Reliv

Integrative Paper: Reliv International Inc.

There is not a unique organization in the planet where the clients are the same and products and services continue being the same as marketed while ago. Individuals bring their emotions and values to the culture of the company. Group dynamics create an operation in themselves that have to be managed. And not only individuals, but technological "boom" and the processing of these new technologies there are two very important decisions to be made by the organization. In first instance, being the caliber of personnel and the rotation of these as new processes of recruitment and personnel selection. Second of these decisions makes it necessary that the organization instructs its participants. The new members have to understand the business and the culture of the organization. It is leadership's duty to stay ahead and have a plan for culture, personnel and knowledge management, prepare them for a complex world, and even more complex journey to organizational growth as entity and as business.

Company Background

In today's world, obesity is a concern to all, with the increasing diseases related to eating disorders. Weight loss is a driver for today's nutrition and holly wood is to blame for that. Some even take the eating disorders to the other side of the spectrum, not eating. Anorexia and bulimia gives you the model body everyone desires, not! In fact, all of these can lead to your death and as people realizes this, they look to educate themselves and better themselves. As we know these illnesses attack all ages. This is exactly the motivating factor that this family in discussion saw and took the opportunity to stand a new organization based on nutrition and education of the same.

In the case of Reliv, entrepreneurship created a home based company in 1988. The company will focus its efforts to the health market. Nutritional well being is a well followed market in which the demand is ever increasing.

Reliv International Inc. is based in St. Luis, MO. Is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of a line of nutritional supplements, wellness, weight management and sports nutrition. As part of their marketing vision they focus on educating the public on nutrition, and this seems to be the organizational culture present when it comes to operations. Their inspiring story gives them the foundation to be one of the fastest growing companies in the world. Today Reliv products are distributed throughout 35,000 distributors in nine countries around the world such as Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, United Kingdom, Ireland and the most recent, Malaysia. The last one being the expansion step towards Asiatic countries.

At the age of 38, Mr. Robert Montgomery sold an insurance company that he help build and retired as a wealthy man. His plan to dedicate himself to breading horses did not last long. Mr. Montgomery met Dr. Kalogris, a microbiologist who agreed to join in the Montgomery's idea to create a nutritional supplement, that later would help his recuperation of brain cancer. At that time Reliv was known as " Reliv Classic". After this, Reliv International was born, transforming into a multimillionaire company.

In 1999, Reliv introduced itself in the cyber world, through a "dot com" site to post information about nutrition and the company. This has led to an expansion in territory and products, creating accessibility and exposure to the world and production of skin care products, increasing revenue by 20% in 2001. Reliv international is proof of a family driven company in where leadership and imagination has pushed forward the organization.

Performance Challenge:

The challenge faced by this home based organization is the retirement of Top leadership and the change in command taken by successors. The Montgomery's have put trust into their own sons to continue the legacy of the company, where they also have worked and help develop, keeping the business a family affair.

Organizational Culture Change

With a whole new top leadership arising, Reliv faces a culture change in operations. In this case, culture has been changing by entering the cyber world and distributing internationally. It is difficult in every aspect to share a unique concept, even though the Montgomery's have raised their sons under this organization. Each one will bring a unique concept of their own to the culture of the organization. Starting from how to do business (keeping it in the family?), how far they want to take that business in growth, how technological they will arise and what will be their style of leadership.

In the age we live in today, economic and demographic tendencies are causing the greatest impact to all organizational culture. These tendencies and their respective dynamics changes are what make the organization have the necessity head toward a more technological front. The second generation of the Montgomery's, even though in there 30's and 40's, are probably more driven by these technological advances. In this case they are forced to. As a distribution company, they should be aware of that operating styles go obsolete with time and lose validity in the new world. Their recruitment style would also has to design a more flexible structure to the change, providing training and experience to the upcoming members and leadership keeping the "Mom and Pop" feel for identity purposes.

Strategy to growth

The opening of the world market, globalization, means the arrival of new competitors to the internal and external market, creating a change in business scenarios. Due to this, companies have been forced to reformulate their business to face the market dynamics with success. The international market will test the distribution systems to their limits. The Montgomery's have an independent distribution system worldwide. New competition means cheaper products then the already existent brought in order to enter successfully the market. In these scenarios being ahead of the game, knowing that there is a "boom" in the nutrition field and plan accordingly are paramount. Given the fact that this was a company founded by Mr. Montgomery, the new leadership has the pressure and the honor the trust passed on to them, to steer Reliv to the right direction, without incurring into micromanaging from "dad's" part.

The strategy to growth lies on a successful culture change. Trust in the upcoming is the foundation to personal change and affects directly