15th ECC Case Study

Critical Success Factors of the 15th ECC
Financial Factors Since the 15th ECC is a company within the US Army, the organization is not directly paid by the customer to perform projects. Instead the company receives all operating funds through the federal government. Therefore, the 15th ECC has very few direct CSF’s that relate to financing, which is unique since financial factors are ultimately what drive for-profit firm’s operations (Blocher, Stout, Juras, & Cokins, 2016). However, two financial factors that are critical to the 15th ECC’s success are properly managing the allotted budget and ensuring the funding from the federal government remains adequate to operate. Managing budgetary constraints. As with any organization, the managers of the 15th ECC must determine how to allocate financial resources within the organization in order to achieve success (Zhang, Liu, Chen & Mo, 2012). Moreover, this task has become increasingly difficult since the federal government has been cutting funding to the Army to decrease government spending. Consequentially, for the 15th to achieve any other CSF’s, first the proper funding must be provided to that task, which is why managing the budget
The other financial CSF is ensuring that the company continues to receive funding from the federal government. In the private sector, if a company completes projects, the customer pays the company, but for the 15th ECC, the company must lobby the federal funding source to demonstrate the importance of gaining funding. Thus, they must prove they are using the funding efficiently and effectively to continue to gain funding or receive an increase in funding. Just as Zang et al. (2012) determined, a company’s reputation is positively correlated with the company’s financial status, which is especially true to the 15th ECC. If the company is unable to demonstrate the importance of the projects, the funding is reduced, which hinders the company from achieving other