newmarble
Background:
Roscoe Nondestructive Testing, Inc. was founded in 1973 by Hans Norregaard in Louisiana. The firm mainly focused on inspection of large boilers in pulp and paper mills located in eastern Louisiana by doing nondestructive testing (NDT). The company was sold to National Inspection Services (NIS) in 1980. The increased competition caused by the slowdown of the pulp and paper mills industry and the poor relationship with technicians leaded to disappointing performance, and as a result, NIS decided to divest in 1984. Norregaard and Porter bought back Roscoe from NIS facing challenges from keen competition and poor customer satisfaction. Although quality improvement program (QIP) had been imposed, the effectiveness of the QIP was in concern as the company continued to loss customers and profits were negligible. As the market was becoming more and more price sensitive, Porter needed to reconsider whether the business should continue to use the quality-based strategy or redirect to the price-based strategy.
Competitors Analysis:
The NDT market can be categorized into four types of companies:
1) Mom and pop labs are firms that usually provide single type of inspection service with small number of employees and customer base.
2) Nation-wide companies have high level of brand recognition with labs around the country. These companies provides wide range of inspection services for various industries and individual offices usually target narrow market segment.
3) Specialty firms focus on niches market with specific needs. Barriers to entry into the specialized market are high as specialty firms have highest skilled technicians and heavy investment in equipment.
4) Regional firms are bigger than Mon and pop labs. Although these firms have the resources to serve largest inspection jobs, regional firms usually lack the brand recognition and market strength of the nation-wide companies.
Roscoe is in the regional firms segment and therefore is
Roscoe Nondestructive Testing, Inc. was founded in 1973 by Hans Norregaard in Louisiana. The firm mainly focused on inspection of large boilers in pulp and paper mills located in eastern Louisiana by doing nondestructive testing (NDT). The company was sold to National Inspection Services (NIS) in 1980. The increased competition caused by the slowdown of the pulp and paper mills industry and the poor relationship with technicians leaded to disappointing performance, and as a result, NIS decided to divest in 1984. Norregaard and Porter bought back Roscoe from NIS facing challenges from keen competition and poor customer satisfaction. Although quality improvement program (QIP) had been imposed, the effectiveness of the QIP was in concern as the company continued to loss customers and profits were negligible. As the market was becoming more and more price sensitive, Porter needed to reconsider whether the business should continue to use the quality-based strategy or redirect to the price-based strategy.
Competitors Analysis:
The NDT market can be categorized into four types of companies:
1) Mom and pop labs are firms that usually provide single type of inspection service with small number of employees and customer base.
2) Nation-wide companies have high level of brand recognition with labs around the country. These companies provides wide range of inspection services for various industries and individual offices usually target narrow market segment.
3) Specialty firms focus on niches market with specific needs. Barriers to entry into the specialized market are high as specialty firms have highest skilled technicians and heavy investment in equipment.
4) Regional firms are bigger than Mon and pop labs. Although these firms have the resources to serve largest inspection jobs, regional firms usually lack the brand recognition and market strength of the nation-wide companies.
Roscoe is in the regional firms segment and therefore is