Details

Case

MECHLINE ENGINEERING: AT THE CROSSROADS OF GROWTH

Muhammad Shehryar Shahid, Seeham Yousaf, Saad Raafay Ahsen

INDUSTRY : Automotive

AREA : Entrepreneurship

ORGANIZATION : Mechline Engineering

LENGTH : 24

LUMS No : 23-072-2017-1

PUBLICATION YEAR : 2017

KEYWORDS:

Automotive, entrepreneurship, key management factors, entrepreneurial journey, stages of development, small and medium enterprises.

DESCRIPTION:

This case revolves around Mechline Engineering (MLE), an automotive parts supplier based in Lahore, Pakistan. Registered as a private partnership between the founding partners, Zahid and Tariq, in 1987. MLE specialises in the supply of door hinges and door lock strikers for different automobiles. MLE has monopolised the production of these specialised parts and counts the `big three¿ OEMs, i.e. Honda, Toyota, and Suzuki, amongst its customers. While MLE has been an exemplary company over the years, winning many `best vendor¿ awards for quality and delivery; recently, the company has been plagued with complaints from their biggest customers. These complaints center on miscommunication from MLE¿s side on different matters, as well as late deliveries and falling quality standards. MLE¿s management must; thus, evaluate what has gone wrong while the company has grown from a small entrepreneurial concern to a mid-sized organisation. For this purpose, students must first understand the founders¿ entrepreneurial journey. This will lead them to map MLE¿s growth trajectory over the years and identify its current positioning on this growth spectrum. They will seek out and attempt to correct any misalignments in the company¿s key management factors, which will help determine its future growth prospects.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

This case study can be used in any undergraduate, MBA, or EMBA course in Entrepreneurship. It seeks to provide students with a basic understanding of the challenges small and medium-sized entrepreneurial organisations face as they grow into large companies. It also aims to instill in the students an understanding of the `Key Management Factors¿ responsible for the success at each stage of development as these companies grow, and the ability to identify misalignments in these factors (which can be counterproductive to growth) at each stage of development.

SUBJECTS COVERED:

Entrepreneurship