Analyse the case a company on a winning course!

In light of your consulting firm's reputation, President and CEO of Protect has asked you to recommend HR management strategies to build a sense of commitment and loyalty among the companies employees. At the same time, he would like to maintain the firm's growth objectives and management philosophy. You thus held several meetings with various management representatives retained the following information.

BACKGROUND

Founded in 1970, Protect changed hands several times before being bought by its current President and CEO in 1999. The company is active in the following four operating segments: consulting and investigations, pre- employment screening, physical security and cash handling.

Protect has a well-established reputation: not only as a leader on the international scene, where it has operations in Europe, Mexico and the Middle East, but also as the second-largest cash handling firm in North America. In addition, the company is considered to be the top Canadian player in consulting and investigations, pre-employment screening and physical security.

The corporation counts on 28,000 employees worldwide, mainly in the security and cash handling sectors, about 15% of whom work part-time. Most of these employees are security officers. Protect generally favours a decentralized approach for each entity, apart from a number of shared functions such as finance, marketing and communications, information technology and purchasing, which are managed from its head office in Montréal. It has administrative staff of 450 employees working in various branches across Canada. Of these, 180 are based in Montréal head office.

Listed on the stock exchange for the past seven years, the corporation has focused heavily on sales and profit growth in recent years and is now financially sound. Its success is largely due to a substantial growth and the creation of synergies between certain administrative and operational cost centers. Since 1999, Protect has posted an average revenue growth of 91.74%. Moreover, it hopes to reach its target annual revenue of CAN$1.4 billion in 2008.

While the internal growth explains a large part (65%) of the corporation's success in the last five years, its acquisitions have also boosted its earnings. In all, Protect has made 26 acquisitions in Canada, the United States and Europe since its inception. These acquisitions have enabled the corporations to secure an advantageous position on the global market, propelling it to fifth place in physical security and cash handling sectors. The firm is thus close to attaining its CEO's goal- to become one of the three largest players on the global market within seven years.

Protect's executive team includes some 30 vice president, each with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The company's human resources management is decentralized, with teams in Canada, United States and Europe in order to comply with the legislation and culture in each region. Up to now, Protect has applied a rigorous management approach, maintaining the same organizational structure across the board. It now realizes that it will have to adapt the structure to meet these new challenges.

CHALLENGES

Industry observers believe the Protect is on a winning course. Extremely targeted, in terms of both geography and activities, its acquisitions have been well received by the financial community, shareholders and clients. Not only has the firm enhanced its value through these acquisitions, but has also been able to successfully integrate these newly acquired firms into its overall operations.

To achieve this success, management focused on the following four steps: adaptation of the existing structure, elimination of duplication, job maintenance and job improvement. All of these steps can be quickly implemented. Each acquisition is managed according to its specific context and employees are kept informed very early on in the process.

Changes are communicated in collaboration with the management of the acquired entities since Protect understands the importance of both informal and formal modes of communication. The Pres./CEO and his management team play an active role in making sure the new employees are integrated in a positive environment. The result is that these workers are almost immediately familiar with the company's code of ethics and its values of team spirit, client focused, responsibility, integrity, effectiveness, simplicity, flexibility and commitment.

However, because of the corporation sustained growth strategy, the HR department of Protect Canada has to apply short-term management approach, while planning for the longer term. Given the 30 collective agreements and the fact their potential legal implications of regional economic realities and has become more and more difficult to recruit a stable workforce. Turnover in the security industry is higher than in other sectors; when the unemployment rate drops, it's harder to recruit good candidates. In fact, employee recruitment and retention represent significant challenges for the company, particularly in Canada. Furthermore, the rate at which new public protection legislation is being introduced doesn't suggest the situation will improve in the near future. Garden is currently counting on the dynamism of its existing team to develop its employee's loyalty and enhance their sense of commitment and the organization.) by using Case Analysis Methodology - Ivey

 

 

Background Information or Synopsis

Divide the case into logically sequenced sections using subtitles. List/highlight the factors, points, issues which appear to be most important to you. Do not rewrite the case in essay format. Select the facts from the case which you think are most relevant to the decision making process. Not all information in the case is relevant.

Briefly summarize the case, identifying only those case factors which have a direct bearing on your analysis.

 

Definition of the Issue

This should be a brief paragraph outlining what the root cause/basic underlying issue(s) is/are in the case. Primary problems are root causes or the basic underlying issues; secondary problems are symptoms of the problems or immediate issues going on in the case.

Secondary problems/immediate issues are generally the ones that you are specifically told about in the case. Thus, it's helpful to start with identifying the secondary problems. What are you actually told about in the case?

Primary problems require a deeper level of analysis. Keep asking WHY a certain problem is occurring until you get at the root problem(s)/basic issue(s).

How urgent is the issue? Does it need to be immediately resolved or does the company have some time in coming up with a response?

How important is the issue? Is it central to the organization's operations or a peripheral issue?

 

Analysis of Case Data

Begin this section by substantiating your identification of the root cause/basic issue(s). What are the secondary problems/symptoms/immediate issues that lead you to the identification of the root cause(s). What are the causes and effects that you've identified based on your analysis of the case data?

What impact(s) does the problem or issue have on the organization in terms of costs, quality, customer service or innovation, etc.?

What are the constraints and opportunities operating in the case? What does the organization need to consider in coming up with a solution?

Consider both quantitative and qualitative data provided to you in the case, as appropriate. What are these data telling you about the best way to resolve the issue?

Your analysis needs to be based on defendable arguments. What concepts, theories, models, etc. learned in this and other courses might help you in resolving the issues? Remember that I am looking for something beyond a "common sense" approach to the problem. Use your course concepts! For example, it would be insufficient to say that the organization should conduct training. How, specifically, do they go about doing this? What is the process? What do they need to think about? You should be citing your course materials (knowledge gained from other courses is also encouraged, as appropriate) throughout the case. If you are not, you are not incorporating course concepts to the extent required for the assignment.

I suggest identifying your secondary problems and then review your text and what we've been discussing in class to help you with your primary problem identification.

Once you've identified the problems, use your course concepts to help you brainstorm alternatives, make recommendations, and identify steps for your implementation plan.

 

Identify Clear and Definable Alternatives

Identify as many alternatives as possible (use brainstorming) to resolve all root/basic problems (link to textbook concepts or techniques). Remember that doing nothing is always an option (although not usually a good one). Focus on brainstorming for root/basic problems; if you have done your analysis properly, solving the root/basic problems will also address the symptoms/immediate problems. This is a good double-check strategy.

 

Identify Specific and Defendable Decision Criteria

What are the criteria that you should use to identify the best alternative to solve the problem?

Some common decision criteria are identified below (source: Mauffette-Leenders, L. A., Erskine, J. A., & Leenders, M. R. (2007). Learning with cases (4^th ed.). London, ON: Ivey Business Publishing):

 

Quantitative	Qualitative
Profit	Competitive advantage
Cost	Customer satisfaction
Return on investment	Employee morale
Market share	Corporate image
Capacity	Ease of implementation
Delivery time	Synergy
Risk	Ethics
Cash flow	Flexibility
Inventory turn	Safety
Productivity	Visual appeal
Staff turnover	Obsolescence
Quality	Cultural sensitivity
Growth rate	Motivation
quantity	Goodwill

 

Remember that more decision criteria is not necessarily better and will make your assessment of alternatives cumbersome. Focus on identifying the criteria that are most relevant for this decision in the context of the case.

Objective Assessment of Alternatives

Once you have identified alternatives, analyze the alternatives to identify the one(s) that will best address the problems. The best option(s) become your recommendations for the case.

Identify pros and cons associated with all solutions and recommendations (costs, benefits).

Defendable Selection of Preferred Alternative

Identify your preferred alternative and develop your recommendation. What makes it the best solution? Sell your recommendation to your organization's CEO. Why should this approach be followed over other alternatives? Focus on solving the root cause/basic issue(s).

Implementation Plan

This is a solid plan for moving forward to make your recommendation a reality.

Identifies major actions and resources required - Addresses the questions - What? Who? When? How? as per below:

Indicates timing and/or dependency of actions - In what order to actions need to be taken?

Defines measurement of actions - How will you measure success? How will you ensure that your implementation is unfolding as planned?

Monetized forecast of recommendation - How much will it cost? What are the resource requirements?

Describes a "Plan B" - No plan survives first contact! Where are the potential problems in your implementation plan? What will you do if something doesn't go as originally planned?

Break down your recommendations into action items. For example, it is insufficient to say you would do training on a particular topic. What are the steps for actually conducting training (e.g., needs analysis, training development, training delivery)?

 

Structure

Your case analysis should flow logically from beginning to end. In other words, I should not be surprised by something coming up for the first time in the later sections of the paper. For example, if you are suggesting an action in the implementation plan that doesn't relate to the recommendations you've made, perhaps you need to revisit your recommendations (and maybe even your alternatives or problems) to see if you've missed something.

 

Case Analysis Form - Ivey

(use this template to organize your research and thoughts)

 

Background Information or synopsis (use point form)

Select the most relevant facts from the case which have a direct bearing on the issue at hand:

 

 

Immediate Issues/Symptoms
Explain (list from most to least severe)	Who is involved? What is their role and responsibility in creating or resolving this issue?	Impact on costs, quality, customer service, or innovation?

 

 

Root Cause/Basic Underlying Issues
Explain (list from most to least severe)	Who is involved? What is their role and responsibility in creating or resolving this issue?	Impact on costs, quality, customer service, or innovation?

 

Analysis of Case Data

Causes & Effects
Constraints
Opportunities
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Course Concepts Relevant to Case

Describe alternatives to resolve root cause/basic issues.

Issue	Considerations/Support

 

 

Decision Criteria
What are the criteria that are important to making this decision?	Justification for choosing this criterion

Alternative Assessment

 

Note: You are not required to use 4 criteria or identify 5 alternatives; alter the table as required for your analysis.

 

Alternative	Decision Criteria
	Criterion 1	Criterion 2	Criterion 3	Criterion 4
Alternative 1
Alternative 2
Alternative 3
Alternative 4
Alternative 5

 

Recommendations
Recommendation	Justification for choosing this alternative

 

 

Implementation Plan
What?	Who?	When?	Resources	Monitor/Audit
Short Term (<90days)
Medium Term (3 months - 2 years)
Long Term (over 2 years)