Now struggling to survive the competition

Assignment Help Operation Management

Reference no: EM132289173

Sahara Heat Exchangers Ltd. is into building quality industrial boilers since 1984. By 2000, it was the second largest boiler manufacturer in UAE. The company had 750 employees on rolls.

During the 1990s, the company's profits increased significantly. The success of the company was attributed to its single product line (boilers) with standardized design. During this time, the company concentrated on improving its existing model rather than developing new models or new products. By the late 1980s, the company gained expertise in manufacturing boilers. The company was able to build and deliver advanced boilers to its clients within their budget and on time. Overwhelmed by their own expertise in building boilers, the company was extremely complacent and felt that this successful trend would continue. However, the company's financial statements in 2011 showed decreasing profits due to the sharp decline in orders for boilers. Problems began when the company's clients began demanding boilers as per their specifications.

Although the company had the technical expertise to build boilers according to customer specifications, it incurred losses due to cost and schedule overruns. These losses were mainly due to the management's inability to plan and estimate the costs of manufacturing boilers according to the new designs given by the clients.

This made the company search for alternate ways of managing its projects. At a quarterly review meeting, the company's CEO, William Guts said, "We can no longer manage the activities in the company using traditional management practices. It is high time we consider every client's order as a separate project." He also commented that, "Managers should understand that managing projects require a completely new set of tools and skills. The need of the hour is project management." But, the senior managers who were with the company from its inception felt otherwise. Richard Harry, one of the senior managers, felt that there was no difference between a project and a process. He said that the functional approach used to manage processes, which had proved effective for 20 years, would be good enough to handle the new projects also.

Questions:

1. “Once a pioneer in its field of business and now struggling to survive the competition”. What according to you went wrong with company?

2. Do you agree with the CEO or the Senior Management? Elaborate your views and opinions to support your answer?

3. Should the company practice the same old procedure or adapt new ones? Support your statement.

Reference no: EM132289173

Questions Cloud

Describe costco business-level strategy : Describe Costco’s business-level strategy (cost leadership or differentiated) and explain how it fits with the corporate-level strategy

What rights does the city management have in this case : What rights does the city management have in this case?

Situation involving conflict between interests and positions : Identify & discuss the differences between positions & interests? Describe a situation involving a conflict between interests and positions.

Explain how the core concepts of emotional intelligence : Explain how the core concepts of emotional intelligence would enhance the social skills and the decision-making efficacy of the management team?

Now struggling to survive the competition : “Once a pioneer in its field of business and now struggling to survive the competition”. What according to you went wrong with company?

Discussed in the chapter may be asserted by employee : Which particular employee rights discussed in the chapter may be asserted by the employee and his labor union representative in this case?

Experienced cognitive dissonance : Describe a situational context where you experienced cognitive dissonance.

Must the officer obtain warrant to make the arrest : After a telephone call to one of suspect’s neighbors, they learned that he was at home. Must the officer obtain a warrant to make the arrest?

Conventional level and post conventional level : What are some examples for Kohlbergs pre conventional level, conventional level, and post conventional level.

User Account

All Pages