Nucor Corporation is constantly faced with obstacles and competition to overcome. This steel-making company whose name was formally adopted in 1972, has since been on a journey to join the ranks of the worlds leading steel companies. Although this is a highly profitable industry with a U.S. market of $94.9 billion, it is highly competitive and presents many bariers to entry. Three elements of competition in this particular industry include, 1.) Technology 2) Changes in cost and efficiencies and 3) globalization
Advances in technology can dramatically alter an industry’s landscape, making it possible to produce products at lower costs and opening up whole new industry frontiers. The management at Nucor believed they could use new technology to their advantage and make bolts as cheaply as foreign producers. The traditional integrated steel mills were outdated and inefficient compared to new electric minimills. Nucor embraced this new technology to produce steel. They became known for constructing state-of-the-art facilities at the lowest possible costs and for investing aggressively in plant modernization and efficiency improvements. New technology enabled minimills to triple their output in the 1990's. The new technology of twin shell electric arc furnaces helped minimills increase production, lower costs, and take additional market shares. Nucor’s use of advanced, efficient technologies enabled it to stay afloat when other companies could not. This use of technology also enables Nucor to lower many of the costs of maintaining environmental standards. With technological improvements to the plants and the production process, steel companies can better compete with each other. Because there is no real differentiation between products in the steel industry, companies will have to rely on technological innovation to profit in this industry.
As stated above, there is no real differentiation in products in this industry. Therefore steel companies have to be able to produce high quality products at low cost to compete. By improving production efficiencies and cost management, they will be a more profitable company. Nucor constantly spent money researching new ways to improve the production processes and keep up with the emerging markets. Nucor was known for constructing state-of-the-art facilities at the lowest cost and investing in plant modernizing and efficiency. At the Darlington plant the manger there developed a system where less time and less capital investment were required. This helped keep the fuel usage down and this was the only mill in the United States that was doing this.
Steel Corporations Forge Tyranny The 1960s marked a time of great change, turmoil, and innovation in American history. President John F. Kennedy worked hard to ensure the best for the citizens of the United States and that is why, when steel corporations raised their prices 3.5 percent in a time of economic distress, Kennedy responded with outrage. In his speech to the American people on April 11, 1962, President John F. Kennedy used a plethora of rhetorical strategies to persuade the American public to join his crusade against the greed of large steel companies. President Kennedy begins his address by immediately stating his opinion on the issue; that the actions of steel corporations “constitute a wholly unjustifiable and irresponsible defiance of public interest.”
Also, the competition between existing players in this industry is high. There are about 619,000 metal enterprises in the USA in 2005 (IBISWorld, 2007).There are many companies that produce different kinds of metal products in the market. Besides, the bargaining power of buyers is high because product difference for the buyers of the metal products is small. It is not easy to differentiate the quality of one metal product from another. In addition, the cost of switching for the buyers is low. The number of substitutes of metal products is also high thus the buyers have great bargaining power.
DuPont has been known for its low reliance on borrowings. In the 1970’s, the company had to assume a substantial portion of debt of Conoco, a newly acquired company. In 1983, the managers have to decide about the future optimal target debt ratio. Should the company continue to keep about 40% of its assets financed via debt or should it strive to lower its borrowings to 25%?
Nucor is the world’s largest recycler, recycling over 10 million tons of scrap steel annually. Nucor descended from auto manufacturer Ransom E. Olds, who founded Oldsmobile. The company evolved into the Nuclear Corporation of America, which was involved in the nuclear instrument and electronics business in the 50’s and early 60’s. Over the next five years, Valley Sheet Metal, Vulcraft Corporation and U.S. Semi-conductor Products joined the Nuclear Corporation. After suffering several money-losing years, in 1964 F. Kenneth Iverson was installed as president. Management then decided to integrate backwards into steel making, and in 1972 they adopted the name Nucor. Since then Nucor has established itself as a leader in the steel industry through efficiency and innovation. It now employs more than 7,000 people worldwide and has experienced tremendous growth under its new CEO Daniel R. DiMicco. SWOT Analysis Strengths • Low Cost Producer • Employee/Managerial Relations Leading Innovator • Low Debt Load • Overall industry leader Weaknesses Dependency on scrap metal
Black & Decker (B&D) is a global manufacturer and the world’s largest producer of power tools, power tool accessories, electric lawn and garden tools, and residential security hardware. The company was a pioneer in innovation and development of power tools and has used that position to build strong brand names that enjoy worldwide recognition. Key Causes for Poor Performance in the Professional-Tradesmen Segment The reason B&D has performed poorly in the professional-tradesmen segment is due to the positioning of the B&D brand in this segment. Poor positioning of the brand has resulted in customer confusion and negatively impacted customer perception of the brand in terms of being a quality product. B&D Performance in the Power Tool Industry Overall Any adjustments to B&D’s strategy in the professional-tradesmen segment must not have an adverse impact on their success in the consumer or professional-industrial segments. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the needs of each segment will be important in building a viable strategy to challenge Makita in the professional-tradesmen segment, while continuing to maintain share in the other two segments. _Consumer _Segment Professional-Tradesmen Segment This category consists of professionals who are buying a product for their own use on a job site. Their livelihood depends on the quality and performance, as well as the reflection on their skills that using a particular tool brings from others on the job site. Since they are purchasing their own tools, this segment needs this high quality performance at a reasonable price. However, since Makita and Milwaukee are both priced higher than B&D and are seeing greater success in this category, tradesmen are clearly willing to pay more for a product they perceive will be more effective for their use. Key needs for this market segment include: Performance and quality - {text:change} does the job needed to be done, doesn’t break down, produces high-quality results and more efficiently gets the job done. Reliability and durability - does the job every time and can be used for an extended period of heavy continual use. Safety Support from the Manufacturer – if the product breaks or performs poorly, access to replacement parts and service will be key in maximizing performance up-time.
In his analysis, Charles Fine goes on to note that as the speed of an industry accelerates, the advantage one company may gain shortens – advantages are temporary. This conclusion is somewhat intuitive since the research and development to production cycle gets s...
The railroad cause more efficient shipping and railroads was where industrial captains survived. “He went to London in 1872, saw the new Bessemer method of producing steel, and returned to the United States to build a million-dollar steel plant. Foreign competition was kept out by a high tariff conveniently set by Congress, and by 1880 Carnegie was producing 10,000 tons of steel a month, making $1 1/2 million a year in profit. By 1900 he was making $40 million a year, and that year, at a dinner party, he agreed to sell his steel company to J. P. Morgan. He scribbled the price on a note: $492,000,000” (). This quote illustrates how one man took one process of producing steel and turned it to riches. Carnegie life really represent “rags to riches”, because he came over as an immigrant who parents was seeking economic opportunity. Carnegie possessed many jobs, but Carnegie also possessed a keen sense of hard work. His hard work and friendly personality put him in a position to be noticed by his boss. One of the men Carnegie met in his early work career was Thomas A. Scott, which erupted his impressive career at Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie always loved steel since his first encounter with it, from there he knew steel would revolutionize the world. Carnegie was able to achieve great success through vertical integration. Vertical integration is the process of controlling the entire manufacturing of the industry. For example, Carnegie controlled the marketing and production of the steel, thus saving him and his steel corruption an abundance of money. Carnegie monopoly produced more steel than Britain by itself. In addition to vertical integration, there was horizontal integration, which was used by John D. Rockefeller. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller possessed knowledge to get him rich. Rockefeller horizontal integration allowed him to get rid of competition. “John D.
Based on the analysis shown above, Inco was able to effectively apply modern day strategies of management to survive throughout the 20th century. This pivotal establishment of contemporary expansion and industrial advancement was seen in various situations throughout its history. For instance, it was largely dependent as the sole provider of nickel to produce armaments – essential during wartime conditions. Its early phase of monopoly instigated Inco’s successful position as the world’s supplier of nickel, thus the company required intelligent administration to protect sales from new competitors. With the leadership of Robert Stanley, they were able to fight through various obstacles and this was assisted through his formation of nickel’s research and development department. Understanding this point, it displays how Stanley’s urbanized approach in conducting business, influenced the utilization of commodities entirely. Under his guidance, nickel was able to find new applications in a booming automobiles, and aircraft industry. Both these industries have come a long way since its origination, and Inco proved to be extremely essential of impacting the development. Furthermore, Inco’s ability to overcome issues concerning the labour force and environmental hazards demonstrates the company’s determination to
Wikipedia states “Nucor Corporation, a Fortune 300 company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest steel producer in the United States, and the largest of the so-called "mini-mill" steelmakers (those using electric arc furnaces to melt scrap steel, as opposed to companies operating integrated steel works with blast furnaces). Nucor is North America's largest recycler of any material, recycling one ton of steel every two seconds. The company's total annual steelmaking capacity roughly is 25 million tons.[2] Nucor operates 23 scrap-based steel production mills.” Nucor employs 20,000 non-union employees across the United States.
Other possibly meaningful factors that cannot be forgotten include: higher yields (due to process quality and use of more efficient, larger silicon wafers), use of common core design for different products supported by the flexibility of production lines (which enabled cost-efficient production of a wide variety of different semiconductors), and – reportedly – 12 per cent lower investment in capital assets related to the aforementioned strategic decision on fab collocation.
In 1910, S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker started their business Black and Decker. Six years later they introduced the first portable power tool and the company has been growing and changing the world ever since (Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., 2011a). In 1990, Black & Decker acquired the Emhart Corporation that included locks and lock set products (Cummings & Worley, 2009). With the introduction of this new product and Black & Decker’s desire to improve their global market, Fred Grunewald worked to develop an intervention to restructure the organization. In this effort, he identified that they needed to reduce and consolidate the different models and manufacturing efforts within the organization (Cummings & Worley, 2009). This would mean increasing their need for global integration and reducing their need for customized products which is described by Cummings and Worley (2009) as global orientation. However, there are issues with globalization that must be understood and addressed in their strategic change plan to ensure that the new strucutre is effective and has the desired effects on the outcomes.
The Company’s Vision for Tata Steel: “to seize the opportunities of tomorrow and create a future that will make it an EVA positive Company and to continue to improve the quality of life of its employees and the communities it serves”
Samsung Electronics Company (SEC) began doing business in 1969 as a low-cost manufacturer of black and white televisions. In 1970, “Samsung acquired a semiconductor business” which would be a milestone that initiated the future for SEC. Entering the semiconductor industry would also be the beginning of the turnaround phase for SEC. In 1980, SEC showed the market its ability to mass produce. SEC became a major supplier of commodity products (televisions, microwave ovens and VCRs) in massive quantities to well known original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For this reason, Samsung was able to easily transition into a major player in the electronic products and home appliances market (Quelch & Harrington, 2008).
Woodman, Chester L., Kurt Kuster. ?Small shop, big decision.? American Machinest (Apr. 2001): 78 EBSCOhost. Online. Nov. 2002 .