1. What is your impression of Guajilote as a business venture?
This venture has been able to improve the income and quality of life of the members of the organization as narrated in the case. The members were earning 1500 annually but now they are earning this amount per month.
Another good point is that it has been able to raise the product prices partially.
There are concerns about the following: It has not been able to move up the value chain, in that it can not easily transport the product to the other places to fetch the better prices.
It has not been able to make its own furniture and export in the global market. The Co-op has limited managerial capacity and its members have limited education.
Overall I think it has been a successful business venture. However, to remain viable and profitable Guajilote must be able to change.
2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis of Guajilote.
Situational Analysis
Strengths
Networking
The leader has good networking abilities and enough political influence to get the work done for the organization.
Monopoly
The Coop has the sole rights for mahogany given by the government. Being the only authorized business in the country. Guajilote is the only organization that is given the legal right to exploit natural mahogany trees in Honduras. The cooperative simply has no competitors in the domestic market. COHDEFOR's permit renewal will be granted automatically as long as the business restricts itself to downed mahogany.
Community Loyalty
The members have a good relationship and are loyal to the Coop leader
Financial Position
The financial position of Coop members has improved considerably.
Mahogany wood sources are decreasing in the world
The amount of mahogany wood is limited in the world. This may lead to many threats like bans. However at the same time this is a great advantage for the cooperation in the domestic and international markets. There is a high probability that Guajilote will have more customers and take more orders in the future.
Strong leadership
Munguia established a strong leadership in the organization and has the capability to decide quickly during critical times. He has negotiations skills and he seems to have a good understanding of politics.
Weakness
Lack of transportation and distributors
Guajilote has no way to transport its wood to the market and the business is unable to secure the capital needed to buy its own truck due to difficulties in getting credit. Thus it is forced accept low prices for its wood from the only local distributorGuhas not been able to move up the value chain, like it can itself transport the product to the other places to fetch the better prices.
The threat of new entry for the industry is low, as considered by high costs and intense price competition, which make the industry’s profit margins very low. In the United States the market is concentrated, where the 50 top firms, including: Wal-mart, Kroger, Safeway
In order to be an effective leader, one must create a vision. There is much strategic planning that goes into the creating of that vision. The vision must be created by an influential leader who is capable of creating a direction and persuading others that his vision must not be only understood, but believed in. Dr. Joe DiDuro has accomplished this within the NTCA. The main goal of the organization is to create a world free of neuropathy (NeuroTCA, 2011).
Heroes and leaders have long had a popular following in literature and in our own imaginations. From Odysseus in ancient Grecian times to May Parker in Spider-man Two, who states, “We need a hero, courageous sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble” (Raimi, 2004). Organizations need heroes, too. We call them organizational leaders. The study of organizational leadership, then, is really the study of what makes a person a successful hero. Or, what processes, constructs, traits, and dynamics embody the image of a successful leader.
The Oxford dictionary defines an organization as a “…body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, association, etc.” Therefore, when a body of people is connected by a specific purpose or association, the presence of leadership, good or bad, is inevitable to find. However, depending on the context of the leadership, the climate of positivity or negativity involved in the leadership, that is what will determine the distance that the organization is able to propel forward.
The situation of Chiquita Brands International is serious. Bananas, the main source of revenue of Chiquita, cause an ethically questionable situation. Bananas are a very popular food in Europe and the United States because they is inexpensive and convenient. Especially the price of the fruit can only be provided because the bananas are grown in large plantations along the Equator. These large plantations cause social and environmental problems. In order to control the situation in Colombia Chiquita decides to pay paramilitary groups. Due to changes in legislation the ethical problems change to legal and political and thus become a big business risk. A decision must be made that will solve business and legal issues and will satisfy the situation in the country.
The market is dominated by a few large suppliers rather than a fragmented source of supply. There are no substitutes for the particular input. The suppliers customers are fragmented, so their bargaining power is low. The switching costs from one supplier to another are high. There is the possibility of the supplier integrating forwards in order to obtain higher prices and margins.
The members have been generating client bases in their own related businesses since 1999, previously, the members enjoyed mild success in their own businesses, and have been limited only by capital and available time.
There are high entry costs to enter the market. The large industry competitors already have captured the market share.
Change is the most crucial aspect of management. In a rapid competitive business environment, change is not only recurrent but also becoming complex. The case study Bega Cheese highlights how the firm has achieved change management from satisfying the needs of local market to being limited company of more than 50 countries globally. Through the case study, it is seen that Bega Cheese has undergone different stages of change process by implementing various effective cultural perspectives, to traditionally organizational designs concerning with structures and new forms, processes and boundaries to adapt to organizational change and eliminate resistance to change. Change is inevitable, and vital to achieve strategic objectives and competitive advantage in the market.
The natural resource of wood is being used at an unsustainable rate, with minimal effort to change societal views on the depletion of this valuable natural resource. Much of the wood we use today comes from old-growth tropical forests, and in many regions it is harvested illegally. Recently in England, it was revealed that the major department store, Marks&Spencers, made much of its garden furniture out of Nyato wood which was logged illegally from Indonesian rainforests. Looking at this problem from a micro-level orientation, we can clearly see how the actions of individuals in both Britain and Indonesia affect one another.
the different services offered by the organization, the target market of the organization, how the
High price in imports. Because our main ingredient is imported from the U.S., the exportation and freight costs are higher than those compared to a local company.
...lanned and things are just not going to work out. A leader with is experience and capability should be able to quickly assess the causes and try and fix those problem.
Therefore, the way the producers get the cocoa to the market is by after the beans are dried and packed into sacks, the farmer sells to a buying station or local agent. The buyer then transports the bags to an exporting company. The exporting company inspects the cocoa and places it into plastic bags. The cocoa is trucked to the exporter’s
Some actors are crucial to make logging and end-consumers meet, among which the World Bank, the Inter American, African and Asian Development Banks and the International Monetary Fund. The banks provide the necessary funding for the road infrastructure needed to access the forest, while the IMF --as well as the banks-- force tropical countries into increasing natural resources' exports in order to ensure external debt payments. Being forests one of the main resources available, they are at the front line of exports and are later substituted by other export oriented crops grown in place of the forest. Another very powerful player has now been added to ensure that transnational corporations make wood flow to the consumer markets: the World Trade Organization.