MCS is a consulting service firm that was founded in 2011 in Detroit by three best...
Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!
Question:
Transcribed Image Text:
MCS is a consulting service firm that was founded in 2011 in Detroit by three best friends: Michael, Charles, and Sarah. The firm focuses on developing automation strategy and implementation of specific automation projects. As demand for automation expertise increases steadily, the founders decided that revenue growth should be a top priority. The focus on rapid growth was also considered because: The current and prospective client were relatively large corporations that create the demand for automation expertise. The founders wanted to establish as many client relationships as possible. • The founders wanted to attract, motivate, and retain junior consultants with potentially rapid career development. During the last seven years, growth has been exponential. Currently MCS already has additional three locations: Cleveland (2012), Indianapolis (2014), and Chicago (2016) with 85 consultants and revenue of of $65 million. Offices in Cleveland and Indianapolis were developed by the founders, while the one in Chicago was acquired from a local consulting firm. The four offices are set as revenue center, with the partnership being the profit center. In 2018, aggressive growth goals had been achieved, and the founders had no more plans to let up the pressure for growth in the near future. The founders always visit the four offices on a semiannual basis and hold a meeting with the related partner in charge to identify problems and opportunities. After the visit, they would gather to assess the firm's status and plan with discussions on questions, concerns, and ideas for change. During the founders' semiannual meeting in mid 2018, a concern was raised on the operation of Chicago office. The acquisition of Chicago office was completed in late 2017 and the combining of management styles, practices, and personalities was still in process. Overall, the founders were pleased with the acquired staff's skills, experience, and performance. However, the founders recently found that, one of the clients in Chicago office had been overbilled to cross subsidized another project that had been over budget. This practice was not in line with MCS overall objective of maintaining good relationship with clients and had never happened in MCS before. After several discussion with local partners, the founders realized that this practice was approved by the partner in charge and was a 'common' practice to meet revenue target. Sarah was particularly disturbed over this issue, with Michael and Charles agreed to her opinion. However, they realized that they had been working together for them to have the same general values and they had never shared this specific general business conduct with the Chicago partners. They discussed on the need and practicality to prepare explicit directives to prevent future departures from what they deemed as acceptable business practices and the related risk of overreaction that can damped the entrepreneurial spirit that had allowed the firm to flourish. The founders ended the semiannual meeting with a note that the firm should maintain the spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity and at the same time need a more formal management system and procedures to maintain a high and profitable growth rate, communicate goals, and facilitate sharing knowledge. However, the new management system and procedures should NOT take more time than necessary to prepare and must be consistent with the firm's culture and overall strategy. (Adapted from ACS Business Case, Harvard Business Publishing) Required: 1. In your opinion, has the firm met the Levers of Control of Belief System and Boundary System? Provide sufficient analysis that support your opinion (7.5%) 2. Provide your recommendation for Chicago office (7.5%) MCS is a consulting service firm that was founded in 2011 in Detroit by three best friends: Michael, Charles, and Sarah. The firm focuses on developing automation strategy and implementation of specific automation projects. As demand for automation expertise increases steadily, the founders decided that revenue growth should be a top priority. The focus on rapid growth was also considered because: The current and prospective client were relatively large corporations that create the demand for automation expertise. The founders wanted to establish as many client relationships as possible. • The founders wanted to attract, motivate, and retain junior consultants with potentially rapid career development. During the last seven years, growth has been exponential. Currently MCS already has additional three locations: Cleveland (2012), Indianapolis (2014), and Chicago (2016) with 85 consultants and revenue of of $65 million. Offices in Cleveland and Indianapolis were developed by the founders, while the one in Chicago was acquired from a local consulting firm. The four offices are set as revenue center, with the partnership being the profit center. In 2018, aggressive growth goals had been achieved, and the founders had no more plans to let up the pressure for growth in the near future. The founders always visit the four offices on a semiannual basis and hold a meeting with the related partner in charge to identify problems and opportunities. After the visit, they would gather to assess the firm's status and plan with discussions on questions, concerns, and ideas for change. During the founders' semiannual meeting in mid 2018, a concern was raised on the operation of Chicago office. The acquisition of Chicago office was completed in late 2017 and the combining of management styles, practices, and personalities was still in process. Overall, the founders were pleased with the acquired staff's skills, experience, and performance. However, the founders recently found that, one of the clients in Chicago office had been overbilled to cross subsidized another project that had been over budget. This practice was not in line with MCS overall objective of maintaining good relationship with clients and had never happened in MCS before. After several discussion with local partners, the founders realized that this practice was approved by the partner in charge and was a 'common' practice to meet revenue target. Sarah was particularly disturbed over this issue, with Michael and Charles agreed to her opinion. However, they realized that they had been working together for them to have the same general values and they had never shared this specific general business conduct with the Chicago partners. They discussed on the need and practicality to prepare explicit directives to prevent future departures from what they deemed as acceptable business practices and the related risk of overreaction that can damped the entrepreneurial spirit that had allowed the firm to flourish. The founders ended the semiannual meeting with a note that the firm should maintain the spirit of entrepreneurship and creativity and at the same time need a more formal management system and procedures to maintain a high and profitable growth rate, communicate goals, and facilitate sharing knowledge. However, the new management system and procedures should NOT take more time than necessary to prepare and must be consistent with the firm's culture and overall strategy. (Adapted from ACS Business Case, Harvard Business Publishing) Required: 1. In your opinion, has the firm met the Levers of Control of Belief System and Boundary System? Provide sufficient analysis that support your opinion (7.5%) 2. Provide your recommendation for Chicago office (7.5%)
Expert Answer:
Answer rating: 100% (QA)
1 Analysis of the firms adherence to the Levers of Control The Levers of Control framework developed by Robert Simons consists of four elements belief systems boundary systems diagnostic control syste... View the full answer
Related Book For
Management Accounting Information for Decision-Making and Strategy Execution
ISBN: 978-0137024971
6th Edition
Authors: Anthony A. Atkinson, Robert S. Kaplan, Ella Mae Matsumura, S. Mark Young
Posted Date:
Students also viewed these accounting questions
-
Managing Scope Changes Case Study Scope changes on a project can occur regardless of how well the project is planned or executed. Scope changes can be the result of something that was omitted during...
-
Read the case study "Southwest Airlines," found in Part 2 of your textbook. Review the "Guide to Case Analysis" found on pp. CA1 - CA11 of your textbook. (This guide follows the last case in the...
-
Planning is one of the most important management functions in any business. A front office managers first step in planning should involve determine the departments goals. Planning also includes...
-
Explain why rewarding sales personnel on the basis of total sales might not be in the best interests of a business whose goal is to maximize profits.
-
Craigs Pets succeeded so well that Craig decided to manufacture his own brand of chewing boneOrganic Bones. At the end of December 2012, his accounting records showed the following: Requirements 1....
-
First Call expects its profit to double next year. Explain how this increase in expected profit influences First Calls demand for loanable funds. First Call, Inc., a smartphone company, plans to...
-
Heritage, a general contractor, had filed a breach of contract action against an electrical subcontracting firm that had withdrawn its bid right before the contract was to be performed. A jury had...
-
Customer profitability and ethics. Snark Corporation manufactures a product called the snark, which it sells to merchandising firms such as Snark Republic (SR), Snarks-R-Us (SRU), Neiman Snark-us...
-
Differentiate between Market and Book Value of an asset. Define how the Book Value of an asset is calculated for tax purposes. Explain how the market or sales value of an asset might be estimated.
-
On December 31, the trial balance shows wages expense of $600. An additional $200 of wages was earned by the employees, but has not yet been paid. Analyze this adjustment for wages using T accounts,...
-
Reaction of earthen oxides to form stable carbonates has been suggested as a potential process for sequestering carbon dioxide. For instance, iron (II) oxide forms iron (II) carbonate: FeO(s) +...
-
Using an appropriate example, explain the FOUR (4) characteristics of a monopoly firm in Malaysia.
-
Katie wants to create a rectangular frame for a picture. She has 60 inches of material. If she wants the leng times the width, what is the largest possible length? Write an equation and solve.
-
Explain Legal risks and foreign exchange risks with an example of each
-
Identify which kinds of antigens T-cells target. Which T-cells actively attack invaders? What do T-helper cells do
-
Taxpayer (TP) prepared its tax return for 2022 on Saturday, April 15, 2023. The return showed a balance due of $3,000. TP prepared a check for the balance due and placed the check and the return in...
-
The volatility (sigma) of a stock is 54% per annum. We will model stock-price movements using a Binomial tree, where each branch of the tree has a step length (delta t) of 3 months. Calculate the...
-
Write a program that initializes an array. It inputs a value from the user and searches the number in the array.
-
What is a quality function deployment matrix, and how does it relate to value index computations for target costing?
-
Give an example of a responsibility center in a university.
-
What is management accounting?
-
The codon change (Gly-12 to Val-12) in human H-ras that converts it to oncogenic H-ras has been associated with many types of cancers. For this reason, researchers would like to develop drugs to...
-
Outline the general strategy used in metagenomics.
-
You need to understand the approach described in question 3 in More Genetic TIPS before answering this question. A muscle-specific gene was cloned and then subjected to promoter bashing. As shown...
Study smarter with the SolutionInn App