Table of Contents
Company Overview
NRG is an American company with interests in the energy sector. The company offers electricity to the general population in retail terms where they pay on a monthly basis. NRG generates and delivers reliable electricity to both residential and commercial customers. NRG has subsidiaries, which enables to supply electricity to over 50 of the states in the United States of America. Some of the subsidiaries of NRG include Reliant that serves Texas and the North East part of the country, Goal Zero, specializing in empowering people globally through the delivery of portable solar devices and NRG Energy Services that focus on the provision of fair-priced maintenance services for the power generating companies and industrial community. Also, the EVgo subsidiaries provide electric vehicle infrastructure for home charging conferring confidence to the electric car owners. NRG Company constantly makes efforts towards the creation of sustainable energy solutions as well as management services.
Background and Milestones
Incorporated in 1992, NRG Energy Inc. is an energy company involved in the generation, retail, renewables and corporate activities. As of 2016, the company owned and controlled up to 47,000 megawatts of power in the United States. The company sells energy in wholesale, retail as well as other energy-related products. The company also installs and operates the wind and solar energy equipment through its renewable division. Since its inceptions, the company has established itself as a reliable energy solutions provider which accounts for its expansion into up to 50 states in the country. However, the company has an opportunity to expand into other regions of the world. Currently, the company has no significant operations in the developing world. This is an opportunity to be exploited as most of such countries face perennial power shortages despite having more hours of sunlight compared to the western world. For the next 20 years, NRG can establish itself to be a major player in the global energy industry.
Product and Target Customers
One of the major products of NRG Energy Inc. is community solar. The product enables homeowners to go solar without installing solar panels on their rooftops. NRG as an energy company establishes a large solar power generation facility in the community, which is then supplied to homes. The homeowners have to pay monthly for the electricity depending on the plan they have chosen. NRG Energy Inc. charges the homeowners 0 dollars for the signup to receive electricity from its solar farms. The customers have to pay for the power on a monthly basis depending on the usage. The customers also receive solar credits at the end of each month depending on their contributions during the development of the solar farms. Therefore, the primary target customers are the homeowners interested in affordable, reliable electricity supply. Because of the multiple regulations, the government is interested in seeing more people shift to renewable energy sources due to the limited impacts on the environment. The cost of installing the solar equipment is low explaining the affordability of the energy (Frankel, Ostrowski & Pinner, 2014).
Company Goals and Objectives
NRG Energy Inc. aims at creating a sustainable energy future. The sustainability goal encompasses all its operations, business, customers, suppliers and workplace. Therefore, NRG aims at supplying reliable, clean and fair-priced electricity to residential and commercial premises.
Organizational Structure
NRG Energy Inc. has multiple subsidiaries through which it delivers its functions. The structure adopted by the organizations enhances its efficiency as one subsidiary is allowed to focus on a particular aspect of energy. At the helm of the corporation is the president who doubles up as the chief executive officer. After the president, the organization has several vice presidents who undertake various functions throughout the organizations. Under the vice presidents and the chief officers, the company has managers heading various subsidiaries.
Decision-making Process, Creativity and Entrepreneurship
The decisions made by the company are in most instances responsive to the adjustments in the operating environment and the needs of the customers. The company is guided by the changes that characterize the energy industry, especially the increasing need for sustainable energy supply for business organizations and individual homeowners.
In arriving at specific decisions, especially those relating to business goals, the company has well-defined steps to be followed in ensuring that the final decision is aligned with the overall goals and values of the organization. The decision making process during goal-setting takes place in four key stages. Lunenburg (2011) asserts that decision-making process is one of the key activities in organizations. Depending on the thoroughness of decision-making, an organization can either move in the right direction or fail to survive in the ever increasingly turbulent business environment. This means that the decision-making process is definitive of the success of an organization as far as selection of areas of investment is concerned. NRG Energy Inc. is no exceptional.
In its decision-making process, NRG Energy always takes an analytical approach regarding whether an investment decision will be favorable to its overall business interest in the long run. Specifically, before a final decision is made, the management undertakes a vetting process to determine whether a given course is reasonable as far as NRG’s business interests are concerned. Besides the business interests, NRG Energy Inc. takes into account the impacts of the decision on the environment. NRG Energy Inc. also recognizes the importance of collaborative decision-making process in its operations. Irrespective of the level of the decision-making process, the organization emphasizes the need for a shared decision-making process. Collaborative decision-making is beneficial to organizations and leads to success in various endeavours (Owen, 2015). Such success may be attributable to the availability of many and subsequent selection of the decision that is likely to accrue benefits to the organization.
The nature of the products launched by the NRG Energy Inc. through its subsidiaries echoes the high level of creativity at the company. The organization identified that not all buildings in the United States are capable of facing the direction of the sun throughout the year. Through creativity, an organization can maintain its competitive advantage (Parjanen, 2012). The move to offer electricity to homeowners willing to adopt green power, but not able to harness solar energy from the sun is a creative strategy. Through this, the company comes out as innovative and capable to align its business interests with the needs of the society.
Additionally, the diversity shown by NRG Energy Inc. is an act of entrepreneurship. The company does not depend on a single line of business in the energy industry. It has a generation, renewables (solar and wind), maintenance services, electric car charging and portable energy solutions. Based on this diversification, the company can survive and maintain its brand image in cases where one sector of the energy industry is facing challenges. Also, the company’s entrepreneurial attribute is exemplified by availing multiple innovative products. For instance, the company has moved in to tap the opportunities in the electric car industry through availing charging stations across the country. Considering that the car industry is relatively new and has fewer players, the move by the company to invest in the industry is strategic and exemplifies its entrepreneurship characteristic.
Communication and Information Technology
NRG Energy Inc. has relied on strategic communication strategies as a baseline for its success in the energy industry. NRG recognizes the important of communication and information technology in the effectiveness of the internal operations as well as the engagement with the outside stakeholders. On this note, the company maintains an open communication structure between the management and the employees. In this case, the employees are at liberty to seek clarification with the managers. According to Shin (2013), internal communication strategies are effective in ensuring collaboration among the workforce. The effectiveness of the communication strategy accounts for the success of the company.
Additionally, has laid structures that enable a collaborative dialogue with its stakeholders. The engagement of the stakeholders, especially during the execution of vital projects leads to an understanding between the company and the partners. As reiterated by Phillips and Tush (2010), such kind of communication is contributory to the success of projects. A dialogue approach adopted by the company in dealing with its partners means that each party has the opportunity to make contributions and influence the course of the project. NRG Energy Inc. also engages its customers, who form part of the important stakeholder for the business. In particular, through this communication, the company receives feedbacks from the customers, which is helpful in improving its operations. The information gathering by the company from the customers is helpful in informing key decisions that have implications on its performance and survival in the industry. The company established an advisory committee to which it engages investors with which it collaborates. The advisory committee enables a structured communication with the stakeholders so that limited mishaps arise.
In today’s world, information technology is one of the key pillars that dictate the direction of an organization in the increasingly dynamic business environment. The company recognizes invested in an elaborate information system for the realization its business objectives. The communication in the company both internally and with the stakeholders mainly takes place through the electronic media. The employees receive email communications. Further, the monitoring of the power use by its customers is based on technology, this increases efficiencies and accuracy. Such is in turn implicated in improved service delivery due to efficiency and accuracy associated with the use of information technology. As argued by Daft (2006), the application of information technology in the operations of an organization leads to efficiencies, which is one of the measures of performance of an organization.
How the Company Undertakes Vital Operations and Processes
NRG Energy Inc. has been strategic in the execution of its core operations, which has been contributory to the growth and expansion of the organization. The company depends on a team of experts and engineers to ensure the multiple generating and renewable energy power stations are maintained and up and running. The maintenance of experts and experienced workforce ensures that the company experiences limited instances of interruptions in its operations (Mello, 2014). The experienced employees have the skills and knowledge to make decisions that favour the interests of the organization. As expected of any organization, one of the vital operations of an organization is service delivery to its customers.
Another strategy that helps the company undertake its vital operations and processes is the reliance on advanced technology. The projects of the organization are monitored and analyzed using real-time intelligence platforms. For instance, employees use the OSI-PI and a variety of propriety algorithms at one of its advanced operations center. Additionally, NRG Energy Inc. makes use of programs and advanced programs and equipment to prevent and minimize incidences of unforeseen maintenance. According to Sharp and McDemott (2009), attaining operational excellence as in the case of NRG Energy works to the advantage of an organization as it attracts and retains more customers.
With the measures put in place by the organization, the maintenance costs go down while the efficiency of service delivery improves. Such means that the organization’s customers do not have to put in place contingency measures in readiness for the unpredictable power outages and delayed maintenance services. Besides using the monitoring technology on its operations, the company ensures that the mechanical components of its power generation and renewable energy installations are always in optimum operating status. Such leads to the growth and expansion witnessed in the company as customers tend to value reliability of services.
Organizations Leaders
Being a corporation, NRG Energy has both the primary and secondary leadership. The secondary team is the board of directors who are not responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization but meet periodically to elaborate on issues affecting the company. Primary leadership of the organization is headed by the Chief Executive Officer, Mauricio Gutierrez, who has a wealth of experience having a background in energy management. Under the CEO is a team of chief officers who oversee the various aspects of ten organization’s operations. Ione attribute that cut across the top management of the organization is the experience and expertise to steer the growth of the organization.
Organization Culture
One of the unique cultures of NRG Energy is the emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Specifically, the company does not discriminate based on race, gender, age, disability and has measures to advance inclusion within its workforce. Employs in the organization have a duty to treat each other with dignity and respect irrespective on one’s background and any other profiling attribute. By maintaining a diverse workforce, NRG Energy Inc. has access to unique talents that contribute to the creativity and problem-solving endeavors (Triana, 2017).
SWOT Analysis
The company’s strengths include the use of the modern technology to generate power. The company has a string brand name, which works to its advantage. Additionally, the organization ventured into the green energy, which largely remains unexploited in the country. With the government’s emphasis on green energy, NRG is set to benefit further.
A major weakness of the organization is its reliance solely on clean energy as the basis of its operations. This may hurt the organization in the event there is limited sunlight and wind. The customers may suffer. Regarding opportunities, NRG Energy Inc. can venture in other parts of the world such as Africa with its renewables. The region receives more sunlight than the United States throughout the year. As expected in any industry, the company is under constant threat from new entrants into the market who may offer competition through delivery if low-cost power. The competition in the industry is another form of threat to the company.
Value Chain
The company’s core operations offer unprecedented value to the customers. Unique to NRG Energy Inc. is the cost-effective services offered to the customers. Each time a customer gets into a partnership with the company through the community solar projects, they get credits at the end of each moth when they make their monthly payments. The company offers competitive generators and renewables, which is not apparent with many other players in the energy sector. The regulated utilities are also beneficial to the customers of the organization. The predictability of the company’s services and pricing is beneficial to the customers as they can utilize such information to make important decisions (Duchessi, 2001). They also become effective in purchasing the organization’s services.
Human Resource Management
NRG Energy Company is one of the best organizations to work for in the United States. The company, to motivate its employees, assigns responsibilities based on an employee’s capability. This ensures that the employees do not suffer from boredom and become efficient in the course of dispensing their duties. The company offers college scholarships to employees interested in advancing their skills as well as receives various forms of rewards for exemplary performance in the workplace (Loudenback, Martin & Pipia, 2016). Additionally, the organization offers the employees’ special discounts on the appliances and electric vehicles. Such measures go a long way in affecting employee motivation for the benefit of the organization.
Recommendations
Though the company has made progress in its operations and growth in the market, it needs to take certain strategic measures that will further improve its operational efficiency and exposer it as a leading player in the global energy sector. One of the recommendation is for the company to venture into other parts of the world. Specifically, the company can set a subsidiary in the developing world, especially Africa. In the region, there is a lot of untapped solar and wind potential. Also, the concept of green energy is still at its nascent stages which make it a viable option for the organization to realize its growth and globalization goals. According to Mankiv (2016), going global accrues specific benefits to organization. Obviously, the move will expand the customer base of the company. In turn, an expanded customer base leads to increased revenues to the organization.
NRG Energy Inc. is committed to the dream of exclusive use of green energy due to the diverse impacts of the fossil fuels on the environment. Moving into other parts of the globe will present an opportunity tom the company to realize the adoption of its renewable technologies in those parts of the world where emission of greenhouse gases is on an accelerating trend. Therefore, moving into the other parts of the world will safeguard its business interest as well as serve a greater role in the widespread use of the green energy.
NRG Energy Inc. also needs to make some changes in the use of the information technologies. So far, the company is doing well in terms the utilization of technology especially in the monitoring of its systems. However, the company needs to device innovative ways of engaging the customers. Specifically, the company should design mobile applications where the customers can operate their accounts as well as report reports to the organizations regarding complaints or compliments. Mobile applications make easier for the customers to engage the company on various issues as asserted by Taylor (2013). The company will not have to make phone calls to the customers as well as the reverse. Therefore, the company should take this measure and enhance the customer experience.
Another area of its operations that require adjustments is the human resource management. The company needs to improve its retention strategies rather than rely on scholarship and other forms of rewards. While joining organizations, many employees have goals of advancing in their careers. The organization need to identify this fact and implement career development initiatives within its operations. One of the strategies of ascertaining the career growth of the employees is succession planning. In this, the employees are assigned mentors so that they know where they will end up after a given period. Through this, the company will be able to retain its talented employees as well as attract new employees with the desired skills and experience (Oladapo, 2014). Such a measure will ensure that the company’s operations are not interrupted due to high employee turnover.
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