The three product lines produced in DFI, namely Dexter Home, Dexter Superior, and Dexter Standard, all differ in quality. While Dexter Home focuses on low-quality and cheap furniture to be used in homes, Dexter Superior focuses on high-quality, appealing, and expensive products for use in homes. On the other hand, Dexter Standard deals with standard-quality furniture used in offices and hotels at relative prices. Currently, with the high quality of life and with the economy’s condition, it would be advisable for DFI to focus more on the production of the Dexter Standard products. Dexter Standard performs better compared to other product lines in the company. This indicates that motels, offices, and hotels purchase furniture more often than individuals in homes.
As the famous saying goes, cheap is expensive, and therefore individuals who purchase low-quality furniture from Dexter Home can attest that the products may not be long-lasting. In this case, considering the challenging economic times, people may prefer to purchase long-lasting products that will serve them for a long time. Dexter home should improve the quality of their furniture to standard and increase the price by a small percentage to realize more sales and attract more customers. Dexter Superior is also not doing great, considering that the middle class, the principal target market, does not reside in small towns but rather in cities.
Soon, there is the likelihood that DFI will face the authorities regarding the mistreatment of their workers and lack of taking proper action regarding discrimination. The latter is a severe case, especially when it continuously occurs in the workplace without any action being taken by the managers and top executives (Yu and Lee 275). Within the scope of the case, discrimination is manifested as lower salaries, fewer promotional opportunities, and insignificant hiring possibilities for women in comparison with men. In this vein, discrimination may be viewed as a form of gender-based intolerance as the subjects are females both in the workplace and in society. Companies are supposed to ensure that there is a prohibition of discrimination and a complaint procedure that is straightforward to understand for all employees.
In the case of DFI, the top management has claimed to have not heard about the discrimination incidents in the branches in the Philippines. The government and law enforcement understand that an institution is supposed to offer safety and security for their workers, and therefore, their lack of compliance can result in legal issues. First, the productivity of individuals who have been discriminated against in the workplace goes low, resulting in low sales and profits. Once a discriminated victim goes to court, the court requires the company to compensate the victim appropriately due to the harm and damage caused by discrimination. However, in their defense, the management of DFI can argue that no discrimination victim has ever asked them for help regarding the issue. It has been explained that DFI does not value women such that they are paid low wages compared to men regardless of working the same tasks. Therefore, most women in the company fear reporting due to the complications and outcomes that may occur after that.
DFI uses the total quality management system considering that King Dexter, the founder, and CEO of the company, emphasizes checking the quality of the furniture produced himself, as he was a craftsman. This type of management system has enabled the employees to be keen on their performance as they are aware of consequences that will befall them for lack of producing enough. The CEO is known to take tours through which he corrects the flaws that may be in the already finished products. Being a previous craftsman, King Dexter is advantageous to the company as he does not leave any room for mistakes while producing a product in the three product lines.
The core competency of centralized management allows the company to quickly achieve its goals and objectives. In conjunction with the competitive advantages – an old brand name, quality, design, and diverse product line – this competency brings significant benefits. Employees are more efficient and avoid waste as much as possible during production. There is a higher level of customer satisfaction and enhanced risk management through the management system. Having existed for fifty years, this company, through the system, has continued to have a better understanding of the needs of the customer and also customer satisfaction.
DFI is organized into three divisions which are Administrative Service Division, Sales and Marketing Division, and Production Division. It was mentioned that within the production division are three product lines; some production is outsourced to the Philippines. This organizational structure has helped DFI become flexible as it is a large company with three divisions taking control over different aspects. This structure also responds to industrial changes and customer demands faster. However, this structure can be disadvantageous as it brings competition within the industry.
DFI uses performance bonuses as rewards and motivating factors for the employees to ensure that they perform appropriately to surpass the targeted annual sales and revenues. It is helpful considering that most employees are enticed by more wages and hence work even harder to get the rewards (Mohelska and Marcela 2231). The output control system can be the best fit for DFI, considering that it emphasizes measurable results in the company. In the case of DFI, the furniture produced daily is measurable; hence the management can communicate to the employees whether they have reached the expectations and the improvements needed. DFI uses the centralized management approach where the top management, which comprises King Dexter and some of his extended family members, makes all the decisions of the firm. This approach is advantageous because it allows fast decision-making and implementation and a concise chain of command. However, the decisions made may be biased as they are based on the thoughts of a few individuals who have been in office for the longest time.
Through their products, the principal target markets of DFI are homes, offices, and hotels that use furniture, including chairs, beds, and tables. Through their different product lines, they have created subsets of how they will produce their furniture based on the behavior of various individuals and organizations to whom they supply their furniture. People of different economic classes tend to have varying behaviors based on how they conduct their daily activities and the products they consume (Terentyeva et al. 56). In terms of furniture, individuals of the lower class tend to purchase cheap and, therefore, low quality, while those from the middle and higher class prefer lavish, attractive, and high-quality products. Dexter Superior has them covered. Motels, hotels, offices, and schools purchase standard products, including chairs and offices hence Dexter Standard.
The price and the product are the major p’s of promotion in the case of DFI, considering that the quality of the products goes hand in hand with the prices. High-quality products have higher prices, and low-quality products have low prices. In matters of pricing strategies and based on the marketing segmentation, DFI is likely to use the value-based pricing strategy where they consider the value and quality of the product and the perception of the customers regarding the products and prices. In conclusion, as a management consultant to Tripp, I would recommend him two steps, mainly a review of the existing management approach and implementing changes where needed with the help of other managers.
Work Cited
Mohelska, Hana, and Marcela Sokolova. “Management Approaches for Industry 4.0–the Organizational Culture Perspective.” Technological and Economic Development of Economy 24.6 (2018): 2225-2240.
Terentyeva, Tatiana Va, et al. “Theoretical and Methodical Approaches for Control Introduction in the Management System of Industrial Organization.” Amazonia Investiga 7.14 (2018): 50-60.
Yu, Helen, and David Lee. “Women and Public Organization: An Examination of Mentorship and Its Effect on Reporting Workplace Discrimination.” Review of Public Personnel Administration, vol. 41, no. 2, 2021, pp. 274–293,