Catterpillar

The case is about the strategies applied by George Schaefer, CEO of Caterpillar, after 1985. In 1982, Caterpillar faced with its greatest crisis because of demand fall. Its sales dropped by almost 50% between 1982 and 1984. Komatsu, the Japanese competitor, fully exploited the situation by adding new lines in U.S.A and announcing the establishment of new manufacturing operations in the U.S.A. and England. On the other hand, Caterpillar closed six plants, laid off approximately 24,000 people …

…one manager like Schaefer, who is looking for innovation and trying to find new approaches for the future of the company, while the other is more conservative, hesitant to make changes and not open to new decisions and actions. It can be said that the future will be the managers like Schaefer, who are willing to change both themselves and the company according to their environment. Emotional attachment to the business will lead to failure.