business & Marketing & Management & supply chain

The core values of Madkin Tech. Inc. not only represent the organizational framework and belief system of the firm, but they also clearly characterize the differences between Madkin and its competitors.

· To sell the lowest, price highest quality and most reliable products in the market

· To promote customer responsiveness through detailed technique

· To support team member satisfaction and ability

Scale & Scope of Company

The first core value is clearly represented within Madkin’s mission statement. To be able to sell a low cost, high quality and reliable product is an indication of a strong firm, and that is exactly what Madkin strives for. The passion amongst the Madkin executives is showcased through their innovative products and ideas. However, although the firm believes in quality products, they also strive to sell at low cost. In doing so, the firm is better able to cater to the needs of their customers. Priding themselves as being socially responsible, Madkin has recognized the series of unfortunate events occurring within the economy and strive to cater to the needs of their target market by being a low price provider within an immensely competitive industry. Exhibit I presents a graph of average pricing throughout the industry. As the data clearly shows, throughout four quarters Madkin’s price level averaged at well below their competitors. By the end of Quarter 4, there was a significant price gap between Madkin and one of its top competitors, Quintessential. Although maintaining a competitive advantage is important to a new firm in a highly saturated industry, Madkin recognized the needs and demands of their customers as their top priority.

An honest and committed relationship between Madkin and its customers is extremely important for the firm and is represented through their second core value. Madkin believes in providing fast and efficient customer service through the employment of a highly trained sales-force that can meet their customer’s demands. In addition to providing top quality customer service, the Madkin executives also believed in the importance of customer incentives and justified this belief through the allocation of rebates in relation to pricing. By the end of Quarter 4, the average pricing of Madkin’s four brands (Workforce, Travelbook, Workforce G3, and the Jaguar) ranged from $2,100 to $4,200 and the rebates partnered with each brand (Workforce, Travelbook, and Workforce G3) ranged from $100 to $150 (see Exhibit II).

Madkin’s final core value conveys the importance of specialized training for each of their employees, regardless of whether that employee is a factory worker, a customer service representative or a sales-force employee that exclusively interacts with customers. Madkin’s employees were not only specifically trained on the importance of committing to their customers, but each individual was expected to complete a series of mandatory company-sponsored workshops. These workshops embedded the vision of the company through teaching the logistics of the importance of staff communication and organizational behavioral theories researched for a productive work environment. In addition, the firm strongly believed in maintaining an open organizational culture that fully accepted and strongly respected the personal orientation of each of their employees. Lastly, Madkin takes pride in the fact that they offer the highest compensation packages for their employees because if it were not for these hard-working individuals, Madkin could not have grown to the corporate empire that it is today.

The vision shared by the Madkin executives and the magnitude of their mission statement served as the driving forces behind the construction of the firm’s strategy diamond. The strategy diamond was used as the blueprint of the firm’s strategic architecture. There are 5 significant components of the strategy diamond: arenas, differentiators, vehicles, staging, and finally economic logic (see Exhibit III). Arenas within the strategy diamond are used to determine what businesses the firm will be a part of. Madkin is just one of the firms that make up the Personal Computer Industry, and as mentioned by Marketplace, the microcomputer industry is in its introductory stage of the product life cycle. In terms of product categories, Madkin is the manufacturer of a new line of microcomputers to be used within the dimensions of the business sector, directly selling to businesses. At the end of their first business quarter, Madkin executives had concluded that their products would target a large and highly competitive market segment while focusing on geographic market segments located within the middle of the cost/size range. Differentiators are the key factors in defining the competitive edge of a firm. Madkin Tech. focused their attention on building the strengths associated with a leading image, customization, price, styling and product reliability design of their product-line. In order to remain consistent with their core values while preserving a competitive advantage amongst other firms, Madkin Tech. set their prices to be the lowest amongst other firms while still providing a top-quality product coupled with fast and efficient customer service. In order to reach these intended means, by the end of Quarter 4 Madkin had opened sales offices in four major cities: New York, Paris, Tokyo (location of factory as well as sales office), and Sao Paolo. By employing the highest amount of individuals in comparison to their competitors (see Exhibit IV), Madkin was able to provide reliable products and fast service. The staging element of the strategic diamond corresponds to the speed and sequence of steps issued by the firm in order to reach the intentions of its success. Madkin first responded to the staging element by building a brand image through aggressive marketing techniques that would result in an increase of a loyal customer base. In the future, after building a concrete customer base, Madkin hopes to expand their product line and restructure their overall strategy by introducing a new computer that would redefine the industry and over exceed its expectations.

II.

World Market
Brand	Available for Sale	Retail Price	Price Rebate	Sales Priority
Workforce G3	X	2,500	150	3
Travelbook	X	3,250	100	2
Jaguar	X	4,200	0	1
Workforce	X	2,100	100	4

Arenas

III.

Vehicles

Staging

Economc

Logic

Differentiators

IV.