Introduction
The Biotech Company intends to achieve a global competitive advantage through new product ventures under the new Infant Formula Division to be established in the most appropriate location. The most suitable location should have conducive environmental conditions that will favor the organization towards achieving its mission goal. By ensuring operations that align with the company’s current mission, “to develop products that are safe, effective, affordable and natural with the customer’s health” alongside application of current innovations within its line of production and distribution system, Melanie believes the company will acquire a substantial global market share. Melanie the head of the R&D department of the organization also seeks to bring in a Manager with innovative capability and who is at a capacity to develop green-sustainable products that will entice the organization’s customer base through enhanced branding.
Best Location
The three proposed possible locations for establishing the new business facility is in Ohio, United States, Malaysia and China.
Ohio, United States
The region is known to have relatively higher costs for acquiring real estate space to establish a business facility. The average rent per square foot of manufacturing space in US is $5.59 (Statista, 2018). Besides, it is an American region where genetically modified products are more prominent compared to green products. However, the level of literacy in the region is high meaning it is easier to access knowledgeable labor. However, labor cost is relatively high in the region compared to most of the world regions. The technological advancements in the region is high couple by modern infrastructure facilities. Therefore, it is more efficient to distribute manufacturing products to the plant and manufactured products to the customers. Owing to the level of literacy in the region and technological exposure, Ohio is a hub to innovative employees – the Biotech company will enjoy the benefit of access to innovative employees with a capacity to drive product development.
Malaysia
Malaysia, compared to the United States has relatively lower prices for acquiring real estate spaces for establishing a business or a production firm (Kirchenbauer, 2018). In addition, there is adequate knowledgeable labor at an affordable cost. In addition, as one of the fast growing economies, Malaysia has quality infrastructure facilities which are responsible for ensuring efficient distribution and communications. Here, firms can easily distribute their products to the customers and can easily access manufacturing products from the suppliers. It has well-constructed and maintained road, railway, sea and airports allowing the country to be highly interconnected. Besides, the technological advancements in the region is an indicator of a highly innovative region hence new entrants are guaranteed access to innovative employees with potential to develop new and more advanced product lines.
China
China is the second largest economy in the world. Currently it is known as the leading source of qualified affordable labor. The rate of technological advancements in the region are significantly high implying that international organizations are in a position to access quality infrastructure facilities. According to WIPO, (2018), China ranked among the top 20 highly innovative countries in the world in position 17. With well road transport systems, modern airports and sea ports as well as railways, the Biotech company is guaranteed the benefit of easy supply of manufactured products to the consumers and efficient supply of manufacturing products from the supplier distributions across the country. China leads in infrastructure investments across the world (Chen, Matzinger, and Woetzel, 2013). Besides, the high population in the region offer a higher market density for the company’s products. Currently China is among the highly populated regions and leading consumer markets in the world. Despite the birth rate regulations by the government, the region stills harbor a substantial volume of infants following its huge population. Besides, China is a member of World Trade Organization which implies the region has few trade barriers. However, due to lack of a highly emphasized copyright policy, there is high volume of counterfeit products that induce unhealthy competition in the market. However, compared to the cost-benefits, skilled labor and modern distribution networks, China would be a suitable location for establishing the new Biotech division.
Best Candidate
The three potential candidates for the new facility managerial position include Sloan Jessie, Maddie Cooper and Bentley Hughes.
Sloan Jessie has been an executive in the Biotech’s Europe division where she assisted in ensuring the Protein and Fitness branch remained environmentally and human friendly. She holds managerial skills besides her qualifications in Chemical Engineering which is essential for the new Biotech’s facility. In her earlier managerial roles in Mexico, she had excellent performance in ensuring cohesive workforce. However, she lacks the marketing experience which is one of the core requirement by Melanie who is in need of a manager who will help brand the new product to the level of being the company’s face in the market. Although she is focused to work on the marketing skills, it may derail the achievement of the company’s mission given that the organization focus on robustness in its market entry.
Maddie Cooper, a second candidate has an experience of 25 years in a mid-sized infant formula and a 2-year experience in Operations and Marketing after serving as the Vice President of Operations and Marketing in the Little One Formula company. Her reported achievement includes assisting the Little Ones achieve a constant a12%nnual growth in market share which led to her ascension to the position of Vice President in the company. She has portrayed quality managerial skills through her vigorous efforts to ensure compliance with legal requirements and her positioning in even the very minor decision making. Her level of innovativeness is commendable for she was able to coordinate remote workers in different global locations through modern communication channels. Owing to her high experience in the infant industry, she suggests that Biotech should be more concerned on making quality products with animal and soy milk rather than emphasizing on sustainability and going green at the market entry level due to Industry’s high competition. Her argument that upon establishment, the company would easily move to environmentally and human friendly practices can act as an eye-opener to the company. She portrayed quality managerial skills by foreseeing the risks exposure of the company following its market entry strategy and suggested a more viable market entry option. Her success track record in Asia and New Jersey reflects her capability in fostering Biotech’s success in the new location.
Bentley Hughes, a co-owner of Hughes Infant Supplies is proposed as a potential manager for the new Biotech facility under a believe owning his company may have provided him with sufficient experience needed in the new Biotech division. Beside, as Biotech purchase the company, Max believes Bentley should hold a position with high responsibilities in the company. However, Bentley was responsible in operations and financial department of the organization but his wife was the head of marketing campaigns that allowed Hughes to achieve steady growth rate after few first years of exponential growth. Therefore, Bentley has limited competencies to propel brand awareness in the new region due to lack of marketing skills which his wife has. His key competencies lie in the distribution system having served as a Logistics Officer with the Navy in Japan.
Melanie interest is to bring in a manager who will apply strategies that will make the new division a leader in innovations and who will foresee sustainability of the company by applying green technologies and friendly approaches to the environment, animals and human health. Maddie Cooper seems to meet Melanie’s requirements. One, she has an experience of 25 years in the infant formula industry. Besides, based on her report, she has been able to apply quality managerial skills in operations and marketing department that saw her company achieve a 12% constant annual growth year-after-year. She was also bold enough to challenge Biotech’s market entry strategy by offering her views about what she feels would be the most appropriate market approach to dodge market risks. A managerial position requires a critical thinker who is able to assess the current situation and devise other viable options that can be applied more efficiently and effectiveness. In addition, the ability to coordinate operations even in remote global locations is a key competency in a managerial position. Maddie was able to apply current communication means to manage and coordinate remote workers across remote global locations.
References
Chen, Y., Matzinger, S., and Woetzel, J. (2013). Chinese infrastructure: The big picture. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/winning-in-emerging-markets/chinese-infrastructure-the-big-picture
Kirchenbauer, R. (2018). Investing in Malaysia Property: The Ultimate Guide. Retrieved from https://www.investasian.com/2017/03/12/invest-malaysia-property/
Statista. (2018). Average rent per square foot paid for industrial space in the United States in 1st quarter 2018, by type. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/626555/average-rent-per-square-foot-paid-for-industrial-space-usa-by-type/
WIPO. (2018). Global Innovation Index 2018: China Cracks Top 20. Top Rankings: Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Singapore, U.S. Retrieved from https://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2018/article_0005.html