Black & Decker Power Tools Division - Case Study

3. What strategic alternatives would you suggest IKEA employ to further penetrate the U.S. market?

People generally like to stay in their comfort zone, they do not like changes. However, change is a necessary part of life, we see change in nature every day. Change can be positive or negative. We can choose to embrace the change or reject it, we also can choose to allow the change to have a negative or positive impact on our lives. Helmstetter lists six steps when dealing with change. First to recognize the change, then to decide if you are going to accept or reject the change. The next step is to choose your attitude toward the change, then choose how you are going to deal with it and what actions you are going to take. The last step is to evaluate your progress of accepting the change (Lamberton and Minor, 2012)

4.How would you change the approach if you carried out the activity again ? How?

Change should be seen as a challenge and embraced with enthusiasm (Marquis & Huston, 2012). In my professional and personal life, I view and respond to change as a way to make improvements to existing regulations and circumstances. I embark upon the quest with determination to succeed at whatever task is presented to me. Life without change can become unchallenging and stagnant (Marquis & Huston, 2012). As society and technology advance, you must incorporate the necessary transformations that arise with it.

Research your employer (or a company of your choice) and, using Table 6.1 (p. 187), determine which of the six potential manufacturing options has the greatest impact upon the organization and why. Submit a two to three page, APA style paper explaining your reasoning.

Recent research studies showed that B&D is one of the powerful brand names in the world because of its professional tools that has high quality in the industry.

3. The marketing strategy of company is not so convincing because they can extend their product range with good

e) Will Breezy be able to gain competitive advantage over local suppliers? Breezy could choose between cost leadership strategy or product differentiation strategy.

2. How have Deere’s business strategy choices strengthened or weakened its competitive position in the agricultural and construction equipment industries?

Bunnings is the market leader in this industry who gains 64% of total market share, followed by Mitre 10 with 13.0%, and Masters with 8.0% of market share (The Australian, 2016). The company’s revenue continuous increased since they started the business in 2011 to 2014, they gained total revenue around $1527 million in 2014 (Woolworths, 2015) but the company still got the loss from their operation expenses. Moreover, the sales dropped by 16% in 2015 that was the main reason for Lowe’s to delist the joint venture in the beginning of 2016 as it claimed that Masters has poor profit performance (IBIS, 2016). In the meantime, Woolworths publicised its intention either to selling the business or shutting it down (ABC, 2016, para. 15). Thus, there are several causes of these problems that Masters should solve in order to survive in this business and compete with its competitors.

In the 1990’s Black and Decker had a great position in the market for their products to appeal to the Professional Industrial segment and the Consumer segment but when it came to the Professional Tradesmen segment they were lacking. Their 9% market share vs. Makita’s 50% market share in the tradesmen segment was incomparable. Makita clearly had a better product in the eyes of the Professional Tradesmen. In the Professional Segment most of the people who buy the products are people who need these tools to make a living such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, and general remodelers. Black and

The six-images framework is a tool to conceptualize and understand the different ideal personas one may take on when navigating changes (Palmer, Dunford, & Buchanan, 2016). The six-images framework includes director, coach, nurturer, interpreter, navigator, and caretaker. Everyone will have a dominant image of change to consider as they approach change impact and resistance as they work to achieve change goals. This self-assessment will help one reflect and understand on their dominant change perspectives as well as analyze potential impacts in working with others through times of change.

From the issues raised in the section above, it can be seen that change is complex and there is not a single solution. However, a number of key areas of focus emerge.

The vision of Cooper Industries, as stated in the case, was to do an ‘outstanding job at the unglamorous part by making necessary products of exceptional quality.’ The goal was to operate in industries that had become somewhat of a necessity for consumers. Examples of such industries include: power transmission, hand tools, drilling and others. Cooper industries had started in 1833, as an iron foundry, and had existed most of its 150 years as a small sized maker of engines and compressors. However, all this changed in the 1960s, when the management decided to expand the company to lessen its dependence on the capital expenditures of the cyclical natural gas business.

In mid-September 2005, Ashley Swenson, the CFO of large CAD/CAM equipment producer must choose whether to pay out profits to the firm¡¦s investors or repurchase stock. On the off chance that Swenson pays out profits, she should likewise settle on the extent of the payout.