Free General Electric: Major Appliance Business Group Case Analysis Case Study Sample

Introduction

This case study analysis explores the problems and obstacles hindering the General Electric: Major Appliance Business Group, during the 1980s. When Jack Welch became the CEO in 1981, his vision was to turn GE: Major Appliance Business Group into a world class product design and that the company to be adorned as a world class factory. At that time, the company enjoyed manufacturing and automation competitiveness in both cost and quality. The capability of addressing workforce issues was well-managed. Initially, the objective and goal of achieving project global statement was first to accomplish a global dishwasher industry leadership in profitability and product quality. The company’s mission was to attain a global leadership in quality of life, productivity, and process quality; and to attain higher levels of job security via low cost and high quality products that gain an increased market share.

Issues in Implementing Project C

The propulsion to achieve Project ‘C’ came at a time when there was a high need to improve the quality of the environment in the factory. The required skills in training of technical problem solving were deficient. The factory realized that there was too much unwillingness from various stakeholders to revise the GE’s support and management information systems. Coupled with the need to add a value engineering development cycle, there was a big suggestion by the management and some personnel to drop the continuing construction of the integrated computer control room (Quelch, 1985).

Options

There were various alternatives that could have served the situation better, though only a few were viable and verifiable. The first option was to wait and implement no change until Project C had been complemented, as planned to be around the mid-1983. The management was further faced with alternative B, which was to go ahead and increase only $2.8 million (around 10%). The number three option was to return to the Board of Directors to seek authorization for budget increase.

Decision Criteria

Though Original Project C got an approval of the Board of Directors way back in 1979, it still needed modification. Now that the current situation revolved around recession and layoffs, the factory was torn between satisfying positive impact on HRM and timelessness with product and process quality. Some of the pending loopholes in the management’s core drive included: 1) increasing professional staff ;2) improving motivation; 3) not causing any delay for Project C; 4) reducing costs while increasing sales; and 5) reducing complaints from all corners (Noah, 2014).

Execution Plan

The execution plan was to: 1) gain commitment with all the involved team members; 2) communicate well and agree with the established union; 3) assign specific team members to spearhead each change; and 4) prepare effectual recommendation to the senior management/board. Within the prepared recommendation, risks, resource allocation, and additional costs should be completely incorporated (Trogdon, 2012).
Related Case Analysis: ASKO appliances (http://www.asko.com/)

Company

ASKO Appliances is a worldwide company that has a strong focus on environment and quality. It is the only manufacturer of washing appliances in the entire region of Scandinavia (Rricks, 2008).

Obstacle

Its technical writers face a challenge of generating manuals for thousands of different washing dryers and machines in multiple languages globally.

Solution

The invention of Skribenta* has enabled easy step-by-step process of retrieving information right from a few prime master manuals. This adoption has significantly reduced costs and time-to-market while improving quality control (Rricks, 2008).

Outcome

The company can create an exceptional manual within few minutes by just configuring information from accessible modules.

References

Noah, H. (2014, September 8). Electrolux takes on Whirlpool in US with $3.3B deal. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.cnbc.com/id/101978770#
Quelch, John A. ( March 1985). "General Electric Co.: Major Appliance Business Group (A)." Harvard Business School Case, 585-053.
Rricks, L. (2008, June 4). Welcome to ASKO. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from
http://www.asko.com/
Trogdon, B. (2010, October 14). Business Resources: Case Studies–Overview. Retrieved
March 1, 2015, from http://college.cengage.com/business/resources