Chaparral Steel differentiates itself from other minimills because of the various activities at which they excel and the relationship among these activities. Four central and interplaying activity themes were clear in the Chaparral Steel case and will be used to build our first framework. Before modeling the framework-related contributions of the Chaparral Steel case, we want to establish a baseline for our framework. The building blocks or foundation of the framework will be based on what we believe is a "framework tautology": all companies share a fundamental framework that consists of allocating resource to acquire inputs and adding value to them to produce an output, which will be purchased by one or more companies. Using this tautology as a starting point, it is very simple to map Chaparral Steel's business to this rudimentary framework. Chaparral Steel allocates financial resource for the purchase of raw materials (scrap metal) and machinery, devotes personnel resource (manpower) to operating the machinery to reform the raw materials into finished steel products, and sells the finished products to various firms, such as builders.
The Chaparral Steel case gives us insight into the operations and successes of an industrial manufacturing company, which can be used to add to our framework. We identified four activity groups that are at the heart of Chaparral Steel's strategy and decision making process and, therefore, should be modeled. The four items are Chaparral Steel's leadership, its distinct culture, its technological advantage, and its high productivity. Furthermore, each of these critical elements follows a linear pattern. Chaparral Steel's leadership style was the primary influencer of the company's culture, whic...
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...velop new technologies, but unlike Chaparral they wanted this technology to be used across their product lines.
JPL: Similar to Chaparral, JPL employees would first come up with the task that needed to be completed, then try and develop the technology to accomplish the task.
High Productivity
Polaroid: Not similar to Chaparral, in that they didn't want to manufacture anything, they just wanted to be the company that owned the imaging standard.
MTC: Wanted to be like Chaparral since they were not efficient in their manufacturing process at all, their strength was in the development of the technology.
Canon: Similar to Chaparral in the manufacturing of the core technology, but not similar in their outsourcing of the remaining components.
JPL: Not similar in that they build prototype products only, there is no mass manufacturing involved in their business at all.
The company is also leading the way in innovativeness and has already received recognition for introducing innovative products. This is one of the strengths of the company since innovative products will help to differentiate its products from the other competitor products as well as the new products can be exclusively branded as compared to the other flagship products from older Soviet times.
For decades, the steel industry has been one of the toughest markets on a global scale with most steel corporations ending up in bankruptcy. Foreign and domestic competitors, management issues, environmental issues, political agenda’s and technology have had much to do with the demise and more so of the success of the steel industry. The issues that this case focus on Nucor Corporation was of:
Industry Analysis – Nucor has established itself as a leader in the steel industry through efficiency and innovation.
In terms of liquidity, Kodak is in a good position. This is due to the fact that
NASA New Frontiers is a program that is dedicated to deep observation of the solar system (discoverynewfrontiers.nasa.gov). Lockheed Martin is an advanced technology development company that built Juno for NASA (lockheedmartin.com). Though Lockheed Martin did build the spacecraft, Juno’s parts were gathered from all over the world (missionjuno.swri.edu). Juno was also tested in designated rooms to see if Juno could withstand the possible conditions of its trip and if it would need to be adjusted.
As we learn from the case study, the Lincoln Electric Company is the largest global manufacturer of machines for welding, which are used in all kinds of construction projects. This means that the company has a large global presence and many employees, so its culture affects thousands of its workers. Even though it is now 2014, the company still has a large market share and very satisfied employees, so clearly the culture leaves employees satisfied and motivates them to work hard for the company.
Leica introduced a small format 35mm camera in 1925. This smaller machine revolutionized the way photographers could transport the camera, as they could photograph discretely in all situations. (Uk.leica-camera.com, n.p.) Leica are considered a premium brand camera, well built and precise ensuring the images they create are quality. Leica, who are still a camera maker, have photographic galleries in Frankfurt, Los Angles, New York, Salzburg and Tokyo, alternating exhibitions of work that the Magnum Photographers captured. But from here, the 3...
...cing crystalline silicon and vertically integrate their manufacturing process, therefore further weakening the bargaining power of suppliers.
Eastman Kodak Company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of photographic equipment. It develops, manufactures, and markets photographic and chemical products for both amateur and professional photographers. The company's other products include X-ray films, pharmaceuticals, copier-duplicators, acetate fibers, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, and videocassettes. Kodak also provides film and equipment for commercial fields such as the healthcare and motion picture industries. Kodak also manufactures photographic equipment for the government’s aerial, space, and other scientific needs, including the fabled satellite reconnaissance cameras that can read a license plate from orbit—at least according to the lore of the Cold War.
Miles and Snow’s typology is centered on four types of businesses; each with its own strategy. These business types are those of prospectors, defenders, analyzers, and reactors. A prospector tends to be a firm which often introduces new products to the market (p.196). These businesses can be described as risk takers, typically being some of the first firms to introduce a new product to the market. Prospectors are flexible and meet industry changes head-on by rising to challenges and creating new and improved
· Unique Products- there is nothing that functions quite like GoPro in the media world
R&D and as a result Kodak could sell color film earlier than other companies. From one hand
When it comes to film and photography one company really comes to mind. Kodak is an American icon who flourished for over a hundred years, but who recently has not been able to adapt to the ever changing technological advances in their field. Kodak still exists today with a deep history in imaging history, but with globalization and technology changes they have struggled to survive this ever changing global environment.
...shed these devices with added features and improvements. However, they are still the same basic devices. These products, built upon incredible foresight and attention to detail, carried tremendous customer loyalty and high margins.
GM- focused differentiation, medium pricing, breadth of product line is high. A strength is market share, and a weakness is styling and reliability and perceived quality.