Kent Chemical Organizing for International Growth Case Solution

1. What were the problems facing Luis Morales as he began implementing Ben Fisher’s international expansion strategy?

With the implementation of the international strategy, a number of problems surfaced for Morales. With an increased participation in consolidation through joint ventures, Kent was able to acquire competitive players. However, the smaller share in ownership through JV meant that the company had limited financial and managerial control in these JVs. Moreover, there was a high level of competitiveness – even in subsidiaries which had operated independently for so long. With the expansion towards internationalization, Morales faced hiccups and difficulties in coordinating activities and integrating the organizational culture to ensure smoothness. With a lack of coordination and cultural alignment, Morales also graced issue soft managers working for self-interest instead of overall organizational growth and development. This led to further problems and difficulties regarding capital allocation as well as budgetary restraints. With increased parochial attitudes, self-interest, and lack of alignment and coordination, Morales also faced challenges in terms of effective change management implementation. This change management includes not only the hard aspects of the organization such as technology and related systems, but also soft aspects such as values and morals. Consequently, there was the challenge of duplicative activities and operations – which hinted at the wastage of resources. Lastly, with an increased number of subsidiaries, the company also faced challenges of a lack of skills and knowledge in its workforce – which it has acquired through the acquisitions. The workforce is not skilled, and does not have the updated knowledge needed for keeping up with the technological as well as other trends in the industry. This also highlighted that the organization was challenged with the impact of new systems – often leading to second guessing local country employees, and straining the organization overall. As a result, Morales also faced the challenge of the organization not being able to adapt to the changing demands and pressures i.e. the evolving business and consumer trends. This meant that Kent was falling behind the competition, and would soon struggle to remain relevant. 

2. How do you evaluate the organizational changes he made in response to those problems? Why were they unsuccessful?