faced some difficult choices. His friends were preparing to map out careers of their own after graduation. Lloyd knew that there were opportunities to expand the business and had been struggling to keep up with demand for services. Lloyd had found a niche market in the community and built a solid reputation for his company. Business was good and poised to get even better. He knew that with the financial history of the company, he could get bank financing to expand the business and buy more equipment to take on more customers. Lloyd spent the fall considering his options. He narrowed them down to three:

Continue operating the company under the current model, where he would run the business and hire new staff for the following spring;
Seek financing to expand the company by increasing its capital assets of equipment, hiring more labour staff, and hiring an administrator/bookkeeper, and Lloyd would focus on keeping the company innovative and expanding the business into new markets; or
Convert his business into a franchise model where he would be responsible for research, development, innovation, quality control, and marketing, and his franchise owners would be responsible for hiring labour staff for their regions, buying and maintaining their own equipment, and serving customers. All of the franchises would benefit from bulk buying supplies and from Lloyd's ability to generate sales.
Because of the long working relationship between Lloyd and his staff, he felt that they were colleagues and friends who would make great business partners. He decided to explore the franchise option as his first choice, with his current employees as potential franchise owners. Since they knew the operational side of the business, and there was a history of trust between them, Lloyd felt that they would make great franchise owners. Lloyd went to his lawyer to seek advice on converting a business to a franchise and then visited his accountant to calculate a fair current market value for the company.