Benchill Makes A Narrow Range Of Basic Office Furniture: Desks, Chairs, Cabinets: Strategic Human Resource Assignment, TCD, Ireland

Benchill and Sons

Benchill makes a narrow range of basic office furniture: desks, chairs, cabinets, and the like. Their approach is to manufacture and sell their products as cheaply as possible and to keep profits high by selling in high volume. Benchill doesn’t pretend that their furniture is better than their rivals (it most certainly isn’t, though it usually meets a certain basic standard). However, by keeping the price down, they can undercut the competition, and as such are a favored supplier for bulk buyers for whom price and not quality is the primary concern.

However, other companies also adopt this strategy, so there is constant pressure to keep costs down in order to remain competitive. Furniture designs are kept simple so that there is no great sophistication in the manufacturing process and the cheapest raw materials are used. Very little effort is expended on designing new product ranges or improving on existing products.

Speke Office Supplies

Speke manufactures a standard range of office furniture and equipment, and their focus is on the high-quality end of the market. They are proud of their reputation for the quality and durability of their products, though they don’t come cheap. Speke has become a byword for good quality office furniture, well made from the best materials, with very few defective products and faults detected. Companies know they can rely on their products and will pay that little bit extra.

Product quality is underpinned by high-quality customer service, prompt delivery and after-sales service. Speke focuses on what they do well (it has served them well in the past), and they don’t spend a great deal of time or effort on designing new products: they concentrate on improving processes, systems and service to keep high quality. They are not the only high-quality office suppliers around and competition is tough.

Thornhill makes specialist office equipment. Generally, this equipment is manufactured in small quantities to meet the needs of a particular customer, whose needs cannot be met by mass producers such as Benchill or Speke. Often this involves visiting clients’ premises and designing and making products that solve a particular problem.

However, Thornhill are always looking to make things that no one else is making, or has even thought about. They have a number of successes over the years with innovative products, which have attracted high-volume sales, simply because no one else was making them. Even though these often take about five years from the initial idea to the first sales- particularly as they usually involve designing new production systems, sourcing new materials, etc. – they have more than paid for the investment. On the other hand, one or two ideas have failed to take off, although Thornhill are philosophical about this – one great idea will pay for a dozen bad ones.

Thornhill are not the only specialist and innovative furniture company, and it is always a struggle to stay ahead of the competition.

Your task – prepare a research report which considers the following:

1. Discuss how these three competitive strategies differ from each other, describing each strategy in turn and citing references and examples of other, similar companies, as you see fit.

2. Given the particular strategies of each company, consider the key organizational characteristics and human resource practices that are likely to support these three strategies.

3. Is there any alternative strategic viewpoint that you feel should be considered across the three companies?