Case Analysis for Company A

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4.1 Case Analysis for Company A

4.1.1 Innovation

For Company A, their innovation was stumbled upon via the current founder.

The innovation is kitchen accessories product. Although it was created by the current general manager, it was his wife that urged him to open the shop. For this reason for the past 20 years the general manager was fully focused on developing the product.

Due to the focus of developing the product, the salesforce was then left to the current assistance manager (wife).

The business model of this company is simple, the company changes according to the environment; Even though it has changed according to its

environment, their product still need to do a check to ensure that customers are getting the right product;

“Due to our product come in various sizes, before we ship them to our customers, we need to ensure that they are getting the correct sizes…”

Table 5. Company A Innovation Dimension

Dimension of Innovation Company A

Type of novelty of the innovation Product (Manufacturing) Degree of novelty of the innovation Radical

Type of the organization in which the innovation project took place

Private Company Size of the organization in which the

innovation project took place

Small < 50

Environment/sector Founder encourages new ideas

Table 5 above summarizes the company’s current innovation dimension. From here, due to the company based its business model on the market’s needs, the novelty of this company is radical. A radical business model means that their individual functions will be cross-functional. For example their information technology department might have to manage their website, while at the same time working on packaging design or writing out manuals. It may also be due to this flexible model that they are able to incorporate different divisions into their manufacturing division.

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4.1.2 Human Resource Practices

“In the beginning it was family run business, with one or two factory floor workers, but due to demands and the rise of internet, new members had to be considered, the additional members have me worried, due to we are only a manufacturer, we do not advertise or sale personally…”

Due to the change in needing additional members, the founder found it to be worrying that he doesn’t possess the required knowledge to manage and lead the additional team members, but as the need became a urgent, the general manager rather changed his style of leadership to a more subtle one, but the general manager still have to ensure that big decision still needs his approval;

“…I cannot management what I don’t understand, but big decisions still have to go through me, for example when the IT department want to join a platform, they will need to prepare a presentation for me , I would not ask how to operate, but rather why we need to join.”

To the general manager, quality seems to play a huge role in this company, due to the general manager said that the most important culture is to strive for the best quality. This in return can be reflected upon the ideal team, which would be a team that never ceases to stop innovating; this is due to the personality of the general

manager who likes to innovate new things to present to the market. While researching this company’s product, they have already created and patented 3 types of filters for different purposes. Another is communication, as the general manager pointed out, that in the past it was just family but now there are outsiders, where in the past if the general manager wanted to redo a batch of stock, it was easier cause the family share the same value, but with outsiders it may turn out different as to them, may seem like a waste of time for one tiny mistake;

“To me right now the ideal team should be like me, enjoy learning and

developing new products, as to the characteristic of the team the best is if they can fill in for one another, but most importantly is patient….”

Table 6 below summarizes company A’s human resource practice.

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Table 6. Company A’s Human Resource Practice

Human Resource Practice Company A

Recruitment & Selection There is no selection involved. As long as there is someone able to do the job.

As in the past it was just family members.

Performance Appraisal Quality of work and presentation.

Compensation (Award System) Unclear. Thru employee has to add shifts.

Training and Development Strive for quality of product

4.1.3 Human Intelligence

Taking the above into account, manufacturing industry seems to be a stable industry in Taiwan, but due to new ideas and ways of promoting products, the

industry’s SME need to gain new employees to help with the unknown field that they are unfamiliar with, such as information technology or promotion. To this company Human Intelligence (HI) is the action where people socialize or interact with one another to gain information.

“The personality of a person exchanging information in-between colleagues…”

4.1.4 On-Site Observation

Company A has one factory plant that is situated in a remote area just outside Taipei, Taiwan. Upon entering to reach the office, one must walk down the entire factory plant where the interview was held. While walking down the path there are a couple of scenarios.

1. There is a big trash can just next to the production line, filled with sealed products, upon further inquiry those are the deflects.

2. The information department is just a one man team in the corner of the office sector; the desk is piled with textbook about website design.

3. As each member of the office call each other by first name and are happily chatting away by the coffee machine. Even when the general manager walked by they do not seem tense.

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4. Each order that comes in must be double checked with the customer, where only one lady was doing the work.

Comparing observation with the interview there are couple of conclusions that one can derive. As the General Manager said that the core culture of the company is based on quality standards, the (1) scenario must be what the manager sees as poor quality. With a new department as the General Manager said is the information department as he has now working knowledge of that field, but by inspection of the information manager desk (2), it seems he/she, too, has no deep knowledge of that field. Whereas (3) in the office by referring to someone first name represents a close friendship or are able to feel free around one another, where even when the general manager walked pass they smiled and greeted, this refers to a non-hostile working environment. As mentioned above, it requires a lot of man power to just get the order right for the company’s business to customer sector (4).Further observation; there was only one person who was on the phone consistently while checking the orders. The process was long and problems tend to arise as the customers may think this is a prank call. There are also a few customers whom they cannot get in touch with, therefore to them personal orders are a hassle compare to just supplying them to stores and having the customers choose themselves. The reason they started personal orders was due to the rise of the internet, but due such eruptive decision to start virtual stores they are in short of information, technicians, as the current manager for the online store was the general manager’s daughter who does not have the knowledge to manage the virtual stores.