2 nd RESPONSE Discussion Question #6: Whistler Corporation

Peer Responses

Read the presentations and critiques of Presenters and Critics. Make at least three comments on their posts or the comments of other students by Sunday.

-150 TO 200 WORDS

-NO PLAGIARISM

-What activities would you consider to be a part of the short term action plan versus the long term action plan?  Please justify your response.

POST:

Review

In the Whistler Corporation case, newly appointed president is faced with the difficult task of reviving a company that is currently loosing $500,000 a month.  (Ellet, W. 2007, p. 256)  Whistler Corporation started of as a leader in a small niche market, radar detector maker.  The growing popularity of the product resulted in other players entering the game and underbidding each other with lower costs.  In order for Whistler to remain a in this “cost competitive” market its manufacturing process has to become more efficient. 

Options

The options faced by Charles Stott are: 

1.         Restructuring domestic manufacturing operations.

Pros

-       Improve efficiency and consistency of production.

-       Regulated quality control.

-       Reduce the “work-in-progress” time.

-       Eliminate lease costs, potential to close Fitchburg plant.

-       Reduce total labour force.

-       Flexibility to respond to the changing market. 

Cons

-       Potential risks of output disruptions.

-       Drop in employee moral with the closing of Fitchburg plant.

-       Increasing competition for “semi-skilled assembly workers”.

-       Costly to implement.

2.         Expend relationship with Korean consumer electronic company by outsourcing more production in their direction.

Pros

-       Reduce costs of production.

-       Decrease capacity issues.

-       Eliminate lease costs, potential to close Fitchburg plant.

-       No costs associated with the change.

Cons

-       Less control over quality of the product.

-       Long delivery times.

3.         Move all production aboard.

Recommendation

The best options for Whistler if the choice has to include maintain at least final production in the domestic market would be to restructure manufacturing.  Although this is the more expensive choice, it would offer company more potential for the future.  They remain in control of the production and any possible changes are easier to introduce.

References:

Ellet, W. (2007). The case study handbook; How to read, discuss, and write persuasively about cases. Brighton, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press.