The Holden Organization in Succeeding in the United States - Essay Example

Strategic Management (Course Name and Code) (Institutions’ Name) (Departments’ Name) (Students’ Name) (Students’ Number) (Instructors Name) October 27, 2008 Framework of Analysis The analysis employs the use of SWOT analysis in understanding the capability of the Holden organization in succeeding in United States. The strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats are discussed. Strengths The organization is investing in an environment that is competitive hence they have employed fresh blood. Prominent people and other figures have been employed to mend any weakness that may befall the Holden Corporation. The new managing director has been dealing with other brands of cars and the MG is ready to introduce his market to sample the SS Sportwagon car. Furthermore, the staff is experienced and is flexible in forming teams. Holden is a private company that can support a major restructuring because of the wealth that it has. Furthermore, the organization has next-generation technology and an advanced auto plants that ensures high quality products. Moreover, because the company is private it is agile. It is easy to pass policies and take them into consideration without a lot of difficulty. Holden Company, through a research that was carried out showed that the company has strong and dedicated dealers that are ready to support any investment. The dealers understand the market and they know how to move around ensuring that the SS Sportwagon is a major hit in United States market. The price is another strength that is maximized by Holden Corporation. The SS Sportwagon car is valued at $30, 980. The two competitive model the Ford wagon and Chrysler wagon are priced at $37,720 and $35,825 respectively. From this data the SS Sportwagon is cheaper that others hence form an important competitive edge. Weakness of Holden The difficulty that is faced by Holden is the supply chain. Holden’s SS Sportwagon has a good design, but there are suggestions that the operations should be leaner and innovate certain processes that are far from the design itself. There has been negligence in the supply chain in Australia and may affect supply chain when it comes to United States. Dealership is another weakness that will be faced by Holden Corporation. There are many dealers that are ready to support supply of Holden cars in United States. Therefore, the large number makes it too big to be useful. From simple principles of economics, the fewer the dealers are the more profitable they will. Hence, when there are many dealers they will tend to compete with each other instead of competing with Ford Falcon, Chrysler 300 Wagon and the Dodge Magnum Wagon. Quality and branding is weak when it comes to Holden Corporation. The company is producing many cars at a faster rate which makes their quality suspicious. Holden main aim is producing cars that are affordable to a normal customer; therefore there are things that are not of standard in the finished brand. Moreover, the brand is not developed when compared to other brands such as Chrysler, Toyota or Mercedes. Therefore, the company lacks brands that range in demographic, locality and terrain that the customers are situated in (Howard 2005, p. 90). Customer service is an important aspect in ensuring that the company retains and brings in new customers. However, analysis has shown that the dealers and collaborators charge some small fee when the car requires repairs. This tends to send away prospective buyers and the trust of customers is unbalanced. Opportunities of Holden The company is expanding the product line that will be a stepping stone for SS Sportwagon to survive. It has signed deals with other independent automobile makers in manufacturing some spare parts and other maintenances such as Cherry. The cooperation that the company has with Cherry motors will ensure that the company designs and develops cars at a cheaper cost. Furthermore, the organization doesn’t have a low-cost manufacturing base that is required to make major profits on its own. Hence, Cherry is an opportunity that ensures the survivability of the organization. Holden has the ability of outsourcing some of its activities. This will enable the company to expand and contract without spending a lot of cash. Other opportunities that are available for Holden to maximize are collaboration, improving international sales with the ability of accessing more resources especially capital. Threats for Holden Holden is a new company to an environment that there are experts. It faces major competition from Chrysler brands such as the Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300 wagon and the Falcon wagon from Ford and other international brands. The competitive brands price are comparatively cheaper and better sales service. Therefore, Holden needs to design and innovation so that they can succeed. Strategic Human Resource Management The company has a wide staff base. The company is outsourcing, collaborating and have dealers that increase the amount of staff. Management is managed by the organization head office in Australia while there are management teams that supervise contributions from each component in the organization. Each management team is divided according to accounts, production, sales, information technology and sales. This ensures that each team is supposed to fulfill specific function. The structural nature of the management ensures that every aspect that is organized with any organization is incorporated and fulfilled. Therefore, the teams are sufficient in fulfilling the requirements that the sectors may be advanced and ensure that the company receives cumulative success (Osborne 2004, p. 45). There are problems that are associated with leadership since most top managers have never traveled to United States. There is poor decision making structure that is currently been addressed. However, changes that have been incorporated by employing experienced people to specific sectors of the company reduce leadership problems that are expected to be eliminated soon. There are main ways that the organization can recruit the staff. However, the important step is describing the type of staff that is required to fulfill a duty. Decisions have to be made concerning the type of staff that is required e.g. permanent, casual or freelance. This will determine the amount of salary and benefits that the new staff will receive and the type of contracts that they will sign. After the staff has been recruited and the contracts signed, the next important step is ensuring that the talents are retained. This can be achieved through motivation, promoting and giving benefits to the employees. Furthermore, giving responsibilities other than what they are supposed to fulfill makes the staff feel encouraged and views the organization management that they are confident in what the staff can fulfill. Generally, the team is ready to accomplish any assignment that is directed to them. It has a wide experience with good managerial competency which ensures that the right direction is followed. Moreover, the benefits and privileges that have been given to the staff ensure that the staffs function at its maximum. Bibliography Howard, K. 2005. International Investments. Prentice Hall Publishers, New York. Horace, M. 2003. Strategic Management in human resources. Oxford University Press, London. Osborne, L. 2004. Business management in turbulent waters. New York Publishers, New York. Read More