Success Of The K'netix System Bob Buckman example essay topic

1. DISCUSS THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY IN THE CASE Founded in 1945 by Dr. Stanley Buckman Buckman started the company in Memphis, Tennessee, with five employees in a small building located on land that was once a lumberyard. Offices and laboratories were located on the first floor of the building, and a 50-gallon black iron chemical reactor and a steam boiler were placed in the basement. The 50-gallon black iron chemical reactor was sufficient to supply the initial order for 20 gallons of a microbicide, trade name BSM-11, to the company's first customer - Whiting Paper Company. Three years later, BSM-11 and its derivatives had become the industry standard for microorganism control.

Soon a new production facility was built next door and Buckman Laboratories of Canada was formed. During the 1950's, the company's customer base expanded to include the leather, paint, sugar processing, agriculture, paint, coatings and plastics industries. During the 1960's, new manufacturing and sales companies were formed in Mexico and Belgium. The expansion during the 1970's followed with the opening of sales and manufacturing companies in South Africa and Brazil and a sales company in Australia. New products were introduced for water treatment, ranging from swimming pools to fresh water, and a new international headquarters housing all corporate activities, including Research and Development, were built in Memphis.

In 1978, Dr. Stanley Buckman died of a heart attack in his office His son, Robert (Bob), became the new chairman and CEO. In 1945, Buckman Laboratories started with one product, a 50-gallon process vessel and four employees in a small house in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, Buckman is a global business producing over 500 different products and employing over 1,300 people in over 70 countries. The company was originally founded on its unique ability to create and manufacture innovative solutions for controlling the growth of microorganisms.

Ever since its inception, Buckman believes that a specialty chemical supplier should listen to and anticipate customer needs and then respond with innovative and unique solutions. Buckman will continue in the future as it has in the past providing value-added services and products to improve the efficiencies and products. 2. PROVIDE A SHORT DISCUSSION OF THE KEY MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY. DISCUSS BELIEFS, VALUES, AND PHILOSOPHIES OF THESE INDIVIDUALS. DISCUSS WHY THESE ARE IMPORTANT IN UNDERSTANDING HOW THE COMPANY OPERATES OR WHY THE COMPANY IS FACING A DECISION OR A PROBLEM IN THE CASE.

ALSO DISCUSS THE TRAINING, EXPERIENCE OR BACKGROUND OF THE KEY MANAGEMENT INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANT TO THE CASE. Dr. Stanley Buckman Dr. Stanly J. Buckman, a microbiologist and biochemist, founded the worldwide Buckman organization in 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee. He believed that basic research, combined with knowledge of industrial processes and technology, could produce innovative chemicals to solve industry problems. Prior to his heart attack in 1978, Dr. Stanley's management style reflected one of a micro manager. Twenty-six people reported directly to "Dr. Stanley", creating a bureaucratic, less responsive organization. Robert (Bob) Buckman Becoming the new chairman and CEO of Buckman Laboratories after his father died of a heart attack in 1978, Bob was faced with many challenges and an evolutionary change in the business world.

From the beginning of his leadership, Bob wanted to change the way the company operated. As he put it, "We were getting our lunch eaten. We were a multinational organization and needed to be a global organization". In the process, Bob wanted to change the management style of the organization. "I knew I didn't want to do it Dad's way. Every single business decision had to be approved by my father.

I thought this is too much work". Even though the company had adopted the slogan "Creativity For Our Customers" in the 1960's, Bob was convinced that the company was too product-driven. Bob wanted the company to become "customer-driven". This shift reflected Bob's belief that "cash flow is generated on the front line with customers, by associates who have built relationships of continuity and trust, face to face with the customer, one individual with another, over a significant length of time". 3. ASSESS THE COMPETITIVE SITUATION IN WHICH THE COMPANY FINDS ITSELF IN THE CASE.

Strengths: o Global leverage due to their international status World leader in the area of machine hygiene o Competitive advantage to sharing knowledge with a system that they revolutionized in making them a industry leader (K'Netix) o Employees have an incentive to bring knowledge to the table through monetary awards Weakness: o As size a strength, size can also be a weakness o English was the dominant language for the website o Non regulation of the site leading to "useless and irrelevant" knowledge CEO regularly reviewed traditional financial measures for the company but dismissed using them to evaluate K'Netix. Opportunity: o Rules and regulations for utilizing K'Netixo Multilingual websites to accommodate the different languages around the globe o Increase customer base through "customer intimacy"o Revamp the company's mission statement to reflect the company culture Threats: o Other companies getting word of the success of K'Netix and making the website better Stricter environmental policies requiring stiffer penalties to change their processes and incur higher cost so Employee retention - employee leaving Buckman for competitors for better wage so Employees who do not embrace the new company culture and project negativity 4. DISCUSS THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THE COMPANY IS OPERATING. CONSIDER THE ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, LEGAL, AND SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE COMPANY. The 1940 sAs the United States entered its post-industrial phase of economic development, its labor market was in a state of radical transformation.

A marked break had occurred from the nation's evolutionary patterns of employment growth as well as in the composition of its labor force. The introduction of new and extensive technological advances meant that more output could be produced with fewer labor inputs. Major shifts in consumer tastes altered the character of the demand for labor, by contributing to the meteoric growth of the service sector and the decline of the goods sector. Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent drop in military spending might bring back the hard times of the Great Depression. But instead, pent-up consumer demand fueled exceptionally strong economic growth in the postwar period. The automobile industry successfully converted back to producing cars, and new industries such as aviation and electronics grew by leaps and bounds.

A housing boom, stimulated in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning members of the military, added to the expansion. The nation's gross national product rose from about $200,000 million in 1940 to $300,000 million in 1950 and to more than $500,000 million in 1960. At the same time, the jump in postwar births, known as the 'baby boom,' increased the number of consumers. More and more Americans joined the middle class. 1950 sThe need to produce war supplies had given rise to a huge military-industrial complex (a term coined by Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served as the U.S. president from 1953 through 1961). It did not disappear with the war's end.

As the Iron Curtain descended across Europe and the United States found itself embroiled in a cold war with the Soviet Union, the government maintained substantial fighting capacity and invested in sophisticated weapons such as the hydrogen bomb. Economic aid flowed to war-ravaged European countries under the Marshall Plan, which also helped maintain markets for numerous U.S. goods. The government itself recognized its central role in economic affairs. The Employment Act of 1946 stated as government policy 'to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power.

' The United States also recognized during the postwar period the need to restructure international monetary arrangements, spearheading the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- institutions designed to ensure an open, capitalist international economy. Business, meanwhile, entered a period marked by consolidation. Firms merged to create huge, diversified conglomerates. International Telephone and Telegraph, for instance, bought Sheraton Hotels, Continental Banking, Hartford Fire Insurance, Avis Rent-a-Car, and other companies. The American work force also changed significantly.

During the 1950's, the number of workers providing services grew until it equaled and then surpassed the number who produced goods. By 1956, a majority of U.S. workers held white-collar rather than blue-collar jobs. At the same time, labor unions won long-term employment contracts and other benefits for their members. Farmers, on the other hand, faced tough times. Gains in productivity led to agricultural overproduction, as farming became a big business. Small family farms found it increasingly difficult to compete, and more and more farmers left the land.

As a result, the number of people employed in the farm sector, which in 1947 stood at 7.9 million, began a continuing decline; by 1998, U.S. farms employed only 3.4 million people. Other Americans moved as well. Growing demand for single-family homes and the widespread ownership of cars led many Americans to migrate from central cities to suburbs. Coupled with technological innovations such as the invention of air conditioning, the migration spurred the development of 'Sun Belt' cities such as Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Phoenix in the southern and southwestern states.

As new, federally sponsored highways created better access to the suburbs, business patterns began to change as well. Shopping centers multiplied, rising from eight at the end of World War II to 3,840 in 1960. Many industries soon followed, leaving cities for less crowded sites. The 1960 by contrast, the 1960's and 1970's were a time of great change.

New nations emerged around the world, insurgent movements sought to overthrow existing governments, established countries grew to become economic powerhouses that rivaled the United States, and economic relationships came to predominate in a world that increasingly recognized military might could not be the only means of growth and expansion. President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) ushered in a more activist approach to governing. During his 1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy said he would ask Americans to meet the challenges of the 'New Frontier. ' As president, he sought to accelerate economic growth by increasing government spending and cutting taxes, and he pressed for medical help for the elderly, aid for inner cities, and increased funds for education. Many of these proposals were not enacted, although Kennedy's vision of sending Americans abroad to help developing nations did materialize with the creation of the Peace Corps. Kennedy also stepped up American space exploration.

After his death, the American space program surpassed Soviet achievements and culminated in the landing of American astronauts on the moon in July 1969. Kennedy's assassination in 1963 spurred Congress to enact much of his legislative agenda. His successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969), sought to build a 'Great Society' by spreading benefits of America's successful economy to more citizens. Federal spending increased dramatically, as the government launched such new programs as Medicare (health care for the elderly), Food Stamps (food assistance for the poor), and numerous education initiatives (assistance to students as well as grants to schools and colleges). Military spending also increased as American's presence in Vietnam grew. What had started as a small military action under Kennedy mushroomed into a major military initiative during Johnson's presidency.

Ironically, spending on both wars -- the war on poverty and the fighting war in Vietnam -- contributed to prosperity in the short term. But by the end of the 1960's, the government's failure to raise taxes to pay for these efforts led to accelerating inflation, which eroded this prosperity. The 1970 sThe 1973-1974 oil embargo by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pushed energy prices rapidly higher and created shortages. Even after the embargo ended, energy prices stayed high, adding to inflation and eventually causing rising rates of unemployment. Federal budget deficits grew, foreign competition intensified, and the stock market sagged. The Vietnam War dragged on until 1975, President Richard Nixon (1969-1973) resigned under a cloud of impeachment charges, and a group of Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held for more than a year.

The nation seemed unable to control events, including economic affairs. America's trade deficit swelled as low-priced and frequently high-quality imports of everything from automobiles to steel to semiconductors flooded into the United States. The term 'stagflation' -- an economic condition of both continuing inflation and stagnant business activity, together with an increasing unemployment rate -- described the new economic malaise. Inflation seemed to feed on itself.

People began to expect continuous increases in the price of goods, so they bought more. This increased demand pushed up prices, leading to demands for higher wages, which pushed prices higher still in a continuing upward spiral. Labor contracts increasingly came to include automatic cost-of-living clauses, and the government began to peg some payments, such as those for Social Security, to the Consumer Price Index, the best-known gauge of inflation. While these practices helped workers and retirees cope with inflation, they perpetuated inflation. The government's ever-rising need for funds swelled the budget deficit and led to greater government borrowing, which in turn pushed up interest rates and increased costs for businesses and consumers even further. With energy costs and interest rates high, business investment languished and unemployment rose to uncomfortable levels.

In desperation, President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) tried to combat economic weakness and unemployment by increasing government spending, and he established voluntary wage and price guidelines to control inflation. Both were largely unsuccessful. A perhaps more successful but less dramatic attack on inflation involved the 'deregulation' of numerous industries, including airlines, trucking, and railroads. These industries had been tightly regulated, with government controlling routes and fares. Support for deregulation continued beyond the Carter administration.

In the 1980's, the government relaxed controls on bank interest rates and long-distance telephone service, and in the 1990's it moved to ease regulation of local telephone service. The most important element in the war against inflation was the Federal Reserve Board, which clamped down hard on the money supply beginning in 1979. By refusing to supply all the money an inflation-ravaged economy wanted, the Fed caused interest rates to rise. As a result, consumer spending and business borrowing slowed abruptly.

The economy soon fell into a deep recession. 5. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM OR PROBLEMS FACING THE COMPANY IN THE CASE GOING FORWARD. I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR ABILITY TO IDENTIFY THE ISSUES THAT REMAIN UNANSWERED BY THE CASE MATERIAL. Define the vision of the K'NetixWhen the K'Netix system was implemented, management did not have a definite mission or purpose in mind from the start.

As a result, a great deal of mistreatment took place in the forum, on the bulletin boards, and in the chat rooms. It was a lot more difficult to have to go back and correct the lack of mission or purpose than it is to develop something in the first place that takes the mission or purpose into account. Obtain employee buy-in of the system Obtaining employee buy-in is essential when implementing a knowledge management system. Not all employees were fans of the system, not all wanted to really share or learn from the system, and because the system was primarily in English (with English-language forums), those who were not comfortable with English as a second language could not benefit from the system. This caused a great deal of resentment among many employees. Evaluating the success of the K'Netix system Bob Buckman evaluated the system by the bottom-line results, which is one way to do so - after all, the point of information sharing was to share knowledge, so that the knowledge would end up in increased sales and stronger employees.

Additionally, the system could also be evaluated on an internal basis - how the employees view the K'Netix system. In reality, the K'Netix system has been successful in terms of a positive impact on the bottom-line, but these were mixed reactions to the system in terms of knowledge sharing. Employees should be encouraged to share knowledge because they perceive that doing so will be beneficial to them, rather than being forced to have to do so because it is tied to an employee review and incentive. Furthermore, management can also measure the success of the system by the level of coercion that it took to ask people to utilize the system. 6. IDENTIFY THE POSSIBLE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THE COMPANY TO RESOLVE EACH OF THE PROBLEMS THAT WERE IDENTIFIED IN NUMBER 5.

PROVIDE A DETAILED DISCUSSION OF THE STRENGTHS / WEAKNESSES AND RISKS / BENEFITS OF EACH PROPOSED OPTION. Define the vision of the K'Netix system Update the mission statement to reflect the new company culture Establish a Code of Ethics Policy Establish ground rules (i.e. topics, language, professionalism) regarding the usage of the K'Netix system By today's stupefying technology standards, the Buckman global knowledge network is very elementary. Everyone at Buckman can easily dial into a local service or directly into a CompuServe modem. Therefore, the only reason the K'Netix system works is due to the barriers to participation are very low.

This allowed the almost 1200 employees around the world to feel comfortable with logging in every day to solicit and contribute advice to people they never (and may never) see. Employees were spending endless amounts of time online participating in non-business related issues. People would talk about their kids and their dogs while people in Japan were telling jokes to people in Brazil. Buckman built in permission to use any feature of the Compuserve system from the beginning without any company policy to help regulate the mistreatment of the forums, bulletin boards, and chat rooms. Therefore, by establishing a mission statement and a Code of Ethics combined with ground rules for utilizing the K'Netix system, a new company culture can be implemented from the top down.

Employee Buy-In Develop a climate of trust between the company and the employees Form focus groups with the employees Create a "universal" culture for the entire company Starting at a grassroots level Buckman must obtain employee ideas, visions, goals of the project, desired outcome, and whether or not they view K'Netix as a beneficial tool that could propel the company into the right direction? This could be accomplished by forming focus groups including employees from all levels. Additionally, developing a climate of respect and trust has to be pervasive. Employees realize that although they may be asked a question from one part of the world today, they don't know what they may need to ask for tomorrow. Furthermore, employees have to trust other employees that they are giving their best efforts and their best knowledge. Therefore, forming a "universal" culture that does not present any barriers to the global employees, forming focus groups with employees from all levels, and developing a climate of respect and trust throughout the company will allow the employees to buy into the K'Netix system.

Evaluating the success of the K'Netix system Create a forum where employees can submit suggestions to improve the system Employees should fill out surveys regarding the system Create a forum where customer satisfaction is evaluated By creating a forum where employees can unanimously or with identification submit suggestions to improve the system will allow the company to gain insight on how to improve the system without spending excess amounts of money and identify internal problems employees might be encountering with the system. Additionally, having the employees fill out monthly, quarterly, or annual surveys of the system will also accomplish this task. Therefore, these tools will also enable the company to evaluate the success of the K'Netix system internally. Furthermore, the company should create a Customer Information Center, which will be the repository for all customer information. Forums should be developed to include customers. Because the company's business of producing specialty chemicals is so highly "specialized", one way to gain customers is by offering specialized customer service.

Therefore, by having all employees at the fingertips of the customer forums will allow the company to excel in customer satisfaction. 7. FROM THE IDENTIFIED LIST OF OPTIONS, RECOMMEND THE SOLUTION (S) THAT THE COMPANY SHOULD ADOPT IN THIS SITUATION. PROVIDE A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF YOUR RECOMMENDATION, WHICH SHOULD INCLUDE AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING: RESOURCES NEEDED AND WHERE THEY WILL COME FROM, TIMEFRAME FOR IMPLEMENTATION, COSTS, AND MEANS FOR OFFESTTING THE RISKS YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED. Buckman Laboratories is considered the leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals for aqueous industrial systems, with worldwide company with offices in more than 80 countries. The company focuses on selling more than 1,000 specialty chemicals at eight factories.

In order to maintain and / or gain more market share with in the manufacturing business of aqueous industrial systems, the following recommendations must be considered and implemented. After 10 years of learning, Buckman Laboratories continues to push out the electronic boarder. Finance, human relations, and a host of other corporate services should move completely online in order for all employees to have immediate access. A marketing information data analysis system should be developed as a Customer Information Center, which will be the repository for all customer information and forums should be developed to include customers. Buckman's idea was to bring knowledge to the learner rather than bring the learner to the knowledge. Since Buckman employees or "learners" speak nearly a dozen languages, the frontier issue of instantaneous translation is immanent.

The idea of when someone posts a note in English, people in Japan will be able to read it and respond in Japanese, which in turn people can read and respond in Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, French, etc. Therefore, creating a "universal" culture within the organization will ensure employee buy-in into the K'Netix system. In the end, the system's success rests on the people and not the tools. It is 90 percent culture change and 10 percent technology. Driving these changes solely based on technology and technology budgets will not be successful. The employees are who bring about the change.

Therefore, by implementing focus groups that include different levels of employees will bring about the change in a successful manner. Additionally, by revamping the mission statement to reflect the culture of the company will give the employees and management a sense of direction.