Business Competitive Strategy of Oaktree Mills - Case Study Example

? Case Study: OAKTREE MILLS of the Identification of the problem The report elaborates the problems that are taking place in the Oaktree Mills. It is a famous meat processing company, which serves its customers with the good quality products and takes care of the problems that are faced by the employees. But a severe turmoil in the smooth running business of Oaktree Mills has threatened the reputation of the company. The incidence of hospitalization, of few people of the rural area of Canada, due to salmonella poisoning gave a start to the uprising. Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) declared that the illness was due to the consumption of sandwich meats that were processed and packed in the company’s plant at Winnipeg. The main problem was the hygiene factor that the plant lacked in and CFIA recommended shutting down the plant in Winnipeg for the purpose of deep cleaning and revised cleaning protocols (Ewing, 2006). The external constraints in this case are that after the news became prominent in the media and newspapers, the customers were reluctant to buy their products. The Company CEO however assured the mass that the health and safety of the million Canadian families are their responsibility and they will take care of it. But few internal constraints made it difficult for the company to improve its grounded image before the customers. One of the employee of another plant of Oaktree Mills tweeted confidential news on social networking site. The female employee did not limit herself to the leakage of the confidential news of the company only but also blamed the company for using unsafe practices for processing of meat. She even informed the mass by tweeting not to trust the company and their products and to beware of the company’s false assurance. The Director of Communications and the Human Resource Head of Oaktree Mills are shocked to see the deed of the employee. The problem that was faced by the company was mainly because it did not have any social media policy. As the company did not have the policy thus they could not take any step against the female employee. The CEO of the company has the least to do other than ordering the director and human resource head to look after the situation seriously and take appropriate steps for handling the situations (Ewing, 2006). Situation analysis Oaktree Mills is a family owned large meat processing company based in Calgary and the processing firms are in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto. The company is famous for the product quality it serves to its customers. It has created good relation with their employees and concentrates highly on the retention of the employees, when other companies go for layoffs. It has also undertaken corporate social responsibility activities, so as to take care of the environment it works in and also their neighbours. Recently, the uninterrupted business faced a serious situation, which harmed the image of the company. About 13 peoples in Saskatchewan were hospitalized after being affected from salmonella poisoning. The situation was noticed by Canadian Public Health Authority, who informed the matter to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). CFIA investigated the matter and found that the illness was due to consumption of the sandwich meats. They identified the fact that the methods that are undertaken by the Winnipeg processing plant are not adequate for the hygiene factor that a processing plant should possess. The agency reported that the two industrial meat grinders are not clean and thus it processed the meats in an unhygienic manner. The agency even recommended the company to shut down the plant in Winnipeg for deep cleaning and for revising the cleaning protocols. Oaktree declared the suspension of operation of the plant and assured full cooperation with CFIA. Thus, 1.2 million kilogram of processed meat products was recalled. The Director of Communication, Ashok Fraser worked together with the senior management for controlling the situation and informed the public to avoid causing panic since they are rectifying their mistakes. He also kept an eye on Twitter and the newspaper. After analyzing the situation, it can be deduced that the image and reputation of the company are threatened by the external constraints. The sales of the company decreased since the customers stopped buying the products because of the news. The CFIA worked as an external constraint in this case as they suggested the closure of the plant in Winnipeg, which stopped their production. It is obvious that the company on their part has not been transparent with the hygiene factor of the mass. Though the company possessed good human resource policies, which have made their employees satisfied with the work environment, but the employees are not serious with their work as they did not take any crucial step in maintaining the hygiene factor of the plant. The company on the other hand is also responsible for the situation as it is their responsibility to inspect the production site of the plant. The company thus lacked on their part to take care of the expectation of the customers (Ewing, 2006). Two weeks after the crisis was hit, another problem aroused, which shocked the management of the company along with the CEO. The Director of Communication found that one of the employees had abused the management of the company in Twitter and had even warned the mass for not trusting the assurance of the company that they will be rectifying their mistake. The message even highlighted that people should not buy the company’s product. The director after a detailed discussion with the human resource head came to know that the female employee (works in Toronto plant), who has been writing these messages, is discontented with her work as she was send for the night shift duty. When the situation was repeated, the management found it difficult to handle it as there was no social media policy (Bennington, 2009). After analyzing the situation, it can be said that the problem aroused due to the absence of social media policies in the company. If the company had social media policies, then it could have taken strict steps against the female employee. She could not have got the opportunity to exploit the image of the company in Twitter. Thus, the company was threatened by the deed of the internal employee (Lowy, 2003). Analysis of Alternatives The following are the solution to both the constraints: 1) Oaktree Mill is a meet processing company; the hygiene factor plays an important role in successful working of the company. The company did not keep their promises to the customers for providing good quality products according to the CFIA report. For a meat processing company, cleanliness and good quality are the most important points according to the industrial norms. The company should inspect the methods of production every month in order to check that all the employees are carrying out their duties properly. The company should handle the situation in such a way that it does not affect their reputation. The recall of the meat was undertaken but the assurance for the same was not conveyed to the mass, as a result there has been no transparency in their action. The company should have rectified their mistake well before the intervention of the CFIA. The company carries good reputation in the meat processing industry and thus it should have maintained its position (Greenhouse, 2013). 2) The company has been enjoying a good reputation in the industry for producing quality product and for employing efficient workers and the type of comfortable work environment that they provide to the employees. In such a situation, if a female employee abuses the company management in social network then that is a big issue for the company. The reason for which the company faced further problems was due to the absence of social media policy (Greenhouse, 2013). Social media policy also known as the social networking policy are set of corporate code of conduct that aims at providing the employees with a set of rules that they should follow. The rules are regarding what should they post on internet and what they should not post. It aims at setting expectation for the appropriate behaviour on the part of the employees. It ensures that employees should not disclose any confidential news in the social networking sites or in public because it might harm the reputation of the company. The policy also highlights that the employees should identify themselves as an important representative of the company and thus should not take any such step, which will harm the brand image of the company (TechTarget, 2013). It reflects that employees should not disclose any confidential news to the public. Any mistake from an employee will expose the company to many interventions by the press, media, common mass and even the government. Thus, social media policies are very important for a company, since it will restrict the employees from writing any abuse on the social networking sites and even spreading any confidential news to the public. Violation of the policy can lead to termination and huge compensation to the employee. The guidelines can be modified as per the management requirement for training the employees in such a way that they do not even think of harming the reputation of the company they work in (Greenhouse, 2013). The employer has the right for disciplining their employees with regard to the online behaviour even after the working hours, if they are doing something which can harm the reputation of the company. The employer has the full right in intervening online activities of the employees when the comments of the employees are placing legal risk to the company (TechTarget, 2013). Recommendations and Implementations It is recommended that Oaktree Mills should induce social media policies in the rules of the company, so as to prevent the company from such situations and avoid the harassment before the public and its competitors. The guidelines can be modified as per the management requirement for training the employees in such a way that they do not even think of harming the reputation of the company they work in. The absence of the social media policy in Oaktree Mils has led the company to this extent that the company has to face problem for its internal employee. The implementation of the policy will safeguard the reputation of the company by ensuring that their employee’s online actions are under constant scrutiny. References Bennington, E. (2009). What to do when an employee violates your social media policy? Retrieved from http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/small-business/social-media-trends/social-media-guidelines.aspx Ewing, K. (2006). Competition rules for the 21st century: Principles from America’s experience. Netherlands: Kluwar Law International. Greenhouse, S. (2013). Even if it enrages your boss, social net speech is protected. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/technology/employers-social-media-policies-come-under-regulatory-scrutiny.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Lowy, M. (2003). Corporate governance for public company. Netherlands: Kluwar Law International. TechTarget. (2013). Social media policy. Retrieved from http://searchcompliance.techtarget.com/definition/social-media-policy   Read More