Draper Engineering case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Draper Engineering case study - Essay Example Usually, the conditions in the organizational environment – internal and external – influence the potentials of the organization for growth. At this point, the ability of organizational leaders to introduce strategies that will help the firm to increase its competitiveness is critical. Current paper focuses on the examination of the performance of Draper Engineering, a firm operating in the automotive and transport industry. The SWOT analysis is used as a strategic tool in order to identify the firm’s advantages and weaknesses and to check whether its potentials within the particular industry are significant or not. Moreover, the relationship between the firm and its contractors is reviewed and evaluated; measures are also suggested so that the above relationship to be improved, as possible, taking into consideration the current market conditions and the resources available. It is concluded that, currently, the performance of the organization is characterized by a series of failures; the introduction of certain policies, as suggested below, can help the organizational performance to be improved, even in the long term. 2. Draper Engineering – SWOT analysis – improvement of weaknesses 2.1 SWOT analysis In order to understand the current status of the firm in terms of its performance, it would be necessary to develop a SWOT analysis. The specific technique helps to identify a firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The advantage of the specific technique is that its elements are not standardized – only their classification in the four above categories needs to have the particular format (Analoui et al. 2003). Otherwise, a variety of organizational characteristics and elements can be included in the specific analysis – depending on the information provided by the organization and the market conditions, which can lead to different assumptions on a firm’s potentials for growth (Burtonshaw -Gunn 2009). For instance, for a specific organization, outsourcing can be a competitive advantage (when the technology used by the firm’s partner is significant and the increase of the firm’s productivity is important); however, for another firm outsourcing may be a weakness, when the contribution of the contractor in the increase of the firm’s performance is quite low while the costs of outsourcing are high. From this point of view, the SWOT analysis of Draper Engineering will be based on the information available but also on the expected performance of the firm in accordance with the current market performance – in other words, the potentials of a firm of this size within the specific industry would be considered as a standard – minimum – of performance which the firm should reach. If it is proved that such performance is not achieved, then the causes for this outcome will be identified and evaluated. The SWOT analysis of the particular o rganization could be developed as follows: a) Strengths The firm operates in the automotive and transport industry, a sector with many perspectives, if taking into consideration the level of the use of its products in markets worldwide. Moreover, the products of the firm are not quite common in the market; in accordance with the case study the firm focuses on the production of ‘drive shafts and track rods’ (case study, p.1) for the particular industry. This means that the firm has two significant advantages: it is part of an industry which has an important presence in the global market and