Benchmarking: Gene One.

Running head: BENCHMARKING: Gene One.

Benchmarking: Gene One

Learning Team B

University of Phoenix

Benchmarking: Gene One

Gene One is about to open an initial public offering (IPO). To begin the organization should benchmark ideas from other industries to incorporate in its business strategy to ensure the IPO is successful. There are a few challenges that Gene One must confront to become a leading company in the biotechnology industry. The first is Gene One will enter into an IPO by restructuring its current organizational culture which will pave the way for the creation of new innovative biotechnological products, increased shareholder confidence, annual growth and an increase in sales. Next, Gene One will strive to increase awareness of its IPO by using its technologically superior product line to attract potential investors. Additionally, Gene One will transform itself into a highly profitable organization that adds value to its customers by creating a culture of continuous improvement and high customer service. Finally, Gene One will initiate its IPO by establishing an organizational structure and culture which will enhance shareholder confidence while increasing its revenue to become a leader in the biotechnology industry. Gene One will focus its benchmarking on organizational culture, leadership and employee attitudes, behavior and emotions in relation to an IPO.

Organizational Culture

McShane and Von Gilnow (2004) describe organizational culture as "the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs considered being the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization". A strong organization embodies a culture where all employees understand the company's goals and objectives. When Vontage, a broadband phone company, first initiated its IPO it was disastrous. The company is paying out 90% of its profits to cover cost like advertisement, basic necessities, and employee compensation. Rosenbush (2006) states that, "the real question is whether the company can acquire its customers in an efficient manner and thereby narrow its losses". Organizational culture effects employee performance which directly contributes to customer satisfaction. The majority of an organization's problem does not necessarily lie with the leadership, products, or structure, but with the culture. Altering culture can allow employees to work more effectively. Being tuned to how individuals support an organization's financial capital can help leaders identify improvements and increase customer satisfaction.

Gene One can emphasize cultural change by setting reasonable targets for its employees to attain in concurrence with initiating its IPO. This change will benefit the company's performance by constructing a model of traditions for the employees to follow and improve revenue. When deciding to capitalize on the success of their television ads during the 2006 Super Bowl, Go Daddy Group Inc., provider of online registration of domain names, planned a recent IPO worth an estimated $200 million. Unfortunately, for Go Daddy, their decision to go public came at a time when investors were remaining cautious due to concerns over the price of oil and interest rates. The timing caused their efforts to flop at the time of the IPO. According to Yung (2006),"even if they have a very good revenue outlook, business is good and margins are good, investors are just not interested in small technology companies". This situation is similar to what Gene One will face from investors. Because of this, Gene One must conduct proper marketing of their product and of their future intentions in order to convince investors of the strength and stability they will offer investors.

The Organizational culture must be ready for an IPO to be successful. When MasterCard first announced last September that it planned to go public it was partly as a means to help fight numerous lawsuits that the association and its rival Visa U.S.A. face from merchants over interchange rates. It went through a major personnel restructuring, because its current culture was not ready for the shift from privately owned to a publicly traded company (Jalili, 2006). Gene One must carefully consider the impact of creating an IPO on its employees and culture. McNamara (2006) describes organizational culture as "the personality of the organization". Recently, practitioners have realize that the concept of culture is essential when trying to manage an organization-wide change noting that organizational change must also include a change in the corporate culture.

After several years of financial losses, Prudential Financial, a Newark, NJ-based insurer, decided to go public. Prudential's initial public offering provided Ryan, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, and his management team with an opportunity to alter the mindset and attitudes of their employees. Ryan stated, "It was astonishing to me that at the time, with close to 100,000 employees, very few people knew how we made money or exactly how we did business" (Panko, 2005). Ryan identified that the issues with the IPO was not that his employees were not willing and prepared for the changes that were ahead but that the organization needed to implement the release of timely information , broader communication correspondence, and the use of different systems and processes. Therefore, Ryan and his team developed a broad communication program within the company that provided current employees with tutorials which outlined the industry's history, competitors, and business processes. This enabled employees to understand the organizational culture and its influence in the company. Gene One can benefit from Prudential because it has been a strong company with a compelling organizational culture. However, Gene One can look to companies like Vontage, MasterCard, Go Daddy Group Inc., and Prudential to help with its conversion to a publicly traded organization.

Leadership

Having the most well suited team or leadership in place is essential when an organization is initiating an IPO. Strong leaders project enthusiasm and vitality. They are able to lead organizational change by transforming behaviors, culture, and awareness in an organization. Prior to Deja.com beginning its IPO it did not have experienced executives in its company. The company had run of the mill management who did not thoroughly