Lester electronics benchmarking

Essay by fearlssldyUniversity, Master'sA+, August 2007

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Benchmarking: Bernard LesterIntroductionWith competitive pressure rising, Lester Electronics, Inc has important choices to make. In order to make the correct decision they will need to do some benchmarking and some analysis. Lester will need to look at both their internal and external growth strategies, their working capital management strategies, and their cross-border growth strategies that will maximize shareholders wealth. Lester Electronics will also need to understand and perform financial statement ratio analysis on both them and potential partners, and also understand and ensure they have a portfolio management plan in place. To ensure Lester Electronics understands all of the above, we have performed benchmarking on each item and have given them examples of each.

Internal/External Growth StrategiesInternal Growth StrategiesThere are many means for an organization to utilize internal growth strategies. Century Business Services, Inc. (CBIZ) not only changed direction of the organization, they moved into an entirely different industry.

Until 1995, CBIZ existed as a solid- and hazardous-waste company. In 1995, CBIZ undertook a major overhaul of the organization’s services and began exploring the fields of diversified holdings, looking to the fields of electronic security, car rentals, and sales and in 1996 adding insurance to their portfolio. “Since becoming a provider of outsourced business services to small- and medium-sized companies, the publicly traded, 5,000-employee company has grown phenomenally. It has gobbled up storefront business service providers at an incredible rate – about one per week – and now has more than 650 offices in 47 states” (Akron Beacon Journal, 1999). In 1997, CBIZ recorded first quarter revenue in the amount of $23.7 million, one year later it recorded $66.6 million and in 1999, their first quarter recorded at $124.9 million. Further findings on the growth of CBIZ show, that since the redirection of the organization, they acquired 39...