Internship Report: KX Associates - Advantages and Inconveniencies encountered by a small company coping with the 2009 financial crisis

Thèmes abordés

Internship Report Marketing company Trade Shows Events Financial Crisis and its impact on the company

Résumé du document

The purpose of this report is to study the reasons why KX Associates, a full service event, Public Relation and Marketing Agency, is facing a reorganization of its internal environment. Moreover, the objectives are to examine how the company reacts to those circumstances and to recommend different ways to improve the situation.

The company atmosphere encourages a direct exchange between the trainee and the staff. Many meetings with all the team, plus catalogues, newsletters and tradeshow magazines facilitated the writing of this report. In addition, complementary data and information were obtained through the company website and other specialized ones.

In the beginning of last year, KX Associates had to cope with its first fall of activity. Its business had to suffer from such conditions, loosing several clients and employees.

An overview at the company will explain the situation of the company due to the financial crisis and the actions taken. We will then analyze how the reorganization of the company affected the internal and external environment of KX Associates.

Thanks to marketing tools, this analysis will reveal weaknesses and threats that have to be solved and avoided in order to reduce risks and come back to profitability and success.

Therefore, it is recommended that KX Associates focus on prospecting new clients and rebuild trust and confidence concerning its potential customers. It should be very important to create a climate of trust in the American market and also in the firm's sector because confidence is often about perception. Confidence relies on credibility. Credibility is what effective communication can help deliver, particularly during tough times. So the company should focus on the communication it promotes for the revival of the business.

Finally, to secure a business in the long term, KX Associates should hire an employee who will be committed to the R&D.

Extraits

[...] Public relations KX Associates maintains a strong relationship with the leading members of the print and electronic media. Including a database of more than 3000 national and international journalists (trade and consumer) updated on a regular basis and customized to meet the needs of each client. Structure of the Company - Created in Manhattan, in the neighborhood of Soho; KX Associates is a small and medium-sized enterprise dedicated to deliver services to other companies (B2B). Even if the President and the employees are mainly French, the structure and laws are based on the American system. [...]

[...] According to the IMF, the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States decreased at an annual rate of approximately six percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, versus activity in the year-ago periods. In addition, it says that the U.S. unemployment rate increased to by October 2009. The economical & financial results of 2008-2009 have lead to the fact that KX Associates, like numerous other businesses in the world and particularly in the US market, had to cut back on fixed investment and staffing. [...]

[...] However, beginning of 2009 the structure of the company was different; there were up to five full time employees working for KX Associates. But the financial crisis had lead to the redundancy of the staff due to the lost of two major clients. And few months after the arrival of the trainee, Elaine Hamnett, Vice President of the company, has been fired and not only due to the financial crisis. Main Clients The company offers dedicated, personalized, friendly and effective service to its clients always aiming to make their client's projects effective and profitable. [...]

[...] In fact the President of KX Associates took considered actions and decided to lay off the Vice President of the company even if she used to be a key employee in the business. Reasons of her dismissal For many years, Elaine Hamnett was an effective vice-president, with no fear to take her responsibilities and lead the company toward success. However, in early 2009, her behavior started to change drastically, and she seemed less and less concerned. Indeed she became depressed due to personal reasons. [...]

[...] All together employees decide to create retro planning for every client in order for employees to know what they have to do and when. Creating retro planning aim to coordinate the team efforts, they know what to do and when is the deadline. The retro planning helps employees to coordinate their works and be aware of what the other employee is doing. For each client KX Associates' works to do is divided into four parts; production, sales, press and marketing. Moreover, concerning new working methods, employees also decided to create a database including exhibitors and visitors, the type of activity and so on. [...]