Road King
ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT
BUS 330/500D
Road King Trucks
Introduction
Michael Livingston has recently been hired as the CEO of Road King Trucks, Inc.
Previously he had been the marketing manager for a large manufacturing company and had established a reputation for identifying new consumer trends. Road King Trucks Inc. is a California-based truck manufacturing company. The company is well known for manufacturing large, heavy-duty trucks at a reasonable cost. One of its greatest achievements is that its trucks can be easily modified or customized for different applications. Road King Trucks also builds school buses.
The company is considering an expansion of its current product line to include transit buses. Mr. Livingston feels that due to high gasoline prices, commuters will be more willing to consider using mass transit instead of using their cars to commute to work.
Company Profile
Road King Trucks, Inc. was established by the Smith brothers in 1880 as the California
Wagon Company. The firm started manufacturing horse-drawn wagons to serve the growing population in California. The brothers quickly realized that the times were changing, so they started looking for the technologies that would keep them at the forefront of their field of business. In 1915, the Smith brothers decided that they needed to make trucks as replacements for the wagons, because trucks were starting to serve the same uses as wagons, and the wagon industry was not going to be viable in the longer term. The company started making school buses in the early 1940’s. Most manufacturers had been commissioned by the government to produce different large vehicles to support
World War II operations. Road King Trucks opted to produce buses. It was an easy decision to make, since the buses would use common parts with the company’s trucks, and the customers were local governments. Starting in the 1950’s, the school bus business accounted for about 50% of Road King Trucks’
BUS 330/500D
Road King Trucks
Introduction
Michael Livingston has recently been hired as the CEO of Road King Trucks, Inc.
Previously he had been the marketing manager for a large manufacturing company and had established a reputation for identifying new consumer trends. Road King Trucks Inc. is a California-based truck manufacturing company. The company is well known for manufacturing large, heavy-duty trucks at a reasonable cost. One of its greatest achievements is that its trucks can be easily modified or customized for different applications. Road King Trucks also builds school buses.
The company is considering an expansion of its current product line to include transit buses. Mr. Livingston feels that due to high gasoline prices, commuters will be more willing to consider using mass transit instead of using their cars to commute to work.
Company Profile
Road King Trucks, Inc. was established by the Smith brothers in 1880 as the California
Wagon Company. The firm started manufacturing horse-drawn wagons to serve the growing population in California. The brothers quickly realized that the times were changing, so they started looking for the technologies that would keep them at the forefront of their field of business. In 1915, the Smith brothers decided that they needed to make trucks as replacements for the wagons, because trucks were starting to serve the same uses as wagons, and the wagon industry was not going to be viable in the longer term. The company started making school buses in the early 1940’s. Most manufacturers had been commissioned by the government to produce different large vehicles to support
World War II operations. Road King Trucks opted to produce buses. It was an easy decision to make, since the buses would use common parts with the company’s trucks, and the customers were local governments. Starting in the 1950’s, the school bus business accounted for about 50% of Road King Trucks’