Assignment:
Consulting strategy
Case Study 2.4---- WIDGETS 'R US
Widgets 'R Us (WRU) is a medium-size firm specializing in the design and manufacturing of quality widgets. The market for widgets has been stable. Historically, WRU has had a functional organization design with four departments: Accounting, Sales, Production, and Engineering. It has served them well as they were able to compete by being the low price company in the industry.
In the past three years, the demand for widgets has exploded. New widgets are constantly being developed to feed the public's seemingly insatiable demand. The average life cycle of a newly released widget is about 12-15 months. WRU is finding itself, unfortunately, unable to successfully compete with its rivals in this new, dynamic market. The CEO has noted a number of problems. Product is slow to market. Many new innovations have passed by WRU because the company was slow to pick up signs from the marketplace that they were coming. Internal communication is very poor. Lots of information gets kicked "upstairs" and no ine seems to know what happens to it. Department heads constantly blame other department heads for the problems.
Questions:
1) You have been called in as consultant to analyze the operations at WRU. What would you advise?
2) What are the strength and weakness of alternative solutions they could employ?