JWI 540 Strayer Digitization of Systems & Talent DEV an Excellent Strategy Response

Dr. Sturtevant and fellow students,

Using the company you have selected for your Strategy Development Project, describe one idea to generate substantial top line revenue growth. As you describe and assess this potential move, refer specifically to Figure 4.1 (p. 77) in Chapter 4 of Sherman and to the other readings from this week to support your response.

• Do you predict your idea will generate short-term growth, long-term sustainable growth, or both?

Our strategic plan focuses on the short-term growth over the next 3 years that will lay the foundation for long-term sustainable growth. At our Asheboro location, we have developed a strategic plan focusing on five key value drivers: EHS, Smart Factory, Integrated Supply Chain, Center of Excellence, and Talent Development. These value drivers will focus on reducing manufacturing costs and increase capital utilization to improve profit margins.

• How can you keep your competitors from easily copying your strategy?

Our competitors will also be focusing on internal cost reduction to produce a cheaper tool with good performance to take away market share which is why we have to be continuously innovating with new products and making smart investments to reduce our operating costs.

• What costs, systems, or capabilities are necessary for this growth to occur?

We have to focus on productivity improvement savings projects that come from capital investments and non-capital projects/ideas from continuous improvement/Operation Excellence. We can focus on setup reduction, cycle time reduction, procurement activities in buying cheaper raw material or production consumables by leveraging our relationships and spend with our suppliers. It takes a team effort from engineering, technology, finance, procurement, and operations to achieve these growth goals.

Here is a screenshot of our three-year road map to communicate our strategy not only to our senior leadership but to our hourly team members to ensure alignment and moving towards the same goal(s) (1). It shows where we are and where we want to go.

Joel White

References:

1. Leonard Sherman. 2017. If You’re in a Dogfight, Become a Cat! Columbia Business School.

Hello Dr. Sturtevant and Classmates:

As shared with everyone during our last DQ, I chose WSP Global Inc. (WSP, 1) as the subject of my assignments. WSP is a competitor of EXP Services Inc., the company I currently work for. Since EXP is not a publicly-traded consulting firm, I thought it would serve my assignment and current employment to find out more about one of our most successful competitors (JWI, 2).

To answer this week’s DQ, I needed to consult WSP’s website and peruse through the company’s latest annual report (WSP, 3). Initially operating under the name Genivar, the firm went through a series of mergers and acquisitions over the years. Those led the new company to achieve top line and bottom line growth, access niche markets, increase product diversity and provide an expanded line of services (Bragg, 4; Sherman, 5, JWI, 6). Employing 15,000 people in 300 offices worldwide, WSP faces stiff competition in the transportation industry, where 21 other consultants provide similar services in North America.

To support WSP in its top line revenue generation, the company could offer Mobile Materials Quality Assurance and Control Services to its clients. This could be achieved by using mobile laboratories to serve projects requiring an immediate response to materials testing, failure analysis, and quality control. Onsite labs provide a better return on capital investment than stationary offices located miles away from construction sites because of extra direct and indirect costs. This addition to the services provided by WSP would disrupt the industry in the short term because the company would be able to provide a “one-stop shop” for transportation services related to bridge and road construction. Consequently, this would generate short-term growth with low risk on the investment (JWI, 6).

It would be difficult to keep competitors away from copying this strategy. In fact, some have already moved forward with the concept on a smaller scale. But even then, it could take up to 4 or 5 years to be discovered and implemented by others since the conditions of the concept shall remain undisclosed by clients and out of competitors’ sight. The benefits of mobile services are providing increased operational performance, expediting services to clients, and reducing the cost of using local subcontractors to perform required QA/QC management services. As we learned during our Operational Excellence course, quality control is essential to achieving conformance quality (JWI, 7). I believe that it is best to manage it internally than to rely on other companies’ quality programs, resources, priorities, and values.

It is suggested that this service be initiated by providing three mobile units at an approximate cost of $350,000. Each unit shall be operated by competent Senior Technologists who can operate QA/QC equipment. The proposal seems quite attractive as it would bring a good return on the investments by paying all money invested within five years and generating an NPV of $148,487 and an IRR of 18.42% for a discount rate of 10%. The IRR is more generous than inflation or the return rate from investing elsewhere. Consequently, I believe this investment is worth pursuing.

Table 1

Thank you,

References

1. WSP Global Inc. 2021. www.wsp.com
2. JWI 540. Week 2. EOP Video. Know the Competition. Jack Welch.
3. WSP. 2020. Annual Report. file:///C:/Users/17809/Documents/JWMI/9_JWI540%20Strategy/WSP%202020%20Annual%20Report.pdf
4. Steven M. Bragg. 2020. The CFO Guidebook 4th Edition. Accounting Tools, Inc.
5. Leonard Sherman. 2017. If You are in a Dogfight, Become a Cat! Columbia Business School Publishing.
6. JWI 540. Week 3. Lecture Notes.
7. JWI 550. Operational Excellence. Week 7. Lecture Notes.