Aston-Blair, Inc. Case

The Case: Aston-Blair, Inc. was mainly discussed about Aston-Blair is a producer of "precious metal alloys and other specialized alloys for commercial and industrial use". At the time of the case, this company is experiencing difficulties due to the economic slowdown that occurred in the early 1990s and the declining price of gold, caused by the start of the Gulf War. At the end of an executive committee meeting, Wynn Aston III, CEO of Aston-Blair, charged Peter Casey, Vice President of Marketing, and Chris Trott, Vice President of Corporate Planning, with examining the company's forecasting processes in order to achieve better inventory control, financial planning, and improve production scheduling. Aston believed that "poor forecasting was one of several underlying factors contributing to the firm's poor performance".

Trott and Casey assembled a task force to investigate the forecasting problem. They mandated that the task force would focus its research on the Marketing Division, because this is where the final forecasts for product demand are created. They allocated members to the task force and decided that Michael Bacon, Trott's special assistant, would lead the task force. During the first meeting of the task force, it was quickly decided that the team should be divided into three different subgroups. One group (Holt and the three product managers) would focus on the Marketing Division, one person (Meir) would focus on gathering data for the new forecasting model, and one group (Bacon, Reiss, and Bodin) would concentrate on the Sales Division's inputs into the forecast.

<Tab/>The subgroups worked on their analysis to meet the August 4th deadline set by Casey and Trott. Shortly before the deadline, Bodin presented Bacon with a report that exposed some "systematic biases in the Sales Division's inputs into the forecast" (Aston-Blair Case, 1999: M-6, 17). This data was kept confidential and it was decided that would not be presented to the rest of the task force until Bodin could first discuss the data with Jed Burns, his boss. On August 4th, the task force came together to give their presentation to Trott, Casey, and key members of upper management. The first part of the presentation focused on the forecasting processes and was not taken well by the Market Managers. Due to heated disagreements, the group took a break and decided to reconvene at 3:00pm.

<Tab/>During the break, Bacon discovered that Meir had found the confidential report that was given to him by Bodin. Meir was upset because this information would have made his data-gathering task much easier and he also expressed his anger about not receiving support in the morning's meeting. Meir leaked the confidential information to his boss, Dr. Cornelius, who was about to share the information with Burns, without Bodin's approval.

<Tab/>The following analysis will analyze the current situation of Michael Bacon before he returns to the meeting. Team MBA Smackdown will act as consultants to Bacon and identify problems, alternatives, and make recommendations for action.

STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS

"Stakeholders are groups of individuals or other organizations who play a role in the survival and success of the organization and who are affected by an organization's activities..."(Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen, & Westney, 1999: M-9, 8). There are several key stakeholders in the Aston-Blair case. This section of the analysis will focus on the different stakeholders within Aston-Blair that are directly involved in this case. We will compare and contrast concerns, interests and the distribution of power.

The first key stakeholder is Wynn Aston III. As the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Aston-Blair, Aston's primary interest is to return the company to a prominent position in the industry and to improve the company's forecasting capabilities. Aston-Blair was once the industry leader, but due to acute problems both internally and externally the company has lost its position. Aston has appointed two Vice Presidents, Peter Casey and Chris Trott to form a task force to address the internal problem of forecasting.

The next key stakeholders are Peter Casey and Chris Trott. These two Vice Presidents of Marketing and Corporate Planning have the task of assembling a task force to look at the Marketing Division and devise a plan to improve forecasting. Their interests are carrying out Aston's request for improvement, as well as forming a diverse and productive task force to look at the problem.

Another key stakeholder is Michael Bacon, a member of the Corporate Planning Division and the chairman of the newly formed task force. His main interests are managing the task force and providing Trott and Casey with a viable solution. He has the difficult task of balancing a diverse group of individuals who all have different ideas of on what the goals of the task force should be.

The next key stakeholder is Russell Cornelius, Vice President of Economic Analysis. In the past, Cornelius' division has played a major role in the company's forecasting by using their macroeconomic models. Cornelius' main interest is to make sure his representative, Randy Meir, is able to keep these processes in place and not move the forecasting away from his division. If they continue to oversee the forecasting, this will increase Cornelius' power within Aston-Blair. Cornelius does, however possess what could be viewed as an ulterior motive. He feels that he should be heading-up the task force since its focus is forecasting, a process handled in his division.

The final key stakeholders are the Marketing Managers. These individuals use data collected from all Divisions to make the final forecasts for product demand. The Marketing Managers have been resistant to change in the past, and feel that the current system should remain unchanged. Their interests are in exerting their influence through their Product Mangers, who are members of the task force, to make sure that the current system remains unchanged.

Other stakeholders involved in this case include Richard Pack, President and COO; Jed Burns, Vice President of Sales; Vicki Reiss, a Corporate Planning representative; Robert Holt, a Corporate Planning representative; Peter Ratliff, Charles Paulson, and David Kolinsky, Marketing Division representatives; Emile Bodin, Sales Division representative; and Randy Meir, an Economic Forecasting representative. These individuals all play a role in the case and their interests are predominately tied to those individuals who appointed them.

Goal Conflict/Congruence

<Tab/>Goals are "specific preferences individuals use to evaluate and rank