Understanding the process of changing from an international into transnational status is essential for the success of ACME. The process is a complex one since the level of expertise required for managing transnational organisations is higher that for managing international organisations. International organisations are exporters and importers, and they do not invest in foreign nations. Transnational organisations investment in other countries and have central corporate facilities.
Currently, ACME Computers has no investment outside the United States. In addition, the intranet company has no legal rights to invest abroad. However, as an international company, it has sufficient knowledge regarding management of cultural and social diversities.
For ACME Computers to transform into a transnational organisation, it needs to carryout research to determine the best market for its products prior to applying for trade permit. According to Gotz and Haggren (2009), organisations planning to invest globally should assess the impact of cultural, economic and legal factors on their business strategies. Subsequently, they need to seek permission to invest in foreign countries from those particular countries.
ACME will need to reorganize its management structure to accommodate the interest of new stakeholders and meet new objectives of the business. The organisation needs to amalgamate domestic and international components of the business through all its ranks of leadership (Helpman, 2011). In addition, the organisation should develop effective systems for managing virtual teams and social cultural diversities over an extensive geographical space to accommodate expertise from around the world.
Transnational organisations need to consider implications of cultural, social, legal factors on their operations. The intranet organisation should develop strategies that can sustain business continuity and reduce the consequences of risks such as fire outbreak or flooding. Operating a number of head offices in different countries makes it exceptionally easy to restore operation in an office that has been affected negatively by various factors by utilizing resources in other countries.
Transnational organisations have the ability to manage risks more easily (Linton, 2012). They use cost structures in foreign countries that are lower than cost structures available domestically. They trade in countries with competitive currency exchange rates to experience lower property prices and low employment wages. The intranet organisation, by investing in other nations, will have the opportunity to determine cost-effective structures.
Managing social cultural diversities effectively in a transnational organisation is useful for helping enhance communication flow, interdependence among corporate structures and policy adaptation. In addition, comprehending attitude and norm differences of various groups of employees and building on the study of management experts is critical for the success of transnational organisations (Coleman and Underhill, 2002).
ACME need to have plans to manage social differences. An effective solution is integrating essential elements of culture into development plan, communication and its code of conduct. Notably, ACME will need to meet the demands of more global clients. As a result, it will have to improve information sharing to build and sustain market leadership. Deloitte invested in a global intranet. It enhanced information sharing and has built and maintained it position a market leader (White, 2011).
Legal considerations also have an impact in the success of the intranet organisation. The United States has strict laws on information privacy. Countries have different laws governing privacy. The organisation should ensure it complies with all necessary laws to increase chances of meeting its trade objectives (White, 2011).
Notably, global integration and local acuity will play an essential role in enabling the organisation to meet its targets. The world has become integrated through advancements in communication, transportation, and technology. Hoekman (2006) says that improvements in science and technology make it easy for international entities to transform into transnational entities. Globalisation enables transnational organisations such as ACME to take advantage of the low cost of labour in developing countries and maximize profits.
However, since certain regions are sufficiently endowed with resources while others are not, the organisation should have local acuity to understand different market segments. It should understand the strengths and weaknesses of local employment pools by carrying out analysis on technical knowledge and expertise among employees.
This is essential for evading the consequence of inability to fill certain positions that require high degree of technical proficiency. ACME should also evaluate the impact of language barriers, cultural differences, legal retirements and political atmosphere on its business operations. These factors can lower the quality of work and lead to business failure (Marulanda, 2010).
The process of transforming from international organisation to transnational organization status requires the organisation to have an in-depth understanding of the global market and work closely with host countries. ACME should comply with regulation imposed by the host countries. The organisation should also have enough resources to manage its virtual stakeholders and trade cost-effectively.
References
Coleman, W. D., & Underhill, G. R. (2002). Regionalism and Global Economic Integration Europe, Asia, and the Americas (Taylor & Francis e-Library ed.). London: Routledge.
Gotz, N., & Haggren, H. (2009). Regional Cooperation and International Organizations: the Nordic model in Transnational Alignment. London: Routledge.
Helpman, E. (2011). Understanding global trade. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Hoekman, B. M. (2006). Global Integration and Technology Transfer. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan.
The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey was a bestseller book in the late 80s and early 90s; it sold more than 15 million copies and was translated to more than 38 foreign languages (Covey 1).
The author remains a very influential management guru of his times and indeed even in todays world because not only was his book used as a blueprint to personal development in organizational contexts but also in other disciples such as social sciences, psychology and the likes (Covey 1). In the book, the author presents a set of ideas that if applied, aligns one towards the attainment of success by following a guideline of habits which he notes, are universal and timeless.
However, observers note that the book is quite simple to understand but not necessarily simple to put into practice. Based on the analysis of the book, this study will provide a detailed summary, analysis and critique of the books principles with regards to its inspirational and aspiration teachings.
Summary
Habit 1: Being Proactive
Stephen purports that the destiny of an individual is usually dictated by the choices he/she makes (Covey 11). This means that people are often empowered to choose their status; say, happiness, sadness, decisiveness, failure, ambivalence, courage, success, fear or any other attribute that defines a person.
Of importance is peoples acknowledgement that every new opportunity gives an individual the chance to make a better choice. In so doing, people get a new opportunity to do things differently so that they can increase their productivity levels.
Habit 2: Considering the End
Covey notes that people should always consider where they would want to be in future while undertaking their daily duties. This should be done alongside an analysis of the current position they are in, their dreams, ambitions, goals and the likes. This is important because Covey notes that people often find themselves in positions of success but they derive very little satisfaction from it.
In fact, some people always achieve these high levels of success by trampling over the things they valued most in their lives (Covey 12). Such things could be family, friends, a dream career and the likes. Covey therefore gives an example by noting that If your ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step you take gets you to the wrong place faster (12). This exposes an important aspect of imagination for the determination of the future.
Habit 3: Prioritizing Issues
Covey observes that human beings cannot do everything that comes along their way, at the same time. This is okay because it prevents overstraining oneself. Prioritization empowers individuals to decline taking up things they cant do and instead focus their energies on matters of higher importance. Covey observes that people are usually the creators of their lives and therefore they are in charge of their destiny.
Habit 4: Think Win-Win
Thinking of a win-win strategy is not really about being extra nice or losing ones edge, but more of collaborating and negotiating with third parties (Covey 14). Many people adopt a wrong way of living by comparing themselves to others and evaluating their actions in the eyes of others. This has created a negative culture of basing success on the failure of another person. For example, people often see themselves as a success when a fellow person falls.
The same is also true where some people perceive themselves as failures just because they have seen another person succeed. This is created by the variation in human potential and the inequality in opportunities. Some people therefore ensure that if they fail, they have to bring other people down with them, and if they succeed, they cut links with those whove failed or in some cases; they succeed as a way of revenging.
Covey notes that many people like to play this game because it is part of human nature but he questions what fun there is in doing so. Through this trail of thought, he proposes that a win-win situation needs to be upheld because it eliminates the animosity in human relationships and fosters cooperation.
Habit 5: Seek to Understand and then to be Understood
Highly effective people always dont rush to explain their side of the story before they get to understand another persons point of view. This fact elevates the most important skill to human interaction and understanding; communication (Covey 18). Partly, the societal system is to blame because people spend endless years learning how to read, write; but little time is dedicated to listening.
In fact, people rarely get life training lessons on the importance of listening to other people. Because of these shortcomings, most people often rush to be understood first and their points put across before others can air their views. In doing so, many people become very inconsiderate because they totally disregard the views of other people, pretend to listen or selectively understand a persons views, thereby letting many points go unheard.
Habit 6: Synergy
Synergy is a common trait among highly effective people. Majorly, it underlies the premise that two heads are better than one and team work is an integral component to the success of any business. This concept also embraces open-mindedness to induce creativity so that new solutions can be found towards solving old problems.
However, this process is not easy at all. Most importantly, it doesnt happen overnight because people have to come together to contribute pieces of information and varied experiences towards the overall attainment of their ultimate goal. In this manner, a very comprehensive and hybrid solution can be obtained; better than one which could be obtained if only individual effort was employed.
Habit 7: Emphasis on Strengths
Covey sometimes refers to the emphasis on strengths to sharpening of the saw (19). This primarily means capitalizing on ones greatest asset. It is also what highly effective people thrive on. It means achieving a balance between various functional areas on ones life for self renewal (Covey 21). First, one area of core competence is the physical aspect of it, where people practice beneficial eating; exercising and resting to improve their physical fitness.
Secondly, improvement can be done in areas of social and emotional wellbeing where interpersonal relationships can be enhanced to improve personal effectiveness. Thirdly, people can improve their mental wellbeing by learning to write, read, and learn and lastly, one can improve his/her physical wellbeing by engaging in natural mediation through music, art, prayer and other forms of self mediation (Covey 21).
Analysis
Habit 1
With regards to being proactive as the first characteristic of highly effective people, people should be in a position to take responsibility for their actions at all times. In other words, it is not wise to keep blaming other people for ones shortcomings; like managers blaming lower level employees for their failure; or employees blaming the managers for their failure.
Proactive people are therefore able to take a proactive stand and accept their responsibilities and shortcomings. This fact deters people from blaming their living environments, working conditions, genetics, circumstances or other parameters which may pose as an excuse for their shortcomings.
Proactive people understand that their actions and behaviors all depend on their intuition. The opposite of such kind of people are reactive people who are more likely to blame their primary environments as opposed to their actions (Covey 21). These are the kind of people who always seek external factors to use a scapegoat for their shortcomings.
Habit 2
Having the end scenario in mind entails having a wild imagination. Imagination is the ability to envision where one would be in the future because the eyes cannot see it at the moment. This element also observes that most things are always created twice; one, in the mind and two, in reality.
Just like a building follows a construction plan, the physical creation of a dream or goal follows the mental picture of it. The second habit therefore notes that if people fail to have the strategic foresight or dream about their destiny, they allow other people to control their future.
Imagination therefore needs to incorporate unique attributes within an individual which ought to be nourished within the framework of ethical guidelines, moral upbringing, and personal principles towards the achievement of the final goal. Also with the end in mind, one can be able to wake up each morning with the aim of accomplishing the desired goal by flexing personal will towards the attainment of a desirable end result.
Habit 3
Recapping the fist two habits of an effective person, we realize that the choice of being proactive is voluntary while in the second habit, the ability to create an end vision about ones life is imaginary; however, this third habit makes the imaginary aspect to ones destiny, real.
The third habit therefore encompasses the first and second habit and normalizes the process because it outlines that efforts need to be factored into the overall process on a daily basis. Many dilemmas regarding time management are also addressed in this context but this is just a fragment of the whole analysis.
More specifically, this third habit revolves around the management of ones life. In detail, it involves a deep analysis of ones life, values and purpose. Emphasis should therefore be made on the things which appear to have most importance in value. People therefore need to utilize most of their time in doing the things they find most value in; through organization and time management (in line with the resolutions made in the second habit).
Habit 4
The fourth habit being adopting a win win scenario; it is not essentially easy to quantify it because its success lies in the hands of men and in the hearts of people who endeavor seek to foster mutual benefits (Covey 21). This is the attribute which effective people have been able to master. Effective people therefore ensure that human relationships are to a great extent beneficial to all and have a mutual benefit to all parties involved as well.
If opportunities were equated to one big pie, everyone would have a share and it would taste really good if everyone were a part of it. Covey points out that people who have properly mastered the art of adopting a win-win scenario in contemporary business set ups, posses a number of traits. First, they posses a high integrity; meaning that they adhere to their strong moral values and principles.
Secondly, they have a high level of maturity which means that they have a lot of courage when expressing themselves, and they also consider other peoples feelings while doing so. Lastly, these kind of people have a lot of abundance in terms of mental capability because they operate under the belief that everyone will get a share of whatever resources there is to divide (Covey 29).
Habit 5
The lack of ability to listen to other people often occurs because many people are tuned to listen just so they can respond to a given issue instead of understanding. People therefore spend most of their time listening to others while preparing to ask another question. This is wrong because important issues pass by without proper consideration.
Also, people should refrain from listening to other people through their life experiences and comparing other peoples stories with their own autobiography to see how it measures up. This leads to premature conclusions of what other people intent to put across.
Covey gives examples of common statements people make such as Oh, I know just how you feel&.. I felt the same way&&.I had that same thing happen to me&..Let me tell you what I did in a similar situation (25). This is wrong. Because many people listen to others through their own selves, their reactions fall within a given set of responses. These responses are outlined through the processes of judging, evaluation, probing, advising and interpreting other peoples information.
Habit 6
Synergy is a process that effective people employ to help them discover new solutions as a group (a goal which they wouldnt have otherwise achieved through individual effort). Synergy firmly embraces the idea that the whole is always greater than the combination of different segments towards a solution.
Covey asserts that One plus one equals three, or six, or sixtyyou name it (31). Synergy therefore thrives on open interaction and honest exchange of ideas so that new insights can be obtained. In fact, since everyone has a different opinion towards the achievement of a common task, the probability of inventing a new approach is very high. In fact, the diversity of opinion is the real driver towards accomplishment of productive synergy.
Habit 7
An emphasis of strengths as the seventh attribute requires one to engage in a rejuvenation of the four functional areas of human life. These areas as outlined above include physical rejuvenation, social and emotional rejuvenation, learning to write, read, and learn plus natural mediation through music, art, prayer and other forms of self mediation.
Improving in these core competency areas means that one can effectively improve in the other six functional areas. Ones capacity to handle new challenges and problems can also be enhanced in this manner. A lack of rejuvenation in these functional areas means that the body will become weak, the mind mechanical, the emotional status in disarray, the spirit dead and ultimately, someone is bound to be very selfish in nature. These attributes lower the effectiveness of a person.
Critical Analysis
Becoming a highly effective person is a process of internal self analysis. Most of the issues identified in this study are internally motivated and largely depend on self-will. They also largely outline areas which concentrate on strengthening the functional areas of human growth.
The first habit of being proactive seeks to motivate people to take responsibility for their actions and helps them focus on areas they would best make a change; as opposed to areas they have very little impact on. The habit of end consideration empowers people to know the direction they are following and expend their energy towards the accomplishment of their ultimate goals in life. This principle also encourages people to appreciate what is of importance to their lives and concentrate less on what is unimportant.
Covey talks of issue prioritization which more or less revolves around accomplishment of specific goals but it encourages people to take up what they can do and avoid situations of burnout where they try to do everything at the same time. The fifth habit as identified in the book is however closely associated with the fourth because it encourages people to understand others point of view as opposed to theirs.
The sixth and seventh habits can also be employed concurrently because they incorporate the employment of synergy and emphasize on the strengths of an individual (because the latter can be used to develop synergy if used collectively). Comprehensively, the development of a highly effective person revolves around the 7 key areas of competence described above.
Conclusion
The most unique attribute human beings have is the ability to choose the kind of channel they will take when dealing with issues that plague their lives. Even though conditioning the different circumstances they faced with will probably have an impact in changing the course of their lives, it doesnt necessarily happen in a huge way.
Covey points out that an individual is totally responsible for the type of events that characterize his/her life. In other words, the power to feel happy, sad, annoyed or such like attributes all depend on the individual involved. The book explains how human beings can achieve a positive attitude and acquire traits that make them effective. Collectively, this book is quite captivating and has the potential to change lives if applied in the right spirit.
Works Cited
Covey, Stephen. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 2010. Web.
1.One of the key responsibilities of human resource management in any organization is to keep the employees happy and contended. Most employees are never always motivated by the paychecks but rather by the perks awarded alongside the paychecks. Acceptance and appreciation greatly boost the employee morale. This in return leads to reduced turnover rates as well as cutting down hiring costs. Thus, giving perks to employees will also help to create employee security.
For instance, an employee will not perform to perfection if he or she is continuously distracted by concerns of child care, medical responsibilities, and entertainment needs, among other domestic responsibilities. Any effort in line with providing solutions to these concerns will not only relieve the employees of their worries but make it look like they are well taken care of. This will help keep the employees committed to their duties and responsibilities. The end result will be reduced chances of employees seeking appointments elsewhere even if the current appointment could be earning less.
Giving employees perks as incentives alongside their salary will increase employee confidence and loyalty to the organization, boost the working morale and create a mutually interactive and friendly working environment for the employees. This will result in better performance of the organization towards its objective achievement.
2. Genentech and Zappos are two examples of companies using employee perks as motivating tools for their employees. Genentech Company has gone an extra mile in its concern for employee treatments.
Retirement and health care allowances are considered ordinary traditional benefits that are given by any sensible company to its employees. Genentech has done something extraordinary in order to stand out in terms of employee treatment by offering childcare during the day, free snacks, pet insurance, mothers nursing services and flexible scheduling among others. These are exceptional perks that are not offered by other companies. Thus, most employees of Genentech will resist the urge to seek employment elsewhere lest they forego these extraordinary perks.
On the other hand, Zappos has invested greatly in employee bonding, fostering a team building culture and interactive atmosphere amongst its employees. It offers more lucrative social welfare perks including; pajama parties, regular happy hours and nap rooms to its fun loving employees to ensure an always jovial and happy employee fraternity.
Therefore, it becomes virtually hard for an employee to ditch such perks for another company offering hefty paychecks but without such allowances. In a harsh economy that pauses huge and competitive expenses in hiring employees, the two companies have successfully won their employees trust and in the process retaining them, hence resulting in lower turnover rates as well as controlled wage bills.
3. The two cases of employee treatment depicted by Genentech and Zappos can be adopted by any other company that seeks to lower its turnover rates without necessarily offering hefty paychecks to its employees. An organization that has successfully retained its quality employees finds it easy to attain its organizational goals. The only way to do this as practiced by most companies, is by upwardly revising the employees paychecks.
Genentech and Zappos offer alternative approaches that will see companies retain their quality employees and still survive the harsh economies. The incentives offered by the two companies to their employees, are spread equally across the whole employee fraternity without discrimination. This is cheaper for the company in the long run as compared to scenarios where each individual employee would have their paycheck increased. Hence, such incentives can still be used by other companies to boost their employee morale.
Abu Dhabi commercial bank is a financial institution that has been facing monetary transfer problems. The bank has been unable to make monthly monetary transfer of salaries to various accounts. This problem has seen customer unable to withdraw their salaries through the bank ATM services. An analysis on the challenges by the use of the ATM machines, reveal that the quality of banking services is always affected. Another major problem is that banks are unable to integrate their banking systems for fast and reliable services. Eventually, the banks are unable to realize reasonable profits and thus have a slow rate of growth and development.
Issues that affect banks ability to provide better services can be both internal and external. In most cases, the external factors include cases of fraud through skimming, cash trapping and pin interception. The bank ATMs are always under threat of network attacks and breakages using explosives. On the other hand, internal factors that affect ATM services include computer errors.
Basically, a banks ATM services can be ineffective due mechanical and operation errors becoming prevalent (GRG Banking.com, 2011). Other inefficiencies are caused by software and communication malfunctions. The current banking technology keeps on advancing and lack of consistency in upgrading the system may interfere with ATM services.
The Abu Dhabi commercial bank has problems with ATM services, since the bank and clients are unable to access important information.
A research was conducted to understand the reason for the banks inability to disseminate effective and efficient ATM services. The research also aimed at making recommendations in reducing the banks technical problems. The research also seeks measures that will prevent the reoccurrence of the same problems in the future.
The research adopted a qualitative research methodology in collecting data. Some of the research techniques employed included the use of structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered to a sample population of the banks technical team and customers. Another research technique that was administered includes interviews in various banks with similar ATM services. The interview conducted was done on bank managers.
The research data analysis used statistical analysis techniques like charts and graphs. This was to provide a figurative perspective of the banks predicament on its ATM services.
The research expected results were that the Abu Dhabi commercial bank had problems with reprogramming of its ATM machines. From this perspective, the ATM machine becomes slow in activity. The other possible outcome is that the banks ATM machines are counterfeit. Moreover, there is a possibility that the bank staff are non-conversant with the ATM technology.
The research made various recommendations towards tackling the problem. According to GRG Banking.com, 2011, one of the recommendations was to use experts in reprogramming the banks systems. Another recommendation is that the bank must conduct an audit on its ATM machines. This is to verify their effectiveness in providing services to customers. It is also important that the bank use effective security rules when implementing ATM services.
This will include proper software security maintenance by outsourced software firms. It is proper to ensure a security checklist is created to keep a close watch on ATMs already installed. The security checklist will be critical in tracking the effectiveness and efficiency of a specific ATM machine. It is also important for the Bank to give ATM manufacturers certain specifications that assist the bank in attaining certain service standards.
Reference
GRG Banking.com. (2011). Best Practice for ATM Security, Overview of ATM security situation, forecast, and best practices. Web.
Entrepreneurship refers to the act of using knowledge to introduce new ideas, concepts, and innovations in order to transform them into economic goods. The most common form of entrepreneurship is starting a new business. Entrepreneurs possess several traits that motivate them to start businesses. They include courage, passion, motivation, creativity, intuition, authority, and a strong will (Attorney, 2012).
These traits separate them from other people and enable them establish and lead businesses and organizations to success. Many businesses fail due to inadequate funding, poor execution of plans, and lack of adequate knowledge to make right decisions (Zimmerer et al, 2002). Entrepreneurs consider several factors when selling their businesses. These factors include legal obligations, projected revenue, managerial and leadership qualities of buyers, and knowledge and skills of buyers.
Entrepreneurial characteristics that Bill possesses
Bill possesses several characteristics that make him an entrepreneur. He has adequate skills and knowledge, he is self-motivated, has a positive attitude to learning, and has leadership skills. Entrepreneurs usually possess knowledge on a certain field of study from which they generate ideas (Hisrich & Peters, 2002). Bill has necessary skills and knowledge form working with machines. His skills span a period of twelve years.
He is also self-motivated. Bill has a positive attitude to learning, which means that he is self-motivated and does not depend on anyone to get things done. He also has leadership skills. Experience gained from dealing with technical issues earned him the respect of employees, which implies that he is a good leader. In addition, it implies that he possesses knowledge on ways to motivate employees in order to improve performance.
Entrepreneurs are motivating and inspiring. In adition, they are good leaders, authoritative, and creative (Hisrich & Peters, 2002). In addition, he knew customers, which means that he was interested in the operations of the business. Apart from taking care of technical issues, he focused on other areas of the business. Entrepreneurs possess knowledge on several fields and rarely specialize (Kuratko, 2008). Bill possessed knowledge on operation of machines, customer satisfaction, and employee management.
Characteristics that could lead to Bills failure
Many businesses fail due to lack of adequate knowledge on how to manage them. Bill has adequate knowledge and skills on how to operate machines. However, he does not possess knowledge on how to run a business. This could lead to failure. On the other hand, his drive for perfection may lead to failure because in case of failure, he may become depressed and frustrated.
Not every plan or decision in business succeeds. For example, harsh economic times may lead to business failure. Too much perfectionism may lead to failure because. In case the business fails, Bill may suffer low self-esteem because he might think that he is not good enough.
Steps to avoid pitfalls that are common with businesses
Bill should do several things to avoid pitfalls common with business. He should focus on one thing at a time, avoid being over ambitious, set aside enough money and time, and be patient (Zimmerer et al, 2002). Many businesses fail because of lack of money to execute plans and strategies, focusing attention on too many things at one time, and poor execution of plans (Kuratko, 2008).
In addition, many businesses fail because entrepreneurs lack patience to build and grow the business systematically. Many entrepreneurs underestimate businesses expenses, and thus run out of operating money before achieving goals and objectives. Proper planning is necessary.
Selling the business to Bill
If I were Hugo, I would sell the business to Bill. Some important factors to consider before selling a business include ability of the buyer, financial status of the buyer and ability to pay, projected income, and managerial and leadership traits of buyer (Attorney, 2012). Bill has adequate knowledge and skills that are sufficient for effective running of the business.
Even though he does not possess business knowledge, I think he can run the business. Entrepreneurs are creative and innovative. Therefore, he would find a way to manage the business operations of the business. In addition, Bill has good leadership skills that are necessary for successful running of a business. Leadership is a critical aspect of a businesses success.
Many businesses succeed because entrepreneurs posses adequate knowledge and skills on specific areas (Kuratko, 2008). Bill has been working at the shop for twelve years. Therefore, he possesses adequate knowledge to enable him run the business successfully. One of the characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is responsibility. They are responsible and focus on the most important things (Kuratko, 2008).
Bill has been using most of his salary to take care of his family. This implies that he is responsible. If given the business, Bill would ensure that the business succeeds despite hurdles and obstacles. Entrepreneurs find creative ways to solve problems they encounter in their business operations. Therefore, Bill would find ways to handle the shops business operations. In addition, with the probability of Bill doubling his annual earnings, paying would not be a problem.
References
Attorney, S. (2012). The Complete Guide to Selling a Business. New York: Nolo.
Hisrich, R., & Peters, M. (2002). Entrepreneurship. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Kuratko, D. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice. New York: Cengage Learning.
Zimmerer, T., Scarborough, N., & Wilson, D. (2008). Essentials of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. New York: Prentice Hall.
Organizations throughout the world are under constant pressure to adapt to change triggered by shifts in business environments, competition in the market, convergence of technology, political realignments, organizational restructurings, changing demographics, and new demands and preferences from customers and stakeholders (Hangopal 23).
Indeed, the performance and competitive advantage of many organizations operating in the 21st business environment is primarily determined by how well they are able to adapt to change in the face of a multiplicity of challenges, and there is compelling evidence demonstrating that successful organizations have well-developed frameworks which provide an enabling environment to understand the critical drivers of change and adapt accordingly (Franken et al 49).
Those who do not adapt to changes in the environment often fail in their attempts to achieve positive outcomes, while others are practically wiped out because of their inflexibility to change.
In the above context, the need for organizations to develop processes aimed at managing change is urgent. Organizational theorists, however, take cognizance of the fact that change is a complex issue and there is no one specified solution to its management (Hangopal 10).
Studies have revealed that a change management technique that works for one organization may not necessarily work for another even when both organizations are operating within the same environment or culture. This paper aims to critically discuss change management with a view to demonstrate the change process, sources of resistance to change, and ways through which organizations can successfully manage change.
Content
This paper, more than anything else, will cover change management issues related to the change process, resistance to change, and some of the solutions that could be applied by organizations in the process of managing change. According to Hangopal, &the basic paradigm that an organization adopts influences how it would realize its vision and consequently its change plans and actions, which will transport the organization from its current state to the desired state (95).
This progression of states is typified by three stages namely, the current state, the changeover state and the new state. Change management process, therefore, basically entails harnessing the unique issues arising in each state in terms of identifying the issues and implementing effective structures and strategies to manage them.
Resistance, according to Hangopal, emerges when there is a real or perceived threat to something valued by an individual or to the status quo and normal functioning of the organization (107). In the organizational context, resistance may arise from a legitimate understanding of the change process or from a misunderstanding of what the change process is destined to achieve.
A wealth of literature has demonstrated that most people like to maintain the status quo and will do anything to resist the planned change especially in the absence of adequate knowledge and collaboration in the process of effecting change (Franken et al 60).
While some employees fear to lose their jobs or positions of authority, others genuinely fail to understand the change and its implications, resulting in resistance. This paper will also cover the various solutions that could be implemented to manage change and curtail resistance.
Issues
The Change Process
Business analysts are in agreement that change has become a certainty in organizations today. A multiplicity of factors, including mergers, acquisitions, emerging technologies, downsizing, organizational restructurings, competition, and globalization, among others, continue to transform the business landscape and obliging organizations to initiate change processes or risk becoming irrelevant in todays business environment (Carr et al 3).
With this in mind, it can be argued that the change process is primarily a function of factors that arises within and outside the organization, which creates the need to adopt new ways of doing things. Organizations are continuously finding themselves in an epoch of paradigm shift when a set of assumptions generally considered to be the traditional norm no longer applies and must be substituted to safeguard their continuous survival and competitive advantage.
As such, organizations must develop strategies and frameworks that enable them to continuously reposition themselves for success in a constantly changing marketplace. According to Carr et al, many organizations are &responding by adopting new management philosophies and following new methodologies in order to bring about organizational change (3).
Organizational change takes place in phases depending on the factors necessitating such change. Before undertaking the change process, it is important for change agents and managers to employ skills and techniques that will curtail unnecessary negative effects. These strategies include unbiased open-mindedness, good strategic planning, good communication skills, and commitment to leadership and team-building (Stevens 2).
A successful change program should be founded on a vision of desired outcomes once the organization moves from the current state, through the transition state, to the anticipated or new state. It is imperative to include strategies that will encourage employees to move through the change process as effortlessly as possible. An effective change process must also align employees with new functions, responsibilities, and prospects early in the process so as to prepare them for what lies ahead.
Adequate psychological preparation decreases employee resistance and ensures that the morale and productivity of employees are not affected in major ways. Once the change has been fully initiated, continued planning, open communication, effective leadership and team participation must continue to be entrenched to make the process a success (Stevens 5).
A workable change process, among other things, facilitates organizations to effectively compete on a sustained basis in the face of issues that inarguably affect the business scene on a daily basis (Carr et al 4).
In this perspective, the change process must be adequately prepared prior to implementation, and must be structured in a way that will enable the organization to transform itself from the current state to the preferred state while causing minimal disturbances to its operations and core business strategies. A successful change process must always reflect on its capacity to bring enhanced business outcomes in terms of performance and productivity (Franken et al 52).
This implies that change processes should not be initiated to merely move the organization from one state to another; on the contrary, they should be structured in a way that will occasion the organization to achieve tangible business outcomes in terms of sustaining its competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The change process and particularly the transition stage may be quite difficult, even excruciating. An important component of the change process lies in the realization and acceptance by both the management and staff that change is bound to bring temporal disorganization, disrupt working environment, and lower effectiveness of the organization, especially in the transition state (Carr et al 4).
As such, the commitment and support of both the management and employees are fundamentally important to the success and internalization of the desired changes.
This calls for change agents to plan the change carefully and to align the three components that comprise an organization the product or service, the human aspect, and the organizational culture (Carr et al 4). It is imperative to note that the success of change is geometrically proportionate to how well these components are ready to embrace change (Hangopal 24).
According to Carr et al, &industry leaders today are also aware that change and its management are not a simple, one-time process but a permanent upheaval to which corporations can adapt only by keeping open and in a permanent learning mode (5). This implies that organizations must develop and put mechanisms in place to successfully negotiate constant changes caused by their day-to-day interactions with the environment.
Organizations, according to Hangopal, cannot operate in a vacuum, and must therefore be ready to transform themselves as dictated by the factors arising from the environment, not mentioning that the structures and strategies put in place must always focus on the effective ways through which these organizations can be able to handle sudden and unprecedented changes while maintaining their competitive advantage (28).
Resistance to Change
Manuela & Clara are of the opinion that &the reasons for the failure of many change initiatives can be found in resistance to change (3). It is a well known fact that resistance to change introduces costs and impediments in the change process that are inarguably challenging to anticipate but which must be duly considered when initiating changes in an organization.
Organizational theorists argue that resistance to change can be considered as a fundamental source of information that could prove useful in developing better ways of initiating a change process. Overall, resistance is a critical area in change management which should be taken into consideration in an attempt to assist organizations to attain the advantages of transformation.
Although resistance to change has been observed and recorded at the management level, the bulk of resistance comes from employees who may be inadequately prepared to undergo the process, or who just harbour distorted perceptions, myopia or ignorance (Manuela & Clara 5).
On the organization side, consecutive studies have demonstrated that the inability of an organization to look into the future and denial or refusal to take action on any information that may appear unexpected or undesired to the management is largely to blame for the resistance exhibited by some managers towards change.
Inflexible and unaccommodating organizational structures may often function to frustrate the change process even in situations where managers are willing to effect the desired transformation (Carr et al 56).
In addition, some organizations have a tendency to perpetuate traditional ideas, implying that they take pride in continuing to employ the status quo in performing tasks and responsibilities that require new dispensations and techniques (Manuela & Clara 6).
Still, some organizations embark on what is termed as organizational silence, limiting information flow and therefore end up making decisions that lacks the necessary facts. This trend is known to contribute to resistance to the change process. Lastly, lack of the necessary capabilities to implement change may lead to resistance, especially in the implementation phase.
As already noted, the success of any change process inarguably depends on how well employees embrace the efforts geared towards effecting the change. Lack of effective management-employee communication networks and weak leadership are two of the foremost factors that cause employees to resist change.
In the absence of effective communication from change agents and the management, employees may advance resistance in actual or perceived fear of losing their positions or job responsibilities (Carr et al 58). Lack of clear understanding about the change and the implications it is bound to initiate cause employees to resist the change even in circumstances where such change will in part assist them to perform their duties more effectively.
For example, employees in many organizations have resisted the introduction of technology based on the unfounded fear that they will lose their jobs while in actual sense, many technology applications serves to ease the workload of employees. Employees have been known to resist change based on perceived difficulties of coping with either the level or pace of the intended pace (Franken et al 55).
Still, motivation towards change is a major determinant of the success of any change process since employees are likely to resist any attempts to change the status quo in the absence of strategies aimed at motivating them. Lastly, the lack of a creative response particularly from the management may create a situation where employees become wary of the intended change, thus developing resistance (Manuela & Clara 6).
Solutions
Organizational theorists have developed a number of models and theoretical frameworks aimed at guiding organizations to effectively negotiate the change process while still maintaining their sustainability and competitive advantage. Many of these models are built on several key factors that must be present for the change process to be a success.
While it is known that some organizational changes are unprecedented, efforts geared towards managing change must be adequately planned before undertaking the change to prepare all stakeholders, specifically employees, about the need to adapt a particular change strategy (Franken et al 54). This requires bring all concerned on board in strategizing on how to go about the intended change.
By doing so, stakeholders are given the chance to air their grievances or worries, thus creating an enabling environment through which the change would be readily embraced by all members. However, many organizations are known to give employees a wide berth during the initial change planning processes, enhancing the chances for such change to be resisted in the implementation phase.
Open communication between the management and employees must be encouraged at all levels of the change process. Employees are bound to curtail their resistance and fear to a proposed change when adequate information is availed to them relating to the implications of the change (Franken et al 58). In line with this, the management must at all times in the change process demonstrate effective leadership capabilities to avoid a situation where a vacuum of leadership is created, hence leading to uncertainty.
Organizations must also evolve strategies aimed at assisting the employees to cope with the level and pace of the intended changes rather than leaving them to struggle in the integration process. It is also imperative for organizations to engage the services of a qualified change agent to guide an integrative process rather than implementing the intended change using a fragmented and incoherent framework (Carr et al 25).
The change process should not end at the implementation phase; rather the management must continue to encourage communication and demonstrate effective leadership even after the change has been implemented to deal with the ripple effect, that is, the issues that may arise after changing the status quo of how things used to be done (Hangopal 137).
Lastly, strategies and frameworks should be introduced prior to the implementation of the intended change to assist employees in analyzing the outcomes of the change and making decisions from a knowledgeable perspective.
Recommendations
In addition to the above solutions, it can be recommended that organizations initiate an open an open-door communication strategy whenever there is an impending change to allow employees the chance to ask questions and seek answers to the issues they feel are of paramount importance to them.
Second, it is well acknowledged that some organizational changes may lead to actual job losses. In such a scenario, it is recommended that organizations open interdepartmental information and counselling desks to deal with the employees who may be affected. This procedure, though costly in the short-term, will go a long way to reduce tensions and resistance that may result to huge organizational losses in terms of employee strikes and go-slows (Hangopal 105).
Third, a recommendation can be made to organizations to engage the services of professional change agents to spearhead efforts aimed at transforming critical processes for better business outcomes. Lastly, organizations must develop strategies aimed at motivating employees to accept the intended changes without the use of coercive or unconventional tactics.
Conclusion
Change has become a certainty and an integral part of business operations in the 21st century and, as such, the development of adequate and effective structures and frameworks to manage it seems the only viable way to go for organizations (Franken et al 51). Resistance has also been noted as an important constituent of the change process, and it is up to the management and change managers to develop ways through which employees become actively engaged in the process of managing change.
It should be stressed that effective planning, open communication, and good leadership capabilities still remains the foremost strategies through which change can be implemented in organizations. This does not imply that they are the panacea to a successful change process; they must be used in collaboration with other strategies discussed in this paper to oversee the effective implementation of the intended change.
Works Cited
Carr, D.K., Hard, K.J., & Trahant, W.J. Managing the Change Process: A Field Book for Change Agents, Consultants, Team Leaders and Reengineering Managers. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 1996
Franken, A., Edwards, C., & Lambert, R. Executing Strategic Change: Understanding the Critical Management Elements that leads to Success. California Management Review 51.3 (2009): 49-73. Retrieved from Business Source Premier Database
Lands End is the manufacturer and retailer of clothes. It is one of the first companies to use Internet in order to promote and distribute its products. It should be noted that this organization consists of many departments such as customer service, shipment department, numerous production units etc. To some extent, these departments can be called geographically dispersed teams, who never communicate with one another face-to-face.
Furthermore, they are often separated by long distances. One of the most critical issues, faced by this company, is lack of coordination and information sharing between the departments. For instance, if a customer requires assistance or information about a certain article of clothing, he/she will not receive the respond immediately, more likely this will take twenty-four hours or even more (Lands End 2010 unpaged).
It stands to reason that many potential consumers feel dissatisfied with such treatment. In addition, we need to mention that the process of ordering is also very time-consuming. First of all, the company processes an order for two days, while shipment may take from three days to a week (Lands End 2010 unpaged). This slowness of operations often leads to the customer dissatisfaction.
Determining the Root Problem & Step 3 Identifying the Problem Components
The key issue is that various business units of Lands End do not communicate with one another as quickly as they should. On the one hand, it can be explained by the fact that the company has yet to integrate an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system (Hamilton, 2003, p 3).
The key purpose of this tool is to facilitate the flow of information between departments. Secondly, the employees do not have access to those technologies, which allow face-to-face communication via Internet, such as Skype. These are the core components of the problem.
Overall, we can argue companies with poor inter-departmental cooperation do not perform to their full capacity. They cannot lose competitive advantage to other firms due to their inefficient operations (Quirk, 2008). This is why the management of Lands End should attach much importance to the cooperation and communication between various business units.
Generating Alternatives
There are several strategies which can help the management to cope with this problem. First, they can establish a separate coordination department that would be acting as a mediator between customers and various business units of the firm. Moreover, this department will perform the functions of inquiry service, which would address the needs of both customers and employees.
This department would have to achieve two goals: 1) to speed up ordering process; 2) to respond to the customers inquiries as soon as possible. The second alternative is to integrate an ERP system, which would greatly improve order tracking, planning, and information-sharing between departments. The third alternative will be to install technologies that would facilitate face-to-face communication.
At present moment, there are a great number of companies, which develop solutions and technologies that enable to transmit video, sound and data almost at the same time. They can be of great help to the management of Lands End. Each of these strategies has its advantages and disadvantages, they will be discussed in the next section of this paper.
Evaluating Alternatives
In order to evaluate the alternatives, we can use various assessment techniques. One of them is SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This method will be of great assistance to us as it will show us the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy.
Establishing a coordination department.
Strengths: the existence of a separate coordination department can significantly help customers, who often require information about the product. As it has been noted before, this business unit will perform the functions of inquiry service. Both employees and consumers will obtain the necessary information in the quickest possible way.
Weaknesses: This strategy will involve considerable changes in the companys structure and most importantly it will entail extra expenses. In addition to that, this department will not be able to function effectively, unless the company integrates new software solutions and technologies.
Opportunities: The implementation of this strategy is more or less independent of external environment in which the company operates.
Threats: there is a great likelihood that personal data of the customers or the company can be disclosed.
Integrating an ERP System:
Strengths: an ERP system, which is perfectly adjusted to organizational needs, can insure total control over each of the business processes. This includes supply chain management, ordering process, information sharing between the departments etc (Hamilton, 2003).
Weaknesses: the software, required for the effective functioning of ERP system is usually rather expensive. Secondly, many ERP programs are difficult to customize (Bendoly & Jacobs, 2005, p 48). Moreover, a tailor-made ERP software would cost a considerable sum of money. Besides, the development of such software may take six or seven months,
Opportunities: informational technologies and programs are constantly developing. Provided that there is a newer and improved version of the ERP system, the company would be able to update the older one at a relatively low cost.
Threats: Despite the fact that ERP system is designed to protect confidential information, there is still great likelihood of cyber attack. Under such scenario, the perpetrator will get access to all the information stored on the computers.
The use of technologies facilitating face-to-face communication
Strengths: if the employees receive access to the technologies, which allow face-to-face communication via Internet, the decision-making within the company may become more effective. This alternative will help the company avoid many delays.
Weaknesses: The implementation of this strategy will involve considerable expenditures on behalf of the company because such technologies are rather costly.
Opportunities: overall, external environment, in which the company operates, will not affect the implementation of this strategy in any way.
Threats: there is a great probability that the employees working in various departments of the firm will not pay sufficient attention to their direct work responsibilities.
Choose an Alternative
Given the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy, we can argue that the integration of an ERP system will be the most optimal solution. First of all, it provides the best price-benefit ratio; among each of these options, this one is the least expensive. Secondly, it ensures almost complete confidentiality of private information, such as customers account numbers.
Thirdly, an ERP system enables the manager to control virtually every business process. The use of technologies, enabling face-to-face communication via internet, can also be an appropriate solution but it is more costly to implement. Moreover, there is a great risk that the employees will not concentrate on their duties.
The establishment of a separate coordination department can also solve many of the problems, faced by Lands End. But this strategy is very time-consuming. The management will have to spend much time in order to recruit and train employees. This choice can also be explained by the fact that ERP system practically excludes the possibility of information leakage. This is perhaps the key advantage of this strategy.
Implementation Plan
The implementation of this plan would take approximately two or three months. At first, it is necessary to select the most appropriate software for the ERP system. This stage of the plan has to be completed within two weeks. The thing is that there is a great variety of ERP programs and it is vital to evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.
Secondly, the company will need to customize the existing software. Such programs are not usually tailor-made. This stage may last for forty days. The final step is to install it in various offices of the company. It should be borne in mind that the exact timelines can be changed. In this paper, we have given only approximate estimation.
Alternative Choice
The results of this strategy will be measured according to such criteria as the speed of ordering process. It must be completed within several hours so that customers would not have to wait for a long time. Secondly, I will need to evaluate the cooperation between various departments. This evaluation will conducted with the help of employee surveys. Provided that the results are not as good as they were expected, I would try to use technologies, enabling face-to-face communication via Internet.
Reference List
Bendoly E. & Jacobs F. (2005) Strategic ERP extension and use. Stanford University Press.
Hamilton S. Maximizing your ERP system: a practical guide for managers. NY: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Lands End. 2010. Clothing at Lands End . Web.
Quirke B. 2008. Making the Connections: Using Internal Communication to Turn Strategy Into Action. NY: Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Stuart. B. Sarow M. & Stuart L. (2007) Integrated business communication in a global marketplace. John Wiley and Sons.
There is need for organizations to understand the composition of international marketing to enable managers come up with successful strategies that can work within the global market. Operation of business activities sometimes takes place in complex environments where the businesses face high risks and uncertainties. This calls for necessary knowledge and skills in marketing and business activities that enables effective competition of the firm with others within the market (Doole and Lowe 3).
Marketers in sporting events are faced with the challenge of finding out important factors that lure people towards or away from sporting events. High pricing of the tickets is considered one of the major factors affecting match attendance in UAE stadiums. The games receive poor publicity in the media leaving the people with the notion that the tickets might be selling at very high prices.
There is almost no advertising of these games and considering also that few people are either interested or play the games. The slow processing and sale of tickets is also one of the contributing factors for lack of motivation towards the games within UAE. Also tight security around the stadiums which sometimes leads to confiscation of spectator items is one of the discouraging incidences contributing to low match attendance (AFP 1).
The rate at which people attend matches in stadiums is one of the potential sources of revenues. According to Cunningham and Kwon (139), the factors affecting fan turn out should not only be looked at theoretically but should be reviewed practically. There is the problem of marketing sports in UAE due to complexity in consumer behaviours and communication procedures.
United Arab Emirates experiences low attendees in stadiums during matches because the people are cultured towards watching cinemas and visiting shopping malls. The attendance to football games have dropped drastically in the recent times with the number recording few hundreds of spectators per match. The entertainment sectors like cinemas are more popular in UAE than the games.
This calls for effort by marketers in designing strategies on how to market football culture within UAE. The passion of football need to be restored back to the culture, this can be done through empowerment of youths, and creation of strong relationship between sports heroes and the fans.
Concerning the tight security round and within the stadiums, sports management should provide alternatives to fans, like introduction of open glasses of water to the fans (Rivzi 1). Poor promotion of the domestic leagues makes fans not to be informed about the games and the venue of matches. There is need to adopt other marketing mix elements like communication to replace the traditional free entry to football.
Problem Statement
This research seeks to answer the question as to why football fans in United Arab Emirates do not attend matches at the stadium. From the sports administration view the sale of match tickets to fans is one of the important ways of raising revenue and also helps in promoting sporting activities within the country.
Literature review
There are many factors that affect the level of attendance on matches hosted in stadiums. Cunningham and Kwon (127), showed some factors which include the existing relationship between attitude and the reasons of attending a match. There is suggestion that teams should increase the level of interaction between players and fans.
It is also important for teams to advertise their historical background which can act as a pulling factor to some fans. It is the responsibility of sports management to identify some of phenomenon that goes with sporting events that may be of interest to the satisfaction of fans needs.
UAE football association was established in the year 1971 and has since struggled with the issue of maintaining good fan base. The association has so much focused on sponsorship driven football, where they invite European top team players for the purposes of improving public relations between sports and the people (Madichie 308-318).
According to Coughlin and Erekson (180-185), football is one of the most attended games and its contribution acts as the primary determinant of revenue contribution to the sporting department. The ability of converting regular attendee of matches in UAE to season ticket holder and attract more fans depends on a number of factors which include the ability to field winning teams (DeSchriver).
This seems tricky on the side of administration since it is not easy to maintain winning team on a yearly basis. The sports games must be made more interesting to keep the fans at the level where they long for more of such experiences seasonally. There is also a lot of concern by fans on the physical surroundings of the stadiums and security.
According to Bitner (57-71), the physical environment of any sporting stadium matters a lot and determines the level of consumer turn out.
The type of services plays important role towards determining the rate at which consumers frequent the any leisure setting. In applying the type of services concept to social settings, Wakefield and Blodgett (66-71), experimented with two Baseball stadia and found out that most of the fans who commented positively on the quality of type of services were most likely to frequent the stadium for future events.
This is contrary to those who had negative comments on the stadia services, since they were less likely to be back for future events. Quality services of a stadium are mostly determined by the crowd capacity it can contain comfortably in one match setting.
Other factors like team loyalty were found to be one of the factors that affect fans desire to frequent games at given stadiums. There are other variables like parking space, spectators control and the quality of food served within the stadium restaurants. This shows that sports arena is one of the major factors that affect the rate of attendance of matches within stadiums and the decision by fans to purchase more tickets in future games.
Study on the attendance behaviour during games is considered to be influenced by psychological, economic and social factors. Kelmans Functional Psychological theory of attitudinal Influence measures the motivational tools that influences match attendance in stadiums. This theory applies some constructs such as sense of obligation and identification with the victory (Kahle, Kambara and Rose, 51-60).
Then there is the social theory that uses the concept of casual social nature of human being. This stresses the fact that sporting events should be utilized as places for healthy interactions between people of diverse backgrounds. The games should have clear definitions on the nature of fans and the duration of matches.
There should also be clear sense of fanaticism for specified events and enough room for socialization. Boundaries are drawn concerning the level of noise from the crowd within the stadium and the level of interactions between players and fans. Restrictions should be made on some negative behaviour like smoking and high ticket prices (Kahle, Kambara and Rose, 51-60).
Hypothesis
The rate of attendance in any match in UAE stadiums is dependent on the value fans attach to tickets based on the level of quality entertainment brought by the game
There is no relationship between the value of the ticket and the quality of entertainment that fans attach to games
Research methods
Telephone surveys were conducted to randomly selected fans who were asked to explain on what motivates them to attend matches. They were also asked on their frequency on game attendance. Research was conducted on some households to ascertain on the influence of community beliefs on certain aspects of games. This revealed that community disapproval of any game affects the general view and attendance towards the game.
Variables related to stadium services such as parking space, security of fans and quality food were examined. The data was finally analysed using SPSS package which showed any relationship that existed between independent and dependent variables. Correlation research was used to determine the level of similarity between dependent and other independent variables (Gall et al).
Correlation is the most preferred method since it helps in revealing the factors that determine frequency of attendance of fans to matches hosted within stadiums. The only disadvantage associated with correlation research design is that it gives more descriptive results than those given by use of experimental methods.
Results
The findings identified several categories of fans, those who were highly involved in sporting activities, those who are significantly involved and those not very concerned about sporting activities.
The first category of highly motivated fans considers matches as point of influence from which they can build their sense of importance. This kind of fan enjoys the matches and appreciates the entertainment that goes with it. In this case the marketers can utilize marketing of specific events with detailed information about the teams to attract such like fans.
The second group were found to be attracted by the organization and setting of the stadium during the matches. Then the third group of lowly motivated are only attracted to the game leaders or highly rated players. This calls for marketers to consider serious marketing on league leaders, top scorers or highly rated players.
Conclusion
There is call for sporting managers to strategise on how to build stadiums that are more comfortable for fans. The stadiums should include adequate ventilation space and temperature regulators that make it conducive for interactions.
Marketers should focus on how to provide promotions that enable easy interactions between fans and top players and also create spaces that allow the fans to air their views through media. This helps in promoting fan identification which increases the level of enjoyment that accompanies sporting activities within the stadium.
There is need to introduce prize draws for attraction purposes. This is where valuable products are presented to winners at sporting events. Though there is still belief that the best way to attract fans is through signing high profile players and involving participation of top continental teams within the sporting events, the use of incentives is still applicable (Rivzi 1).
Works Cited
AFP. Confusion, apathy explains poor games ticket sales. 2010. Web.
Bitner, Mary. Type of services: The impact of physical surroundings on customers And employees . Journal of Marketing, 56 (1992): 57-71.
Coughlin, Cletus. & Homer, Erekson. An Examination of Contributions to Support Intercollegiate Athletics . Southern Economic Journal 51(1984):180-195.
Cunningham & Kwon. The Theory of Planned Behaviour and Intentions to Attend a Sport Event . Sport Management Review 6(2003): 127-145
DeSchriver, Timothy. Factors affecting spectator attendance at NCAA Division II Football contests . International Sports Journal, 3(1999):55-65.
Doole, Isobel & Robin, Lowe. International marketing strategy. South- Western Cengage Learning, London, 2008.
Gall, Mark, Wiener, Borg & Gall, Cheryl. Educational Research: An introduction (6thed.). White Plains, NY: Longman Publishers USA, 1996. Print.
Kahle, Lynn, Kambara, & Rose. A functional model of fan attendance Motivations for college football . Sport Marketing Quarterly, 5 (1996): 51-60.
Madichie, Nnamdi. Professional Sports: a new services consumption mantra in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) . The Marketing Review, 9 (2009a): 308-318.
Rivzi, Ahmed, 2009, Low attendances are a worry for game in UAE. 2009. Web.
Wakefield & Blodgett. The importance of type of services in leisure Service settings . The Journal of Services Marketing, 8(1994): 66-76.
Managers prefer using resources from home countries since they consider utilization of foreign resources as leading towards export of job opportunities and at the same time exerts negative pressure on wages. The host country receiving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) suffers from medium term impact in the process of balancing payments.
At the same time, managers fear the effects of monopolization that such direct investments implore within domestic market. In the same line, utilization of foreign resources lead towards signing of multilateral agreements which ultimately bind respective signatories hence limiting organizations policies. Such multinational agreements could lead towards pre-empting of companys rights in the management of capital inflows (Eiteman et al., 2010).
Additionally, resource-based view asserts that competitive advantage can be reinforced through consolidation of potential capital resources within host country.
This confirms the fact that gaining competitive advantage depends on utilization of locally available resources. Healthy competition amongst firms cannot be based on inputs that are locally available since such resources are common and readily available to all other firms. More so, the cost of acquiring these inputs can prove expensive especially when obtained from foreign countries.
Management team which focuses on exploiting local resources have the advantage of achieving maximum competitive advantage in cases where they are capable of shifting focus away from common market characteristics. According to market research, competitive advantage associated to business associations is categorized as that focusing on relation-specific investment of assets and at the same time relying on human and complementary resources (Carbaugh, 2004).
Recent researchers have revealed that the necessary and sufficient condition for maximum utilization of global resources is based on specialization and concentration of local assets (Amit & Schoemaker 1993, p. 39). For the purposes of gaining competitive advantage, there is need for reduction in cost of production and this can only be achieved through reduction of Foreign Direct investments (FDI).
Basically, firms benefit in terms of productivity through investing in relation-specific assets within host country. Such conditions enable firms to gain economies of scale hence obtaining potential to raise production levels on specialized and general assets.
References
Amit, R., & Schoemaker, P. (1993). Strategic assets and organizational rents. Strategic Management Journal, 14 (1):33-46
Carbaugh, R., J. (2004). International economics. (9th Ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson.
Eiteman, D., Stonehill, A., & Moffett, M. (2010). Multinational business finance (12th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The purpose of this paper is to present a brief overview of three companies that collapsed due to events that occurred in the past. The companies include Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and Deway & Leboeuf. The paper will focus on the factors that led to the collapse of the companies. Additionally, it will highlight the dates when the companies collapsed and the losses that were incurred.
Lehman Brothers was an investment company in the USA banking industry. The company collapsed in September 2008 due to its heavy investment in risky assets. In particular, the company had borrowed a large amount of money to finance its investment activities prior to its collapse in 2008.
A large percentage of the borrowed capital was invested in the subprime mortgage industry (Sorkin, 2008). This exposed the company to the risk of making huge losses if a significant number of its clients defaulted. Unfortunately, the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008 led to a high default rate in the banking industry. Consequently, the company made a loss of $2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2008 (Hines, Kreuze, & Langsam, 2011, pp. 40-49).
Additionally, the company had to sell assets worth $6 billion and to reduce its workforce by 5% in order to remain solvent. In the third quarter of 2008, Lehman made a loss of $3.5 billion (Hines, Kreuze, & Langsam, 2011, pp. 40-49). Consequently, the firms management opted to sell it to other financial institutions. However, this plan did not succeed because no firm was willing to inherit Lehmans losses. In addition, the government of the USA failed to give financial assistance to the company.
Washington Mutual was one of the largest holding companies in the USAs banking industry. The firm owned Washington Mutual Bank, which was one of the largest commercial banks in the USA prior to 2008. Before its collapse, the company had assets worth over $400 billion (Grind, 2012, p. 213).
The holding company collapsed in 2008 after the OTS took a disciplinary action against Washington Mutual Bank. In particular, customers withdrew nearly 9% of the deposits that were held by the bank in less than ten days. The huge withdrawal occurred because the banks credit rating had been downgraded.
The large withdrawal attracted the attention of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), which is one of the regulators of the USAs banking industry. The OTS responded by seizing the bank and placing it under statutory management. Eventually, the OTS sold the bank to JP Morgan. Consequently, Washington Mutual went out of business and incurred losses of approximately $13 billion (Grind, 2012, p. 114).
Deway & Leboeuf was one of the most successful multinational law firms in the USA. Prior to its collapse, the company had assets worth approximately $100 billion. The firm collapsed in 2012 due to financial constraints (Bernard, 2012). Concisely, the company had promised its lawyers (partners) high remuneration in order to retain them.
However, high competition and declining demand for the companys services significantly reduced its revenue. Consequently, the firm was not able to keep its promise of paying high salaries to its employees or lawyers (Bernard, 2012). This led to the resignation of more than 60% of the partners, thereby limiting the firms ability to operate in the USA.
Grind, K. (2012). The lost bank: The story of Washington Mutual. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Hines, C., Kreuze, J., & Langsam, S. (2011). An analysis of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and repo 105 transactions. American Journal of Business, 26(1), 40-49.