Is Sims Metal Management Making the Right Strategic Initiatives in the Metal Recycling Industry - Dissertation Example

According to Eddolls (2012), Sims Metal Management is an Australian-based global concern that recycles metal. The firm has 42 recycling plants in the UK but was affected by the economic downturn like others in the industry. This is mainly because the raw material of the firm coming from steel, auto industry, and consumer metal goods, etc were badly hit by the economic crisis and there was a decrease in the demand also. The firm since then has been making efforts to grow in different directions, finding new markets, and at the same time conserving its expenses. However, the employees of the firm have concerns related to the firm not taking care of their safety needs in such a labor-intensive industry.
The main research problem is to see how Sims Metal Management is adjusting to the economic conditions prevailing in the environment. The government is increasingly making the legalities complicated to encourage firms to recycle by-products of metal. However, the economy has deteriorated and therefore the prices have decreased and in some instances, recycled metal products are much more expensive than new metal. Thus the industry is in a fix and things have become difficult for firms to survive in the UK. Those that are still manufacturing are adapting dramatic growth strategies like an acquisition on the case of Sims Group. They are also finding new markets in developing countries, however, it is difficult to do so as there is a lot of global competition. Nevertheless, there is a market in the developing countries and therefore the industry has growth prospects. But the problem is that different countries have legislations that differ regarding recyclable metal and metal by-products making it difficult for trade. Moreover, the firm is not as socially responsible as it claims to be as it is not taking care of its employees sufficiently as there have been many cases in the recent past involving employee safety.
The research was conducted using primary research methods. The research was conducted on the employees of Sims Group UK. The total number of subjects was 32. The researcher selected the questionnaire method to conduct the research and used a questionnaire on a Likert scale of 5. This method was used because the subjects were large in number and the interview method would have covered fewer subjects and would have been more time-consuming and expensive. The subjects were selected using the random selection method.
The report has five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction of the whole research paper. The topic, aims and objectives, the problem of the research and lastly the paper’s layout has been discussed in the chapter in the next chapter, the researcher has discussed in detail the topic and the views of various researchers and theorists. In chapter three, the researcher gives a detailed account of the methodology in which he has described the questionnaire, the subjects, the procedure for conducting the research, and lastly, the validity of the selected research method is discussed. In chapter four, the data that has been gathered is analyzed and discussed alongside the literature review on the topic. In the last chapter, the conclusion derived from the results and the recommendations have been given.
The metal recycling industry is a 5.6 billion pounds industry in the UK employing over 8000 people. Ferrous and non-ferrous metal is processed into metal that is used to produce new metal(Sims Metal Management, 2012). Annually 400 tones of metal are recycled globally.