Textron Inc and Cessna 172
Textron Inc is a very critical company in the aeronautical industry, with operations in aircraft industry and finance all over the globe. The company runs its operations in four segments namely Cessna, Bell, Finance and Industrial. The Bell segment has the responsibility of manufacturing and supplying helicopters, tilt-rotor aircrafts and the other helicopter accessories like spare parts plus it offers services for commercial purposes and military applications.
Bell segment also manufactures other products like precision weapons for use in both airborne and ground based surveillance systems, missile control, intelligence software, armored vehicles and turrets, and other machinery used in defense systems, aerospace and aviation industry. Cessna segment is charged with the responsibility of manufacturing the common aviation aircrafts like the single engine turboprops, business jets, and single engine piston aircraft plus offering the after sell services.
The industrial segment is concerned with making designs and manufacturing the blow molded systems and others blow molded accessories mainly for the automobile operations and manufacturing. It supplies camshafts for automobile industry and metal fuel fillers; it also supplies plastic containers for use in the industrial sector, laboratories and for domestic use. Blow molded fuel apparatus are for the land vehicles and watercraft use.
Other products include hydraulics, industrial pumps, polymer machinery, and instruments for use in electrical industry, combustion engines and other related equipment. The financial segment finances the aircraft industry, offers asset based loans, distributes finance; finances golf, resort and structure capital. Textron supplies its products via distributors and sales representatives. Strategic Management Textron Inc was established in 1923 with the first operations in providence in Rhode Island.
Strategic management in any business or other organizations describes the art of planning the operations and other performances at the highest possible level. This is the responsibilities of the company’s management and should focus on establishing a foundation and organization structure that will be executed by the collective effort of every individual employee of the company (Pearse & Robinson 2000). Textron Inc has a unique management strategy that covers the core aspects of management i. e.
Business objectives, means of achieving the objectives and the resources required to make it happen. The company’s mission statement “to be the world leading provider of professional tool group by manufacturing high quality innovative products as required by client-driven blueprint and integrated supply chain superiority” explains its objective apart from making profits (Pearse & Robinson 2000). Corporate Management The management of the Textron Inc is very effective and committed to implementing their policies so as to meet the company as well as individual objectives.
Currently, the organization is managed by a chairman who is also the president and the (CEO) chief executive officer. The president heads the management committee, international advisory council and the transformational management team. Currently Lewis B Campbell is the President of Textron inc. the strategic management plan is executed by allocation of several roles and taking responsibilities as well as working as a team.
The president has revolutionized the performance of Textron Inc by reshaping its product portfolio, changing the operational goals and has managed to bring together the venture-wise synergies and thus achieving larger operation effectiveness (Fayerweather 2007). Textron Inc has a senior several vice presidents who take care of different roles as it will be shown in the text. The first vice president is the senior vice president for Textron Inc international and marketing operation.
He is charged with the responsibility of research and execution international devolvement opportunities for the company plus carrying out functional leadership sales and marketing on the international market. He is also a member of the transformational leadership team (Fayerweather 2007). The executive vice president and principal innovation officer is responsible for implementing and supervising the global technology center based in India; overseeing the engineering processes, information technology systems, Textron six sigma and establishing and executing proper distribution/integrated supply chains.
Executive vice president is also a member of the Textron’s transformational leadership team as well as the management committee, which is a clear indication of teamwork and collective responsibility (Pearse & Robinson 2000). Corporate management in itself is a profession and needs someone to oversee the operations so that the management does not override their roles and the vice president business ethics and corporate secretary is responsible for all these (Pearse & Robinson 2000). He takes care of all the corporate secretarial roles and supervises compliance.
The Executive vice president administration and prime human resources official is one of the vice presidents working for Textron inc and is responsible for supervising the international human resource operations, corporate real estate, offer administrative services and manages the company’s aviation department and community affairs. The executive vice president administration and human resources is a member of the management committee and transformational management team (Pearse & Robinson 2000).
The vice president and chief information officer; this is one of the top management posts that are critical to Textron Inc and covers even the Textron’s information services. It is the responsibility of the vice president to guide the daily operations of the Textron information services (TIS); carrying out management duties of TIS as the executive, supervising the business units plus working together with chief information officers (CIO’s); he is responsible for outsourcing relationships, supervising Textron’s information Management council as well as carry out the management role over Textron information technology (Fayerweather 2007).
The financial segment of Textron is managed by its own president who is also the chief operating officer of Textron financial corporation (TFC). TFC is diversification strategy into the commercial sector and it’s a financial company with main operations in aircraft finance, resort finance, golf finance and other field described earlier under finance segment of Textron Inc (Fayerweather 2007). The president carries out the managerial roles supervising all the operations of TFC and serves as a member of Textron transformational leadership team.
The vice president of mergers and acquisitions is in charge of supervising developmental activities and manage the venture expansion projects that include acquisitions, mergers and strategic partnerships and serves on Textron’s enterprise – wide Finance Council (Fayerweather 2007). The executive vice president and chief operation officer is in charge of supervising the manufacturing process in business units including the functioning of the corporation’s information technology, global sourcing duties and the six sigma.
He also chairs the company’s Operating Committee and also a member of Management Committee and Transformational management Team. The vice president strategy and business development for Textron Inc has an obligation to work in collaboration with the senior management across the venture to create and implement business units plus coming up with corporate strategies for development, expansion, profitability and increasing return on investment (Pearse & Robinson 2000). The vice president here is also the corporate officer and a member of transformational leadership team.
The vice president and deputy general counsel of Textron takes responsibility of corporate legal staff with key obligations of supervising all legal matters except court cases including mergers and acquisitions, compliance, anti-trust, corporate finance, government contracts and intellectual property (Textron 2009). The vice president Textron audit services reports to the audit committee of board of directors about all the internal audits in which he supervises their activities and also risk management process. The industrial segment is managed by a president and is divide in to four; E-Z-GO, Greenlee, Jacobsen and Kautex.
All these divisions are run by presidents who are members of transformational leadership team. The Textron’s executive vice president supervises the strategic development, corporate functions; oversees international relationship and investor relations. Actually the management team of Textron is large with every segment having a president and several vice presidents; the following is a brief look at the remaining executive team members; vice president Textron six sigma is responsible for implementation of the project six sigma including Cessna Aircraft, E-Z-GO, and Bell helicopters (Fayerweather 2007).
The vice president and treasure supervises the financial activities of the company, the international treasury dealings, and other related responsibilities. The Bell helicopters are managed by a president who is the chief executive officer and works closely with the executive vice president. This VP also takes the role of a general counsel. The vice president takes care of ethical and compliance issues as well as the safety and environmental operations. Cessna Aircraft Company is managed by a president who is the CEO (Fayerweather 2007). The vice president has the obligation to supervise global tax function.
Kautex has a president who is also the CEO and a member of the transformational leadership team. Textron Systems Corporation is managed by the executive vice president and has eight business units, vice president investors relations who is also the company’s corporate officer is responsible for issuing the strategies and delivering financial presentation to investment and business community around the globe(Textron 2009). Jacobsen is managed by independent president who is also the CEO, he also responsible for the all operations in the golf, sports and ground care and equipment manufacture.
The senior vice president and corporate controller report to the executive vice president (the chief financial official), and take the responsibility of supervising internal and external financial and accounting reports, plans and analyses. He is also responsible for spearheading transformations in financial activities (Textron 2009). The company has a board of directors committed to providing the strategic management supervision and international investment point of view while at the same time maintaining rigorous management principles on behalf on the investors.
The Strategy The management of Textron is committed to fulfilling the objective of the company and to achieve its mission. The most crucial strategy is the enterprise management; this includes construction, organizing and leveraging world class performance abilities through a model based on customers’ design and requirements and processes (Textron 2009). The company is expanding by mergers and acquisitions, the major one being the acquisition of Cessna aircrafts. Product portfolio and portfolio management is another aspect critical to future successes.
It includes identification, selection and acquisition of the correct mix for the businesses so as to attain the maximal performance through the ability of the management team (Textron 2009). In order to attain these, Textron aims to make clients successful, attract and develop talent plus implementing world class operations in production and through innovations. The major feature already in place include implementing the correct supply chain technique, development of new technology like six sigma project and offering shared services. Conclusion
Textron Inc is an international business merger that operates in four segments and manages other auxiliary business units that include Cessna aircraft, golf equipments, and Bell helicopters. Being a large conglomerate, Textron has seen the expansion of Cessna with innovations making it the largest aviation company on the planet. The major factor contributing to these successes is the creation of world class competencies. Textron is a multi-industry venture with very talented management that has maintained the correct mix of ventures.
The company is currently improving its capability to acquire and incorporate other ventures to enhance competencies and improve shareholder value. References Fayerweather J. (2007). Management of International Operations. Text and Cases. McGraw – Hill. New York Pearse J. A & Robinson R. B (2000). Strategic Management. Formulation, Implementation and Control. Irwin/McGraw – Hill. New York Textron Inc (2009) About Textron. NYSE (TXT) retrieved on 17th January 2009 from http://www. textron. com/about/company/vision_and_strategy/index.
