Chapter 1 Management Activities and Management Theory Case 1 Sweet Music of Martin Guitar Company was founded in 1833, located in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and is recognized as one of the best musical instrument manufacturers in the world. Just like Steinway's grand piano, Rolls-Royce's car or Buffett's clarinet, Martin guitar is one of the best things you can buy at a price of more than 10000. This family-owned enterprise has gone through difficult years and six generations. At present, the CEO is christian frederick Martin IV, who has inherited the guitar making skills. He even visited the company's distributors around the world and held training seminars for them. Few companies have such a lasting reputation as Martin Guitar, so what is the key to the success of the company? An important reason is the management and outstanding leadership of the company, which makes the members of the organization always pay attention to important issues such as quality. Martin Guitar Company has always attached great importance to quality since its establishment. Even though great changes have taken place in product design, distribution system and manufacturing methods in recent years, the company has always adhered to its commitment to quality. The firm adherence to high-quality music standards and the determination to meet specific customer needs permeate every corner of the company from top to bottom. Not only that, the company has long adhered to the ecological protection policy in quality management. Because natural wood is needed to make guitars, the company uses these traditional natural materials very carefully and responsibly, and encourages the introduction of renewable alternative wood varieties. Based on the research of customers, Martin introduced a high-grade guitar made of natural wood with surface defects to the market. However, this is almost unacceptable to other manufacturers. Martin Company organically blends the old and new traditions. Although the equipment and tools are updated year by year, employees always adhere to the principle of high standard and high quality music. The guitar made must meet these strict standards, which requires employees' extreme dedication and patience. Frank Henry Martin, a family member, explained to potential customers in the preface to the company's catalogue published in 1904: "It's no secret how to make a guitar with such a beautiful sound. This requires care and patience. Careful is careful selection of materials and clever arrangement of various components. Pay attention to every detail that makes players feel comfortable. Patience means not being afraid to spend time doing anything. High-quality guitars cannot be made at the price of inferior products. But who will regret buying an expensive high-quality guitar? " Although 100 years has passed, these words are still the expression of the company's philosophy. Although the company is deeply rooted in the fine traditions of the past, the current CEO Martin does not hesitate to push the company in a new direction. For example, in the late 1990s, he made a bold decision and began to sell guitars with a price below $800 in the low-end market. The low-end market accounts for 65% of the sales of the whole guitar industry. The company's DXM guitar was put on the market on 1998. Although this product is different from the company's top products in appearance, taste and feel, customers think it is better than most other guitar products with similar prices. Martin explained his decision like this: "If Martin just worships its past and doesn't try new things, then I'm afraid there won't be a Martin company worthy of worship."

Martin, the current CEO of Martin Company, performed well in management, and his sales revenue continued to grow, reaching nearly $600 million in 2000. The manufacturing facilities in Nazareth have been expanded, and new guitar varieties are constantly introduced. Employees described his management style as friendly and hands-on, but strict and straightforward. Although Martin Guitar Company has been expanding its reach in new directions, it has never relaxed its commitment to make top products as much as possible. This commitment will never waver under Martin's management. Question 1. According to Katz's theory of three skills, which management skill do you think is the most important for Martin IV? State your reasons. 2. According to mintzberg's management role theory, what management roles does Martin play? Explain your choice. (1) When Martin visited Martin's global distributors; (2) When Martin evaluates the effect of the new guitar; (3) When Martin makes employees adhere to the company's long-term principles. 3. Martin announced: "If Martin just worships its past and doesn't try new things, I'm afraid there won't be a Martin company worthy of worship." What does this sentence mean for the managers of the whole company to perform the functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling? Reference answer: 1, American management expert Katz proposed that effective managers should have technical ability, interpersonal ability and conceptual ability. Generally speaking, conceptual skills are the most important for top managers, because the plans and decisions made by top managers need conceptual skills. Technical skills are especially important for grass-roots managers, because they are closest to field operations. Because the object of management work is people, personnel skills are the basic skills that managers at all levels must master. From the case, we know that Martin is the CEO and belongs to the top. As a senior manager, conceptual skills are the most important for Martin. Because he must make a guiding plan and the development vision of the guitar company. This management skill often comes from the top of the organization, that is, senior manager Martin. In addition, Martin must have certain interpersonal skills, so that he can communicate with middle-level and grass-roots managers the guiding plans and development visions of these companies, gain their support, and bring about the success of the organization. What Martin needs at least is technical skills. He should hire employees with the necessary technical skills to make excellent Martin guitars. However, it is difficult to hire employees who can meet organizational goals and plans, so this skill must come from Martin. 2. mintzberg put forward a framework to classify managers' work. He believes that managers actually play 10 different but highly related roles in three aspects. The role of interpersonal relationship includes people (subordinates and people outside the organization) and other ceremonial and symbolic responsibilities, and the specific roles include nominal responsible person, leader and contact person. The role of information transmission includes receiving, collecting and disseminating information, and the specific roles include listeners, communicators and spokespersons. The role of decision-making is to make choices, including entrepreneurs, chaos drivers, resource allocators and negotiators.

From this case, we can see (1) that when Martin visited Martin's global distributors, he played the role of a puppet, a leader, a communicator and a listener. When Martin visited the world on behalf of the company, he played the role of titular head; When Martin visited the dealers and showed them a firm and respectable leadership style, he was playing a leader; Martin is acting as a communicator when he transmits the information from the company headquarters to various dealers and provides them with the latest company information. When Martin visited various dealers, he acted as a supervisor, because he could collect the information of various dealers to the company headquarters in order to improve products and services. (2) Martin is playing an entrepreneur and a chaotic driver when evaluating the effect of the new guitar. As an entrepreneur, Martin stands at the forefront of technology, seeking development opportunities for the company and leading the company to a new level. When Martin evaluates the effect of the new guitar, he should compare various design schemes and choose whether the final scheme matches the new guitar. At this time, he is playing a chaotic driver. (3) When Martin asks employees to adhere to the company's long-term principles, he is playing the role of leader, negotiator and resource allocator. The long-term principle of Martin Guitar is the key factor of the company's past, present and even future development. As a leader, Martin reiterated and let employees focus on this goal. When he plays the role of negotiator and resource allocator, he can also use these principles to deal with various conflicts and resource allocation. Martin actually emphasizes that Martin's guitar must be changed to move towards a better tomorrow. If Martin's management assumes that customer demand and competitors remain unchanged, Martin Guitar Company will fall into recession or even quit. So what he means is that managers should always keep in mind the changes and innovations in products, processes and services. In other words, managers should make changes and innovations in the execution of all functions such as planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Case 2: The head of the training department resigned from Mr. Zhang, a company in Beijing. He has worked for more than 30 years and is regarded as a veteran in the industry. His work attitude is very rigorous and meticulous. We attach great importance to the training organized by the company, from the content setting of training courses, the selection of trainers, the signing of training hotel venues to the printing of training certificates, the hanging of banners on the training site, and the ordering of food and beverage during training. From beginning to end, although there is a special training department. And often squatted in the training classroom in person, occasionally interrupting the lecturer to correct the teaching content; As the employees of the company line up to sign, from time to time, secretaries are called to the training site to run back and forth and handle official documents.

On one occasion, Mr. Zhang suddenly instructed the training department to hold a training course for dealers' sales consultants and marketing managers next week, which was completely inconsistent with the training implementation plan. The training department had to immediately start to determine the training instructors, draw up the training schedule, discuss the training classrooms, draft the training notice and so on. For some reasons, the actual number of people who reported for duty did not reach the ideal state. At the training report site, General Manager Zhang decisively instructed to merge the two classes into one class to save money. Although it has been arranged in the early stage, Professor Lin, the training lecturer, also stressed that the training target is different, the training content is different, and the most critical registration time is different. Manager Zhang ignored it. As a result, the dealer trainees were informed of the sudden change and complained bitterly, blaming the training department. Teacher Zhang actually reprimanded the head of the training department in front of everyone, why the training work was so chaotic, and then ordered all the heads of other departments of the company to be present, which was even more lively. Not only did Mr. Zhang personally guide the training work, but the heads of various departments also pointed out the moderator from time to time, and even the secretary of the general manager intervened in the command. It is conceivable that a simple training activity ended up in a mess. On the second day after the training, the head of the training department made a resignation report.

Question 1. Why did the head of the training department resign? 2. What is the role orientation of company managers? Reference answer: 1. Company managers should understand the necessity of authorization and define their role as company managers. Some people say that a first-class company manager can give full play to the intelligence of his subordinates, a second-rate company manager will only rely on the physical strength of his subordinates, and a third-rate company manager will have to do things by himself. Company managers pay more attention to their role scope and grasp the principle of "priority first". Senior managers are responsible for the overall situation, strategy, objectives and processes, and pay more attention to non-urgent but important things; Middle-level managers are in charge of things and deal with those urgent and important things. 2. As a company manager, you should know people and be good at their duties, and arrange suitable positions according to employees' hobbies and specialties. Otherwise, talents will become mediocre and useless, and even become an obstacle to the company's development. This is also a great waste of human resources. Company managers should rationally allocate human resources, realize the full use of talents, give full play to the maximum efficiency of talents, and promote the realization of the company's business objectives. By establishing a scientific talent evaluation mechanism, we can scientifically identify and select the talents introduced or excavated, and then give them suitable positions, or directly let them choose suitable positions for scientific evaluation, so as to achieve the ideal talent allocation effect.

Chapter II Management Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Cases —— Patent Rights Protection of Domestic Furniture and Hardware Enterprises In 2008, United Star filed a patent infringement lawsuit with Foshan Intermediate People's Court, and the defendants were longjiang town Shida Hardware Electromechanical Products Factory in Shunde District, Foshan City, Shida Hardware Business Department in longjiang town, Foshan City, involving compensation of 2.5 million yuan. Lianxing Hardware Co., Ltd. is a professional manufacturer of furniture hardware fittings. Since its establishment more than 20 years ago, through continuous innovation and research and development, it has obtained more than 40 product patents including appearance patents and utility model patents. In recent years, with the rise of the brand name of United Star, many patented products of United Star have been maliciously copied by some peers. The market researcher of United Star found that in several largest furniture materials cities in Shunde District, many hardware factories are selling counterfeit products with a very similar appearance to the patented products of United Star. Among them, the patent of functional sofa structure of United Star was maliciously copied by Foshan Shida Hardware Factory, which had a bad influence on the product sales and brand image of United Star. In order to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, after obtaining evidence from various parties, United Star sued several infringing enterprises such as Foshan Shida Hardware Factory, with a total claim amount of 2.5 million yuan. After two cases of infringement were filed, they caused heated discussion in the furniture industry, and many professional media, including China Intellectual Property News, followed up the cases. Recently, Foshan Intermediate People's Court issued a verdict on the patent infringement case of United Star v. Foshan Shida Hardware Factory, and ruled that Foshan Shida Hardware Factory immediately stopped manufacturing and selling the functional sofa structure that infringed the patent right of United Star. And destroy the infringing products, semi-finished products and special molds in stock; Shida Hardware Factory was sentenced to compensate the economic loss of150,000 yuan and bear the relevant litigation costs. The defendant's other infringing enterprise was also forced to cancel its registration in the industrial and commercial department. Lianxing won the first battle of counterfeiting. How to treat respecting intellectual property rights as the social responsibility of enterprises? A: With the gradual standardization of the market mechanism and the continuous improvement of China's legal system, more and more enterprises pay more and more attention to intellectual property protection. In this case, many furniture enterprises, while protecting their own innovation achievements, buy and use infringing furniture accessories, or even use infringing and counterfeit furniture accessories to depress prices from suppliers, which leads to vicious competition in the accessories industry and ultimately undermines the healthy development of the supply chain of the entire furniture industry.

In any era, law is only the bottom line way to solve social contradictions. As early as 2000 years ago, Confucius put forward that "people's trust" was the highest way to govern the country. Similarly, it is not enough to protect intellectual property rights only by legal sanctions. It is necessary to form a good fashion of "moral respect" as the basic guarantee. Therefore, in order to form a competitive atmosphere of respecting intellectual property rights among enterprises in China, enterprises, trade associations and exhibitions in related industries should raise intellectual property protection to a new height of "moral respect" and form moral self-discipline of respecting intellectual property rights in the industry. Take the furniture industry in this case for example. After more than 20 years of rapid development, many furniture enterprises have developed to a considerable scale. When the enterprise develops to a certain scale, it is the unshirkable social responsibility of the enterprise to guide and drive the industry to develop in a benign direction. The "United Star" in this case is well aware of this truth, so since 2005, a large-scale furniture exhibition has been used as a platform to publicize intellectual property awareness to the industry. Because after the financial hurricane swept through, China people have woken up from the dream of "world factory". About 500 enterprises in Guangdong Province closed down in the financial turmoil, which made people deeply realize the importance of independent innovation. China's products should be "transformed from a big exporter to a strong exporter". In order to encourage enterprises to innovate, many exhibitions will provide the best exhibition places for enterprises with innovative achievements at the beginning, while infringing enterprises may be refused to participate. However, if you want to enter this industry.