Answering Question Number One
Go Ahead Enterprises started as a company and made itself famous through its unique metal toys. The company was able to establish a national reputation for their product. Its strength lies in having a manufacturing plant which produces the toys. However, as competition intensified, the company thinkers decided to overhaul the system and to go for more profit.
This re-invention of the company was successful but only for a time. The atmosphere changed and soon the company found itself wondering where to start again. Go Ahead Enterprises evolved from a manufacturing organization into a marketing one. This made the significant over-turn of the company, which sadly, was an unforeseen suicidal path.
The company reduced its number of employees and moved to the city where it could market toys. It has stopped manufacturing its own metal toys. It sold its manufacturing plant. This decision was a critical one since the company never realized its important resource- the plant itself.
Having a manufacturing plant is one key for sustainability. Plus, the company is sure that each metal toy manufactured is at its best. Quality is assured. The demands or orders for the products can be handled easily since Go Ahead Enterprises supervises its own operation. Selling the manufacturing plant was an unwise move.
Losing a great deal number of people is also critical since they are the company’s best asset. Letting go of competent and trained staff or employees is a loss to the company, too. People are one great resource that brings additional investments and profit. However, cutting knowledgeable and skilled employees off from the company may also result to downfall.
The company’s big bosses’ decision to source instead of manufacturing its own metal toys became a major disappointment in the long run. Go Ahead Enterprises created a niche for itself in the market. Changing the position of that niche affects the company. What Go Ahead Enterprises did was to create another niche for itself by turning into a marketing company. It used to produce metal toys under its brand name. But since the big bosses decided to make a complete overhaul, the company lost its niche as the manufacturer of metal toys.
The company leaders’ decision was enough to ruin the company unintentionally. On organisational level, they have induced the change. What they failed to see is the long-term effect of that decision. They saw profits coming in like never before. But an initial success is not a guarantee of future sustainability and growth. The company leaders never saw that right and noble decisions may sometime lead to a bitter path. They should have seen the consequences first before jumping to conclusion and endanger the company’s growth, position in the market and quality of products.
On the other hand, environmental factors do play a big part. Globalization floods the market with cheap products. This resulted to steeping competition and fight for consumers’ favor. Globalization made the market more diversified with more choices and alternatives. The consumers are left confused, bewildered and happy.
The consumers are happy because influx of goods means affordability. They get to choose the products which suit their purse. Yet, cheap goods are sometimes made of inferior quality. Satisfaction is still an issue. There are consumers who still opt to buy branded products even if it is priced higher than the usual ones. Better to spend much than to be sorry, so they say.
Go Ahead Enterprises banked on globalisation and joined the bandwagon to keep itself on top of the game. It imitated other companies which are also changing their company’s course to accommodate changes. The environmental change brought by globalization has transformed, but not necessarily improved Go Ahead Enterprises.
Losing the company’s niche, its manufacturing plant and its key people brought the company lower than what it used to be. Go Ahead should have maintained its manufacturing and strengthened its niche in the market. The leaders should have come up with more strategies rather than adopting a strategic plan, which in the end, brought more harm than profit.
The company must focus on its vision and keep the main thing “the main thing” (Hybels 2002). In this case, Go Ahead Enterprises’ fate will be on its feet again if it will re-align its strength, assets, priorities, and focus on the main thing. It may not be money or profit but company reputation and sustainability.
List of References
Hybels, B. 2002, Courageous Leadership, Zondervan Publishing, Michigan.
