Environmental Analysis

The CEO and Executive Board at biotech company, Gene One made a decision to go through with an initial public offering (IPO) in order to increase capital and continue building successful growth in the company. The IPO announcement had a substantial effect on organizational culture, personnel, and leadership components at Gene One and could have a negative impact on Gene One’s IPO initiative transition. A solution to help Gene One in this transitional stage of development is paramount. Utilization of a 9-Step Model for problem solving, along with defense of proposed ideas, comprises much of this problem solution effort for Gene One.

Issue and Opportunity Identification

Since their introduction to the biotech industry in 1996, Gene One has developed groundbreaking technologies for eradicating disease in specific types of vegetables. This new technology has been a revolutionary development in the farming communities throughout the country. As we all know, farming is the life blood of the United States, and anything that is developed that will help increase the crop yield and reduce the amount of time and money spent to apply costly chemicals that affect the crops will definitely gain popularity.

Gene One is currently considering the benefits of transitioning a successful private company into a publicly traded company within the next five years, but must identify issues and opportunities facing the organization prior to developing the implementation plan. The issue of the leadership capability of Don Ruiz and the executive board will be very crucial in the success of this transition. Leadership is “the ability to motivate and guide people toward a goal is the essence of leadership,” (McShane & Van Gilnow, 2004, p. 1). Don Ruiz must evaluate the motivation and leadership effectiveness of all the Gene One players, including the executive board, as to who are the leaders, followers or individuals that may get in the way. Don Ruiz and the senior leadership team must provide the organization structure for all players to achieve the proper development and implementation of the company’s new business strategy to insure a successful IPO offering. The opportunity is that it is the right time for this move, and with proper implementation will be a successful transition from a private company to a publicly traded company within sixty months.

Gene One’s organizational commitment to their current employees is and issue and opportunity. Organizational Commitment is “the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in a particular organization,” (McShane & Van Gilnow, 2004, p. 24). Gene One could face internal staffing problems once the employees catch wind of the future changes within the organization.