...Nucor at Cross Roads - Swot Hbr Case Week 3: Nucor at Crossroads Strengths * Strong leadership & progressive company culture => decentralized management philosophy, egalitarian benefits, performance based compensation, strong emphasis on customer service and quality, and technological leadership through consistent investment in R&D and modernization of plant & machinery * Strong financials => consistent growth in sales and profits during the last 3 years (1983 to 1985) with the most recent year (1986) resulting in a sales figure of $755Mn (down $3Mn from last year) and net earnings of $46Mn. * Flat structure => leading to improved communication (formal & informal) between corporate and factory and amongst factories (interplant) => leading to improved efficiencies / productivity * High employee morale, low staff turnover compared to industry average => a culture that promotes Is this essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 650,000 just like it! get better grades team work, high levels of commitment and hard work => compensation schemes designed to reinforce the relationship between pay and performance and to reward production groups rather than individual performance. Also attractive incentive and reward schemes for employees (eg. bonuses, stock options, health coverage, college education for children of employees). * Nucor’s geographic spread (by 1986 Nucor had 16 plants in 10 locations...
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...Part 1A: Industry Analysis Broad Environment: PEST Analysis The Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) area and specifically Denton County is experiencing rapid economic development and population growth due to the close proximity of airports and many large and convenient transportation paths which link the Town of Cross Roads with an abundance of employment locations in cities such as Dallas, Frisco, Denton, and McKinney. DFW has experienced a large increase in population size in the past 50 years or so. There have been several economic pressures such as a rise in the number of foreclosures and diminishing credit. DFW is known as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States, and from 1990 to 2000 it grew by approximately 29% and gained a little over one million residents. From 2000-2009 the population grew to nearly 6,637,230. DFW is adding nearly 100,000 new residents annually. One population movement trend in DFW in recent years is for people to move away from the busy downtown city areas into less dense communities like Frisco and Little Elm and even smaller country towns like Cross Roads. Planned communities are very popular now as well. McKinney is rated the second best place in the country to live in 2012 by Money Magazine and USA Today named Denton in 2012 Best Small Towns in America. These towns along 380 are bringing in residents and increasing traffic. Specific Industry: Five Forces Analysis Some of Cross Roads main competitors are Savannah, Paloma Creek...
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...07-044 Rev. December 15, 2009 This case was prepared by lecturer M. Jonathan Lehrich and MIT Sloan students Paul John Paredes and Ramesh Ravikumar (MBA Class of 2005). Copyright © 2007, M. Jonathan Lehrich, Paul John Paredes and Ra mesh Ravikumar. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No De rivative Works 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org /licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Compsis at a Crossroads M. Jonathan Lehrich, Paul John Paredes, Ramesh Ravikumar 2004 had not been a good year for Compsis. Founded in 1989 in the Brazilian industrial city of São José dos Campos, Compsis had grown steadily and su ccessfully. In its largest service line, systems integration for electronic toll collection (ETC), th e company had gained the dominant share of the Brazilian market and had even managed projects in Australia and India. Compsis had developed strong relationships with the Brazilian government a nd toll road operators, as well as an international reputation among industry competitors for quality and technological expertise. By 2003, the company’s founders could take pride in reach ing a height of 165 employees and US$4.2 million (R$11.1 million) in revenue. In 2004, however, it appeared that Compsis’s success might be in jeopardy. Revenue fell to US$3.3 million, primarily...
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...703-S36 REV. 20 DE ENERO, 1998 PANKAJ GHEMAWAT HENRICUS J. STANDER III Nucor en la encrucijada El 7 de diciembre de 1986, F. Kenneth Iverson, presidente y consejero delegado de Nucor Corporation, esperaba, en la oficina principal de su compañía en Charlotte, Carolina del Norte, la llegada de una delegación de SMS Schloemann-Siemag, líder fabricante germano-occidental de equipos para la obtención de acero. Iverson debía decidir si su compañía erigía una nueva planta siderúrgica para comercializar la nueva tecnología de colada continua de planchón delgado desarrollada por SMS. Los cálculos preliminares señalaban que sólo la fábrica costaría unos 280 millones de dólares, y que los gastos de puesta en marcha y el capital circulante, unos 30 millones de dólares cada concepto, elevarían el coste total a unos 340 millones de dólares, casi el patrimonio neto de Nucor. El éxito en la comercialización de la nueva tecnología representaría para Nucor la introducción en el sector de planos de acero, que suponía la mitad del total del mercado de acero en Estados Unidos. No obstante, el procedimiento SMS de colada de planchón delgado era una de las diversas tecnologías que competía en el mercado, todavía no lanzada comercialmente, y que sería probablemente superada, al igual que el resto de la tecnología, por otras nuevas tecnologías antes de fin de siglo. Además de sopesar todos estos factores, Iverson debía revisar el estado de la competencia en la industria del acero ...
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...The song I chose for the “perfect marriage of music, lyric, and performance” mold is Crossroads by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. This is honestly one of my favorite songs of all time. All of the elements of the song just seem to flow together and seem right for each other. The song's beat is a slow and deep beat. It gives you the feeling of floating away. It plays in with the lyrics and delivery of the message perfectly. I would say this song really is “music to my ears”. The lyrics of this song are hands down the best I have heard in any Rap, Hip-Hop or R&B ever; not to mention how meaningful they are. They don't necessarily tell a specific story of any kind, but rather the struggles that everyone seems to endure when they are faced with dilemmas. Some of the dilemmas discussed are life, death, money, and just the everyday grind associated with being an underprivileged person trying to make a living. The lyrics bring to your attention that everyone has their own judgment day, how you react to it is on you. You just have to have faith in the Lord and expect that he has the best planned for you and your afterlife, no matter what some of the unethical things you did on earth may be. The song explains the good things about dying, and the bad. Bone Thugs made the comment in the lyrics that when they die, they want to be buried next to loved ones and can't wait to see them in heaven. In retrospect, they sing about praying everyday to the lord, still he takes them away, but deep down they...
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...Nucor at a Crossroads MGMT XXXX-XXX Nucor’s Historic Performance, Competitive Advantage, and Five Forces Analysis With roots dating back to 1904 in the automobile manufacturing industry, Nucor’s business strategy has morphed many times over the course of the past century in response to struggling sales and unrealized business strategies. Since F. Kenneth Iverson’s appointment as Nucor’s President in 1965, however, Nucor has performed very well. With a focus on efficiency, Nucor is committed to minimizing bureaucracy and maximizing performance and productivity via the utilization of an open-door/continuous improvement/ entrepreneurial culture, a compensation scheme premised on performance-based incentives, and — last, but not least —commitment to technological advancement. With this approach, in an industry with 36 different companies, Nucor enjoyed the second largest market share in 1986, with 16 plants and an annual production capacity of 2.1 million tons of steel. In 1985, Nucor was ranked the most productive steel-maker in the United States and the second most productive in the world, averaging 981 tons per employee, per year. Nucor managed to achieve this success using a low-cost strategy, which proved to be particularly suitable in the highly competitive, commodity-like steel industry. Despite its positive performance, competition in the U.S. steel industry was keen in 1986. At that time, the industry had sustained seven straights years of decreasing domestic...
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...Nucor at a Crossroads Case Analysis In 1986, three distinct segments defined the U.S. steel industry; integrated steel mills, mini-mills, and specialty steel makers. The integrated mills have the capacity to produce a maximum of 107 million tons of steel per year, mini-mills produced a maximum of 21 million tons of capacity a year, and the nation’s specialty steel makers could produce a maximum capacity of 5 million tons of stainless and specialty grades of steel. This leads to a total capacity of 133 million tons of production per year. In 1986, the market consumed only 70 million tons of steel, leaving 33 million tons unused. Nucor is at a crossroads. It faces a saturated market suffering from significant overcapacity. Nucor’s only opportunity for growth seems to be to expand into the production of flat sheet metal. However, to compete in that area, Nucor would need to invest in a very risky new technology, a thin-slab casting plant that, if successful, would allow Nucor to manufacture flat sheet metal with a low minimum efficient scale and a low marginal cost of production. This case will examine Nucor’s history, the impacts of entering the thin-slab casting business, the advantages Nucor would reap, and whether they should build the new thin-slab casting plant. Looking at the business landscape of the steel industry, it is amazing to see how well Nucor has done considering the industry is so competitive and has relatively low profitability. Using Porter’s...
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...A Case Study on Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness1 Prepared to Support the Central Learning Activities In PACO 500 Introduction to Pastoral Counseling Liberty University/Seminary 1John K. Harrison, 2007. Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness (Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, Inc.). The previous case study of Dr. Gary Stewart was revised by this course’s subject matter expert. Further insights have been added to facilitate the preparation of various learning activities within this offering of PACO 500. Abstract This case study sets the stage for the application of a solution-based, short-term, pastoral counseling strategy. A Hallmark Productions’ movie, Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness, recreates the story of 5 people that experienced a tragedy resulting from a street racing accident. The student will choose one of 5 characters as a counselee to move through an abridged counseling scenario: Bruce Murakami (father); Josh (first born son); Brody (second born); Melissa (family friend); and Justin (teenage street racer responsible for the deaths of Bruce’s wife and daughter). Sufficient information is provided to identify at least one potential issue to address in counseling. 2 web links are provided to support student’s understanding of tragedy; an annotated resource also provides information for purchasing a Video On Demand download of the movie. This case study is loosely based on a true story of a family, which has been thrown into the torment of living through...
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...Question #1 Response: I believe throughout my early adulthood that I have had many transformative experiences shaping who I am now. One of the biggest changes I have encountered that affected my personality was moving from the large family farm in Innisfail to downtown Edmonton. I was raised as a farm girl and as such, I rarely spent time in the closest city because it was about a half hour away. Outside of school, I spent my spare time helping my parents with the cattle and riding my horse. I had chores to attend to, animals of my own and responsibilities that kept me busy. I kept quiet throughout my school classes and spent most of my time with my family, reading or writing. None of these experiences prepared me for the hustle and bustle I would encounter upon moving to downtown Edmonton. I moved to the big city alone in 2012, in pursuit of my Commerce degree and was shocked by the differences that I faced. One has to react to situations very differently while living in the city, because of the amount of people that surround you. Living in the city, you encounter various types of people everywhere you go. One also has to be very careful to be safe around others and traffic. No more waking up to the sound of cattle and birds, it is now the sound of ambulances. The sights and sounds of the city are completely different than those of a farm. This move has affected me by separating me from my comfort zone of family and farm animals. I am now employed as a lounge server, where...
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...The Civil War was known as the “crossroads of our being”. This event has helped us define who we are as a nation. During the Gettysburg Address of 1860, Lincoln said that this war was “a new birth of freedom” but, would the Civil War really be the new birth of freedom? As our nation expanded from 1787 to 1861, there were a lot of different economic, political, and cultural problems that occurred. The northern, southern, and western states all had disagreements and different opinions over these topics, this would soon lead to the decision of the southern states to secede from the union, because they had a different perspective for a better way of life. Economy for the north and south is defined has how one of the regions is involved with the...
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...At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality By Henry Ayala Today, I’m going to write about why we emphasize the learning of Black history during Black History Month and the argument against “Black History is American history”. It is an argument well said in recent times, but in my humble opinion people are viewing it from the wrong perspective. What I want you to gain from this essay is a changed perspective from Black History Month to what it actually is, Black Awareness Month. Prior to 1926, most people learned very little about the contributions of black people in American history. We learned about slavery, sure, and the underground rail road, but not so much about a broad range of important black people and their achievements and contributions and impact on our shared history. History books ignored a lot of things for various reasons, and the reasons behind ignoring the contributions of black people in American history were pretty obvious when you look at our culture and history up until at least the 1960s. So the point of it was to establish the legacy of a beaten race in their rightful places in the pages of history books and in the national dialogue of American history. A more thorough and detailed picture of the past is a good thing in terms of figuring out how we got to where we are now, not a harmful thing. Not many people realize that learning about Black history is an ongoing process of rehabilitation of the Black psyche. As an enslaved race they had been destroyed...
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...CROSSROADS OF MORTALS is a character driven drama about past family secrets that have the ability to emotionally impact various people’s lives. It’s adapted from a novel. The goal is both tangible and emotional. The goal is to unravel a family secret and the emotional goal is to reconcile the past and move on with the future. The story is driven by solid themes about secrets, healing, and second chances. The eventual secret that is exposed is powerful. One can perceive how this plot could make for a compelling screenplay and potential film, but with that said more development is needed. The main concern about the script is the structure. Because the script is based on a novel, the structure tends to be more effective for a novel, rather than...
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...Oeriew International cooperation at a crossroads Aid, trade and security in an unequal world Every hour more than 1,200 children die away from the glare of media attention The year 2004 ended with an event that demonstrated the destructive power of nature and the regenerative power of human compassion. The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean left some 300,000 people dead. Millions more were left homeless. Within days of the tsunami, one of the worst natural disasters in recent history had given rise to the world’s greatest international relief effort, showing what can be achieved through global solidarity when the international community commits itself to a great endeavour. The tsunami was a highly visible, unpredictable and largely unpreventable tragedy. Other tragedies are less visible, monotonously predictable and readily preventable. Every hour more than 1,200 children die away from the glare of media attention. This is equivalent to three tsunamis a month, every month, hitting the world’s most vulnerable citizens—its children. The causes of death will vary, but the overwhelming majority can be traced to a single pathology: poverty. Unlike the tsunami, that pathology is preventable. With today’s technology, financial resources and accumulated knowledge, the world has the capacity to overcome extreme deprivation. Yet as an international community we allow poverty to destroy lives on a scale that dwarfs the impact of the tsunami. Five years ago, at the start...
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...Upon reading Mary Barton, I have drawn the conclusion that Mary Barton is at a “crossroads”. In this context, crossroads means being in a situation that requires a very important choice to be decided before one can move forward. Mary has learned that her father John Barton has murdered Harry Carson but because he used Jem Wilson’s gun, Jem is now wanted for this crime. This is a very tough place to be because if Mary decides to protect her father, Jem will be charged for a murder he didn’t commit. On the other hand, if Mary defends Jem, she would be betraying her father. This situation is a combination of moral and ethical boundaries because how does one make the decision between protecting one’s father versus the man you want to marry. The morality in this situation is that if Mary was to protect Jem, and do all she can to prove his innocence her father and other family members could disown her for going against family. I feel Mary’s father would disown her because since Esther ran away, he’s blamed her for the effects it had on his wife and their family. When Mary, John’s wife died doing...
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...The study of the American Civil War is a prolific topic in the field of history. Historians continue to write about the war in many different ways from the social, political, military and economic causes and repercussions of the war. James McPherson has continued this field of study in his book Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam. The book examined the importance of the Battle of Antietam on the results of the Civil War. On September 17th, 1862 the Battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in American history, was fought in Maryland. McPherson’s book examines not only the battle itself but also the events before and after the battle. The book focuses on the political, social and diplomatic repercussions of the battle for both the Confederacy and the Union. McPherson used newspapers, documents, correspondence, person letters, diaries, memoirs, images, maps and other books to prove how the Battle of Antietam may have not been the only deciding outcome of the Civil War but can be viewed as a pivotal turning point in the war. “Antietam was arguable,...
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