Essay on Scotts Miracle-Gro Case Solution

Bowcombe might also fear the exposure of their know-how so that the suppliers might produce their own products and could be Scotts’ competitors. It seems Bowcombe believes that the “in-mold labeling” is Scotts’ strong competitive advantage in the market, which their competitors don’t have, but I strongly this agree with this. Considering the very simple structure of the spreader and the process of in-mold labeling (it is just molding), it is not hard to imitate. Their competitors might not have this technology, but this kind of processes exist anywhere in other industries. It is very much imitatable, which infringes one of the VRIN of the Resource-Based View theory. Thus, their “in-mold labeling” would not be their competitive advantage. Scotts should not afraid provide their know-how to the contract suppliers, and it is not so difficult to teach them. Sooner or later their competitors would imitate this kind of resource only if the value of the in-mold label is significant to their customers.

One of the highlights in CSR programs is its $50 billion commitment to address climate change by changing its internal policies. However, there were some critics on how the company continues to lead investments in coal, which is one of the biggest threats to public health and climate stability. After studying the company’s current coal policy, I realized that there is room for improvement in environmental responsibility endeavors. Therefore, I would like to make some recommendations on how to strengthen the company’s coal policy in order to gain a higher degree of consumer respect as well as help clients meet their own sustainability objectives.

The predetermined overhead rate is now considerably higher than it was. This will penalize products that continue to use the same amount of direct labor-hours. Such products will now appear to be less profitable and the managers of these products will appear to be doing a poorer job. There may be pressure to increase the prices of these products even though there has in fact been no increase in their real costs.

If the outsourcing company will not do the proper testing then may be the product quality will decrease.

In the case of Mendel Paper Company which produces four basic paper products lines at one of its plants: computer paper, napkins, place mats, and poster board. Although the plant superintendent, Marlene Herbert is pleases with increased sales he is also concerned about the costs. The superintendent is concerned with the high fixed cost of production, the increases in fixed overhead and even variable overhead. He feels that the production of place mat should be discontinued. His reason for the discontinuation is that the special printing is driving up the variable overhead to the point where the company may not find it profitable to continue with the line. After reviewing the future predictions of the

The author states, “It has pledged that its greenhouse gas-emissions will peak by 2030. This is significant because China is the biggest emitter of such gases” (para. 15). This quote doesn’t really make sense within the article. If greenhouse gases will peak by 2030, that would give China fourteen more years to increase the already devastating pollution levels. It is crucial for the sake of China’s environment and citizens that a solution is created soon. Brown’s argument is not solid, in fact, he presents his information as if he doesn’t think pollution is an urgent

The Theory of Constraints indicates that excess capacity from ‘subordinate’ departments should be utilized to lessen the strain on the bottlenecked department. Until the constraint on production has been removed management should subordinate everything else to the constraint. The proposed action of outsourcing inspection from the coating and sharpening department will free-up more valuable direct labor hours in the area of constraint. A separate inspection station before the final stage of production should be added to the production process. An employee from the chemical bathing stage will be cross-trained to inspect products as needed for the brief periods of inspection required. Because the second process has been deemed subordinate to the area experiencing constraint its excess capacity can be utilized in a more valuable capacity. Each additional hour in the coating and sharpening process will result in a firm benefit of $1250, or the contribution margin per unit of constraint for the Model C210. The addition of an inspection

Increased safety incidents due to a lack of thought and caring from staff when in the workplace

Another huge expense the company had was all the improvements they were making. It would cost the company about $500,000 per year, since they did not use a contract manufacturer. They estimated they lost a total of $200,000 per year. Because of all the costs, Scotts is experiencing difficulties at the Temecula plant. They are considering the possibility of completely outsourcing the spreaders manufacturing and assembly to China to save costs. Scotts Miracle-Gro already has experience in outsourcing. They have already outsourced the most complex components of the spreaders to China. They are considering completely outsourcing the company in hopes that they will profit from the move. In doing so, they would have to shut down the Temecula plant and, by closing the plant, Bob Bawcombe, will lose all the skilled laborers he has trained and his efforts to keep them by hiring temporary workers, will have gone to waste. Another issue to complete outsourcing is there “in-molding labeling” technology. If Scotts decides to outsource, it needs to provide the contract manufacturer with the equipment and the know-how to perform “in-molding labeling”, if not, they must remove the feature from its spreaders. An additional concern with this plan is if they do offer the training and equipment, it is questionable that the manufacturer will be able to use the current mold from Temecula. They would need 10 molds at $40,000 each and each mold lasts approximately five years.

The other solution of the third problem is why the company needs to decide and find appropriate suppliers in different product? Deer & John planned to make their own facility and start producing their own product. The company wants to take back design and manufacturing of skid steer loader from the company who

The company may have to pay higher production costs or may not be able to produce and

The third factors that the producer must consider to come in the foreign country is the technological of the country. The producer must use the suitable technological for the country. It is because if the producer use the low technical from the country , the country will decrease their believable to the producer because they look their technological is more better. But , if the technological that producer use is very high the country also don’t know the technology and they also cannot be acceptable. Besides that, the technological that the producer use must have been easy to the labor of the country to manage. If the labor don’t know how to manage it, the process of production may take along time. That means, it will increases the cost of labor. So it will failed the goal of the company to save the labor costs.

There are also several disadvantages to outsourcing agreements, which include becoming dependent on an outside supplier for services, failing to realize the purported cost savings from outsourcing, locking into a negative relationship, losing control over critical functions, and lowering the morale of permanent employees.

meant that imported product were subject to import taxes (22%) and it also involved a

This is while China is the main contributor nation when it comes to pollution. Thus the examples offer an interesting perspective of CSR.