The Wallace Group Case Study
Read "The Wallace Group," Case below and answer the following questions.
1. What is the most important problem facing the Wallace Group?
2. What recommendation(s) would you make to Mr. Wallace, and in what order of priorities?
3. How do you educate a manager to manage an organization as it evolves over time from an entrepreneurial structure to a more sophisticated and complex organizational structure?
The Wallace Group
By: Laurence J Stybel
Frances Rampar, President of Rampar Associates, drummed her fingers on the desk. Scattered before her were notes. She had to put the pieces together in order to make an effective sales presentation to Harold Wallace. Hal Wallace was the President of the Wallace Group. He had asked Rampar to conduct a series of interviews with some key Wallace Group employees, in preparation for a possible consulting assignment for Rampar Associates. During the past three days, Rampar had been talking with some of these key people and had received background material about the company. The problem was not finding the problem. The problem was that there were too many problems!
BACKGROUND OF THE WALLACE GROUP The Wallace Group Inc., is a diversified company dealing in the manufacture and development of technical products and systems. The company currently consists of three operational groups and a corporate staff. The three groups include Electronics, Plastics, and Chemicals, each operating under the direction of a Group Vice President. The company generates $70 million in sales as a manufacturer of plastics, chemical products, and electronic components an systems. Principal sales are to large contractors in governmental and automotive markets. With respect to sales volume, Plastics and Chemicals are approximately equal in size, and both of them together equal the size of the Electronics Group. Electronics offers competence in the areas of microelectronics, electromagnetic sensors, antennas,
1. What is the most important problem facing the Wallace Group?
2. What recommendation(s) would you make to Mr. Wallace, and in what order of priorities?
3. How do you educate a manager to manage an organization as it evolves over time from an entrepreneurial structure to a more sophisticated and complex organizational structure?
The Wallace Group
By: Laurence J Stybel
Frances Rampar, President of Rampar Associates, drummed her fingers on the desk. Scattered before her were notes. She had to put the pieces together in order to make an effective sales presentation to Harold Wallace. Hal Wallace was the President of the Wallace Group. He had asked Rampar to conduct a series of interviews with some key Wallace Group employees, in preparation for a possible consulting assignment for Rampar Associates. During the past three days, Rampar had been talking with some of these key people and had received background material about the company. The problem was not finding the problem. The problem was that there were too many problems!
BACKGROUND OF THE WALLACE GROUP The Wallace Group Inc., is a diversified company dealing in the manufacture and development of technical products and systems. The company currently consists of three operational groups and a corporate staff. The three groups include Electronics, Plastics, and Chemicals, each operating under the direction of a Group Vice President. The company generates $70 million in sales as a manufacturer of plastics, chemical products, and electronic components an systems. Principal sales are to large contractors in governmental and automotive markets. With respect to sales volume, Plastics and Chemicals are approximately equal in size, and both of them together equal the size of the Electronics Group. Electronics offers competence in the areas of microelectronics, electromagnetic sensors, antennas,