Sealed Air Taiwan (A) Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Probl) s and Issues

The Sealed Air Taiwan is currently exposed to succession problem and lack the availability of leadership who could govern the business operations and help it recover from the current state, where the business is generating operating losses. However, Sealed Air Taiwan is also facing staff related issues, meanwhile;since Sealed Air Taiwan is being controlled by Sealed Air Corporation from its US headquarter, hence, the cultural difference of the two countries in managing the business and employees are the key issues of Sealed Air Taiwan.

Alternatives and Likely Outcomes of these Alternatives

Sealed Air Corporation, from its headquarter in the United States have been trying to hire a general manager for Sealed Air Taiwan for successfully overseeing the business operations and can play his training and development of sales staff and other team members, but Sealed Air could not find a better fit for its Taiwan operations and finally posted Mr. Kayser as the general manager of Sealed Air Taiwan. However, Kayser could not manage the business in order to improve the profitability of operations. Sealed Air can overcome this lack of leadership issue either through removing Kayser and appointing a new manager who is local Taiwanese and knows the culture and traditional values of China.

However, the appointment of a new manager will require screening and selection of candidates from within the Taiwan, hence; the recruitment process would be a lengthy and difficult process for Sealed Air Corporation who has no previous experience of similar hiring. Alternatively, Sealed Air can retain Kayser as the manager, meanwhile, he can be provided with the training on Chinese culture in Taiwan, which will enable Kayser to effectively handle the situations and deal with the sales staff without affecting their cultural preference and beliefs.

Furthermore, the staff related issues can be handled through effective human resource approach that incorporates the local culture and traditional values in their business operation and the way the business run by the sales staff. Moreover, Sealed Air Corporation can adopt an approach that addresses the cultural issues being faced by the sales staff; meanwhile, they should be facilitated in accordance with the local culture and values of effectively doing the business.

Another issue ofSealed Air Taiwan is continuously falling operatingprofits; however, the sales staffs of Sealed Air Taiwan was allowed to take decisions regarding the final selection of prices after detailed negotiations with each client. However, in order to avoid the current situation of cautious fall in operating revenues Sealed Air Taiwan can devise a clear set of guidelines and principals for the selection of prices, which will provide the control over its revenues, hence, yielding positive operating profits from its current operations. However, the cost control will require additional efforts and in the monitoring and gathering of relevant data in order to enable the management decision making processes more effectively. However, currently the sales employees spend noticeable time on negotiations with the customers, meanwhile, in order to secure the sales, sales staff often commits to sell the products, even at no loss and no profitsituations, however, the profitability to the wars being deteriorated due to the changes in sales volume over the period of time.

Further, Sealed AirTaiwan was facing issues related to the cultural differences;meanwhile, because Sealed Air Taiwan received instruction fromthe central headquarter in the United States and operates in Taiwan were governedbymanagers from the United States who were more familiar with US culture than Chinese culture. Therefore, the difference between the two cultures led to the inappropriate management and selection of employees, who could not continue with Sealed Air Taiwan for a long period of time, hence, Sealed Air had to spend more time and money on recruitment and selection of a suitable candidate for the general manager position of Sealed Air Taiwan.

Recommended Course of Action

However, since the main issue with the management of Sealed Air Taiwan is the cultural difference of the two distinct nations, i.e. China and America. Therefore, importance should be given to the culture of the local people because the business in Taiwan will require interaction with the local business owners and the sales staff of Sealed Air Taiwan, who is primarily responsible for generation of sales revenues. However, if the management of Sealed Air fails to incorporate the local culture and traditional values into their business activitiesand the way they deal with their sales staff, then Sealed Air might find itself in difficulties of managing the business activities. However, given the issues at Sealed Air Taiwan, the corporate headquarter should try to address the cultural issues.

Further, Sealed Air Taiwan facing lack of succession planning issues because the general manager had been empty for last eight months due to the unavailability of suitable candidate and several attempts to recruit a suitable candidate has...............

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Director General of the U.S. subsidiary Sealed Air Corporation of Taiwan to decide whether he will hire the right person to bridge the gap between the corporate culture of Sealed Air and business culture of Taiwan. This case in detail experiments Bob Kaiser, trying to fill Sealed Air culture in operation in Taiwan, including approaches to learning, compensation and motivation. "Hide
by Lynn Sharp Paine, Robert J. Crawford Source: Harvard Business School 21 pages. Publication Date: September 23, 1998. Prod. #: 399058-PDF-ENG