Business Strategic Direction

Knox Company was created in 1975 in the garage of Don Trempala. The Knox box was created to help out the fire department in case of emergencies. It is a non destructive way for the fire department to enter a commercial building or a residence. There are over 10,500 fire department and government agencies that are signed up with the Knox Company. The Knox Company does business in the United States, Canada, Japan, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Germany as well as other European countries. The European and Asian foreign market demand for the Knox box is mostly from U.S military bases stationed there. In Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas the demand for the box comes from commercial businesses and residential homes. The driving factor for purchasing a Knox box comes from whether the fire department requires a building to have one for emergency access as compared to a customer needing one for safety reasons to store a spare house or business key.
Both AAA and The Knox Company face many of the same internal forces that affect the organizational behavior of the two companies. AAA and Knox’s success both rely on the need to meet customer demands. Knox may need to engineer a new type of lock box to meet the current needs of fire department while AAA may need to provide a new service or insurance product to better serve their loyal customers. Both companies are working to maximize profit and meet the needs of their customers at the same time. While the two companies have many similarities they also have a few differences. Knox is a company located here in Arizona, producing American made parts. AAA has operation centers in various states from coast to coast. The size is also quite different between the two companies. AAA employs thousands of employees and caters to the needs of millions of members where Knox Company only employs approximately a hundred employees. The vast difference in size creates many different challenges for AAA and Knox. The two companies