Micro Electronics Case Study

Decent Essays
SMA’s Micro-Electronic Products Division Problems and Possible Solutions 2002 was as difficult year for Spichty and the rest of the Micro-Electronic Products Division. Throughout 2002 and into 2003, Micro-Electronic Products Division had a sharp decline both in sales and in profit. There are a multitude of outside problems that have effected the division’s prosperity in the past few years. The major external problem is the current state of the economy. The economy is a major issue because consumers in general are buying less at this point in time. 2002-2003 was a rough moment for the electronics business according to the case. This meant increased competition among other micro-electronic companies. Competition meant that prices and gross …show more content…
The main problem was lack of a common goal among the division. This was true both during Amman’s leadership and during Spichty’s. Once Amman died, there still was no common goal and the company still had a bureaucratic structure, which did not change under Spichty. The company was rather stable, but had extreme centralization with functional departments but no common goal that everyone in the company was working towards. Centralization meant that only the top level executives were making the big decisions. This was especially any issue because not all of them had a common goal to …show more content…
This can be done just by the heads of all the departments and Guido Spichty meeting together to decide a goal. Something that can help this goal be achieved is the changing the structure of the company. Right now they are bureaucratic structure, but they would be more successful if they flattened their organizational structure of the company. There are 250 managers in the Micro-Electronic Products Division, 1 for every 5 workers and that is too many. They should decrease the number of managers. First, they need to decentralize the decision making. If people in lower levels are making some of the decisions, it gives them a sense of responsibility. Especially those working in the plants because the plants at the moment are located in different areas and the heads of many of the departments (like marketing and sales) are in Bienne. The head of all the departments including manufacturing, sales, product development, marketing and the general manager should have weekly meetings in Bienne discussing what is going on in each of their

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