Cottrill Inc.

Case Title: Cottrill Inc. Case Study

Judy Steven, who was the purchasing supervisor of the Cottrill Inc., was finding the current paging system which had provided by Tallant for twelve years might be unsuitable for the operation of Cottrill. Recently, a new supplier, Saxton Wireless, was presenting a new paging service to Judy. Both paging systems had pros and cons. Judy’s department needed to weighed them, however, there was only five days left before Judy decided whether to replace the supplier. Judy had made a preliminary decision. The final decision should be made by the end of November 16th.

BACKGROUND

Conttrill Inc.

Conttrill Inc., which was one of the largest corn refining company, was using automatic process system to minimize plant downtime. A paging system was used to help the company to discover and solve problems form this automated software program in time. Due to the reduction of the working capital, using the current paging system might not be suitable for the current situation of Conttrill Inc. A new paging system supplier offered a similar product for choose. The purchasing department had to make a decision what was prudent for Conttrill Inc..

Tallant

Tallant, which was the only paging system supplier 12 years ago, had been chose by Conttrill Inc.. However, the paging system Tallant provided was not designed specifically for Conttrill Inc.. The customer service Tallant provided was based on 1-800 help line. There were no specialist services for individual customers. All technical support and service requirements were transferred to rerated departments by the calling center. Tallant had rich local service experience than Saxton. Tallant required notice upon termination of the agreement.

Saxton Wireless

Saxton Wireless was a large wireless company. It provided a similar paging service as Tallant but in a lower price. Saxton provided specialist customer service, if there was a problem, the customer could directly contact the sales...