Good Example Of Case Study On Herman Miller: A Corporate Case Study

Herman Miller is a furniture company that was first founded in 1905, and which was initially known as the Star Furniture Company. The company, based in Zeeland, Michigan, was known for interesting bedroom suits fashioned in historic revival styles. It was renamed the Herman Miller Furniture Company in 1923, and was incorporated in 1960. In the company’s early days, it only produced traditional wooden furniture, but while struggling during the great depression, the company began looking toward more modern designs as a means of survival. Today, the company is well known for its office chairs and workplace furniture pieces, and continues to reinvent itself as a means of rising to the top in the furniture niche (Herman Miller Company Timeline, 2015).
The company is built on the idea that it has not only values, but “values in action.” Herman Miller has publically dedicated itself to inclusiveness and diversity, operational excellence, environmental advocacy, community service and health and wellbeing. It wants to promote the idea that the company is united, and service minded, and reliability (Our Story, 2015).
Similarly, the company has created a company culture in which “conduct matters” (Walker, 2015). In an effort to ensure that every employee and consumer understands the ethics that the company operates under, Brian Walker, Herman Miller’s president and CEO released an updated Code of Conduct for the company, which establishes ethical standards and reflects the company’s core values. These ethical points include honesty, integrity, political uprightness, time management, legal compliance, accuracy, transparency, confidentiality, safety, and protection. Employees must refrain from drug use, sexual harassment, disrespect, and discrimination. Miller hopes that by remanding employees to this code of conduct, he can guide the company’s work activities in every Herman Miller location, and protect the company’s diversity and employee’s personal experience for years to come (2015).
In 2014 Herman Miller produced a strengthened balance sheet, with net sales of $1.88 billion dollars. This is a 6% increase over the 2013 fiscal year (2014 Proxy Statement, 2015). Orders for the year also increased by a total of 8.2%, and two major acquisitions were made which will drive the company’s increase in the 2015 fiscal year, allowing them to secure a 5th consecutive year of net growth.
According to the 2014 annual report, the 2014 Fiscal Year was focused on the SHIFT strategy, designed to strengthen the Herman Miller brand globally. The company acquired Design Within Reach for a total of $218 million dollars, and believes that this new help the company continue to reinvent itself “for the third time” in the year to come. This reinvention is based on four important “shifts” in the company’s future: a shift from products to solutions, a shift from the North American market to the Global stage, a shift from office products to everywhere products, and a shift from a solely industrial brand to an “industrial + consumer” brand. This vision of the company’s reinvention is significant because, according to Brian Miller, it feels like the natural next step for the company, and both embraces the brand’s heritage and looks to the future. The very fact that this could be considered Herman Miller’s third reinvention of the company proves that it is a brand that is willing to adapt to a changing market, and change the way they do business, or the products they feature in order to stay competitive and that says a lot about the company’s outlook in the future.
There is no doubt that Hermann Miller has shown a long-term dedication to both its employees and its brand. Looking to 2015, Herman Miller no doubt intends to undergo several major changes, but they are for the best and are designed to drive the company toward continued integrity and profitability in the years to come.

References:

Herman Miller, Inc. 2014 Proxy Statement and Annual Report. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/600544/20140808/CMBO_218032/HTML2/herman_miller-2014_0004.htm
Miller, B. (2015, January 1). Who Is Herman Miller?: Our Corporate Code of Conduct. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.hermanmiller.com/about-us/who-is-herman-miller/policies-and-legal-stuff/corporate-code-of-conduct.html
"Our Story. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.hermanmiller.com/about-us/who-is-herman-miller/our-story.html
Our Values in Action. (2015, January 1). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.hermanmiller.com/about-us/our-values-in-action.html