Business Organization of The Le Petit Chef Essay

Brigitte Gagn, Le Petit Chef's new director of Microwave R&D, is in the process of deciding the product development agenda for the next year. She has a pressing deadline to meet  the executive board is meeting in Paris tomorrow to review her choices.
1. What should Gagn do? Specifically, which projects should she fund and why? How should she handle the executive meeting?
The founder of Le Petit Chef had a vision of building ovens that advance the art used in the development of French microwave cooking to a new level. Gagn should reaffirm this view by making it the company's mission statement. Consequently, Gagn will have a simple and easy time in forming specific strategies for the achievement of business objectives. The company's short-term strategy should involve the provision of methods for surviving the present competition (EC, 2008, p. 1). With enough input from the Research and Development (R & D), the company will consider the short-term strategy for the low-cost, low-end product. For long-term strategy, the focus should be on the differentiation on the feature of the company products. The R & D should hence concentrate on specific aspects of the products.
Gagn should fund several projects as described below.
Short-term projects
1. Project for the reduction in cost as well as the development of a new product line that focuses low-cost low-end. This project will involve of both the marketing and the engineering workforce in the R & D.
2. The second project that requires funding is one for adding another model to the existing line of business. This project will focus on the reduction of the resources the company spend.
Long-term projects
1. Fund a new project that will provide a feature that totally differentiate from other product in the industry. The project can utilize and modify feature that already exists in other equipment.
Gagn can handle the executive meeting through the observation of specific guidelines that will ensure the meeting becomes successful. The new director of the R & D can prepare facts on the rationale used for the selection of the specific projects that will be undertaken in the R & D. There should be a compilation of the facts and reasons why the company has been performing poorly. Additionally, recommendations on the possible means of improving performance should be provided as well. Recommendations should be presented on the techniques that can be utilized in improving the financial situations of the company (Lublin, 2011, p. 1).
2. What factors explain Le Petit Chef's poor performance? What actions would you recommend to remedy the situation?
The increasing competition from other similar companies was the main attributing factor to Le Petit Chef's poor performance. The market for Le Petit Chef has experienced increased competitive pressure from the manufacturers of appliances in Europe for the microwave high-end market. The high-end market was due to the Asian consumer electronics manufacturers who had penetrated the low-end, low-cost market. To counter the pressure that was brought by the competition