Category: Company

Quality Control and Improvement Project of TATA Motors Company: Analysis of Company’s New Product

Abstract

Contextual investigation on improving quality administration of TATA organization’s new item advancement venture incorporates the examination of the present circumstance inside the quality administration of TATA organization’s new item advancement venture (current circumstance and recognize existing issues), improvement study (investigation the reason for existing issues and plan the improvement plan) and usage. Through checking the execution procedure, we have an assessment investigation for the usage results. The reason for this examination is to improve quality administration of new item advancement venture.

Chapter 1: Introduction

i. About the Company

TATA Motors Group (Tata Motors) is a $45 billion organization. It is a leading global automobile manufacturing company. Its diverse portfolio includes an extensive range of cars, sports utility vehicles, trucks, buses, and defence vehicles. Tata Motors is India’s largest and the only original equipment manufacturer (OEM) offering an extensive range of integrated, smart, and e-mobility solutions.

TATA Company, which has conducted business over twenty years, is located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It takes ‘imaginative innovation and driving items’ as the rule, and guarantees the respectability, similarity, security, dependability of the framework for two reasons. On one hand, it depends on the item innovation, nature of administration, and the points of interest in look into, improvement, creation deals and administration. Then again, it is ascribed to the participation with surely understood colleges and research foundations, just as the universal innovation change. This makes the success win connection between the organization and clients. The accomplishment of TATA Company makes commitment to its solid improving answer for the venture quality administration of the new item improvement. This undertaking is organized in the accompanying:

Section 1 is writing survey, including the hypothesis of undertaking quality administration, the hypothesis of the quality administration of new item advancement venture, and the presentation of devices and strategies in the quality administration of new item improvement venture. What’s more, next examines the present circumstance of the quality administration of new item improvement venture. What’s more, next is the improving investigation to the quality administration of new item advancement venture. What’s more, next portrays the usage procedure and impact examination of the improving plan. Lastly is the Conclusion.

ii. Theoretical background

The meaning of the venture quality in project quality administration incorporates both the nature of undertaking process and the nature of task item, which intends to underscore the clients’ fulfillment. Project quality administration completes related exercises principally with quality arrangement, quality affirmation, quality improvement, and different methodologies. The executive’s exercises incorporate different exercises identified with all the administration capacities, which can choose the techniques, obligations, and targets of value work (Figure 1).

The quality administration of new item improvement venture depends on venture quality procedure the board. What’s more, the foundation of value plan and quality objective, execution of value confirmation plan, quality improvement plan, and quality estimation and deviation investigations of the new item advancement venture establish the quality administration exercises of new item improvement venture. These four sections accord with the PDCA cycle, which continue cycling to guarantee the item advancement quality (Figure 2). Quality focuses of the new item improvement venture are the reason for the steady interest for nature of item advancement venture. The quality plans of new item improvement venture are the particular usage of the quality focuses of the new item advancement venture. What’s more, quality controls of new item improvement venture mean an assortment of strategies and measures taken for the culmination of the quality targets, which are dedicated to completing the quality administration focuses of new item advancement venture. The quality affirmation of new item advancement venture not just incorporates the inside quality confirmation of the undertaking, yet the outer quality confirmation accommodated clients and different partners. Simultaneously, quality improvement of new item advancement venture understand its quality focuses by improving procedure quality, it’s a nonstop quality action to improve the proficiency and viability. Moreover, the quality improvement has six primary advances: Discover the improving issues, comprehend current circumstance, distinguish the causes, and define allots and convey, screen the usage procedure, avoid repeat and institutionalize the arrangement. Circumstances and logical results graph, otherwise called fishbone chart, is a technique for dissecting circumstances and logical results. This chart is imagined by Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese administration ace, so it is additionally named Ishikawa outline.

Figure 1. The fundamental flow of project quality management.

Figure 2. The PDCA cycle of quality management of new product development project.

Chapter 2 Data Analysis

i. Investigation of Current Situation inside the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

Prerequisite of the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

The exercises of the quality administration of TATA organization’s new item advancement venture must agree to the organization’s quality strategy, in particular, ‘incredible innovation, excellent items, solid and true assistance’. Likewise, TATA organization builds up a quality arrangement of decreasing toxic substance (HSF quality exception strategy), that can anticipate contamination, diminish the cost and be consistent improvement. Goodbye Company built up a general objective of value from four viewpoints: The items’ imperfection rate recorded through significant structure is zero, the framework all out score for checking ought to be more than 90, the site items’ disappointment rate is under 10%, the consumer loyalty is more noteworthy than or equivalent to 93%.

Status of the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

The quality administration of TATA Company’s new item advancement venture utilizes ISO9001: standard, simultaneously, makes a fitting as far as the quality administration framework.

1. TATA Company perceives the procedure in question and structures explicit documents.
2. TATA Company’s quality administration framework can actualize and keep up inside the interior, and endeavor to accomplish ceaseless improvement.
3. The directors are responsible for the foundation and upkeep for the association’s quality administration framework. Divisions are liable for the framework execution and upkeep, keeping ceaseless improvement for their very own area of expertise.
4. TATA Company can give, use and successfully deal with the necessary assets required for quality exercises during the new item improvement process, and guarantee the data move viably through an assortment of inward gathering.
5. Monitor the consumer loyalty utilizing the inner quality review.
6. TATA Company builds up the comparing procedure to control redistributing process.

Chapter 3 Data Collection and Problem Identification

i. Problem Identification of the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

Through directing a semi-open assessment and talking about with quality control gatherings of this organization, we discover 20 issues existing in the quality administration of new item advancement venture.

1. The dependability execution of new items is poor, the fix rate is excessively high, there are a great deal of cluster issue, and there is a colossal hole from the objective.
2. The nature of the new item can’t bolster the fast improvement of business, new item has a great deal of issues of concession, and the stop line is not kidding.
3. The presentation of procurement quality is poor, most of the materials can’t accomplish the fundamental objective of value necessities, they expedite incredible weight the handling and get together procedure, and the outcome is the nature of new item is insecure.
4. Customer protests expanded clearly, the cost weight of the administration fundamentally expanded.
5. The quality association can’t bolster all business of TATA Company well indeed.
6. The jobs and duties isn’t clear inside the quality administration association.
7. The authoritative structure of IPD (incorporated item advancement) model is fundamental set up, IPMT (coordinated portfolio supervisory crew)/PDT (item improvement group) association haven’t yet to be further advancement, no more structure a develop mode.
8. Quality administration exercises are not clear, correspondence and detailing framework isn’t smooth.
9. The procedure framework isn’t coordinate.
10. The assessment of procedure framework isn’t great.
11. The plan guidelines of new item are not great.
12. The standard arrangement of the new item quality isn’t great.
13. The quality objective deterioration system isn’t great.
14. The venture arranging and the opening shot stage absence of the board.
15. Lack of observing and assessment system for new item venture.
16. The administration for new item venture information is powerless.
17. The portrayal for the necessary capacity of post isn’t clear, the assets are not completely used.
18. Its help apparatuses for business isn’t sufficient.
19. Excellent building technique and solid practice are not viable execute inside the organization.
20. The quality mindfulness between workers is poor, preparing isn’t powerful execute.

ii. Improvement Research of Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

The Cause Analysis of the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

The Identified Process for the Cause of Problems

In view of the Cause and Effect Diagrams of the issues existing in the quality administration of TATA Company’s new item improvement venture, we uncover 31 causes (Figure 3).

Cause Cluster Analysis and Weight Design

1. The procedure of Cluster Analysis Through bunching investigation for 31 affecting element, we get an outcome as appeared in Table 1.
2. The Process of Weight Design We designate the heaviness of key influencing factors with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The primary layer is the objective layer, to be specific the quality administration of TATA Company’s new item advancement. The subsequent layer is the file layer factors. We get the checking aftereffect of 10 specialists inside TATA Company utilizing the master scoring technique, and afterward we handle the stamping result with Expert-Choice.

iii. Improvement Scheme Design for Quality

The executives of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project Basing on the investigation of the 7 key influencing factors, we structure a quality administration improvement conspire for TATA Company’s new item advancement venture.

Strengthening Training of Workers to Promote Their Quality Consciousness, and Making a Career Planning for the Staff

TATA Company goes through the accompanying measures to improve the ‘representative qualities go amiss from the venture target’ and ‘worker preparing plan isn’t sensible’: Enhance staff attention to new item advancement venture quality administration and staff preparing quality awareness; lead a few preparing for workers which incorporate administration information, proficient information (programming and equipment), item information, process gauges and nonexclusive aptitudes ;the preparation substance are separated into inside preparing and outside preparing; build up comparing advancement system and motivating force instrument.

Figure 3. Cause and effect diagram of problems in the quality management of new product development project.

Table 1. The result of cause cluster analysis for problems in the quality management of new product development.

Table 2. The weight allocation table of key affecting factors.

Update Suppliers’ Management Level

TATA Company goes through the accompanying measures to increase the administration of provider: allude to quality administration arrangement of the organization’s new item advancement venture, build up a point by point look at and confirm instrument and improve the certified providers’ administration models for the quality and timetable of bought material.

Improve Resource Utilization Efficiency

TATA Company’s administration capacity is moderately poor for essential assets, mostly there isn’t compelling use in the IT apparatuses and not generally excellent to help organization business advancement.

Chapter 4 Result and discussion:

i. Implement and Effect Analysis of Improvement Scheme in Quality Management within TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

Implement of Improvement Scheme of Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

TATA Company’s 5 estimates dependent on the improvement plan of new item advancement venture quality incorporate 5 phases (Figure 4), to be specific idea arrangement, arranging, new item advancement, approval, and item discharge.

TR1 to TR6 is 6 advancement of survey process, each audit is a sublimation to the last survey. Each audit procedure incorporates four sections: periodical quality destinations deterioration, screen and measure periodical record, information investigation improvement and condense and periodical venture quality brief report. Four procedures keep persistent cycle, advance the nonstop redesign of the exercises in quality administration of new items.

ii. Implement Effect Analysis of the Improvement Scheme of the Quality Management of TATA Company’s New Product Development Project

Comparison and Analysis of New Product’s Defect Rate

TATA Company utilizes Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA) innovation to get some portion of new items’ deformity information. At that point they get the condition of another item’s imperfection disclosure and stage deformity evacuation rate utilizing imperfection acquaint find lattice technique with investigation they got information (Table3).

Because of the improvement plan of the quality administration of TATA Company’s new item advancement venture, another item’s deformity circumstance is lower than target esteem, stage imperfection expulsion rate is higher than most minimal necessities.

Comparison and Analysis of New Product’s Failure Rate

New Product’s Failure rate alludes to the proportion of the disappointment quantities of new item in a specific timeframe and the ones in the entire measurable period (a year) (Table 4). Subsequent to utilizing the improvement plan of the quality administration of new item advancement venture, the number, disappointment pace of new item dropped altogether, the impact of the improvement plan of the quality administration of new item advancement venture is surprising when it shows up later period.

Comparison and Analysis of Customer Satisfaction

This study applies client objection taking care of to reflect consumer loyalty of TATA organization in the wake of actualizing the improvement program of the quality administration of new item advancement venture (factual period is one year) (Figure 4). In the wake of utilizing the improvement plot, the quantity of client protest taking care of declined all the more consistently. So the improvement conspire visibly affects improving item’s quality and client a.

Through correlation and investigation of deformity rate, disappointment pace of new item and consumer loyalty, we can presume that the improvement plan of the quality administration of new item advancement venture is sensible, and it has an exceptional impact. Simultaneously, it reflects somewhat that key influencing factors model of the quality administration of new item advancement venture is in accordance with the genuine circumstance of TATA Company.

Figure 4. Implement process of the improvement scheme of the quality management of new product development project.

Table 3. Comparison of a new product’s defect situation and phase defect removal rate in TATA Company.

Table 4. The number, failure rate of new product before and after using the improvement scheme.

Figure 5. The number of customer complaint handlings before and after implementing the improvement scheme.

Figure 6. Pareto Chart of N.of failure before and after implementing the improvement.

Figure 7. Probability plot of N.of failure before and after implementing the improvement.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Conclusion

Case study for improving quality administration of TATA Company’s new product improvement venture is completed. We analyze its present circumstance, distinguish existing issues and investigation the reason for existing issues.

In light of these establishments, an improvement plan of value the board of TATA Company’s new item advancement venture is advanced, and we screen the usage of the improvement plot and break down its actualize impacts. Obviously, we simply do singleton learns about influencing elements, procedure and significance of issues. Regardless of whether the improvement plan of value the board of new item advancement venture has all inclusive pertinence stays to be further research and talk. The execution and best practices devices and methods increased different favorable circumstances like decreased quality expenses and improved consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

Diversity and Inclusion Essay

Abstract

Today’s rapidly changing world is able to totally restructure the workforce, and employers face severe challenges in workforce management. Diversity management has been a key issue among employers in reaching sustainable growth, employee satisfaction, and retention, talent acquisition. The importance of diversity management can be linked to long-term organizational strategies that will enhance positive corporate reputation and development. However, the term ‘diversity’ can be conceptualized differently and top executives today understand that an organization has to adapt.

The current paper observes and analyzes the Diversity and Inclusion statement of one of the most famous cosmetic brands, L’Oréal, and proposes practical recommendations for improving the diversity statement.

Introduction

The strategy that could enhance the world reputation of the brand L’Oréal.

L’Oréal is undoubtedly one of the best-known cosmetic brands all over the world offering a wide range of products, both inexpensive and luxurious. The beauty brand was founded in 1909 by Eugene Schueller, a young graduate of the chemistry faculty with great joy in entrepreneurship (L’Oréal, 2019), and now has more than 63 million employees around the globe (D’Auzers, 2008). The company spends a big part of its income on Research and Development, which is a ground reason the company can be on the top of the list ahead of world-known cosmetic brands. The company is committed to producing goods for people of ‘all walks’ (L’Oréal 2019) and to achieve it the company aims to create a unique workplace where people of different ethnicity, social background, religion, gender, age, or disability can feel to be treated with respect and valued.

Inclusivity and diversity

The beauty flagman speaks out the promotion of diversity and inclusivity within the company and outside to be the core strategy for several years (L’Oréal, 2018). The diversity and inclusivity campaigns of 2017 could greatly affect the company’s development by increasing sales.

The company names its Diversity and Inclusivity statement as ‘People matter at L’Oréal’, which ideally represents ground strategies and aims. The diversity and Inclusivity statement, which is last updated in 2018, includes five subsections, i.e. Key figures, Strategy, Key examples, Top executive endorsement, and Partners.

The strategy which is called ‘People matter at L’Oréal’ is comprised of three main directions of diversity and inclusivity strategy, promoting more females in executive positions, welcoming people with various backgrounds, and enabling talents with disabilities to show their skills.

The key figures subsection presents that the promotion of women in each level of management has greatly improved in comparison to 2010, the share of female executives has increased by 10 percent, and a more than 20 percent increase in the share of females in global brand management positions (L’Oréal, 2019). Additionally, the gender pay gap has decreased dramatically over the past several years from a 10 to 2 percent gap. Moreover, payable parental leave in France for females comprises 20 weeks and 6 weeks for other partners.

On the diversity statement landing page, a visitor is encouraged to watch a short video explaining how they perceive diversity. This video, along with the videos, where top managers at L’Oréal share their views on diversity and inclusion, is informative and impressive. Top executives discuss what diversity represents in itself and its importance, and the implications of a diverse working team. At L’Oréal, it is important to take into account the uniqueness of representatives of each race, ethnicity, nationality, and culture. It is highlighted that a growing number of diversified groups of their consumers entails understanding the needs of those customers, and thus not only the diverse workplace a social responsibility but also important a key to business success.

On a separate Key examples page, a number of projects and initiatives implemented by the company are presented. Initiatives related to fostering mental health among women and support for minority groups, etc. These can be perceived as proof of the viability of the company’s diversity statement.

From the Diversity and Inclusivity report of L’Oréal, it is visible that the company pays high attention to previous lessons taken from its experience and shows the strong commitment of top executives to achieving a high level of diversity within the company.

Nature and purpose of diversity statements

As more and more business organizations come to understand that diversity, equity, and inclusion can significantly affect their long-term profits, they are promoting diversity in the workplace and trying to make the public know that they are committed to it. The purpose of a diversity statement is to consider the feelings of a company’s stakeholders. One of the core theories in diversity value in diversity or ‘optimistic’ (Triana, 2010) represents ways how diversity in a team can offer a wide range of options in making decisions and how sometimes values may replace negative effect disadvantages of homogenous teams. The Diversity and Inclusivity Statement of L’Oreal also represents the company’s strategy of including creativity, problem-solving, resource- acquisition, and marketing arguments. L’Oréal is selling its products all over the world, for women and men, young and old, with totally diverse audiences. The beauty brand’s most successful strategy was to engage a diverse team of personnel to better understand the needs and demands of its customers.

To be specific, there are more other reasons why diversity can create a competitive edge for L’Oréal. A diverse employee base can guarantee better customer service, composing a workforce that mirrors its diverse customer base can be fundamental in acquiring more market share. In comparison to homogeneous teams, a team consisting of diverse members can have the advantage of a broad range of information, fresh perspectives, and various approaches to solving problems. The wider expanse of experience and knowledge can improve critical analysis of an issue or a project, by applying different scenarios and introducing different points of view.

The statement of diversity and inclusion is important in many ways. It is a way to show that the company both cares for the customers and the employees it hires, and it strives to maintain social justice and give equal opportunities to everyone, who wants to work for it. It creates a company image and any incident involving non-compliance with its statement can become a dark spot on its reputation.

The diversity and inclusion statement is not legally binding; diversity in the workplace is the strategy a business chooses to implement. However, there has to be a question of whether diversity statements reveal legitimizing characteristics. It has to be asserted that diversity and inclusion policy becomes legitimate when there is evidence of compliance with the objectives set. In this case, the company has to create a favorable working environment for its diverse employee body, and there has to be zero tolerance for discrimination cases.

Critically analysis of the organization’s diversity statement

The long-term success of multinationals is achieved by embracing diversity and inclusivity

On the website, apart from the diversity and inclusion statement, L’Oréal publishes figures in support of its words. One of the important criteria for assessing the company’s compliance with the inclusion policy is its transparency. Making data publicly available can show how much the company is committed to the fulfillment of its diversity objectives. According to numbers over the period, 2010-2018 greater percentage of women were promoted to top managing positions with higher indicators of career development, whereby the gender pay gap has decreased by five times, also more favorable conditions were created for parental leave, and people with disabilities. In addition, the company’s employee body is very diverse comprising over 158 nationalities.

As its objective to promote diversity and inclusiveness company highlights three strategies:

• Promoting more women to top managing positions
• Engaging people from every social, economic, and multicultural origin
• Recruiting people with different physical and mental disabilities

It can be stated that the main goals and aims of L’Oréal’s diversity and inclusivity statement as the followings:

• To represent a wide range of its stakeholders within the company’s internal staff, sales teams, recruitment, and overall corporate workflow
• To hardly penetrate sexual equity within the team by promoting more women in executive positions and enhancing policies regarding gender equality.
• To show up the company as a unique and innovative company recruiting and supporting personnel with disabilities.
• To develop and revive a truly diverse community at L’Oréal.

Generally, the company’s Diversity and Inclusivity statement clearly set what they strive for in order to diversify their team of employees, how they are doing it currently, and what initiatives are yet to come.

Diversity in people with disabilities

Employing people with disabilities matters in L’Oreal. The diversity statement successfully covers it and backs up with a number of initiatives. This can also be seen in figures. In 2017, L’Oréal employed 1177 people with disabilities. One of the initiatives endorsed by the senior management order to reveal the disability inclusion biannual Disability Initiative Trophies launched in 2008. The event hosts the company’s subsidiaries from 60 countries to share success stories about disability inclusion projects.

Additionally, the importance of Disability Initiatives Trophies can be seen in that it strengthens the connection between the L’Oréal headquarters – where the International Diversity Team resides – and the company’s subsidiaries. Frequent exchange of information between different subsidiaries and headquarters in order to facilitate the initiative contributes to the connection of geographically dispersed companies. This unique link is of great importance to L’Oréal to ensure and further promote diversity and inclusion strategy worldwide. In summary, L’Oréal can enhance its disability agenda by encouraging its subsidiaries to collaborate in resolving an issue that is concerned to be correlated with business success by senior management.

It can be seen that L’Oreal is aimed to promote its intention to hire employees with disabilities and a number of initiatives have been proposed, including a broad range of social activities and internal practices (Heming, 2018). The company both hosts and participates in various forums and conferences concerning disability and diversity. In 2009 an exclusive training program for young talent with disabilities was established. It creates an opportunity for 12 people with a disability to work with specialists for six months to develop knowledge and skills (Heming, 2018).

Gender equality.

In 2018, L’Oreal was found to be the top gender-balanced company in Europe by Equileap (L’Oréal, 2018). This fact has to be highlighted in order to show that gender discrimination is by no means applicable to company policy. We have already mentioned that gender equality is one of the main strategies and aims of the L’Oréal over last several years and being at the top of the best companies in ensuring sexual equality shows the strengths and well implementation of the Diversity and Inclusion statement of the company.

Cases of discrimination.

Although diversity and inclusion statements do not have a legally binding effect, there has to be an underplaying obligation to comply with what they assert is important for them. Some deeper research on the company’s diversity policy revealed that there have been several cases related to racial and ethnic discrimination (Bennet, 2018; Samuel, 2009; Chrisafis, 2007). L’Oréal which asserts gender equality in all terms has been involved in the racial discrimination lawsuit of one of its top woman managers. As Amanda Johnson (Bennet, 2018) sues her former employer she alleges inappropriate treatment from her colleagues and her subsequent unjustified firing. Another case of racial discrimination involved barring black, Arab, and Asian women from its advertisements (Samuel,2009). According to the court ruling company’s actions were inappropriate and found guilty of discrimination against race and fined.

This type of issue can put the company’s commitment and inclusivity statement into question. However, despite the issues related to discrimination in the working place, there is significant evidence that the company is committed to its values and constantly takes action to promote diversity. Not only this is seen in numbers but also the acknowledgment of their endeavors in this relation by various awards it gets year to year.

What can be recommended

Diversity and inclusion statements should serve a purpose. For it to be an effective statement it has to have these elements: value, plausibility, and accountability. The terms ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ seem to be used interchangeably. The former focuses on combining experiences and knowledge of people from different backgrounds, while the latter is defined as enabling them to work in an environment, where they can perform at their best and differences among people with various characteristics would work for their company’s benefit.

As much as the company asserts diversity in its workplace and that inclusion is a priority management policy, it should follow its objectives to achieve them. The dangers of empty discourse, and inconsistency between words and reality, have to be avoided when designing a diversity statement. It is desired that diversity statements be not generally descriptive but support the desired values. In this sense, it is recommended that more training and diversity awareness initiatives be organized for the staff.

In a dynamic, technology-driven world, with company stakeholders from diverse cultures in order to be innovative, a company has to develop new perspectives into diversity. There are examples of companies hiring felons, the example of AT&T or American Express; hiring women who have taken career breaks for different reasons by PayPal or Goldman Sachs, etc. It is suggested that L’Oreal be innovative and come up with new methods of introducing diversity within its organization.

Another way to improve diversity can be providing training in the language necessary for working for a company, as the company has subsidiaries in over 60 countries. This allows recruiting from a wider base of candidates. Language barriers should not be a reason for not considering a qualified candidate.

Companies that embrace diversity as one of their mission statements need to ensure that practices and policies are in place to stay compliant with state regulations. It has to be highlighted that an organization takes care of the impact of policies/practices on different groups of employees. One suggestion for L’Oreal is to establish a system of giving feedback with surveys and suggestion boxes in order to understand how the workers feel about those policies. This will enable them to further enhance existing practices. Both positive and negative feedback should be viewed as valuable. Any policy that is observed to be an obstruction or not helpful for an employee should be changed and adapted accordingly.

Moreover, putting written policies can be not enough; it has to be ensured that the non-written rules of the company are explained to all workers.

Conclusion

While it’s clear that diversity can be very beneficial to an organization, it’s essential that managers, as well as the employees in the organization, understand how to manage it for both their own benefit as well as that of the organization. The more an organization shows a clear commitment to supporting diversity and endorses the idea that diversity is an opportunity and not a problem (Triana, 2010), the less likely it is to have problems resulting from perceived discrimination at work. Clearly, L’Oreal has done immense work to contribute to the creation of diverse workplaces from top to bottom, taking into consideration factors like gender, disability, cultural/racial differences, etc.

Crisis Sustainability: The Way a Company Responds to a Crisis

Your hotel is not the first lodging house to find themselves at the center of a public relations disaster. As you know, news goes viral faster than the speed of light and in order to bounce back your public relations team must have a solid crisis management plan. This plan requires more than an apologetic press release or a CEO’s dishonest circuit of appearances on primetime television. Crisis Management must respond to disasters promptly and decisively, using an array of platforms to communicate with the public. Most importantly, companies that make mistakes must accept responsibility for their actions instead of playing the blame game and distancing themselves from those mistakes. My proposal would be for the head of the department to confront the issue head on in a press conference emphasizing that the hotel doesn’t discriminate against those with physical limitations. “Often, proactive crisis management can defuse or minimize the damage in advance by planning out both action and communication strategies” (Broom and 308). As mentioned above it’s important to seem sincere and not rehearsed. The goal is to regain the trust of the public, dismiss confusion and the perception of incompetence. Stay away from wording that promotes the attitude of insensitivity and retaliation. Remember not to place blame and own up to your part in this fiasco. Placing blame promotes confrontation and could place the company in a back and forth debate that leads to litigation.

Although you had several options on how to respond to the hotel fiasco, your first option was the best for this situation. Immediately issuing a video news release in which the CEO persuasively outlines how this was an isolated incident and does not reflect hotel-chain policy is not a bad idea, however it does get into playing the blame game between employee and employer. The option of placing blame on the offending manager and announcing that he has been removed from his position absolutely places blame on the other person. A position we should avoid due to the possibility of that blamed employee suing the company. In that case both parties lose. Reviewing the booking policies and procedures for both the chain and for each hotel to see if there is a real policy issue with such bookings could come off wrong for several reasons.

This could take some time to review if management is not familiar with the policy. While we know that this step is going the extra mile to quote the policy word for word, to the public it may look like buying time to come up with a story. It may also give the impression of hesitation and not being honest. Again, the overall goal is to gain the trust of the public. Developing and placing media feature stories about hotel employees who have family members participating in the Special Olympics is also not a bad idea but has nothing to do with the hotel. If the hotel hosts this event and allows the families to stay there during the competition, that would be great PR for the chain and shows transparency towards other groups of people and their differences. In short, we all make mistakes. The way a company responds to a crisis determines the longevity of that company’s future. There’s not one method that will fix all problems that come about however, the take away here is to be prepared not if, but when your crisis hits. Your company’s reputation is a fragile thing that takes years to build and seconds to destroy. Despite how may likes your company has on social media and no matter how trusted your brand is right now, no company is immune from a public relations crisis forever.

How Does the Internet Work? Essay

In today’s era, an individual can stay 3 hours without water or food. But the Internet? Can you stay without the Internet even for 30 minutes? No! Even though the Internet is a young technology, it has become a necessity these days. Every working individual today needs the Internet to get their work done. The Internet lets you transfer any kind of information around the globe in no time. But how the Internet really works? In this essay I’m going to answer for all the confusions and myths, regarding the Internet.

Ninety-nine percent of the Internet in this world is powered by fiber optic cables. Basically, the Internet reaches the device, in the absence of cables, using the 3-Tier System.

Tier 1 Companies

Initially the optical fibers are used to connect the countries. This is done by putting the optical fiber in the oceans and seas all around the world. These optical cables which are also known as the submarine cables are spread throughout the world inside the oceans and are then bifurcated state-wise. The optical fiber cable or the submarine cable is a cable laid on the sea-bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. These cables are laid into the sea bed with the help of special cable layer ships. Today almost 99% of the data traffic carried by these cables are carried out under the sea. The optical fiber has hair line size wires each of which contains about 100 Gbps speed. These cables have a carrying capacity in terabits per second. The reason satellites are not chosen over optical fiber cables is that the satellite can carry only 1000 megabits per second with higher latency. Hence even though the submarine cables cost several hundred million dollars to construct, it is preferred over satellite connections.

The company that installs these cables into the water are known as the Tier 1 company. For example, Tata Communication is one such company that has installed optical fiber cables in the ocean. Reliance Jio has installed submarine cables between Asia, Africa and Europe.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 Companies

The Tier 2 companies take the Internet connection from Tier 1 companies in Gbps giving some amount and then these connections reach till our homes by the Internet service providers which are known as the Tier 3 companies which pays a bigger amount to the Tier 2 companies. Hence, the Internet is free, but the charges are taken because the installation and maintenance process costs a huge amount of money.

Taking the process further, the Tier 2 companies further install various towers in the country at specific distances to take the connection from oceans to every state of the country. For example, a company has installed one such tower with 100GBps bandwidth in your area. So, everyone in your area is using this connection to use the Internet and hence the bandwidth gets divided. So, if we consider 20Mbps speed, 5 people can use the 100Gbps bandwidth.

Speed Variations in the Internet

Considering the speed of the Internet, the speed is divided area wise as described before. But the second that should be taken into consideration is the server. For example, you are accessing amazon.com in India. Now they have a server installed in Bangalore which lets you access the website directly from India without any kind of data passage from the submarine cable even though its main server is in the US. Similarly, big companies like Google Flipkart, etc. have their servers installed in several countries for faster access of their websites. Now if you are accessing a website using a proxy server, then it might take longer for the website to load as the data is passed from your country to its server’s company and is then transferred back to your device.

Data Security

A server in your country keeps your data safe. India has a neutral Internet access point called NIXI (National Internet Access of India) where the server is manufactured and installed in India itself. In this way, the personal information of Indians like Aadhar card data is stored in India without any data being transmitted through submarine cables to other countries. Such companies are formed through the cooperation of Tier 2 and Tier 3 companies.

Breakage of Cables

There is a possibility that the cables installed in the sea might get broken due to natural events or the fishing trawlers. Hence store stations are located to detect break in the cables by electrical measurements like SSTDR. It can detect a fault in about 20ms. Once a cable damage is located, a cable repair ship is sent to the location. Next the submersible is sent to the location inside the sea and hence the cable is fixed.

Conclusion

Concluding the Internet working, first the optical fibers are installed into the sea beds by the Tier 1 companies which are then distributed into states and your doorstep by tier 2 and tier 3 companies respectively.

Jobs Vs Startups: Opportunities and Options

Have you ever had one of those days of existential crisis where you just want to free yourself from corporate bondage and build a business of your own? There comes a point where you just wish to give up your job and do something that makes you happy? Or as a new graduate you are clueless and have no idea where to go? The answers for all these questions lie in one word – startup.

A startup or start up is a company initiated by individual founders or entrepreneurs. A startup is a young company that is just beginning to develop. Startups are usually small and initially financed and operated by a handful of founders or one individual. These companies offer a product or service that is not currently being offered elsewhere in the market, or that the founders believe is being offered in an inferior manner.

There were times when scoring your first job in a big corporation was considered as a great deal in the society. But now the times have changed. People no more thrive to get jobs in a multinational company instead a passionate person tries to build his own empire. Working in a big corporation surely gives you a lifelong experience about how things are to be done but there are many more limitations of working in such companies. Corporate jobs do not provide flexible working hours, fancy perks, growth opportunities and an innovative working environment. An employee in a corporate job is forced to carry out the same monotonous, consistent, predictable and repetitive work he was allotted on his first day of job for the rest of his career. This limits the growth of the employee in relation to his job and his own self. These situations force an employee to eventually get tired and give up. There was a time when big corporate were undisputed leaders in proving jobs with best salary and growth opportunities, but the modern-day scenario is entirely different. Everyday social media is brimming with stories of rising startups doing path-breaking work or existing ones making it big. This has led to an increase in the thirst for power and status amongst youth. This power and status can only be earned if they take the matters in their own hands. This is where a startup plays its part.

Startups are tricky in nature. Startups are successful only when there is a concrete idea of how things will be carried out by the owner. Starting your own company does not mean that you just quit your job and open up a venture. A startup requires a lot of work in the beginning few years but the fruits of those efforts are enjoyed for a lifetime. Before starting your own business there are a few questions a person needs to ask themselves before putting the idea into action:

• Is your idea new or superior to the existing businesses?
• Are you a risk taker?
• Do you have adequate finance to put your idea into action?
• Does your idea make any impact on the minds of the consumers?
• Are you flexible about your level of earnings in the first few years?
• Lastly, do you want to make an impact on the society?

At a startup, especially a very small one nearly every problem is an opportunity for you to step in and add value. Each problem that you face while executing your idea is an indirect opportunity to grow and prepare yourself for any challenges that might show up in the future. Once you learn how to remove those road blocks, you are good to go. Identifying and solving problems has one major professional upside: it allows you to grow your skill set and pushes you to innovate in your own way.

Generally speaking, if you own a startup or work at a startup, you are either building a product or selling it. In the beginning stage of the company, there’s less need for internal departments, like human resources and accounting. It often makes more sense to outsource tasks like bookkeeping, or managing the members of the team pitch rather than hiring a specific person to do the work. Building and selling will always be the core functions. Depending on your idea, the role, and the size of the company, sometimes there is need to carry out little bit of both the functions. But again, all the functions that will be carried out by the owner shall depend on the type/ nature of his business idea.

To build a startup a person must first be familiar with the opportunities he may get in the future and challenges that he might have to face to stay in the course for a long period of time. One of the great advantages of the rapid pace of startup life is that you’ll have the opportunity to learn and acquire a variety of transferable skills. a startup role can help you gain skills and insight into multiple positions. You will gain skills you never thought of having, simply because you have to. Working for a startup is the best way to gain as many skills as possible. In a startup, the person is his own manager and this gives him a lot of autonomy to carry out his work. If there is a proper balance between autonomy and responsibility, the work environment shall be more efficient which will eventually lead to increase in growth opportunities. There is another significant reason as to why so many people are so inclined to put in the hard work for a startup it’s because they know the payoff it will bring them later on will all be worth it. Get in early with a startup, make it big and you’ll never have to worry about money again. All these gains, equity, autonomy, skill up gradation for life, flexibility of working hours and opportunities for growth can be expected out of a startup. When an employee dives into something due to their curiosity to create something new, that’s when magic happens. Curiosity is part of the passion that startup employees possess. A drive to learn more and improve will lead to nothing but success and recognition.

Startup has its advantages and opportunities but the road is not always easy and smooth. There are chances when the idea fails and the outcome generated is different from the expected. There is a high possibility that there is shortage of funds and the venture has to be shut down. A large corporation has a team to handle every task, but a startup has no team, no one to turn to in a crisis. You’ll have to solve your own problems. This can be strength for many because it will bring value in long run but again there might be people who avoid problems and might give up at once. Also, the workload in the initial stages is high; there is no flexibility in working hours and only few holidays and vacations to spare. It is important for a startup to show early growth trends. Another challenge for a budding entrepreneur may be stability. Stability in earnings is necessary to carry out a successful business firm. An entrepreneur loses his work life balance once he indulges in a startup. But on the other hand, it is safe to say that the opportunities outweigh the challenges mentioned above. Once the entrepreneur starts earning and the growth chart shows positive trend, all the challenges seem small.

The biggest difference between a startup and a job at a bigger company is the rate at which things change. At a large corporation, you might do the same set of monotonous tasks for several years, until your superior retires or gets a promotion. At a startup, your role and responsibilities will evolve frequently. Within six months, you might be doing something significantly different from the role you were hired to do in the first place. That means your skill set will have to grow at an equally fast clip. India is all set to break away the traditional career paths as a lot of talent is tending towards working with the Indian startup space. India is transitioning from a 9-to-5 work culture to a startup environment, where employees are consciously forgoing stability in exchange for the promise of accelerated growth.

To boost a startup an entrepreneur requires funds. Lack of money is one of the major problems because money is the bloodline of every successful business. These funds can be raised in various ways.

1. Bootstrapping (self-funding) your own startup. New startups generally find it hard to raise funds from investors based on a plan on paper and thus bootstrapping is an efficient way to raise funds. You can invest your own savings and this will not invite a lot of formalities either.
2. Crowd funding. Crowd funding is a new way of raising funds. Under this technique money is raised from a group of people who are intrigued by the ideas presented. Money can’t be raised until the idea presented is rock solid and has a chance of growth in the future.
3. Angel investor. Angel investors are individuals with surplus cash and a keen interest to invest in upcoming startups. They also work in groups of networks to collectively screen the proposals before investing. They can also offer mentoring or advice alongside capital.
4. Venture capital. Venture capitals are professionally managed funds who invest in companies that have huge potential. A venture capital investment may be best suited for small businesses.
5. Business incubators and accelerators. Early-stage businesses can consider incubator and accelerator programs as a funding option. Incubators are found in almost all major cities and they help new businesses raise capital.
6. Bank loans. Bank loan is the most traditional method of raising finance. Bank loan can be either provided for working capital needs or for funding. Any entrepreneur can approach the bank and apply for the loan. The loan shall be granted on the basis of business valuation. Entrepreneurs can also raise term loans or asset backed loans.
7. Government schemes. To encourage the era of startups in India, the Indian government has launched various programs which help new entrepreneurs raise funds for their venture. The ‘Startup India’ project by the Narendra Modi can be another option to raise funds for your business. As a part of this initiative a fund worth Rs.10000 ($1.6 billion) has been set up the government. This money is disbursed via the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
8. Microfinance. Non-banking financial corporations (NBFC) provide loans to small and medium enterprises at a very low rate of interest. These loans are generally given in order to promote the growth and development of small businesses in India.
9. Others. Some other way through which an entrepreneur can raise money can be through selling his own assets, borrowing from family and friends or by owning a credit card.

An entrepreneur can use all of the options listed above when raising funds for his business. However, if you want to grow your business really fast then you will have to take external assistance and borrow money from outside sources. Although, bootstrapping is an efficient way to raise funds but without external funding an entrepreneur may not be able to gain the advantage that market has to offer. It is also important to remember that before applying for funds the entrepreneur must have a solid idea for his business and must stand on strong grounds in times to come.

The investors invest in the business not only based on the idea presented but also on the basis of how the entrepreneurs come across during the meeting. An entrepreneur must be someone with an innovative mindset; someone who is not afraid to experiment when the opportunity calls for. An entrepreneur must be grit and must be an excellent communicator. Curiosity is the key. A curious person has the guts to go beyond the usual and experiment new things. Thus, an entrepreneur must possess all such traits in order to impress the investors and his own employees and consumers.

There was a time in India when the major player in the job sector was the government agencies. Later on, people started bending towards big private corporate offering higher salary and fancy perks. These perks enticed people and lured them in corporate bondage for life. But now the times have changed. India is a developing country which is continuously offering new growth opportunities to people who have their own ideas and wish to set up their own business. With the launch of government’s Startup India mission, India is progressing towards becoming the next big startup nation. Never before in the history of India the government has taken such a step to promote and flourish the startups. The aim of the mission is to provide funds to new entrepreneurs so that they can grow nationally and expand globally when the time comes. The direct involvement of government on such mission can prove to be a real boost for the economy as well. As a new graduate or a person who is sick of corporate jobs, with a startup idea, you won’t have to invest much of your time finding ways to raise finance and grow your business because the Indian government’s mission to make India the next big startup nation is at your service.

It is often said that, ‘The grass is greener on the other side’. People with a startup might feel jealous of their friends, working in big corporate going on vacations but the reality behind this fun is often frightening. A new entrepreneur might not get a chance to enjoy for a few years while building a business but for such real entrepreneurs nothing compares to the satisfaction that they derive from their work; the one they actually wished to do.

Investigating the Effects of Fluctuations on the Stock Market

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.

Ethical Dilemma Essay

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.

Ethical Dilemma Essay

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.

Is Google an Ethical Company: Argumentative Essay

Introduction

Businesses are facing challenges to conform to professional rules including professional conduct, accountability, fairness, and professional integrity. Through observation, it has been reported that companies conforming to rightful ethical practicing are decreasing significantly. Companies are nowadays bypassing transparency and accountability and start focusing on maximizing the shareholders’ return by trying to optimize profits at whatever cost attached to the company’s daily operations,( McDonald, G.et al, 2010 In the identification and evaluation of ethical dilemma practices in the corporate world, Google Inc. is chosen for ethical dilemma case study.

Google Inc. overview

Google Inc. was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, in the year 1998. Google Inc. on its prospects is a subsidiary of Alphabet Company. The internet-related commercialization services derived from Google Inc. comprise of online advertising technologies, software, cloud computing, and hardware. It has operated under the principle of providing access to the world’s information effectively, (McPherson, S.S., 2010).

Ethical dilemma

Google Inc. faces an ethical dilemma to balance corporate compliance with the national laws of different countries, company principles, and global ethical standards. Google Inc.’s principle is to offer everyone from all walks of life free access to all information in the world without harming people. Back in 2010, China requested Google authority to allow censor information on Chinese citizens who are searching for particular information which is subjective to restricting China citizen’s right to access all information in the world,( Natale, S.M. and Doran, C., 2012). According to consequentialism ideology, the Google Inc. act was aiming to benefit its businesses by denying Chinese people all information and therefore the act is morally bad and therefore unethical because does not cause or bring happiness to many.

Google Inc. during this period was enjoying a large market share in China and therefore the company had to put the matter into consideration based on whether to comply with Chinese authorities for some information restrictions to Chinese people or cease conducting business in China. Google Inc. management to remain in business decided to design a Chinese language web framework that could allow information censor and that contradict this company policy. This is an unethical act because Google is focusing on growth and profit maximization. Accepting such a need would comprise its policy, to lose credibility and efficiency because the network would be required to slow down to censor some information from Chinese people searching and as a result expose Google to competitors who promote efficiency and access to all information in the world,( Mingers, J. and Walsham, G., 2010). Based on the deontological point of view Chinese government was morally right because required Google Inc. to censor some information from Chinese people searching on the Google search engine to protect its public from being exposed to crime, immoral behaviors, or political incitement.

Google Inc. furthermore allows organizations to track people’s information, and location without their consent is unethical though not illegal. Google Inc. signs contracts with users to protect individual information but allowing companies and other government authorities to access personal information is a one-way Google company is deceiving its users that contract its principle do no evil. As a result, users lose trust in Google services, and loyalty and sing out to Google services which results in Google income continuing to lose to competitors like Bingdong.com in the name of searching for the attainment of competitive advantages in the internet-providing industry.

Stakeholders impacted by the ethical issue.

Restraining to comply with Chinese authorities on information censor to China individuals, Google shareholder’s profit declined largely. Google through store records helps to improve corporate efficiency in which cookies are deleted and leave those photos online which are violating people’s privacy as other online users use those photos hence Google faces many charges,( Klassen, K.J. and Laplante, S.K., 2012). Also, Google in the year 2011 was under IRS audit due to federal income taxes avoidance through shifting profit into its offshore subsidiaries which are denying the United States government revenue collection as a result of lack of accounting transparency and integrity.

The ethical decision was undertaken by Google Inc.

When Good refused to comply with information censor from Chinese government directives and moved its operations to Thailand the shareholders lost Chinese customers but guided its principles and policies to protect its reputation from worsening across the globe and competitors taking that as an advantage to outsell its Google services. Google’s refusal to avail its data to the United States authority on individuals faces lawsuits which are attached extra costs. Compliance with IRS financial reporting standards overburdens by compiling Google to hire extra internal financial reporting control structures to ensure international ethical standards have been adherence to, (Tan, J. and Tan, A.E., 2012).

Conclusion

This discussion can conclude that many corporates across the globe are facing challenges to conform to ethical practices and at the same time optimize profit maximization. Shareholders want their managers to focus on activities that attract profits regardless of the method applied to arrive at making desirable financial performance hence considering ethical practices as an outdated issue in modern business operations.

In contrast to the above discussion, unethical practices seem to benefit a business for a short period but in the long run the business losses to competitors or companies that are put into consideration ethical practices in their business activities. For example, in businesses practicing ethical activities such as being mindful of employees’ welfare, employees are motivated to work and hence maintain high individual productivity. Society tends to become loyal to an enterprise practicing ethical practices hence revenue increase and as a result, achieve business sustainability.

Persuasive Speech about Google Competitive Advantage

Introduction

Google, its products, and its expanding services have become household names; as the second most valuable firm in the world valued at approximately $528 billion (Cusumano, 2017, p. 22) it is no surprise that they monopolize the majority of Internet general services. However, as the market becomes increasingly crowded with companies threatening Google’s technological domination, the key challenges and threats to Google’s sustainable competitive advantage must be examined and counteracted. In this position paper, Google’s performance will be examined using the VRIO framework to justify what keeps it competitive while highlighting the risks and challenges to its industry lead. From the analysis, a proposed strategy will then outline the recommendation of Google to invest primarily in AI development in order to leapfrog in the areas of technology and encourage an inseparability between Google and its users.

Google’s attributes and advantages

Since its conception, Google has valued simplicity, usefulness, and consistency in its services and products (Choi, Kim & Yoon, 2014, p. 707). A way of viewing Google’s attributes and functions is through the VRIO framework, where its success is through fulfilling the criteria for a competitive sustainable advantage. The VRIO framework is a four-component tool to highlight the resources and capabilities that a company possesses and must protect to give a long-term competitive advantage (Clearpoint strategy), comprising of value, rarity, imitability, and organization. Failure to meet a criterion will challenge Google’s superiority in the technology market, and Google must frequently revisit the framework to ensure that its strengths are not diminished by the emergence of competitors’ products and services.

Google’s strengths and opportunities will first be examined to understand where its consequential challenges lie. Primarily, Google owns a major share of the advertisement market, with their network reaching 90% of internet users with advertisements consequently placed on each page (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 7). Advertisements are Google’s main source of revenue, and thus the maximum distribution of Google products and Google Network members’ sites onto other platforms such as Apple devices are integral to reaping the greatest revenue through both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression avenues (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 7). The sheer coverage that Google has online is instrumental in maintaining its inimitability, and Google constantly upgrades its network infrastructure to continue to deliver the fastest services. Newer competitors simply cannot compete with the physical and virtual size of Google’s processing capabilities, and the rarity of Google’s subsea cable projects to increase computing technologies advances will promote their position as leaders in technology (CB Insights, 2019).

Secondly, Google’s substantial investment in research and development (R&D) opportunities is an amalgamation of the value and organization attributes of the VRIO framework, where they have invested 15% of total sales into R&D to provide products that meet user needs (CB Insights, p.2). When Google reorganized into Alphabet Inc, it gave structure to the organization by separating operations into core and non-core divisions, which permitted Google to trial ‘moonshots’, that is, R&D experiments that “promise revolutionary innovations” (Cusumano, 2017, p. 24) through its Other Bets subsidiaries division. While it has experienced some criticism from stakeholders as a sizeable percentage of revenue has hence siphoned away from the core and successful Google products, Android was a moonshot back in 2005 and now “leads the industry with over 80% market share” (Cusumano, 2017, p. 22), which proves that Google’s R&D work has the potential to evolve into consistently increased revenue. Other Bets investments have the opportunity to contribute to Google’s competitive advantage if the right project is funded; however, it runs the risk that there will be no payoff, only wasted profit.

Key challenges

The greatest threat Google has to its sustainable competitive advantage is imitability; while Google has been the leader in advertising for decades, competitors such as Facebook threaten its market share. Recently, Facebook has centered its strategy around delivering the quality of ads, that is, user-focused, rather than the quantity of ads, which has subsequently improved their revenue (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 9). While Google could traditionally generate revenue through mass advertising and cost-per-impression profit, the modern user has countered advertisements with ad-blocking browser extensions, with an annual increase of 41% turning to blockers due to frustration with the volume of advertisements (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 11). As the majority of Google’s functions are directly dependent on advertising revenue, including the aforementioned Other Bets, Google cannot develop and match competitors’ technologies if they lose their advertising monopoly.

Google has also failed to counter the change in user prioritization from desktop to mobile, losing 2% market share in online advertising due to the decreasing relevance of text-based advertisements ((Rothaermel, 2017, p. 10). With over half of Google’s 100 billion monthly searches in 2015 from mobile devices, and more users choosing to search via voice-enabled capacities, the effectiveness of traditional advertisements has dwindled to the point that more competitors are capitalizing on the new dynamics of the advertising platform, such as Facebook, who has generated “75% of all revenue from its mobile ad business” (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 9). This was evidenced when Google rushed into resolving the advertising demographic gap by releasing an audio-based advertisement to target users, which was met with complaints and a swift removal (Rothaermel, 2017, p. 9). Google appears to have been complacent about its historical monopoly in the advertising field, failing to prepare for the change in the operating environment, and being blindsided when competitors delivered relevant and targeted advertising that they could not counter. Google must monitor modern users’ online preferences and behaviors to prevent disconnect and strategic disadvantage.

Future recommendation

Google can reinstate its sustainable competitive advantage if it uses its R&D facilities to be at the forefront of augmented intelligence (AI) technologies, releasing AI capabilities that enhance current existing Google products. This recommendation has the ability to counteract Google’s challenges while building on its strengths if done appropriately. Firstly, Google has already understood the importance of integrating a virtual assistant into its products and services; an increase in AI technology will improve its “foothold in the search and advertising world” (CB Insights, 2019, p.11) by introducing an unparalleled user-orientated function. While Google struggled with the increased prioritization of voice-assisted search and mobile-based functions over desktop services if they release AI technology to “build each user their own individual Google” (McCracken, 2016), that is, make Google and the user inseparable from each other in the smart home world, not only will revenue increase due to dependency on Google and its products but Google will be seen as the leader in AI technology rather than an imitator. Google already has a central focus on developing machine learning capabilities; it has acquired AI startups DeepMind, Halli Labs, and Banter and has launched two designated AI funds: Gradient Ventures and Google Assistant Investment Program (CB Insights, 2019). Google should continue to focus on deep learning and AI functions in order to bolster its eventual release of AI smart home technology with the best and the most relevant products for the everyday user.

Moreover, Google’s investment in AI will increase its ability to manage processing capabilities and information organization; by incorporating deep learning into its search and Google Assistant functions, AI will provide Google an unparalleled advantage in speed and relevance which will filter down to Internet users’ satisfaction and continued use with Google and its products. Although Google has fallen behind tech giants such as Apple and Amazon by being too late to the smartphone and smart speaker markets (McCracken, 2016), with a successful AI campaign Google does not need to match their products due to possessing a niche function that other companies fail to have the funding or research background to match, at least in the short-term. Google should not be reactive to the tech market, but shape users’ desires towards their tech capabilities so that they become the preference, forcing Apple and Amazon to change their strategies to aspire towards Google’s features.

Naturally, the rollout of AI comes with a number of risks, the primary two being releasing AI integration at the wrong time and releasing products that are irrelevant to users. Google is experienced in releasing products too late as seen by the Google Pixel smartphone, Allo messaging app, Google +, and Google Home voice assistant (Rothaermel, 2017). On the other hand, Google has released products in a market with no connected tangible user needs, such as Google Glass, where users considered Glass as a novelty rather than fulfilling a smart home requirement. Noting that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft are all investing in AI initiatives (McCracken, 2016), Google is currently under pressure to be the first to release a complete AI integration suite of products. While Google has invested majorly in AI research and development and can be confident that its AI technologies can surpass its competitors in terms of understanding multimedia and information through multi-billion Google searches, they must also deliver a comprehensive advertising campaign to ensure that users believe that AI will complement their lives, rather than being an expensive luxury addition.

Conclusion

All in all, Google has demonstrated a clear sustainable competitive advantage for most of the company’s life, showing that they surpass its competitors in value, rarity, inimitability, and organization. However, their key challenges have been evident in recent years, where competitors and users have become smarter and desire better user experiences than mass advertising campaigns and desktop-restricted functions. Google has been challenged by the change in technological environment and has reacted rather than dominated in the release of new products and advertising campaigns, to the dissatisfaction of Internet users. This position paper, therefore, recommends that Google must be the pioneer in AI technology to complement its current core products, particularly Google Search and Google Assistant, in order to promote the inseparability of the Internet user with Google and its products while differentiating Google functions from that of its competitors. As CEO Sundar Pichai has emphasized, Google should not consider how to compete with tech giants themselves, but how to be better for the smart product user (McCracken, 2016). AI, if released at the right time and in the right way, has great potential to permanently change the smart home market, boosting revenue and conquering the modern tech environment.

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