Mba 500 - Transformational Leadership

Running Head: Gene One-Benchmarking

Gene One-Benchmarking

UPS and Goldman Sachs

University of Phoenix

MBA/520

Transformational Leadership

There are several reasons why companies become public entities such as growth financing (Working capital for growth, physical expansion), acquisition financing (Equity, stock swaps and debts), turnarounds, management and employees buyouts and Internet financing among others. There are three key concepts that will be identified and evaluated such as Organizational culture, organizational culture and ethics and group and team formation, in contrast with comparing the following companies: UPS and Goldman Sachs.

Organizational culture can be defined as the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs considered to be the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization. It defines what is important and unimportant in the company (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005, p. 25). Organizational culture covers elements like beliefs, values and assumptions and these elements make companies different from each other.

At Gene One, the CEO and his board believe that in order to keep pace with demand and realize conservative annual growth targets of 40%, Gene One is going to have to go public within the next three years. The CEO and his board have devised a clear strategy with the help of key members in the investment community. It is their hope that implementing it will help Gene One realize its growth targets, establish the company as a strong competitor and show Wall Street that Gene One has the leadership and organizational capabilities to succeed as a public entity. As an example, this e-mail to the Senior Leadership from Don Ruiz, CEO, “I just returned from a Board meeting, and you’ll all be pleased to know that we’ve gotten the go-ahead we need to proceed with the IPO. The Board agreed with us on all counts -the three-year timetable, the 40% growth targets and the needs to raise capital and develop new products.

In compare, United Parcel Services (UPS), the world's largest package delivery company and one of the biggest privately held U.S. corporations, plans to sell stock to the public for the first time in its 92-year history and then use the shares to buy businesses and keep growing. UPS intends to sell 10 % of its shares by year's end, something that could raise about $2.5 billion, making it one of the largest initial public offerings (IPO) of stock in history. However, executives said they are not as interested in raising money for a company that already has nearly $25 billion a year in revenue as they are in having publicly traded stock that they can exchange in acquisitions as they expand worldwide (Daily News, p. B1)

"We carefully considered the challenges and opportunities of the changing marketplace for the future of our business," said James P. Kelly, the chairman and chief executive of UPS about the plan "We firmly believe that this plan positions UPS for continued leadership in an increasingly competitive world." These comments show how UPS care about their organizational culture, their beliefs, values and assumptions.

The UPS plans to go public surprised some analysts. "Everyone always kind of wondered if it would happen," said Alex Brand, an analyst for Scott and Stringfellow in Richmond, Va. "You kind of think if somebody gets to be $25 billion in revenues, why do they need to go public?" The idea is to create a pool of publicly held stock that UPS can use in acquisitions and other business deals, said UPS spokesman Norman Black. "We don't need the money," Black said. "We need a particular type of currency - in this case, stock." (Daily News, p. B1)

UPS’s initial public offering will be somewhat complicated. UPS currently has stock, but it is owned only by employees and is not publicly traded. UPS expects to sell about $3 billion in stock, making it one of the largest IPOs ever. But that $3 billion will represent only 10 percent of the total outstanding stock.

"UPS will continue to be employee-owned and owner-managed, allowing us to preserve the best aspects of our culture while meeting the business challenges of the 21st century," said a statement by UPS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James P. Kelly. (Florida Times Union, p. 8). After the public offering, the company will be known as United Parcel Service Inc. and it expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "UPS."