Case Study On Bennett's Machine Shop

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Case 10 Bennett’s Machine Shop, Inc. Teaching Notes Copyright © Gareth R. Jones, 1994 Synopsis The case chronicles the progress of a small firm in the automotive machining and repair business that has grown and developed as a result of the entrepreneurial abilities of its founder, Pat Bennett. The case demonstrates how a company’s founder can hurt the company by becoming too closely involved in the day-to-day management to make decisions strategically. There are problems due to a lack of consistency in strategy and the inattention to managing structure. These problems are not obvious in a large corporation because organizational design remedies them over time. Teaching Objectives 1. To illustrate the process of small business management, entrepreneurship, and the pitfalls surrounding it. 2. To demonstrate how business-level strategy flows directly from a company’s distinctive competences. 3. To show how both strategy and structure are important in managing a small company effectively. 4. To provide students with the opportunity to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis to achieve a fit between strategy and structure. This is an excellent case to use after the lecture on strategy. Very straightforward and easy to analyze, this case allows students to understand how strategy relates to structure. It also is a good illustration of how structure must change as the organization grows. In this case, we have an entrepreneurial business owner whose organization has grown to the point that more structure and more management is needed. Pop Quiz Questions 1. What is Bennett’s core competence? Answer: Rebuilding and installing engines 2. What strategy does Bennett’s pursue? Answer: Differentiation or focused differentiation Issues and Discussion Questions The overriding
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