Lincoln Electric Company Case Study Analysis

The Lincoln Electric Company corporate culture today is an extension of that which the founder John C. Lincoln and his younger brother James F. Lincoln instituted over a century ago. The company today remains a profitable, growing and admired organization. Its culture has been analyzed and utilized as an example in business education for many years. The success of the company can be attributed to: the efficiency their corporate philosophy and culture has instilled in their employees; meeting the needs of the customers; and lastly rewarding the shareholders. The gist of their corporate mindset is summed up by the past President, Mr. Willis “Lincoln Electric differs from most other companies in the importance it assigns to each of the groups it serves. (He) identifies these groups, in the order of priority as (1) customers, (2) employees, and (3) stockholders”(Sharplin, Arthur, 1989) According to Carpenter, Taylor, and Erdogan (2009), “When entrepreneurs establish their own businesses, the way they want to do business determines the organization’s rules, the structure set up in the company, and the people they hire to work with them.” James F. Lincoln was strongly influenced by religious teachings which he incorporated into his business ethics. According to Lincoln:
The Christian ethic should control our acts. If it did control our acts, the savings in cost of distribution would be tremendous. Advertising would be a contact of the expert consultant with the customer, in order to give the customer the best product available when all of the customer's needs are considered. Competition then would be in improving the quality of products and increasing efficiency in producing and distributing them; not in deception, as is now too customa...

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...ng employee participation in the decision-making. According to Sharplin, “…we believe that each person should participate only in those decisions he is most knowledgeable about.”(2009)
These qualities of corporate culture have grown and prospered Lincoln Electric for over 100 years. Lincoln controls approximately 40% of the welding equipment business. Its employees make approximately twice that of employees in the Cleveland Ohio area. Employees stay with the company as the turnover rate is almost nil, usually leaving only to retire.

Works Cited

Carpenter,M., Taylor, B., Erdogan, B. (2009). Organizational culture, Principles of
Management, 192-194. Retrieved from http://my.uopeople.org/course/view.php?id=695
Sharplin, Arthur (1989). The Lincoln electric company. Lake Charles, LA: McNeese State
University. Retrieved from http://my.uopeople.org/course/view.php?id=695