Robert Kilbey never could have guessed that his small medical supply business, started out of a trailer in the 1960’s, could grow into one of the most stable companies in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. Kilbey’s business, Professional Products, really began to grow when he started using Velcro on his medical supplies. Robert’s son Bryan now runs the business and through very effective management they have continued to grow. Professional Product’s unique relationship with their employees allows them to be a stable and expanding company.
Professional Products growth strategy includes considering the world market, managing human capital, responding to the market, and containing costs. Since globalization is becoming a necessity, Professional Products is going to be opening a sales office for the European market. They are also considering outsourcing some jobs to other countries, but they say they will not cut any jobs. They manage their human capital, or employees, by being very loyal. They do not do layoffs, even in a slow economy. They hire the employees that they need and train them well. They even use cross-training to ensure everyone always has a task they can perform. Professional Products does not stock a lot of inventory; instead they fill their orders immediately. “These are often specific requests from doctors who like a piece of equipment to work a certain way (Bohlander pg 44)”. By making their products custom to each order, they are finding a sector of the market where their products are valued. Professional Products also contains costs by making their own elastic, cross-training their employees, and not keeping inventory that they cannot sell.
Professional Products has made a good decision by committing to no layoffs. First, they are containing costs by not hiring too many employees. They only hire the amount of people that they know they can work all year long. Since they cross-train their employees they are able to move employees...