Financial Management Essay

Part A There are three main areas of decision making for the corporate financial manager: Investment: The choice of projects or assets in which to invest company funds. Competing alternatives have to be assessed using a number of techniques. This type of decision will also be of concern to the private individual when making choices about which shares to buy. Finance: How these investments should be financed. It is necessary to evaluate the possible sources, external and internal, and the effect they will have on the capital structure of the company. Dividend: Whether corporate earnings should be retained or paid out in the form of dividends, and if the latter, when the dividends should be paid. Otherwise, we will cover the risk management as well as the management of a company’s assets and liabilities in its working capital cycle. Assets must be managed effectively so that they generate income and profits, and so that funds are available to pay creditors and take up opportunities for investment. In summary ,therefore, we can say that financial management involves the following areas as investment decisions, funding decisions, including the capital structure of the company, dividend decisions, risk management. This implies that dividend payments and gains made when selling a shareholding are better indicators of shareholder wealth than profits. However, if the dividend payments are not consistent over a period of time, this will not increase confidence in the company shares, and their market price will reflect the variability of dividend payments. When the shareholder sells their investment, they may lose money. The prime objective of the company therefore needs to be adjusted slightly to the maximization of long-term shareholder wealth. This will be indicated by maximisation of dividends over time and reflected in the market value of the ordinary shares. If the share price reflects shareholder wealth, then we can say that any financial decision taken to increase the value of shares will be a decision that maximises shareholder wealth, and will be in keeping with the prime objective of the company, such a decision can involve are using appraisal techniques to assess investment projects and sourcing funding to provide for the company the most appropriate capital structure that can be serviced from available funds and paying dividends that the company can afford, while leaving sufficient retained earnings for investment and managing the risks associated with these decisions. This may leave you with the impression that the managers of a company will carry out its day to day functions efficiently and effectively on behalf of the owners, always asking themselves about the result of the decision maximise shareholder wealth, this is a realistic view because of the tension between ownership and control of company. That is limitations of shareholder wealth maximisation as concern to agency theory. Agency theory is based in the separation of ownership and control that distinguishes the limited liability company from the other two business entities of the sole trader and the partnership. The relationship between shareholders and management is the principal agent relationship, and has given reis to agency theory. Where an agent was defined as a person used to effect a contract between their principal and a third party. The agency problem is that managers may not always act in the best interest of the shareholders, to maximise the latter’s wealth. Offering incentives, such as share options, to managers may reduce this problem. Solving the agency problem When the agency problem exits, therefore, when managers or directors do not act in the best interest of the shareholders to maxmise the latter’s wealth. Management goals could include increasing their rewards. It was suggested in an earlier activity that two ways to ensure that management act in shareholders interests are to vote unacceptable directors off the board, or to offer share options. Shareholder could monitor the actions of managers using independently audited accounts, backed up by additional reporting requirements and external analysts. The managers may not act in the best interest of the shareholders, so they may be offering other such as share options. However, the share options also have some things to consider as the advantages is encourage managers to maximise shareholder wealth since the option may result in their being able to sell shares at a higher price. But the disadvantages is the price of shares is influenced by some factors outside the control of management, so the benefits may accrue despite management actions. Managers may also change accounting polices to improve the performance of the company and influence the share price deliberately. Otherwise, Capital structure refers to the way an entity finances its assets through a combination of equity and debt. An entity’s capital structure is then the composition or structure of its liabilities. Capital structure ratios show an entity’s capital structure and measure its ability to meet its long term obligations. If the entity appears unable to meet its long term obligations, it will be in serious danger of collapse or takeover. Further, long term financial position depends much on an entity’s profitability since, in the long run, the entity will not be able to repay its debts unless it is profitable. The capital gearing ratio is a measure of the financial risk of an entity because of the prior claim that debt capital has on the profits and assets of the entity in the event of liquidation. Also, if the profits are low, the entity may not have sufficient funds available to make dividend payments to the ordinary shareholders. Capital gearing ratio: (preference shares + long term loans) / (shareholder’s funds + long term loans) X 100 The difficulty is the inclusion of preference shares, since they take many different forms. If a company’s preference shares are of the standard type, that is, having no voting rights and conveying nothing but the right to a fixed rate of dividend, they should be included as debt funding. The higher the percentage, the higher the level of gearing. It is advisable to include short term debt such as overdraft if it is used to fund long term investments and is not, therefore, of a temporary nature and bears a financial risk. A highly geared company may also experience difficulties in attracting funds from investors, who are not attracted by the risks involved in a high geared company. In this event, the market price of the company’s shares will fall. The more debt, the more risk for ordinary shareholders and ultimately for everyone, if the company faces liquidation. However, the more debt, the lower the WACC because debt is cheaper than equity. At very high levels of debt, however, the WACC will rise because of the higher levels of risk involved. Reference: Notes of the University of Sunderland APC308 Financial Management Conclusion The areas of corporate financial management are the decisions concerning investment, funding, dividend and working capital. And the company will use the gearing ratio to express the debt funding as a percentage of the total funding, because the high gearing ratio also brings problems associated with the interest rates and the main objective in financial management is the maximisation of long term shareholder wealth that is the market value of the ordinary shares, because it is related to the how many dividends will pay to shareholders. However, the agency problem is a main problem on the managers may not act in the best interest of the shareholders, so they may be offering other such as share options. Part B In Part A, i have explored two of three main areas of decision making for corporate financial managers: the investment decision (NPV) and the finance, or funding, decision. In this part i am concerned with the third area, the dividend decision. The basis for the discussion in this part is the need for dividend policy and the relevance of dividend policies to investors. NPV is a net present value is the present value of the future recipts from a project less any investment made in the project. Modigliani and Miller’s theory: dividends are irrelevant but almost is not quite. MM’s theory of dividend irrelevancy refers not to the payment of the dividends but to the timing of their payment. According to MM, if a company has an investment opportunity giving a positive NPV, it should be taken up using retained earnings rather than paying out a dividend. The company’s value will go up, since share value is a function of the level of earnings, which reflect a company’s investment policy, rather than a function of dividend payments. Similarly, in their theory of dividend irrelevancy they say that shareholders can create their own dividend, if they want to, by selling some of their theory of dividend, if they want to, by selling some of their shares. In a perfect market, shareholders can create a dividend stream to suit themselves, so it works in reverse too: if the company does pay a dividend and the shareholder does not want one, they can reinvest by buying more shares. Otherwise, MM’s view is that it is not the company but the individual shareholder who should decide dividend policy. Therefore, there is no such thing as an optimal dividend policy for a company, only an optimal investment policy. This would be a policy of investing in all projects with a positive NPV. In a perfect capital market, a company with insufficient internal funds could raise the funds required for investment externally. If a company had surplus internal funds, there could be distributed as dividends.

Belonging Essay – the Crucible

Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve a sense of belonging; whether it to be a group, culture or city, some people will try anything. Techniques such as stage directions, hamartia, and dialogue are used in the set text Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible† to display belonging and not belonging. Other techniques such as symbolism and camera shot are used to exhibit belonging and not belonging in the supplementary text Your Favorite Martian’s â€Å"Zombie Love Song† film clip. In Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†, stage direction is used to demonstrate belonging and not belonging. This technique is used throughout the text to show both belonging and not belonging, stage direction shows the audience, what the characters are doing, such as their movements and emotions about what has happened. Without stage direction the characters would appear motionless and with a blank face. Examples of this technique can be seen throughout the text, but only some demonstrate belonging or not belonging. An example of when it is demonstrating not belonging is in the first scene of Act one when Tituba is about to talk, in parentheses it says that she is already moving backward, like she already knows she isn’t wanted. Another example of how stage direction is used is when Abigail and John are alone together, in Betty’s room. In the beginning the stage direction leads us to believe that they belong together, then it quickly turns around and it is evident that they do not through the use of stage direction. These examples are how stage direction is used to demonstrate belonging and not belonging in Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†. Hamartia is used in Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible† to reveal not belonging. This technique is used throughout act one and two to show that John Proctor doesn’t belong with Abigail, hamartia shows the audience the fatal flaw within John’s personality that consequences in him not belonging. An example of how hamartia is used to reveal not belonging is also when John and Abigail are alone together. John’s flaw is that he has lusted after Abigail, and because of this he now feels like he doesn’t belong with either his wife or Abigail. This is apparent as he shy’s away from Abigail when she tries to get closer. Another example is when he is at home with his wife and straight away we can tell that they do not feel at ease with each other because of his lust for Abigail. These examples are how Hamartia is used to reveal not belonging in Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†. In Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†, dialogue is used to expose belonging and not belonging. This technique is obvious through the entire text as this is what and how people talk to each other. Dialogue shows the audience how the characters feel about each other through their words and particularly how they say them. An example of how dialogue exposes not belonging is also when Tituba is first speaking, Parris yells at her â€Å"Out of here! † and she says something back then he yells again â€Å"Out of my Sight! Out of my – â€Å". The next example of how Dialogue exposes belonging is also when john and Abigail is alone. The dialogue of the two characters highlight their belonging together, when only looking at what their saying. They stop belonging together when he says â€Å"child† then an argument starts which displays a sense of not belonging. These examples are how Dialogue is used to expose not belonging in Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible†. Symbolism is used in Your Favorite Martian’s â€Å"Zombie Love Song† film clip to display belonging. This technique is predominant in the middle of the text when the two characters are chatting online. Symbolism shows the audience, when referring to this text, how the characters interact with each other before they actually meet in person. Examples of this technique can be found when the characters are chatting online, the use of hearts to symbolise love is evident. Another symbol is when they use themselves as emoticons and dance with each other, this symbolises that they can be together when one character is not even breathing. Also there is another example of symbolism is when, while chatting online, the zombie is chasing two people and then stopped when seeing the girl, and then gives her a flower which turns her into a zombie which symbolises that they should be together. These examples are how symbolism represents belonging in the supplementary text â€Å"Zombie Love Song† In Your Favorite Martian’s â€Å"Zombie Love Song† film clip camera shots are used to present not belonging. This technique is used throughout the text but does not present not belonging until later in the text. Camera shot shows the audience what is happening, without proper camera shot the audience could miss out what is happening, but since this is a cartoon it has perfect camera shot. Not belonging that is presented by camera shot is given by examples when the female character is running away. When she opens the door to find a zombie, the camera is zooming in to give a close up of the zombie’s face when it smiles, the camera goes back to the girl’s face when she screams and runs away. While she is running away the camera zooms out from a mid-shot to a long shot to emphasise how far and fast she is running away. She runs to the back door and the zombie is there, the process is repeated twice to emphasise how much the zombie doesn’t belong. These examples are how camera shot represents not belonging in the supplementary text â€Å"Zombie Love Song†. In conclusion belonging and not belonging is represented in various ways in many different texts. Varied techniques are used to represent the belonging and not belonging. In Arthur Miller’s â€Å"The Crucible† Stage direction and dialogue are the main technique used while hamartia is hardly used, only with one character and mainly only in the first two acts. In Your Favorite Martian’s â€Å"Zombie Love Song† symbolism is more predominant than camera shot in representing belonging or not belonging.

International banking and financial markets coursework Essay

International banking and financial markets coursework - Essay Example This exposes a gold mining company to commodity price risk. Another example is such, a U.S. equipment manufacturer can contract to supply machinery to a foreign buyer in its local currency if the dollar strengthens against the local currency before the buyer makes payment, and the U.S. manufacturer loses. This exposes the U.S. manufacturer to foreign currency risk. As still another example, a real estate financier can offer a fixed-rate mortgage in a profitable manner. This exposes the real estate financier to interest rate risk. To lessen these markets risks, companies enter into hedging transactions, or hedges for short. Hedges are contracts that seek to insulate companies from market risks. A hedge is similar in concept to an insurance policy, where the company enters into a contract that ensures a certain payoff regardless of market forces. A hedge is possible because different parties are affected in different ways by market risks. For example while a gold mining company is concerned with a drop in gold prices, a jewelry maker are potentially interested in a contract to sell (buy) gold at a future date for a fixed price. This is called a forward contract, and often is transacted in a commodities market. Financial instruments such as futures, options, and swaps are commonly used as hedges. These financial instruments are called derivative financial instruments, or simply derivatives. A derivative is a financial instrument whose value is derived from the value of another asset, class of assets, or economic variable such as a stock, bond, commodity price, interest rate, or currency exchange rate. However, a derivative contracted as a hedge can expose companies to considerable risk. This is either because it is difficult to find a derivative that entirely hedges the risk exposure or because the parties to the derivative contract fail to understand the potential risks from the instrument. Companies also use

Media Education in Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Media Education in Schools - Essay Example This essay declares that the society generates needs that match with new and available technologies instead of technology being created to match current needs. With this argument, he seems to agree to McLuhan’s famous quote that ‘medium is the message’ where the kind of media used by the society is a prominent force of cultural and social change then any statement delivered through that media. This simply means that apart from providing education, the system needs to look into the manner in which it is imparting it and assess whether any changes need to be initiated to correct any deficiencies and enhance the quality of education imparted to students. Tis paper makes a conclusion that technology can shape society. Schools can no longer rely on traditional methods to educate the masses. The advent of modern media like television and the Internet have given people access to a lot more information that a school alone cannot teach any longer. In fact, much of this information can be accessed within the classroom especially through the instantaneous access to the World Wide Web. This enhances the role of the school as information, in itself, is not restricted to anyone and easy to access. The education system needs to focus primarily on two objectives: teaching children to behave as part of a new and broader community and to learn and ignore useless information. Thus, the emphasis of media education should rely increasingly on filtering information and learning the proper ways to handle it. In many ways, this addresses the predominant notion of media education.

Emerging Market Feasibility Analysis Assignment

Emerging Market Feasibility Analysis - Assignment Example Brazil is also identified as a member of the Organization for Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), G-20, G8+5, and a founding member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Fafchamps, 2003). These accolades are however identified to be very broad and generalized and cannot influence any rational decision making as to the liability of a new entrant business in Brazil. To make such decision making credible, rational and accurate, a more technical approach to viewing Brazil as an emerging market is needed. It is for this reason that the current emerging market feasibility analysis to come close up with Brazil as a destination for the small scale company. The purpose of the study is also to critically analyze the feasibility of the business in surviving in the intended market. There shall therefore be focus on the company with some level of emphasis on the company’s investors, customer issues, and financial requirements. In totality, the emerging market feasibility analysis shall be conducted from five objectives given as: 1. To analyse the strength of the business idea in relation to the chosen market. 2. To identify any country-related issues that might affect the start-up. 3. To explore relevant business and customer norms in the identified market. 4. To analyse potential financial issues that will arise from starting the business. 5. To propose a prototypical founder or group of founders suitable for the oil manufacturing firm that is being proposed? Research Approach Generally, this project is a case study that studies the specific case of the feasibility of a new vegetable oil manufacturing company in Brazil as a small scale business. As part of the case study approach, there shall be elements of both primary and secondary data collection to ensure that data collected for the study is high coordinated, validated and judged as reliable. Using a combined approach of primary and secondary data collection will improve the internal validity of the study because data that are collected from the field of study as primary data can easily be justified or authenticated using secondary data, which is more of data already existing in literature. One crucial approach that will make the project very elaborate, well organized and focused i s the use of feasibility analysis matrix. This matrix has been presented in such a way that it contains five major session of data collection, which have been distributed among the five objectives listed above. This means that each of the five objectives is represented in one section or row of the matrix. Under each objective also, there shall be five feasibility indicators that will be critically analyzed using both primary and secondary data collection. The analysis of the indicators shall be done in a manner that scores the feasibility of each objective of the project. Completed feasibility analysis matrix shall be presented at the appendix section of the project. Within the project however, there shall be a detailed discussion of the findings that are made under each objective of the study. Theoretical Framework This section of the project named theoretical analysis is essentially useful in offering a theoretical background to the problem of small scale business entry into emerg ing markets. This will be done through clearly defined knowledge of literature presented in one specific paradigm of theory. Specifically, focus is given to the theory of emerging market development. This theory started much like a support service given to new businesses that

French Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

French Revolution - Essay Example The new order, or at least the aim of the new order, was the establishment of a peoples' republic where private property is owned by the feudal lord is berated, religion does not play any role in politics or in the lives of the people and a general will is represented by a group of bourgeois leftists. Although when the revolution ended, France was ruled by an emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. If we look at 1789 France and try to determine the causes of the French Revolution, one fails to identify any decadence of its system. For instance, it was the largest, wealthiest and most powerful state in Western Europe. Its intellectuals led the Renaissance and then the Enlightenment era. French bourgeoisie was prosperous and well-established. Peasants owned and cultivated 40 percent of the land. What reason was there for a revolution Norman Gash (1989) quoting Napoleon's statement argues that the reason for French Revolution was nothing but vanity and that liberty was just a pretext. "One can see the argument. The aristocracy, only 2 per cent of the population, enjoyed a privileged position which their actual services to the state hardly seemed to justify. What the urban and professional middle classes clearly wanted was greater social recognition, easier access to rank and power and wider careers for their talents. Ambition and envy are impelling motives. (Gash, 1989) Lefebvre (1939) on the other hand asserts that the reason why French Revolution took place was the rise of the bourgeoisie presented by the Enlightenment philosophes as a better alternative to absolute monarchy. The philosophes of Europe appeared to have turned against the age of empires and monarchical rules supported largely by the clergy and the aristocracy. In bourgeoisie, the intellectual community invested lot of hopes perhaps for the reason that they opposed the aristocracy and offered an economy that was more egalitarian and involved for the first time in Europe's history the people. This paper will make an attempt to examine the question whether Rousseau's Concept of the "Social Contract" had a foremost influence on the intellectual development of the French Revolution and inspired its leaders. The paper will describe the salient concepts of Rousseau's Social Contract theory and enlist the events that took place during the ten years of the French Revolution (1789-1799). An attempt will be made to answer the question by studying the development of the Revolution and comparing that with Rousseau's social contract theory. It is important to note that the French Revolution was not influenced by Rousseau alone but it would not as well be completely out of place to assert that he wrote down the manual and the revolutionaries built the revolution by following his step-by-step instructions. In fact, Rousseau was one of the philosophes of Enlightenment which basically pushed the idea of liberalism based on virtue, reason, toleration and so on. Other philosophes

Acquisition of Merril Lynch by Bank of America Essay

Acquisition of Merril Lynch by Bank of America - Essay Example The self-serve bias, one of the strongest biases faced in organizational decision-making, is a tendency to favor oneself. Generally people taking decisions with this kind of bias, credit themselves for success of their decisions while blaming others for their wrong decisions (Tosi, Mero & Rizzo, 2000, p.79). The aim of this essay to analyze if the decision taken by Bank of America’s executives was a result of self-serving bias. Background of the Problem Bank of America acquired the almost collapsed Merrill Lynch in January 2009 with the approval of shareholders of both the companies. The deal was worth $50 billion. The acquisition made the bank world’s largest financial service provider. However, the earnings released in the same month revealed losses of $21.5 billion in the fourth quarter of Merrill Lynch. The executives of BOA in the announcement before the voting by shareholders provided an unjustified and randomly projected losses rather than the actual analysis of Merrill Lynch. This called for two times infusion of money by the government. However, the executives of BOA in November testified in a Congressional Hearing that they relied on faulty data in order to gain shareholder vote on the acquisition. The forecasts of losses were faulty and some of the losses from collateralized debt obligations for the month of November and December, and various other illiquid assets were omitted. This omission of losses from the financial model used by Merrill Lynch, led to around $9 billion losses where the actual pre-tax losses should have been $18 billion (Cohan, 2009). The carelessness and absence of due diligence on part of BOA executives has had cost its shareholders and resignation of the chairman of BOA Kenneth D. Lewis who also happened to be the chief executive of the bank. However, there is another aspect of the situation faced by BOA i.e. the executives in their testimony also provided the reason for ignoring the significant losses to be press ure from the government to acquire Merrill Lynch before it declares bankruptcy. Analysis of Executives’ Behavior The BOA executives’ testimony in case of Merrill Lynch’s acquisition shows that they deliberately ignored to make a careful analysis of the accounting books of Merrill Lynch. The possible reason for this could be that they had already made up their minds about the acquisition and so ignored the basic principle of investment decision-making i.e. due diligence (Stowell, 2010, p.71). The motivation could be from the fact that the acquisition made BOA world’s largest financial services company and this could have been linked with the compensation and bonuses of the executives. BOA was also interested in buying the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, which was eventually taken over by Barclays. Moreover, BOA executives’ over confidence stems from another recent successful acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corporation that made BOA America’s b iggest home lender (Mildenberg & Keoun, 2008). At the time of acquisition announcement it was believed by many analysts that if BOA was able to restrict the bad assets, then Merrill Lynch’s retail distribution with sales force of 16,690 brokers managing $1.6 trillion of assets, could be the most profitable deal the bank had got during the financial crisis (Mildenberg & Keoun, 2008). Unlike Barclays’ acquisition of Lehman without its bad assets for a much smaller amount, the Merrill Lynch deal was a hasty decision by BOA’s chief executive Kenneth D. Lewis. Lewis had been the driving force of BOA’s success around the nation (The New York Times, 2009). In a study of self-serving bias in managerial decision-making, it

Entrepreneurship and starting a small Business Term Paper

Entrepreneurship and starting a small Business - Term Paper Example Finally, conclusions with key findings and appropriate recommendations have been made. Starting one’s own business is an exciting, promising and high-risk proposition that usually stems from one single idea or a need. Study related to this process, usually referred to as entrepreneurship, has emerged as one of the most important outcomes of globalization. While significant part of a nation’s economic growth is through small business entrepreneurs, failure of this section of businessmen cannot be ruled out. In the current study, focus will be on efforts to identify various factors responsible for the success of small businesses and the challenges they face. An attempt will be made to list the core elements of successful entrepreneurship based on literature study and analysis before concluding with key findings. In his magazine article, Todorvic (2004) expresses that origins of entrepreneurship can be traced to early last century and is yet under lot of debate concerning its definition or actual meaning. He asserts that entrepreneurship is such a vast multidimensional and dynamic aspect of conducting business in the globalized world that it has been given multiple definitions from varied perspectives. Quoting various definitions from different people, Todorvic (2004) mentions that entrepreneurship, for instance, is concerned with starting one’s own business; entrepreneurship is the process by which new products, services or outcomes are created by people that can be recognized with certain specific characteristics. Specific characteristics have been associated with entrepreneurship, such as innovation, focus, discipline, passion, self-confidence, positive attitude, and persistence (Nieuwenhuizen & Machado, 2004). Koester (2010) asserts that an innovative opportunist is the one that m akes use of an opportunity in the marketplace and converts this into a promising business. Moreover, Koester (2010) also mentions that good interpersonal

Snowmobiles Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Snowmobiles - Research Paper Example An interesting feature of a sled is the fact that it does not move on wheels. It has a long belt of rubber moving along the bottom of its body which forms a track for the sled to move on. Because of this track the sled does not slip and slide in the snow as it provides it with sufficient grip to keep it in control of the rider (DuBois 30). Snowmobiles use large amount of gasoline to run (Mara 1998). Hence, their popularity was greatly reduced during the 1970’s when the prices of gasoline reached sky high. Today there are only four major manufacturers of snowmobiles – Polaris, Arctic cat, Ski-doo and Yamaha (Mara 7). In snowmobiler’s parlance, these companies are called â€Å"big four† (DuBois 7). These companies manufacture these vehicles for various purposes which could be for personal use like transportation or for racers. Snowmobile racing is a very popular sporting activity during the snow fall season in various countries. This can be seen from the fac t that in North America alone there are more than 3000 clubs for snowmobilers (Mara 7). Major countries where people enjoy this sport are US, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The cost of snowmobiles manufactured for this specific purpose is twice the price of ordinary use snowmobiles. Brief history of snowmobiles Snowmobiles were born out of the need for means of transport in snow covered areas. ... These were put to use for warfare in the World War II by the soldiers. Thus, though the early invention of this vehicle dates back to the 1920’s, it was mostly used for work and not for fun. It was only in the 1960’s that the idea of using them in sports caught the fancy of the inventors (Sommers 12). Carl Eliason built his first hand made Motor Toboggan in a small garage. He patented this machine in 1924. It was at that time made up of a long wooden sled and powered by 2.5 horse power engine which was attached on its outer board. Bicycle parts were used to make the dual trail track and it also had a radiator to cool the motor when it overheated (Sommers 11). Over a period of 15 years Eliason sold 24 such vehicles, each one being different from the other. His major buyers were the hunters and utility workers (Sommers 17). The biggest order of these vehicles (150 of them) was from the US army during the World War II. However, after this peak period there was a slowdown i n demand. By the 1950s, Canada became the production base for snowmobiles. However by this time, Eliason had a strong competitor, a superior quality product Ski-Doos which was invented by Joseph-Armand Bombardier and had taken over the snowmobile market with its unique design. This product had a design which still sets standards for today’s snowmobiles. A lot of inventors started taking interest in finding better and more efficient designs and â€Å"by 1972, there were more that 100 snowmobile companies† operating in this business (Sommers 19). However, as mentioned earlier, today the â€Å"big four† are the major players in this arena after an intense activity of mergers and acquisitions over the past three decades. Evolution of the designs The earlier design of snowmobiles was that of a sleigh

Allocating a Scarce Resource Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Allocating a Scarce Resource - Assignment Example According to FAO Director-General Dr. Jacques Diouf, â€Å"agriculture is the number-one user of freshwater worldwide. The agriculture sector must take the lead in coping with water scarcity by finding more effective ways to conserve rain-fed moisture and irrigate farmlands† (FAO Newsroom 2007). As validated by Rogers and Wilson (2000), â€Å"irrigation represents by far the largest use of water in the state of Kansas†. In recognizing the need to conserve this limited resource, the state has outlined guidelines for an irrigation water conservation plan which aims to assist irrigators in preparing plans for water conservation in their respective local areas (Kansas Water Office, et.al. 2006). As properly identified by state authorities and by the farmers themselves, and by preparing said guidelines for water conservation for irrigation purposes, the local residents of Kansas have recognized the imminent danger of water resource scarcity and state water conflicts. The state recognizes the need to â€Å"curtail waste of water and ensure that water use does not exceed reasonable needs† (ibid). Three state agencies are closely monitoring water irrigation practices of farmers. These are the Division of Water Resources (DWR), the Groundwater Management Districts (GMD) and/or the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). In an important study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Kansas Water Office, the effect of irrigation practices on water usage was determined. The results of the study revealed that despite increased efficiency in irrigation practices, water usage did not decrease or even increased significantly (US Water News Online 2006). Another study conducted by Perry (2006), â€Å"although irrigation water use for all Groundwater Management Districts showed no statistically significant trend, an apparently increased efficiency of center pivots irrigation systems with drop nozzles has allowed more water-intensive crops to be grown on  more irrigated acres†.

Creative Intelligence Essay Example for Free

Creative Intelligence Essay 1. Introduce change Discover new solutions Make ideas exciting Work best with people 2. My strength is being Decisive Thorough Imaginative Understanding 3. Successful people are Ambitious Disciplined Willing to take risks Self-confident 4. I get my best results by Focusing on current problems Applying careful analysis Trying new products Gaining the support of others 5. I see the future as Unknown A challenge Providing many opportunities Facilitating change 6. I appreciate teachers who Explain ideas clearly Making learning interesting Recognize original ideas Involve others in learning 7. People see me as Energetic Persistent A perfectionist Committed 8. People who make things happen Are highly motivated Enjoy experimenting Have the courage of conviction Challenge the status quo 9. Discoveries depend on Being committed Being curious Being open-minded Having a broad perspective 10. A good writer Is convincing Presents new ideas Provides a unique perspective Has a compelling vision 11. Breakthrough thinking Makes progress possible Helps to solve difficult problems Explores new frontiers Encourages teamwork 12. I dislike 13. I communicate best by being 14. I am committed to 15. Creative organizations 16. Achieving results depends on being 17. I prefer situations where I 18. Change depends on 19. My goal is to 20. Leaders 21. Ethical Behavior 22. The arts 23. Creative thinkers 24. Breaking with tradition 25. When under pressure, I

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model Introduction Through a strategic planning an organization defines its strategy, or direction, and decisions making on allocating its resources to practice this strategy such as its capital and people. There are various business analysis techniques that are used in strategic planning such as SWOT, PEST, STEER and EPISTEL. The strategic planning, which indicates the future course of an organization, is the formal consideration involves three key questions; these questions mainly refer to what an organization does, who it deals to and how it excel. Another integral question can be phrased as how to beat competition (Bradford Duncan, 2000). The development of this business strategy is of great importance for organization as the whole structure of organization depends on it. An authentic business strategy development needs an appropriate analysis of the organization and its environment. This analysis must be executed at an internal and external level in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses o f internal environment (organization) as well as threats, opportunities of the external environment. Different factors are assessed in this regard including the economy markets, competition, supplier markets, labor markets, regulatory environment and Technology. Marketing plans and strategies are the tools that are used as helpful in understanding the goals of the business and to develop the activities to achieve them. Strategic Models and tools are employed by marketing participants to analyze marketing decisions. The 3Cs, the corporation, the customer and the competitors, can be employed when beginning a strategic analysis to get a broad understanding of the strategic environment. Different organizations often use it to convey strategic positioning of their market mix. In order to form a market plan to practice a defined strategy, 4Ps, the product, the price, the place and the promotion, can be used. Marketing theories provides the solution for achieving the marketing goals throug h procedure. The basic theory of marketing revolves around Target Audience, Proposition and Implementation. Organizations sum up their objective and goals into mission and vision statement. They are used to formulate objectives and goals. Every organization follows particular organizational ethics, which meant to show how ethically internal or external stimuli are responded by them. Organizational ethics also expresses the values of an organization to its employees and other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. Organizational Ethics is interdependent with Organizational Culture. Organizational Culture deals with the beliefs and personal and cultural values of an organization, Psychology, attitudes and experiences. This culture is defined as a collection of norms and values shared by group of the people in the organization and the way they interact with each other and with the stakeholders outside organization (Hill and Jones, 2001). A core competency is definit e factor that is seen as being central to the way it by a business, or its works and employees. It carries out three key criteria, it provides consumer benefits, it is not easy for competitors to imitate and it can be leveraged many products and markets. Competitive advantage takes place when an organization acquires and develops an attribute and combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. A timetable for the implementation of a strategy shows the timing for the each steps of the plan that is pursued to implement the strategies accordingly. The effectiveness, efficiency and economy have to be evaluated so that the success of the timetable can be estimated throughout the implementation of planning and strategy. This paper examines and assesses the different business models, development of strategic planning, its implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of implementation of the timetable of strategic planning of an organization. The chosen organization is Marks Spencer (MS). Marks Spencer is chosen because it is an important and major British retailer, with over 895 stores in more than 40 territories worldwide, over 600 domestic and 295 international stores (MS International Stores MS website, February 2009). It is also the biggest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an up market food retailer, and the 43rd largest retailer in the world as of 2008. (Wal-Mart remains largest global retailer, according to Deloitte survey). Its domestic stores also sell both food and clothing; it has started the store expansion into other ranges including furniture, home ware and technology. In 1998 it was the first and only retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over  £1 billion (BUSINESS | Marks Spencer profits top expectations. BBC News, 1998). The business assessments of such organization of such a big range and with glorious history will definitely be a remarkable addition in the study of business management and business strategic planning. In general terms provide examples (4to 6) and briefly explain them of theories and principles that underlie strategic planning? Every organization comes into being with a strategy, which is called an organizational strategy and aims to provide a guideline to guiding member of the organization. Since the future survival of an organization depends on its strategy, therefore, every organization is commenced with their own strategy. This strategy involves business strategy mainly focusing on development and progress of the organization including internal and external factors as well. An organization needs to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities that the organization could face while developing strategy, political, economic, social, and technological environment other socio-cultural, ecological, and regulatory factors and environment, informatics, and legal matter are also as important to be analyzed as above factors. For this purpose, therefore, organizations summarize these strategies into their mission, vision and values, which illustrate their business strategy. Provide in outline form, using a diagram a framework which would enable your choice organization to develop its strategy in general terms? The preparatory phase of a business strategic plan relies on planning. At the first, business plan includes Analysis of the Current Situation and Marketing Plan Strategy and Objectives. Marks Spencer requires having analysis of the current situation including past year. This analysis includes analysis of Business Trends, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Market Segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information. Marketing plan Strategy and objectives for next year should also be analyzed including Marketing strategy, Desired market segmentation, Desired marketing-mix, TOWS-based objectives as a result of the SWOT, Position perceptual gaps and Yearly sales forecast. Describe and critically evaluate a small range (3 to 5) of models tools and techniques that could be used to develop marketing for your chosen organization? There are many Marketing strategic models and tools employed to analyze marketing decisions. In order to find a broad understanding of the strategic environment the 3Cs can be used by Marks Spencer. This 3Cs model points out that focus should be on three key factors for success. Three main players must be considered when planning a strategy for business: Corporation, Customer and Competitors. These 3Cs can sustain a competitive advantage in a strategic triangle. From a corporation point of view, strategies are needed to maximize the strengths of a corporation relative to the competition in the area of function that are critical to achieve the success. The corporation does not have to exceed in every function in order to win. If it can achieve decisive edge in one key function, it will ultimately be able to progress its other functions which are now average. In case of swiftly rising wage costs, it is an important decision for company to contract out a major share of its assembly ope rations. If the competitors are not able to shift production so swiftly to vendors and subcontractors, the outcomes difference in cost structure and in the companys ability to cope with demand fluctuations can have integral strategic implications. The cost-effectiveness can be improved by adopting three ways. At first, reduction in the basic cost, exercise greater selectivity such as products offered, orders accepted and functions performed and share certain important functions with other business of corporation and other organization. Since clients and customers are the base of strategy therefore the basic goal is to be of customers interest rather than of the shareholders. This segmentation appears from a trade-off study of marketing costs versus market coverage. There always appears to be a point of reducing returns in the cost versus coverage relationship. The task of the organization is to optimize its range of market coverage, geographically and channel wise. Competitors are l ikely to be scrutinizing the market in similar ways in fierce competition. The effectiveness of a given first strategic segmentation will tend to decline over an extended period of time. It is useful to pick a small group of customers in such situations and reexamine what it is that they really want. A market segment change takes place where the market forces are changing the distribution of the user-mix over time by affecting demography, distribution channels, and customer size, etc. This kind of change is meant to be the allocation of corporate resources to be shifted and the ultimate level of resources committed in the business to be changed. The strategy based on competitor can be built by looking at possible sources of diversities in functions including purchasing, engineering, design, sales and servicing. The power of image and capitalizing on profit and cost structure differences are the ways to achieve the differentiation. I mage can be the merely source of positive differen tiation when performance of product and form of the distribution are difficult to differentiate. In capitalizing on profit- and cost structure differences, firstly, the difference in source of profit may be oppressed, from new products sales etc. Secondly, difference in the ratio of unchangeable costs and changeable costs may also be oppressed strategically. A company with lower unchangeable cost ratio can lower prices in a lazy market and hence gain market share. Another strategic tool that can be useful for Mark Spencer is Porters 5 Forces Model. Porters 5 Forces Model is structural analysis of the market. It rather focuses view of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a Market Segment through analyzing the different threats prevail in the market. It is a framework for the business strategy development and industry analysis. It draws upon industrial organization economics to develop five forces that determine the competitive intensity and in the result attractiveness of a market. Porters 5 Forces Model Structure Threat from potential new entrants Profitable markets that submit high returns attract the new firms. Its consequence is many new entrants, which ultimately decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. The profit rate will constantly fall unless the new entrants are not blocked. This is also known as perfect competition. New entrants can be blocked by the existence of barriers in the form of copyright etc. Attractive segment is the one in which barriers for entrance is high while barriers for exit are low. Thus only few new firm ca enter and only non-performing firm can exit easily. Economies of product difference also make an opportunity for small firms to enhance their businesses thus large firms who have their product out in the market in high price, products of low price can affect them. Marks Spencer has been going through the same situation. Brand equity, which refers to the effects of marketing or consequences that accumulate to a product with its brand name compared with those that would increase if the same product did not have the brand name (Leuthesser, Kohli and Harich, 1995). The threat of substitute products or services The existence of products outside of the sphere of the common product boundaries boost the inclination of customers to switch to substitute including relative price performance of substitute, buyer switching costs, perceived level of product differentiation, number of substitute products available in the market, ease of substitution. Information-based products are more flat to substitution, as online product can easily replace material product. There are many reason cause customers to switch to substitute of the product such as substandard product, and reduction in quality of the product. Increase in the features of the product develops the competitive market. Marks Spencer by increasing the features of its products can make the customers stick with their product. The Bargaining power of customers or buyers The customers bargaining power is also defined as the market of outputs such as the efficiency of the customers to put the firm under pressure; it also affects the sensitivity of customers to price changes. Customers concentration to firm concentration ratio, degree of dependency upon existing channels of distribution, bargaining leverage, specifically in industries with high fixed costs, customers volume, customers switching costs relative to firm switching costs, information availability for customers, ability to backward integrate, availability of existing substitute products, customers price sensitivity and differential advantage and uniqueness of industry products are the actors that increases the bargaining power of customers. Large number of supermarkets will provide better opportunity for the potential customers to reach thus it will decrease the bargaining power of the customers. The Bargaining power of suppliers The suppliers bargaining power is also defined as the market of inputs. Suppliers of materials, components, labor and services such as expertise to the firm are source of power over the firm, when there are a few substitutes. Suppliers may possibly refuse to work with the firm or charge excessively high prices for unique resources. Despite the fact that supplier switching costs is relative to firm switching costs, and degree of differentiation of inputs, impact of inputs on cost or differentiation, presence of substitute inputs, supplier concentration to firm concentration ratio, employee solidarity like labor unions and supplier competition and ability to forward vertically integrate and cut out the buyer and Competition among the existing suppliers mainly reinforce the factor. Number of suppliers across Britain will rather diminish this factor for Marks Spencer. The competitive rivalry within an industry For most organizations, the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry is the intensity of competitive rivalry. Sustainable competitive advantage by innovation, competition between online and offline companies; click-and-mortar -v- slags on a bridge, Level of advertising expense, Powerful competitive strategy and the visibility of proprietary items on the Web all these factor define the competitive rivalry within an industry (Rainer and Turban, 2009). The situation of competitive rivalry is hhigh because there are majorly three rivals of Marks Spencer that provide it a competitive advantage and change its strategic planning. State a variety 7 to 10 of general and marketing strategic options which have been used or are available to the organization of your choice and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of four of these Product Branded product helps in capturing market as it creates an identity of the firm with that brand. Marks Spencer has been selling out branded product but there is no single of theirs, because owning the brand can exceed the sell of that product. The advantage of owning a product as a brand is that it allows the customers to identify the organization with a particular name. While mostly brand products are supposed to be accessible for everyone as a result of its price. Price Price is another factor that is integral for Marks Spencer. Determination of price that depends on the market situation very much affects the market situation for the firm. An affordable Price of the product can be more successful for the firm. Affordable price offer of the Marks Spencer will allow to everyone to access them easily thus it will generate demand of the products if it could not maintain the supply and demand of the products it will have to suffer in the market. Place The place of selling also makes a difference in the marketing strategy of a firm. Since e-commerce has been so much in practice Marks Spencer can start e-commerce through which it can sell out its products online. Besides this, variety of distribution outlets can also be an option for Marks Spencer as it is a good promotion tool of the product. Placing the products in every distributions outlet may lead the firm to the low market level due to its order of supply. Promotion Promotion of the products must be designed in the way Across the Line. Across the Line promotion of the product provide the opportunity to access the customers at any length. Promotion of the products Across the Line will cost the firm highly as promotion across the line requires in order to meet the promotion target. People Work force or staff must be well trained and professional because a well trained work force increase the productivity of an organization. Marks Spencer is the 43rd largest retailer if it hires professional and trained work force it will definitely hit its economy. Process The standard of the services offered must be of good and must be integrated with customer support. Physical Evidence Physical evidence of a firm especially like Marks Spencer does matter. The overall environment of the firm can provide a pleasant impression on others and results in good sell. Who are stakeholders in the organization of your choice and state the three major ones of these. What affect have or could the major stakeholders have on the strategy that the organization has or could introduce. What considerations should be taken into account to ensure that the three major stakeholders can contribute to the development of the organization strategy through some form of participation? There are number of group of stakeholders of Marks Spencer: employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, local communities, pressure groups and local and national government. All these above directly or indirectly influence the Marks Spencer in its strategy making. Employees, who are direct stakeholders of the organization, want secure jobs, well and good pay and fair treatment with all employees. Customers, also a direct stakeholder of the organization, want high quality, good service, and good choice of products. Shareholders look for growth and profit. These direct stakeholders can affect the strategies of the organization. If employees are not satisfied or if feel that they are not enough benefits from the offered strategy they can strongly resist it by so many act of barriers such as resignation or boycott from service. Organization understands that in order to keep the customers stick with product it is important to provide them quality products and services in affordable r ate. The customers who want quality product in affordable price with good services would also reject the strategy if found it not in their favor by rejecting the product or switching to another substitute. Shareholders, who are back bone in the economy of the Marks Spencer, possess the shares of the company; organization will want them to have profit so that the stay with them in the business. Thus there will not be any strategy which in any way annoys the shareholders. The contribution of employees, customers and shareholders is equally important for organizations interest. This contribution by them can part in the development of the organizations strategy through expressing their expectation from the organization. These expectations are not just to be of their favor but in the favor of the organization as well because their benefits and profits are interlinked with the success of the organization. In a laymans language define the term vision, mission statement, objective and value and go to provide professional definitions of these giving the source of these. Every organization comes into existence with a definite purpose which is called objective of the organization. This objective varies from organization to organization such as profitable organization and non-profitable organization. The organization expresses its objective through vision, mission statement. Vision: Vision is the intended or desired future statement of an organization or enterprise in terms of the fundamental objective and strategic direction. Vision refers to a long term view, describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. A vision statement provides the organization with an inspiration that is the basis for all the organizations planning. It explains what an organization wants to do. Mission: Mission is the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, concise describing the reason of existence and path to achieve its Vision. It also draws a future picture of the organization. Values: Values can be defined as the beliefs of an organization shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values are the means of driving the organizations culture, ethics and priorities. The vision statement is a realistic, credible, and attractive future for an organization (http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch18.html). Mission statement broadly describes the presence of an organization present capabilities, customer focus, activities, and business makeup (Glossary, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases by Fred David). Provide the vision and mission statements and strategy of your chosen organization and explain how the effectiveness if these can be measured. Marks Spencer has defined its Vision, Mission statement and Values as follows: The Vision Statement The standard against which all others are measured. The Mission Statement Making aspirational quality accessible to all. The Values Quality, value, service, innovation and trust. Marks and Spencer has followed a value price strategy from its origin. Since Marks Spencer has focused on middle class customers, it has continued with the value pricing strategy. Although its most of suppliers have been Britain, which has higher textile manufacturing costs than other developing nations, Marks Spencer was able to maintain its value by developing strong economic bonds with its suppliers. Through its economies of scale in buying, MS has been able to require manufacturers to adhere to strict quality standards and to bargain lower prices for its customers (De Nardi-Cole, 1998). The standard against which all others are measured, as a vision statement thoroughly conveys the objective of the organization, as the organization has set up the standard as an objective of the organization to achieve. It is promoting inspirational standard of the organization in term of products, service, and quality and price. This vision has greatly affected the organization output as a consequence of achieving its objective through this vision. The mission statement of Mark Spencer revolves around its marketing strategy telling about the price of the products that are affordable enough to be accessed by everyone. Values of the organization describe the standard quality and value of products and services following innovation and trust of the customers. Define the term organizational g12 cultural and ethical values and explain the culture and ethical values of the organization of your choice. Organizational culture is an idea which illustrates personal attitudes, experiences, psychology, beliefs and values and cultural values of an organization. It is defined as the specific set of values and norms shared by people and groups in an organization. The organizational culture as well as ethical values is also known as beliefs and ideas about the kinds of goals of the organization and ideas about the appropriate kinds and standards of behavior members of the organization use to achieve these goals. From organizational ethical values develop organizational norms, guidelines, and expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in certain situations and control the behavior of organizational members towards one another (Hill, and Jones, 2001). Organizational Ethics refers the way an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics and the organizational culture are interdependent. Although, it is similar to both org anizational culture and business ethics on the micro and macro levels, organizational ethics is neither Organizational culture, nor is it alone business ethics which includes corporate governance and corporate ethics. Organizational ethics express the values of the organization to its employees and to other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. The organizational culture of Marks Spencer is characterized as a reflection of taken for granted fashion the attitude that is shared by the all members of the organization. The basic assumptions and beliefs operate unconsciously among the members and also exist at the organizational level. The assumptions and taken for granted fashion have taken its roots from the basis of the success of organization. Marks Spencer strictly follow code of ethics, a detail document of the ethical codes, in order to get on with its internal matter. The document contains the responsibility of all belong to Marks Spencer and Behavior for customers, colleagues, shareholders and environment have been explained. Besides, there are policies about workplace and Business (MarksSpencer, Code of Ethics, 2010). Explain the term core competencies and critical success factor and state whether these are necessary to the success of the organization of your choice. Has the organization of your choice amended its strategy in response to changes in the current business and economic climate? A core competency is a particular factor that an organization looks as being integral to the way it, or its works, and employees. It performs three key criteria: provides consumer benefits, not easy for competitors to imitate and can be widely leveraged to many products and markets. A core competency can take many forms, such as technical or subject matter know-how, a dependable process and close associations with customers and suppliers. It also includes product development and culture, such as employee dedication. The core competencies are specific strengths relative to other organizations in the industry which supply the fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core competencies are the organizations collective learning, and involve the way to coordinate different production skills and incorporate multiple flows of technologies. It is an involvement, a communication, and a strong commitment to working across organizational boundaries. Core Competencies of Marks Spencer The core competencies are vital for the existence of Marks Spencer; it is in its sourcing methods, gave it the power to deliver high value, reliable, consistent quality, investors and customers has trusted it, its quality of management was ranked very high, consequently feeling of what good for Marks Spencer was good for the Nation and epitomized the most honest face of commerce. Since the revolutionary change in the business world, Marks Spencer had to suffer a lot. After the crisis of 1999, Marks Spencer has remarkably amended its strategies in terms of products, customers, price and marketing strategy. As a result of e-commerce revolution Marks Spencer amended its strategy and started e-commerce which ultimately changed its marketing strategy. A large number of the same product in the market caused the Marks Spencer to adopt a differentiation way such as own brand products and Premium brand appearance. Since there are so many products out there in the market that is decreasing the sell of Marks Spencer, due to the threat of the substitute product Marks Spencer has reviewed its prices of the product in order to create competitive advantage. Explain how your organization has responded to change in its environment and consider whether this response has effective The change in the product price from Marks Spencer creates a competitive advantage fro it and it is much effective for the organization. The enhancement in the place of its firm can also be beneficial in the way that it is in the access of as many people as targeted. All these response to the environment from Marks Spencer could provide it some space to restore its position in the market. List what you would consider to be the major functional area in generally and discuss the three major functional areas of organization of choice and why this is so. Every business have work within certain functional areas, among them there are few general major functions performed in all businesses including finance and accounts, production and operations, administration and IT support, human resource, marketing and sales, customer services, and research and development. The major functional areas of Marks Spencer are sales and marketing, human resource and administration and IT support. They are the major functional areas of the organization because Marks Spencer is a retailer of goods, its business growth very much depends on the sales and marketing, human resource (the people and the staff serve the organization can make difference in the growth of the organization) and administration and IT support make the business process smooth and successful. Since the competition is so tough in the market, Marks Spencer must improve their major functional areas. How have the three major functional areas in organization been developed to provide it with a competitive advantage? Efficient and good sales and marketing strategy can play an important role to develop a competitive advantage for the organization. Decrease in the price by change in the marketing strategy increases the competitive advantage for the organization. Human resource is such a function that works as a back bone for an organization, skilled and trained human resource of the Marks Spencer can provide a competitive advantage through inputting the best to serve the organization. Administration and IT support has come out as one of the vital function of the organization since organization has initiated e-commerce, it can efficiently perform as support to e-commerce to give competitive advantage to the organization. Discuss how a timetable for the implementation of a strategy could be developed around key milestones. The implementation of a strategy roadmap needs a time table that defines milestones in weekly, one month, three month, and six month intervals. Implementation milestones should be established and communicated to all key business partners, the board of directors, stakeholders and investors, customers, and employees, from day one. The best timetable and milestones focus on at least the following dimensions: customers, competitors, finance, communications, and culture, intellectual property

Role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection

Role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection To analyse the role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection, it essential to firstly understand what is Recruitment and Selection, in what ways does it affect the goals of the organisations. When an employee leaves an organisation, it affects not only the organisation but also the individual employee and society as a whole (Mobley, 1982, p. 15- 31, cited in Morrell et al., 2001, p. 220). The productivity and efficiency of organisations depend upon the quality of their workforce or human capital and there is a general agreement that its fixed capital is relatively increasing (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). The HR managers should develop strategic methods for Recruitment and Selection. Schmitt and Chan (1998:239), defined the goals of strategic HRM, to acquire deploy and allocate human resources in ways that provide the organisation with a competitive advantage (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). Recruitment and Selection is one of the element of an array of HR practices that needs to be integrate d into a coherent bundle by organisations in order to support the delivery of cooperate strategy. Recruitment and Selection is the main function of Human Resourcing in organisations (Newell and Rice, 1999, cited in Millmore, 2003, p. 8). Recruitment and Selection as The processes by which organizations solicit, contact, and interest potential appointees, and then establish whether it would be appropriate to appoint any of them (Watson, 1994, p.185 cited in Bratton and Gold, 1999, p.192). Recruitment involves the utilization of organisational practices to influence the number and types of individuals who are willing to apply for job vacancies (Rynes, 1991; Rynes Cable, 2003). Recruitment can focus on internal labour market (like pursuing staff already employed by the organization) or external labour market (like pursuing applicants from outside the organization). Internal candidates can be recruited through internal job postings, word-of-mouth or internship programs. (Casper) Organisations are undergoing changes in terms of expansion-beyond the local to national and international frontiers. Therefore, recruitment and selection processes used by organisations are becoming more sophisticated. Selection is a process through which a firm chooses an applicant from a pool of applicants for a post, within the organisation by using techniques to decide which applicant is best suited for the vacancy in question by contrast recruitment involves choosing an applicant from an ex ternal pool by actively soliciting applications from potential employees. Recruitment is a positive activity where the employers sell themselves into the labour market to increase the pool of deserving candidates, from which employees are chosen. Selection can be viewed as a negative activity as it involves choosing the best candidate. The goal of recruitment and selection processes is to judge the psychological difference between individuals and its relationship to following job performance. The recruitment and selection process has two main characteristics attraction which determines how an individual becomes an applicant it signifies the two-way power relationship involved in selection and assessment which refers to assessment of application within a work context this is done by using tools like references, curriculum vitas, autobiographical application blanks, interviews, personality psychometric tests and work-sample methods (Searle, 2003). Assessment of suitability for organi sational needs reflect priorities in an employers agenda, rather than a potential employees concerns (Schuler et al., 1993, cited in Ramsay et al., 1999, p. 65). In the 1980s, major changes took place in regards to HR practices within the organisations. This was a result of increasing awareness and impact of HR on the firms. During this period the HR policies emerged as a lever for organisations, assisting them in repositioning or strengthening, their place within a particular sector. As a part of resultant changes, selection and recruitment processes were recognised as critical components in successful change management (Iles and Salaman, 1995, p. 203). The integration and internal consistency of HR systems is important for organisational success (Legge, 1995). Recruitment and Selection is one of the tools within the HR strategy. For an HR manager hiring competent people is of paramount importance which can be attained by using effective recruitment and selection processes, with the goal of choosing the right candidate and rejecting the wrong. For example: The Telebank case study (Korczynski et al., 1999, cited in Callaghan and Thompson, 2002), reflects a shift in trend from manufacturing to service sector contribution in the overall economy. In service sector, work and empathy towards the customer plays a prime role in recruitment and other HR processes. Its therefore important for the HR Manager to recruit a staff with the desired attitudinal and behavioural characteristics, induct them in the companys philosophy and retain them. As an HR Manager it is essential to note that selection frequently focuses on attitudes to flexibility and service to customer than skill or qualification levels of the candidate (Redman and Mathews, 1998, p. 60 cited in Callaghan and Thompson, 2002). Also attracting good talent me ans increase in remuneration rate, better pay package, working conditions, job security and internal career mapping (Arthur, 1994; Appelbaum et al., 2000; Batt et al., 2002, cited in Smith et al., 2004). Bach (2008) defines Recruitment as the process of attracting people who might make an organizational contribution to fill a particular role or job. Approaches to Recruitment: Internal Recruitment: Most of the private sector employers, attempt to fill vacancies internally before they consider looking for people outside the organisation (Newell and Shackleton 2000, p. 116, CIPD 2003b, p. 11). Public sector is open to advertising both internally and externally. Fuller and Huber (1998, p. 621) have identified four different forms of internal recruitment activities namely, internal promotions, lateral transfers, job rotation, re-hiring former employees. This is profitable for both the employees and the organisations. Internal recruitment is cost effective and firms do not have to advertise jobs, it can be done by using intranet services, newsletters and staff notice boards. It helps in boosting the morale of the employee, building a strong internal labour force. The organisation also maximises its return on investment in staff training, by bringing in increased motivation, deepened skills and high level of commitment, providing the organisation with a competit ive edge leading to organisational effectiveness. Selection is done on the basis of the individuals merit and knowledge. The organisations express their models of employee characteristics and the behaviour required of potential employees through competency frameworks (Roberts, 1997). These frameworks help the organisations to recruit and select the suitable people through sophisticated techniques. There are certain negative aspects of internal recruitment as well; if all the recruitment to all the positions is done internally, it would lead to stagnation, there would be lack of originality and a fall in the organisations knowledge base. It might so happen that the best suited candidate for the job is not currently working for the organisation. Internal recruitment adds to the long term imbalances of the workforce, the ethnic minorities who are not well represented will be subjected to inequality. IRS (2002d) highlights a problematic feature of internal recruitment; it includes the n eed of managing of situations in which candidates are unsuccessful. Turning down external candidates would not cause a problem instead turning down internal candidates would create a difficult situation which then needs careful management. Exclusive use of internal recruitment is less common in the public sector organisations, as they believe in advertising all vacancies externally. They do so because they at all levels want to reflect that their staffs reflect the make-up of the whole society. For example NHS and local governments advertise their jobs in newspapers. (Storey, 2007). External Recruitment: there are lots of different approaches used to attract prospective candidates, more conventional than the other. There are five formal methods used for most of the jobs, these are, Printed media which includes national newspapers, local newspapers, trade and professional journals, magazines. External agencies which includes job centres, outplacement consultants, head-hunters, employment agencies, Forces Resettlement Agency, Recruitment consultants. Education Liaison consists of careers service, career fairs, college tutors, career advisors, student societies. Other media includes direct mail, local radio, teletext, billboards, internet, TV and cinema. Professional contacts consist of conferences, trade union referrals, suppliers, industry contacts. There are some other methods that can be used such as word of mouth or grapevine. These are cost effective as well. A lot of considerations must be taken into mind before deciding which method to use. For example, it would be inappropriate to advertise for an engineer in a medical journal. Another consideration is the number of applicants each method can yield and the ability of the personnel specialists to administer them effectively. For example, opening a new store would lead in creation of hundreds of new jobs. There is a new method of external recruitment known as E- recruitment or Internet Recruitment. In the first few years of the 21st century it has been noticed that there is an expansion to include vacancies in all work areas over the internet. Over 70 percent of employers were advertising some jobs on the internet in 2003 (CIPD 2003b, p15). The web based recruitment has changed the way the recruitment industry operates, it is a revolutionary development. Internet Recruitmen t is of four different forms, namely, Employer websites it involves maintaining pages of vacancy as a part of their organisations websites. They are cheap to operate for the employee and provide numerous options to the organisation in choosing its employee. This method has drawbacks as well, this approach this viable for large- sized employers within defined labour markets, medium or small scale employers will not benefit from this approach. Cyber agencies involve making use of specialist employment agencies that operates on the web, well known examples are Monster.com. They advertise the jobs as well as undertake short listing on behalf of employers depending on the CVs sent by candidates. Schreyer and McCarter (1998, p. 222) stated that in time a handful of highly sophisticated, international operations will emerge and carry general job vacancies on behalf of the industrialised world. Jobsites linked to newspapers and journals includes all recruitment-based websites that runs parallel with job based operations, for example, London Evening Standard. These sites publish jobs which have already been published in newspapers and journals. The advantage of this is that the job seekers can directly reach the employers site via hotlink, send an e-mail and search for vacancies in the job bank. Jobsites operated by employment agencies includes employment agents developing a formidable web presence. The job seekers register with these agencies and browse vacancies using the search engine. The government also advertises its vacancies on the internet via its Learning and Work Bank. Employee Recruitment and selection is one of the key functions of a manager. The manager has to take the decision whether to recruit internally or externally. WERS survey questioned managers whether internal applicants are given more preference over external applicants while filling vacancies. The majority of the managers responded that both external and internal applicants were treated equally, 10percent preferred external applicants where as one-fifth preferred internal applicants. Large workplaces which consisted of more than 100 employees preferred internal applicants than smaller workplaces. Private sector workplaces preferred internal applicants in comparison to the public sector workplace who preferred recruiting external applicants. This association held for after controlling for workplace size. Managers preferring to recruit internally was unchanged during 1998 to 2004. HR practices being outsourced is an increasing phenomenon these days. Recruitment and Selection has become one of the outsourced HR practices, depending on the size of the firm. For example: Andrea Ordanini Giacomos article is based on outsourcing the decisions of Recruitment and Selection. They stated that an efficient model based on competitive motivations, transaction cost economy was formed and was tested in 276 organisations both medium and large. It was found that both efficiency motivations and competitive issues are important. Selection is the process by which managers and others use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons most likely to succeed in the job(s), given management goals and legal requirement (Bratton and Gold, 2003, p. 221). There are two key principles underlying the process of selection, they are individual differences, a way of measuring how one individual is distinct from other. They may differ in terms of intelligence, skills, age, experience, etc. Then is prediction, which recognises that individual differences may be a measure of predicting performance at workplace. Interview is the most common method of selection, as shown in Figure 2 below. However, firms are realising the importance of selection and are applying other methods to bring in effectiveness to the process. Smith and Graves (2002) have highlighted that there are concerns expressed in the literature about the usage of traditional interview methods. Along with the interview, other methods like application forms and letters of reference are used which is referred as the classic trio by Cook (1994, p. 15). Viewed from a psychometric perspective three criterias are applied to measure the effectiveness of the selection tool (Bratton and Gold, 2007, p. 258). These are validity, concerns the degree of appropriateness of what is being measured, reliability which focuses on accuracy of the data and lastly, usefulness. Validity can be defined as the agreement between a test score or measure and the quantity it is believed to measure (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2001, p. 32). The definition emphasises on what does the test offer to measure and what it really measures. Validity may also depend upon the purpose of the test. For example, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a personality-assessment test but is stated that it is a valid test only for development purposes. Validity is a difficult issue to prove, there are four ways to identify validity: face validity, content validity, construct validity and criterion-related validity. Out of these types of validity the most important is the predictive or criterion- related validity. It involves establishing relation between predictors and the criterion.Face validity is important for people who are taking the test; it depends on the appearance of the test. The test-takers have put in their time and effort to get a job and therefore, should feel satisfied by the assessment and feel it was relevant. It may sometimes have an adverse effect on the test- users who keep deciding which tool to use for selection. Sometimes without accessing the entire information through the manual handbooks about the test, the test-user makes a decision depending upon how the test looks. It may therefore provide false validity and may prove to be a distraction. Content validity is concerned with accuracy of the theory it covers. It is found in attainment, when a person is required to display their knowledge or skills in a particular area. For example, a test assessing competence of a Personnel Manager would be expected to include items taken from Human resource syllabus. Content validity is the only form of validity which is based on logical information. There are two problems of content validity namely, content under- representation, that is when an important component or information relevant to the theory is omitted. The second issue is construct- irrelevant variance that is contaminating the conceptual domain by components which are not relevant.Construct validity was introduced by Cronbach and Meehl (1955) when they stated that underlying each test there is a construct that gets assessed. It assumes that anything can be defined and measured. All the information regarding the definition of the topic that is being assessed and the develop ment procedure for the test should be present in the test manual. The test manual shows the composition of the test and also defines the population used for comparisons. An advantage of construct validity is that the tools occupy a conceptual domain; it is entirely based on theory. The new construction methods use Item Response Theory (IRT). In this theory the test must measure an underlying construct, it should be uni-dimensional, but it does not specify what construct it is or what construct it must be (Schimidt et.al., 2000). Criterion-related validity states what is being measured to an external criterion. It can be assessed in two different ways, namely, concurrent validity and predictive validity. Concurrent validity can be checked by assessing the test- takers performance, at that particular time in the test as they undertake another assessment. It deals with current level of individuals performance. This assessment is based on the validity of both the test and verifies the validity of the criterion. For example Eyesenck Personality Test. Predictive validity emphasises on the future and assesses the person to reveal the connection between the initial result and the latter outcome, at two separate points. This is an important tool for identifying individuals suitable for promotion to senior roles. Reliability mainly refers to the stability of a method used to select individuals. There are many types of reliability out of which three are the most important one in relation to selection methods. First being Testee reliability that is the test should provide the same result overtime. Then comes Tester reliability, it states that if one individual is interviewed by two different people and they both have different opinions about him, that is if one is satisfied and the other is not. It can be concluded that the selection method is not reliable. Thirdly, Test reliability states that there should be consistency in the results. Interview being the most common method of selection which has been noticed above, but research shows that other methods are used in combination with it. The pre- selection method starts first with application forms, CVs and sometimes biographical data consisting of individuals experiences and achievements. It has been noticed that bio datas improve validity. Gathering CVs through internet also improves the early screening process. The other methods used in selection are Interviews it may be structured or unstructured interviews, psychological tests which includes cognitive tests, personality tests, assessment centres which includes interviews, psychometric tests, stimulation of actual work tasks in order to observe job-related behaviours (Cooper and Robertson, 1995). Conclusion Smith (1994) differentiated between three forms of individual characteristics that relate to job performance: universals which refers to characteristics relevant to all jobs; occupational which refers to characteristics preferable to a particular job or occupation; and lastly relationals it refers to characteristics relevant in a particular work setting. This structure suggests that it is necessary to match characteristics of individuals with the characteristics of the particular work setting. Research has shown that people who fit in the work setting are more committed and satisfied compared to people who do not fit. (OReilly et al.1991). Thus recruitment and selection process is of utmost importance. Organisations have now got the ability to construct appropriate models for recruitment and selection by using reliable and valid techniques. Recruitment and selection are the first stage of interaction between organisations and applicants, which forms the employment relationship. (Brat ton and Gold,1999,p.207). Recruitment and selection are a part of the broader process of socialisation. Selectors should be aware of how well particular methods predict future performance (their validity) and of different methods cost, accuracy of tests. Growing awareness of the potential contribution of HR practices to business strategy (Guest and King, 2004) may increase organisational receptiveness to HR involvement (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that both the methods of recruitment, internal and external are important for the functioning of the organisation and also depends upon the size of the organisation. From the above argument we get a clear picture that managers should be very strategic. They should look at the validity and reliability of every method of selection. For example: we cannot use only CVs to recruit a middle manager. REFERENCES: Bach, S. (2008) Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition. 4th edition. Blackwell Publishing, UK Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2008) Strategy and Human Resource Management. 2nd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (1999) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 2nd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2003) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 3rd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2007) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 4th edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Callaghan, G. and Thompson, P. (2002) We recruit attitude: The selection and shaping of routine call centre labour, Journal of Management Studies: 39(2): 233-254 Kersley, B., Alpin, C., Forth, J., Bryson, A., Bewley, H., Dix, D., Oxenbridge, S. (2007) Inside the workplace: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Oxon: Routledge Millmore, M. (2003) Just how extensive is the practice of strategic recruitment and selection, Irish Journal of Management, 24(1): 87-108 Morrell, K., Loan-Clarke, J. and Wilkinson, A. (2001) Unweaving Leaving: the use of models in the management of employee turnover, International Journal of Management Reviews, 3(3): 5-22 Nolan, P. (1992) Securing human resources: Employer strategies and the labour market, in E. Thorne (ed.) The Challenge of the Economic Environment, Open University Press Ordanini, A. and Silvestri, G. (2008) Recruitment and selection services: efficiency and competitive reasons in the outsourcing of HR practices, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19,2, pp 372-391 Ramsay, H. and Scholarios, D. (1999) Selective decisions: Challenging orthodox analyses of the hiring process, International Journal of Management Reviews, 1(4): 63-89 Searle, R. (2003) Selection and Recruitment A critical text, Milton Keynes: The Open University 1st edition: Palgrave Macmillan: UK Smith, C., Daskalaki, M, Elger, T. and Brown, D. (2004) Labour turnover and management retention strategies in new manufacturing plants, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(2): 371-396 Storey, J. (2007) Human Resource Management a critical text. 3rd edition. Thomson Learning, London Taylor, S. (2005) People Resourcing. 3rd edition CIPD, London Torrington, D., Hall, L., and Taylor S. (2002) Human Resource Management. 5th edition. FT Prentice Hall, England Wolf, A. and Jenkins, A. (2006) Explaining greater test use for selection: the role of HR professionals in a world of expanding regulation, Human Resource Management Journal, 16(2): 193-213

An Investigation and a Report into the Customer Services at Sainsburys :: Business and Management Studies: Case Studies

An Investigation and a Report into the Customer Services at Sainsburys Introduction For my business report on customer service I have chosen to investigate Sainsburys. Sainsburys is a leading UK and US food retailer; although Sainsbury's main business activity consists of food sales they also have interests in financial and property markets. The Sainsbury's group consists of Sainsburys supermarkets and bank in the UK and Shaws supermarkets in the US and employ a total of 172,900 people throughout their company. What is Customer service? Customer service is very important to every company and keeping customers satisfied can lead to a big increase in profit. A survey carried out by NOP showed that reducing customer defections can raise profits by 25-85% and in 73% of cases the organisation in question made no attempt to persuade dissatisfied customers to stay with their company, despite 35% of them saying a simple apology would prevent them from moving to their competitors. Another survey carried out by HENL showed that a 1% cut in customer service problems could generate a 16 million pound profit for a medium sized business over 5 years. This shows that customer satisfaction can actually generate money. Another example of the benefits of keeping current customers satisfied are the surveys produced by TARP and PriceWaterhouseCooper. This TARP survey showed that 68% of customer defection takes place because the customer feels that they have been poorly treated and that it can cost up to five times more to buy new customers than to retain existing ones. Customer satisfaction not only benefits sales of goods and services but can also lead to bills being paid earlier by the customer. PriceWaterhouseCooper and the university of Bradfordsurveyed 3000 businessmen and the results show that if there was high customer satisfaction then bills were paid up to 14 days earlier than where there was poor customer satisfaction. All of this evidence shows that customer service is an integral part of a successful company. The importance of customer service to Sainsburys is reflected in their mission statement: 'Our mission is to be the customers first choice for food, delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost through working faster, simpler and together'. Types of customers There are many different types of customer and they fall mainly into two categories; external and internal. Â · External customers These are people who visit the store to buy their products or services and they all have different needs to be catered for. They are people such as the. Children (families)- Their need is equipment to be designed with their children's safety in mind. There will be a lot of families visiting Sainsburys to purchase

Capital Punishment Essay - We Need the Death Penalty :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

We Need the Death Penalty For the past several years Americans have regularly listed crime and violence as the number - one problem facing the nation, far surpassing worries over the economy or health care. Despite the many government and community initiatives launched during recent years to reduce crime, most Americans see no improvement. In a 1993 survey asking respondents if they felt crime was increasing or decreasing in their areas, only 5 % felt that it was decreasing, a full 93 % felt that crime was either increasing or staying the same. And it is not just statistics: I consider myself along with those 93 %. Because while Guiliani administration is talking about crime rates in the New York City going down, all I see and hear in the media are reports about horrible crimes committed by New Yorkers. As George Pettinico states in his article " Crime and punishment: America changes it's mind ": The media's extensive coverage of crime, especially the most brutal and horrific cases have heightened the public's fear and anger over this issue to a near frenzy. When asked in January of this year, " How often do you see reports of violent crime on television ? " 68 % replied " almost every day ". Although the media have played an important role in raising the public's awareness of lawlessness, crime in America is far from a media - created phenomenon. Government statistics support the image of a nation which has overwhelmingly lost the war against crime. For instance, in 1960 there were 161 reported violent crimes per 100,000 people By 1992, the figure had jumped to 758 per 100,000 -- a rise of over 350 %. More and more people today are starting to think that something is terribly wrong when a modern, civilized nation must confront statistics like these. The American public is demanding an end to this violence, and surveys show that they believe swift and harsh punishment is the most appropriate and effective means to these ends. The death penalty, or as it is sometimes being called " capital punishment " is the hardest punishment that could be received when a person is convicted of a capital offense. Until recently it did not exist in New York State but after new governor, George Pataki was elected he managed to bring it back. Since September 1, 1994 the death penalty law was in effect. And even though, as far as I know, there is no strong statistical evidence that the death penalty lowers the murder rate, many people were very happy