About the case

1) Probable dimension

 The top management at Whirlpool Corporation found itself unable to drive

growth in its business.
 Whirpool faced industry and economic condition which led to intensified price
competition, rising material cost and slowing or declining demand.
 Whitwam failed to bring innovative idea among its employees who faced this
problem.
 The product prices of the Whirpool were declining at an average rate of 3.4
percentages per annum.
 The company was not having a proper structured approach which created
problem to the company.

2) Area for the further study:-

SWOT analysis:-

Strength:-

 Lower cost and qualitative product will lead towards higher market
share.
 David. R. Whitwam welcomes the creative suggestion from the employees which
will act as a motivating factor for creativity and it will be more beneficial for the
company in the future.
 Liberty to communication of ideas will leads to more useful suggestion from the
employees and and there will be no work ambiguity.
Weakness

 Lack of innovative products will decline demand for its product in the
future.
 Resistance to change:- some seniour employees are not willing to
adopt the innovative system.

Opportunity

 Lower cost and improved quality will results in to increased market

share for the company.

Threats

 The industry is stagnating so there is a no future scope for the

company for further growth.
 The price wars among the different company will create a competitive
pressure for the company.

Case analysis

1. Identification of problem:-

 The main problem of the case is that the company’s revenue, profit and market share
were stagnant and the company found itself unable to drive the growth in its
business.

2. Establishing the Problem:-

 The main cause for the problem in the case was intensified price competition,
rising material cost and declining demand for its product.

 The second cause for the problem is that the company was focusing to much
on cost effectiveness and overlooked the need for launching the innovative
products.
3. Define objective:

 The company’s main objective is gaining the more market share by

introducing the innovative products.

 The company strategy was to have growth through consumer focused

innovation.

 To increase the price of its product which was declining at fast rate

4. Generate alternative

 The company should more focus on innovation part which will act as a
core-competence for the company.
 The company should more focus on improving product quality.
 Company could have used IT as a source of innovation.

5. Develop criteria

 The Whirpool company can introduced new strategy to generate new

ideas when the market is at low
 The company can improve the product efficiency as it help to increase
demand when they face certain situation
 Information technology can boost the speed and service of the product
which can help company to grow its market share

6. Evaluate alternative

 If the company introduced new innovative strategy than they can have
numerous ideas to grow at large in the market
  When the quality of the product is improved them there is an certain
demand for that product
 Whirpool company had used information technology which helped the
company to obtain its objective

7. Priories alternatives

 The employees should be trained to improve their skills and become

creative
 New innovative ideas should been taken from the employees by involving
them in decision making
 The company’s infrastructure should be proper and the help of new
technology should be taken to achieve its goals
 Company should have consumer focused innovation which is really
important in this competitive market

8. Action plan

 New systems like E-space and I-Pipe can be introduced to help

employees to become creative
 Employees should be trained to become creative and innovative in giving
ideas
 The company should cut its expenses and try to its increase
organizational growth
 The company should focus on generating new strategies and improve its
products quality
9. Contingency plan

 Whirpool company should make such a strategy which can stable the
company when any other strategy or plan fails
 The company’s infrastructure should be such that it can become flexible
when needed in certain situation

Question and answers

Q: 1- How important do you think is the role of a CEO in facilitating a change in

the organization? Discuss the importance of the role of the CEO as a change
agent and cite specific examples from the caselet to put forward your view?

The role of a CEO in facilitating a change in the organization is very

important as he has the main authority of the company and he has main
responsibility towards the company. CEO had to create some strategy for
its organization so that the company can run effectively in the market. The
role play of the CEO in the company becomes more and more important
as he had to prepare the plan the strategy and internal structure for the
growth of the company or organization.

CEO as a change agent and my views for it:

 He emphasized the need to develop a culture that would spur

Whirpool’s growth through consumer focused innovation.
 He got help from the consultancy firm name Strategos to train its
executives and employees and helped the company to put
infrastructure in place and used IT to obtain its objectives.
  He also involved the employees to give the company some
innovative ideas

Q: 2-

Critically analyse the change initiatives taken place at Whirpool. Pinpoint the
problem that the company faced, and how the CEO helped the organization in
overcoming those problem. Also enumerate the learning points from the caslet?

 The company used employees in giving ideas for the innovation

for the company which proved to good and effective for the
company
 The company developed a culture that achieves growth by
consumer focused innovation this was the strategy for the
competitive market or products
 The employees were trained by the consultancy firm Strategos
which made employees more creative and innovative in their
ideas
 The employees of the Whirlpool Company were enjoying more
freedom and were empowered to drive innovative ideas in
completion.

Problems:

 Company failed to drive growth in the business

 Company’s products prices were declining at a rate of 3.4 %
  Firstly the employees failed to provide any good innovative ideas
for the company
 The middle level management did not support the new initiative
as there was absence of concrete goals.

CEO’s steps to overcome problems:

 David Whitwam introduced innovation in the company

 He encouraged employees to take part in giving innovative ideas
for the company
 He focused on the growth by consumer focused innovation for the
competitive products
 Whitwam got help from consultancy firm Strategos to train its
employees

My learning

 From this case I come to know that there could be many ways by to
increase the sales. So, managers should not focus on particular strategy
and think in a broader sense to achieve the organizational objectives