American Express - Case Analysis
...ease the focus on delivering products of superior value, understanding competitors and capitalizing on their weaknesses and knowing and serving customers better that anyone else. Acquiring Shearson, and the vision to make the combination a Financial Super Power succeeded for some years, and started the down trend, wherein they had overall loses in spite of TRS continuous gains. AMEX has a whole did not have a vision. But, each of the executives Robinson, Gerstner, Weill all had their own vision and style of management. They were steering the part of the company, they were responsible for, in the direction of ones individual vision. However, the company had profits even with such differences, and was able to triple its revenues between the years 1979 and 1987. AMEX did not follow some business ethics, when Edmond Safra resigned with an agreement of not starting similar line of business, the Swiss Bank, until Mar 1988, AMEX did a bad propaganda that Safra had links with mafia and drug traffickers. This was the decision of an individual executive and not a company decision. AMEX lacked organizational culture. Organizational Culture is the combination of values and rules that define and organization. It initiates the way employees relate to each other, units within and outside the organization. It unites employees around a shared set of values, while it enhances the work environment. The six central concepts of organizational are critical decisions of the entrepreneur or founding members, guiding ideas and mission, social structure, norms and values, remember history and symbolism and institutionalized arrangements. Robinson’s goal was to maintain ‘The Record’ and grow the AMEX. To achieve this, the management has chosen to explore the market for various lines of businesses and acquire companies. The two companies Lehman Brothers and Shearson that were acquired during this change had vide range of cultural differences and operational differences between themselves and with AMEX. The cultures at AMEX were relaxed and take the way it comes, where as Shearson had a rapid process of doing things. Shearson employees who were used of being tight-fisted and controlled had difficulty in adjusting with Lehman employees who had a little relaxed environment. The management forced the culture of Shearson into ...