1. Give a synopsis of the case. Nucor's has had a stimulating company history that emerged from two corporate failures. Nuclear Corp. which objective was to participate in the conglomerate trend popular at the time. Nuclear at this time acquired a various high-tech business, such as radiation sensors, semiconductors rare earth, and air conditioning equipment. The company did not create profits and was eventually reorganized in 1966 with Ken Iverson in charge. Iverson should be viewed as the founding father of what we know as Nucor today. Iverson was hired because of his great knowledge and experience of both Aeronautical engineering and business management. He singled handily prevent Nucor's 1965 Bankruptcy by liquidity and permanently closing esoteric, unprofitable, unrelated, high-tech divisions and concentrated on the steel joist business. This action proved to be successful. Nucor contained on this successful trend by opening additional joist plants and in 1968 …show more content…
The company has invested in the employees to achieve their company success. Nucor maintains low costs by keeping the employee force at the level it should be, not doing things that aren't necessary to achieve our goals, and allowing people to function on their and their own and by judging them on their results. To keep a cooperative and productive workforce you need, number one to be completely honest about everything, number two to allow each employee as much as possible to make decisions about their work , to find easier and more productive ways to perform duties and their and number three, to be as fair as possible to all employees. As an HR Major, I can really appreciate this method of self-evaluation and feedback process. I think this a bit too much independence in my opinion but I really do think that this is a great exercise to gain feedback from lower level employees on daily task to keep cost down and a productive
National Fabricators Inc. is a company that specializes in the manufacturing of lockers, school furniture, toilet partitions, steel shelving, and is now currently owned by Tom Kruger after buying out $75,000 of shares from shareholders in 1992. The industry is very competitive as costs are rising and prices being cut while the economy declines at the same time. As the president of National Fabricators, Tom Kruger needs to bring the company back on its feet in order to generate profits and reduce its losses of $480,315 and outstanding bank loans of $784,000. Tom Kruger also predicts that sales would fall as much as 10% during the 1994 fiscal year due to government cutbacks on medical and educational spending as
3/ What is your recommendation regarding Nucleon’s long-term manufacturing strategy? What should this company look like in 10 years (e.g. an R&D boutique, an R&D boutique with pilot scale manufacturing capabilities, or an integrated manufacturing enterprise)?
There are many competitive forces that are affecting Nucor Corporation. Some of the primary ones are the market size, number of rivals, and pace of technological change.
It gives the opportunity to provide structured feedback and reflection and recognise ay achievements as well as identify any performance issues.
This is information that can be used when doing staff appraisals. It shows me areas of improvement that are needed for each individual so I can plan relevant courses for them which will all help the overall customer service offered in my salon. Staff reviews take place annually in the salon and allows us to look at the standard of work over the past year and set targets for the year ahead. It allows me to give feedback to each staff member individually and I find it strengthens the relationship between us. It also gives employees the chance to tell me what they think and what their aspirations are for the future.
Nucor has been facing many industry challenges including the overall development of the industry. They are competing with foreign firms on cost and efficiency. Nucor has a low cost strategy because as they say their product is not necessarily very attractive. It does not have attractive or unique selling features other than its cost. The commodity of steel is in a very competitive market. Nucor understands that innovation and productivity are going to be key factors to keep their buyers satisfied with their prices. Nucor is facing many challenges with a growing world market and many of their competitors merging in order to create stronger more dominate
Formal employee appraisals provide a strong reinforcement of the corporate aims and values. It gives managers an opportunity to show employees how their individual roles contribute to the company goals and give feedback to the impact that the employee has on those goals. It also provides management with a solid forum for
The challenges faced by Nucleon, Inc. present more of an issue with how to take full advantage of an opportunity in front of them, rather than a problem that poses a threat to the company. As a company in its early stages, only putting out its first product, it is critical that it is done in a manner that allows the budding firm to grow. The main issue here is determining the most effective means by which they are to manufacture and market their first product, CRP-1. Doing so requires in-depth evaluation of three strategic options, all with their own benefits and potential risks. The problem statement, therefore, is as follows:
The reason we decided to participate in a staff survey was because the company was expanding rapidly and we wanted to ensure that we continue to have a happy workforce. We realised the best way to do this is by encouraging feedback from our staff.
Nucor Corporation is made up of 11,500 teammates whose goal is to "Take Care of Our Customers." We are accomplishing this by being the safest, highest quality, lowest cost, most productive and most profitable steel and steel products company in the world. We are committed to doing this while being cultural and environmental stewards in our communities where we live and work. We are succeeding by working together.
Another recommendation that I have for Nucor is instead of buying existing plant capacity, make new plants elsewhere or form a joint venture with a supplier to help save money. (Exhibit 3) This would decrease cost of supplies so they would have the extra money to build elsewhere or build a ne plant. By using the SWOT analysis (Exhibit 1) it let me break up Nucor into different parts to see what their strengths and weaknesses are. Nucor is solid with technology and treating the employees correct but the weaknesses that affect Nucor are more market based with some internal problems. Nucor has products for many different industries including automotive and housing. This can cause issues for Nucor if those industries take a fall, which they have over the last 5 years. It’s a good idea to be in these industries but Nucor has to realize what can happen to sales and revenues when one or both of those industries take a fall. Nucor has been expanding more in the United States, recently just building a plant in Louisiana (Exhibit 5). This plant will be a 750 million dollar purchase and will be a mill for pig iron. Nucor is expanding all over the United States but needs more presence internationally plan and simple. Nucor is a solid company with shareholder equity increasing each year; they have a solid stock in the NASDAQ market and continue to be a healthy steel company. They can and will
Nucor is a classic case in how a firm can develop sustainable competitive advantages through resources that fit the VRIO criteria. It is worth noting that Nucor has achieved this in an industry that few would describe as attractive.
Over the years Nucor emerged as a market leader in the American steel producing industry due to its sustainable growth strategies and incorporation of sophisticated technologies that enables the company to grow exponential and become a market leader by offering high quality steel products at lower costs. The company backed its growth strategies by massive integration in the American market. However, this growth strategy proved to be predominant in capturing the American market thus ignoring the potential competitive threats that could come from foreign steel producers. This included both steel producers integrating with American minimills and foreign producers who used America as a lucrative export market and dumped their products.
Nucor has created a company that is both internally and externally fit to the environment. The firm responds well to the driving forces of the industry and has opted to take a low-cost strategy with the relentless pursuit of innovation and strong employee productivity in order to combat the issues of the steel industry. In 2000, Nucor decided to expand its operations by acquiring new firms and new factories while continuing with its low-cost operations. The competitive strategy of Nucor has helped it become one of the leading manufacturers of steel and steel products in the United States.