Case Study Lincoln Electric Company

An Analysis of the Case Study

The Lincoln Electric Company operates in a unique way. It was started in 1895 and has maintained its profitability, at least until 1989. For all these reasons, it has often been used as a study tool for business students.

According to the case study, the founder, John C. Lincoln was "frozen out" of another company in 1895. He started The Lincoln Electric Company to manufacture a new and improved motor that he had designed. According to the Lincoln Company web site, Mr. Lincoln has $200 to invest in his company. I did a little research and couldn't find anything on that first company, Elliott-Lincoln Company, other than its relationship with The Lincoln Electric Company. Apparently Elliott needed Lincoln

I love this attitude. James Lincoln said, "The last group to be considered is the stockholders who own stock because they think it will be more profitable than investing money in any other way." I wish more company's had this attitude. Think of the corporate takeovers that occurred only because company's believed it would be good for the stockholders. A good example of the destruction of an American company in search of profit is the recent news about Nabisco. I would be very saddened to hear that The Lincoln Electric Company moved its American manufacturing to Mexico.

3) Attitude toward Unionism. According to this case study, union membership has never been actively sought by employees. James Lincoln was not a fan of unions, but he understood the needs of the union members. Lincoln believed, "Labor and management are properly not warring camps; they are parts of one organization in which they must and should cooperate fully and happily." If more people, both workers and management felt this way, business would thrive and employees would be

The reason for this is to encourage people to take problems to the person most able to make corrections. There are title though, and these titles instill a form of organizational supervision through implied relationships. For example, The Vice-President reports to the President.

Personnel policies at The Lincoln Electric company have caused a few recent problems that were not discussed in this analysis which was completed in 1989. Since every job that comes available is advertised on the company bulletin board first, and external hiring is only done for entry level positions, there were very few opportunities for minorities to get hired. Because Lincoln accepted US government contracts, they were audited in regard to minority hiring. In 2014 Lincoln agreed to pay $1 million dollars to settle out of court. Lincoln also agreed to increase the hiring of qualified minorities.

Perhaps the reason there are so few jobs to fill is that there have been no layoff at Lincoln since 1949. Each employee, after a year, is guaranteed at least 30 hours of work each week and that he will not be discharged except for