Solomon Garber
BPL 5100 - Prof. LaManna - Individual Case Study
Case# 275
Interboro, once a small manufacturer of scalpels and other surgical equipment,
became the world’s best-known maker of prosthetic limbs and surgical implants under
the leadership of Jack Dodson. The structure of the company, under Dodson, was very
unique. As CEO, Dodson would routinely conceive new product ideas, go directly to his
R&D department and see the product through from inception to completion. In the
following case study analyses, I will analyze what went wrong with Interboro, as well as
advise Ms. Francesca Fortas on the appropriate direction to take the company as she takes
over from Mr. Dodson.
Interboro’s weaknesses under Dodson’s …show more content…
I have illustrated the situation below:
There is a very unique correlation between the company’s strengths, weaknesses and external environment. The lack of communication between Jack and his team, a weakness, directly leads to the company falling behind the competition, its external environment. The company’s corporate level strategy is in shambles. When the CEO secludes himself from the rest of his team and only focuses on one aspect of business level strategy, product innovation, the company will not operate at full capacity.
Interboro’s business level strategy can be summed up in the following quote by its head of production, Frank Tambor: “he didn't have much faith that anyone in the company could come up with ideas, so he didn't really develop the capability.” When analyzing this quote, we can conclude that their was close to zero employee participation in
Interboro’s day to day operations.
My biggest recommendation to Francesca Fortas, the new CEO set to take over
the reigns from a deceased Jack Dodson, is to recreate the Jack Dodson model of strong
leadership. Francesca must adopt a hybrid model, one that uses Jack’s confidence …show more content…
It is easy to institute and drives
immediate action and results. Francesca is not suitable to oversee an entire reorganization
of the company, rather, by utilizing her technological skills and business savvy, and
adopting this hybrid model of strong leadership by employee involvement, she will likely
champion Interboro into a new era of profitability.
It is possible to adopt this hybrid model; it has been done before, most notably by
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. Mr. Welch was going to quit his first engineering
position at General Electric because he was dissatisfied with the bureaucratic ways in
which the company operated. He was persuaded to stay and eventually was promoted to
VP. He used his new position to simplify the management structure while at the same
time vouching to be #1 or #2 in the industries GE participated in. This is precisely what
Francesca must accomplish. Simplify the management structure, as opposed to an entire
reorganization, while being as aggressive as Mr. Dodson was at getting products to
market. The bottom line is that more people need to be involved in the entire operation,
from product brainstorming and design to manufacturing and
BPL 5100 - Prof. LaManna - Individual Case Study
Case# 275
Interboro, once a small manufacturer of scalpels and other surgical equipment,
became the world’s best-known maker of prosthetic limbs and surgical implants under
the leadership of Jack Dodson. The structure of the company, under Dodson, was very
unique. As CEO, Dodson would routinely conceive new product ideas, go directly to his
R&D department and see the product through from inception to completion. In the
following case study analyses, I will analyze what went wrong with Interboro, as well as
advise Ms. Francesca Fortas on the appropriate direction to take the company as she takes
over from Mr. Dodson.
Interboro’s weaknesses under Dodson’s …show more content…
I have illustrated the situation below:
There is a very unique correlation between the company’s strengths, weaknesses and external environment. The lack of communication between Jack and his team, a weakness, directly leads to the company falling behind the competition, its external environment. The company’s corporate level strategy is in shambles. When the CEO secludes himself from the rest of his team and only focuses on one aspect of business level strategy, product innovation, the company will not operate at full capacity.
Interboro’s business level strategy can be summed up in the following quote by its head of production, Frank Tambor: “he didn't have much faith that anyone in the company could come up with ideas, so he didn't really develop the capability.” When analyzing this quote, we can conclude that their was close to zero employee participation in
Interboro’s day to day operations.
My biggest recommendation to Francesca Fortas, the new CEO set to take over
the reigns from a deceased Jack Dodson, is to recreate the Jack Dodson model of strong
leadership. Francesca must adopt a hybrid model, one that uses Jack’s confidence …show more content…
It is easy to institute and drives
immediate action and results. Francesca is not suitable to oversee an entire reorganization
of the company, rather, by utilizing her technological skills and business savvy, and
adopting this hybrid model of strong leadership by employee involvement, she will likely
champion Interboro into a new era of profitability.
It is possible to adopt this hybrid model; it has been done before, most notably by
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. Mr. Welch was going to quit his first engineering
position at General Electric because he was dissatisfied with the bureaucratic ways in
which the company operated. He was persuaded to stay and eventually was promoted to
VP. He used his new position to simplify the management structure while at the same
time vouching to be #1 or #2 in the industries GE participated in. This is precisely what
Francesca must accomplish. Simplify the management structure, as opposed to an entire
reorganization, while being as aggressive as Mr. Dodson was at getting products to
market. The bottom line is that more people need to be involved in the entire operation,
from product brainstorming and design to manufacturing and