Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 211-097. Talismark negotiated waste hauling contracts for small and medium size companies. Its owners, Charles Muszynski and Marshall Staiman, were able to grow the business by more than 30% per year since it was founded, but believed that further growth and improved profitability were limited by the company’s approach to sales and its information infrastructure. They were considering reengineering its sales process, operational structure and information technology. These changes involved $1 million in estimated out-of-pocket costs. Beyond those costs, the decision presented considerable risks as Talismark would need to interrupt is sales efforts, replace its sales team and launch new approaches to sale and operations. The reengineering plan would transform Talismark into a new more efficient operation, but its owners were not sure whether the benefits of the plan would exceed its costs and were worried about the inherent risks.
Keywords: small business; small business administration; infrastructure; Restructuring; Business Processes; Information Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Wastes and Waste Processing;
Citation:
Ruback, Richard S., Royce Yudkoff, and Ahron Rosenfeld. "Talismark." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 220-092, May 2020. View Details