Implementering van 'n lae koste strategie in die spesialiteit staalbedryf

Abstract

The steel industry in South Africa is of considerable significance to the economy. It is a major contributor to the country's GOP and is important in terms of employment and foreign exchange. Given the importance of the industry to South Africa, it is essential to ensure its competitiveness. The steel industry is already in the mature phase of its life cycle, thus it is inevitable that competition is feared and price cutting takes place on a regular basis. ISCOR VEREENIGING had the monopoly for speciality steel in the Southern Africa market. In the days of sanctions, the market was free of any international competition, thus price and cost was not a major concern. In the new South Africa, the market is open for international competition. Given the history of ISCOR VEREENIGING and the current rivalry in the speciality steel market of South Africa the implementation of a low cost strategy is essential for the survival of the company. The process described in this paper describes an approach, on how to implement a low cost strategy in the steel industry of South Africa. This process includes principles of benchmarking, participative management, management by objectives (MBO) and the Thompson & Strickland's eight major managerial components of implementing strategy. This process is not only generically explained in this script but the practical implementation of it, in a steel company is described as well. This script will provide managers with a framework on how to implement a low cost strategy.