Maple Leaf Shoes Ltd.’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Introduction

This is a technique in strategy planning used as a measure of a company’s internal and external factors that may impact its performance and sustainability. The strengths of the organizations are seen to be internal factors while the external factors constitute the weaknesses and the opportunities (Schwind, 2010).

Strengths

From the case study, Maple leaf Ltd is seen to have much strength that favors its operation and gives a competitive advantage in the market. Compared to its competitors, Maple has the long-term experience that makes it competent and skillful in market navigation. It can identify scalability in terms of market scope, coverage, competent and diversified resources.

Weaknesses

Maple Leaf has some weaknesses that its competitors may exploit in outdoing the company’s status in the market economy (Schwind, 2010). The key to these is employee dissatisfaction, evident from the complaints that employees make and the recent loss of employees to other companies experienced (Schwind, 2010).

Opportunities

A readily available market for exploitation by Maple Leaf Ltd in attaining the projected status and a constantly increasing market scope lead to a high growth rate being the major opportunity that the company has (Schwind, 2010).

Threats

Maple Leaf Ltd faces many threats, especially from its competitors. This is clearly indicated by the exit of the previous human resource manager for a better position and the plans of Jane Reynolds to leave for another company if she fails to qualify for the position (Schwind, 2010).

Situation Analysis

Situation analysis is a mechanism that managers use to scrutinize the internal and external settings of an organization in a bid to understand its abilities and market scope. It is a process done systematically using data based on the previous and present documents of a company that has an impact on performance trends and strategy formulation. It incorporates the 5c’s of analysis of credit analysis; capital, capacity, collateral, conditions and character, SWOT analysis, and porter’s five forces of analysis.

It is considered to be a long-term plan and a critical step in the marketing plan of an organization. It analyses the current products, target market, network distribution, competitive analysis, financial analysis, and external forces.

External situation analysis involves the nature of demand which is a qualitative analysis of customers and their shopping behavior, the extent of demand as regards market size and growth rates, nature of competition, environmental climate, and distribution structure.

On the other hand, internal situation analysis involves financial resources, sales and profit generation trends, the mission, goals, objectives, and strategies. It also covers issues to deal with corporate culture and the overall skills of the concerned firm.

According to the SWOT analysis conducted above, and, considering the 5C’s of analysis, Maple Shoe Ltd is at a better chance of ensuring high-profit generation and improving organizational performance.

Based on the information given in the case, what education, experience, job skills, and other competencies would seem to be necessary for the future human resource manager of Maple Leaf Shoes?

As indicated by the resumes of the four candidates that at least made it to the final interview, Maple Leaf is surely out to get a highly competent human resource manager to take the company to another level. The fact that all the four have bachelor’s degrees in a business-related field makes it sound like the standard measure of education for one to qualify. In terms of experience, a qualifying candidate should have at least 10 years of experience in a managerial post with a recognized company (Schwind, 2010).

In order to get the ability to maintain the company’s growth rate, employees are required to redesign jobs to reduce the costs incurred. This is a crucial skill required by the management in order to be recruited as an individual.

How does the various candidates’ rate on these factors identify?

In terms of educational qualifications, almost all the candidates are at par. However, Steven Robinson tends to outdo them since he has an honor while the rest has bachelor’s degrees. It is also notable that the candidates have extension courses in human resources management to support their areas of specialization, a fact thought of as the main reason behind their selection as successful candidates (Schwind, 2010).

In terms of experience, all candidates have over ten years of experience, but Michael Anderson is the leader, with 33 years of experience. If one analyzes it critically this reveals that the experience portrayed by the candidates goes hand in hand with their age; Jane Reynolds and Steve Robinson have the least experience, speaking in terms of years of experience since the two are younger than Michael and Arthur.

Another parameter used to gauge the candidates is their skill and ability to handle the position adequately. Clark notes that each candidate has strengths, but they also have some weaknesses that make them questionable for the position. Responses from the managers who do not agree on who to recruit also indicate that none of them is sure enough about the issue (Schwind, 2010).

What is your evaluation of the selection process employed by the firm (especially Robert Clark) in this instance? If were you in charge, would you do something in a different way? How?

To some extent, Robert Clark’s evaluation method is up to standard since he considers all aspects of the candidate, inclusive of gender, age, marital status, and race as opposed to many companies that could only consider academic qualifications and experience as the only parameters towards recruiting a person.

However, Robert Clark sounds like a perfectionist. He wants a round candidate without weaknesses, who is hard to get. He seems not to believe anybody else as a potential human resources manager apart from the former manager (Schwind, 2010).

If I were in a similar situation, I could use the same evaluation method in selecting the candidates. From the four final left, I could go for a relatively younger candidate with much experience and reputation, since he could handle most of the issues required, like redesigning jobs without considering many factors that may not benefit the company.

Among the candidates, who (if any) would seem to be suitable for the position? What are the issues you should consider and tradeoffs you should make when selecting one of these candidates for the position?

For effectiveness, performance issues, and the urgency required, especially with redesigning the jobs, Jane Reynolds could have been the preferred candidate for me due to the understanding she already has on how the company works, the employees and their problems, and the financial status of the company. This gives her an upper hand over the rest, as she could easily identify the employees to do away with, who do not add value to the company (Schwind, 2010).

However, her broken relationship with the finance manager could have hindered her from being the best fit. On another view, this could act as one of her strengths, since it assures a corruption-free environment.

Reference

Schwind, D.W. (2010). Canadian human resource management: A strategic approach. The Ninth edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd