Thinking On The Growth Of EW Home Furnishings Ltd.

This case describes the real situation and development plan of EW International Ltd., an emerging Chinese home furnishings manufacturer,which mainly designs and sells upholstery and furniture characterized by a combination of traditional Chinese styles and modern western living function. The paper briefly introduces the business idea and strategy, design and development, operations, corporate financing, purchasing and logistics, quality control and technical engineering, sales and marketing, and customer service of the company. Besides depicting management scenarios, the case tries to offer some insights on the management of small businesses in China after its accession to the WTO.Established in August 2003, EW International Ltd., the Beijing-based small private company, has achieved excellent overseas sales in the North American and European market by attending international home furnishings fairs and shows. President K, founder of the company, makes good use of foreign trade channels for distribution. In order to have a faster growth of the company and meet the threat from the increasingly intense antidumping activities of the States, K has spared no efforts in launching local sales campaign since the 3rd quarter of 2003, but the result has been unsatisfactory. K expects his new employee, Hsiao Y, who has just graduated from a business school, to solve some management problems and make an effective and feasible business plan. While working on it, Y suggests getting SA8000-certified to improve general management level. In the meantime, he also introduces the concept of Green Management to K, though obviously there is a long way to its adoption.After in-depth exploration of some problems and suggested solutions to the problems, the second part of the paper offers teaching notes, including gist of the case, possible ways in using the case and suggested questions. The last chapter gives some short but useful analysis on company management and also works out the outline of a 5-year business development plan from the author's perspective at the end of the appendix.