Category: Business analysis

Analysis of the Netflix Business Model

Operational Excellence

2017 – Netflix wins its 1st honour, with ‘The White Helmets’ for Best Documentary movie. Netflix hits a hundred million members globally. Netflix signs producer overall deals with Shonda Rhimes and Jenji Kohan. Netflix premieres ‘BRIGHT’, its 1st tent pole action film, major can Smith.

2018 – Netflix wins honors for Best Documentary Feature for ‘Icarus’. Netflix announces overall deals with Ryan potato, African country Barris, Jason Bateman. Netflix’s ‘Summer of Love’ brings back classic rom-coms together with fashionable films

New Products, Services, and Business Models

Through its fortunate startup and also the fast changes that technology introduced over time, Netflix reborn its business model. They went from physical copies handouts to permitting customers streaming their favorite contents from the comfort of their own convenience. Today, the platform has advanced to streaming technologies that have elevated and improved Netflix’s overall business structure and revenue. The platform provides its viewers the flexibility to stream and watch a range of TV shows, movies, documentaries and far additional, through suggests that of employing a code application.

Customer and Supplier Intimacy

Netflix platform was originally designed to make sure that it’s straightforward and simple to use. Developers of the web site ensured to associate parts and themes that serves and promotes friendliness and provides a self-setup. Netflix provides client services through means that of the web site portal, email inquiries and users have the choice to succeed in a representative directly, by phonephone and live chat. Users have the choice to opt-in to a live chat session with a Netflix representative. Users will directly chat with a Netflix representative to raise queries and support connected inquiries.

Request for discounts and different special promotional deals that they will qualify or supply such user or subscriber.

Channeling major advertisements, deals, and different promotional deals through Social media channels and different relative platforms to assist gain the high attraction of client and new register users conversions. Social media is additionally wont to inform and update people that operate or square measure at home with the Netflix platform. Such platforms might embrace Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.

Part of the subscription arrange, all users are intermeshed to receive special promotional discounts and different gift cards to avail.

Survival

Software developers at Netflix area unit at constant innovation. Design and enhance to help manufacture a additional sturdy customer-user experience. Through Netflix’s powerful technological ways in which, innovating the accessibilities has helped to increase customer/user experience utterly. Netflix implemented in several areas that helped to capture the planet market.

Improved Decision Making

Netflix encourages its staff to “make wise choices despite ambiguity”. The corporate empowers its team members not solely to form the choice however to try to to thus “based on the long-run, not close to term”. Debt isn’t the difficulty at Netflix. Unable to form strategic, privy choices supported information and truth is their instance concern. If staff don’t seem to be creating privy choices with Netflix’s cash, what smart is that the debt within the initial place?

Furthermore, staff “identify root causes, and acquire on the far side treating symptoms” during a world that’s low on time, dependent on activity, and distracted by portable notifications, Netflix can have none of it. the corporate encourages its workers to require the time initial to be creative—to guarantee choices, concepts and opportunities area unit properly unreal up—and then it moves into even handed decision-making for the long-run.

In associate interview, Hastings aforementioned, “First principle thinking is that the concept that everything you are doing is underpinned by a foundational belief or initial principles. Rather than blindly following directions or projecting to a method, a primary principle thinker can perpetually raise, ‘What’s best for the company?’ and, ‘Couldn’t we have a tendency to love this alternative method instead?’”. In alternative words, associate organization’s primary in operation principle have to be compelled to be common sense, not smart administration. once a corporation acknowledges the importance of empowering staff specified they create sound choices on behalf of the company’s long-run goals, it becomes a formula for in operation a extremely engaged personnel.

The former chief talent officer at Netflix, Patty McCord, once said: “We much valued those that had common sense and created the correct calls. we have a tendency to wished folks to be ready to do the correct issue with many context and build the correct calls as a result of they were good folks with common sense”. In alternative words, judgment is at the foundation of the thriving Netflix culture. The corporate could presently possess $20 billion in debt, however thanks to its firm belief within the importance of decision-making, they possibly can still achieve success within the long-run than not.

Competitive Advantage

Netflix’s generic strategy focuses on maximizing the competitive benefits of high operational efficiencies and value effectiveness of knowledge technologies. The company’s intensive growth ways need aggressive selling to expand transnational streaming operations. These company ways square measure supported Netflix’s business model, wherever value diminution and penetration square measure supported. The net company’s business framework implies strategic management support for data technologies for economical operations and international enlargement. Netflix Iraqi National Congress’s operations management implements these strategic implications, guaranteeing that everyone square measures of operations are aligned to strengthen the business model and generic strategy for competitive advantage, and to support the intensive growth ways.

Nike’s Company Business Analysis

Company Overview

Nike manufactures athletic apparel and equipment. They produce tennis shoes, cleats, performance clothing, etc. Their main competitor, especially in North America, is Adidas. Some other competitors are Reebok, Under Armour, Oakley, and even Crocs. In Nike’s previous fiscal year which ran from May of 2018 to May of 2019, they brought in a total revenue of almost $36.5 billion and continue to increase their revenue every year. Throughout the entire world, Nike employs approximately 76,700 people. This means on average they make approximately $474,537 per employee. Nike continues to increase revenue and attempt to set themselves apart from their competitors. To do this they focus on innovation and getting products to consumers faster. Nike is also known for creating quality products but wants to focus on creating new and unique products and being able to get these products to market quicker for consumers. Nike uses quality products and famous athletes to help set their products apart from their competitors.

Economics

The economy impacts Nike just like with any other business. However, Nike’s sales are impacted a lot more during a downward cycle of the economy because of their higher prices. If people do not have as much disposable income so they would not be willing to spend as much on their wants. Nike is also impacted by the economies of countries overseas. For example, when the economy of China fell the revenue of Nike fell because of China’s unwillingness to import as much athletic wear (Burkitt). The type of competition that fits Nike the best is pure competition. They have a lot of competitors such as Adidas, Reebok, Puma, and Sketchers. There are a lot of companies in this industry requiring Nike to not only produce high-quality products but also to keep their prices low. Nike has a slight advantage over some of their competitors because they are well known and have a large chain of stores all over the world.

Global Marketplace

Nike, like most other clothing and apparel manufacturers, uses other countries to produce their products for a lower cost. Nike does not own any of these companies, but they pay them in other countries to produce their products (Safdar). They have multiple factories in multiple different countries meaning they are less affected by tariffs and other import restrictions by the United States (Safdar). This helps Nike to keep their prices low while continuing to supply the same quality of product. Nike also exports goods to other countries to sell all over the world. This is a positive of free trade allowing Nike to expand their markets and sell to people all over the world (Intro to Business 55). Nike exports goods to almost every country in the world especially to the European Union and Southeast Asia.

Business Ethics

According to the Intro to Business textbook’s definition of ethical behavior Nike is not very ethical (79). They compete fairly with other competitors but fall short in other areas. Nike is not transparent about the issues they face, nor do they completely avoid harm to others. Nike employs athlete models to promote their brand. However, for female athletes, it is very difficult for them to be an athlete and a parent. A large issue Nike has had is being accused of firing female athletes when they become pregnant (Crouse). They are accused of not being family-friendly and being honest about how they treat their models. They are not transparent about how they treat their models either (Crouse). Also, Nike uses workers in third world countries which does not cause much harm to these workers (Safdar). Nike’s view toward corporate social responsibility is mostly a minimalist approach (Korn). They do not contribute to many programs or groups. There are some instances where Nike has donated money to Stanford but mainly because this is where one of the co-founders of Nike graduated from. Nothing Nike does directly benefits the company as a whole or protects it. The money given by Nike is almost solely all philanthropy.

Management Roles, Functions, & Skills

Nike has a vision statement of, “Bring Inspiration and intention to every athlete* in the world” (Nike). They also make it clear they consider anyone with a body as an athlete which is why there is an asterisk on the word athlete. Their mission statement is very similar, it is, “Do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work” (Nike). Both the vision and mission statement reflect Nike’s products but not so much their actions. Nike often creates the best new athletic wear for almost every sport. However, while they do some form of CSR and philanthropy, they do very little to give back on a large scale (Korn). Nike’s managerial roles resemble the structure of many other major companies in the United States. They have top, middle, and first-level managers throughout the organization. Starting in 2020 Nike will be headed by Corporate Executive Officer (CEO) John Donahoe (Safdar). John Donahoe will take over control of all areas of the company which then breaks up into different branches such as manufacturing, finance, distribution, etc. (Nike). The CEO and other top managers must have strong decision-making skills to run such a large company. It is also evident Nike feels technical skills are important because the new and previous CEO have prior connections with Nike. There are employment opportunities at Nike all over the world from marketing to distribution (Nike). No matter what form of business degree you have there is some form of a job at Nike. There are entry-level finance and sales jobs as well as middle management finance and marketing jobs (Nike). In lower-level positions, Nike values interpersonal and technical skills more than others because of the importance of leadership and being able to talk with customers. In terms of top and middle management, Nike values technical and decision-making skills to be able to understand what is happening at all levels of the company while also making important decisions.

Entrepreneurship

Nike does not allow for a lot of intrapreneurship within their company. They rely almost solely on their research and development team for developing new products (Gay). I could not find any articles that discussed how any of Nike’s products were created by an employee outside of research and development creating a product. However, Nike employs people they feel are the most successful designers to encourage and lead product innovation. Also, Nike does not franchise any stores directly but their subsidiaries such as converse do (Germano). Nike is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as NKE (Nike, Inc.). It became public in December of 1980 and currently, their share price is $97.26 (Nike, Inc.).

Key Takeaways – Nike

Researching Nike has shown me how much a company does that the average person doesn’t think about. There are many areas that people often overlook until the company gets caught in a scandal or becomes transparent. While exploring the topics from this semester I discovered how little it appears Nike cares about its models, employees, etc. For the most part, they only care about making profit and developing the next greatest product. I agree companies should be motivated by this however I feel they should also care for their employees and encourage having a life outside of work. Researching this company allowed me to think like a business person because it made me think of how I would want to run a business if I owned one. It also helped me to realize what I consider ethical and how I would want my employees to be treated. After writing this paper and doing research on Nike I am honestly not quite sure if I would want to work for Nike. Some of what they do such as firing models if they become pregnant, not encouraging intrapreneurship, etc. goes against what I feel to be ethically correct. However, I feel it would be interesting to be involved in their process for creating new products as well as learning how they compete with their top competitors like Adidas and Under Armour while continuing to grow. On the other hand, as a consumer I feel like my view of Nike as a company has changed slightly but not enough for me to stop buying their products. This may also be why Nike is not worried about being transparent because they know as long as they are not involved in a major issue people will continue to buy their products for the most part.

Works Cited

1. Burkitt, Laurie. ‘As China’s Economy Slows, Consumers Pick Up some of the Slack; Apple, Nike, Starbucks and Others Gain by Tapping Country’s Growing Upper Middle Class.’ Wall Street Journal (Online), Nov 03, 2015. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1729154512?accountid=2792.
2. Crouse, Lindsay. ‘Nike and Pregnancy: Your Questions, Answered.’ProQuest, May 14, 2019, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2224545431?accountid=27921.
3. Gay, Jason. ‘OFF DUTY — Gear & Gadgets: Sneaker, Tie Thyself — Nike’s Self-Lacing Innovation is a Pricey Harbinger of Smart Footwear to Come.’ Wall Street Journal, Dec17, 2016. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1849629157?accountid=27921.
4. Germano, Sara. ‘Nike to Cut Jobs as it Combats Sneaker Slump; Nike Says Layoffs Will Affect 2% of its Global Workforce.’ Wall Street Journal (Online), Jun 15, 2017. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1909720384?accountid=27921.
5. Gottfried, Miriam. ‘Nike’s Best Defense is a Good Offense; Company’s Scale should Help it Win Back Market Share.’ Wall Street Journal (Online), Mar 22, 2017. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1879694400?accountid=2791.
6. Hsu, Tiffany, et al. ‘Nike and Kaepernick Back in Culture Wars After ‘Betsy Ross Flag’ Sneaker Furor.’ProQuest, Jul 02, 2019, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2250581051?accountid=2701.
7. Intro to Business Luther College. Pearson Collections, 2018.
8. Korn, Melissa. ‘U.S. News: Nike Founder to Fund Oregon Science Center.’ Wall Street Journal, Oct 18, 2016. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1829666583?accountid=27921.
9. “Nike, Inc.” Business Insights: Essentials, Gale Business, 2019, proxy.luther.edu/loginurl=https%3A%2F%2Fbi.gale.com%2Fessentials%2Fcompany%2F306325%3Fu.
10. “Read Nike’s Mission Statement and Find Information about NIKE, Inc. Innovation, Sustainability, Community Impact and More.” Nike News, 2019, about.nike.com/
11. Safdar, Khadeeja, and Patrick Thomas. ‘Nike Posts Strong Sales, Plays Down Trade Risks; CEO Says Sneaker Giant can Adjust Supply Chain to Avoid any Tariff Hits.’ Wall Street Journal (Online), Jun 27, 2019. ProQuest, http://proxy.luther.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2247864107?accountid=27921

Main Challenges of General Motors

When companies compete in the economic market, there will always be threats of risk and uncertainty. Although the two phrases sound like they are similar, they are quite different. The difference between the two is the fact businesses are able to measure risk and control it. Risk is the chances of either gain or loss of something important. Uncertainty on the other hand is quite the opposite. Uncertainty can’t be gauged and business cannot control the outcome. It is suggested that events in the future are unpredictable.

In the December 2018, GM has made an official announcement stating that it will be shutting down five plants in the North American and Canada region for the purpose of restructuring electric driverless vehicles and eliminating various car models like the Chevrolet Impala due to a decline in sales. GM has developed a new vision where the corporation wants to create a world with no crashes, eliminating emissions, and remove congestion. This new plan implemented by CEO Mary Barra, puts several of its employees at risk by either relocating to another location not affected by the shutdown, or the loss of their job and livelihood, cutting about 15% of workers already, in order to reduce expenses and increase revenue, while hiring new workers at the same time that supply specific skills for the future of the company.

As GM is trying to reallocate its resources to other areas, it is currently under backlash. The closing down of several plants has resulted in many GM employees to go on strike, stating that GM has violated the union’s labor contract. The risk in this situation is that by closing down plants, and laying out thousands of employees, the company have risked cutting expenses with an inevitable strike that resulted in a halt in production that could go on for an unknown amount of time until both parties come to an agreement. The uncertainty in this situation is that after GM was driven to make such a great decision to close its plants to cut costs in order to introduce a new technology and create new partnerships, is not guaranteed to know the outcome of the future.

As General Motors move towards the future in the improvement of its vehicles, and the hiring of people necessary for its vision, the company needs to lessen the impact of the current strike that is currently stopping production. The company needs to first evaluate the union contract and try to identify and solve any violations that it may be unaware of. With thousands of employees out of work, the company needs to make use of employees who are at risk of losing their jobs due to the plant closures by keeping potential employees on board, because they have experience in working for the company already and they have the skills necessary to help with the future production of new vehicles, implementing this type of strategy may decrease the amount of people on strike. GM will save time and money on training its employees now at closing plants rather than hiring new employees where they will have to learn almost everything. Bringing current employees on board may help production to start back again and earning back profit that may have been lost during the strike.

General Motors and Unfavorable Outcomes

First and foremost adverse selection refers to a state of affairs in which market participation is influenced by asymmetric information. This means that between buyers and sellers, each party have different information, whereas one party (seller) have more knowledge than the other (buyer), or the other way around. Typically, the party who is less knowledgeable is at a disadvantage. One example of adverse selection that consumers was the fact that some vehicles like the Chevy or Cadillac, had a defect in the transmissions that triggered the cars to shake aggressively. This one problem resulted in causing other problems like preventing drivers from operating their cars efficiently, which can possibly cause a collision.

Because of this faulty part, GM has been accused of knowing about the faulty car part and faced a class action lawsuit. GM goes on to say that consumers knew about the issue with their cars before purchasing them at the price agreed upon, but this does not at all excuse GM of any wrongdoing. Regardless if the consumer knew about the issue or not, GM should have taken the initiative to further test car parts to make sure that they are up to standards. GM has also been under fire with faulty ignition switches, that caused several deaths. Since then, GM has taken some necessary steps in avoiding risk of defects by espousing many recommendations. GM leaders also encourages employees to report anything that may pose as a problem. Also promoting openness and accountability, it greatly reduces safety problems (Maryann Combs, GM Vice President).

The Moral Hazards of GM

Moral hazard is defined as having a lack of incentive to safeguard against potential risk, in which an individual or company is protected by insurance. GM has experienced moral hazard back in the year 2008, when the company was close to going bankrupt until the government stepped in and approved a bailout plan for the company that lasted until 2014. Back in the year 2007, GM was losing to its competitor Toyota. While Toyota expanded by building more plants and meeting the global demand for smaller cars, GM were shutting down plants and only offering a 0% financing to sell its large vehicles. GM clearly lacked the incentive to meet global demands build smaller cars but instead try to sell off its larger vehicles at an offer that ultimately caused the company to shut down plants, loss of profit, and eventually bankruptcy in 2009, after being bailed out twice. Ultimately taxpayers were the ones who incurred the loss of $10.2 billion.

General Motor’s Relationship Issues of Principal and Agent

The principal-agent problem happens when a person, who is known as the agent, is authorized to make assessments on behalf of another person, known as the principal. In GM’s case, shareholders are known as the agents and the managers and CEO’s are known as the principal. With CEO Mary Barra attempting to increase profit for shareholders, but the stock has since been decreased by 22%.

Some shareholders had commented that GM could be confronted with a third major action by activist shareholders if its share price does not get better. There was a decrease in the Chinese market recently, and the pressure is getting higher for the company to push for a better market price. Also with the recent strikes in closing down plants as well as strikers are fighting for better wages and healthcare, GM is frown upon and is being tugged back and forth. By trying to save on money and resources, GM has resorted to laying off over 14,000 employees and shutting down plants in order to make room for new technology, hire new employees and promote a world where they are no emissions, no crashes, or congestion.

Organizational Structure

GM has a structure that is a regional divisional, where it deals with gathering business activities depending on the area of operations. The company’s structure is set up first as the Regional Segment. Also known as the primary, this segment differs across global markets for automobiles. The second structure is a business type division, also known to be secondary, and this authorizes the company to manage each business smoothly. The third type is the Corporate Functional Group. It is known as a secondary, and is used to integrate all business operations. Despite its advantages, some disadvantages of GM’s structure is at the international level, it has limited support for branding consistency. A solution to enhance the organization structure is to cultivate in developing a proper marketing campaign that builds the brand’s strength and attract consmers from around the world.

Reference

1. 1. CNN Library. (September 16, 2019). General Motors Fast Facts. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2014/04/08/us/general-motors-fast-facts/index.html
2. Welch, David. (September 11, 2019). GM Strike Risk at 12-Year High Approaching Weekend Deadline. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-11/gm-strike-risk-at-12-year-high-with-weekend-deadline-approaching
3. Wayland, Michael. (December 03, 2018). Unlike 2008, GM cutting jobs, plants proactively. Retrieved from https://www.autonews.com/article/20181203/OEM/181209962/unlike-2008-gm-cutting-jobs-plants-proactively
4. Howes, Daniel. (October 23, 2019). Howes: After inevitable UAW-GM battle, uncertainty looms. Retrieved from https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/columnists/daniel-howes/2019/10/24/uncertainty-looms-after-inevitable-uaw-gm-battle/4063219002/
5. Sortor, Emily. (August 14, 2019). GM Class Action Says Chevy, Cadillac Transmissions Are Defective. Retrieve from https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/consumer-products/auto-news/914195-gm-class-action-says-chevy-cadillac-transmissions-defective/
6. LaReau. Jamie L. (September 6, 2019). GM: We encourage employees, dealers to tattle after ignition switch crisis. Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2019/09/06/gm-ignition-switch-nhtsa-recalls-safety-defects/2099289001/
7. Amadeo, Kimberly. (November 06, 2019). Auto Industry Bailout: Was the Big 3 Worth it?. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/auto-industry-bailout-gm-ford-chrysler-3305670
8. Klayman. Ben (October 19,2018). Frustrated GM Investors ask what more CEO Barra can do. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gm-barra/frustrated-gm-investors-ask-what-more-ceo-barra-can-do-idUSKCN1MT2QM
9. Kissinger, Daniel. (September 8,2018). General Motors’ Organizational Structure for Flexibility in Regional Markets.

Thorough Business Analysis of General Motors Corporation

In the 20th and early 21st centuries, General motors’ company, formerly knew as General Motors Corporation was a big auto maker of the world and historically had been the largest and successful. It built some of the famous and classic vehicle during his days of glory, vehicle which portrayed modesty and displayed class consumers who range from working class to superstars.

General motors’ was founded on September16, 1908, in which the company’s largest national market was United State. It manufactures cars and trucks, with its headquarters located in Detroit. GM was a manufacturing company that grew along with the American economy in the 1950s and 60s, while holding 40.45% of U.S automotive sales, it is faced with increasing severe competition from Japanese and other automakers. In the early 1990s, it was forced to close plants which in return reduced its workforce in 2006.

Critical Analysis of Management Processes of General Motors from Case Study

Process is a systematic set of activities carried out together to achieve a result. The term management process refer to the system used to transform organizations activity with the purpose of improving the operation and aiming at achieving the goal and objectives of the organization. Wrapp (1967) talks about ‘sacred cows’ relating to managers having helicopter view of the company, proactive, forecasting issues and formulating precise objectives, However, another observation by Kotter (1982) reveal that contrary to how books suggest managers function, they are not well organized, systematic nor strategic.

George T.K (2013), defines management process as simply coordination and controlling activities. Successful managers must align and harmonize the interest of different groups in the organization while cultivating commitment and motivation (Garvin 1998). Management is referred to as a process because of the inter-related functions they engage in to achieve goal. The processes includes; planning, organizing, leading and controlling. GM refused to make appropriate plan for change. I presume they were carried away by the past glory and neglect change in the market demand.

With effective management planning, the management of GM would have forecasted ahead of time a course of action from a set of alternatives. After a proper planning process, is organizing which produce a structure and relationship for the organization. GM operated a bureaucratic system where staffs perform a routine task, this led to staffs becoming bored of the job, or get used to the ways of doing things thereby sabotaging change (Efere, 2003).

GM also use the autocratic style of management where employees don’t have a say but only listen to instructions from superior which most times lead to demotivation in the workplace. Definitely employee would not have a sense of belonging when they are not involved in the decision process, the management is hostile to the employees and there was also no job security and staffs have to protect their jobs by whichever means. While Toyota practice a democratic management style where employees feel important and feel their opinion count.

The structure of the GM is another reason it was difficult to effect change easily because of the chain of command at different stages. Problem of clarity in communication was also a factor; management focused solely on short term financial goals along with multiple level of control and its large number of employees and suppliers made building credibility difficult. Additionally, organizing makes managerial processes easier bringing people, resources and equipment’s in line to the common goal. It’s also makes clear who is responsible for what, who reports to who and where decision making is made. Toyota also uses the short lead method in production and they remain flexible to market change unlike GM with narrowly defined assembly line as mentioned in the case study. While Toyota has invested in cross-training its employees to the extent of handling six to eight different jobs on the production line, GM motors employees are still on a single routine job wasting a lot of production time in case of a minor error or delay.

Responsibility are also given to Toyota employees in the production process for quality and continual improvement of process which will motivate workers and foster team work. GM management personnel’s are more of a manager while Toyota personnel can be referred to as leaders. Management and leadership are used interchangeably (Brotherton 1999). The role of managers and leaders was not clear until mid-1990ssenior management were assumed to have leadership. Managers and leaders remain a controversial topic but I believe while managers plan, budget and organize, leaders inspire, motivate and establish direction. Leaders live philosophy and teach it to others. GM managers also has no strategic plan in place in case of emergency, therefore it was easy for the Japanese competitors to enter the market. Three (3) strategic plan used by Toyota includes: cost reduction, quality enhancement and innovation.

Controlling has to deal with correcting the activities of the organization performed to achieve goals. (Herser et al.,2008) define its as matching result with plan often. GM continue to spend more investing in technology instead of small cars which is one of the lesson at NUMMI. The company failed to introduce small cars that were attractive to its consumers, at the time Toyota and Honda was doing so. Time constraints also affected the company in adopting Toyota managerial practices while having issues in building new relational contracts thereby, indicating its effort to respond effectively either through innovation or imitation.

Furthermore, the management relationship within the company was best described as ongoing war, which deeply increased the decline of GM because a company operating under a bad union of management relationship is likely to experience low productivity, poor work enthusiasm while killing down work motivation. Motivation determines performance level of employees and influence achievement of goals (Hersey et al., 2008). It was discovered by William james in Herseys work that if employees are well motivated by leaders, they could work 80%-90% of their abilities, failure to motivate employees was another issue for GM and this will led to employees not acting in the intrest of the organization

In conclusion, the major problem that the company must put into consideration and resolve is their high cost structure, managerial practices within the company, workers performance and motivation while increasing production quality and supply chain relationship management not trying to imitate competitors.

Analysis of Internal and External Challenges Based on Case Study

Analyzing the internal and external issues can be done using different framework and models and using the right techniques is important to produce clear understanding of the factors affecting the organization both internally and externally and planning the right course for the future success. The methods that can be used includes: Dunning’s Eclecttic paradigm (Cavusgil et al., 2008), Porters Diamond and Five forces, Directional policy Matrix. From Mintzbergs school of thoughts (Mintzberg et al 2003) value chain analysis (Johnson et al 2008), SWOT analysis (Kotler and keller, 2009).

Company’s todays operate globally and are usually a conglomerates, therefore it is important to both regional and global environment (Schlie and Yip, 2000). The methods you will choose depends on what require attention by the company and in the circumstances the company has found its self (Johnson et al., 2008). The best tool to assess competitive advantage is the Porters five Forces and model focusses on where change is needed to sustain competitive advantage over competitors and making more profit. In addition, a school of thought by Mintzberg Ten school of thought provides also a good analysis for companies. The design focus on strategy formation as achieving essential fit between external and internal issues. However, threats and opportunities are seen as external while strength and weaknesses are said to be internal.

For the purpose of this assignment, GM Company would be analyzed using strategy of the company. I will use porters five process and then use the internal and external approach by Mintzbergs School by applying SWOT and finally PESTEL and BCG Matrix analysis will be examined.

Competitive Advantage Analysis of GM According to Michael Five Forces

The competitive advantage is important and I will identify this using the Michael five porters as follows:

1. Rivalry in the market with competitors. Without rivalry, there would be no innovation in business so business owners like GM have to have a continues plan for innovation through research and development. Therefore GM in 1970s and 1980s competition in the US markets is stronger with the Japanese manufacturer entering the country. The ideal behind NUMMI is to get the secret of Toyota but at the end it was not successful but instead create a platform for the Japanese company to enter the market. Although GM motors was strong at that time and occupy the market but the rivals like Toyota has started to produce cars cheaper than that of GM with high quality just to shift them from the comfort zone.
2. Barriers to entry. According to porter, ne capabilities comes with new entrance therefore gaining market share can be achieved by new entries. GM made huge profit during the world war and they were able to grow their business and it became very difficult for small companies to enter the market and compete with GM.
3. Pressure of price from substitutes. It was Cleary written in the case study that, GM lost many customers as a result that their cars are more expensive than that of Toyota and it became a problem. Another issue is that the Japanese cars are fuel efficient compared to the big SUV produced by GM at that time and customers spending pattern also change because they are not interested in buying small vehicles with less maintenance cost to reduce cost. The recent increase in gas rice was another point which really affected GM.
4. Bargaining power of buyers. Price is always very important when it comes down to buying, buyers will compete with the industry by forcing down price for good quality and will always play competitors against each other. Information of other competitors products make customers of GM aware of what they were buying and where they might get better value at same price.
5. Bargaining power of suppliers. Supplier pays a significant role in businesses and GM were not able to, maintain good relationship with their supplier through relationship management because of their management practices. They have the power to reduce quality of product or even increase price. Though the threats of suppliers for GM is low because they have many suppliers as studied in the case study.

There are risk associated with every business and this risk are classify into external and internal challenges. Each category is important to the organization and how effectively the challenges are managed will have impact on the organization. Internal challenges are within the organization and are issues affecting the productivity internally. The company has control over the internal challenges since they are within the organization. External challenges on the other hand refers to issues that are outside the control of the organization and affect the productivity of the organization. To tackle the internal and external challenges of GM, I will use PESTEL and also SWOT analysis. (Andrew 1987; Ansofff 1965) explain SWOT analysis as a tool that offers basis for studying organization issues. Also PESTEL analysis tools will be used to provide information external factors affecting GM. They must address the issues that would be marked out by this two analysis tools.

The PESTEL Analysis

The PESTEL analysis will state the most important of the issues affecting productivity of GM externally and these will be classified under political, economic, sociocultural, technological, ecological and legal (PESTEL/PESTLE).

• Political laws and government regulations. This have affected the automotive industry since the 1960s and most of the regulations come from consumers increasing concerns for the environment. This is relevant in the case of general motors macro environment and has to influence the company productivity. These includes government discouraging the usage of private cars and encouraging public transport to reduce emission of fossil fuels in our environment. This is a great threat to automotive industry and not only that, also re aggressive tax policies on combustion automobiles not only in the US but even in the UK. People driving hybrid care pays less tax to those driving petrol cars. GM could also look at investing in other economy with good political stability which might be a great opportunity. Additionally to aggressive tax, it also reduces profit, therefore, GM should make provision for the political external factor identified in the company strategy.
• Economic issues of GM is based on the trends in the economy. According to various studies, the industry is a major user of computer chips, aluminum, textiles, copper, steel, iron and others. Studies also shows that for automobile industry created employment. In the GM case, the following are significant to note in the company strategy and they are as follows; rising competition in developing market which is a threat to GM. The management should have a plan on how to handle competition which is now a common problem as the world is developing. Also is the issue of economic stability of major markets which is an opportunity for the company. GM can expand its dealership network to these area i.e India, Indonesia. However, despite the developing markets, GM must ensure adequate skills and training for employees and address the rising competition with regional and local firms. If these analysis is properly checked and attended to, GM can expect growth if it ensure competitive advantage.
• Social cultural factors includes. Today the car you drive represent your status, anyone who drive big cars is thought to be wealthy so, manufacturer should be aware of this and tailored the product to target the market. Increasing demands of electric vehicles which is a new business line and also self-driving vehicles. There is high demand of electric vehicles. This external factors is a great opportunity for general motors through the sales and manufacturing of electric under any of their brands. Also on the other hand, ride-hailing program is a threat to organizations like GM.
• Technological factors. The internet is a major breakthrough when it comes to technology and has affected almost every industry in the universe and GM is not left out. Study by J.D Power and associates in 2002 using 27,000 new vehicle buyers as sample come to a conclusion that, 60% of buyers refer to the internet facility in the car before making a purchase decision. Also, out of the 60%, 88% visits the sites before going to test drive. The internets have also increase efficiency and lower cost. GM invested in technologies in its operations and develop competitive advantage in the market this aspect analyses the technological trends and conditions. The following external technological issues relating to general motors includes; increasing self-driving vehicles technology and rising fuel efficiency in automobiles.
• Demographics/Ecological. This analysis evaluate the external activities that deals with ecological changes and trends which affect supply chain, product usage and the resources availability. Here, GM should address changes in climate pattern which is an opportunity for the company. So also there is rising concerns on the air quality which is a signal to direct innovation and development to electric cars which is a new and emerging business for automakers. Also, the baby boomer is a target from every product now especially when the old generation is preparing to retire and most likely will spend less money. The focus has shifted to younger generations (Generation X) who are between 20s and 30s, according to a survey, generation x will occupy 30% of the vehicle sales within 5 years from now. Legal factor issues includes; Expanding regulations and safety, stricter emissions regulations and expanding environmental regulations. Most of the big companies like Daimler, BMW, and Volkswagen, Volvo etc. come together to create trade association and form alliance of car manufacturer. The goal was to replace the American automobile manufacturer association that focusses only on the US manufacturer, they aim at working on public policy matters of common interest to provide strong industry, information and data and seek consistent global regulatory.

Expanding automobile safety is good for GM product development in regards to external factor which point at stricter emission regulations which is an opportunity for the company to improve products. The company can inculcate the emerging safety regulations in product design to boost the brands value. Additionally to the external analysis shown, various issues that influence GM has been listed but the global concern of automobile emission and the rising competition in markets stand as most significant issues facing GM externally. After a details PESTEL analysis, it is important to conclude and make view recommendations which includes; GM should increase investment on R&D to enhance product development especially to meet the growing demand for hybrid an electric cars. GM should also open dealership network in developing countries to exploit potentials. Improve sustainability issue to strengthen GM corporate image.

Internal and External Analysis of GM According to Mintzverg Design School

The Mintzberg school of thought explain the following: The school view strategy formation as essential fit between internal and external aspect. (Mintzberg et al 2003:23). He views internal factors as threat and weaknesses and external as opportunity and threats. However, GM in this case study will have to conduct a proper SWOT analysis using both the internal and external challenges using Mintzberg’s Design School.

1. Strenght. GM has been leading the automotive industry since the 20th century, although the company had some issues but its market shares still strong in the sector. GM has branches around the world and also have rising share in developing countries. Additionally, GM had different brands such as Cadillac, Chevrolet and operates in more than 100 countries around the world and has almost 250,000 staffs. In the case study, GM also at a time said to be richer that both its competitors put together which is an advantage to the company. GM has also invested so much in technology even when ‘Roger smith’ took over, he still invested 100 ($) of millions of dollars in technology which further give GM an edge in over its competitors.
2. Weaknesses. Analyzing the weaknesses of general motors to me as a manager, I would say the management practices is the number weakness they face during the period. In modern day’s management, there are better management style like the democratic style instead of autocratic which GM uses. From Goleman 6 leadership style lecture note by McDonagh. T (2019). Also not making appropriate planning for change through innovation of new product to meet customers need cause a great setback and gave Toyota an opportunity to take advantages of their weaknesses. Another challenge is GM not investing in the new trends of alternative energy. Toyota and Honda are using these fuel efficient product to put GM of the market and also Toyota and Honda are producing more environmental friendly cars which has led to GM losing its market share and also profit.
3. Opportunity. In the past view years, GM has achieved an increase in the Chinese market and this has made GM start seeing the opportunities in foreign markets. The opportunity of producing the hybrid cars and electric cars is still an ongoing one with enormous opportunity so GM should take use of that. Also developing new models would be a good opportunity to compete with the Japanese manufacturer of small high quality design at a reasonable cost to at least attract their customers back. Also is to innovate fuel efficient cars to meet the growing demands of consumers.
4. Threats. The very alarming production cost is a big threats for GM. They should device a way to cute down production cost while maintaining quality. Another course for concern is the consistent increase in fuel price. After the steel price increase noticed and the economic recession in 2008 it has posed an enough threats to start thinking on producing hybrid cars if not. It will be difficult to cut down production cost.

BCG Matrix Analysis of GM

The BCG is related to the product life cycle and to me, I think some products that not economical should be scrabbled off the product list, product like hummer, Ford and Cadillac. Products like Pontiac, Chevrolet which are fuel efficient and portable should be invested in the more. Also hybrid and electric cars should be on the production line.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I analyzed GM corporation using different models such as porter FF, BCG, PESTEL and the SWOT Analysis and I concluded that mistake is inevitable in business, what is most important is the plans in place to redirect the operations toward its goals, however minimizing the mistake is very important as so can be very delicate and can go as far as taking you off the Market. Looking at the history, GM was doing well before the Japanese competitor enter the market and displaced them. Its mean they were just managing in the bubbles and not prepared from change. They underrate the strength of the Japanese management strategy and waited until they begin to lose the market share and business profit. After the long analysis I will make some recommendations for GM as a manager.

Firstly, GM should change their management style from autocratic to democratic or consultative style where employees feel important and have a sense of belonging in the organization. Secondly, relationship management is a great deal in business, therefore, GM should practice it with their supplier and other stakeholders in the organization. Lastly, GM should refine it production line and cross train its employees to do more while maintaining motivation of staffs.

Business Analysis of ZARA’s Company

Zara is a clothing and accessories retailer based in Spain. The company designs, manufactures, distributes and markets clothing and accessories for both men and women. Its product portfolio includes coat, jeans, knitwear, shirts, t-shirts, shoes, handbags, lower garments, upper garments, coats, jackets, dresses, skirts, trousers, cosmetics and complements. The company markets its products through its brand, Zara.

The purpose of this report is to undertake a business analysis of Zara, based on the current position within the company. Zara’s story begins with the opening of first store in the Spanish coastal city of A Coruña in 1975, an early milestone in the company’s long history. Over the years, Zara has become one of the largest and best known retail brands, on a global scale. It belongs to Inditex, one of the world’s largest distribution groups, and Zara is the largest Inditex division – accounting for more than 75% of total Inditex sales.

Zara now has 2,251 stores strategically located in leading cities across 96 countries. It is no surprise that Zara, which started off as a small store in Spain, is now the world’s largest fast fashion retailer and its founder, Amancio Ortega, is the sixth richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine.

Today, Inditex is the world’s largest fashion group with more than 170,000 employees operating more than 7,400 stores in 96 markets worldwide and 49 online markets.

Background to Retailer

Zara was founded by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera. Its first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing and fashion. Amancio Ortega named Zara as such because his preferred name Zorba was already taken. In the next 8 years, Zara’s approach towards fashion and its business model gradually generated traction with the Spanish consumer. This led to the opening of 9 new stores in the biggest cities of Spain.

In 1985, Inditex was incorporated as a holding company, which laid the foundations for a distribution system capable of reacting to shifting market trends extremely quickly. Ortega created a new design, manufacturing, and distribution process that could reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, which he called ‘instant fashion’. This was driven by heavy investments in information technology and utilising groups instead of individual designers for the critical ‘design’ element.

In the next decade, Zara began aggressively expanding into global markets, which included Portugal, New York (USA), Paris (France), Mexico, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, Malta, Cyprus, Norway and Israel. Today, there is hardly a developed country without a Zara store.

In 2003 Zara took a big leap within their marketing strategy and launched ‘Zara Home’. In 2006 they developed their ‘Environmental strategic plan’ which formalised the aim to ensure their business operations are environmentally responsible and sustainable. 2010 was a massive year for Zara as a company as they launched their brand online. Zara is constantly looking for new innovative ways to adapt their business and market strategy.

Market Positioning Analysis

Zara currently has a revenue of $191.4 Million, only having 10.00 employees Zara has multiple competitors within the market sector. The main one being H&M. H&M was founded in Stockholm, 1947 and generates $18.8 Billion more revenue than Zara with the total revenue of $29.7 Billion and has 171,000 employees. Urban Outfitters was founded in 1970, Pennsylvania. With 23,000 employees (13,000 more than Zara) Urban has a revenue of $3.9 Billion. GAP was founded in 1969, Warwickshire. Whilst having such little brand recognition from consumers and only 138 employees, GAP generates 0.02% of the revenue Zara does, leaving them with a total revenue of $2.3 Million.

The 4Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Zara is trying to fit into multiple positions by having exclusive items at prestige prices as well providing for a mass market and selling items at budget price-points. Zara choose not to sell clothing basics (such as socks and underwear) in order to maintain their identity as a fashion provider rather than just ‘clothing’, meaning that even their budget items are perceived as being more exclusive and fashionable than the equivalent item from a mass market competitor. Urban Outfitters is a fraction more exclusive than Zara in terms of product design. Thei designs are a lot more ‘unique’ and ‘edgy’, yet fairly basic items can also be found within store and online. They have an all-round prestige price with even the simplest garment being no cheaper than £20. H&M and GAP are roughly on the same spectrum as both are a lot more affordable then Zara and Urban Outfitters and both cater for the mass market by stocking a large variety of basic core products, suitable for anyone.

One of Zara’s biggest strengths is being able to quickly and effectively conform to the customers changing needs. Zara’s unique selling preposition is to create the latest trends and new styles. Zara’s garments are well suited for the targeted market and follows the brands ethos and aesthetics. New designs are constantly getting fed into Zara’s rapid production process, having a fast turnaround from the initial design process to point of sale.

Following the Bowman’s Strategic Clock model, Zara is a hybrid company in regard to having low price products but a lot of differentiation. Zara has a great example of price architecture with lowest, mid, premium and top-price products. Their top-price products are stocked in lower volumes and often aren’t available throughout all stores or maybe exclusively through just their website, helping their business maintain exclusivity.

Zara has a unique marketing strategy of ‘zero investment in marketing’ where they put all the money they would spend on marketing into opening new stores. They rely heavily on customers promoting their company for them. They also rely massively on social media such as Instagram to promote and showcase some of their new lines and up and coming products.

Zara has stores situated all over the world, primarily located in city centres; every store being spacious and modern. With Zara being a Bricks and Mortar store their products are instantly available to more of their consumers. However, having to keep multiple stores stocked with the latest lines will come at considerable logistics costs.

Zara focuses on pulling their customers to their stores and products rather than pushing the product to their customers. They have a very good relationship with their designers and manufacturers enabling them to produce such a large quantity of clothing at a reasonably high quality in a small-time frame. Staff at all levels need to share the goals of the directors and be able to cope with the fast turnaround required by the business model.

Zara offers fast fashion with a wide variety of garments, constantly updating and replenishing stock. Zara makes the process of buying and viewing their products very accessible to many customers all over the world, through omni-channel retailing and their bricks and mortar stores. Customers can order online or in-store and have their items delivered to a chosen address or a local store for convenience. Returns can also be handled in store or by post.

Zara has a very minimal approach when it comes to their identity. Emulating a luxurious feel through minimal exclusivity. They do not provide brochures, magazines or look books for their customers to pick up like their competitors do, this is purely down to their ‘zero investment in marketing’ strategy. Unlike other brands Zara shopping bags are very minimal and understated. The whole brand itself is very understated and simplistic especially when it comes to the ambiance, facilities, retail fixtures, store windows and signage.

Value Proposition

The well-established, high-street omni- channel retailer offers fast fashion, on-trend garments at a reasonable price. Using modern and spacious stores they are able to arrange their merchandise to be relevant to a fashion-conscious customer. Despite their value proposition being tried and tested, fast fashion is not a sustainable style of production. Currently, Zara does not exceed quality standards due to the fact that they often use J-I-T production, meaning that further improving quality would only increase production costs. This would mean higher quality goods and the ability to charge a higher price. Despite the possibility of higher prices decreasing sales, the ethical appeal of a more environmentally-conscious retailers is likely to out balance that.

Key Partners

Zara’s many partners include: suppliers, textiles producers, shopping centres, corporate social responsibility organisation, brands from their fashion group e.g. Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Berksha etc. All of these partners are imperative for what Zara want to achieve, relating to competition, product quality, price, location, cost, reputation etc. However, a key partner that arguably has the most power over Zara is the holding company that owns them, Inditex. They claim that they are ‘bringing attractive and responsible fashion’. This is something that Zara should be seen to publicly commit to throughout the supply chain and product life cycle, not just by having ethical workplaces but taking accountability for their impact on the environment and reducing it.

Key Activities and Resources

A major factor of Zara’s successful infrastructure is their use of vertical integration. Not only do they create increased control over their supply chain but, costs are lower and competitiveness increases. Such control over their supply chain is necessary to help Zara invest in the latest trends as well as have over 2,100 branches in 88 countries and to also take control of their company culture (which seems to be on-trend and low costs). The increased control aids Zara in reducing reliability risks. They have such a quick turnaround and short lead times with a design being able to get to the shop floor within 5 weeks. Their tactical shop location and professional store layout enables them to also create a limited supply effect, this will also decrease the risk of markdowns.

To succeed as a leader of the high-street, they rely on multiple elements. Logistics, shipping, manufacturing, trend forecasting, design, sales and much more. Design within Zara is created by some of Inditex’s’ 700 designers which are split into men’s, women’s, children and home. The designing coming from Inditex provides a reliable source. In contrast to this, Zara could find it beneficial to invest in having in-house designers, due to their production frequently fluctuating. This could further enhance Zara’s pre-existing flexible production facilities.

Customer Relationships and Channels

Interaction with customers is key. With a global customer feedback portal, quick alters and improvements can be made to existing lines, preventing the likelihood of line failures and markdowns. Artificial scarcity is also created which lowers chances of having stock that they cannot sell. Returns and shipping are free with items over a certain amount. Zara also induce impulse buying through paying extra for specific locations where there is a lot of footfall. To achieve such services, it is important for Zara to efficiently reach their customers and communicate. Being an omni channel retailer they achieve this through: e-commerce, website, apps, newsletters, social media, YouTube etc. through social media it is easy, cheap advertisement and an accessible way to monitor their target market. Having said this, Zara must be careful to not irritate customers as well as try too hard to fit into a specific target market. They are relatively unique in comparison with their competitors and have a range of merchandise for a variety of age ranges. They should invest in ways of advertising such as billboards and newsletters. Another thing that Zara is not currently taking advantage of is a loyalty card. This would allow them to clearly identify preferences and shopping habits of their customers, allowing their products and customer service to be tailored accordingly, ensuring customers feel valued and listened too.

Customer Segments

Zara has a fashion conscious, young target market. A market that are on a budget yet sensitive to the latest trends. Their product line is currently segmented at 60% women, 25% men and 15% children. Although this is a similar TM to the majority of their competitors, with such a wide range of basic, professional and designer inspired garments, there should be a greater focus on a wider age group. Zara, although low cost, do have more expensive merchandise that would be better received by older women, e.g. their real leather jackets are over £100 vs fake leather jacket retailing at £39.99. Their website and in-store environment are both very professional and mature, a customer segment that they are currently not taking advantage of.

Cost Structure and Revenue Streams

Costs come from all aspects of the business: physical branches, head office, employees, overheads, advertisement, materials, manufacture, design, logistics, IT, HR etc. Zara are known for putting in a lot of investment into opening new stores. The high-street is currently taking a hit from the internet and they may want to look into re-investing profits to their e-commerce e.g. their website receives negative feedback due to its impractical nature and difficult navigation. Having said this, J-I-T production results in little inventory within the supply chain and therefore lower capital requirements. Zara’s only revenue streams are their website and in their stores. An issue with the in-store experience is the lack of tills. There are often ques which turns customers away. They should look into re-directing current profits away from making more branches and perfecting their current stores as well as creating a much more practical and transactional website or allowing purchases through their app.

Routes to Market and SWOT Analysis

Zara is well known Omni-channel retailer. It gets omni-channel experience properly to start off with smallest details such as their mobile app and website, that it is easy to use to various shipping methods. Store has various ways for client to buy their desired product. It reaches all main touch points and they work together very well, for example; client can order clothes online and can easily choose which way he wants to receive their order. Store offers various ways such as free pick up in store, home delivery, drop point and etc. For busy customers in some cities retailer offers precise day and time delivery, so client do not have to worry about delivery time. But this is not only strength that this store have. Zara can be proud of their unique designs, all clothes look expensive and come in lot varieties including menswear, womenswear, and even kid’s clothes. It easily adapts with all trends. Designs from conception to stores can be delivered in two weeks. That kind of speed bypasses all competitors and attracts big amount of customers to the stores and earns name of trend prediction store. And last but probably the biggest strength is low prices, that helps attract wider customer circle. However, this retailer has weaknesses. Probably the most important one is lack of advertisement. Having creative and memorable ads can help to reach wider audience and double up the sales ratings. The second Zara weakness is a low stock, that usually is a problem, because of fast moving trends stores do not keep a lot of stock in stores and sometimes if particular design is a hit, it won’t reach its potential. There are so much place to grow for this retailer and some opportunities need to take into considering for example building brighter brand image by creating flagship products that would help to create strong brand identity and get known for that. Other opportunity for this retailer is market expansion to other continents and new countries. Right now, this retailer based only in Europe but growing into broader market would make difference in sales as well as in customer satisfaction. However, Zara has threads that can do impact in sales. One of the most common threat is competitors. There are many similar stores that focuses on the same target customer and all retailers have their own way to overtake the competitors. Another big threat to the store is economic instability. Coming Brexit can effect product pricing due to changing political relationships with Europe and it can decrease this retailer sales and profit.

Customer Experience

For customer experience the first impressions are most important thing. Because of the low advertisement Zara have to have inviting exterior to represent the brand and welcoming interior to keep customers satisfied. Zara store style is elegant and minimalistic and make this retailer look sophisticated and expensive. Exterior of the store is eye-catching and inviting, all stores have security guards, so customer can feel safe around the store. Zara interior design is minimalistic, usually black and white colors to not distract the customer. The store is always kept clean and clothes presented very well. Mannequins are styled with trendy looks and inspire the customer for bolder looks and different styling options. There are multiple paying options around the stores, some stores have self-served options. Usually in store there are no lines near payment counters, so the customer do not need to spend long time at the checkout. In most of the stores now Zara bringing new technologies to help out for busy clients for example streamlining checkout with self-service, that means that customer can skip checkout lines and purchase clothes thru self-service kiosks. Also store offers click and collect option to for customers to order and pay with mobile app in-store. Some of the fitting rooms include radio frequency identification technology, which scans clothes in the fitting room and offers customer clothes that goes well with chosen ones. Thanks to the technology Zara moves forward with customer experience fast, leaving behind all competitors. Zara online site can be confusing for the first time users that makes the customer to download the mobile Zara app for easer online shopping experience. The app is extremely easy to use and the download time is very fast. Using online shopping during check out customer is presented with various payment options. Also there are multiple delivery options. This retailer does not invest money into advertising, but rather into location of the stores. Only looking at the numbers (6,500 stores in 88 countries) it is clear to see that stores are expanding and usually located in the most popular shopping places in every city. Zara brand is well known for their unique designs and ability to create new trends and at the same time keeping low prices. In addition to this, store improves fast in terms of customer experience and tries to understand and respect customer opinion and critique.

Conclusion

Zara is in a particularly strong position within the fashion market, having established itself as a brand name that produces cutting-edge fashion ahead of its rivals, and at a low-cost. Despite this, it is important that the retailer recognizes the forces that are impacting on the external market and uses its own internal strengths to ensure that it retains a competitive advantage, thus enabling it to maintain its position within the market, as one of the brand leaders. Particular emphasis should be placed on the strengths within the supply chain, as this enables Zara to bring products to the market, at a particularly rapid rate. Furthermore, cost pressures are also being placed on the company, which requires the design team to become more efficient when creating designs that can be turned into garments, at the lowest possible cost, without sacrificing ethical standings.

Simply put, it is argued that Zara needs to continue to do what it is doing, currently; however, it needs to do it better, with greater emphasis being placed on ethical behaviour, meeting customer demands for new and innovative fashion, while at the same time retaining low-costs, across every aspect of its operation. The focus of ZARA is on the modern generation and the latest trends. It reflects in its store designs as well as fashion trends. However, despite its strong image and large size, there are challenges ahead. ZARA must ready itself to face these challenges. Moreover, investing in modern technologies and increasing its investment in marketing will also help the brand grow faster and achieve better results. The good thing about ZARA is that rather than trying to create a business brand, it invested in building a customers’ brand- something that each of its customers could connect with and feel proud of. Customer satisfaction became a core focus of its business model and that’s how it was able to achieve astounding success and global recognition.

Reference List

1. INDITEX (2019) Zara [Online] Inditex. Available from: https://www.inditex.com/en/about-us/our-brands/zara [Accessed 07/03/19]
2. Fedorows, K. (2003) Zara. Supply chain forum, 4 (2), pp. 62-67. Available from: DMU Library
3. Anonymous, (2014) Zara – company capsule. GlobalData plc. Basingstoke (2014) Available from: DMU Library
4. Roll, M. (2018) The Secret of Zara’s Success: A Culture of Customer Co-creation [Online], Available from: https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/strategy/the-secret-of-zaras-success-a-culture-of-customer-co-creation/

Software Engineering in Business Analysis: Analytical Essay

Abstract—

Using different concepts of software engineering this term paper shows the reluctance of software engineering to the elements of business analysis like business model, E-commerce and E-business trends with technologies and change management processes. Current scenario is business analyst make business model and do other processes with own method and processes. However, business models, e-business and change management done by business analyst is best at its extant but we can improve its efficiency and accuracy by applying software engineering concepts into business analysis.

Keywords—Software engineering, Project Lifecycle, business analyst, business model, business analysis, e-commerce and e-business, change management, efficiency.

I. Introduction

Business analysis is a research field of discipline which identify problem, want and solution of current problem occurring in business organisation. Solution purposed by business analyst often include some concepts and processes of software-system development components, not only this thong but also it deals with improvement of process, change in organisational, long-term short term goal, planning in organisation. This processes are very crucial for any organisation, it carries major part in project planning. Processes of business analyst can be improved using concepts of software engineering. For any project by using concepts of software engineering we can improve that software project like software development life cycle implement, software project models, software development processes. Before the Software engineering building the software project was a much harder than now. Same concepts of Software Engineering can be applied into Business analysis processes and functionalities. So this paper first describes software engineering concepts in Business model then in E-commerce and E-business after that in change management system.

II. Software engineering concepts in business model

Generally business models are made for business organization to show path for long run and short run. It describes that how Business organization will make, accumulate and delivers value in prospective environment to be in market and to do well. It also shows value in terms of economic, social, cultural and other things. So, importance of business model is much more than any other thing. It also shows the target customers and policies. There are many types of business model, we can apply software concepts in all business models types. Some of them are listed below.

1. Hidden Revenue business model
2. One-for-one business model
3. Razor and blade revenue model
4. Cash conversion business model
5. Peer-to-peer business model

Now we apply concepts of software engineering in generation of Business Model.

A. Choosing perfect canvas

In this step first business analyst choose perfect business model canvas for making business model. Business model canvas differs minor for different types of business models. Business model should mainly contain key partners, key activities, key proposition, value proposition, customer relationship, customer segment, key resources, distribution channel, cost structure and revenue stream in business model canvas.

B. Requirement gathering

We can relate this step with the requirement gathering for software engineering in which we gather requirements for software project in same way we do this to make business model. There are sub steps in this step

1. Feasibility Study

In this sub step business analyst decide that partner, processes, activities, resources, channel or other thing which is require to make business model canvas is worthwhile or not. After the sort study we can check it is feasible or not.

2. Requirement elicitation and analysis

After getting the requirements from feasible study Business analyst can do some more research on that requirement to elicit that other than this do we need more or not. After that it will be analysed by the Business Analyst.

3. Requirement specification

In this step we converge the view point and need of requirement gathered by the upper steps.

4. Requirement validation

This step validate requirement in perspectives of our business organization. Requirements that we chose from upper steps Business analyst validate that are that requirements are really requirements that we needed for our business organization.

Thus business analyst can gather requirements to make business Model.

Figure 2.1

C. Iterative Process to complete

In Business Organisation business models are not made in just one shot. Developing Business model is one iterative and continues process in which Business analyst have to edit business model continues to make perfect Business Model. In this process we can apply Iterative Development business model process similar to iterative waterfall process.

D. Creating Business Model Canvas

In this step after finalising the perfect requirement and reviews of customer business analyst finalise the Requirement and make the final Business Model. On bases of this business model short term and long term goal of that business organization will be decided.

E. Testing Business model

Before finalising and applying business model into goals and plans of business model testing of Business Model must be needed just like testing of software project. Testing can be done by doing virtual visualisation by running business.

After that this final process business model is ready to develop in to business organisation.

III. Software engineering concepts in E-commerce and e-business

E-commerce and E-business are top buzz word in 21th century. To understand E-commerce we can commensurate it with middle man in any business who just buy goods from wholesaler and sells goods to customer. E-business is one step ahead than E-commerce it also provide other services and we can call it running business by using Internet.

By developing or starting E-Commerce / E-Business basic need person wants is platform which provide interface between customer and business person. For that one software project is basic element of E-Commerce / E-Business. Developing software is much important than any other thing in E-Commerce / E-Business. So, much focus, precision and accuracy is needed for that software platform. By developing software project Business Analyst can follow these software which are describe below:

A. Choosing appropriate Development Life cycle

For developing software project project-manager and business analyst have to coordinate and decide that which life cycle to choose for developing software for E-Commerce / E-Business. Many life cycles can be choose according to their property and constrains. And requirement which business organization wants. Like of business organization needed software in short amount of time, with very high accuracy or at low cost. According to that Project manager and Business analyst have to decide DLC. This decision can make business organization better or worse because this is one of the most important decision

B. Planning

Developing E-Commerce / E-Business needed proper planning and tracing. Without planning and tracing there will be mess in E-Commerce / E-Business and starting E-Commerce / E-Business will never be done. So, proper planning and tracing in salient feature of successful E-Commerce / E-Business. In planning Business analyst can allocate or outsource some of the business processes to reduce the cost and complexity of processes. Outsourcing can be very helpful for business organization if it is used properly and with proper planning. Business analyst can take help of Gantt chart and other planning concepts of Software engineering to plan and to keep trace of Business processes.

C. Requirement Gathering

Just same as Project requirement gathering in software engineering Business analyst can apply this concept in E-Commerce / E-Business development to do work efficiently. Before doing any process Business Analyst should gather requirement needed for E-Commerce / E-Business establishment. This step can further divide into 4 sub steps as we did in Software engineering concepts in Business model. These steps are:

1. Feasibility Study
2. Requirement elicitation and analysis
3. Requirement Specification
4. Requirement validation

After completing these 4 steps E-Commerce / E-Business can move further.

D. Verification and Validation

When software has being developed verification and validation is must step which is as important as other steps. Business analyst have to check whether the developed system is working as per expectancy or not. There may be chance that there is glitch in software product. If this step is not done properly that that glitch or error will be deployed with the software launching. Without verification and validation software may face problems in long term and your E-Commerce / E-Business can be affected.

E. Cost planning

In this step cost of whole project or module is estimated. Then Business analyst will check the requirement and feasibility of that module. If cost will be high and E-Commerce / E-Business will be in loss and module can be modify.

F. Testing

In this step Testing of whole E-Commerce / E-Business can be done. First software testing will be done, processes testing, and other testing will be done by Business Analyst. After completing this part E-Commerce / E-Business is ready to start.

IV. Software engineering concepts in change management

Change management is process in which change is applied to various levels of business organization. Change can be applied to single level or multiple level. For applying change Business analyst will look up to software engineering concepts. Steps are shown below:

A. Requirement Gathering

Before applying change into whole organization Business Analyst have to study that in which part change is required and how change can be applied in that organization. Whole organizational factors should be take into consideration to apply the change into Business Organization.

B. Preparing for Change

After gathering requirement Business analyst have to prepare organisation for a change which organisation will be going through. In that Business analyst first define that what change will be applied to organization. After that Business analyst will prepare organization’s management team to apply the change. By concluding preparing change Business analyst develop company’s sponsorship model.

C. Managing Change

In this step Business analyst make plans for organization that how change will be applied to different levels and at which level. First step Business analyst will take is that develop change management plan and after that team can take action and implement that change in to organisation.

D. Reinforcement Change

After implementing change into organization Business analyst will take feedback from people and analyse that at which level this change fails and succeed. After finding faults in change Business analyst diagnose that gaps and manage resistance. If this step is done properly than we can say that change is applied successfully.

E. Cost Estimation

Before applying change into organization Business analyst have to estimate the cost of change which is going to apply into the organization. If cost will be high than Business analyst have to calculate that in how much time this cost can be recovered if it is feasible than Business analyst can proceed further.

Thus Business analyst can take help of Software engineering concepts to manage change.

V. Innovation

By applying amalgam of Software engineering and Business Analysis we can create innovative projects. By considering this field I want suggest one innovative product which uses the amalgamation of Software engineering and business analysis. The Product which predict the feasibility of Business model created by Business analyst. As previously discussed we can apply concepts of Software Engineering to develop Business Model after that we can create Prediction Model which consider and train by the processes which used by Business analyst to develop Business Model. Here we are not predicting the success rate of Business Model but we are predicting the feasibility. In this model we are not training our model by Fields parameters of business model but we consider the process.

By considering process we can find that which process and at which quality processes are implemented to develop Business Model. We can further take into consideration which key partners and customer segmentation are involved. Thus we can apply innovation with the help of both interconnected branches of science.

Conclusion

In this document, We discussed that how concepts of Software Engineering can be useful in business analysis. This paper suggest and discuss about the procedure to use SE concepts to create Business Model to increase efficiency and effectiveness. How we can improve overall quality of E-Commerce / E-Business using proper methods of SE. How Change management can be modify using processes of SE. Last we proposed one innovative solution using Software engineering and business analysis. In conclusion, there can be various application by union of these two fields.

References

1. https://image.slidesharecdn.com/crutialstepsinrequirementgathering-170329171048/95/crutial-steps-in-requirement-gathering-4-638.jpg?cb=1490809852
2. https://www.careerbuilder.com/advice/software-engineers-are-needed-in-every-industry
3. https://courses.uwe.ac.uk/6F3B/software-engineering-for-business
4. https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-e-commerce-and-e-business.html
5. https://fourweekmba.com/what-is-a-business-model/
6. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/14qKnGB1_Tg3F8NGi3h-5RLcYiLFSHTnG
7. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/software_engineering/

Operational Analysis of Zara Fashion: Strengths, Weaknesses and Recommendations

A. Introduction

Zara, a fast-fashion retailer, is founded by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera in Spain 1975. It is the world’s largest clothing retailer owned by Inditex. Zara operates in 2,238 stores across 96 markets and 48 online markets, reacting to the ever-changing business environment quickly. By having the core values of beauty, clarity, functionality, and sustainability, the company expanded through Porto, Portugal and globally. The headquarters of Zara is located at Arteixo, leading by the CEO Óscar Pèrez Marcotte. According to the accounting report of Zara (2018), they made $18.9 billion in revenue annually.

As previously mentioned, Zara could make responses promptly towards market demand. They often set up a new trendy collection to increase the loyalty of the customers. They are using pull strategies instead of using push strategies to reach customers. Moreover, in light of environmental factors, they recognize the urgency of water pollution which they committed to zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.

On the other hand, Inditex started launching online, raising the exposure of products in the future. Apart from the technological factors, Inditex plans to allocate more resources to flagship stores and at the same time closing the secondary stores. It shows that the quality outweighs the quantity in Inditex that could also expand the net space without cutting any labor supply.

According to Tan (2019), Inditex has promised that they would change the materials to be organic and sustainable, reused and organic such as cotton, linen and polyester in 100% and will use 80% of renewable energy to operating by 2025. As Inditex is the parent’s company of Zara, Zara must follow its regulations which they have developed a new environmentally friendly collection which call Join Life. Inditex also states that they would not use plastic bags and would change it into paper bags by 2020. These sustainable actions are in order to maintain the natural resources and avoid wasting any packaging.

Power/Interest Matrix helps consider the attitude of stakeholders at the start of a project or when setting out strategic objectives (Boddy, 2019). The axes show, in stakeholders, the high and low in interest and power stakeholders who need to keep informed, monitor, keep satisfies and manage closely. Customers have lots of substitute in the markets however customers are very important to the business as the business need people to consume so they should be kept satisfied. Shareholders, owner, suppliers. competitors and managers need to manage closely. Government just need to be monitor. Finally, employees, communities and leaders need to be kept informed.

B. Internal and external analysis

SWOT analysis

Strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors of the business situation. There are four strength and weakness but one would be interrupted in more depth. Fast fashion with sustainability, high economies of scale, good design advantages and loads of branches including 2242 around the world are the strengths. Large amount of turnover, hard to hire people, staff lack of motivation in large company and staffs are dependent are the weakness (Zara full account, 2019, p. 2). As Zara are sustainable, it would affect the company and the customers. According to Butler (2018), although there is not lots of customers to against fast fashion, being sustainability in fast fashion can increase the reputation of the company as cited in Barry (2018). Moreover, customers would be more willing to buy as the products are produced in a more ethical way. Although Zara need to be environmentally friendly, it would not decrease the various of product design and the profit it earns. It would not restrict the choices to the customers but also can be sustainable. Although Zara is still need to design lots of products to meet customers and the markets, it changes the materials which can be recycle to maintain sustainability.

Opportunities and threats are the two crucial external factors for helping and harming the accomplishment of the company’s objectives respectively. There are four opportunities including augmented reality (AR)-enabled shop, online development, recycling and expansion. Significant improvement of the company’s revenue has been made in Zara by launching the augmented reality (AR)-enabled shop in 120 stores worldwide. By clicking the detectors in the store, the customers could have a glimpse on models’ wearing. With the advanced technology, people crave for a brand-new experience in which Zara’s marketing mix is changed from the traditional 4 Ps strategies (Product, Place, Price, Promotion) to 4 Es strategies (experience, exchange, evangelism and every place strategies). As a result, engagement took place on wherever you walked through the shop or even at the door front. Zara is prestigious for its rapid response to the market. In terms of customers, Augmented reality facilitates them in the consumer buying decision process (information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase evaluation). For instance, AR could accelerate the buying decision in which customers could firm their alternatives by looking at how they appear on the screen but not trying them on in the real life. In terms of company, with AR, store visits would increase with a higher satisfaction rate on the products. AR is an invisible hand on boosting sales as both supply and demand would intentionally grow at the same time.

There are several threats encountered by the company which includes Brexit, global competition from direct substitutes, cultural divergence as well as disposal issues. In terms of economic, cultural and environmental development, these factors are harmful to the archive of the company’s objectives.

Porter’s Five Forces

When it comes to Porter’s Five Forces, what immediately springs to mind is the competitive environment which includes buyers’ power, suppliers’ power, threat of substitution, threat of new entry and competitive rivalry. The main driver of competitive rivalry is the number of and the capability of competitors in the market. Simply saying, if many competitors offer undifferentiated products and services, it will lower our power.

Besides the number of competitors, the quality difference will also affect the degree of competitive rivalry. If the competitors of Zara, such as H&M offer more high-quality clothing, it lowers our power obviously. Customers can easily switch to buy the products there. Moreover, customers also focus on other differences, for example, there is a 15% student discounts of H&M whereas there is no student discounts of Zara. This lowers Zara’s power. Although there is no perfect information in the world, customers may easily search for extra information in the Internet.

In line with quality and discount difference, assume that all customers are rational and maximize their profit, they will lower their cost, including the time cost. As a result, they will choose the fast fashion shop next to them rather than going to a shop which is so far away if the price and quality are more or less the same.

The last factor affecting the competitive rivalry is the customer loyalty. If Zara provides a better before-sale service and after-sale service, for instance, introducing to the customers with detailed explanation, it will probably strengthen their powers. Zara not only focuses on its employees with company initiatives on diversity, reverence and equal chances, but also focuses on their work-life balance and feelings. Therefore, employees will treat the customers well with high motivation. Also, in terms of buyers’ power, the number of buyers is also an important factor of the strength of buyers’ power. If a business has lower powerful buyers, they often able to dictate terms which increases their power.

In terms of number of buyers, Zara currently having 2131 stores within 96 markets. Zara also setting up 154 online markets which shows that Zara is a multinational companies operating in more than one country. Their market shares are having a significant high percentage of market share (1%). The more customers a business has the higher bargaining power the business have because of the fact that small amount of customers stop purchasing does not affect the business financial performance. Refer to Zara market shares and number of customers, it shows that Zara have high bargaining power to customer.

Regarding size of order, Zara customers do not do bulk buying because Zara customer are all normal citizens instead of large business. People tend to buy only dew piece of product per purchase. Therefore, Zara have greater bargaining power than customers do.

With regard to price sensibility, although Zara having high percentage of market shares, there are many competitions in the clothing industry. It could possible weaken Zara power against the customer. Clothing industry is a market that fluctuating and lots of unpredictable issues customers will possibly switch supplier or stop consuming anytime. The competitiveness in clothing industry strengthen customer bargaining power to Zara. When there are many choices ,customer will then choose the one. In terms of cost of switching, there are no cost for customer to switch supplier.There are low cost for customers to switch suppliers because there are plenty of choices. The only cost is can’t wear Zara’s product.

C. Critical analysis of CSR

In terms of the economic responsibilities in the Carroll’s corporate social responsibilities model, economic responsibilities(profit) is the foundation or the basement on which all the others are built. It is the only way to help society in the long-run basis. According to Drucker (1973), “Profit is not the primary goal, but rather an essential condition for the company’s continued existence and sustainability”. In accordance with the annual report of Zara (2019), their net profit margin is 13.19 percent which is much higher than the net profit margin of People Tree by more than eight percent which is five percent.

Legal factors are the responsibility to follow laws and not against it. People found that there were notes hidden in Zara product that notes “I made this item you are going to buy, but I didn’t get paid for it”, – which is written by the workers working Zara’s factory. It shows that Zara or Zara’s supplier are not paying workers wages for their work. But people tree did pay minimum wage for their workers which could maintain workers daily expenses.

In terms of ethical responsibilities, Zara promised that all its products will be entirely mohair-free by 2020. Although there were scandals of the inappropriate use of labor in their production, they promised a prohibition on child labor and forbiting on discrimination in the workplace. On the other side, People Tree is the pioneer of Fair Trade which concerns about the people, product as well as the environment.

Philanthropic responsibilities are people desire company to have. It shows how the company would whether give the resources which they have earned to the communities in a non-profit way and also need to be a good corporate citizen (Boddy, 2019). As mentioned above, Zara would collect the clothes which is for charity. It would donate to the non-profit organization such as Red Cross, Fabric Republic and Eden (Zara Official Website, 2019). Comparing to People Tree, they also have a charity but it is independent by People Tree and just for fair trade which means Zara is more considerate to the whole society more than People Tree (People Tree Foundation, 2019).

D. Conclusions and Recommendations

In the recommendation and conclusion, we can use electronic receipt to replace paper receipt. By developing a better Internet network, we can save more paper so that we can be sustainable and environmentally friendly. According to Isla (2019), the executive, they play a transformational role in sustainability in industry. Consequently, this meets its company’s internal value. Furthermore, it gains reputation and has a better branding effect by raising the awareness of being environmentally friendly and ethical that the society concerns a lot in modern society.

Diversification is a growth strategy which business try to enter a new market with new product. Zara can open a coffee shop market as their growth strategy. This strategy will help Zara to gain new customer. This strategy will improve Zara brand awareness because people who do not know Zara before may get a chance to know this brand because of the consumer from the coffee shop. It can also spread risk for Zara. If Zara’s clothing industry have some operation problems, Zara will still be able to make a profit in a coffee shop sector. However, there are some risks of using this strategy because Zara might face failure duel to the lack of experience of operating a coffee shop.

Essay on Tesco Functional Areas

Tesco is a household name and a giant in the world of retail. With over 6,000 stores in 12 countries, it’s an impressive feat to keep everything running smoothly. One of the ways Tesco achieves this is through its functional areas, which are specialized departments responsible for specific tasks. From finance to marketing, human resources to operations, each functional area plays a crucial role in the success of the company.

In this essay, we will explore the different functional areas of Tesco, their responsibilities, and how they work together to achieve the company’s goals. Join us as we take a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s largest retailers.

Marketing Department

The marketing department of Tesco plays a significant role in the success of the company. Its main role is to develop and implement marketing strategies that attract and retain customers, enhance brand awareness, and drive sales. The marketing department uses various strategies, such as advertising, promotions, product development, and pricing, to achieve these objectives.

The marketing department of Tesco places a strong emphasis on understanding its customers’ needs and preferences. It gathers market research data and customer insights to develop targeted marketing campaigns and tailor product offerings that meet the specific needs of different customer segments.

Effective marketing is vital to attracting and retaining customers. By creating a strong brand identity and conveying the value of its products and services, Tesco can build a loyal customer base and differentiate itself from competitors. Tesco’s marketing department also focuses on driving sales and revenue by using pricing and promotional strategies to incentivize customers to make purchases and increase the overall volume of sales.

Human Resources Department

The Human Resources (HR) department at Tesco plays a critical role in managing the company’s workforce. The primary role of HR is to attract, recruit, and retain talented employees while ensuring compliance with employment laws and regulations.

HR is also responsible for the training and development programs of Tesco employees. These programs ensure that employees acquire the skills and knowledge required to perform their roles effectively. Training and development also help employees to develop their careers and progress within the organization.

Performance management and appraisal is another critical function of HR at Tesco. It involves setting performance goals, providing regular feedback, and assessing employee performance. This process helps to identify areas where employees need improvement and provides opportunities for recognition and career progression.

Finance Department

The role of finance in Tesco is crucial in ensuring the financial health and stability of the company. The finance department is responsible for managing and planning the company’s finances, including budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis. They are responsible for tracking the company’s financial performance and making recommendations for improvement.

The finance department also plays a key role in financial reporting, providing accurate and timely financial information to stakeholders. They work closely with other functional areas, such as marketing and operations, to ensure that financial resources are allocated effectively and efficiently.

Operations Department

The role of operations in Tesco is to ensure the efficient and effective management of the company’s resources to meet customer needs and achieve business objectives. The operations department is responsible for the supply chain management of products from suppliers to stores and inventory management to ensure that products are available for customers when they need them.

They also focus on quality control and assurance, ensuring that products meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory standards. Operations work closely with other functional areas, such as marketing and finance, to ensure that operational resources are allocated efficiently and effectively.

Information Technology Department

Information Technology (IT) plays a vital role in Tesco’s operations as it helps the company to stay competitive in the retail industry. The IT department at Tesco is responsible for developing and maintaining the necessary technology systems and infrastructure required for efficient operations.

The systems used by Tesco include point-of-sale systems, supply chain management systems, and customer relationship management systems. The IT department also provides support and maintenance for these systems to ensure smooth functioning.

With the increasing use of technology in retail, the IT department plays an essential role in providing innovative solutions to enhance the customer experience and increase efficiency in Tesco’s operations.

Conclusion

Tesco’s success as a retail giant is a result of the effective integration of its functional areas, including marketing, HR, finance, operations, and IT. Each department plays a crucial role in achieving the company’s goals and objectives.

The marketing department ensures that Tesco attracts and retains customers by employing effective strategies, while the HR department ensures that the company has the right personnel with the right skills to deliver its services. Thus, effective coordination among the functional areas ensures Tesco’s continued success in the competitive retail industry.

Business Integrity: Definition Essay

The purpose of this discussion post is to evaluate The Power of Business Integrity and discuss God’s perspective on business integrity utilizing Keller’s Every Good Endeavor. This discussion will also describe what key decision models are currently being used, how they have changed, and why.

The Power of Business Integrity

Business integrity is very powerful, because it keeps people honest or from mistreating someone that they could very well take advantage of. Business integrity is having the ability to do what is right, even when no one is looking. According to Gamble, “Business ethics is the application of ethical principles and standards to the actions and decisions of business organizations and the conduct of their personnel. Having business integrity is what keeps business open or customers continuing shopping with the organization. Living through the times when the financial markets have collapsed and billions of dollars in corporate scandals have been the norm over the past two decades, business integrity has had to come by.

Most feel that business integrity is the ultimate responsibility of the leaders within the organization, but it is actually the responsibility of everyone within the organization. Geddes noted that “Compliance and integrity-based ethics programs are the leading pragmatic approaches to ethics used in today’s business environment” (2017, p. 420). Compliance programs are typically more concerned with failure to comply will most likely result in termination, fines, or possible incarceration. Both deal with doing some type of wrong, but integrity is based on what you have morally done wrong, or doing something that is not part of the norm.

God’s perspective on Business Integrity

Business integrity is how successful businesses thrive in today’s business environment. Whether a business gives products or services, its reason ought to be for more than just making cash. The operation of commerce ought to include esteem to the quality of life, and ought to move forward and improve society. Our moral benchmarks, as Christians, are built around our center convictions and our center values, which include integrity. Astuteness is the quality of having and following tall ethical standards and guidelines. According to Keller, “Wisdom is more than just obeying God’s ethical norms; it is knowing the right thing to do in the 80 percent of life’s situations in which the moral rules don’t provide the clear answer” (2016, p. 215). Even further the Bible teaches you to ask God for assistance when you are stuck or do not know what is right or wrong.

Solomon (2003) stated, “Business is about integrity as well as profits, and the profits mean little if their cost sacrifices integrity” (p. 13). In this text, Solomon noted this, because he felt that the cost of giving up your integrity would be way more than what profits you could gain from it, which is how God has viewed business throughout the Bible. God also views this as putting him second to money and profits as well, because if you had been operating according to God’s plan, you would not be in the position to sacrifice your integrity. Christians are equipped with an ethical compass and power of the gospel that can sometimes be subtly from those around us (Keller & Alsdorf, 2012, p. 209). If we all operate according to God’s work, we will not have integrity or ethics issues. We can trust those that we do business with and vice-versa.

Decision Models

One model that has stuck with me throughout the course was Krogerus & Tschäppeler’s Hersey-Blanchard model (situational leadership): How to successfully manage your employees. This model has helped me with business now, and I can see myself using this model in the future as well. Although my current decision model has not changed from the Hersey-Blanchard model, I have noticed other decision models that caught my attention throughout this course. The Eisenhower matrix: How to work more efficiently. This model stuck out because it was aimed more toward helping me become more efficient, instead of assisting someone else.

Conclusion

The purpose of this discussion post was to evaluate the Power of Business Integrity and discuss God’s perspective on business integrity utilizing Keller’s Every Good Endeavor. This discussion has also identified the Hersey-Blanchard decision model as the favored and how it could assist throughout the business.

References

1. Gamble, J., Peteraf, M., & Thompson, A. (2019)., Essentials of strategic management., McGraw-Hill Higher Education (6th ed.), New York, NY.
2. Geddes, B. H. (2017). Integrity or compliance-based ethics: Which is better for Today’s business? Open Journal of Business and Management, 5(3), 420-429.
3. Krogerus, M., & Tschäppeler, R. (2018)., The decision book: 50 models for strategic thinking., W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Revised ed.), New York, NY.
4. Rumelt, R. (2011). Good strategy/bad strategy: The difference and why it matters., Crown Business, New York, NY.
5. Solomon, R. C. (2003). A better way to think about business: How personal integrity leads to corporate success. Oxford University Press, USA.

Annotated Bibliography

• Geddes, B. H. (2017). Integrity or compliance-based ethics: Which is better for Today’s business? Open Journal of Business and Management, 5(3), 420-429. doi:10.4236/ojbm.2017.530

This article provided insight into Business and Management. The article was published by the Open Journal of Business and Management, a Peer-reviewed journal. The publisher has been publishing articles as a platform for scientists and academicians. The article was published in 2017, which is less than two years old, with relevant information regarding the business management environment.

• Bruce H. Geddes is affiliated with the School of Business, Western Governors University, Salt Lake City, USA.

This article fits into this discussion because it focuses on personal integrity and how it could lead to corporate success.

• Solomon, R. C. (2003). A better way to think about business: How personal integrity leads to corporate success. Oxford University Press, USA.

This book provided insight into business management and business strategies and was published by Oxford University.

• Robert C. Solomon was a professor of philosophy and business at the University of Texas at Austin for nearly 30 years.

This particular book published in 2003, fits into the discussion because the book discusses personal integrity and how it could affect success on the corporate level.

Essay on Nike Globalization

Leading

Identify the leadership approach used by the manager in making sure that your employees are working towards achieving the goals of his/her organization. Relate your answer with any leadership theories studied in this course.

Leadership programs gradually developed popularity over the last century as a consequence of the organization’s gains. Leadership programs gradually developed popularity over the last century as a consequence of the organization’s gains. After being identified as a crucial factor in Nike’s accelerated level of development, several organizations also intensified their emphasis on the curriculum. Distributed governance is among the new trends. Shared leadership is indeed an approach that commonly distributes management and administration-related duties. It is thus similarly the responsibility of team leaders as well as organizations to determine the success adopted. The formation of various approaches accurately describes those of symmetrical leadership, instead of an organization; this is a faceoff from efficient hierarchical leadership that focuses on a single leader. Nike, an international company specializing in the production of footwear and sports equipment, is the target of this evaluation.

Statistics on Nike’s Leadership

It is observed that throughout the United States, Nike owns 48% of the athletic footwear business. Nike owns 96 percent of the market exclusively for basketball shoes. See below for a 96 percent Nike index. Nike’s revenue from sales rose to 32.46 billion in 2016. Below is a graph showing Nike’s global sales in USD from 2005 to 2016.

More data on consumer success relevant to Nike In 1996, Nike’s sales revenue amounted to $6.4 billion, rising to $32.46 billion in 2016. Nike is a global athletic footwear market with 31 percent. Globally, there are 700 Nike stores. There have been 45 countries with a Nike office. 13.

Decision making

Nike’s management of operations is concerned with forecasting controlling designing, handling, and scheduling business operations in Nike footwear productions The excellent governance, developed and improved over the long term, has enabled business operations to be effective in meeting customer needs, making it one of the key issues that Nike grows prosperously despite fierce competitions with other shoe giants such as Adidas, Reebok, Puma, etc. The servicing management system includes production and manufacturing systems, equipment maintenance management, manufacturing control, industrial labor relations, and skilled trades. supervision, strategic manufacturing policy, systems analysis, productivity analysis and cost control, and materials planning.

Nike started with a dispersed production strategy as it is too small to construct its own production line and cannot support recruiting a large number of staff as well. Alright, especially in the U.S. Everything has both sides, and in later dates, its strategy will become its superior It invited European designers to design and manufacture Nike sports shoes through Asian manufacturers. That was its goal at that time to minimize the cost to survive The management strategy was successful and the production cost was greatly reduced. In 1972, Nike had no more than 48 staff compared to 3000 at that time in Adidas. Furthermore, the sales volume increased nearly 1000 times over a period of 12 years, from 1 million dollars to 10 billion dollars, based on such activity management. The forward-looking project management strategy was an important boost for the brand to become America’s largest footwear company.

Problems and issues that Nike has encountered.

The same factors that allowed Nike to prosper at an unprecedented rate over the past few decades, taking advantage of global production opportunities to create lower-cost items and investing these savings in innovative designs and marketing campaigns have created serious problems for the company over the past few years. Nike had been attacked as early as the 1980s for exporting its goods to factories in countries where low wages, poor working conditions, and human rights issues were rife. A string of public relations problems, however, including underpaid workers in Indonesia during the 1990s, Child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan, and poor working conditions in China and Vietnam, combined to Nike’s image tainted. ‘ The Nike brand has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and unconstitutional bullying,’ as Phil Knight noted in a speech to the National Press Club in May 1998. a company associated with athleticism, health and fitness, and innovative marketing and design, came to become the poster child for the anti-globalization movement providing an interesting window into the potential risks and problems that globalization creates for all multinational corporations. In what follows, we provide not a comprehensive review of the various abuses of which Nike and its suppliers have been accused in recent years, but merely three anecdotal illustrations of the kinds of problems the company has confronted.

Health and safety problems in Vietnam

An Ernst and Young audit of one of Nike’s Korean subcontractors, the Vietnam-based Tae Kwang Vina Company, was leaked in November 1997 to an NGO called the Transnational Resource and Action Centre (TRAC), which had been later renamed Copwatch. Tae Kwang Vina at that time employed more than 9,000 workers and produced more than 400,000 pairs of Nike shoes a month. The Ernst and Young audit at the Tae Kwang Vina plant, commissioned by Nike, reported serious health and safety concerns Toluene levels in other sections of the plants were said to exceed 6 to 177 times acceptable standards. (Toluene is a chemical solvent known to cause liver and kidney depression and various skin and eye irritations in the central nervous system) The report also claimed that chemical releases in the plant had generally resulted in numerous cases of skin and heart disease and that health issues were rampant in other areas of the plant due to excess dust. Personal protective equipment at the factory and working conditions were not provided, and work hours at the plant were in violation of Nike’s code of conduct, according to the reports.

News of this report, which appeared in the New York Times and other leading newspapers, sparked a further wave of anger over Nike’s relationship with its suppliers. This incident was particularly damaging to Nike as the report came from Ernst and Young, a leading accounting and consulting firm that Nike had hired to audit the factories of its suppliers. However, as part of a study tour of Nike suppliers supported by the corporation, the Tae Kwang Vina factory had been one of the factories former UN Ambassador Andrew Young had previously visited. Young did not mention the serious health and safety issues at the plants in his report on Nike’s suppliers. In short, More than another example of poor working conditions at one of Nike’s factories, this episode tested the sincerity and dedication of the organization to labor and industrial health standards. Combined with all of the other things reported in the press, these three events created a major public relations problem for Nike (Appendix C records the number of negative Sports reports that appeared in major publications.) Increasingly, the environmental problems in Nike’s distributor factories have become a major issue for Nike itself. Such incidents have made Nike a goal for the movements against globalization and anti-sweatshop. Most NGOs decided to focus most of their attention on Nike and its multiple suppliers’ problems. Websites focusing solely on Nike and its alleged abuses existed on the World Wide Web where NGOs and numerous activist groups used it to share information, promote movements, and shame the business further. Boycotts of Nike items and pickets became organized at Nike stores by customers and labor groups. Several campuses canceled their orders with Nike to create college athletic products under pressure from several student groups. The hard-earned brand of the company began to tarnish as a result of these specific activities.

Recommendation and Conclusion

Explain what you have learned from the discussion with your group members and recommend ways the organization could improve its management in the long run.

Recommendation

Nike today reported some key strategic shifts under its management group aimed at achieving certain very important core business priorities. Inside the fashion sector, Nike is highly revered for its relentless creativity from product design and distribution chain planning to direct marketing for customers.

Nike’s recognition for ingenuity, productivity, and imagination in every area of its industry is very well-deserved as the most successful and popular apparel company in the world. We have gained this prestige by continually re-evaluating their business strategic position but not being afraid of making significant changes to strive to succeed.

• Examine continually how best to manage the strategic objectives

Time to spend time thinking objectively about just how efficiently the current processes, processes, and product offerings reach your goals. When something doesn’t work, figure out where to make things work. If something functions, look for opportunities to make this work stronger.

• Develop a changing economy

If your company expects continuous science, individuals can keep seeking ways of improving the industry. Switch the standard back to make everything easier to change Develop standards that change will happen on even a continuous basis and enable everybody in the organization to contribute in any way to the process of identifying the change. It will also build strong workers.

• Just interrupt development and improvement

Nike has now been devoted entirely to continually changing the business processes to drive innovation more successfully, increase efficiency, improve efficiency, and produce new products and services, and subject matter.

• Eliminate Enjoyment

Apathy can often be convenient. By removing cynicism and creating an atmosphere of constant meaningful change, senior management respectively have become much more creative.

• Secure your asset number one

Nike commonly employs the senior management group from inside the firm, which is the case these days, and they are doing it even though they buy shares for a substantial amount of time and money from the employees. Establishing a committed as well as groundbreaking working population may guarantee the company’s consistency and development far beyond the moment that you are here.

With any of these adjustments, Nike tells the world that development has not yet been achieved and the business is not afraid to implement the changes it deems fit to stay the greatest. Its company management expresses its contribution to competence and quality improvement

This year’s alterations represent Nike’s emphasis on consumers through speeding up entrepreneurship, enhancing the layout, establishing product & marketing greatness, and concentrating substantially on effective distribution chain as well as production capabilities.

With both the value chain for Nike specifically, we also went a long way to making the company processes more productive but also providing customers with innovative foodstuffs and characteristics. For example, the Nike ID technology allows customers to make bespoke Nike shoes, equipment, and garments offline without the need for a minimum purchase quantity for a high premium above standard retail price levels for semi-customized products.

Conclusion

Working for a company as broad as Nike is definitely not a good task, as management can satisfy not only the shareholders of the company but also the stakeholders. No matter what happened, Nike also learned its lesson. Remaining competitive and holding manufacturing costs at a low level should not be the sole goal of the product. Nike’s reports of poor conditions and child labor have now become a global issue because of its misconduct in some locations. However, Nike never gave up and continued to win back the hearts of its stakeholders by carrying out a lot of CSR. Even though there may be a long way to go in the area of corporate responsibility, it can be seen that the industry is slowly receiving good responses. Nike will still remain a major brand around the world.

Nike seems to be a tournament-based company. From outfitting sports people with both the best sports technology in the world to continuously improving someone else’s financial results, Nike continues to dominate the suppliers. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman definitely couldn’t have envisioned in 1962 how much the $500 expenditure could have yielded in 2000. We realized which quality of products and creativity would enable sportsmen to achieve higher objectives. Now, Nike even runs on the above ideology. It is something that has enabled both competitors and shareholders to appreciate sporting and economic grandeur. To get rid of the altering consumer market for athletic shoes, we should continue to increase our product range and meet merchandising to be a more potent global powerhouse.