Category: Company

SWOT analysis is an analysis that evaluates the internal and external factors in an organization’s environment. The internal factors include strength and weakness whereas the external factors are opportunities and threats.

Strength

1. Worldwide Presence: – Kellogg’s is a renowned cereals company that is being manufactured in almost 18 countries and marketed over 180 countries. The company is the most successful and leading producer of cereals that is keeping its pace with global manufacturing and marketing capabilities and has become a prominent company after it acquired Pringles to expand its market share in international snacks. Besides cereals, the company is also a manufacturer of convenience products foods, such as fruit flavored snacks, toaster pastries, cereal bars, cookies, crackers and frozen waffles. The products of Kellogg’s company are available in different outlets of Qatar and it is seen to be fairly consumed by the population.
2. Multiple Variants: – Kellogg’s researches in their production of cereals and decides to improve the nutrition of their foods by adding multiple variants to their list. Some of the variants are Honey loops, Choco, Frosted Flakes, Happy Inside, Frosted Mini Wheats, Krave, Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, Pop tarts, Eggo, Special K and so on. They have also added Kellogg’s oats or All Bran as a popular breakfast option for the consumers. According to Bhasin (2018), Kellogg’s have studied the consumer habits for breakfast including what they add to their bowl of cornflakes to upgrade its taste and this has brought about them thinking of variations. These variants are not available in abundance in Qatar. However, with cereals like cornflakes and Choco the consumer meets with different breakfast needs.
3. Brand Values: – Kellogg’s is a very competitive company. Providing ready to eat cereals, the company holds number of values such as balanced nutrition, low fat, tasty and high carb which is advertised as the ideal breakfast for health-conscious consumers. According to Rooney (2012), the world’s largest cereal maker which spends more than $1 billion on brand marketing and advertising is fighting for major brand overhaul by bringing innovative ideas to their product and purchasing Pringles for expanding its global footprint in the category of snacks. With its brand value, the company keeps high-presence in Qatar.

Opportunities

1. Changing Lifestyle: – The lifestyle of people is changing with the growth of urban population. According to Bhasin (2018), People tend to look for a quick easy made meal in their fast-paced movement of life. Kellogg’s is a company that offers a meal prepared in advance, with no further preparation or cooking required before being eaten. It makes life much easier and saves time. In Qatar, most of the families are shifting from their traditional breakfast preferences to Western breakfasts like cereals. Change of the preferences in the lifestyle of Qatari citizens is the force that results in an increase in the marker share of cornflakes and cereals.
2. Targeting Hotels & Restaurants: -The company is taking one step in generating their profit in market share and growth by planning to have joint contract with cafes and restaurants. In Qatar, this segment for growth will boost the business of the company.

Weakness

1. Marketing campaigns: Kellogg’s has always been an appealing company to the consumers for their clear messages of the quality cereals through advertisement. Besides all the praises of the company’s breakfast meal-list, the company also faced criticisms and was questioned by the press for adding high amount of sugar, high fructose corn syrup and salt in and boasting the nutrition value. According to Bainbridge (2013), “Cereal giant Kellogg’s has again been told to withdraw two television advertisements because they are deemed to be marketing unhealthy food to children” (para. 1).
2. Slow innovation: – Kellogg’s is known to have an extent of competition in the market with its competitors. Despite the fact of competition, the company is slow in diversification and innovation of the contents of the cereals which is one of its weaknesses in the growth.
3. Lack of Sensitivity to culture: Kellogg’s had cases of neglecting the sensitivity of various cultures while manufacturing their product. Low sensitivity accounts for low acceptance in many cultures. Kellogg’s had to rename their popular Bran buds cereal launched in Sweden because it somehow translated to “Burned Farmer”. They also designed Corn pops cereal box that had insensitive racial connotation and confirmed to change it after a person complained.

Threats

1. Government Regulation: Kellogg’s had to give in on government regulations when found the use of excess amount of sugar in the cereals. According to Doha news (2013), “The Ministry of Business and Trade has urged Qatar’s supermarkets to remove Kellogg’s Cornflakes from store shelves, saying it is unfit for human consumption” (para. 2).
2. Competition: Kellogg’s have some notable competitors in Qatari market. Those are Nestle, Quaker Oats Company, Kraft Heinz and so on. The number of cafes in Qatar are increasing and hence people tend to shift to consuming breakfast in café and other food joints.
3. Customer awareness: Customers are very smart and aware of the products they purchase. With the advancement of technology and urbanization in Qatar, people can easily recognize the pros and cons of any product and how it affects one’s personal lifestyle. Kellogg’s cornflakes were taken out of the shelves in the supermarkets of Qatar when the ministry directives found unhealthy signs unfit for human consumption. Kellogg’s had to face criticisms for adding sugar and was told to take out two of their advertisements. It is because the customers recognized the disparity between the advertisement and product message which resulted into negative word of mouth and had negative impact on the lives of their children.

Promotion

The company of Kellogg’s use effective promotional plans under its marketing mix to keep hold of its prospective buyers. Among the five elements of promotional mix, advertising and sales promotion are the key aspects of the company’s marketing mix. Beside the two elements, packaging is also maintained that must provide a representation of the brand identity and appeal to the target market. Kellogg’s focuses on building a strong brand compared to other brands in the market in order to increase sales. The packages are designed with cartoon characters that makes children more likely to buy the product. It introduces some gift items, some solving games like sudoku, crossword, jigsaw puzzles and some prizes in the boxes of cereal boxes as a promotional tool to target children.

Advertisement: Kellogg’s use repetitive advertising message to reinforce the knowledge of cereals to the customers using whole range of media such as posters, radio, cinema, in the press and most recently on the internet. Its cereals are products are considered low involvement hence they try maintaining the quality, keep the shelves full in any market worldwide and consumers can find them in every supermarket which shows that Kellogg’s is trying to make customers involve in the product and makes them feel that they must purchase. Television is used as the main channel for advertising for an individual brand aimed at a target audience. For instance, the special K edition of Kellogg’s cereal is specifically aimed towards women empowering them and helping them to reduce their weight whereas Coco pops, Frosties are aimed at children and Corn Flakes are aimed at the whole family. The content of the advertisement is depended on the target audience. For Kellogg’s marketing campaigns social media is a great tool where the company shares brand messaging of their innovative cereal meals for different special occasions.

Sales promotion: In order to stimulate interest in buying Kellogg’s cereals, the company uses short-term inducement that results in stimulating sales for that period of time. For example, in Qatar, Kelloggs puts discout on the cereals which makes the customers buy their products. This covers the entire Kellogg’s marketing mix.

The promotional objectives of a company in marketing is basically based on the strategies, aims and goals of its project. The current promotional objective of Kellogg’s originals cereal is customer focus. According to Kellogg’s statement, “It is the company’s objective to grow by using customer focused marketing strategy to serve the needs of their target customers, ‘potential cereals consumers’.” The company is also being recognized with an objective to provide valuable quality products to customers, to grow and to stand out as a leader in cereals market.

A good communication is an essential element for the company to send out the message they want. The leading cereal company Kellogg’s acts as an encoder who strives to devise communication and plans to convey message of the importance of breakfast to their selected target audience i.e. children through multi-platform campaign. For instance, the company has been involved actively in supporting breakfast clubs in schools for many years in the UK. According to Fernandez (2014), Kellogg’s mentioned that they set up a campaign in UK with the message “Wake up to breakfast” with an aim to get back the families in British into the habit of eating the breakfast by primarily targeting parents and families. The goal of the campaign was to reach out directly to the skippers of breakfast and show them how beneficial it is to start a day with breakfast. Kellogg’s through their promotional message wanted to give message to the people that healthy meal is the best option for maintaining good health. Advertisement of the campaign through television as a medium of broadcast in addition to public relation to get messages to the press was an efficient way to reach out the target audience.

1. References
2. Bainbridge, A. (2013, July 04). Kellogg’s ordered to withdraw more TV ads. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-04/kelloggs-ordered-to-withdraw-more-television-ads/4799270
3. Bhasin, H. (2018, March 10). SWOT analysis of Kelloggs – Kelloggs SWOT analysis & internal analysis. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-kelloggs-kelloggs-swot-analysis/
4. Bhasin, H. (2018, March 20). SWOT analysis of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes – Kellogg’s SWOT analysis. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-kelloggs-corn-flakes/
5. Dohanews. (2013, April 25). Qatar supermarkets remove Kellogg’s Cornflakes from shelves after ministry directive. Retrieved from http://dohanews.tumblr.com/post/48842506715/qatar-supermarkets-remove-kelloggs-cornflakes
6. Fernandez, J. (2014, October 17). Kellogg’s encourages consumers to ‘Wake Up To Breakfast’ – Marketing Week. Retrieved from https://www.marketingweek.com/2010/07/20/kelloggs-encourages-consumers-to-wake-up-to-breakfast/
7. Rooney, J. (2012, May 10). Kellogg’s Completes Major Brand Overhaul. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2012/05/10/kelloggs-embarks-on-major-brand-overhaul/

Today, there are a lot of different industries and companies operating within these industries, each of which has its own special characteristics, history and future potential. Despite the fact that the market is constantly changing and there are new more modern and up-to-date companies that can impose competition on established market leaders, companies with a long history are able to resist new young companies and can make every effort to prevent the loss of their market share. Such companies can be called successful and in order to find successful companies, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the industry, its external and internal factors, as well as to analyze the strategy and work of individual companies, because a very large number of factors affect the success of its work. Periodically analyze the industry and individual companies is very important, as it allows us to identify the most problematic issues that may hinder the further development of the company, as well as to identify possible ways out of this situation, because if the company do not respond to the problems that arise, they can grow very much and then the whole company will suffer greatly from them (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). Moreover, the analysis helps to identify the most powerful aspects of the company within the studied industry and these distinctive features can be used when creating a company development strategy, because the advantages must always be used to improve market positions. Also, the analysis of the management strategy of the human resources has a great value and is very important for any company (Millmore, 2007). In this paper, we will look at the features and distinctive qualities of a British company like BP company.

Human resources are very important for the organization, because today there are a lot of theories on effective management of human capital, which becomes one of the main competitive advantages (Collings and Wood, 2009). Firstly, companies try to lure prospective employees away from their competitors by offering them higher wages and more comfortable working conditions. Secondly, companies invest very big amounts of money in the development of their personnel, willing to get a greater return on their work (Farnham, 2010). All this suggests that companies are trying to develop special models, strategic HR management models that take into account the specifics of the business and find the best ways to manage human resources (Storey, 2007). Among these models, we can distinguish the Guest model and Devanna models, each of which has its own distinctive features, although both of them perform the same business tasks.

Guest model allows us to describe the process of adopting and creating an HR management program as a result of forming a business strategy. According to the model, the HR manager should be guided by the overall strategy of the company, because it is necessary to make decisions in accordance with it, for example, it depends on the overall strategy whether to improve the professional qualities of existing employees or by hiring new personnel who already have the necessary knowledge and skills. It is worth noting that Guest created his own model, in which he pointed out the dependence of the company’s financial performance on the business strategy and HR strategy, which allows us to conclude that both of these concepts play a very important role in the performance of the company. What’s more, these two concepts stand in front of many others, which explains the high dependence, for example, of productivity and quality of services or goods on both the business strategy and the HR strategy. That is why these two strategies must match to each other so that the result is exactly what the company’s management expects to see.

The second model, which is the Devanna model, also suggests that the company needs HR management and business strategy to match, since in this case the company can resist external factors. This makes the two models very similar, but the second model also provides with a third condition, which is the organizational structure of the company, which must also correspond to the strategy and HR management. Most likely, this model is better in taking into account the different characteristics of companies of different sizes, because, for example, the HR management programs of large and small companies will differ significantly, at least because of the complexity and detailed hierarchy in large companies. However, we can’t say that either of the two models is better.

After examining the main models that allow us to link HR management and the overall strategy of the company, we can begin to analyze one of the most important industries of the UK, which is the oil and gas industry. The UK is an extremely important player in the black gold market, as this country produces approximately 1.4 million barrels of oil per day, and it is worth remembering that the total worldwide production is approximately 75-78 million barrels per day.

To analyze the volume of extracted oil in a more detailed way we can study the following diagram:

This influence on the oil market is directly related to the history of the Kingdom, because British companies have always sought to expand their territory of influence and develop new lands. Due to this desire, companies could expand their production, which had a positive impact on the development of the industry. To conduct a more detailed analysis of the factors affecting this industry, we will conduct a study using the modern PEST method.

Politics plays a special role among all other types of factors in this analysis. Today, there are a lot of interesting and intimidating processes related to the UK in the political sphere. Of course, we are talking about BREXIT, which calls into question the preservation of close and warm ties with many members of the European Union, in whose environment the business of the United Kingdom has worked for many years. This political upheaval will inevitably lead to the fact that the country’s authorities will have to re-establish diplomatic relations with many countries and now it is impossible to be sure that the influential position of the UK will remain in the form that we have known it for almost 50 years of being in the EU (47 years to be precise).

Economic factors are also important for this industry. Among the most important are the prices of raw materials produced by companies from the UK, which show extremely high volatility. In addition, due to the turmoil in the oil market, when prices dropped from $ 100+ per barrel to $ 27 and then rose to $ 60-70 during 6 years, many companies experienced difficulties due to the unprofitability of oil at such extremely low values. Such major changes greatly affect the financial stability of companies. In addition, it is important to note the exchange rate of the national currency, which has also changed very much in recent years due to many political and economic news. All this has a certain impact on the oil and gas industry.

Social factors also have great impact on industry, as the working population seeks to achieve better working conditions, pay levels, and much more, and it’s all very negative effect on the profitability level of the companies.

Due to technical factors, the industry is developing on the one hand, and, on the other hand, faces certain difficulties. Today, every year new inventions appear that simplify the production and processing of oil, which can reduce the costs of producers. However, due to the fact that these innovations are beginning to be used by all companies in the industry, the market is experiencing an increase in incoming oil, which increases the supply of raw materials, and in conditions of constant demand, this situation leads to a decrease in revenue due to falling prices for raw materials. Therefore, technological factors have two sides of influence on the development of the oil and gas industry.

In the gas and oil industry of the UK, one of the market leaders is BP, which is known for its long history, which has allowed the company to go through many great difficulties. However, the company successfully copes with all the problems and forms a very good position in the market. Here we can see the market share allocation among the oil and gas industry companies presented in the UK (Statista, 2020):

So, the BP company has a big part of the UK oil and gas industry. This is due to the organizational strategy created by the company’s management. Firstly, the vision of the company is “providing the world with high quality energy’ (BP global, 2019). This means that the company values the trust of its customers and is ready to provide the quality of products that customers demand. In addition, mission of the company states the provision of a range of carbon energy including oil and gas, produced and processed by the most modern technologies, allowing to provide products in the required quality, at the prices that buyers can afford, as well as with additional preferences of buyers, which are constantly being improved, which allows to further optimize production and reduce prices for the offered products. BP company provides a large range of the carbon products used in various fields and for various purposes, which allows the company to have several groups of buyers. The company also wants to provide products that meet the high requirements of consumers, and in the long term, the company plans to develop and continue the process of reducing the cost of production, which will have a positive impact on the price. Corporate goals of the company include “to achieve a target of 3.5 million tons of sustainable greenhouse gas emissions reductions” by 2025 and to rewards 36,000 employees due to emissions reduction (BP global, 2019). Generally, if we summarize all this information, we can get the company’s strategy, which is long-term development, which can help to compete in the oil and gas market.

To indicate the position of the company we can use the relevant SWOT-analysis, which can help us to find out some features of the company. First of all, among the strengths we can indicate the desire to fit the modern ecological standards and even to overperform them. Also, we can speak of the big share of the UK market which helps the company to get big revenue and profit. The weaknesses of the BP company is overall sizes which may the dangerous and uncomfortable while making any innovations as it is hard to control the execution of all instructions. Among the company’s opportunities is the possibility of introducing new technologies for extraction and processing of raw materials, which will have a positive impact on the company’s work. However, there are also serious threats to the company, since due to the ambiguous political situation (mainly because of BREXIT), it is likely that relations with major foreign partners may undergo major changes, which may lead to the loss of key partners and some of the product sales market. As we can see, BP company is a very stable company that can achieve good results and significantly improve its position in the market if managers make the right decisions.

If we study the link between the BP company’s HR strategy and overall business strategy, we will see that they are very strongly linked. This is reflected in many real examples where the company, for example, gives some benefits to its employees for working effectively and achieving the company’s strategic goals (Leopold and Harris, 2009). For example, the company thanks and rewards 36 thousand of its employees for their active actions to reduce the company’s emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, because the company recognizes the Paris agreement on climate protection and want to reduce the negative impact on the environment. As already mentioned, one of the corporate goals of the company is to reduce emissions to 3.5 million tons of gases by 2025. Employees take all possible actions to ensure that the company’s goals are achieved, and the world community understands that the company is ready to fight against air pollution. Although the year 2025 has not yet arrived, and the final goal of reducing emissions has not yet been reached, due to the advance of the schedule for reducing emissions, the company rewards its employees, which gives reason to believe that the HR strategy of the BP company really supports and correlates with business strategies. Moreover, we can analyze this example using the two models described earlier. When creating a business strategy, the company planned a certain level of financial results. In order to achieve the planned targets, the company decides to reward its employees if their actions lead to the achievement of the planned targets (Roper, Prouska, and Chatrakul, 2010). In addition, due to the fact that the company’s organizational structure assumes a clear hierarchy among its employees, they, who have competently cooperated, can consistently follow the orders of top managers and achieve the set tasks (Truss, Mankin and Kelliher, 2012).

BP company, being one of the leaders in the UK gas and oil industry, has a good business strategy that can allow the firm to occupy a large market share for a very long time. The company’s business strategy provides with development in several directions, however, when talking about the potential future of the company, it is necessary to take into account not only the desires and aspirations of the company’s owners and of the top-level management, but also the capabilities, quality of training and motivation of the company’s employees (Rees and Smith, 2017). Since companies have recently become much more appreciative of human resources, as they allow the company to achieve key business goals, organizations are extremely interested in developing a high-quality and detailed HR strategy (Boxall and Purcell, 2011). As we can see in the example of BP, compliance with the HR strategy largely determines whether the company’s goals will be achieved, because it is the capabilities of employees that determine how successful the company will be (Marchington, Wilkinson, and Marchington, 2012). If the company wants all the targets and expectations to be met in the future, it is extremely important to take care of the situation with employees who need to do a lot of work, so that they direct all their efforts in the direction that will allow the company to develop.

References

1. Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2011) Strategy and Human Resource Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp. 46-68.
2. BP global. (2019). BP to support investor group’s call for greater reporting around Paris goals | News and insights | Home. [online] Available at: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/bp-to-support-investor-groups-call-for-greater-reporting-around-paris-goals.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
3. BP global. (2019). Investor presentations | Investors | Home. [online] Available at: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/investors/investor-presentations.html [Accessed 22 Feb. 2020].
4. Collings. D.G. and Wood, G. (2009) Human Resource Management: A critical approach. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.103-121.
5. Farnham, D. (2010) Human Resource Management in Context: Strategy, insights and Solutions. London: CIPD, pp.24-29.
6. Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (2002) Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Harlow: Pearson Education.
7. Leopold, J. and Harris, L. (2009) The Strategic Management of Human Resources. Harlow: Pearson Education, pp.49-57.
8. Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A. and Marchington, L. (2012). Human resource management at work. London: CIPD Publishing, pp.138-162.
9. Millmore, M., Lewis, P., Saunders, M., Thornhill, A. and Morrow, T. (2007) Strategic Human Resource Management: Contemporary issues. Harlow: Pearson Education, pp. 58-121.
10. Rees, G. and Smith, P. (2017). Strategic human resource management. 2nd ed. California: Sage Publications, pp.361-402.
11. Roper, I., Prouska, R. and Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, U. (2010). Critical issues in human resource management. London: CIPD, pp.32-38.
12. Statista. (2020). Motor fuel market share by brand in the UK 2019 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/312071/motor-fuel-market-share-by-brand-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2020].
13. Storey, J. (2007). Human resource management: a critical text. London: Thomson, pp.24-38.
14. Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C. (2012) Strategic Human Resource Management. Oxford University Press, pp.119-135.

Costco has one of the most noteworthy degrees of association I’ve by and by seen in my 15 years of concentrating on issues of hierarchical culture. I trust it clarifies why Costco is America’s best business. How about we take a gander at the three components of vision, esteem, and voice and how they give the establishment of Costco’s Association Culture.

Impart a Motivating Vision With regards to an Association Culture, my partners and I characterize vision as having three sections: mission, qualities, and notoriety. The vision of Costco is that the association enables individuals to bring home the bacon, enables organizations to be progressively productive and serve clients better, and is a positive power in the networks where its stockrooms dwell. Costco’s qualities are summed up in the expression: ‘Dependably make the best decision, notwithstanding when it harms.’ Costco lives this out in the manner in which it steadfastly serves its individuals, the manner in which it treats representatives like family, and the positive things it improves the situation networks.

Esteem Individuals Esteem exists in a culture when individuals are esteemed as people as opposed to being thought of and treated as unfortunate obligation. Costco values individuals. Contrasted with contenders, it gives liberal remuneration and advantages to its representatives. Costco gives profession chances to its workers. The way that Costco’s senior administrators began chipping away at the forefronts in distribution centers is a demonstration of upward profession versatility. The employer stability Costco has given likewise demonstrates that it esteems workers as individuals.

Give Individuals a Voice Giving individuals a voice to express their thoughts and suppositions at that point thinking of them as is a third way Costco reinforces its Association Culture. Sinegal disclosed to me a tale about the time in Costco’s initial days when it was opening a distribution center in downtown Seattle and the neighborhood alcohol permit reviewer addressed everything. As the assessor’s request extended, Sinegal exploded at him, in disappointment. A partner of Sinegal’s must be sent to persuade the assessor that he had gone incidentally crazy. Thinking back, Sinegal wishes he could thank the examiner. His exhaustive addressing helped Costco turn out to be better arranged for what it would look forward amid its decades-long extension. Most importantly troublesome discussions and questions can be endowments in camouflage. Costco grasps this frame of mind of modesty and trustworthiness and that act makes the organization more astute and more grounded. Two different ways Costco keeps their representatives inspired. They just contract from inside the organization expect at the most minimal dimension. One of the greatest ways that Costco keeps its workers inspired is by procuring from inside the organization. This means when an administration position opens up the activity is just offered to a current Costco representative. This urges each worker to buckle down at what they do in light of the fact that they never know when they will be considered for advancement. I trust this would work great in inspiring representatives on the grounds that climbing inside the organization is a truly unmistakable objective. I think realizing that higher up positions will inevitably be offered to people in their position would enable a present representative to do everything they could to add and demonstrate their value each day.

My recognition of this case, Costco has no key issues confronting them right now. Their plan of action is engaging as in they have a fast stock turnover, working efficiencies, and benefit at an extremely low gross edge. Such achievement has come their way because of variables, for example, web deals, continuous exertion to cut costs, just stock deals, treasure-chase stock, no-bother merchandise exchange, and informal promoting. Costco involves a cost methodology that intends to enter valuing; and a preoccupation purchasing technique that gives a client a fortune chase shopping background. Of these procedures that Costco utilizes, the central components of low costs, restricted product offerings and determination, and fortune chase condition are simply the principle fixings that put over all contenders. Costco has solid and faithful enrollment among its clients and, additionally, an extraordinary workforce.

It exhibits an intriguing viewpoint on CSR. In a meeting with Costco’s executive of account, Richard Galanti, Gosin discusses how CSR can prompt a manageable upper hand. What I found fascinating is the means by which CSR was resolved. As indicated by Galanti, CSR is a perfect name for treating society, representatives and the earth legitimately. In the blog, Gosselin utilizes a meeting with Galanti to draw an image of how Costco utilizes CSR not as a promoting plan, however as a delicate demonstration of generosity. National paper as a socially dependable association. In any case, through this blog, I discovered that all socially dependable associations don’t utilize CSR as a showcasing plan. In spite of Costco’s absence of intrigue, they give a lot of help for the instruction of youngsters and their representatives. They are not just given 1% of pre-charge benefits every year yet additionally depend on elementary schools to advance training. Through this blog, I discovered that you cannot pass judgment on an association to cover it. The way that CSR isn’t distributed does not mean it doesn’t exist. REFERENCES Why Become A Member | Costco. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.costco.com/membership-information.html

Introduction

This assessment is for the analysis of the financial statements of Tesco PLC, the British multinational company specialising in the sale of groceries and general merchandise. It is currently the third largest retailer in the world and has spread its shops to eleven different countries. The company has been running for 101 years (since 1919) and was founded by Jack Cohen, beginning as a market stall.

One of Tesco´s main priorities is maintaining and reinforcing a sustainable value, and therefore to grow sustainably.

Tesco has implemented a 5-year plan after accumulating debt, after failing to reach payments to their suppliers in 2014. In their 2019 Annual report they claim to have achieved its goals for a turnaround, having paid dividends for a second year in a row and increase their profit by 34% from the previous year (2017-18). Throughout this process, they have bought Booker, the cash-and-carry chain in 2017. This has allowed the company to provide groceries to trade buyers, and has helped increase its earnings. Their balance sheet has shifted from their total debt of 22bn (pounds) in 2015 reduced to 12bn (pounds) at the end of 2019.

Tesco has so far succeeded with their turnaround and has been steady with rebuilding the company, making specific changes to adapt to the different markets they work in.

Recommendation

Upon reading through Tesco´s PLC 2019 annual report, it has been stated that the company has taken appropriate measures to plan in advance for their company to keep reaching their goals and are preparing for potential disturbances, such as Brexit. Their group sales show an increase of 11.5% from 2018 to 2019, showing that as an overall they are succeeding throughout their different places in keeping sales up against competition.

As mentioned in the introduction, now that the company has succeeded in turnaround, they have placed focus in improving their long term relationship with their closest supplier partners (as well as investing in order to improve the quality of the products), paying off their debts and paying off dividends. Their dividends per share have increased by 92.3% in 2018-2019, from 3.00 to 5.77. A pay-out ratio over 75% is considered very high and that can become a risk to the company if they have to cut their dividends in the future, as that would have an impact of their share price. The company should consider maintaining a distribution of money that is sustainable on the long term, and pay off their debts with caution. Currently the company is aiming to pay off its debt and improve its reputation after their massive debts scandal in 2014. We can see this in the Current Ratio, which when below 1 is considered low, and shows us cash problems. We can see the company is working on improving this, as they are paying off current liabilities and rising the shareholders fund in order to increase the current assets. “This strong financial performance is driven by a strategic decision to manage our business with a long-term focus on four key metrics: customer satisfaction, cash profitability, free cash flow and earnings growth. It also reflects the plans we have delivered this year to create value for each of our key stakeholders – our customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders.” (Page 3).

Another example we can look at to reassure the successful forward movement of the company is the operating profit, which has increased by 17.1%. This shows us that there is an increase in the remaining income of the company after paying off the operating expense. If we look at the gross profit margin this can also confirm that, as it shows us the production costs are being covered and an increase in profit from the previous year is still occurring.

The return on the capital employed, from 6.4% to 10.7% in 2019 shows that the investments the company has made are still working to their advantage. These numbers can reassure the company that they are in a good position to expand their investments into their competitiveness, and challenges such as the uneven business rates systems within the UKs market.

If we look into the corporate strategy of Tesco PLC, they have been innovative within their approaches. From making its own-brand products, providing different value and priced products, and expanding their product range into different categories. The chain was one of the first to bring in self-service tills and provide contactless payment to the customers. They have aimed to facilitate the purchases, provide products in high demand, including a variety for different dietary needs, and ease the process of purchase. They have shown the success of this in their Group Sales, which do not include their sales of petrol. They have grown by 11.3%, giving the company a third consecutive year of sales growth. The purchase of Booker has provided 11.4% to the Group sales growth.

An area we cannot dismiss within the company performance is the cuts the company has made in order to increase their revenue. Tesco has promised cost cuts of 1.5bn pounds by 2020, which they have so far succeeded at. The company has cut more than 10,000 jobs and closed a number of stores to keep up to these numbers. They have sold Harris + Hoole coffee shops and its Turkish grocery business, as well as exiting other markets it was previously involved in. The company has made its shareholders and suppliers its priority but it has come to impact the relationship with its staff and the reputation upon the customers who relied on the jobs which were cut, such as the butcher, cheese counter and fish sections which were previously included. The -3% movement in their staff numbers could impact its reputation as a reliable company to work for.

Conclusion

To conclude the Analysis performance and include the recommendations based on it, Tesco Plc has implemented a 5-year plan to which they have succeeded in following and continue to show an increase in their success. As they have included their plans for future complications, such as the Economic impact Brexit will have on their sources and work structures, the company has continued to show a confident approach to their Financial performance. Aside from the cuts they have had to make to staff in order to reach their goals, we can expect that with their continuous success future expansions can be expected and compensation to their losses will be made. They are focused on sustainable value and long term strategic relationships with their shareholders and suppliers, and therefore seem like a valuable company to work for. Upon comparing the numbers in their financial Reports, if they continue to increase the rate of Their operating profit, their revenue and soon to follow, and increase to their assets in order to cover their liabilities, I believe the company has good potential and would be confident to confirm a job in Tesco Plc would be a good opportunity.

References

1. 2019. Tesco Plc Annual Report And Accounts 2019. [ebook] Available at: [Accessed 19 July 2020].
2. Has Dave Lewis accomplished all the goals of his Tesco turnaround plan?. 2020. Has Dave Lewis accomplished all the goals of his Tesco turnaround plan? . [ONLINE] Available at: https://twnews.co.uk/uk-news/has-dave-lewis-accomplished-all-the-goals-of-his-tesco-turnaround-plan.
3. Tesco PLC Preliminary Results 2018/19 . 2020. Tesco PLC Preliminary Results 2018/19 . [ONLINE] Available at: https://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/tesco/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=55&newsid=1246774
4. U.S.. 2020. Tesco to outpace growth at global rivals – study – Reuters. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/tesco-igd/tesco-to-outpace-growth-at-global-rivals-study-idUSLDE71F1LR20110217.

In the digital age, there are a lot of competition between companies in various fields and maintaining a good reputation and image might be difficult. To appeal to the costumers and market, companies need to care about their product’s quality in addition to keeping their reputation. This is not considered easy, because companies’ reputation can be destroyed in a blink, after building it for years. What happened to H&M company is a clear example of this case.

Firstly, companies need to understand that reputations are never considered a static, but they change due to the demands of a situation. Hence, the difference between companies in dealing with a problem affecting their reputation, because it all depends on the situation, public reaction, and the actions taken from the organization. The term reputation can mean so many things but one thing at the same time. It can be defined as the “Reputation is a precondition for people’s willingness to do business with a company” based on Ettenson & Knowles definition. It is also the “overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general” and as the “recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability”. It is very important because the company reputation affect the public reactions based on their beliefs and impressions.

Secondly, any company’s reputation does not only depend on the visual identity, or the colors and creativity of their logo, yet it exceeds these details even though they also contribute to the consumers’ perception. In general, The reputation of the company represents the general mental image that others have from the audience, customers, investors and employees of the brand, and it is one of the commercial assets owned by the corporation along with its market value, which can turn over time into an important marketing balance on which to build the social and economic position of the corporation. Moreover, companies with a good reputation are always considered more valuable and more able to achieve highly competitive results in the market, and thus can achieve significant developmental towards their goals.

According to the importance of considering the reputation, companies have been competing through many smart and creative methods to stand strong in this industry that keep changing and growing rapidly. One of these methods is the marketing strategies. Marketing strategies have always included a special aspect of the content that the company will provide to the public. This content may be aimed at increasing conversion rates, increasing sales, or increasing visits in the case of websites, online stores, and web applications. The form and nature of the content varies according to the purpose behind it, content to increase sales, for example, may differ completely from the content intended to improve the company’s reputation in the market. Today, content marketing is one of the most prominent aspects of e-marketing and the most present among institutions and brands on different, and on content depends on one of the most famous theories of marketing used today Inbound Marketing. The type of high-quality content that touches the needs of the audience and customers and fulfills their aspirations from the content of the company or brand. Furthermore, the term added value is used in many contexts in marketing, and can refer to any benefit the customer may obtain from the company or the brand, such as discounts and sales, fair price, customer loyalty programs and everything that can be included in the user’s experience with the brand.

To show why marketing is very significant, referring to statistics, 79% of consumers prefer to know the company or brand through content rather than direct ads, 71% of them believe that institutions that provide high-quality specialized content are more focused on their audience, and more interested in building a strong relationship with customers. The more quality the content and the value and provides a real benefit, the better the audience looks at the brand and makes it classify the company with the quality of the content itself. Thus, good content shows to the audience the amount of experience and knowledge your company has in this field and makes them confident that their dealings with your brand are dealings with experts.

Every organization, company and brand has to possess some competitive advantage, distinguishing it from the rest of its counterparts in the market with your company, because this advantage does not exist with your competitors, and therefore in and gives the customer an additional value that makes it more salary if he decides to abandon your brand. On this point, the author Richard Romelt mentioned in his book ‘Strategy Bad Strategy Good’ that one of the important pillars of a good marketing strategy is the exclusive competitive advantage, which is difficult for any of the competitors to reproduce or imitate .

Today, companies operate in markets crowded with competitors, customers, and products. Customers have many options to buy and engage with different brands competing for trust, and then add them to their customer list. Therefore, some people see that it’s necessary for organizations to stop dealing with customers on the basis of a company and a customer, and instead go towards building a strong long-term relationship that give the customer a sense of recognition on a personal level and their relation with the brand, and that they care about customers more than just considering them way to get money. This form of relationship – if the organization is able to work on it well – contributes to building the company’s reputation with the public and expanding its customer base, and improving the brand image as one of the bodies that make an effort to improve the user experience with it and make it more satisfied with the services or products offered. Although the nature and shape of the relationship between the brand and the customer differs from direct human relationships, we must not allow this difference to obscure the ideal image of the company’s relationship with its customers. Companies should focus on the emotional and psychological aspects of the customer’s experience with their products or services, which depends on the user’s experience with the company and what it provides.

However, although the importance of reputation for companies to maintain their place in the market is a very known concept, many companies have ethics issues just as what happened in the H&M incident. Ethics may not be a clear concept, which explains why even high-level companies like H&M can get a mistake when it comes to meeting stakeholder communication expectations, but that doesn’t justify their action. In the past, companies were located between two fires, between what the legal department dictates to them about the company, which says: (Do not admit anything wrong or you will be responsible – and thus the company intends to famously say “no comment”) and what the stakeholders expected from them in clarity and communication transparency. Today, most organizations have realized that the negative impact of poor communication on their reputation will likely be much more expensive than any potential legal implications for accepting the error.

Focusing on the H&M problem, it is true that it’s considered as a turning point to company’s reputation and communication strategy. People were offended by their actions, which they have every right to. A big company like H&M should weight their actions and think twice before launching a product that may offend any culture, race, religion, or any group of people. Not to mention that the problem got bigger and offended a more people because of social media, which made the public more aware of what is going on. That made it difficult for the company to deal with, given that the problem became known in social media in it became hard to control the public reaction.

INTRODUCTION

This report discusses how Uber company uses Gig economy workers for the working of the company. It will highlight the use of freelance economy by the company and how they maximise their profit without investment and use of flexible working hour employees. It introduces us to the working of gig economy, how companies gets advantage and disadvantaged by it. This will also cover how these kind of workers are adjusted with the full time working employees in the company. It also includes the comparison of Gig economy in my home country, India that with Australia. The company Uber works both in India and Australia and will be great way of comparison between both the countries and how Gig economy issue is being tackled in India. It also discusses how effective the practices of the company really are and what the innovation and practices they can include into the working and inclusion of Gig economy workers. It covers up the recent research and how more people are driving towards the gig economy and flexible work culture. The effect this kind of company and arranging flexible human force by one company effecting the other companies.

The ‘Gig Economy’ is new form of economics system which has challenged the traditional economic system of working for 9 to 5 jobs. This has been a challenge to labour management methods and the human resource department of the companies. The workers have increasingly wanted to have flexibility in work and work for companies or people by task to task basis and the projects they want to. In countries like the UK and USA, the number of people classifying themselves as self-employed is rapidly growing (Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2014; Office for National Statistics, 2014). The basis and the uplifiting force of the gig economy is digital platforms and the internet connectivity. Other words used for gig economy workers can be freelancers. There are several examples of Gig economy like Airbnb included in residential sector replacing the hotels, food delivery services like Uber eats , Zomato and Swiggy (India) , cab services like Uber and Ola. This report will focus on the working of Uber and its labour management by the company reason being its wide reach internationally setting up an example for Gig economy.

WORKING OF UBER

Uber was started in 2009 replacing the traditional taxi services by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp. (Fall 2016 Sanders & Pattison) Today Uber works as an application which connects drivers and riders for them to reach a particular destination. This way uber provide drivers with a platform to work and they work according to their convenience. Starting up as a taxi service which provides luxury car services has now moved to more affordable cars and also allows cab sharing. Uber receives twenty percent of the total fare. Uber controls the driver working under the company through different means by age limit, model of the car used in particular services.

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR VS. EMPLOYEE STATUS

There are different ways to classify if the worker is an employee or an independent contractor, this classification is important and needed to be done by the human resource department for clarification of workers, employers and most importantly governmental bodies.(David Bauer, 2015) It becomes important for managing the human resources because of the government regulation government regulations such as labor laws, employment discrimination regulations, workers’ compensation and social security requirements. (Fall 2016 Sanders & Pattison) Uber doesn’t require it workers to have specific working hours they can choose the working hours they want to , they are not even subjected to have a dress code and have to use their own vehicle for the cab services they provide to riders.

If Uber considered all of its ‘‘active drivers’’ as employees, it would be the 4th largest employer in the United States behind only the Federal Government, Walmart, and McDonald but it considers them independent contractors instead. (Chief Advisor and Board Member David Plouffe 2015) There are no advantages provided by the company to the drivers and this is understood to them. They don’t have any direct contacts with the manager.

PROBLEMS FACED

Uber driver in many areas have to considered as employees as they have to get the quality check of the vehicle they are using. Uber’s software algorithm and quality control standards determine compensation and conditions of employment. (Welcome to the Gig Economy, Austin Zwick, 2017). Rogers (2016) argues that Gig Economy workers do not neatly fit into either category, but because the ‘‘unequal bargaining power’’ between the two—they ought to be classified as employees. Uber has been ordered to pay the national minimum wage and offer benefits, including paid time off. Uber is appealing the verdict by arguing that this does not adequately portray the working relationship between the company and its drivers. (DONALD E. SANDERS & PATRICIA PATTISON, 2016). Given Uber’s valuation at a possible $65 billion or more, any major change in its business method holds the real danger of harming its growth and market position.(Kristen V. Brown, 2016). Also facing crisis in different countries relate to their employment laws even in Qubec, Canada. The other taxi drivers want same laws and regulation for uber drivers as for them. (Wier, Marcel Vander,2017)

• Various questions arise regarding how to manage and engage temporary labour effectively:
• How to sift through the ever-growing talent pool of freelancers to locate the best talent?
• How can companies ensure that freelancers actually have the expertise required? How to ensure the right talent is working on the right tasks at the right time?
• How much compensation should freelancers receive?
• How to ensure freelancers are well-versed with company culture, mission, values, history, challenges and procedures?
• How to strike a balance of protecting company security systems and granting enough access to freelancers to perform their duties?
• How much training and induction should be provided to a freelancer?
• How can companies ensure coherence amongst staff with geographically scattered workers?
• Who will have the ultimate decision-making authority, and how will command chains be structured? (Jeff Leventhal, 2012)

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN UBER

As companies, like Uber begin to introduce freelancers to their workforce, they required increased capabilities to manage them effectively. Talent should be viewed as a strategic investment and like any investment there was a plan in place to engage and measure it to determine a path for future improvement of the company. (DONALD E. SANDERS & PATRICIA PATTISON, 2016).

They successfully use technological innovation to

• (a) undermine employment laws and other regulation,
• (b) transfer risk from the industry onto the individual driver,
• (c) lower wage and labor standards of the industry in the name of competition, which drives up profitability of the firm (Welcome to the Gig

Economy, Austin Zwick, 2017)

One of those at the forefront is Work Market, a platform that manages the entire lifecycle of freelancers and independent professionals, including sourcing, verifying, engaging, managing, paying and rating them. Co-founder of Work Market, Jeff Leventhal believes that freelance management departments will emerge as part of a broader HR function(The Emergence of the Gig Economy, 2016) Uber appears to be a effective model. However, it is upon passengers using the app to pay Uber, not the driver. Uber then pays the driver gross. Most people prefer to be paid gross(, so it is an excellent way for Uber to attract drivers and save on employer National Income Contributions (NICs) too. (Marlowe, Adrian,2017)

There is constant conflict weather the drivers working under are freelancers or the employees of the Uber. While Uber considers them as independent contractors, the legal jurisdiction wants them to have the working rights of employees.

CONCLUSION

While Uber created a successful story under the working of new economy, Gig economy. It has given flexible working employment to a large range of people and has created a great market space and is growing rapidly with huge profits, it has lot of lope holes with the employment strategies, weather they are actual individual contractors or the employees of the Uber company. They have a background check and the vehicle they are using and the company has to be responsible as they are providing work to the drivers and further paying them the gross. Gig is currently being considered within two industry reviews. If, as a result, new methods are to be carved out with special rules in the name of modernisation, to avoid ‘curtains for Uber’, then let us in the recruitment industry have some special treatment too. After all, we invented the fl exible workforce, and it is hard-working, regulated agencies that need the government’s support, to change its approach and simplify the rules applying to them. (Marlowe, Adrian,2017)

REFERENCES

1. The Uber case: a blow to the gig economy, Nov 5, 2016, https://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquestcom.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1848081124?accountid=13380
2. Welcome to the Gig Economy: neoliberal industrial relations and the case of Uber , Austin Zwick , https://link-springer- com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007/s10708-017-9793-8.pdf
3. WORKER CHARACTERIZATION IN A GIG ECONOMY VIEWED THROUGH AN UBER CENTRIC LENS, DONALD E. SANDERS & PATRICIA PATTISON , https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1860277041/fulltextPDF/22B48F342BD84716PQ/1?accountid=13380
4. Uber reflects challenges of gig economy , Author-Wier, Marcel Vander , https://search-proquest- com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1992262757/fulltextPDF/95135BC5A45946EEPQ/1?accountid=13380
5. The Emergence of the Gig Economy Thought Leader Paper: Education & Training Policy Team, file:///C:/Users/Pinaca/Downloads/sub30%20Aust%20Industry%20Group_attach1_Gig%20Economy.pdf
6. How much would it cost Uber to make drivers employees? , Kristen V. Brown , https://splinternews.com/how-much-would-it-cost- uber-to-make-drivers-employees-1793848516

There are wide-ranging effects on the economy when currency and stock markets move, whether on the domestic or global economy. The economic growth is significantly affected by market fluctuations resulting from technical factors such as inflation, deflation, demographics of investors and discount rates. Central banks consider exchange rates when it comes to monetary policy, controlling money supply for promoting economic growth by forcing up and down the interest rates depending on the current needs of borrowing and spending. Tighter monetary policy is a result of a strong currency which means higher interest rates. However, this could be a problem as it is attracting investors who are looking to yield their investments, strengthening the currency even further. Fluctuation in markets is affected by various factors including floating exchange rates and what influences exchange rates is the country’s economic performance. The following study aims to investigate several factors affecting fluctuations in stock and currency markets and how that affects the broader Eurozone economies trading economics for studying stock market movements and using data from IMF World Economic Outlook to compare between, Germany and France’s economic activity in response to these factors.

With the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis, there was a huge impact on the stock market and the interrelationship between the behavior Germany and France stock markets will be investigated during that period and during calm periods to create a better comprehension of financial shocks transmission in Europe. A study investigates the performance of three stock markets in the Eurozone, France and Germany during the period of financial crisis. The framework of VAR-EGARCH (Vector Autoregressive Exponential General Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) was used on stock indices and the study suggests that there was an increase in the interrelationship between these stock markets and with the impact of other factors, drawing a clearer pathway for policymakers in that period of financial crisis (Ben Slimane, Mehanaoui and Kazi, 2013).

Stock market is mainly driven by permanent productivity shocks and monetary policy ensures maintaining price stability which would later on lead to stock market stability. The effect of monetary policy on stock returns is investigated by Christos and Alexandros where they identified the correlation between monetary policy actions and financial asset prices for better perception on the transmission mechanism. Stock prices affect consumption spending, exhibit volatility and boom-bust cycles which may in return affect their fundamental value. The discounted cash flow model suggests that stock prices are equal to the value of expected future net cash flows and what alters the discount rate is the monetary policy influencing economic activity. As monetary policy becomes tighter, discount rates go up and future cash flows go down leading to lower stock prices.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, interactions between European and US financial markets is interdependent as bond yields and equity markets in the Euro area is affected by shocks to US short term interest rates. Domestic financial markets interplay in the Eurozone have shown that short term interest rates have no effect on equity markets. There is an observed difference in reaction to domestic interest rates in US and European markets as a 100 basis-point increase in European short term interest rates produces a high appreciation of 5.7% in European exchange rates. On the other hand, the same amount of increase results in 1.7% appreciation of US dollar. This difference is due to the Eurozone having more open economy than the US.

Therefore, the model that will be estimated from data will be a multiple linear regression model allowing the dependence of multiple explanatory variables where several independent variables will be investigated to predict Germany and France’s economic performance separately in response to stock market fluctuations based on inflation, demographic groups and discount rates. The multiple regression model will show how the variation of stock prices is related to our predictor variables and how these variables can be used to explain variation in prices. Time will also be considered as one of the predictor variables as the data is time series.

Yt = α βNt γNt δRt ζfMtf ηPt θIt λAt μGt νCt εt, where ‘Yt’ represents economic growth for time ‘t’, ‘Nt’ – stock returns, ‘Rt’ – discount rate, ‘Mtf’ is a set of dummy variables taking value ‘1’ for country ‘f’ and ‘0’ otherwise, ‘Pt’ – monetary policy ratio, ‘It’ – inflation and ‘At’, ‘Gt’, ‘Ct’ are variables representing demographics age, gender and ethnicity respectively.

Testing the hypotheses at the 1%, 5% and 10% significant levels whether, Germany and France’s economic performance will improve or not during periods of fluctuation as monetary policy is imposed using OECD data.

Tested hypotheses: H0: β = 0; H1: β > 0.

Monetary policy would not describe currency strength according to the null hypothesis (H0) as it would not be a significant explanatory variable. Otherwise, the alternative hypothesis (H1) would suggest that as monetary policy is tightened, currency strength increases, influencing Eurozone economic performance as a result.

Some of the variables in hypothesis from this model will be statistically significant. The expected result could be that the coefficient on inflation will be positive. Meaning, the economic performance will increase with inflation. It is also expected that by imposing a tighter monetary policy, there will be a significant shift of stock returns, encouraging transmission of monetary policy along stock markets. The empirical evidence on the relationship between stock market and monetary policy will show how sensitive the transmission is to the economic conditions and how the effect is in dual manner. Results will indicate that lower stock prices are due to monetary policy tightening given higher discount rate and lower future economic. Furthermore, capitalized future cash flows will cause a decline in stock prices with tight monetary policy. The hypothesis on demographics of investors will show that the demand of equities increases due to a high proportion of middle-aged investors which would increase the valuation multiples.

To conclude, there are several reasons of fluctuations in stock markets and currencies which impact the economic performance in Eurozone. The aim of this study is to determine how monetary policy easing will increase overall economic activity level in positive response to stock prices by comprehending the link between aggregate real economy and monetary policy.

The goal of a business is to maximize the profits for stakeholders and obtain a lead against competitors, to attain this goal businesses must have a further understanding of all the factors that Contribute to either aiding or further deterring the business from acting correspondently. Employees are Significant to businesses because Employees keep businesses in operation, hence the success of a business is reliant on the workers efficiency. Counterproductivity within employees in the workplace can be assumed to be the greatest Internal Issue that a company faces, however it can be addressed with proper management, since it Influences the efficiency of Individual workers. Integrating Teamwork In the workplace can serve as a proper management approach to combat against counterproductivity within employees in the workplace assuming they have a strong corporate culture.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Corporate culture determines how a business’s management Interacts with their employees based on beliefs. A strong corporate culture can be defined as a business that has a good set of values and practices focusing on both the consumers and employees. Some strategies that a business can Incorporate into their business process to create a strong corporate culture are providing transparency of their goals to their employees, rewarding employees in public and coaching in private, and allowing employee feedback these strategies are methods to display the company’s value for their employees .When a business Implements these strategies into their business process they provide a positive work environment and show their value for their employees which demonstrates improvement in their work because it sets a higher sense of morale . With a strong corporate culture employees commitment to the business is further inclined which makes employees more willing to participate in additional management strategies such as teamwork. The bar graph below demonstrates that the stronger a business’ corporate culture is the more committed an employee is to the company.

Counterproductive behaviors In the workplace come In different forms which include tardiness, theft, fraud, sexual harassment, workplace bullying, absenteeism, and workplace aggression. These types of counterproductive behaviors not only negatively impact the quality of the service/product the business provides but also the surrounding employees morale creating a collective pattern of counterproductive behaviors in the workplace, In addition these behaviors can lead to lawsuits against the business initiated by employees impacted. Consumers perception is influenced by the quality of the service/product the employees provide, as a deduction when the quality of these services/products the employee provides are subpar to the promised standards the business warranted which could lead to tainting perceptions consumers have of the business as well as their decision to further continue a relationship with the company impacting the profits of the stakeholders.

Counterproductivity can be the result of many factors a major factor being a toxic work environment. In a toxic work environment, a business does not have a strong set of corporate culture, so employees focus on their personal agenda rather than the businesses’. Counterproductive behavior is encouraged further by management when they allow the behavior to continue by not enforcing a set of positive practices. Toxic work environments also exist under the conditions that employees have not built an appropriate relationship with colleagues and those in leadership positions, which results in complications in communication. Social learning theory is another contributor to a cycle of counterproductivity in the workplace, social learning theory refers to behaviors being acquired from observing and imitating others around, so when an employee observes a coworker practicing counterproductive behaviors in the workplace and having no sort of repercussions they deem these behaviors as acceptable and imitate them.

Integrating Teamwork into the workplace creates a harmonious environment between employees because teamwork reduces the need for a constant external supervision and allows workers to be managed amongst each other, as a result of a harmonious environment in the workplace there is an employee turnover regarding absenteeism because the quality of work life is improved as well. Teamwork also improves service/quality from employees by having a diverse group in which every individuals feedback is take into consideration creating a new innovative strategy of approaching certain situations. However, it could also be argued that integrating teamwork into the workplace is dependent on the cohesiveness of a team, below is a diagraph of the factors that make up a cohesive team.

METHODS

• DESIGN: The proposed study will be an experimental design. This experimental design will have two Samples. Sample A will be the control group and Sample B will be the experimental group. Both groups will have the same dependent variables being the average profits each group has made. Sample B will have an independent variable, the independent variable will be Business B enforcing teamwork into their business practice.
• PARTICIPANTS: In the proposed study there will be 500 participants which will be organized into two samples, sample A and sample B of which will be workers from two separate businesses but of the same industry, Business A and Business B. The range of the age group would be in between the ages of 25-45 , and have worked a minimum of 5 years with the company. Sample A will be a simple random sample of 250 workers that meet the requirements and work for Business A, this business will not enforce teamwork into their business practice. Sample B will be composed of an accumulative of 250 participants that meet the requirement these participants will be placed into random groups for business B, this business will enforce teamwork into their business practice.

REFERENCES

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18. Nacinovic , I., Galetic, L., & Cavlek, N. (2009). Corporate Culture and Innovation: Implications for Reward Systems . World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering , 3(5), 376–381.
19. Coleman, J. (2017, November 28). Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/six-components-of-culture
20. Murphy, J. (2019, January 14). The 2017 State of Company Culture Report – Insights & Takeaways. Retrieved from https://snacknation.com/blog/workplace-culture/
21. Tarver, E. (2020, January 29). How to Tell If Your Corporate Culture Is Healthy. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corporate-culture.asp
22. Shrm. (2020, February 28). Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and- samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx
23. Andriotis, N. (2017, December 7). 5 Ways for Improving Corporate Culture. Retrieved from https://www.efrontlearning.com/blog/2017/12/ways-improving-corporate-culture.html

INTRODUCTION

Organization is a person or a group of people intentionally organized to accomplish an overall, common goal or set of goals. Goal is a statement that shows organizations wishes to archive. Organization is born when more than one person coordinates to perform a work, such as one person passing bundles to another person who puts them in an order. Organizations can range in size from one person to tens of thousands. “OOREDOO” the multinational organization is a leading international telecommunications company delivering mobile, fixed, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses through markets in the Middle East, North Africa and South-East Asia. Wataniya Telecom Maldives is a member of Ooredoo Group. It has been launched on the 1st of August 2005 in Maldives. The company delivers a wide range of cutting-edge wireless voice and data services to personal and business needs. Among many other accomplishments, Ooredoo made the history by introducing the first ever and fastest 3G and 4G Networks in the Maldives.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture is, built on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten procedures that have been developed over time and are considered valid. And it includes, organization’s vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Ooredoo vision and value is based on “enriching people’s lives”. Moreover, Ooredoo they have created a promise from them to the customers. The promise they made is “we will not inspire you to do more but will support you and aid you to grow, providing the tools you need to get there through your mobile device.”

At Ooredoo they are proud of their strong roots in local markets. Hence they are a global organization they have the right balance for future.

ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

It is, a set of properties of the work environment, alleged directly or indirectly by the employees. On the other hand, it affects productivity, motivation and employee behavior. Ooredoo has a strong bond between their employees. As described by their employees, it is a fun place to work with a lot of activities. The staffs are also very friendly. “Ooredoo is a telecom company with worldwide footprint and aggressive approach. Wonderful place to work, offers growth and personal development opportunities. I was happily stuck there for 15 years.” A Senior Oracle Apps Developer (Former Employee) described working in Ooredoo.

CULTURE AND CLIMATE OF OOREDOO THEN AND NOW

Previously, the culture of Ooredoo was to increase the number of customers. To achieve this goal, they started to sell Sims at a very low price compared to their competitors. Their aim was to gain the market share. But now, they aim to please their customers in order to maintain the great amount of market share. To do this, they find new, easy and improved ways for their customers to communicate throughout the world.

As we look back at the previous years, we can see that the culture of Ooredoo was to boost the company. They find new ways in order to grow and settle into other countries. Due to this, they would be able to boost their sales and get more revenue. They are more profit-driven back then. Moreover, back then, Ooredoo provides different types sponsorships in order to promote their business and to make it a well-known brand. Also, Ooredoo faced difficulties in entering other countries due to their culture maybe because the host countries already had a supplier with the same service. Previously, Ooredoo had a huge eye on the famous celebrities to promote their business. They used famous actors, football players and singers in advertisements all across the world and this helped them to get the attention of a huge number of customers.

However, the culture of Ooredoo has changed over the past years. They no longer want to be a profit-driven company, but to be a great supplier to their customers; offering better quality services at a reasonable. Now Ooredoo give away gifts to their customers on their anniversary each year which makes the customers feel more satisfied with their supplier. Ooredoo offers free packages and lower IDD rates for customers to call their close people all around the world.

As stated before, Ooredoo faced some difficulties while entering new markets; countries, due to their culture. But now, they changed their cultural behavior according to the countries they operate in. Advertisements and other promotional activities are changed according to the beliefs and religion of each country. Due to this, they were able to get more customers and achieve customer loyalty. Also, Ooredoo now provides new services other than giving good communication such as giving information about daily life activities and important health tips just for free.

Previously, the climate of Ooredoo was very different from now. Back then, they were not able to give better training for their staffs. This is maybe due to the lack of employees working there. Due to this, high skilled work force was not created. However, now, as the managers and trainers have better experience on the field, they conduct various training programs for their employees in order to get the best outcome. A very high skilled workforce is there.

Also, in the early years of the business, Ooredoo had some difficulties in obtaining the right equipment for their daily works. The workers faced many challenges due to not having enough equipment to work with. As a result, the services given got slower. However, as the world got better with the new technology, Ooredoo is able to get all the useful equipment for their employees and deliver better quality services.

LEADERSHIP STYLES AND CHANGES IN COMMUNICATION MODE

Leadership is a vital function of management which helps to maximize efficiency and to attain organizational goals. Leadership style refers to a method taken by a particular leader. It might refer to a direct or commanding style or a particular or collaborative style. It might likewise refer to a leader who has a visionary style or who is coaching-centered (Warner, 2012).

Effective communication in an organization increase efficiency, decreases employ turnover and improve office atmosphere. Not everyone comes from tough communication backgrounds, so it’s important to bring new employees up to speed on significant communication mode.

Looking at the previous leadership styles and changes in communication mode, previously, Ooredoo takes a particular person that they think who is suitable for the job in each country and they hire that person to carry out the business there. They work as one group because back then, they do not have a huge work force. At first, Ooredoo was not able to have an effective communication within the business due to lack of technology.

However, Ooredoo was able to overcome these problems now. Communication within the business is according to the chain of command. Each employee works under the supervision of a manager and communication within them is very effective. Also, the leaders of Ooredoo are now able to provide their employees with a good working environment and help them to grow by giving better trainings for them.

CONCLUSION

Ooredoo, a multi-national telecom company, has changed over the past years. There were able to operate their business in more than 10 countries over the globe while providing a better quality service for their customers. Over the past years, their service got improved and they were able to achieve a lower labor turnover due to the making their employees satisfied with their job. Ooredoo aims to achieve higher goals in the future.

References

1. Warner, D. J. (2012, 9 28). http://blog.readytomanage.com/why-leadership-style-is-important/. Retrieved from blog.readytomanage.com.
2. http://ooredoo.com/en/who_we_are/ooredoo_business/
3. http://ooredoo.com/en/careers/ooredoos-culture/
4. http://www.telecomreview.com/index.php/articles/telecom-operators/1012-ooredoo-building-data-experience-leadership
5. http://carrier.huawei.com/~/media/CNBG/Downloads/Spotlight/Program%20of%20the%20I T-Oriented%20Operations%20Transformation/TBR%20%20Ooredoo%20ICT%20%20NFV%20Managed%20Services%20Case%20Study.pdf
6. https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Ooredoo/reviews

Every day, we are faced with ethical dilemmas in our personal and professional lives. But when it comes to business decisions, an ethical dilemma can have far-reaching implications for both the company and its stakeholders. As a business professional or decision-maker, it’s important to understand what ethical dilemmas are, why they arise, and how to handle them responsibly. In this essay I would like to take a closer look at ethical dilemmas.

What is an Ethical Dilemma?

An ethical dilemma is a situation that requires one to choose between two or more options that conflict with each other’s moral principles. It can also be defined as a conflict between moral obligations or values where no solution is considered ideal. Ethical dilemmas can arise in many different contexts such as business decisions, healthcare choices, environmental issues, etc. Regardless of the context, it is important to recognize the implications of any decision you make to ensure that all parties involved are being treated fairly and ethically.

For example, imagine you’re the CEO of a company that has just acquired another business. To make this acquisition successful, you have to decide on one of two courses of action: reduce costs by laying off employees or increase prices for customers. Neither option is ethically preferable — but as the leader of the company, you must make a difficult decision nonetheless.

Identifying Ethical Dilemmas

The first step in resolving any ethical dilemma is recognizing when one exists. To do this effectively, you must consider all possible alternatives and identify which course of action would best uphold your company’s values and moral standards. In some cases, there may be conflicting interests between different groups within the organization (e.g., shareholders vs employees). In these situations, it is important to ensure that all stakeholders are taken into consideration when making the final decision.

Why Do Ethical Dilemmas Arise?

Ethical dilemmas often arise when two different values clash. For example, when personal ethics conflict with company policy. This can lead to difficult decisions that force one to choose between their own moral convictions and their professional responsibilities. It can also happen when someone feels they must choose between their own interests (such as financial gain) and those of others (such as fairness). In any case, ethical dilemmas arise out of situations where there is no clear right or wrong answer.

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

Once you have identified an ethical dilemma, the next step is to determine how it should be resolved. This involves weighing the pros and cons of each potential action carefully before making a final decision. It is also wise to consult with experts or legal counsel before moving forward with any course of action, as they can provide helpful insights into the situation at hand. By the way, it is important to maintain transparency throughout the entire process so that all stakeholders feel informed about the resolution of the issue at hand.

How Should You Handle Ethical Dilemmas?

To handle ethical dilemmas, one must possess critical thinking skills, empathy, and a comprehensive understanding of ethical principles.

The initial step in addressing ethical dilemmas involves identifying the problem and the moral principles that are involved. It requires analyzing the situation and weighing the potential outcomes of each possible solution. A thorough evaluation of the situation from various perspectives, taking into account the effects on all stakeholders, is crucial.

The next step involves applying ethical principles to the situation, such as honesty, integrity, justice, respect for autonomy, and beneficence. Prioritizing the principles most relevant to the situation and assessing how they apply to each option is important.

It’s advisable to seek advice and guidance from experts, colleagues, or professional organizations to gain insight into the ethical dimensions of the issue and identify possible solutions. When making a decision, one must consider the impact on all stakeholders and the long-term consequences of their actions. Acting with integrity and being transparent in the decision-making process is essential.

Lastly, one must reflect on their decision and evaluate its effectiveness. Ethical dilemmas can be complicated, and ongoing evaluation and adjustment may be necessary. Continuous learning and improvement can help one handle future ethical dilemmas more effectively.

Conclusion

Ethical dilemmas are part and parcel of life in any industry — especially when it comes to making important decisions, both inside and outside the workplace. Taking time to reflect on your values before making any decisions can help ensure that whatever course you choose is ethically sound and respectful towards all parties involved. By understanding why these dilemmas arise and how best to address them, you’ll be better equipped to handle them responsibly each time they appear on your radar screen.