Herman Miller Inc Essay Example for Free

Herman milling railcar Inc seekFrom the headquarters of Herman moth miller Inc. , Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakcap adapted pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction cypher site further about his caller-outs image to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the besotteds executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers be installing new bushel down-height Herman milling machine workstations stick outed to accommodate a growing veer in matchations toward to a greater extent open, cooperative environments.The new product, called take, is divulge of the social clubs market-shift scheme after the beg for office piece of article of furniture fell groundsful during the economic downturn. The plan too involves diversifying into the health c atomic piece 18 and academic furniture markets and more(prenominal) than emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be yielding off. For the first time in nearly fo ur categorys the fraternity compositioned devil consecutive quarters of double-digit shareageage gross revenue growth after psych new(prenominal)apeutic its arcsecond-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th.Orders in the second quarter rise 34% to $462 million. chief executive officer Brian Walker noted the connections expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. operative gains occurred in international markets where gross revenue rose 33%. In 2010 the ac fedeproportionn acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and grease iodines palmsd assets from Australian furniture maker Living Edge Group. In 2008, the smart set announced a partnership with Chinas swish Office transcriptions Ltd. to expand in the Asia-Pacific region.The fede proportionalityn attributed a grade-end surge to gains in its international, health care, training and retail vertical markets. The expanding health care industry has become one of th e societys rouge growth targets. matchless(prenominal) of the more recent expansions into the health care field came on Jan. 31 when Herman moth miller completed its attainment of health care furniture manufacturer Nemschoff chairmanpersons LLC based in Sheboygan, Wis. Herman moth miller anatomyed the Canvas workstation at a kickoffer height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments.The design excessively supplys more light into work areas and saves space, the attach to says. Including sinks and headwalls, to be reconfigured to reckon patient needfully. 2. note Strategy Broad Differentiation Strategies This outline pursues the debauchers needs and preference to make them adjoin with the product. And to be different from other rivals, the product must have unique product attributes that a liberal range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for. The strategy succeeds its aim when an attractively large topics of buyers find the customer buyer grade proposition.Herman miller is pursuing this strategy as we refer to the boldness assume that their products are based on the design which is designed according to the lot who use the furniture. give care the president of Herman miller said people are important not the furniture. Furniture should be expedient. Besides, this company emphasizes on product design and environmental friendly, these are two basic things that they have been practicing for many another(prenominal) decades. Furthermore, they also invest more in research and cultivation for product innovation.Take an example of office design product, Herman Millers brainwave and Exploproportionn team up observed various workplaces to analyze how people collaborate and the fashions in which their interactions vary oer the course of a day, and byout the life of a draw by differentiating the subtleties of how, when, where, and why people connect independent of content or industry. Senior researcher Shilpi Kumar notes that, outlining these collaborative work behaviors allow empower designers and determination makers with a greater misgiving for how people truly work, and will enable more informed choices in regards to office spaces. Herman Miller takes advantage of the growing craving for green products to establish a better world and affix ergonomic furniture, because the consumers are willing to pay a premium for much(prenominal) type and social responsible product. Since the designer of Herman Miller emphasized quality, excellence, and the re current improvement of their products, obviously one of their product which is designed by Charles and Ray Eames since its launch in 1950 had actual from plastic chair to wood chair in 2000.She also confirmed that this wood chair is hundred times recyclable since Herman Miller is concerned about environmental friendly, and Eames Molded Wood Side Chair earns Gold award at NeoCon 2013 in the G uest Seating category. 3. Functional strategy search and Development (RD) This category focuses on strategy that is concerned with the actions in managing particular functions within a commerce especially in RD. In harm of Herman Miller RD, they invested in research and development (RD) financially. Although on that point was downturn in financial, Herman Miller still invested tens of millions of massive horses in RD.The enthronement in RD was code named Purple. A result of investment in RD was an outgrowth of get a line Purple. The tendency of this confinement was to spread beyond the boundaries of normal railway line. Herman miller created a special team called the accessories team in which the team-identified a potential growth area. This team is made to encrypt people with different disciplines needed to support that goal. In addition, this team focuses on contributing ideas to the success of the team from all resources and also to develop a particular product as it goes through that piece of work.This project is in line with functional strategy of RD in which a companys product development represents the plan for keeping the companys product in accordance with what buyers are looking for (Thompson et al, 2014). In the case of Herman Miller Inc, they began with research in every real design solution in which the ontogenesis and insights of the best research leads to human-centered design and problem solving. Herman Miller Inc is doing many things for RD in the case of education, sustainability, performance, healthcare, manufacturing, architectures design and ergonomics.Herman Miller Inc has its major RD activities and projects, i. e. its way to support and develop a companys product. concord to Herman Millers financial statement for fiscal long time 2006-2011, there was a decline in design and research in 2009 callable to the ongoing economic downturn. sign 1. 1 Spending on design and research So far, they have done some research project s regarding education such as assimilators research work behaviors behind innovation spaces. In the fall 2012, there was a project Herman Miller funded as a way of investing in the next gene dimensionn of workers by broad students the chance to apply what hey learn in a real-world setting. Herman Miller wanted them to look at the business objective of the company. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employees of the company also participated in the project.After the field research, the goal of this project was that the students shared what they had learned from going to the company for a workshop. The company also wanted to disc all over more about places that encourage creativity and the places of creative people. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employee of the company also participated in the project. In regarding with the research in technology, the research starts by understanding which technological trends are creating new behaviors in the workplace. So from that, they rat produce new design solution. Over the last three historic period, a group of designers, engineers, and researchers, the Insight Herman Miller and Exploproportionn Team (I E) has foc utilize on emerging technologies and how they alter social behavior in the workplace.Herman Millers goal is to identify the technology trends that are relevant to the office and also understanding new behaviors that allow the designers, architects and manufacturers to bring new workplace design. For healthcare, Herman Miller Healthcare saw the opportunity to study and analyze by doing the research from the discussion of Bluewater health in which prior to design development and also the satisfaction and safety of patients and staff members. Herman Miller Healthcare is sponsoring a research project that will explore how changes in the built environment have alter staff in three important areas ambulant Care, Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department. 3 4. Functional Strategie s Marketing Marketing is one of the strategies used under functional strategy.First and foremost, Herman Miller products were interchange internationally through wholly owned subsidiaries in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the Netherlands. Hence, they use the international strategy to contend its products in each country. In other words, they use the strange subsidiary strategies because it seemed that they prefer to have a direct control over all aspects of operating in a foreign country that is the reason why they completed wholly owned subsidiaries.As a result, this strategy was successful as their brand was recognized by customers and change magnitude customer base paste over 100 countries. Moreover, they used green marketing strategy to sell their products. This is because they mainly focus on environmental friendly such as Mirra chair, one of their products which was made of 45 per centum recycle d materials, and 96 percent of its material were recyclable. Therefore, the chairs used 100 percent renewable energy. Due to this strategy used, Mirra chair was recorded as one of the Top 10 Green Products by Architectural Record and Environmental Building News.Hence, this so-and-so indicate the success of using this strategy. In addition, Herman Miller enlistd in cooperating advertising with strategic partners. As the example of Hilton Garden Inns which they equipped the Mirra chair in some room and on the desk in the room, was a card that explain how to adjust the chair while also providing the advertisement of Herman Millers website, how to purchase the products. Likewise, this is one of the advertising used to promote their products by using the strategic partner. As a result, they stinker reduce the advertising court and gain more brand awareness. . Operating Strategy Lean employment Initially, at Spring Lake, Herman Miller had invested in a giant robot assembly that weld ed supports inside filing cabinet cabinet housings, including a tractor-trailer-length automated welding line with 1,000 sensors to drive labor completely out of the carry through. Unfortunately, puffy customers like Hewlett-Packard and ATT were pulling their consecrates of 100 instead of 500 and some wanted file cabinets in two weeks instead of six with much utmoster quality.The Spring Lake plant could not deliver, and certainly not for the spurn equipment casualtys customers demanded. 995, they adapted Toyotas leading-edge formula for plant-floor management into an approach they called the Herman Miller Performance System (Boozco. , 2010, para 20). found on the higher up quote, it depicted that Herman Millers determination to employ Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS) lean production, was to produce efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the union of history on hand through a just-in-time process. To ensure a fluid flow on the rewrite driven production, He rman Miller collaborated with safe and strategic suppliers.HMPS created competitive advantage through large assembly manufacturing based. For example, direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet the demand and some suppliers delivered parts to Herman Miller production facilities quintuple or six times per day. This resulted in a standard lead time of 10 to 20 days for majority of the products and low inventories on hand. Interestingly, HMPS managed to enlarge the variable costs rather than fixed costs while retaining proprietary control over manufacturing process.It was reported that the plant managers across Herman Miller have learned that the best-run plants rely on people, not machines. single people pot solve problems to make assembly lines go faster, run cheaper, and deliver higher quality (Boozco. , 2010, para 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that labor intensive approach tend to trump machine intensive approach especially when the products demand fur ther customization with limited time and the majority of industry products are built to each customers unique order. Question 2 Culture at HMI healthy and largely certificatory of good strategy execution.Herman Miller had codified its long-practiced organizational appraises, intended as a basic for marriage all employees, building relationship, and contributing to society. Herman Miller started in 1905 with the Star Furniture Company and created the Herman Miller furniture company with his son in law named Dirk Jan De Pree. From the beginning, De Pree committed himself to treating all workers as individuals with specials talents and potential. This was part of Herman Millers corporate culture which continue to interpret respect for all employees and take advantage of the diversity of skills possess by all.This is one of the functional strategies in corporate culture in Herman Miller Inc in which embarrass the companys approach to people management, procedures and operating prac tices that provide the guidelines for the behavior of the company. The impact of this culture became one of the competitive advantages that make strong management and employee satisfaction in the company. The business principles and ethical standard of Herman Miller are the management practices as the key of companys culture. Herman Miller was one of the furniture company named to Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies in both(prenominal) 2008 and 2010.Herman Miller had pursued a path of reinvention and renewal. Herman Miller has many ways to develop their products and its culture is also unique. Through the growing of the company, Herman Miller applys the relationship with the employees. Herman Millers commitment to innovation included share ideas and opinions from the employees. On January 1979, Herman Miller established new organization structures that included all employees were to be given the opportunity to discuss new plan in small group settings. In addition, Herman Mill er also established a plan in which all employees became shareholders.Herman Miller Inc. also focuses on more efficient and environmentally friendly by victorious a major initiative in 1981. It is in line with a better world value which is pursuing sustainability and environmental policy. They established environmental quality action team whose goal was to coordinate environmental programs worldwide that involves many employees. A Herman Millers culture is grounded in and resides to certain core value and some sets for ethical behavior. Herman Miller had long practiced organizational values that were still used in 2012.The values are as basis for uniting all employees, building relationship, adapt the implied attitude, behaviors and work practices. The company adopted inclusiveness which means they include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers. As mentioned before, Herman Miller corporate culture continued to create respect to all employees and looki ng for and utilizing the skills possessed by anyone. The second value is design in which it is important to Herman Miller Inc. in order to make ripe products. It is the way for them for looking at the world and how it can work.The results of this value are Herman Miller established many innovative products and designs. In 1971 and 1984, they introduced products based on ergonomics principles such as the Ergon chair and Equa chair. For another groundbreaking design, it introduced the Aeron chair which was almost added to New York Museum of Modern Arts permanent design collection in 1990. opposite important values are based on Herman Millers best performance that focuses on enriching the lives of employees, customers and create value for the shareholders.The result of this value has made Herman Miller share the gains and pains with the employees especially about the compensation. All employees received a base pay and they also participated in a profit sharing program where they rece ived stock in accordance to the companys financial performance. The company also offered to the employees the employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), retirement income plan, offered annual bonus to all employees based on companys performance, and in regard to profit sharing both the employees and executives have same calculation of bonus potential. High performance cultureIn Herman Miller Inc. there is a strong sense of enfolding on the part of company personnel and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Two of the sterling(prenominal) strengths lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. Respecting and encouraging risks, exploring new ideas and freedom of speech. Owners actively committed to the life of the fellowship called Herman Miller, pride in doing things right, sharing in its success and risks. The strengths and payoff really comes in when engaging in peoples own problems, solutions and behavior. Performance is required at the highest take aim possible.He rman Miller enriches employees lives, delight its customers, and create value for its shareholders. Herman Miller includes all the express human talent and potential, everyone should have a chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation. It means that skill different educational background could bring the company uniqueness. Adaptive Culture Herman Miller always keep innovating its products to serve their customers better. Herman Millers corporate culture, which continued to generate respect for all employees, had fueled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skill held by all.The company designs products according to what people want the most, and it is a way of looking at the world and how it works or does not. To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, required research, thought sometime starting over, sense of hearing and humility. Manager and employees support each other in dealing with working environment. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation, at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says.Additionally, the company also keeps ever-changing its production designs from time to time according to the needs of the people and follow ergonomic system. Herman Miller engage much expertise to design its furniture, and it is costly to spend on RD but company the company was willing to take risks on new innovation. Financial performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 Revenue ($ millions) $ 2,012. 1 $1,630. 0 $1,318. 8 $1,649. 2 RD to gross revenue agreements Ratio RD/Sale 51. 2 / 2,012. 1 = 2. 5 % 45. 7 / 1,630. 0 = 2. 8 % 40. 5 / 1,318. 8 = 3. 1 % 45. 8 / 1,649. 2 = 2. 8 % Table 2. HMIs Revenues and RD to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 Figure 2. 1 Research and development (RD) to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 The above chart shows the trend of RD sales ratio which sum ups from year 2008 until 2010. However, it cliffd astutely in 2011 due to low RD investment because of recession. However, it is not clear whether measuring the RD ratio is a good metric to represent its efficiency towards a company. This is because it takes into consideration the RD expenses rather than RD investment indeed it is easy to manipulate the number by lowering the RD expenditure.Even, in the balance pall of Herman Miller, the RD investment is not disclosed under assets. If RD is capitalized as asset, and then it depicts the efficiency of RD towards business revenues. In brief, due to that constraint, we assume that at least the RD sales ratio increases and contributes positively towards Herman Millers business structure as Herman Miller invests heavily in RD to create the furniture. Figure 2. 2 HMIs Revenues from 2008 to 2011 The above graph illustrates that the trend of sales revenue decreases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it s tarted to increase in year 2011.Thus, in brief, Herman Miller is up in their sales through investment in Research and Development and produces competitive design. Question 3 HMIs Financial situation prior years and its competitors 1. HMIs financial situation In order to broadsheet the financial performance of Herman Miller Inc, we have used different ratios, such as liquidity, profitability, supplement and activity ratios. Besides, we also compare the financial performance of HMI in relation to its competitors HNI and Steelcase Inc from 2008 until 2012 based on the above mention ratios.For our case, we have used the current ratio to footmark the extent to which the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase) can meet their short term obligations as shown in the figure below. Figure 3. 1 HMIs current ratio versus its competitors ratio The figure above shows the current ratios for the three manufacturers of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Her man Miller Inc. , their current ratio showed some slight increase of about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, a drop of about 21 percent was xperienced in 2010 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. In the year 2011 and 2012, there had been a tremendous increase in their current ratio to 1. 76 and 1. 81 respectively. This current ratio of greater than 1 provides surplus cushion against unforeseeable contingencies that may arise in the short term. In the case of HNI, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 7 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, for the subsequent years, HNI experienced a decrease in their current ratio of approximately 10 percent from 2010 all the way to 2012.Nonetheless, they were able to maintain a current ratio of at least 1 to ensure that the value of their current assets covers at least the amount of their short term obligations. As for Steelcase, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 8 perce nt from 2008 to 2010. On the other hand, the company experienced a decrease of well-nigh 8 percent in the year 2011 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1.However, Steelcase managed to have an increase in their current ratio from 1. 37 in 2011 to 1. 52 in 2012. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. as shown a significant increasing trend in their current ratio as compared to the other two companies. This may suggest improved liquidity of the company or a more conservative approach to working capital management. ii. expediencyability ratios Profitability ratios measure managements overall legalness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. There are a number of ratios under profitability but for our case, we have used the Return on Assets (ROA) to measure the after-tax profits per dollar of assets and megascopic Profit Margin which measures the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit.These two ratios have been us ed to evaluate the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase). Figure 3. 2. 1 HMIs return on asset ratio versus its competitors ratio The figure above shows the Return on Assets for the three manufacturers of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2010 from 19 percent to 4 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is deteriorating. Nevertheless, rom the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increasing trend of ROA from 4 percent to 9 percent respectively. This indicates that the companys profitability is quite improving over the years. When it comes to HNI, it has also shown a high decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2011 from 5 percent to -0. 6 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, in the year 2012, there was an increase of about 4 percent as compared to the previous year.The company was able to move from -0. 6 percent to 3. 8 percent. This signifies that the companys profitability is slightly improving. Lastly for Steelcase, there has also been a high decreasing trend of ROA from the year 2008 to 2010 with about 6 percent and -0. 8 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, there was a slight increasing trend of ROA in 2011 and 2012 of 1. 02 percent and 3. 33 percent respectively. This means that the companys profitability is somewhat improving.Overall, Herman Miller Inc. has shown a considerable increasing trend in their ROA over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may imply resultant roleive use of assets and creation of high margins by the company as well as gauging how well the company uses its financing from borrowing and bonds. Figure 3. 2. 2 HMIs gross profit ratio versus its competitors ratio The figure above shows the rank Profit Margin for the three manufacturers of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years.In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a slight decrease of the Gross Profit Margin in the year 2008 to 2009 from 34. 72 percent to 32. 37 percent respectively. However, from the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increase in their Gross Profit Margin from 32. 49 percent to 34. 26 percent respectively. This indicates that the company can make a reasonable profit. For HNI, there has been an increasing trend of the Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2011 with about 33. 66 percent and 34. 6 percent respectively. However, in the year 2012, there was a slight decrease of about 1. 3 percent as compared to the previous year.The companys Gross Profit Margin moved from 34. 86 percent to 34. 39 percent. This also signifies that the company can make a reasonable profit. Lastly for Steelcase, it has shown a slight decreasing trend of Gross Profit M argin from the year 2008 to 2010 with 32. 12 percent and 28. 35 percent respectively. However, there was a slight increasing trend of Gross Profit Margin in the subsequent years amounting to 29. 5 percent in 2012. This means that the company can still make a reasonable profit. Overall, HNI has shown a squiffy increasing trend in their Gross Profit Margin over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may indicate how efficiently the company is using its materials and labor in the production process and gives an indication of the pricing, cost structure, and production efficiency of the company. iii. Leverage ratios This ratio is used to determine the companies financing methods, or the ability to meet the obligations.There are many ratios to calculate leverage but the important factors include debt, interest expenses, uprightness and assets. In this section, we will examine two ratios which are debt to assets and debt to equity ratios. Figure 3. 3. 1 HMIs debt to asse t ratio versus its competitors ratio The debt to asset ratio gives us a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. In general, the debt to asset ratio for Herman Miller fluctuated over the years as compared to its competitors HNI and Steel case.In 2008, the debt to equity ratio for Herman Miller was above 80 percent and rose approximately to 100 percent in 2009, whereas this ratio was just about 61 percent and 57 percent for HNI and Steel case respectively in 2008 and about 58 percent in 2009 for both competitors. This indicated that almost 100 percent of Herman Millers assets were financed by debt or creditors which implied that the Company has high level of leverage and risk, while its competitors had roughly 50 percent of their assets financed by the owners.However, Herman Millers ratio significantly dropped in 2010 to about 40 percent which was below its competitors who almost maintained their position over the years. In 2012, 70 percent of Herman Millers assets were financed by debt. In general, although the company debt to assets ratio is still high in relation to its competitors, the financial performance of the company is improving after the financial crisis. However, the Company needs to further reduce the amount of debt resulting to the reduction of risk this is because it may affect the companys choice in the long-run.Figure 3. 3. 2 HMIs debt to equity ratio versus its competitors ratio A debt-to-equity ratio measures the amount of debt a company uses to fund its business for every dollar of equity it has. In other words, it is a measure of a companys ability to repay its obligations. Generally companies with less debt equity ratio are less risky than the companies with high ratios. As we can see from the graphs, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio over the year in relation to the other companies. For instance, its ratio fluctuated significantly over the years which were at 32. 7 an d 94. 91 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This might be due to the effect of the financial crisis, which caused the company to increase its debt financing heavily. Also, this indicates that the company had self-colored high amount of debt as compared to equity which can endanger the long term survival of the firm since the company may not be able to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obligations. Meanwhile, debt to equity ratio for HNI and Steel case was roughly lower than 2, which was acceptable for large public companies.For Herman Miller, however, this ratio sharply dropped over the next years to just about 8. 62 in 2010 and 2. 37 in 2012. In contrast, its competitors still can maintain their ratio below two over the next years. In order to improve this ratio, Herman Miller had sold its common stock and tried to lower the mount debt financing, this can be seen by the amount of long-term debt decreasing. This implies that the companys financial performance has been improving after the financial crisis.In terms of leverage, overall, it can be said that the performance of the company has been improving over the years and regaining its position in the furniture market after the economic downturn. Although it may not do well as compared to its competitors in terms of financing the debt and equity, there is a sign of improvement and effort in positioning its self in the market industry in U. S. iv. Activity Ratios Figure 3. 4. 1 HMIs Inventory turnover ratio versus its competitors ratio The inventory turnover is comm barely used to measure the operational efficiency in managing its assets.Based on the figure 4. 1 illustrated above, in 2009, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio compared to other years. This high ratio could indicate two conditions, such as whether the company has strong sales during the year or it has an insound purchase activity. However, it is perceived that the company did have strong sales prove from the lowest level of inventory an d high sales revenue which are seen in the annual report during the year. While in 2010, Herman Miller Inc. s turnover ratio drops significantly compared to the other years.Its cost of sales for the year has the lowest and showed a decrement of 24% from previous year which simultaneously contribute to low ratio as well as indicating the lack of effectiveness particularly in turning its inventory into sales. One of the reasons is that it could be due to the recession which highly affected the company, and hence making them to reduce the cost of sales. However, Herman Miller Inc is get better in turning its inventory into sales proven from the increment of its ratio by year. Additionally, compared to competitors, the position of the ratio shown for Herman Miller Inc. is located somewhat in the middle.Steelcase is somewhat faster in turning their inventory into sales compared to others. In contrast, HNI has the lowest rate. This proves that Steelcase is more effective in managing its operational assets. Figure 3. 4. 2 HMIs Average collection period versus its competitors ratio Average collection period is the number of days it takes a company to collect its banknote receivables. As illustrated from the figure 4. 2 above, Herman Miller is getting better in obtaining its receivables shown by the average days taken which was from 58 days in 2008 and 34 days in 2012. This demonstrates that Herman miller Inc. onstantly improve its credit policy effectiveness confirmed by a dramatic slump by years.Comparing to other competitors, originally HNI was the most effective company in managing its credit term policy, as the company only took 38 days in collecting its account receivables compared to Steelcase or Herman Miller. However, the company ended up to be the highest rate at 2012 showing that it is not effective in evaluating companys credit policy. As a result, when a company possesses a lower average collection period, it is seen as optimal as it indicates that the c ompany does not take very long to turn its receivables into cash. . HMIs current strategies an issues of need to change its strategies during poor economic conditions The current Herman Miller strategy which focuses on growth strategy, through innovative products and related diversification made the company to survive the ample Depression early in its history, multiple recessions in 20th century and in early twenty-first century the company recovered from the dot-com bust and was able to continue expanding o writeas. The furniture industry is an economically volatile industry. The office furniture segment of the industry was hit hard by the recession.Industry sales decreased 26. 5 percent during the 2009 economic downturn. However, because of the innovative and diversification, Herman Miller was able to outperform its competitors in terms of sales and profitability, during that time Herman Mills sales dropped by 19% which is relatively low in comparison with its competitors HNI Cor poration and Steelcase which had dropped by 33 percent and 28% respectively. The furniture industry is at its maturity date stage, thus Innovation is crucial to the companys survival. If Herman Miller continues to successfully innovate, it will enable them to compete in the market strongly.The industry had been negatively impacted telecommunication which had reduced the need office furniture. Yet, more employees were spending more hours in front of the computer screens than ever before. Because of Herman Millers effective innovation, they were able to respond to the need of ergonomically correct office furniture that had helped to decrease fatigue and injuries like carpal delve syndrome. In summary, the company does not need to radically alter its main strategy which focuses more on innovation and diversification as its the reason they were not dramatically hit by recessions and competitions among the rivals. 3.passport i. Reduced current benefit and incentive schemes There are se veral incentives that had been eliminated by Herman Millers management due to the economic downturn in 2009. The suspend of 401(k) contribution plans (saving contribution plan), cut-off 15 percent of current workforce and 10 percent reduction in salary for remaining workforce had been implemented during the crisis.However the pay cuts was discontinued because of Herman Millers quick turnaround. The company was stable starting the year 2011, but the selling, general, and administrative were the highest contribution of the operating expenses. Specifically, $3. million and $16. 6 million of additional operating expenses during fiscal 2011 due to the reinstatement of all of our employee benefits and employee incentive expenses (Herman Millers yearly Report, 2011). The company believed that the large benefit and incentives had created motivate and skilful employees which are the key of its competitive advantage. Even though the company has increased in sales as compared to the year 2010, it is important to cut the costs by eliminating some of the less important incentives schemes and benefits such as $100 rebate on a bike purchase, concierge services and one-site services to name a few.Previously, the company had eliminated the 401(k) contribution plan so that they could stop providing some percentage on the employees contribution. It is crucial since it could allow the company to save a significant amount of money in the long run (Richardson, 2009). It can be done by communicating the problems and issues which need to be addressed to the staff before they get out of hand. Address the problems proportionately and regular communication could make the staff be aware on their role to support the company throughout the economy downturn.By having it, the staff might accept the decision positively and provide effort to help the company to fully recover after the recession ( recess Business Cost Cutting, 2013). ii. Reduction in companys cost of sales According to Herman M illers Annual Report (2011), the increase in cost of sales for the year 2011 was due to the increase in sales volume that was driven primarily by cost leverage on higher production, which was partially offset by deeper discounting, higher employee benefit and incentive costs, and higher costs of key direct materials, most notably firebrand and steel components.Besides that, the cost of direct material increased as compared to previous years which there was increase in the cost of commodities and the increase in discounting, which has the effect of reducing net sales The costs of certain manufacturing materials used in producing finished products are spiritualist to the volatility of commodity market price. The cost of direct labor and overhead were increased due to increase in product volume while the cost of freight expenses had increased during the year because of increase in product volume as well as increase in fuel costs in 2011.First recommendation to cut the cost of sales in terms of direct material is modify lower cost material where possible to replace the expensive one and each angle should be considered for better decision. For example, the substitution of carbon steel to replace expensive stainless steel could reduce the cost but the corrosion protection might not last longer. This method should be applied if only the benefit from the substitution is higher than the cost of reduction in quality (Lewis, n. d. ). Second recommendation is by eliminating unnecessary product features to reduce cost.The company should produce a product that really suits customers preferences in buying their products. For example, the company should identify whether customers are purchasing its products because of their unique looks, lower price or high quality. If customers buy the products because of their lower price, unique features may not be needed (Lewis, n. d. ). Third recommendation which is the most effective one is by hedging the price of the steel through fu tures contract. According to Herman Millers Annual Report (2011) The company believes market prices for commodities in the near term may move higher and acknowledges that over time increases on its key direct materials and assembly components are likely. Consequently, it views the prospect of such increases as an brainpower risk to the business (p. 34). By locking the price in the contract, it could eliminate any risk of price volatility (Hedging in Practice, 2013). For example, if there is a huge possibility that the price of steel will increase in a certain period of time. Due to that, the company will engage in future contract and lock-in the price for a specific period in the future.Regardless of increase in steel price, the company is eligible to buy the commodity at a lower lock-in price as stated in the agreed future contract. Conclusion Herman Miller Inc. has implemented different strategies in order to improve its performance and expand its self in furniture market, such a s change strategy, broad differentiation strategy, green marketing, product development and innovation. In addition, besides focusing on those strategies to achieve the business goals, the company also concerns about how it communicates and treat its employees. All workers as individuals ith special talents and potential can be considered as one of the healthy culture at Herman Miller since 1927 and the Company continued to generate respect for all employees and fueled the quest to tap diversity of gifts and skills held by all. According to one of the verse in chapter 42 of the Quran Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer who (conduct) their affairs by common character who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance (Quran 4238) The verse above explains the importance of mutual consent in making a decision.Islam encourages Muslims to decide their affairs by consulting with those who will be affected by the decision. Thus, in the case of Herman Miller , it empowers its employees and nurture participative decision making so that the employees feel as part of the company. Surviving in matured furniture industry and the economic volatility such as recession, demand full cooperation from the whole organization. It is not easy to integrate the diverse nature of employees with different backgrounds and behaviors to achieve goal congruence.Thus, Herman Millers healthy culture leads to its employees readiness to accept any relevant decision by Herman Miller such as cutting their salaries as the employees work with Herman Miller and not just work for it. Furthermore, in term of design value, the designer team of Herman Miller always emphasized on quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products. At Herman Miller the products we made decade ago are still sold after today, and products we make today we will do for a decade to come. All in all, Herman Miller should pursue its current strategies and continue to expand thos e strategies such as product innovation, diversification and so on. We believe that these strategies have made and will make Herman Miller one of an outstanding and award winning Company. They will continue to provide the Company with the ability to renew and reinvent itself in the furniture market and outperform its rivals in the future. From the explanation above, it gives us a broad view of how the companys long-term strategy and objective affects all their business from product design to decision-making process to the culture of the Company.