The Electronic Product Division of Allentown Material Corporation - Case Study Example

Allentown Material Corporation was established in the late 1800s. It specializes in the manufacturing of new glass products. This has contributed to the company’s outstanding reputation in the glass and ceramics markets over the years. This corporation has eight line divisions one of them being the Electronic Product Division (EPD) which focuses on the production of electronic resistors and capacitors. Under the leadership of Don Rogers, who is the Vice President and general manager of the division, EPD’s performance has steadily improved despite its decline in 1991 and 1992.

One significant achievement of this unit is that it successfully managed to distribute its products to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) due to its research and development strength. This factor opened new opportunities for the division that contributed to its growth. The growing market of the telecommunications industry is another factor that has led to the division’s growth because it has provided a ready market for products. EPD has been able to maintain a competitive advantage because of its ability to respond to customers’ needs by introducing new products that are of high quality.

There are various risks the division has been forced to take due to the uncertain business environment (Robertson & Caldart, 2009). The division’s leadership has further steered it to a higher level. Joe Bennett, for instance, used his management style to influence positive organizational behavior. His leadership led to group effectiveness and inter-functional coordination. Rogers, on the other hand, made sure the organization employed professional employees. The company’s success has however not gone without challenges.

For example, it reached a point when EPD experienced a lack of growth. Their dollar volume dropped because of price cuts. This forced the management to reduce costs so as to maintain the gross margin. Despite these efforts the gross margin still reduced. As a result, the sales and marketing departments were blamed. The sales department was blamed for concentrating on low-gross-margin business while the marketing department was blamed for poor product development.