Mid-term Compton Geotechnical Associates Inc. (CGA) will be a competitive company in the geological services industry in the near future. The strengths of the company’s experience in geological engineering and a focused targeted market give favorable expectations for the company. A diverse group of staff provide a background to provide the services required to flourish in a growing market. The company does have some weak links and one will be the amount of initial debt required to start the company. In the current climate of geological engineering services the growth due to national and local regulations is trending up. This allows new companies to startup and become profitable very quickly. The market is growing at such a large rate that the effects on another geo-engineering company due to the success of this company will be minimal. The strong industry growth will allow several similar companies to thrive and become financially stable. Diversity in clients will be the key to sustained success in the industry. This is a vital point in CGA’s business plan and if attained will allow them many years of financial success. The experience that Mr. Martin Cooper will be deploying in his staff as well as on his management team will be a strong key to the initial and long-term success of CGA. A diverse and dedicated staff with years of experience will give the company a strong marketing tool. The staff is not only experienced in geo-engineering services but well respected in the industry. The diverse staff will allow the company to focus on key areas to service and customize each project to fit the needs of the client; therefore strengthening the bond between the company and its clients. CGA’s strong experience and diverse staff will provide them a strong reputation in the geo-engineering industry. The focus of services to a specific centralized clientele with special needs gives the company an effective strategy to service clients in a growing market. The services to clients that have regulations to provide geo-engineering studies will permit the company to enhance their reputation in the industry. This is key to the company’s plan to become profitable by year two because of the instant clientele those regulations provide. The target markets are diversified enough that the fluctuation of the industry should have minimal effect on the CGA’s success. The strategy to market to a limited geographical area with CGA’s staff reputation is an effective solution to the potential problem of battling larger geo-engineering firms for contracts. The financial solution that CGA will deploy is a slight risk in their business plan. The risk of taking out significant loans to start up the company could be a hindrance to the profitability of the company if their projections fall short. CGA expects to acquire several projects immediately with the projection of breaking even by year two. The potential weakness of the scheme is if they are not successful in acquiring those projects some loans that were expected to be paid off in year two may not be. This could cause CGA to default on some loans hurting the reputation and profitability of the startup company. However this is a concern it is not necessarily a significant obstacle to overcome. Many successful companies have taken a similar path to profitability. Another limitation for CGA is the lack of reputation in the geo-engineering industry. Although CGA has a wealth of experience the ability to entice companies into contracts could be a barrier due to the company’s youth. The lack of company reputation and past record of services rendered will initially be a roadblock entering into new markets unfamiliar with the company’s staff. This could also affect profitability if CGA has to lower price of services longer than expected to increase and maintain clientele. Once the company has successfully rendered services acceptable this problem should be eliminated and CGA should become very competitive in the geo-engineering industry. The key qualities to success for CGA are the experienced and diverse staff and the increase in demand for geo-engineering services in the local geographical area. CGA will segment this market in an effective manner to match the diverse staff and provide a strong toolkit of services to a growing industry. Taking advantage of local and national mandated regulations will also present a great avenue to provide long term clients. Another strategy implemented by CGA is offering free consultations to construction and utility companies in their target market. This should increase the amount of exposure to those clients and open doors to new contracts. These key points will allow CGA to create the long term relationships and use their extensive experience to take full advantage of the growing geo-engineering industry. The small nature of CGA will allow a core team of people to manage projects and clients with common values. The ownership configuration of CGA is setup to provide the key players in the organization a stake in the company. This will create a vested interest among the small staff that each person has an important responsibility in the company. The company has an experienced leader with a tremendous amount of knowledge in the geo-engineering industry. CGA, having a very experienced leader, will have a very strong culture to enter into the industry. The culture will be defined by the staff of CGA. Being a small group will be beneficial in producing cohesion of values within the company. The strength of the culture at CGA will be key in the success or failure of the company. Deal and Kennedy stated in Corporate Cultures “…we think that culture also has a major effect on the success of the business .” (Deal and Kennedy 2000, p. 4) With experienced leadership from Mr. Martin Crompton and Mr. David Gillen, CGA can create a successful culture that will allow this company to be competitive immediately in the geo-engineering industry. CGA’s culture seems to be a big stakes culture. This stated by Deal and Kennedy in Corporate Culture is a “Bet-Your –Company Culture.” (Deal and Kennedy 2000, p. 108) Deal and Kennedy state that “Life in this culture means a diet of high risk, but slow feedback.” CGA will be taking a large risk by going in the red during the first year of existence. The company will depend on relationships to optimistically add enough projects to gain profitability. The leaders of CGA, Mr. Martin Crompton and Mr. David Gillen, have a strong cultural background in geo-engineering. They have the education and experience to provide leadership in the office and in the field. They have set up a plan to pursue projects based on prior relationships to help get CGA in on some potential long term contracts. The company’s main strength is the experience of the company’s staff in the industry. This is the key to quick success if used correctly and marketed to the targeted areas. To achieve the long term relations that CGA states as part of their mission then the staff will need to have excellent performance. The talent and experience is available but long term success will be determined by how well they perform. Buckingham and Coffman state in First, Break All the Rules “The key to excellent performance, of course, is finding the match between your talents and your role.” (Buckingham and Coffman 1999; p. 71) In conclusion Crompton Geotechnical Associates has all the tools and knowledge to become a successful company in the geo-engineering service industry. The structure of the company will provide an opportunity for growth and expansion in the industry. It also provides a vested interest by its employees to work hard to make not only the individual but the company grow. Overall the company has a great opportunity to achieve success due to the experienced staff, growth in industry, and its strong business strategy. The success of CGA will have a larger effect on the local geo-engineering services companies than it will on the larger companies that have a large geographical service area. However the long term effects should be limited due to the continuous growth of the industry primarily due to increasing regulations on construction and utility companies.