Rattunde and Co - a German Manufacturer

Rattunde & Co is a German manufacturer of saw cutting machines, recognized as a high innovative company with high quality products, specialized in tube cutting. Starting its operation in 1999, the company had seen great growths, but was also close to bankruptcy a few times, having to deal with a difficult economic context and a very competitive environment. It has 3 main competitors evolving very fast: Reika GmbH, RSA GmbH and ADIGE S.P.A. It has also been expanding in the USA in 2005, and in 2006 it created the Rattunde corporation. Rattunde & Co has always been profitable, even if some years profit was very low. As for Rattunde corporation, in the last 5 years, it has been profitable only once.

Now Rattunde & Co has to take several decisions and to face several issues:

1-Products and services offer, including R&D development, diversification and services to customers

2- Expansion Issue: USA Market vs Chinese Market, or no expansion outside the European zone

3- Human Resources Issue, including stability needed inside the organization

These issues need to be tackled analyzing at the same time the financial statements of both companies in order to understand what should be the main strategic orientations and concerns for the 3 issues stated above, and in order to be better prepared for slow-down in sales or future economic crisis, including a last recommendation on a back-up plan.

I- PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OFFER:

Rattunde & Co has a clear line of products with seven basic models, the two top sellers being the ACS and the Curve Components. The fame of the company is based on high quality products, at the edge of innovation (the company owns numerous patents)allowing a sophisticated and fast treatment of metal pieces (through high numbers of independent