The wallace group

1. 1. The Wallace Group Adnan Ahmed Ahmad Atif Abdullah Aamir Ansari Prashant Ramdas
Rachit Verma Dhruv Bhasin Maneck Debara
2. 2. Case Overview The Wallace group is devised from three sub-groups as: Electronics,
Chemicals and Plastics. Harold Wallace was the original owner of the electronics company,
but now has 45% of the stock and runs the group as Chairman and President of the
company. After acquiring the plastics company and then the chemical company. But each
of the three groups is run by a Vice President. Recently, Hal Wallace asked Rampar to
conduct a series of interviews with some key Wallace Group employees, in preparation for a
possible consulting assignment for Rampar Associates.
3. 3. Strength Vertical integration Diverse technical competence Running projects in
electronics and plastics business units, with guaranted sales Weakness Corporate vision,
mision, and business strategy are not clear BU operates like separated island Boundaries
between the roles of corporate stuff and BU staff are not well defined All BU are not
growing Group revenues depend mainly on defense No R&D function in any BU Work
force problem SWOT
4. 4. Opportunities Creating more vertical integration synergies Growing markets of
electronics and plastics Diversification to other markets or business Threats Reputation
damage due to slow respone to bid requests Failure to deliver on currentproject Bad
financial performance, especially in chemicals SWOT
5. 5. Problems Calling for resignation of the President: Based on Frances Rampar interview
with Harold Wallace, he stated that one of his managers called for resignation of the
President which is Harold himself. Even though the vote was defeated, it was clear that
people who voted are upset with the way things are going. Heavy dependence on
government contracts could put the corporation in financial difficulty if further sales
diversification cannot be found Unprofitable chemical division needs new management.
6. 6. Shared Value Unclear vision and mission (corporate strategy) Mostly based on
shareholder value (one perspective), which is supposed to be base on corporate value
Strategy: Consolidation when there was a good opportunity, but lack of support from the
internal as they have weak capacity Structure: Need to restructure when doing acquisition
System: No appropriate Human Resource Management System No integrated marketing
information system between business unit and corporate level.
7. 7. Style: Leadership style based on one man power, did not match with the organization
size. Considering the organization size, the appropriate leadership style is no longer telling,
but would be better if Wallace use participating or delegating leadership style. Skill: Not
enough skill to do their jobs (management skill for technical people and vice versa) Staff
Overlap jobs Lack of technical people as most of them recruited as management
8. 8. Other Low earning power (reflected in the inability of companys debt structure to afford
acquisition by themself) Failed to conduct transference pricing system as the materials
price higher than outsider supplier No good corporate governance PROBLEM ROOTS
Unsuitable Wallaces leadership style (considering the size of the company) Unclear
corporate strategy
9. 9. The Strategic Analysis Triangle WANT Management Preference Individual NEED
Environment Industry CAN Resource Capabilities and Organization Firm
10. 10. ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS The recommended strategy for Mr. Wallace to achieve this
goal is listed below in order of priority: Examine his personal management style, priorities,
direction for the company, and future goals for growth and development. Restructure the
departments based upon the needs of the new organizational structure and the company
goals. Utilize Rampar Associates to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing
operation. The outsiders will have fewer reasons to pull punches than staff members that can
be promoted or fired. Valuable criticism may come from specialized consultants, owners or
 board members other than the president or CEO, and even customers. Change and
develop the personnel services department into a fully operational a HR department.
11. 11. Recommendations Develop new organization chart and clearly define job
responsibilities. Establish a mission statement, goals and objectives with input put from the
VPs and Directors. Change management of chemical division or sell off based on
cost/benefit analysis to corporation. Conduct meetings at each level to get feedback
regarding the concerns of the employees, their ideas, strengths and weaknesses and any
other issues. This should begin with the VPs, then the Directors, and so forth for each
department. Encourage a continuous flow for the exchange of information. Involve the
entire staff in every stage of the evaluation project. Make sure that all managers
understand that it is a team effort. The overall profitability of the corporation is what is
important. This policy needs to be weighed in terms of overall profitability to corporation and
not individual departments
12. 12. CONCLUSION Competing effectively which requires investment commitment to
capabilities, assets, people and customers. To understand and formulate the wants of
customers , governments and what its competitors will do how the organizations own people
will perform. Prepare itself for future by planning strategic flexibility which requires the
companies to anticipate multiple scenarios; formulate strategies for each; acquire the
capabilities to execute those strategies; execute the most likely strategy; and be prepared
to rapidly adopt one of the alternatives if market forces dictate.