Questions and Answers of Strategic Customer Management

Placed in the position of the local market leader, how would you continue to defend against the national resources represented by Peter Leslie and the Turner organization?
Do the local organizations have a real home field advantage, or is it a perception that is used to erect barriers against outside competitors?
Has Peter Leslie adopted the right approach to challenging the local market?
Put in Peter Leslie’s position, explain your initial strategy for addressing the market expansion challenge.
Technological marketing is the future of civil engineering organizations. However, the changing face of technology makes it difficult to predict where the technology future will reside. Given these
Returning to the historic lessons from military leaders such as Napoleon that state a challenger should turn a defender’s strengths into weaknesses, how can these lessons be applied by a new market
A market challenger needs to identify weaknesses in a market leader’s position. How can a civil engineering organization with a limited marketing budget develop a strategy for identifying these
A market leader spends considerable effort achieving a leadership position. However, once this position is achieved, the risk of organization complacency becomes a tangible issue. How can civil
Analyzing the competition is a fundamental component of competitive positioning. This chapter introduces several options for obtaining this knowledge. Given a limited budget, how should a civil
Placed in the position of a Fiber 2000 investor, what attributes would you look for, and what commitments would you expect from, the engineering consultant on the project?
Placed in an employee stockholder’s position, what questions would you want PB to answer prior to making a decision as to whether or not to endorse the PB investment?
Placed in Susan Kelly’s position, what recommendation would you make to the overall PB management committee, and how would you defend this decision?
Placed in Susan Kelly’s position, how would you evaluate the risks associated with the Fiber 2000 project?
At what point does a risk level exceed the potential for return in selecting projects? Under what circumstances should this risk level be exceeded?
Risk profiles provide guidelines for civil engineering organizations to identify desired levels of risk to accept in given projects. How can a civil engineering organization balance desired risk
A civil engineering organization decides to attract new customers from the private sector and identifies Super Grocers as a potential customer. Super Grocers has a strong balance sheet and
Setting a proactive response to industry forces requires organizations to reinforce current positions through market barriers or roadblocks. Given that very few barriers exist to new entrants, what
Strategic differentiation is a concept receiving an increasing degree of attention by organization strategists. Is this concept viable in a service-based industry such as civil engineering, where
The civil engineering industry is divided into traditional market sectors and regional boundaries. These divisions provide organizations with established foundations upon which to develop strategic
Placed in the position of senior ICF manager, how would you address stockholders at an annual meeting if the pursuit of strategic opportunities results in a noticeable drop in profits or revenues?
Placed in Stan Lindsey’s position, if Bartlett approached you with his idea, what would be your response and why?
Placed in Bartlett’s position, what approach would you take in this situation?
Has Bartlett overlooked any of his options to pursue strategic objectives while retaining his emphasis on revenue expectations?
If an organization conducts an economic forecast and determines that its current market segment may be susceptible to an economic downturn in the near future, to what degree should the organization
Partnerships are touted as the AEC project arrangement of the future. Financial analysis of potential partners is emphasized in this chapter as a hedge against poor partnership decisions.How does an
Selecting financially sound organizations is presented as a basis for long-term strategic success. What other factors beyond financial resources should be considered when selecting customers?
Economic forecasting is one tool used by manufacturing industries such as aerospace and automotive to predict future orders. In contrast, civil engineering organization leaders often dispute the
Given the balance sheet illustrated for Superior Engineering in this chapter, would Superior Engineering make a good investment decision for investors? Why are most civil engineering firms private
With a strong emphasis on project finances as a basis for civil engineering organizations, the move to an emphasis on organization and economic concerns as a basis for strategic management may be
Given the opportunity to present this proposal to senior Kiewit managers, what would be your justification for the organization investing in the proposal?
Looking at the current training program, would you incorporate additional levels of training into the program for areas such as senior management responsibilities? If so, how does this complicate the
Placed in Steve Carlyle’s position, how would you use your position to enhance, encourage, or dissuade Bob Berry’s efforts?
Placed in Bob Berry’s position, how would you proceed with the training proposal?
Two perspectives are presented in this chapter to justify education costs. In the minimization of knowledge gaps perspective, the relationship and contact with customers is emphasized as a driver for
One education difficulty in civil engineering organizations is the dissemination of knowledge to employees who spend considerable time in the €ield. What type of dissemination program could be
The move to corporate universities has received significant attention from management writers. However, much of the attention in this area has been on efforts of large organizations such as Motorola.
Formal and informal education providers are in a constant state of competition in the professional education market. Each of these options has advantages and disadvantages for the civil engineering
Justifying education costs is a central issue for many civil engineering firms. As a result of this concern, many organizations elect to follow an education path that ensures competency in discipline
Placed in Sandy Arnold’s position, how do you respond to new employees who have become accustomed to working with the Web as a central part of their job at either other organizations or at a
Placed in Donald Curry’s position, how do you avoid allowing the emphasis on technology to turn into a technology trap?
Placed in the position of an employee looking for a new employment opportunity, which of the two organizations would you prefer?
Placed in the position of starting a new firm, which of the previous two approaches would you adopt for your organization and why?
The control of information has traditionally been a divisive issue within the AEC industry. Who controls information such as design concepts, calculations, schedules, and budgets is a constant
One component of technology integration is the analysis of work process requirements.Given that the definition of civil engineering work processes is changing with each introduction of a technology
The evolution of the personal computer has repeatedly demonstrated that organizations cannot cost effectively chase the technology curve. Given this as a premise, how can a civil engineering
The catalysts for technology integration include both internal and external catalysts. Each of these catalysts is driving civil engineering organizations to redefine the role of technology in the
The knowledge worker concept emphasizes information manipulation as the focus in the new world economy. How does global information access influence local projects during design and construction?
The evolution of the knowledge worker has been developing steadily over a number of generations. These knowledge workers are becoming pervasive in many industries. Does the knowledge worker concept
Is it possible for Heery to avoid the corporate friction associated with business expansion?
Placed in the role of the Heery President, would you continue to advocate the development of a second core competency, and how would you justify your decision?
Placed in the role of a senior CM manager, how aggressively would you pursue the development of your business unit when faced with the knowledge that corporate friction will accompany this growth?
Placed in the role of a senior AE manager, how would you address the issue of a changing corporate image to the AE staff who came to Heery based on its reputation as a leading design firm?
What should organization leaders do if they find that individuals currently in the organization do not have core competencies that match the overall core competencies identified for the organization?
The core competency map methodology is introduced as an opportunity to identify individual and organization competencies. How can this same methodology be used as a tool to evaluate market
Can a focus on core competencies restrict the development of innovative market sector initiatives for organization expansion?
Does the concept of core competencies conflict with the civil engineering organization emphasis on projects as a central management focus?
Hewlett-Packard is an excellent example of building on core competencies. Starting from a core technology and slowly expanding into areas such as calculators and computers, HP continues to
Chapter 4 introduces a hypothetical organization, MRB, and its potential expansion opportunities. What are other examples of actual civil engineering organizations and their expansion opportunities?
A central question in building upon core competencies within an organization is, “Are current objectives focusing on what the organization does best?’ How does an organization ensure that
Placed in Charles Mayfield’s position as a division manager, how do you reconcile the stated goal of developing common objectives with the knowledge that Jerry Taylor prefers individual achievement?
Placed in Jerry Taylor’s position as Metric executive, what is his role in translating the vision and mission statement into twenty-first century objectives?
Given the strong indicators by the team regarding the influence of Jerry Taylor in the direction of Metric, how should Mark Foster relate the team’s concerns to Jerry Taylor?
Given the reluctance of the vision and mission team, how should Mark Foster proceed in transforming the statements into a unified set of organization objectives?
What are the required leadership characteristics of today’s civil engineering organization leader?
Leadership is a popular topic in the management and civil engineering literature. Books focusing on leaders such as Bill Gates and Jack Welch are commonplace. However, books and articles on civil
Goals are an acknowledged part of any successful organization. However, in a clientdriven industry such as civil engineering, how can an organization set goals that they intend to pursue
Mission statements are often seen in civil engineering offices on a wall or on cards on members’ desks. However, individual members are often unaware of the specifics of the mission statement in
One argument that is prevalent in the civil engineering industry is that setting a long-term goal is almost impossible due to the cyclical nature of the industry. What are the ramifications of this
Many organizations choose to develop mission statements without developing vision statements. Why would an organization choose to follow such a plan of action?
What is the greatest barrier that prevents civil engineering organizations from implementing a full strategic management focus in all seven areas? Is it possible to develop strategies and strategic
Seven areas of strategic management are presented for civil engineering organizations.Which of these areas currently receive greater or less attention by civil engineering organizations?
The strategic management knowledge pyramid identifies four areas of knowledge that are critical for civil engineering executives. How does the need for this knowledge impact existing graduate and
The management knowledge gap concept states that project knowledge differs from strategic knowledge. However, some individuals disagree with this assertion, stating that strategic knowledge is a
Historical records indicate that most civil engineering executives stayed with a single organization for at least 20 years. Does this trend continue today, and what are the factors reinforcing or
Given the economic trends of the past 30 years, for what type of economic conditions should civil engineering organizations plan as part of their strategic management process (e.g., length of
Organizations grow and sustain through the identification of new markets. Given the increased competition in the civil engineering marketplace, where are the potential new markets for civil
How may the career path of knowledge workers differ from traditional members of a civil engineering organization?
The virtual organization represents one of the greatest emerging strategic changes for civil engineering organizations. What are the unique challenges that must be addressed in a virtual organization
Globalization is redefining every industry around the world. How should civil engineering organizations prepare to enter the global marketplace and what are the unique challenges for a global
The portfolio analysis technique developed after WWII introduced new terms in the business vocabulary. In today’s civil engineering market, where are the opportunities for cash cows, shooting
Industrialization introduced management as an independent profession to address the broad concerns of manufacturing operations such as those by Ford and Rockefeller. Do civil engineering
The eighteenth-century craft society placed emphasis on knowing many parts of a craft business. In today’s civil engineering profession, specialization of knowledge is highly regarded. To expand to
Early military strategists such as Alexander the Great and William of Normandy focused significant attention on knowing their enemies. For these leaders, their enemies were easily defined for