Office Equipment Company Essay Example for Free

Office Equipment Company Essay Therefore, they had to choose a suitable candidate. OEC didn’t have manufacturing facilities in El Salvador, but they had been selling there for more than 22 years at that time. The sales and profits proved to be improving every year. In 1993, OEC decided to construct a factory. The components of the machines would be imported and assembled locally as El Salvador could offer a big supply of cheap labour force. The construction would be supervised by an American technical team. The director, also American, would report to US all problems regarding the production and quality-control and to the managing director from El Salvador, all problems regarding the accounting, the finance and labour relations. The managers from foreign subsidiaries of OEC are used to being rotate among foreign and domestic locations which offered them an important international experience. II. The Problem The main problem outlined in the case study is that the committee does not know which candidate would best fit the managing director’s position. Causes for the problem Current managing director has handed in his resignation and will leave in one month * Current OEC policy only allows for promoting, not hiring from outside the company. Negative effects Long-Term * Loss of international competitiveness if new managing director isn’t capable of handling his duties. * The image of OEC in El Salvador may be affected if wrong candidate is selected. Short-Term * New appointed managing director may not prove to be competent. * Delayed operations if the candidate is not selected before the end of the one month. * Loss of clients if candidate not selected on time. Cultural-differences between new managing director and local staff which may lead to conflicts, if inappropriate US candidate is selected. Communication problems, if poor Spanish speaking candidate. III. Alternative Solutions 1. Choosing Tom Zimmerman Tom Zimmerman is an experience manager that has been working for OEC for 30 years. Therefore, he knows very well all the technical and sales aspects of the company and he was considered very competent in his managerial duties. However, Tom doesn’t speak Spanish at all and, in El Slavador, this crucial for doing business. He is married, but his wife doesn’t speak Spanish also, which would make their life very difficult in El Slavador. They have a big family, but their children live separately at their houses in US. Having a considerable age, both of them, they would likely prefer to stay in the US, closer to their children and grandchildren. Also, Tom doesn’t have any international experience as he never worked abroad. He only visited the company foreign facilities, but this would not have provided him the experience necessary to deal with the cultural differences and everyday problems. Advantages: * 30 years of experience for the OEC; * Important technical knowledge and sales aspects; * Competent in the management duties; * Used with this kind of operations; * His current post will become redundant. Disadvantages: * No international experience; * Doesn’t speak Spanish; * Retirement is planned in 4,5 years; * Married; his wife also doesn’t speak Spanish. 2. Choosing Brett Harrison Brett Harrison has an important experience of 15 years with the OEC and is viewed as a very competent employee capable of reaching a higher rank in management. He is in charge of the regional office of the Latin America and even if he had never travelled abroad, he visited frequently this region. He is married and, both he and his wife speak Spanish. However, they have two children, aged fourteen and fifteen, that are in school and could cause a problem for them by switching not only school, but also countries. Also, his wife has a stable position in marketing at a pharmaceutical company. In case of moving into another country, she could find difficulties in finding a job, or she could not be satisfied of her new job compared to the old one. Advantages: * 15 years of experience for OEC; * Highly competent; * Speaks Spanish; * His wife also speaks Spanish; Disadvantages: * Frequently travelled to Latin America, but never been based abroad; * His wife is employed at a stable workplace; * His children are in school, even if they are starting to learn Spanish; 3. Choosing Carolyn Moyer At the age of 37, Carolyn Moyer is the second oldest proposed candidate as well as the only female. Twelve years ago she attained her MBA from a prestigious university and also was an undergraduate in international affairs at the time she joined OEC. During her work at the company she has become acquainted with having responsibility as a Line authority as well as Staff authority. For the past two years she was second in charge of a product group with similar size as the one from El Salvador; which she managed â€Å"excellently†. She has shown interest in having international responsibilities since she started working for the company. She speaks Spanish well and is not currently married, which may ease her transition from the States to El Salvador. Carolyn Moyer happens to be the second oldest proposed candidate, but also has more than a decade of experience working for OEC. Currently in the Republic of El Salvador there is a strong gender role culture: men occupy the important jobs, whereas women as assistants and other clerical or support positions; only up until recently have started working as doctors, teachers and dentists. As of now women do not yet hold high ranking positions in the business sector. El Salvador ratified the International Agreement on Work Discrimination only in 1995, and the International Agreement on Equal Pay amongst men and women in 2000. Advantages: * Holds MBA from prestigious university. * Has experience at having both Line and Staff responsibilities. 2 years experience of co-managing a large product group. Interested in international responsibilities. * Undergraduate in international affairs. * Speaks Spanish well. * Not married. Disadvantages: * Second oldest candidate, 37 years of age. * Machismo is deeply rooted in the Republic of El Salvador. 4. Choosing Francisco Cabrera Francisco Cabrera, a Mexican citizen has worked for OEC for the past twelve years in the Mexican division and is at the moment one of the assistant managing directors in the Mexican operation tasked with producing and selling products on the Mexican market. After seven years when the current managing director would have normally retired, he was considered to be the next in the line to take his position. Having four young children, between the ages of two and seven, may potentially cause some problems as after seven years when he should have normally taken the position, his youngest would have been nine years old and in school. Advantages: * MBA from Mexican university. * Assistant managing director. * Possesses Mexican Citizenship. * 12 years work experience for OEC in Mexico. * Was deemed as the next managing director. Speaks English â€Å"adequately†. Disadvantages: * Third oldest candidate, 35 years of age. Married with four young children. 5. Choosing Juan Moreno Juan Moreno, the youngest candidate, has worked as the assistant to the El Salvador managing director for the past four years, after obtaining an undergraduate degree from a U. S. university. He is considered competent at what he does and helped increase the sales of OEC products, due to his many connections with potential customers. He is also capable of maintaining good relations with the employees. The biggest disadvantage is that he lacks experience, as having worked the least out of all candidates, and may not have enough knowledge or skill to be competitive with high demanding tasks. Advantages: * Youngest candidate, 27 years old. * Worked as assistant to the current managing director in El Salvador. * Holds undergraduate degree from US. * Competent. * Good employee relations. * Has successfully increase OEC’s sales. * Well connected with customers. * Not married. Disadvantages: * Lacks experience. IV. Best Solution Carolyn Moyer may not fit well in the El Salvador business environment, as just a decade ago women basically had no rights. So potential clients and local staff who she comes in contact with may ignore her and disregard what she says; which makes her competences as an authority useless. It must be a man. Anyone else but Juan Moreno (lack of experience and too young), depending on who has the best Advantages to least problematic Disadvantages. Francisco Cabrera (4) is in my opinion still the best candidate, as like I said, in El Salvador women are housekeepers, and so is his wife. So the fact that he has 4 children, has little to no affect on his job; at the most the company will have to pay him a bit extra to put his children through school, which over the years could add up, but he currently makes the equivalent of $40. 000, which compared to the US candidates is very little, so I assume that his new salary (if selected) would still be less than that of an American. So it cancels out, I suppose.