Case Study: A company pursuing growth in a troubled steel industry.
            
             The Nucor Corporation competes in a market with limited potential for growth. The future of this organization seems to hold obstacles of insurmountable odds with dwindling windows of opportunity. For decades, the steel industry has been one of the toughest markets on a global scale with most steel corporations ending up in bankruptcy. Foreign competitors, environmental issues, political agenda's and technology have had much to with the demise and more so of the success of this industry. Yet, throughout the course that has spanned over five decades Nucor has a solid resolve, an energetic thirst for technology and the willingness to take risks for the betterment of the company.
             Nucor's roots date back to 1955 when an auto manufacturer named Ransom E. Olds, who founded Reo Motor Cars known today as Oldsmobile, sold Reo Motor Cars through a series of transactions to the Nuclear Corporation of America (NCA). NCA was a very diversified company that acquired many high-tech businesses some of which included businesses that made semi-conductors, radiation sensors and air conditioning products. NCA from 1955 to 1965 had eight money losing years, three reorganizations of the company and with their fourth reorganization in the balance, NCA decided to bring in a young man named F. Kenneth Iverson as president and Sam Siegel as vice president of finance. This change of management led to the reconstruction of NCA and adopted the ideas that all non-profitable ventures would be cut lose and the focus of NCA would revolve around its only profitable operation. This operation was in the steel joist industry located in Florence, South Carolina and Norfolk, Nebraska called Vulcraft. NCA in light of this new focus moved its headquarters from Phoenix, Arizona to Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1966 NCA expan...