Response 1: Coming off my long weekend with family I was shocked to hear the bad news from Anna.  She explained that in the past quarter that our profit margin shrunk by 2%.  This decrease is causing us to look even harder at the option of globalization in the coming months.  We currently need to start benchmarking our internal and external processes to determine what are the next steps should be.  The benchmarking process will help us speed up the improvement process because we cannot afford to have another quarter with negative profit margin figures.  In our brainstorming meeting we need to determine what processes internally could be changed or improved on to help the bottom line.  We are going to have to do research on other organizations that have decided to go global so we can learn from their possible mistakes.  If possible, we must meet with the organization and pick their brains on the ins and outs of this process.  Once we have gathered all data and had time for analysis we can then determine what our next steps must be.  The main type of benchmarking that we must focus on is Process and Competitive Benchmarking .  We need to look to our daily operations and possible changes that could lead us to increased productivity, cost reductions and new fresh ideas.  I would have loved to be able to use Competitive Benchmarking, but our furniture manufacturing market is so close that our competition isn’t going to help us with any globalization information that they have acquired.  We must do external research on our own to insure the process we must follow.  We looked to the expansion of Richardson Brothers Furniture Co.  They own a lumber mill in Sheboygan Falls Wisconsin and seven generations of family woodworkers known for baronial furniture.  They have just unveiled a new collection with rave reviews, but the biggest change in the process is that Chinese works at low wage Chinese wood shops carved it, lacquered it and joined it.  The U.S. Commerce Department stated that 55% of wooden furniture is imported from China today.  The Richardson Brothers company moved to become a sales and marketing company because they moved production overseas.  Keith B. Hughes states that “Within three years, 75% to 80% of wooden furniture sold in the United States will be manufactured in Asia”.  Many companies have found that shipping wood halfway around the world can equate for a saving of 40% on their productions costs.  Building on this we could sell off some of our internal sanders, molder and saws being that they will be used less in house for production.  Sales have been declining and we are in need of a change to help pull us out of this domestic decline.  We may have to lay a few factory works off if we decide to move to China wood manufacturing, but that could be the case if we do not make global expansion.  We may need to let staff go if our numbers continue to decline.  Associated Risk             When you move some manufacturing to China ...

1. Response 1:
Coming off my long weekend with family I was shocked to hear
the bad news from Anna. She explained that in the past quarter
that our profit margin shrunk by 2%. This decrease is causing
us to look even harder at the option of globalization in the
coming months. We currently need to start benchmarking our
internal and external processes to determine what are the next
steps should be. The benchmarking process will help us speed
up the improvement process because we cannot afford to have
another quarter with negative profit margin figures.
In our brainstorming meeting we need to determine what
processes internally could be changed or improved on to help
the bottom line. We are going to have to do research on other
organizations that have decided to go global so we can learn
from their possible mistakes. If possible, we must meet with
the organization and pick their brains on the ins and outs of this
process. Once we have gathered all data and had time for
analysis we can then determine what our next steps must be.
The main type of benchmarking that we must focus on is
Process and Competitive Benchmarking
. We need to look to our daily operations and possible changes
that could lead us to increased productivity, cost reductions and
new fresh ideas. I would have loved to be able to use
Competitive Benchmarking, but our furniture manufacturing
market is so close that our competition isn’t going to help us
with any globalization information that they have acquired. We
must do external research on our own to insure the process we
must follow. We looked to the expansion of Richardson
Brothers Furniture Co. They own a lumber mill in Sheboygan
Falls Wisconsin and seven generations of family woodworkers

2. known for baronial furniture. They have just unveiled a new
collection with rave reviews, but the biggest change in the
process is that Chinese works at low wage Chinese wood shops
carved it, lacquered it and joined it. The U.S. Commerce
Department stated that 55% of wooden furniture is imported
from China today. The Richardson Brothers company moved to
become a sales and marketing company because they moved
production overseas. Keith B. Hughes states that “Within three
years, 75% to 80% of wooden furniture sold in the United States
will be manufactured in Asia”. Many companies have found
that shipping wood halfway around the world can equate for a
saving of 40% on their productions costs. Building on this we
could sell off some of our internal sanders, molder and saws
being that they will be used less in house for production. Sales
have been declining and we are in need of a change to help pull
us out of this domestic decline. We may have to lay a few
factory works off if we decide to move to China wood
manufacturing, but that could be the case if we do not make
global expansion. We may need to let staff go if our numbers
continue to decline.
Associated Risk
When you move some manufacturing to China we could
have loss or reduction of quality control. In addition to that,
there could be longer production and delivery times. We will
need to establish solid relationships with reputable and reliable
suppliers and overseas business partners.
Risk Minimization
To help lesson our risk we could operate a small office in
China to overseas to monitor quality control and on-delivery of
overseas production. This can help protect all company design
integrity. We will choose to only use reputable production
facilities and we will require all product and quality

3. specifications to be met. In the off chance of natural disasters,
we may choose to use different production facilities so that no
one facility would impact our total production.
Bullard stated “Perhaps the most important source of
change in furniture and many other industries today is the new
ability for suppliers, producers, distributors, and consumers to
send and receive “rich” information instantaneously, worldwide,
at very low cost”. In conclusion we need to open the floodgate
of possibilities moving forward.
Response 2:
I would again like to thank Deborah, the board for giving me
this opportunity to discuss our profit margins. After speaking
with Anna regarding our quarterly report, we will discuss in
depth why the potential of going into the global market for
Newbury, INC is top priority. First, we must discuss fact, Anna
was able to let me know that Newbury, INC has dropped profit
margins over 2% this quarter. This is very concerning as
Newbury, INC has always showed consistency in profit margins
throughout the years. After the info was sent over to Deborah
and the board we now have to think about if global strategy is
the answer or if we should continue to focus on the domestic
market.
As I was having a sidebar conversation with Tiffany (one of my
team members), she stated that we needed to look at some of the
internal factors. We know what are capabilities are on the
domestic front but what about the global market? Tiffany let
me know that we do have fairly strong market presence here in
the higher-end markets but how would this translate globally?
Today we will find out that answer.

4. First, we would have discussed what is our Benchmark. Ligne
Roset is our benchmark. In order for us to understand why, we
must understand who is Ligne Roset is a French Based high end
contemporary furniture maker/manufacturer. They have been in
business since 1860 along the Rhone River in French
countryside. Ligne Roset implements strict environmental
standards of manufacturing and production just like we do here
at Newbury INC. This cutting edge ecofriendly design allows
the company to be aware of its customers’ needs and
environments that they live in. They operate in the US,
Denmark, UAE
,
Germany, China, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and many other
countries around the world. (Ligne Roset, 2018) Recently the
company has spread its manufacturing to here in the United
States.
Global Expansion has helped Ligne Roset grow into not just one
of the premier High End Contemporary furniture manufacturers
in the world, it now has enough influence on the marketplace
that it can promote one of its products and create a aftermath of
copycats in the industry. This is something that they use very
similar to what we here at Newbury, INC does. At Newbury,
INC we use our in-house designers to help influence our buyers
and customers while at the same time staying on top of trends in
the industry. Ligne Roset does this by premiering its products at
the AIA, IDI, and Interior Designers expos every quarter around
the world. This is what Newbury, INC should mimic as a
potential Global expansion. (Ligne Roset, 2018). The
expansion that Ligne Roset found after it started manufacturing
in the United States was the growth of its customer base in the
US, Canada, and Mexico by branching into retail stores in
Chicago, NYC, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, LA, Mexico City,
Vancouver, Montreal, and many other cities over the years.
Simply put, profit margins grow, and Ligne Rosets presence in

5. the market continues to grow with it.
The large risk that comes with globalization when thinking
about Newbury, INC expanding is the type of expansion we
have. We have to think about our International Strategies. If we
are to operate as an MNC, or Multinational Corporation, we will
have to use a lot of our finances to push not only our products
across to our consumers but also influencing the market enough
that we don’t have to facilitate to the countries that we would
be manufacturing in. Types of International Strategies. (2015).
If we operated Newbury, INC as a multi-domestic, we would be
at risk of not being able to facilitate to our new
environment/culture of whichever country we decide to operate
in. This could be a large risk for us if things to not go our way.
Ligne Roset minimized those risks by maintaining their product
line as close to the trends as possible while at the same time
creating their own trends to the market. This gave them the
ability to have the same impact on customers from the United
States to Europe and Asia. The department that was utilized the
most was their designers and in house designers. This is
something Newbury, INC does now and this is something that if
we continue confidently, we will achieve our goal of bringing
up our profit margins and expanding into the global
marketplace. Newbury, INC has the assets, knowledge, and
reputation to take that dive into international waters!