Week 5

The Elias Group

Elias group is a family owned business, started when Ms. Elias retired from her job as Deputy Administrator for the General service Administration, after she did 30 years career in government service she realized that it was still very difficult for small business to apply for government contracts, She decided to start The Elias Group, as a non-profit organization to help small business wishing to contract with U.S. Government. By providing information, assistance and services

The Elias Group established in 1997, the group now has a full-time staff of 31 and more than 100 specialists providing consultation and services to business owners such as

* Help with preparing a firm to qualify for the GSA schedules.

* Advising and assisting in the appropriate response to a government request for either goods or services via the use of a Request for Quote (RFQ) or a Request for Proposal (RFP).

* Providing an analysis of business operations and operating policies to assure appropriate regulatory compliance and eligibility to be (or continue to be) a GSA contractor.

* Assisting lobbying efforts for industry specific assistance and/or legislation that we deem appropriate for the consumer, industry and government.

The Elias Group can be considered as a matrix structure company with 31 staff and 100 specialists working to provide their customers with the best advice to start their small business with the government and provide them with all the tools and help needed to start their business.

The matrix structure model brings employees and management from different departments to work toward accomplishing a goal. There is advantage and disadvantage for using this model.

* One of the advantages of using the matrix model is efficient information exchange, which is the department work closely together and communicates with other frequently to solve issues.

* Another advantage it increase motivation, the matrix structure encourage a...