ing has reduced costs, unfortunately It IlL come under fire in the media for lay
ID: 396090 • Letter: I
Question
ing has reduced costs, unfortunately It IlL come under fire in the media for laying off U.S. employees Il to foreign workers, and iTeam's board of direct responsible in this area. and obtaining most U d iTeam's board of directors is pressuring Andrew to be more te To further complicate matters, it has come to Andrew's attention that the Enviro Protection Agency has proposed regulations that vwill greatly restrict levels of lead nmen cury levels in electronics products and that will impose disposal obligations of electronic goods. vironmen and mer on producer Andrew thinks the answer to iTeam's growing pains is to expand sales by tomers in Europe and Asia. However, such an expansion will require an investment expanded supply chain, including new distribution channels and the development of, tionships with new customers and suppliers. It will also require changes in iTeam facturing system in order to increase the firm's production capacity nt in a s man Most important, iTeam's sales force may need to be developed as well. iTeam grew quickly that it never established a formal sales program. Consistent with Andrew's persona philosophy of "Who says there is no I' in 'team'?", iTeam has been pretty informal managing its sales force, deferring mostly to aggressive individual salesperson effort ad commission-based pay. Also, because of iTeam's former price advantage, the sales re have never really had to develop relationships with customers or retail partners to gener sales--price seemed to be enough to keep customers satisfied.Explanation / Answer
1. iTeam’s future planning will be affected by affected by different aspects of external environment like economic aspects, legal aspects, technological aspects and social aspects.
The impact of economic factors will depend on the supply and demand of its products as well as the supply and demand of the raw materials and components that they use for manufacturing. As the company is expanding on a global scale it will have a bigger market to compete in and hence its overall market size will increase, thus increasing the company’s potential to increase its top-line as well as bottom-line.
The impact of social factors will depend on the changing and dynamic nature of culture as well as the fact that demographics keeps varying and changing globally. This will directly impact the company’s marketing and sales efforts.
The impact of legal factors will depend on laws that are in place for regulating the electronic goods industry. To keep a check on pollution and e-waste as well as to encourage manufacture of energy efficient products different countries have different laws. iTeam will have to comply with the law of each country that it will be having a presence in.
2. iTeam’s future planning will be affected by affected by different aspects of internal environment like HR capabilities, supply chain capabilities, service capabilities etc. As the company is expanding globally it will need more skilled and talented workers both for manufacturing and for selling. Supply chain capabilities will be one of the most crucial internal factors for the company as it expands globally. Supply chain efficiencies will help the company lower its costs and compete on an even ground with its competitors. The company will also be affected by its R&D (research and development) capabilities. The company should have a dynamic and flexible R&D department so as to be able to take advantage of rapid changes in technology.
3. My advice to Andrew Taylor would be to reinvent the sales department of the company keeping in mind the requirements of the global market. The global market is highly demanding and the company will have to build a long term symbiotic relationship with its customers across the world on a long term basis. For this the company will need a sales and marketing team that is able to understand the ever changing needs and requirements of the customers.
The steps that Andrew should take, given the external environment and the company’s current circumstances, is to reorganize the company on one hand and overhaul its financials on the other hand. In order to compete on a global scale the company will have to match the might of other large competitors who are offering similar products at lower prices. Andrew should put emphasis on R&D and innovation so as to be able to develop new cost effective processes while producing the same quality (or even better quality) products.
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