Sophia Moretti and Cole Products

Sophia Moretti and Cole Products

Recap

Aldor Steel launched in 1912, as of manufacturer of steel products. As the years progressed, the company ventured into different segments, the latest being electronics and information. Though out the years, the company has been successful at building business relationships in a variety of forms but to a lesser degree when it was a purchase. Aldor preferred to form joint ventures to the point where there was a bias against acquisitions. In December, 2001, Aldor Steel purchased Cole Products.

Questions/Issues

1. Should Sophia Moretti accept the job offer?

2. How should Aldor Steel and Cole Products deal with the acquisition effects?

3. How should R&D be organized?

4. Should the Thin Film Diamond technology development continue?

5. How should employee morale be handled?

Discussion

As I read through the Sophia Moretti Case, I realized there are several issues that Cole Products has. Besides looking for a new leader, they are a company that is in shell shock stemming from the integration under Aldor Steel. I believe both sides had different agendas going for moving forward and didn’t or couldn’t work them out. From Aldor’s perspective, being timid from pervious failed acquisitions, they wanted to invest in a company that could move forward with a cutting edge technology. But it seems Coles could not advance it research on the HTSS area.

As Cole moved forward after the merger, they were still dealing with the animosity that the staff had towards upper management for agreeing to the purchase instead of going through an IPO. Furthermore, Cole had in fighting between its departments, specifically the scientists and others. There were also disagreements with regard to the strategic direction of the company. Finally, Cole’s R&D department felt they were sold out and didn’t like some of the policies that Aldor put into place.

Going through a merger is usually a tough...