Defender Direct Case Summary

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Out of his home in 1998, President and CEO David Lindsey founded Defender Direct, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana using $30,000 of his and wife’s personal savings, transitioning from product development at Medeco Security Locks to generating $150 million in revenue and ranked 387th on the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies employing 1,500, and imprinting 120 national offices across 40 states.

Dave quickly sized an opportunity to partner with ADT creating value for both companies by becoming an authorized distributor contracted to install single family home security systems which attracted the customer base providing lower acquisition costs. Having an entrepreneur spirit Dave was continuously brainstorming ways to grow the business
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He then ran around smoothing one bottleneck after another in the four areas of the circle of life alleviating the issue until a larger problem arose elsewhere. He was having a hard time retaining one of his key management positions, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with a changeover every couple years or so thinking that Defender Direct, Inc. was not worth the risk, large enough or wanted to start their own company. His own assessment entailed not planning far enough ahead for the feverous growth the company was …show more content…
Visibly link key changes to the company mission. Because the company mission provides a broad official foundation for the organizational culture, top executives should use all available internal and external forums to reinforce the message that the changes are inextricably linked to it. 2. Emphasis should be placed on the use of existing personnel where possible to fill positions created to implement the new strategy. Existing personnel embody the shared values and norms that help ensure cultural compatibility as major changes are implemented. 3. Care should be taken if adjustments in the reward system are needed. These adjustments should be consistent with the current reward system. If, for example, a new product-market thrust requires significant changes in the way sales are made, and, therefore, in incentive compensation, common themes (e.g., incentive oriented) should be emphasized. In this way, current and future reward approaches are related, and the changes in the reward system are justified (encourage development of less familiar markets). 4. Key attention should be paid to the changes that are least compatible with the current culture, so current norms are not disrupted. For example, a firm may choose to subcontract an important step in a production process because that step would be incompatible with the current culture (Pearce & Robinson