Management of Invitations Inc.

The case study views Joan Salmon, the daughter of Garret Salmon, sole proprietor of the medium-sized company called Invitations Inc, who is being trained to be the new CEO of the family company. Joan has graduated with a degree in Business Management from UMUC. In the judgment of her father, Joan Salmon is the ideal candidate to replace him as the CEO in the next two months. In readiness to take up the place of her father, Joan prepares herself to solve organizational problems and contribute to the development of Invitations Inc. Joanna faces a dilemma on how to handle her father in the company upon his retirement in addition to other problems facing their family business.

Problem Statement

Garret Salmon, the owner of a medium-sized invitation company, has expressed his wish that his daughter Joan Salmon holds the post of the company C.E.O in the next two months. The graduate of UMUC in Business Management is anxious to take from her father despite the fact that she has agreed to take up the position of her father in the next two months. Joan doubts her capability to make important decisions in the company since she has never occupied any position in the senior management of the company.

In addition to fear of responsibility, Joan seems to be overwhelmed with important decisions she is to make as the new CEO in regard to company development after forty years of stagnation. Joan is concerned with how the company will make inroads into the new markets of selling invitation cards directly to consumers instead of dealing with resellers, namely card stores, and stationers.

The company has continuously recorded an increase in production cost for the past two years without any growth. The constant rise in production cost without growth of the company is an indication of low employee productivity- a phenomenon that is bound to aggravate losses incurred by the company. The negative trend is quite worrying in the long view of the future of the company. Should this trend remain untacked, the company stands higher chances of going bankrupt in the few years to come.

Thirdly, Joan does not know what to do with her father who is soon to retire. She is not sure whether or not Mr. Salmon is serious about his retirement. And if he is truly serious about his retirement, what does her father want in the future? The young management graduate of UMUC finds herself in a dilemma on the best way to handle Mr. Salmon after his anticipated retirement.

Objectives

It has been established that the new CEO of the company is guided by quite a number of objectives in her decision-making processes. Top in the list, Joan Salmon is concerned with expansion and future growth of her family business. The much-needed growth of the company entails increasing sales of the company products, diversification of the company products and development of better marketing strategies by marketing and sales teams.

Secondly, Joan put much effort to ensure continuity in management and running of the company long after the retirement of her father. She is looking into ways of retaining and maintaining unity among the high level and middle-level management team after she holds a senior role in the company.

Thirdly, new CEO will be committed to reducing its cost of production which has increased by 3% during the past two years. It is not economically viable that the company to register an increase in production cost while at the same time showing no growth for the two consecutive financial years.

Finally, Joan Salmon desires to change her current perception of the company staff from a mere “boss’s daughter” to the newly planned CEO. She must use her professionally acquired management acumen to regain confidence and trust of the company employees that she equals the task of heading Invitations Inc.

Alternatives

Comprehensive and Intensive marketing Drive: Guided by the objectives, Joan can come up with several alternatives to revamp Invitations Inc. Joan Salmon may first consider increasing sales of the company in order to secure the future growth of the company. Under the alternative of initiating the growth of Invitations Inc, the new CEO would first think of producing a wide range of price points and invitation styles beyond its typical “high end” expensive paper products and “budget” invitations. The proposed diversification of the company products will not only significantly increase the competitive edge of the company products in the market, but guarantees a bigger share of its products in the market.

Apart from diversification of its products, Invitations Inc. may also lay down new marketing strategies to increase the volume of its sales. The new marketing strategy will equip salespersons with all the necessary skills through training and proper orientation. Examples of these skills that needed to be inculcated in sales agents include excellent communication, high-level persuasion techniques, and exemplary interpersonal relations. The forthcoming training of the existing sales agents is advantageous in the sense that it will enable them to communicate without experiencing any difficulty.

In addition to improving the public image of the company sales agents, the new marketing strategy will also put a lot of emphasis on the product packaging and presentation to the customers. These strategies will work together to make sales persons more effective and aggressive in their outdoor selling of company products. Should the company realize a shortage of sale agents from its ongoing stock-taking exercise, there will be a dire need for the recruitment of more sales agents for the purposes of reaching out to the masses out in the marketing field. Suffice it to say, the company would deem it good to increase the number of its outlets and sales points from where new and existing clients can buy the company products with much ease.

Outdoor publicity of the company products through mass media is yet another alternative that the company can adapt to increase the sales and popularity of its product in the market. This approach of publicity will integrate online marketing of the company to reach a larger number of clients within the shortest time possible. Internet-enabled marketing will also go hand in hand with the prompt delivery of the products ordered online to the buyers throughout the company marketing grid.

Retrenchment of Employees: reducing the number of employees in the company is another way of reducing the company overheads. Using this approach, the company will seek to lay off excess employees across the departments only to remain with the least number of staff that is required to sustain basic operations of the company. Dismissal of redundant employees has proven to be the most immediate option of cutting down levels of expenditures being incurred by the company. In this case, it is the most practical and immediate alternative that Joan Salmon should explore to save the future of the company.

Apart from well-designed retrenchment of redundant and less productive employees, Joan could also consider re-organizing organizational structure and production operations of the company. Computerization and mechanization of the company operations and production processes come in handy when it comes to cutting down on production cost. The use of machines and computers in place of limiting human labor will also increase levels of production in the company.

Finally, Joan needs to bring out her assertiveness and firmness in making an important decision in the company- a trait which is mandatory for successful CEO of a big company such as Invitations Inc. For the current CEO, Mr. Garret Salmon, to retire peacefully, his daughter must rise far above petty gossips in the company and present her strategic plan to the company management team in a professional manner. Professional presentation by the would-be CEO will bring to the fore her competence and professional qualification that merit her being the new company head.

Consequences of Alternatives

Diversification of the company products beyond its typical “high end” expensive paper products and “budget” invitations would see the company secure its untapped lion share of the product market. This follows the revelation that a wide variety of consumer products supplied in the market will lead to increased satisfaction of the clients’ needs. Furthermore, the supply of a wide range of products by the Invitation Inc. enhances its competitive edge in the market. Consequently, the company faces stiff competition posed by its rival companies.

Extensive and elaborate marketing strategies will be very useful in increasing the volume of sales by Invitations Inc. Through an extensive outdoor publicity and advertising of the company products through mass media and internet-enabled marketing platforms, thousands and thousands of potential clients will be informed about the Invitations Inc products. Increased awareness of the company products by existing and new clients translates into more and more clients buying company products. New packaging and presentation of the company products by shrewd sales agents also add value to the sales. Subsequently, the profitability and growth of the company are guaranteed.

Computerization and mechanization in the production processes of the company will lead to increased productivity and reduced cost of production. This is attributed to the replacement of expensive and less efficient human labor with more efficient and full-time machine-designed production. In as much as the use of machines and computers will increase profitability and efficiency in the company, it will render human resource redundant in most cases. Hence, mechanization and computerization of the company production processes is a profit-making decision from either direction. The achievement supports the objective of the new CEO to reduce the expenditure of the company. On the other hand, implementation of this alternative will not be welcomed in the company since it threatens employee job security at Invitations Inc.

Joan Salmon becoming the new CEO of Invitations Inc. would give her father peace of mind in regard to his planned retirement in favor of Joan. Assertive traits will give the outgoing CEO assurance that his daughter has the capacity to effectively take leadership of the family company. It is only then he can retire from his topmost managerial position at Invitation Inc.

Alternatives and their Consequences Matrix

Key

“1” is the least score.

“5” is the highest score.

Conclusion

Diversification of the company product is the best alternative to be adopted by Joan Salmon to increase sales of their company products in the market. A wide variety of products supplied by the company to the existing and new clients in the market is thought to increase the volume of sales. Diversification seems to be the best alternative because it improves the financial performance of the company without retrenching employees. Joan Salmon should, therefore, start with this alternative if she truly wants to revamp economic growth of Invitations Inc.

Extensive marketing of the company products will go a long way in increasing the volume of its sales. Eventually, the company will not only increase its profitability but will also record a significant rate of growth. Computerization and mechanization of production processes in the company is the third-best alternative after diversification and marketing of the company products. It is most notable that the use of computers in processing and packaging of the company product will increase productivity and efficiency of Invitations Inc.