Category: Business 11471

The History of the Container for the Transportation of Goods

The inventor of the container and the father of containerization is the American Malcolm McLean. It is considered that he was watching workers unloading the car; they were picking up sacks of cotton and carrying on the board of the vessel. It was a very time-consuming and grievously slow process. The truck driver and owner of a small transport company, McLean, had an idea of carrying all at once from the truck. However, the gap between the idea and the realization was of nineteen years.

The beginning of containerization was originated by Malcolm McLean. McLean proposed an integrated solution; he invented not only the container but the container ship and container platform, but his most significant innovation was the creation of the working model of the container transportation (Ham & Rijsenbrij, 2012). To the time when McLean started the implementation of these inventions, his transportation company had 37 terminals. In addition, he purchased the shipping company Pan-Atlantic Steamship for $7 million (Ham & Rijsenbrij, 2012).

McLean designed the steel container, which one may compactly place on the ship. Also, he converted a former oil tanker Ideal X to a container ship and has developed the port facility for land transportation. Malcolm McLean overcame numerous bureaucratic obstacles and offered his services of the container carriage. Under the terms of the contract with the Military Sea Transportation Service of the USA, company SeaLand pledged to deliver the containers directly to the place of deployment of military units during the Vietnam War. Monthly SeaLand was sending 1200 containers to Vietnam.

Finally, less than 15 years of its existence, SeaLand has become the leading transportation and shipping company in the world; it had 27 thousands of containers, 36 container ships, and representations in more than 30 leading ports of the world (Ham & Rijsenbrij, 2012). The globalization of the world economy has become another powerful stimulation in the development of container transportation. In 1969, SeaLand was sold for 530 million dollars of R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., and in 1999, it was purchased by the Danish giant Maersk. The new company was named Maersk Sealand, later changed to Maersk Line (Ham & Rijsenbrij, 2012).

The Advantages and Disadvantages of the Containerization

The containerization is advantageous for a number of reasons:

• It preserves cargo;
• There is no need to reload the goods while changing the carriers;
• It requires fewer expenses for the package of products;
• It accelerates the process of loading and unloading operations;
• It reduces the terms of delivery of cargoes;
• It simplifies the process of cargo delivery to the consignees warehouse;
• It simplifies and unifies transport documentation and forwarding operations;
• It provides more opportunities for the computerization of the management of the delivery process.

The main drawback of containerization is the necessity of the restoration of empty containers that have failed to take a return cargo. On average, they account for 15% of the total number of containers carried by the vessel. Obviously, it causes additional expenses. However, the advantages far exceed the disadvantages, and it is the main reason for the triumph of the containerization.

The Future of the Containerization

Today, more than 90 % of the worlds general cargo is carried in containers (Ham & Rijsenbrij, 2012). In recent decades, container transportation has gained a reputation as the most secure and convenient method of goods delivery in various fields. Transportation of transit cargoes in containers is one of the most promising trends in the global economy, trade, and transport industry. It is the most technologically advanced method of transportation, and it has a great future.

The dynamics of transportation of cargoes by sea transport is one more confirmation of this fact. The long-term outlook for the container shipping industry remains generally positive, taking into account the continuing increase in the level of containerization in trade.

Reference

Ham, H., & Rijsenbrij, J. (2012). Development of Containerization. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Introduction

A logistics manager oversees the supply of goods and services. One needs to perform his duties well to avoid the dissatisfaction of the clients. As a result, a logistics manager needs to be very careful especially when dealing with online fraudsters. Thus, some of the issues that a logistic manager has to put in mind when transporting freight from, Asia and Europe to the United States of America include the following:

Movement of product

One of the factors that a logistic manager should consider is the movement of freight. He should make sure that the means of transportation fits the freight, whereby the goods should not be damaged during freight. For example, for heavy freight like coal being transported from China to the United States of America, the best means of transportation is shipping. This is because this freight is heavy and can not, therefore, be transported by air or road. Furthermore, the movement of the freight should not be hindered by anything. The movement of the freight therefore should be appropriate; moreover, the goods must reach the destination in time. A well-structured strategy should be put in place before moving the goods. Most importantly, the logistic manager must ensure all the paperwork needed is in place.

Movement of information

The logistic manager will also need to consider the movement of information. Communication is an essential aspect of freight transportation as it determines whether the goods reach their destination on time or they arrive late. Proper Communication will facilitate coordination of the supply channel a fact that will ensure the freight does not get difficulties during transportation. Some of the issues that will be taken care of include the communication with the recipient informing them of the date the freight will arrive, by which means, and lastly the type of goods being transported. It is essential to communicate with all the parties involved from origin to destination. Furthermore, frequent communication should be maintained until the goods reach their destination.

Time

Time is a crucial factor in the transportation of goods as it will determine if the service was a success or not. As evident, the United States, Asia, and Europe are in different time zones; thus it is essential to ensure coordination of the movement is in line with the specific time zones. For example, a logistic manager should ensure freight from Germany to the United States of America is well-coordinated from its origin to destination with consideration to the different time zones of the two countries. It is thus essential that the goods arrive on time and at the correct destination. In case the freight contains perishable goods, it is essential for the logistic manager to ensure the goods arrive at the scheduled time (Ferine & Sparks, 2009).

Cost

Cost of transportation is a vital issue that determines the success or failure of the transportation system. A logistic manager must make sure the mode of transport is affordable. As a matter of fact, if the transportation means are expensive, the client will suffer as he will be required to offset the high transportation cost. Thus, a good logistic manager must ensure the mode of transport being used is not very much expensive. If the freight is for economic value like stock for business, it is important for the logistics manager to consider a less expensive mode of transport so that the cost of goods does not go up immediately after the goods reach their destination.

Integration

The logistic manager should consider the integration within his own company, between himself and the client, and between himself and the recipient of the goods. This means that there should be proper and efficient working relationships between these individuals to ensure the freight gets to its destination on time and intact. The people concerned must be consulted more often so as to ensure they are aware of progress in the delivery of the goods (Ferine & Sparks, 2004).

Characteristics of online non-food distribution

Reduction of theft

One of the characteristics of non-food products purchased online is that it has reduced cases of theft. Whereby, the goods are not stolen during distribution as the goods are not physically present thus it is considered the best means of distribution. Reduction of theft results in online distribution enables the seller to attain high profits as the goods are not lost.

Ability to locate every product

The other characteristic is the ability to locate all the available products without necessarily walking into the market. It is evident that when the goods are accessed online, it is easier to get all the goods in one place, unlike market purchasing where products are distributed in many stalls. Once the product has been posted on the website the buyer can purchase it any time of the day (McCulloch, 2008).

Counterfeiting issues

It is essential to note that, the distribution of non-foods on the internet results in the counterfeiting of the product distribution system by criminals. There are possibilities that fraudsters will attempt to rob consumers online.

Security

The security issue is another characteristic of the online distribution of non-food products. This is because the credit card numbers and information can be hacked and an individuals identity be stolen. This will lead to identity theft as these details will be used to make more purchases online.

Privacy issues

Online distribution of products is considered safe as both buyer and seller observe privacy, unlike the open air distribution where both the buyers and sellers are exposed.

As a manager, it is essential to overcome the challenges imposed by this online distribution of non-food games. Concerning the problem of counterfeiting, I will ensure that the authorities are made aware of the vice and the public is advised to link with the legitimate product website. For the problem of security, I will also inform the authorities about the people pretending to be company agents only to steal from the consumers. In addition, I will employ the use of modern soft wares that do not allow for the hacking of clients credit card numbers. This is because when such incidents happen it is my due responsibility.

Conclusion

As evident, I believe for freight transportation to be efficient in its work, it must seek the services of a professional logistic manager. This is because he is the one that coordinates the programs involved in the management of the freight being transported. A logistic manager ensures the goods are transported safely. He is the center of all activities involving just start. With the current advancement in technology, it is essential for various logistic managers to embrace technology.

References

Ferine, J & Sparks, L. (2009). Logistics & Retail Management: Emerging Issues and New Challenges in the Retail Supply Chain. London: Kogan Page.

Ferine, J & Sparks, L. (2004). Logistics and retail management: insights into current practice and trends from leading experts. London: Kogan Page.

McCulloch, J. (2008). A dictionary, practical, theoretical, and historical, of commerce and commercial navigation: illustrated with maps and plans. London: Harvard University.

Introduction

The EcoLive company is a new business venture that seeks to operate in a food delivery sector across the United States. The company seeks to address the importance of eco-friendly food packaging and delivery from the perspective of recycling activities, as well as to meet elevating customer requirements for a quality food supply during coronavirus pandemics. EcoLive strives to become a local food supply leader that seeks for minimum harm for environment while fully satisfying the needs of end consumers. Following the above statement, EcoLive seeks for using innovative technologies that reduce environmental impact on food and drinks delivery, while remaining loyal to the customer preferences.

Analysis of Secondary Sources

Recent studies related to environmental protection in food delivery business have been investigated to support the idea of new business venturing. For instance, Swain et al. (2018) argued that the reduction of meat consumption in global diets reduces the environmental footprint in food production globally. For EcoLive, it means that product supply chain should be primarily focused on consumption of organic food that reduces health risks of the passive lifestyle during pandemics and isolation. Research and Markets (2020) published an article, where they articulate the importance of social distancing while delivering food to isolated individuals while the number of delivery requests progressively increases. EcoLive should consider this aspect for the momentum of trust when approaching end customer, who might be either infected or self-isolated during pandemics. Finally, Nakat and Bou-Mitri (2020) provided a ready-for-publishing opinion on the importance of using special assessment tools that evaluate food industry readiness to sustain pandemics constraints. For EcoLive, the application of such or similar assessment tools will improve the preparedness to the consecutive ways of pandemics while remaining sustainable in its environmental practices.

It is anticipated that business prospectus preparation will require additional qualitative inquiry to ensure that secondary data is validated. Since coronavirus pandemics worldwide is on a rise, short phone interviews with other food suppliers might be relevant to construct a complete picture of environmental and customer-centric risks. However, this effort will be limited to three to five known agents working in food supply companies because of time restrictions. Furthermore, additional data will be collected through ourworldindata.org for investment opportunities, statista.com for a general market research, and SpyFu for competitor activity monitoring. Therefore, final decision will be mostly based on secondary research, while also mediated based on primary response analysis.

Work Plan

The purpose of business prospectus is to attract attention of potential investors and contributors interested in environmentally oriented, crisis-focused, and proactive initiative of EcoLive in delivering quality food to end customers during the crisis times. Anticipating the importance of planning, Table 1 summarizes the preliminary schedule of the project tasks.

Table 1: Preliminary schedule

References

Nakat, Z., & Bou-Mitri, C. (2020). COVID-19 and the food industry: Readiness assessment. Food Control, 121, 107661. Web.

Research and Markets (2020). Demand for food delivery explodes during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers self-isolate and restaurants close down. PR Newswire. Web.

Swain, M., Blomqvist, L., McNamara, J., & Ripple, W. J. (2018). Reducing the environmental impact of global diets. Science of the Total Environment, 610-611, 1207-1209. Web.

Current Situation Facing U.S. Stroller

Although the baby stroller market might not seem very aggressive in terms of competition and customers demands, the U.S. Stroller organization has been applying great efforts to retain its top position in the designated area (the U.S. baby care market, 2016). The manufacturing process is currently the source of the firms primary concerns. U.S. Stroller has been using the MRP approach for years, which could be deemed as rather reasonable in the context of the global economy. However, the approach seems to have worn out its welcome over the past few years (Schroeder, Goldstein, & Rungtusanatham, 2013).

With its innovative decisions, the U.S. stroller has the potential to be one of the leading organizations in the area. However, the choice that the entrepreneurship has to make will define its further position in the market, making it comply with the related strategy. Each of the systems suggested has its advantages and disadvantages, which makes the decision even more complicated. More importantly, the systems suggested seem very similar to each other. As a result, the decision-making process may become quite convoluted. Although each of the options that the firm has to choose from seems adequate, the combination of both needs to be viewed as the tool that will lead it to sustainability.

Options Available: Pros and Cons

Analyzing the existing options, one should pay special attention to the Just-in-Time (JIT) approach and the cellular management strategy. Although seemingly helping incur a smaller amount of costs, they still trigger vast expenses. For instance, JIT allows for a significant reduction in the waiting time during the communication between the company and its suppliers (Schroeder et al., 2013). However, it also presupposes numerous costs spent on the equipment and the transfer process, in general. Moreover, the training that the staff will have to undergo will demand sufficient financial support, thus, devastating the organization financially.

Seeing that cell manufacturing (CM) is an isolated case of the JIT approach, it is reasonable to assume that it invites the same opportunities and problems as the above strategy. While admittedly promoting the adoption of the lean manufacturing approach (Schroeder et al., 2013) and, therefore, encouraging the firm to accept a sustainable approach to the use of resources, it also requires more expensive equipment and consistent staff training, as well as takes its toll on the companys flexibility. Although the incorporation of lean manufacturing is a positive change to the entrepreneurships production design at present, the following expenditures will nullify the positive effect made.

Possible Impacts on the MRP System

The incorporation of the above strategies into the companys design will make the MRP system virtually unnecessary. Particularly, the pull system will replace the MRP in its current position (Schroeder et al., 2013). Instead, the MRP strategy will be applied to address major issues such as the redesign of the brand image, etc. (Akdeniz, 2015). It would be quite a stretch to claim that the adoption of the two strategies mentioned above will outs the MRP tool from the firms operational design. Instead, the promotion of JIT and CM will help take some pressure off of the MRP system (Schroeder et al., 2013).

Recommended Options

In the context of the current situation that the entrepreneurship is facing, recommending a single option would mean restricting the opportunities that the firm is facing currently. Instead, one should consider both options closer. Since CM is the extension of the JIT strategy, one should apply the JIT system first so that the entrepreneurship could adjust to the changing environment of its operations. As soon as the company develops the approach that will help it responsibly allocate the available resources, the integration of the CM tool should be carried out. Thus, sustainability can be promoted in the company (Schroeder et al., 2013).

Reference List

Akdeniz, C. (2015). Lean project management explained. Bad Bodendorf: First Publishing.

Schroeder, R., Goldstein, J. R., & Rungtusanatham, S. (2013). Lean thinking and lean systems. In Operations management in the supply chain: decisions and cases. (6th ed.) (pp. 134-161). New York, NY: Richard D. Irwin.

U.S. baby care market. (2016). Web.

Introduction

The importance of green logistics as a new scientific direction in supply chain technologies has recently acquired significant interest among academic researchers. The core aspects covered by the aforementioned inquiry include the use of cost- and resource-saving technologies that are equally important to supply chain optimization and environmental security. Furthermore, researchers explore whether the opportunity to deploy green logistics principles could be consolidated with supplier activities to ensure that all of them meet environmental standards. However, the investigation efforts remain unsolved because of emerging issues with government restrictions, supplier opinions, and unpredicted reactions of end customers. Based on the above, recent literature has been analyzed in terms of relevant findings and recommendations pertinent to the role of green logistics in supply chains. Specifically, the focus was made on the aspects of cross-organizational management, such as work with suppliers, customization, governmental procedures in developed or developing countries, and technical approaches required to manage the problem.

Literature Review

The importance of green logistics and sustainability reporting has been recently explored by Karaman and his colleagues. Specifically, the authors used a signaling theory as a framework to investigate whether the green logistics performance is positively associated with sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles. The analysis was based on 117 countries through the period between 2007 and 2016. Overall, Karaman et al. (2020) suggested that there is any evidence of green logistics to be positively associated with the number of sustainability reports in a chosen sector. Validation was performed using the following tools and techniques. First, the authors implemented a survey that was based on six logistics performance indicators and a cumulative variable known as a logistics performance index (LPI). Second, the moderation analysis was performed to specify that deployment of green logistics is negatively affected by weak or uncertain activities of the organizational board of directors, as well as insufficient corporate governance. Based on the above, the study findings appear to be relevant to the developing countries that were reported as low-scorers in terms of LPI methodology.

Another scientific inquiry devoted to green logistics practices was made by Jazairy (2020), who explored how logistics buyers and service providers percept green sustainability concerns under the condition of diverse contractual settings. Stemming from the principles of contract negotiations, Jazairy (2020) specified that cross-organizational alignment on going green in terms of sustainable contracts emerges through the phases of requesting a proposal, formal negotiations, contract approval, and execution. Additionally, Jazairy (2020) found that green demands may hinder green logistics applications due to impediments to LSPs asset-sharing strategies (p. 1), which were found as contradictory to organizational principles of building a supply chain with trusted suppliers. Furthermore, the author concluded that there is a risk of a deadlock during the negotiation phase, where additional requirements for establishing green practices are rejected by either supplier or hosting organization. Finally, the researcher reflects on the problem of the interest mismatch during the contractual period, when service outsourcing that conforms to CSR practices is a lesser concern for shippers. Overall, it suggests that green practices could be obscured by the contractual obligations and relationships with suppliers since organizational practices are not aligned and require further harmonization.

Current research on green logistics also considers the importance of seeing one as a contributive factor to economic development. Seroka-Stolka and Ociepa-Kubicka (2019) suggested that green logistics has a significant impact on the circular economy, which relates to the realization of a closed loop of material flows in the economic system (p. 1). To be precise, the authors specified the need for creating values while keeping in mind the importance of minimizing the use of natural resources and related practices that allow creating a holistic system that benefits end customers. Furthermore, Seroka-Stolka and Ociepa-Kubicka (2019) proposed several concepts, such as cradle to cradle (C2C), cleaner manufacturing, industrial ecology, and customized practices of reducing, reusing, recycling, and repairing raw materials. These concepts were defined as essential to sustainable development in the circular economy, where the flow of materials, products, and services is frequent and requires regular control. Partially, it relates to the previous findings on the asset-shaping strategies mentioned by Jazairy (2020), since circular economies require more robust control over the implementation of green practices. However, the aforementioned findings require further validation for the developed world, given that the western type of building green supply chains is more advanced.

Practical implementation of green logistics requires a more thorough investigation in terms of industrial activities performed by the chosen organization. Twrdy and Zanne (2020) reflected on this concept through the example of ports as a critical link in the logistic supply chain and the overall importance to international business development. The focus was made on the European economy that handles more than 30% of the seaborne trade worldwide, additionally considering that littoral areas are actively visited by tourists during the summertime (Twrdy & Zanne, 2020). Practically, it means that ports are required to have clear and transparent strategies in their efforts to provide service comfort for arriving passengers. Alternatively, Twrdy and Zanne (2020) articulate that it is important to manage environmental restrictions applied to the coastal area, where board shipping and commercial deliveries are managed. Therefore, green logistics in this case assumes separating commercial activities from transportation activities, suggesting a potential negative footprint of having the same structure of boarding tourists and loading ships.

To address the aforementioned concerns, Zabrakhshnia et al. (2019) suggested considering both forward and reverse green logistics models that will satisfy business needs. Specifically, it was found that the epsilon-constraint method is sufficient to solve the model based on the initial inputs collected from the raw data. The mixed linear programming approach was used to minimize the cost of project operations, associated costs, and expenses, as well as transportation costs to ensure that the green network is stable and sufficient. The home appliance industry has been chosen as a point of verification to ensure that the epsilon-constraint method is valid, while also considering the principles of Pareto and sensitivity analysis. To summarize, the method appeared to be effective for the chosen industry, while the scope of its application is yet to be validated for the other industries that seek for implementation of green logistics.

While the findings from the literature are not consistent, several common patterns allow distinguishing current green supply chain practices on an organizational level. Specifically, it was admitted that the promotion of green logistics principles should be based on rules and practices consolidated in a congruent framework rather than a case-specific application (Jazairy, 2020; Twrdy & Zanne 2020). Additionally, researchers emphasized the importance of managing suppliers to achieve green sustainability recognition by the customers, since the focus on green logistics rules internally does not guarantee that the whole supply chain follows them (Seroka-Stolka & Ociepa-Kubicka, 2019). Furthermore, it was admitted that computerized methods for the evaluation of green logistics effectiveness should be used to ensure the trustworthiness of the proposed models of interaction with customers and suppliers (Zabrakshnia et al., 2019). Finally, the important finding relates to the need of having formal negotiations and making critical decisions before establishing green practices that affect the whole supply chain, as well as consolidating technical skills required to address the problem of consistent supplier management (Jazairy, 2020). Overall, it means that green logistics is a complex, multimodal concept that requires further exploration and application tailored to uncertainty in organizations.

Conclusion

Several perspectives on the green logistics principles were explored as a part of scientific research inquiry. First, it was found that green logistics should be considered as a mediating factor towards sustainability reporting, where the importance of data analysis related to environmental contribution is critical. Second, it was identified that managing suppliers are essential to ensure collaborative practices in supply chain development, where the roles and responsibilities are negotiated. Third, it was empirically confirmed that green logistics practices contribute towards economic development, while this statement remains controversial in terms of the developed or developing world. Fourth, it was found that green logistics principles are important in customer management, whereas it is important to consider both tourism and commercial operations to meet sustainability principles. Finally, literature analysis suggests that organizations should follow both forward and reverse logistics principles to ensure that green supply chains are efficiently controlled by the government and authorized companies.

References

Jazairy, A. (2020). Aligning the purchase of green logistics practices between shippers and logistics service providers. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 82, e102305. Web.

Karaman, A.S., Kilic, M., Y Uyar, A. (2020). Green logistics performance and sustainability reporting practices of the logistics sector: The moderating effect of corporate governance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, e120718. Web.

Seroka-Stolka, O., & Ocieka-Kubicka, A. (2019). Green logistics and circular economy. Transportation Research Procedia, 39, 471-479. Web.

Twrdy. E., & Zanne, M. (2020). Improvement of the sustainability of ports logistics by the development of innovative green infrastructure solutions. Transportation Research Procedia, 45, 539-546. Web.

Zabrakhshnia, N., Soleimani, H., Goh, M., & Razavi, S.S. (2019). A novel multi-objective model for green forward and reverse logistics network design. Journal of Cleaner Production, 208, 1304-1316.

The importance of using appropriate human resource management techniques has always represented an important goal for companies worldwide. The significance of an appropriate HRM strategy has risen over the past few years due to the increase in the role of global governance and the promotion for diversity in the workplace. Therefore, an environment where employees will feel welcome and appreciated should be placed at the top of companies lists when it comes to prioritizing tasks. When brainstorming the idea of applying for a job, I would mention the range of skills that I possessed as an employee in connection to the potential increase in the output and a drop in the number of errors produced. Thus, the idea of hiring me as an assistant would be regarded as the step toward managing further issues in the organizational environment.

In order to be seen as a valuable candidate and a potential employee in the target company, I will have to outline my assets as they pertain to the goals and values of the company. In addition, to be regarded as a valuable future member of the organization, I will need to appeal to the values and corporate philosophy of the target environment (van Zyl et al. 4). Thus, I will be able to prove my loyalty to the company and the opportunities that I will offer to it. As long as an organization is willing to focus on talent management and is interested in the promotion of its staffs professional growth, it is likely to respond to the specified application. The resulting collaboration will lead to yeas of shared experiences and professional learning, which will be beneficial to all participants involved.

Work Cited

van Zyl, Ebben S., et al. The Development of a Talent Management Framework for the Private Sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 15, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-19.

Introduction

Organizations often determine their intended objectives and goals before establishing their specific course of action to help them accentuate and realize their goals. However, the most appropriate course of action can only be verified after a thorough analysis of the industrys characteristics to determine the forces that influence its interplay. Although organizations have the power to influence internal aspects that afflict their operations, they have little influence on the external business environment that forms the industrys characteristics. Such external environmental factors include barriers to entry of new business firms or players, the buying power of the customers, the threat of substitutes that buyers can rely on, as well as the industry suppliers bargaining power and the overall intensity of competition within the industry. These aspects are so powerful that they may derail an organizations resolve to achieve its objectives and goals. Thus, analysis of the characteristics helps in determining the exact plans and strategies that the organization may employ. This paper seeks to analyze, through the help of relevant strategic management theories, the effectiveness of any business organization undertaking an analysis of the industry characteristics in its strategic management process.

PESTLE Theory

The PESTLE analysis involves investigations of the industrys environment on six most important fronts, including political, economic, and social aspects whose forces have a bearing on the actual performance of an organization (PESTLE Analysis, 2013). Additionally, it entails analyzing the technological, legal, and environmental aspects that also determine the probability of an organization achieving success in its operations (PESTLE Analysis, 2013).

Political aspects

All industries at least exist within a political framework. Even the global industry does not remain uniform concerning individual countries and their existing political frameworks, which form unique guidelines and specifications that are most likely to interfere with business performance. The political aspect refers to the government organization and its enacted policies that establish how businesses operating within their area of jurisdiction can operate (Ekpenyong & Umoren, 2010, p. 28).

A business organisation must analyze the components of the political aspect. These include tariffs, trade control, government stability, bureaucracy, and corruption level among many others to understand on how to institute its specific course of actions (Ekpenyong & Umoren, 2010, p. 30). Higher tariffs may mean that firms operating within the industry have set relatively higher prices to cater for high operation costs. In essence, strategic management in this scenario would call for the firm to seek for ways of achieving low costs in order to attract more buyers, including acquiring supplies in large quantities so that it may benefit from economies of scale advantages (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010, p. 23).

On the other hand, excessive trade control measures by the government may mean that the industry is not lucrative because the players lack ample room to compete against each other. The profits may be low overly, meaning that the firms may not see the need to focus on improving their individual quality performance because it may turn out to be quite expensive (Cullen & Parboteeah, 2010, p. 23). However, such a characteristic of the political environment may be critical in establishing a management strategy that focuses on improving the quality performance levels of the firm so that it may attract more consumers. Although the industry may be less competitive, attracting more buyers will enhance the profit margins and help in driving the competitors out of business because they will lack the necessary financial muscle (Guislain, 2003, p. 65).

Economic aspects

The economic aspects often are unique to a country or a particular region. These aspects are described in terms of inflation rates, unemployment trends, labor costs, growth rates, trade flows, and patterns, as well as fiscal policies and price fluctuations among other features (Galeotti, 2007, p. 429). An analysis of a specific industrys characteristic that determines a generally higher labor cost will most definitely imply that the firms use a huge amount of their revenues in paying wages and salaries. Thus, for such a firm to remain operational and support the high costs of labor, it will be required to raise its prices to create an equally bigger revenue base. An alternative strategy for a firm seeking to, or already operating within the industry would be to hire a smaller number of workers such that it may control its overall expenses. However, other strategies, such as targeting a reduction of the inventory costs and integrating internal operations with those of the suppliers and distributors may help in containing the escalating costs of operations. As a result, the firm would still benefit from its initiated competitive advantage and perform according to its profit maximization objectives.

Higher inflation rates within an industry may imply that the firm may still have to tackle the challenge of higher prices in order to optimize its profits. The appropriate strategy may call for the firm to contain its overall cost of operations so that it may create a healthy revenue base (Galeotti, 2007, p. 430). This may also be transformed into higher profits for the organization. Thus, from the analysis and realization of the specific characteristics that determine the industry or operation, a firm can understand clearly what challenges lie ahead and use the information gathered to draw up a responsive strategy that would enable it to register its anticipated results.

Social aspect

The success of a given firms performance in business depends heavily on the social construct of the surrounding environment (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 81). The individual characteristics of a social aspect that influence business operations include the educational level, health consciousness, emphasis on safety, buying habits, general lifestyles, and religious beliefs among other factors. An organizations business mission and objective must inculcate these important factors if at all it anticipates registering success in a given environment. For instance, a society with very low education levels may not necessarily appreciate the need for higher quality products or services (Auzair, 2011, p. 237). A majority of the buyers in such a community would rather acquire cheaper products that are manufactured with inferior quality than spend more on high-quality products. Such knowledge would call on the management to devise strategies that focus on segmenting the market according to the population compositions of the educated and illiterate to manufacture quality and inferior products in respective quantities. While the firm would be serving both classes of consumers that make up the market, it would also be concentrating on maximizing its profits by availing products or services that best suit the classes (Auzair, 2011, p. 237).

Religious beliefs are incorporated within a firms products or services because they drive the specific choices that buyers make. Among the Muslim society, for instance, women are required to observe conservative behaviors and practices in the manner they dress, such that they are not expected to wear any revealing dresses (Altinay & Wang, 2011, p. 675). However, the same cannot be said of Christian believers, whose teachings may not be too harsh on the way people choose to dress. A design firm that deals in clothes, therefore, would be forced to produce long women dresses if it operated in a predominantly Muslim market (Altinay & Wang, 2011, p. 677). In contrast, the same firm or marketer would find it more appealing to design short and revealing dresses if it operated in a market that was predominantly less conservative in its religious beliefs and teachings, such as Christianity setting. Ignoring such an important social aspect would result in losses for the marketer, thereby weakening the much-needed competitive edge.

Technological aspect

Technology currently acts as one of the most integral requirements for organizations and companies with a high capability of enhancing business performance (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 83). The technological environment involves factors like basic infrastructure level, technology incentives, the total spending required for research and development, the general internet infrastructure penetration, and access to the latest technology. Although technology is critical in supporting the performance of a business, great care must also be taken when acquiring it because it is expensive and widely varied (Tapp & Hughes, 2004, p. 284). A particular technological innovation may not necessarily be what an organization requires at that particular time, meaning that scrutiny is required before deciding to buy. A country with relatively poor developed technological infrastructure is expensive to operate in because it would force an organization to spend much of its resources in trying to establish the necessary basic framework.

The firm would, therefore, need to establish alternative strategies that would enable it to enjoy the benefits of technology, while at the same time maintaining its operational costs as low as possible in order to continue attaining competitive advantage (Tapp & Hughes, 2004, p. 285). Other competitors in the same industry could be located in environments where they enjoy good technological infrastructure, thus making it difficult to compete with them. The firm may opt to work collaboratively with a technological firm to enable it to enjoy the technological advantages that lack within the country. Such a strategy may be too expensive for the company, but the collaboration may see the two firms enter into an agreement that would allow payment of services and products delivered done over a stretched out period.

The idea is to analyze the technological environment and determine the basic requirements that may be missing, but which the organization may hardly do without in executing its operations (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 85). The basis of identifying the basic requirements should be to enable the company to achieve greater operational advantage over its competitors in the same industry and acquire the same without immediately transferring the related costs to buyers. The firm would eventually achieve efficiency in its performance, making its operations lean compared to those of the competitors. This would make the firm achieve a competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is critical since it may force competitors out of business, particularly if they are unable to acquire a similar technology (Tapp & Hughes, 2004, p. 285).

Legal aspects

The legal force is another important industry characteristic since it constitutes the rules and regulations that generally define how the industry players operate and act. Several factors make up the legal force, including regulations on employment, data protection, health and safety of the workers, copyright and patents, anti-trust law, and discrimination laws. The firm has to adhere to these requirements if at all it expects to be allowed to conduct its operations within any jurisdiction (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 83). The objective and mission of the firm, therefore, will have to be fashioned in such a way that they may allow the firm the opportunity to continue with its operations within the acceptable legal limits.

An extensive health and safety regulation requirement would force a firm to utilize more of its resources in ensuring that it implements the requirement. Workers will require extensive training on health and safety. This will, consequently, require the firm to meet the costs of the activity (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 84). Supervisors and managers will also require periodic trainings and refresher courses to ensure the teams of workers operating under their command are always safe. Failure to meet these standards may mean that the firms operating license may be withdrawn altogether, or the company required to pay high fines to the authorities.

The firm may take the responsibility of devising a precise strategy that ensures comprehensive efforts are directed toward achieving efficient health and safety standards (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 83). Although at the initial stages the program would require heavy spending, the strategy would eventually pay off because fewer funds would be expended in trying to address the same aspect repeatedly. Instead, the saved resources could be used in other important areas, thereby allowing the firm to maximize its operations overly.

Environmental/ecological aspects

The general environment has a bearing on the performance and operations of a firm. Environmental aspects involve factors like weather, climate changes, recycling of materials, management of waste materials, as well as pollution of water and air and regulatory requirements on pollution of the environment. Any industry relies on the makeup of the environment. It is, therefore, critical that a firm undertakes an extensive study of the environmental factors before establishing operational strategies (Kew & Stredwick, 2005, p. 85).

A regulatory requirement in a country that requires firms to recycle their waste materials will call upon the firms management to consider investing in the area. This means may mean the firm acquiring incinerators and employing employees with skills and knowledge on environmental management (Guislain, 2003, p. 67). Such a move is complex as it interferes with the organizations focus on achieving its prime objective in business. It may also be too expensive for the firm, thereby affecting its revenue and profit magnitudes in the long run (Guislain, 2003, p. 70). However, the management may still devise an alternative strategy even in the face of such challenging circumstances by seeking to outsource the services of a special company that mainly focuses on environmental issues. This may reduce the costs that the firm would have otherwise expended if it had focused on managing its environmental matters, while at the same time helping the firm achieve efficiency in its prime business.

The Resource-Based Theory

This theory considers a firms ability or inability to operate within the external environment based on the resources that it owns internally. In particular, this theory begins by carrying out a thorough internal analysis of the firm to classify individual resources (Montresor, 2004, p. 410). Once this happens, the firm would be able to appraise the resources in terms of their strengths and weaknesses based on what other industry competitors own or have control over. This also helps in the process of identifying opportunities such that the already scrutinized resources can be utilized in the best possible and optimal way (Montresor, 2004, p. 411).

Understanding the internal resources of the firm enables the management to have power over the decisions that would eventually be made concerning the strategy. Unlike in the PESTLE theory where the external industry characteristics are determined first, the resource-based theory takes a reverse approach that begins with the internal resources owned by the firm (Montresor, 2004, p. 412). However, the process still heavily takes into consideration the external industry characteristics. The results obtained are used to benchmark the strength and weaknesses of the internal resources. The main external factor that follows the internal resource analysis is the determination of the competitors strengths and weaknesses in terms of their resources.

Determining that a competing firm has a limited number of skilled workers, for instance, assures an organization of an obvious advantage that enhances its competitive edge over that of the other industry players. At this initial stage of strategic planning, therefore, the organization can maintain focus on the ways through which it may further augment its resource advantage that it enjoys over its competition (Foss & Klein, 2006, p. 39) even as it progresses with the other stages of devising the full-scale plan.

Capabilities

Identification of the firms capability follows after conducting an appraisal of the resources. At this stage, the firm is more concerned about the exact activities, operations, or projects that it may pursue. The resultant outcome surpasses what the rivals can do. This stage is still relevant in considering the characteristics of the industry because it specifically identifies resource inputs that are needed to enhance each of the identified capabilities. The capability phase focuses mainly on bridging the gap through outsourcing from external sources where the companys internal resources were noted to have weaknesses in the previous stage (Foss & Klein, 2006, p. 39).

Resources and capabilities form the integral source of strategy direction because the entire mission and objective of the firm rely on these two important factors. In formulating the mission statement of the organization, the question sought to be answered identifies what the business is (Foss & Klein, 2006, p. 39). The answer is defined by the exact market that the firm wishes to serve, including determining who the exact customers are and what their needs are. However, customers needs are volatile in any business situation. The firm, therefore, needs to thoroughly analyze the extent to which it may continue serving the changing needs. This calls for a comprehensive analysis of the industrys characteristics, including taking into consideration aspects like fashion and buying trends.

Competitive advantage

Nevertheless, keeping in touch with changing customer tastes and trends may not be achieved easily if at all the company cannot or fails to build a competitive advantage over its rivals. This objective is only achievable when the firm considers using its internal resources effectively concerning the external industry characteristics. Importantly, the competitive advantage of the firm results from appraising the potential of generating rent about the resources, as well as the capabilities that have already been identified.

The competitive advantage must be sustainable to provide the firm with a continuous advantage over its industry competitors and other aspiring new entrants. For instance, a company such as Apple Inc. operates in an industry that relies heavily on technological know-how. However, the company boasts of a highly skilled workforce. This assures Apple of a great competitive advantage over its other competitors in the industry. The external industry situation further enhances the companys strong market position given that there is a huge shortage of innovative expertise that can be employed by Apples competitors as a strategy of counteracting its force (Jinjin, 2013, p. 95). Firms in this industry can only reassure themselves of a highly competitive workforce by spending a huge part of their resources to internally enhance the skills of their personnel.

Thus, Apple Inc. is assured of a rich potential of competitive advantage because it sits on a higher-priced resource, that of highly trained and experienced workers that most of its competitors like Research In Motion (RIM) and Nokia have recently been lacking. This internal capability and resource contrast heavily with the industry characteristics. The industry is defined by a shortage of qualified personnel. The actualization of profit maximization for Apple, in this case, calls for a strategy that relies effectively on its internal capability and resource, which none of the industry players have similar command over (Jinjin, 2013, p. 98). Another important aspect of competitive advantage is the extent of the suitability of the returns. The internal resource, which is analyzed based on the external industry characteristic, must be of higher returns to enable the organization to gain from the competitive advantage.

Strategy

The eventual strategy of the firm is determined by alternatives that best exploit the resources and capabilities of the firm. The resources and capabilities within the firm are stronger about a comparison made to the external industry characteristics (Hurtado, 2010, p. 32). The objective of the strategy is to ensure that it draws optimum performance from its resources and capabilities that other industry players lack the advantage or ability to exploit.

Competitors and industry players are a crucial part of the industry characteristic. In this regard, understanding their capabilities enables the firm to strengthen itself in a way that disadvantage competitors. Analyzing the industry characteristics may not necessarily demand that the film begins with its internal characteristics and resources. Instead, an external analysis of the characteristics may be used to determine what other firms or competitors have in exact terms, including their resources and capabilities (Hurtado, 2010, p. 33). Once this is ascertained, the company can sit down and establish ways of building its internal capability and resource-base. The aim of doing this is to take full advantage of the industry situation.

In sustaining the business strategy, the firm also needs to identify its own resource gaps and conversely work toward filling them (Hurtado, 2010, p. 34). In the case of Apple Inc., although the firm enjoys superior capability over its rivals, it equally faces challenges within its resources that pose as a challenge to its operation. These challenges are what the firms management should work tirelessly to eliminate (Hurtado, 2010, p. 35). An example of such a resource challenge faced by the technology company is on microchips. The company heavily relies on microchips for all its handheld devices. This crucial resource is not wholly under the control of the company as it relies on supplier firms to provide the same (Hurtado, 2010, p. 35). Apple should invest its resources toward replenishing, upgrading, and augmenting this important resource base so that it can continuously create and sustain its competitive advantage over the rivals.

Conclusion

Strategic management is an important aspect of the performance of business for organizations and firms whose basis relies on analysis of industry characteristics. The PESTLE concept divides the industry characteristics into six major forces that a firm needs to analyze thoroughly before devising its strategy. The forces include political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental influences. In terms of politics, a firm needs to analyze aspects like tariffs, government stability, and corruption levels in a country or region to determine its strategy. Economic forces comprise of aspects like inflationary rates, interest rates, and growth rates. These factors have a direct influence on a companys revenue and its profit margins. Knowledge of this characteristic of the industry would enable a company to come up with supportive strategies that sustain it to achieve its mission and objective. The technological force comprises of infrastructure like internet availability and penetration. The resource-based theory, on its part, identifies the need for firms to analyze industry characteristics in the form of competitors resources and capabilities and make a comparison with the internal resource and capability of the firm. In all instances, the external characteristic of the industry must be analyzed such that the firm can use the resultant findings to establish a more superior strategy to accentuate its objective.

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Purpose of the article

The purpose of the article is to define the contributions of job satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, and dispositional effect on workers productivity and happiness. The article also focuses on the factors that influence employees motivation to work. All the constructs are tested and analyzed both theoretically and practically.

Theory Testing

To define how job satisfaction and job performance interact, the authors resort to such testing such theories as absenteeism, turnover, and tardiness. The theories have provided a theoretical justification for a relation between the identified concepts, but the happy and productive employees should be considered with regard to a number of factors. While investigating the relations between dispositional effect and job performance, specific emphasis should be placed on considering negative and positive affectivity. The former concerns disposition of such negative experiences as annoyance and distress whereas the latter refers to revealing such feelings as enthusiasm and joyfulness.

Negative and positive traits serve to be useful constructs for understanding the psychological context of the employed environment. Finally, to understand the relations between job performance and psychological well-being, social and psychological functioning should be examined. In this respect, psychological well-being can be regarded as a context-free construct that is connected with a specific situation but is viewed as an individual trait.

Hypothesis

With regard to the above-presented factors, the paper seeks to define how disposition effect, job situation, and psychological well-being influence job performance. Therefore, the invariable components are dispositional effect, psychological well-being, and job satisfaction whereas job performance is a variable component.

Results

The results of the research have approved the hypothesis that job performance directly relates to psychological well-being. A single factor of psychological well-being from one angle has turned out to be more predictive of job performance as compared to the dispositional effect. Moreover, the results support the related research illustrating that psychological well-being is a more apparent predictor of job performance.

Discussion

Despite the fact that the article focus on psychological well-being as a priority factor affecting job performance, other constituents also influence the variable. Therefore, these factors should not be ignored. In addition, Wright et al. (2002) focus on methodological limitation because it also relates to the validity and reliability of the study. In particular, the authors refer to performance measures as an important source of bias. The point is that positively oriented people can undergo bias evaluation because their experiences are more associated with pleasant perceptions. Second, the article does not provide an evident connection between job satisfaction and job performance, as well as between dispositional effect and job performance.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Overall, the article under analysis produces a succinct, transparent, and adequate interpretation of theoretical frameworks and empirical research. In particular, the authors approach effectively various theories related to the employed environment and successfully combines to find relations between the identified constructs and job performance. The paper also introduces valuable contribution to examining human resources management, particularly psychological and emotional factors influencing employee productivity. Finally, the article is coherent in terms of topic coverage because all the ideas and problems discussed are within the established thematic framework.

Despite the clarity and well-organized structure, the author fails to introduce clearly the hypothesis at the beginning of the article. In addition, Wright et al. (2002) do not provide solid theoretical support for discussing such factors as psychological well-being and dispositional effect, which undermines the validity of introducing these concepts.

Reference

Wright, T. A., Cropanzano, R., Denney, P. J. & Moline, G. (2002). When a Happy Worker is Productive Worker: A Preliminary Examination of Three Models. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science. 34(3), 146-150.

Introduction

Nowadays the importance of mental illnesses grows steadily. Stress in todays society has become a global problem. Moreover, a significant part of the tension connected with work. People experiencing stress, anxiety, and mild depression at work cannot perform their duties effectively. In this regard, it is necessary to examine the role of employers in managing mental health problems and identify the sickness absence.

Main Text

Professor Dome Carol Black provides persuasive arguments confirming the significance of the mental health problems. Precisely speaking, she demonstrates the list of issues that prevent people from going at work, where common mental health illnesses take the dominant position consisting approximately 25 percents of the whole cases (Improving Health in Our Workplaces  Professor Dame Carol Black). Moreover, mental problems cost companies about £ 28 billion per year.

Therefore, the paramount issue managers should care about is the psychological or psycho-social well-being of the employee. It can include hospitalization, outpatient treatment, and lower labor productivity costs. Besides, the occupational stress starting from one employee can cover the whole department and spread to the entire company. Such a contamination occurs due to the fact that people under stress become pessimistic and have strong negative perception and assessment of the situation.

Continuously interacting with colleagues at work under the influence of the same stressors, the majority of employees feel the development of the same symptoms of burnout. The realization of the above facts is crucially important for ensuring appropriate working environment.

Speaking of the role of employers in this situation, it seems necessary to point out that employees believe that their senior management has a sincere interest in their well-being (Improving Health in Our Workplaces  Professor Dame Carol Black). Consequently, managers should meet their requirements and engage in the health workplace. Professor stresses the essence of the early professional intervention that should be supported by line managers.

The latter might be expressed in the efficient communication with the personnel, awareness of their problems, and establishing the open culture that contributes to the problems discussion. In other words, she advises a consultative approach that suggests open and friendly work atmosphere free of stress and anxiety where the employer might receive the appropriate and timely psychological help if needed. In particular, the senior management should possess the qualities of a good communicator and enhance employees engagement along with autonomy (HR Professionals and Health & Wellbeing). In its turn, it would promote employees confidence in the company and increase the satisfaction with the senior management.

What is more important, according to Professor Dome Carol Black, line managers should allieviate their own stress in order to deal with people affected by stress (Revisions (important). Indeed, it goes without saying that stressed people cannot react adequately and consciously to the other apprehensive situation.

In this regard, it is of great importance to define the concept of the sickness absence. It is the absence from work, as a rule, the unplanned one, because of illness (Sickness Absence Management). Professor reckons that if you intervene in day one appropriately, then you can help people return to work (Improving Health in Our Workplaces  Professor Dame Carol Black).

The speaker considers that the management should reduce the length of sickness absence from work to manage sickness absence and return to work (Improving Health in Our Workplaces  Professor Dame Carol Black). It would allow companies to raise the productivity and achieve higher results. Therefore, there is a need to develop an attendance management policy in accomplishing the occupational health of employees.

Among the underlying principles, one might note attendance management policy that consists of 3 episodes in 3 months, 28 days continuous absence, and rolling 12 month period along with 3-stage review the last of which may lead to dismissal (Sickness Absence Management). Taking into account key elements of the attendance management, there are line managers who often are underestimated, senior managers, effective communication tools including phone and tête-à-tête contact, and conferences.

In order to implement the attendance management successfully, it is significant to develop the comprehensive strategy that would embrace all the aspects of the healthy workplace environment. First of all, the manager should evaluate the sickness absence case concerning its causes, duration, and other components. Second, according to NICE guidance, the absence from work supposes initial enquiries supported by the detailed assessment and coordinating and delivering intervention and services.

As a result of the above strategy, the employer is the most likely to return to work soon. Likewise, special staff training programs based on the diagnostic results might be rather useful to evade and reduce the sickness absence. The central theme of such programs should not be how to eschew stressful situations but how to find the most optimal ways to avoid psychological tension.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the paper discussed the crucial role of the employer in ensuring healthy working conditions free of stress and anxiety. Additionally, the sickness absence policy, namely, ways to reduce it by means of employees appropriate early intervention and further coordination by the line manager were identified.

Executive Summary

In the contemporary business world, strategy is of the essence when carrying out business activities. The main aims of strategies are to enhance the profitability of a company, competitive advantage in the market, market share, and most importantly, to increase shareholders funds. There are a number of strategies that can be employed. Examples are merging with other companies, acquiring other companies, conglomeration, and franchises among others.

F.A.O Schwarz is a privately held company that was founded in 1862 and it is the oldest toy store in the United States. Toys R Us Bought this company in 2009 and is currently operating the company. Furthermore, toys R Us was franchised to Saudi Arabia in 1996. Thus, this research treatise attempts to review whether F.A.O Schwarz should franchise in Saudi Arabia just like Toys R Us did or not. The treatise adopts qualitative and quantitative research to extrapolate on the competing variables.

Introduction

F.A.O Schwarz is a privately held company that was founded in 1862 and it is the oldest toy store in the United States. The company is known for its life-sized stuffed animals, dolls, and games. However, most of its toys can be categorized as expensive ranging from $1,500 to $25,000. They provide custom-made toys; this is why they tend to increase the price of a certain costumed toy. Toys R Us bought this company in 2009, and are operating the company franchised to Saudi Arabia in 1996. Thus, this analytical research treatise attempts to explicitly review whether F.A.O Schwarz should franchise in Saudi Arabia or not.

Theoretical Framework

The main concepts that will be discussed include franchising and market mix theories, and their link to the market segmentation aspect in entering into a new market front.

The work discusses ways in which cross-platform franchising help to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Also, it discusses the marketing mix in Saudi Arabia. Finally, it selects one market segment and discusses how Disney can reposition itself to appeal to the new market segment. The researcher will use the above aspects and theories to illustrate the expectations of a franchised business in the unique Saudi Arabian business environment. The researcher will then suggest the most appropriate approaches to the franchise in Saudi Arabia.

Methodology

This is a systematic but comprehensive method of data collection, grouping, and analysis in order to scientifically apply reasoning from the analyzed data. As a matter of fact, the result of this process combines the outcome, the purpose of the research, and actuality. The study opts for the Quantitative and data collection method since it is economical on time, finance, and energy, unlike the qualitative method which may not be economical especially when the sample size is put into the picture.

Research Design

Both descriptive and qualitative research methods will be used in this inquiry. The descriptive qualitative research method as a design investigates behavior when it naturally occurs in a non-contrived situation. On the other hand, descriptive survey designs will be used in preliminary and exploratory studies to allow the researcher to gather information, summarize, present, and interpret for the purpose of clarification. Descriptive investigative research is anticipated to produce statistical information about facets of education that concern policymakers in education. Investigation of the problem will be conducted by means of both literature synopsis and empirical investigation.

Sample Population

A sample is a small segment of a target population while sampling means selecting a given number of subjects from a defined population to be representative of that population (Gelder 22). From the toy industry in Saudi Arabia, the researcher targets to interview 20 senior employees of F.A.O Schwartz on the current financial position, challenges, weakness, strengths, and strategies that might help the company to successfully franchise in Saudi Arabia.

This research will be conducted using a qualitative case study approach. The researcher chose the qualitative approach rather than a quantitative because the scope of the research is focused, subjective, dynamic, and discovery-oriented. The qualitative approach is best suited to gain proper insight into the situation of the case study. Besides, qualitative data analysis is more detailed than a quantitative one. Moreover, this approach will create room for further analysis using different and divergent tools for checking the degree of error and assumption limits (Travis 23).

Data Sources, Rights of the Participants, and Projected Challenges

A set of primary data was used in addressing each research question. The primary data collection method used was questionnaires interviews. The study opts for a close-ended questionnaire in data collection since it is economical on time, finance, and energy, unlike the qualitative method which may not be economical especially when the sample size is put into the picture. The researcher approached the 20 participants. Their opinion and finding would support the study hypotheses. The researcher conducted one-to-one interviews with subject matter experts in the field and analyzed the findings. In accomplishing this motive, the researcher faced the challenges of time constraints, unclear responses, and a few instances of biased answers.

Sampling Procedure

Purposive sampling was used to select participants who are conversant with the topic under discussion. In this regard, a simple random sampling technique was employed to interview the targeted 20 senior employees of F.A.O Schwartz.

Data Collections Methods

In the collection of data procedure, the research adopted a drop and pick module for the sample population. Each respondent was given a time frame of a week to respond to questions in the questionnaire. Where necessary, further clarification was accorded to participants. Adopting semi-structured open-ended questions interview, data collection through one-on-one interview took a period of six days. The choice of the one-on-one interview was based on the rationale of gaining insight on the feelings, opinions, and experiences besides official findings. Moreover, the semi-structured interviews give room for further probe depending on the nature of data collected.

Data to be gathered will be regarding:

• How the company grew over the last ten years
• The projected success of the company in Saudi Arabia
• The challenges facing the company in Saudi Arabia
• The possible recommendations for reversing these challenges

Findings

This section will focus on the characteristic demographic profiles of the participating respondents. It will also present the analysis of the main research questions that relate to the leadership practices of the responding organizations. The operational hypothesis so is tested using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results that have been generated from the multiple regression analysis will demonstrate the strength of the correlation between organizational effectiveness and leadership practices. Presented data will be based on the research questions and hypothesis.

The research findings revealed that 100% of those interviewed agreed that the company is currently not doing well in the Saudi market. 36% of the respondents indicated that the ideal approach to solving the companys challenges would be through cross franchising in the Saudi market. 14% of the respondents argued that the challenge was a result of high prices in the Saudi market. However, 18% of the respondents argued franchising must be organized in order to be successful. This is indicated in the pie chart below.

Key:

Analysis and Recommendations

It is apparent that the proper matching of soft skills such as team building, organizational effectiveness, leadership, decision making, problem-solving, creativity, flexibility, and team building are essential in measuring the quality and performance of a business. The success and failure of a business entity are dependent on the effectiveness and quality of the operations management since it determines planning, integration, implementation, and control. In order to strike an optimal performance balance, the process of designing a quality operations management system should commence with a clear overview of budgeting, objectivity, and scheduling, as seen in the structure of the F.A.O Schwartz Company.

SWOT analysis of F.A.O Schwartz Company

A key strength of the corporation is its strong global presence. It is ranked the market leader both in the US and international market. It also leads to the toy industry. In addition, the company uses economies of scale for reducing costs associated with expansion and economic risks. Also, the firm has a strong real estate portfolio. It has one of the worlds most recognized logos and strongly branded menu items.

Finally, other than revenue from the sale of toys, it receives revenue from investments in customization of the toy business. One of the weaknesses is that it has a high employee turnover. They lack innovative products. It uses advertisements that target mostly children. Also, The Corporation is yet to move towards the trend of affordable customized toys.

The corporation is surrounded by great opportunities. Introduction of the human size dolls is a great opportunity for the business. In fact, they can be the first company to be allowed in Saudi Arabia to sell these types of toys. Also, they can provide optional allergen-free items for every purchase of the toy brands to the Saudi Market. The group can slow down on direct sales and concentrate on franchising in Saudi Arabia.

The corporation is also exposed to the threat of slow growth due to the perception that the products are expensive (Parente 56). Finally, the global recession has negatively impacted the revenue streams of the business. Also, the economic meltdown has exposed the business to currency fluctuations. Therefore, in as much as it is a renowned corporation with a heavy global presence, it faces a number of weaknesses and threats just like any other ordinary business; thus, it should franchise its Saudi market.

Recommendations

Franchising is a model comprising of businesses that share a trading name. In this model, the parent company allows other business owners to use the companys brand name and strategies (World Bank 31). The consideration that the parent company receives comprises preliminary fees and percentages of revenue. Apart from the trade name, the franchisee also receives free training and advertisement.

Cross-platform franchising entails sharing licenses with businesses trading in different products (Belch and Micheal 29). Franchising offers the parent company a faster and cheaper way to grow since the parent company does not need to incur the initial costs of starting up a business when venturing into new markets. Further, it costs the parent company less when the franchises are managed by third parties. The F.A.O Schwartz Company should use this model of business to franchise its Saudi market. The model will enable the company to grow to be the market leader in Saudi Arabias toy industry.

Cross-platform franchising will enable the company to gain a strategic competitive advantage in a number of ways. First, established franchises across the Saudi market will enable the company to carry out comprehensive market research across the market. The results of such research will allow the company to develop a marketing strategy for the regions they intend to open stores. In doing this, the company will be able to keep its mission, vision, and goals. Further, it will enable the company to reduce the risk of market flop that results from the failure to carry out adequate market research of the target market segment (Eugene and Michael 31).

Secondly, cross-platform franchising entails the use of the market segmentation plan. The plan enables the company to understand the needs of each segment. This will help the company to come up with a package that meets the needs of each group in the expansive Saudi market. Further, it promotes innovation in the company. Also, it ensures maximum customer satisfaction. In general, cross-platform franchising promotes a better understanding of the markets, lines of business, and customer needs. This increases the competitive advantage of the company. Thus, the company should adopt franchising to penetrate the Saudi market.

The franchise should come up with products that suit children in the Saudi geographical location. An example of a product that can suit the market segment is Jasmine and Aladins story. The story contains Jasmine who was a princess dressed like an Arabic girl with Arabic facial features. The attire worn by the characters in the story would attract children in the Middle East since it rimes with their culture. Besides, the story is founded on Arabic Folktale. Therefore, the product touches on their way of life. For promotion, the company should use companies of Arabic origin to advertise the products. This will attract the target market segment.

On pricing, the Middle East has a high purchasing power (Moncrief & Marshall 18). Therefore, the franchise should use a skim pricing strategy since the demand for the product is relatively inelastic. Concerning the place, the franchise should use Saudi Arabia channels to keep in touch with the target segment. Apart from the TV channels, the franchise should also use the parent companys local channels to reach out to the market segment. Moreover, the franchise can enter into a strategic partnership with other companies to advertise the products (ABC News Network 3).

Conclusion

The research provided an ideal ground for learning the theorization of the franchise in practicality. Reflectively, franchising is critical in surviving a volatile market that is segmented along with unique customer demands such as Saudi Arabia. As a matter of fact, the company should franchise in the Saudi Arabia market so as to reap maximum benefits within minimal risks associated with costs, market dynamics, and changed consumer preferences (Hitchner 24).

The study also showed how factors like corporate leadership practices, planning systems, social responsiveness, management control, background information and the organization performance relative to other organization impact the performance of a company in foreign markets.

Works Cited

ABC News Network 2013, Company Profile. Web.

Belch, George, and Micheal, Benard. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.

Eugene, Brigham, and Michael, John. Financial management theory and practice, USA: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.

Gelder, Van. Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Branding Potential Across Countries Cultures and Markets, London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2005. Print.

Hitchner, James. Financial Valuation: Applications and Models, United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.

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