Technological Innovation In The Maritime Industry

Discussion

Discuss about the Technological Innovation In The Maritime Industry.

Maritime industry in Australia is very lucrative and rapidly developed sector which contributes to $9 billion to the GDP of the nation in 2012-2013 (BATALDEN and Sydnes 2015). In fact, there is a huge workforce associated with the sector. In this regards, the Australian maritime safety management is highly focused and concerned about the safety of the associated people (Bonilla-Priego 2014). In course of the discussion the global manufacturer of maritime navigation Sealite Private Limited has earned the focus of this discussion. The company is going to change its production and willing to introduce new products into market. In response to this, the report is going to figure out the possible threat and obstacles the Sealite Company has been faced with and provide a solution layout in this regards. While addressing the problems the report puts emphasis on different aspects of Sealite’s market orientation and trying to resolve it. The report is going to discuss about the background of the company and its various market orientation. Then the issues and related discussion come into place. In the end, there is a recommendation part following the conclusion.

In course of the discussion the report strictly focus on the Sealite Company and provides a better understanding of the management issues regarding introducing new products in the market.

The Sealite Private Limited company has started its journey in 1982 as a logistics manufacturer for vassals. In course of time the Company shifted its gaze and prioritize the manufacturing of navigation aid for maritime services only. The company headquarters is located in Australia with several offices and production houses situated in UK and United States. Chris Procter is the current CEO of the company. In its various manufactured items marine lanterns, power system and the rotationally-moulded buoy products are very popular in the maritime industry. In fact the product warranty is considered to be a key factor for the company. This enormous product dynamics helps the company to get the award of Best Export Performance in 2011. In addition to this, the company is also earned the reputation of one of the most innovative marine industry export product manufacturer (About-Us 2018).

Despite of its emphatic nature of success the Sealite Company management is now wanted to expand their market capitalisation by introducing new products. Besides this, there is also a transformation in the workplace environment regarding the company has been kept under consideration.

About the Company

In this regards the issues related to Sealite are as follows:

• The Sealite Company is going to maximize its market capitalisation by introducing the manufacture and production of cargos for shipment. For this, the Company is not wanted to open new production facility rather willing to attach the new introduction in the existing manufacturing unit.
• The next issue is related to the workplace safety of the works employing in the company. There is a growing concern among the workers about the inadequate workplace safety measures which in result can be detrimental for the Company’s innovativeness.

There are a number of recommendations and alternatives that the company can follow. In addressing the first issue it should be kept in mind about the relevance of the change. In other words it can be argued that how far the change is necessitated for the company. Sealite Company is strongly established its reputation in the maritime industry by providing innovation and sustainability simultaneously. Subsequently a pertinent question comes in mind about the infrastructure of introducing a new product. It can be argued that manufacturing of cargo requires large space and several numbers of workers (Binns et al. 2015). In addition to this, the cost factors are also associated with the new entrants (Knapp and Hoorn 2017). Besides this, there is a huge competitiveness in the Australian market for cargo manufacturing (Zhang and Shen 2016). Giant companies like Maersk and BSL containers dominated the Australian cargo container manufacturing market profoundly (Brooks, Coltman, and Yang 2016). Stakeholders attitude is also considered to be important in this context (Lind et al. 2016). Therefore, it will be at high risk for Sealite to adapt the new competitive environment.

The second factor is related to the workplace safety of the employees in Sealite Private Limited. In Australia the workplace health and safety regulations are very strict and based upon a set of government prescribed standards (Workplace Health & Safety 2018). The court orders are firmly supports healthy and safe workplace environment for the workers in Australia (Hofmann et al. 2017). Any kind of violation regarding the workplace safety laws can be posed threat for Sealite Private Limited. The Company management should focus on this issue as soon as possible.

Ethical consideration is referred to the values and principles that can influence personally and in a social level. In case of the Sealite Private Limited the ethical considerations related to the issues are very significant and alarming for the company. In fact, there are a number of risk factors lingering with the decisions taken by the Company. It can be fatal for the market orientation for the company which in return will pose a threat to the image of Sealite.

There can be a possibility for the Sealite Company to face enormous challenges while implanting the new business strategy of introduction of cargo container production in the existing manufacturing unit. It can create a huge workload for the existing manufacturing units for incorporating the cargo container production (Liu et al. 2016). In the organisational level it can perturb the existing production capability and innovation of the company (Hale, Borys, and Adams 2015).

Issue

• The company can open new factories for building new cargo containers.
• It requires a huge amount of investment. Therefore, the Sealite Company should use a cost management process (Weinert, Hahn, and Norkus 2016).
• Get a thorough investigation about the existing shipping container sector of Australia.
• Get involved the employees about the new introduction and expansion.
• To install a better safety management system it is necessary to set a emergency action plan.
• Set an effective management system so that the workers can inform the management about potential workplace hazards.

Conclusion

The SeaLite Private Limited has a good market reputation with a better market capitalisation which in return generates profit and prosperity for the company. In fact, connection with a number of giant maritime companies is beneficial for the company to go for a change. However, it is also imperative for the company to monitor the market closely which will provide a proper understanding of the marketing trend. It is good for a growing company to expand its course of business dynamics further but the possible threats and limitations has to be kept in consideration. Besides this, workplace safety is very essential to be maintained, because all the prestige that the company earns is due to the enormous hard work by the workers. Therefore, in a conclusion it can be argued that there are ample of opportunities for the Sealite Private Limited to expand its business by using a proper marketing strategy and at the same time it is important to set up the infrastructure before stepping into the new business. In addition to this, the healthy and better workplace environment can lead to innovation and increase in production which directly backs the progress of any company. Using such methods can help Sealite Private Limited in achieving its goals and ambition easily.

Reference

“About-Us”. 2018. Sealite.Com. https://www.sealite.com/about-us.

“Workplace Health & Safety”. 2018. Business.Gov.Au. https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/workplace-health-and-safety/whs-oh-and-s-acts-regulations-and-codes-of-practice.

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