A Case : The Lincoln Electric Company

The Lincoln Electric company, under the leadership of James F. Lincoln saw a major shift in the way business was to be directed and operated with visionary mind-set emulating companies like Ford, Wal-Mart, Merck, 3M as focus was towards the customer’s needs and employee’s compensation. Philosophically customer needs become critical as the reason for being in business and the employees also being the vehicle in achieving the needs of the customers as the case study by Sharplin, A (1989, p.3) clearly positions the companies aspirations. James Lincoln places much importance on the relationship with employees that is guided by mutual respect and individual effort.

The founders of the Lincoln Electric Company left a legacy of an organization culture that promotes high productivity through sound management policies which have stood the test of time. The exponential growth of the company after the death of James F. Lincoln was a direct result of the establishment of a rich culture mix based on values that were widely shared and accepted by the members of the organization. Management empowered employees to become part of the decision making process through the contribution of ideas through the Advisory Board which was elected by the employees from amongst themselves. Reward management systems and all the other artifacts of the Lincoln Electric’s distinguished strong organizational culture will be analyzed in greater detail in this essay.

The Lincoln Electric Employees' Association was formed in 1919 to provide hearth benefits and social activities.This organization continues today and has assumed several addittional functions over the years.

Established in 1895 and specialized in producing and selling electric motors, Lincoln Electric Company rapidly developed after the movement to welding equipment and consumable welding products in the USA. By 1995, this company first hit $1 billion in sales and became the world largest company in welding industry. With the differentiate strategy by providing premium -price -products , this company got 60% sales in the North American and expanded internationally since the period of 1986 and 1992. Although this company is facing problems in global expansions, its overall strategy as well as practices in human resources, marketing, technology development, and international expansions is a useful lesson for other businesses.

Headquartered in Cleveland Ohio, Lincoln electric’s business model consists of distributing welding consumables, equipment’s and solutions. Lincoln initially traded electric motor cars and steadily moved on to welding. Lincoln’s vision, led by founder John C. Lincoln is to provide high quality welding, joining and cutting equipment’s globally.

The founder, James F. Lincoln used his Christian upbringing as the basis for his vision of how he defined entrepreneurial success. The customers ' needs are first priority, the employee second, and the stockholders are last. Quality and cost efficiency are the two most important factors considered in their product engineering and manufacturing. The hierarchy is stringent, however, the culture of the company is greatly people-oriented. This company has a strong culture that is instilled in new employees from the beginning and continuously practiced by every member of every facet in the organizational structure.

With the years going by, Lincoln Electric Company, despite its excellent performance in production, has been growing in a very steady speed, and never really grew to a large scale company.

The Lincoln Electric was founded in 1895, and is the world leader in the design,

gospel to his employees, customers, or even the public. Even today, in recent interviews, the

The Lincoln Electric Company was founded in 1895 by John C. Lincoln. The initial investment to get the company off of the ground was $200, and it was not until a few years later in 1907 that they manufactured their first welding equipment.

AurtherSharplin wrote a case study on Lincoln Electric Company [1]back in 1989 to document their success and what led to it. The company was very successful at the time of this study and it is a well written document. The case study finds many factors for the success of the company which appears to have a truly altruistic approach to business. In my case analysis I will not only look at the positive and negative attributes of the company, but I will also look at modern available data to see how well has the company faired and compare corporate policy changes. Meeting with a company and discussing with its leadership its success is not the only factor which should be considered now that we have an additional 24 years’ worth of data. The

Getting started during an economic depression in the late 80s, that too with a capital investment of just $200.00, John. C Lincoln introduced his own new design for electric motors in the market. Moreover, after the joining of John. C’s younger brother, James F. Lincoln. The company not only expanded its product line but, introduced the world’s first portable wielding machine as well. After turning over the company fully to James, he established an Employee Advisory Board which later on help the employees cover up in a group life insurance, later on introduced a piece rate pay method and made them earned paid vacations for the first time in the country’s history in 1923. The company also launched an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which helped them received their first annual Incentive Bonus in 1934.

First, I examined the ongoing influence that has been exerted by the founders of the company. Lincoln Electric was founded by James F. Lincoln at the turn of the 20th century. His influence in leadership and his approach toward the customer has stood the test of time. James believed that the success of his company lay with the customer and a motivated labor force.

The general outlook of The Lincoln Electric Company shows that it was a successful company regardless of the death of James F. Lincoln in 1965. The many college management texts refer to the Lincoln plan as a model of achieving high worker productivity.

The Lincoln Electric Company was originally started by an entrepreneur named James Lincoln. Lincoln took out his second patent after his departure from Elliot-Lincoln Company, to begin the manufacturing of his new and improved motor. Taking this step began what is now known as the Lincoln Electric Company that went from employing 30 to over 2,400 employees. Lincoln had a plan that he knew would create a successful company but he could have never dreamed just how successful it would become.