Managing the Transition from Maturity to Decline: Diamond Power Corporation :: essays research papers

Managing the Transition from Maturity to Decline infield Power CorporationThis case study, prepared by Richard C. Scameborn, follows the DiamondPower Specialty Company from its humble beginnings in 1903 to its decline in1991.The birth of Diamond came with the invention of the hand cranked pornography b lower berth. As the years and technology progressed, so did the Diamond soot blower.Along with this main product, Diamond also added several other products to itsline, but none had the profitability of the soot blower. Diamond had the marketto itself for a number of years, but eventually two competitors sprang up tochallenge Diamond Copes-Vulcan and Bayer Company. Competition did not becomefierce until gentleman War II, when the soot blower became a major commodity used bythe U.S. Navy to clean boilers on board its ships. At this point, the sootblower industry became a sellers market and the need for strategy (bothcorporate and business) became a necessity for growth and survival. Diamond Powers main delegation at its beginning, to produce soot blowersthat would efficiently clean the inside of boiler as it continued working,basically stayed the same up until the addition of competition into the market.At this point, Diamond had to revise its flush to include technologicaladvances to stay ahead of it main competitor, Copes-Vulcan. With the passage oftime, production efficiency and technology were not enough. Diamond eventuallyhad to add foreign sales, node service, and relief part production toits original plan to keep ahead of the game. By the 1970s, the mission tosupply replacement parts and service became one of Diamonds direct priorities asit opened parts and service plants in New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Texan, Colorado,North Dakota, California, and Washington.Diamond Powers goals over the years seem to stay pretty congruent withits mission up until the early 1980s. Basically, Diamonds goals includedstaying on the moderate levels of technology, building a foreign market byexporting machines and parts and establishing joint-venture manufacturingcompanies overseas, establishing an extensive and profitable domesticatedaftermarket support system that included minifactories that supplied both partsand service, and to keep the upper hand on the soot blower market share.Diamond Powers parent corporation, McDermott, Inc, utilized severaldifferent corporate strategies to try to achieve Diamonds goal of a profitableand extensive aftermarket support system. However, some of the decisions made byMcDermott, Inc in regards to its replacement part division caused more harm thangood. For example, when a small operator began to copy and sell Diamondreplacement parts at a lower cost than Diamond with great success, McDermott