The market of Barbie dolls in China was subjected to unique development rules, and Mattel Company faced unique challenges associated with the proper promotion and sales of this product. The reasons for failure were numerous, and the paper aims to analyze the companys performance, as well as analyze the key reasons for its failure.
Success or Failure
As it is stated in the project description, the company had to close all its departments in China in two years after presenting Barbie in China. Even though this doll is of great popularity all over the world and it is regarded as the pattern of style and fashion. Even regardless of its western view, it did not distract the Chinese target audience. The key failure factor was the demographic policy help by the Chinese government, as well as the low average income that made the price for the doll comparatively high.
Changes Made to Firms Original Foreign Expansion Plan
The changes that the company had to perform in their expansion plan were mainly associated with the cultural background of the audience, as well as the marketing situation. The cultural differences of the Chinese audience are closely linked with the demographic and economic state of the population. The company had to adapt to the business climate of China. As it is stated by Gupta and Wang (2):
It is impossible to win in China by either complete localization or zero localization. The trick lies in figuring out the right blend between localization and incorporating global concepts and standards. Companies can significantly increase the odds of success, however, by starting with simpler products and services, engaging in lots of rapid and low-cost localization experiments, and adding complexity to their business models as they learn from these experiments.
Alternative Approaches
By the research by Stone and McCall (56), the only solution possible for penetrating the Chinese market is to implement reasonable fragmentation of the efforts. Because this country is very fragmented, and the density of its population differs, it will be reasonable to focus on the most highly populated regions and cities. This would create the optimal balance for the commercial costs, and effectiveness of sales. Additionally, the adaptive strategy would be the only solution, especially for the company that had to break through the different cultural traditions that created new marketing background. Hence, as Oyedijo et.al. (69) emphasized:
When Wal-Mart entered China in 1996, it experimented with different store formats to figure out which would have the greatest customer appeal. Similar experiments regarding target customer segments and merchandise mix played a useful role in helping Wal-Mart reduce the risk of failure as it rolled out store expansion and ramped up investment.
Response of Other Companies
Because Barbie is more well known all over the world in comparison with HelloKitty, and Yue-SaiWaWa doll collections, the other companies had to improve their advertisement efforts, as well as apply more efforts for promoting their collections. This was the necessary step for increasing the competitive advantage for these goods, as well as attracting the attention of the target audience.
Conclusion
The marketing strategy performed by Mattel Company for promoting Barbie dolls collection in China had to be adapted for the realities of the Chinese marketing background. The changes that were performed are based on cultural, demographic, and business differences.
Works Cited
Gupta, Anil. Hayan Wang. Why Barbie Flopped in Shanghai. Bloomberg Business Week. 2011.
Oyedijo, Ade, Olawale Ibrahim Olateju, Mustapha Abiodun Okunnu, and Oludare Tolulope Adeyemi. Impact of Size, Industry Structure and Strategy on Marketing Challenges of Globalization. Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal 2.1 (2010): 69.
Stone, Marilyn A., and J. B. McCall. International Strategic Marketing: A[n] European Perspective. London: Routledge, 2004.
A high-performance work team entails a group of individuals who have complementary knowledge and specialized expertise to invest and produce high results. In this study, the focus has is on developing a high-performance team within a hospital facility. The study employs systemic review to source information on high-performance team development in healthcare. Additionally, the study has been broken down into understanding the healthcare culture, developing a strategy for HR, implementing a strategic plan and measuring high performance team success. Based on the research findings, it is important for the HR to recruit medical personnel who are capable of fostering the hospitals mission and vision. Along with adhering to the facilitys vision and mission, the HR needs to meet the WHO performance evaluation standards which determines their efficacy in hiring. Inconclusively, this research suggests that hospitals should ensure their HR department reflect excellent performance before hiring new workers.
Understanding the Healthcare Culture
The divisional structure is one of the staff designs applicable in most hospitals in the US and worldwide. The divisional structure entails grouping workers together based on the product or service they offer as opposed to the work the staff do. Additionally, this structure allows categorization of employees according to the areas of expertise, which makes patient care efficient and effective. In a hospital setting, the divisional structure has been applied to divide healthcare culture into various departments. These departments include radiology, operation theatre complex, pharmacy, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and nursing departments (Ross, 2021). These departments work unanimously to promote quality treatment for the patient and sometimes their families.
The five key departments established by the divisional structure host numerous functions and contributions to the hospital. The radiology section facilitates filming, analysis and interpretation of diagnostic images taken by X-rays, MRI or CT scans. Besides, the operation theater complex supervises and coordinates the activities of the surgeons carrying out a given surgery on a patient. The pharmacy sector is involved in dispensing medicine upon receiving valid prescription from the physician. Along with the three departments, the rehabilitation division facilitates the minimization of disabling effects that arise from addiction or chronic health conditions. Lastly, the nursing department is involved in checking vital signs, communicating the present condition of the patient to the doctor and administering medications to ill as per the doctors directions. While the radiology facilitates organ imaging during diagnosis, the theatre section carries defective organ removal. Additionally, the pharmacy sector promotes chemotherapy whereas the rehabilitation unit recovery from addiction and related ailments (Callus et al., 2020). Finally, the nursing wing bridges the gap between the doctor and the patient as they are in direct contact with the patient.
Based on the assessment of the departmental environment, there are three main factors that affect patient care and delivery of services from various hospital personnel. Firstly, there are patient related factors such as patient illness, patient cooperation and patient socio-demographic variables. For example, patient socio-demographic variables can include language barriers where a patient speaks a different language compared to that of the medical practitioner. Secondly, there are physician related factors, which include their competency, motivation and satisfaction with the role they hold when giving patient care. The quality of care given to a patient depends on the technical skills and knowledge that a physician or nurse possesses, meaning a poor care is often given by medical personnel who are less competent. Lastly, there are environmental factors such as the healthcare system, resource and facilities and partnership development which may affect patient care (Ross, 2021). A healthcare system that allows the referral program avails the patient an opportunity to get treatment from medical specialists as opposed to general practitioners, which promotes quality patient care.
The patient environment is imperative in facilitating the accomplishment of the overall goal of patient care. This environment constitutes the immediate physical area that hosts the patients such as wards, toilets, floors and even hallways. This environment is crucial in determining the prognosis of the disease as sometimes the environment can deteriorate their condition in cases of nosocomial infections. This domain can be improved by fostering a culture cleanliness and safety, implementing hospital policies that support patients, including patients in the designing of hospitals and by maintaining friendliness at all times (Ross, 2021). When the environment is improved, then the overall goal of patient care which focuses on preventing premature disability and death, maintaining quality life and promoting personal growth will be achieved.
The diversification makeup of a healthcare facility is crucial meeting health demands by patients. Healthcare diversity entails having professionals, researchers, educators and patients of different disability, race, socioeconomic status, gender identity and geographic region. This diversification promotes cultural competency, which entails the ability of the medical personnel to handle cases emanating from patients of different cultural, social and linguistic backgrounds. Additionally, espousing diversity in the hospital helps to make the patient feel more represented, which provides a leeway to reduced patient anxieties, improved patient outcome and high compliance (Callus et al., 2020). Generally, the bigger the proportion of medical staff holding various demographics, the more patients feel acknowledged.
Developing a Strategy for HR
The vision and mission statements are important in determining the aims and the methods to be adopted to provide quality care to patient. When developing both the mission and the vision of the hospital, the healthcare facility needs to conder various components. In vision statement development, it is important to highlight the position that the hospital will hold in the future. Additionally, they need to concentrate on the inspirational, motivative and reflective part of the vision statement. Along with vision, the healthcare unit is required to establish the organizations mission to guide human resource when sourcing for new medical personnel. The mission statement should focus on the present, especially the current aims the hospital aspires to achieve (Callus et al., 2020). The two statements guide the HR during recruitment, where mission allows the department to hire medical personnel who can promote achievement of the current goals while vision facilitates employment of medical workers who can uplift the healthcare facility to its future position.
The role of the HR in healthcare can be stretched to its contributions, assessments and partnerships. In healthcare, HR is critical as their roles extend beyond hiring, recruiting, and firing of workers as seen in business organizations. In healthcare, this department has to consider the patients who are receiving care. Therefore, the main contribution of the HR department in the hospital entails promoting diversity, equitable care and inclusion and patient satisfaction. Along with the HR contributions, HR assessment is imperative to ensure that the staff hired meet the standards of working in a healthcare. The hospital under study applies the WHO framework for health systems performance assessment to evaluate the working of the units HR (Callus et al., 2020). This assessment framework consists of inputs, functions, intermediate goals and goals upon which the HR is analyzed on. Lastly, the hospitals HR has made partnerships with strategic HR team, who assists the hospitals human resource in developing and directing the agenda that fosters the goals of patient care.
Developing job analysis entails identifying the tasks, skills, objectives and responsibilities that are specific for a given task. In the hospitals HR department, it is imperative to determine what jobs are needed before hiring. For instance, if a hospital has a deficit of staff in the operation and theatre section, the HR need to highlight this gap before posting a job vacancy. Secondly, the HR should determine the reason why the job is needed, meaning they have to outline whether it is covering a gap present or the job is required to reinforce the current staff. Thirdly, the HR needs to assess the values the new physician, nurse, general practitioner or other personnel will bring to the hospital. For instance, if the HR hires medical officer with top-notch skills and medical knowledge, the value of the hospital is likely to increase due to provision of quality care (Callus et al., 2020). Lastly, the job should lead the hospital towards accomplishing its vision, meaning the HR should employ individuals who will support the healthcare facilitys goals and ambitions.
Developing the Job Specification requires the human resource department to identify the requisite qualifications which are needed for the employees. For instance, general practitioners qualifications could be different from specialist staff. Job specification is needed to distinguish the human resource and also aid in the division and diffusion of power and responsibilities. The Job Description log refers to the outline of every human resources task and responsibility. Hospitals have a wide pool of human resources, some of whom could have overlapping responsibilities (Hovland, & Moltu, 2019). To have a practical job description log, it is crucial that the HR department explores all positions, explore their similarities, and where there are contentions come up with clear guidelines.
EEO and Affirmative Action are critical success factors in healthcare provision. Equal Employment Opportunity requires the hospital to assess its hiring and retention metrics against the provisions of EEO. The HR department ought to assess existential challenges through interacting with the staff and external stakeholders such as patients and guests (Hovland, & Moltu, 2019). Further, the hospital should adhere to working on the feedback proactively, particularly by reaching out to aggrieved parties and updating them on the actions taken.
Developing the talent pool requires the HR department to expedite actions such as assessing staff welfare and needs. The HR department should promote optimal working conditions for all staff and also ensure that the staff members receive regular training to bolster their knowledge and skills in their practices (Callus et al., 2020). Developing a selection process will not only attract a suitable HR populace but will also diffuse how the hospital picks candidates for job positions.
Employee Training and development ought to be regularized, in that the human resources will know what is expected of them at all times with the hospital also remaining steadfast in upgrading employees skills. The HR department ought to develop a pay structure that reflects competitiveness and the hospitals commitment to competitive remuneration. Further, developing a team building and team bonding process is crucial for human resources development (Callus et al., 2020). The HR department should budget for and action team-building activities that will help the hospital staff to understand each others personalities, strengths, and work requirements.
Developing a high-performance goal for teams will also require the HR department to closely match employees positions and deliverables with certain goals. Such goals ought to be arrived at through consensus between the hospital and the employees. Lastly, the hospital ought to have solid employee retention measures (Callus et al., 2020). Some of the measures to implement include the hospital management communicating openly, employees knowing the scope of their responsibilities, and the management observing meritocracy.
Implementing the Strategic Plan
Developing a feedback system is necessary for healthcare, especially when it takes advantage of digital capabilities in the strategic plan. A feedback system in healthcare allows different parties to share information. Part of the feedback system could include patients giving feedback about clinical services or healthcare workers providing input to the hospital. A feedback system can use software or another strategy to create an avenue for complaints, comments, and suggestions. The challenge with feedback systems is some clinicians might find it difficult to navigate through reports (Hovland, & Moltu, 2019). Adequate training is necessary when developing a feedback system to ensure its efficiency later. The development of a feedback system might assist in team structure and quality.
An appropriate strategic plan should address team structure and quality aspects to ensure a sense of continuous improvement. Healthcare organizations should implement procedures that foster effective teams. Effective teams in health environments allow collaborations from admissions until discharge. Seamless procedures work in the same manner to ensure quality. Techniques that enhance coordination and teamwork got linked to efficient quality improvement practices (Alsaqqa, & Akyurek, 2019). Procedures that ensure quality in healthcare allow quick recoveries and reduced readmissions. The results of team structure and quality extend to employee discipline.
Any organization can gain employee discipline that ensures procedures are followed. Disciplined employees can reflect on the rules of their healthcare organizations and work in teams for progress. Alsaqqa & Akyurek (2019) stated that the healthcare organization could consider using a multidisciplinary team that validates the questionnaire used to find if employees work according to the organizational culture. Avoiding dictatorial tendencies is also significant in fostering employee discipline. Employees need a work environment that encourages creativity and innovativeness, which fits the vision and culture.
Employee fairness and rights complement employee discipline since they create suitable ground that makes them feel understood even as they contribute to the organization. The healthcare culture requires employees to develop homogeneity in service delivery for quality healthcare services. Similarly, healthcare workers need several factors from their employers, including lawful salaries and work conditions. The concept of employee rights requires that such perspectives, which extend to a right to be part of a union, get considered. Fairness asserts that the strategic plan should consider employee complaints and proposals on improving healthcare services.
The strategic plan can implement methods to release stress and tension among healthcare workers. Especially with the onset of the pandemic, healthcare workers risk stress and tension as they deal with the illnesses alongside stringent operation requirements to prevent getting sick. Methods used to release stress and anxiety among healthcare workers could be as simplistic as breathing as a mindful meditation to introducing psychological therapy (Callus et al., 2020). Psychological therapy allows healthcare workers to share when they feel stressed, thereby preventing burnout.
Implementing a work-life balance process in the strategic plan contributes to employee fairness in healthcare. An appropriate healthcare culture should encourage work-life balance processes where employees can fulfill work and personal goals. Devanny (2021) stated that the US could improve work-life balance by improving benefits and services for children, including care services and parental leaves. The factors ensure work-life balance as parents are not stressed with childrens care factors. The work-life balance process allows continuous improvement.
A strategic plan ensuring continuous improvement leads to a caring healthcare organization where progress is valued. The organization can develop procedures to improve employees capabilities and work quality. The healthcare organization should provide goals such as enhancing digital capabilities. On the other hand, employees can further their education to prevent stagnation in their work roles. Harmonizing goals for continuous improvement creates channels for development that even patients will experience in the long run.
The goals for continuous improvement work best when problems get identified and solved promptly through collaborations. Prompt identification of problems and their solving methods is part of the strategic plan since it eradicates barriers. For instance, Hovland & Moltu (2019) highlights the need to account for complexity when developing a clinical feedback system to reduce the chances of redundancy. Such an approach identified the challenge of redundancy and set accounting for complexity as a solution. Problem identification and finding ways to solve the issues in healthcare become enhanced when measuring high-performance team success.
Measuring High-Performance Team Success
Measuring patient satisfaction requires measuring high team performance through a feedback mechanism. Patient satisfaction should be a goal of healthcare culture because it assures quality services that contribute to revenue streams. One of the ways to improve patient satisfaction is by encouraging cultural humility. Cultural humility follows the lines of interpersonal sensitivity, self-understanding, and noticing ones implicit biases (Stubbe, 2020). Measurements for patient satisfaction might include checking whether they felt understood and whether personal preferences and beliefs were considered. The results could be gained through feedback obtained by, say, a questionnaire. Understanding patient satisfaction complements the need for employee retention.
Measuring high-performance team success could lead to employee retention, allowing the healthcare organization to maintain talent and even maintain it over time. The ability of an organization to keep employees acts as a potential metric that gives evidence of high-performance success. Employees can stay within their work roles long if they feel appreciated on compensation and work role levels. Retaining employees ensures that work teams interact well, thus reducing the chances of inefficient work deliveries that come with new teams. Employee retention should be central in every healthcare organization, especially because new workers need some training that cuts on productive time. Retaining employees is advantageous, and it encourages satisfaction.
Besides patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction is a measurement for high-performance team success when it gauges their happiness with the job and how it contributes to their life. Long work hours can negatively influence personal health and reduce employee satisfaction. Take the case when full-time workers in the US spend 61% or 14.6 hours of their time on personal care, less than the Devannys (2021) average of 15 hours. Such instances implied that employees in the US have adequate hours in their day to spend on personal matters. The pandemic led healthcare workers to spend even more time at work due to staff shortages. Such developments could reduce employee satisfaction, leading to high employee turnover. The presence of employee satisfaction marks high-performance team success that should be followed with appropriate labor relations.
An efficient healthcare culture should embrace labour relations concerns and handle these well to ensure team success. The US Department of Labour (DOL) enforces the Labour-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) which stipulates a bill of rights for union members and introduces standards for fair elections of union leaders. Measuring high-performance team success can happen by looking into labour relations and how well employees are engrossed. Healthcare workers who are connected with labour relations feel understood within their work roles. The healthcare organization and per labour standards should address any concerns raised. Addressing labour concerns positively contributes to team functions with no negative distress.
Teams can function without negative distress in environments of cultural competency and improve accountability, thereby reducing errors. Healthcare organizations work with teams to ensure the wellbeing of patients. Take the case when a patient requires a physician, physiotherapist, psychological therapist, social worker, and accountant to manage their hospital bills. The different parties must interact well for seamless service deliveries. Teams can function without negative distress when cultural competency encourages understanding one other and the patients cultural perspectives (Stubbe, 2020). A group that operates from a standard point of cultural competency will understand the patients perspective. The impact is enhanced accountability that even reduces errors, promoting high-performance team success.
References
Alsaqqa, H. H., & Akyurek, C. E. (2019). Organizational culture in health care organizations: A systematic review. Journal of Ankara Health Sciences, 1(23): 83-109.
Callus, E., Bassola, B., Fiolo, V., Bertoldo, E. G., Pagliuca, S., & Lusignani, M. (2020). Stress reduction techniques for health care providers dealing with severe coronavirus infections (SARS, MERS, and COVID-19): A rapid review. Frontiers in Psychology, 18(1): 5051.
Hovland, R. T., & Moltu, C. (2019). Making way for a clinical feedback system in the narrow space between sessions: Navigating competing demands in complex healthcare settings. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 13(68).
Stubbe, D. E. (2020). Practicing cultural competence and cultural humility in the care of diverse patients. The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry, 18(1): 4951.
Devanny, J. (2021). Madman Theoryor Persistent Engagement? The Coherence of US Cyber Strategy under Trump. Journal of Applied Security Research, 1-28.
Ross, S. N. (2021). Neither a New Cold War nor a New Peloponnesian War: The emerging cyber-narrative competition at the heart of Sino-American Relations. Web.
A hometown deli is a small business that operates by offering its client fast moving foods. These foods include sandwiches and various gourmet foods. Most successful hometown deli offers delivery services to their customers to enhance their sales and this act as a competitive advantage over their business rivals. Most hometown deli are nowadays opting to adapt e business to enable them compete well in this very competitive business arena (Chapman, 2001).
E business entails the use of internet and electronic payment to conduct business. There are various e business models that are adapted by various businesses, while going online. Generally, a business model is considered as the strategy that a business adapts to realize its goals. It relates to the association of services, products, information flow, source of money and benefits realized by both the customers and the suppliers. Some of these models include B2B, B2Cand C2C.
The e shop is the best e business model that is best suited for a hometown deli. Online shopping entails buying services and products directly from the seller in real time, over the internet. This can take various forms such as B2C or B2B. The former involves a consumer buying for consumption, while the latter is where a business buys from another one for sale. A hometown deli should take both the form of B2C and B2B processes. B2C When a consumer buys a sandwich or a meat pie directly from the retailer over the internet and B2B when the deli buys some foods from other outlets. The hometown deli will not make use of the C2C model which is the model that involves situations where people are gathered to sell or buy a good example is in an EBay.
When a customer buys services or products over the internet, there are various methods that the seller may adapt for the delivery of the products or services purchased. These methods includes downloading, shipment or drop shipping. Downloading is best suited for software. The best method that should be adapted by a home own deli is drop shipping. This method involves the use of a third party to deliver the product to the physical destination of the customer. This helps greatly to save time, money and space. Therefore, a hometown deli can consider putting in place its own delivery service or contract one to enhance its services to have a bigger market share.
An e business can enhance the performance of a hometown deli greatly. This is because, online selling will enable a hometown deli to install a website which it will enable it market its products better. The enterprise should ensure that the website provides a list of all the products and services they offer to their clients. In addition, the website should contain pictorial representations of their foods with detailed descriptions of their ingredients. They should also verify on how they deliver their foods to their clients. A hometown deli can use a number of strategies as their payment mode. It can use either electronic payment such as PayPal or cash on deliver depending on the mode of payment that is best suited for their customers and their business. The use of a motor bike can act as a very convenient mode of transport, while delivering their foods to their clients in the town. The hometown deli should also keep their customers updated for new menus through their emails or text messages. The website should be enabled with a live chat that will allow the customers to make their inquiries, order and verify their deliveries to enhance communication. Thus, an e business is a very good business in terms of convenience, money and time economic (Baltzan & Phillips, 2008).
Similarly, e business is very important in B2B business. This is because it makes business easier for those businesses that buy from others for sale. For instance, a hometown deli may not be in a position to cook all its foods. In such a case, they can opt to supplement their produce from other outlets to maximize on their sales. E business will therefore facilitate such buying, as the deli can make its inquiry and order from its various suppliers more easily online (Ecommerce Business Models for E Business, 2008).
The use of electronic payment such as PayPal will ease the buying transactions. This is because the parties involved will not have to visit their banks to collect their money in case of cash sales or cheque, while paying their bills, but instead they will make direct transactions from their accounts. This saves time greatly and also eliminates the risky involved with handling a lot of money in cash. The safety of electronic payment is ensured where the organization has secured its website accordingly to safe guard it from hackers. Thus, a hometown deli should make sure that their website is well secure to avoid being exposed from hackers who can easily master their electronic codes and make illegal purchases (Electronic money, 2011).
The existence of a website that is common in e banking will assist the management to advertise for new vacancies. This will save the human resource management a lot of struggle in their recruitments exercises. The management can still use the same facility to train new recruits and update the staff on new happenings.
A good market research is very important for any organization that is not doomed to fail. It is through this method that a company can be able to assess the perception of its customers regarding their services or products. Some companies do their own market research, while others contract another experienced firm to conduct it. Therefore, a hometown deli should have a profile where its customers can leave their comments after buying their products. Thus, it can use these data to respond to the demands and preferences of their customers to ensure that their tastes are always addressed. This can be very important as it can save the company a lot of resources (money and time) that are associated with conducting a market research. The existence of such a profile can be very instrumental in informing the hometown deli of a new substitute product from another company so that they can respond appropriately (Lyer, 2010).
A portal is an employee self service profile that enables an employee access certain human resource files like personal records. Thus, an employee can be able to easily update his/her personal records such as personal address contact and CV. Some portals also enable employees to apply for their leaves directly to their human resource management. Other portals are designed so that to allow employees to view their past payroll records and also update their bank details. This feature is very important as it enhances communication between the management and the other workforce. The feature also enables employees to access various educational materials that make it possible for them to upgrade their skills accordingly. The feature also helps the employees to do away with the long request processes and adapt a self service portal that allow them to submit their request at their own convenient time. This leads to a highly motivated and more productive work force and especially in a hometown deli (Valadez ,2008).
The hometown deli should comprise of a number of kiosks located at very strategic locations within the town. This will help the business to capture a bigger market share. It will also be convenient for the customers when visiting them so that they do not have to walk long distances. Apart from the kiosk, the hometown deli will make use of its website to market its products beyond its boundaries to increase its sales. This will be realized by the management providing delivery services to its customers who makes online orders, but cannot be able to access their kiosk due to various hindrances. Through this method the business is more likely to perform very well.
You login to the Deli website and find the following anonymous posting:
I do not recommend visiting the deli on Thursdays at 2:00 p.m. because the Childrens Story Hour is taking place. I hate children, especially in a deli. Im not sure why the deli encourages people to bring their children. In fact, I recommend that children should be banned from the deli altogether.
The management should respond to such a complaint with a lot of diplomacy and wisdom. They should apologize for such an occurrence and promise the complaint that they will devise a strategy that will encourage various groups to visit their website at specific days and times so that to avoid such conflicts.
In deli websites, it is not unusual to come across such a complaint. To avoid disappointing such clients, the management of deli should identify all the categories of various groups of people that do visit their website and when. After determining it, they should custom their website to enable a certain group of people with common interest visit their website on certain days and times depending on their preferences. For instances, they should custom their website with menus that are favorable to children on weekends because it is only on such days that most children are more likely to visit their deli since they are not in schools. In a day like Thursday and especially at 2.00.p.m they should not encourage children to visit their websites since they are not likely to make considerable purchases, since most of kids are in schools. This will help to avoid conflicts of interest as it will enable a specific group of people with common interest visit their websites at specifics days and time. This is the best strategy that can facilitate an open line of communication in a hometown deli.
Reference List
Baltzan, P., & Phillips, A. (2008).Essentials of Business Driven Information Systems. New York: Prentice Hall.
In todays global market, the opinion that general managers should know numerous important details concerning creating a sustainable superior performance in emergent economies appears to be more and more important. The following paper explores various ways and strategies allowing general managers to create a better economic situation and to achieve better results in emergent economies. Generally, the main finding of recent research is in the importance of applying a new strategy in the functioning of emergent economies including internationalization of local enterprises, foreign investment, economic liberalization, the transfer of progressive technologies, and strategic orientation.
First of all, speaking about the information which is to be known and implicated by general managers in emergent economies, the issue of local enterprises internationalization should be considered. According to Kumar, the recent corporate evolution of emerging economies has been characterized by increased internationalization of firms in the form of outward foreign direct investment (2007, p. 15). The quest for global internationalization taking place in emergent economies nowadays is ever more increasing. Thus, the managers are to acquire deep knowledge in this area to become successful participators in this phenomenon making their contribution to it.
Next, general managers should know and understand how foreign investment can be attracted to any particular country with an emergent economy, and how it can be used in the best way possible. Aulakh (2007) argues that foreign investment is by far the most important source for developing emergent economies as local financial assets are scarce and mainly directed to social needs, but not on the development of an economy. Thus, the author offers to develop the most diversified strategies aimed to attract foreign investment to emergent economies (Aulakh 2007). In addition, according to IMF (2010), in the past fifteen years, FDI has been the dominant form of capital flow in the global economy, even for developing countries . However, there also exist several specialists denying the use of foreign financial investment as harming emergent economies, making them dependent and causing an economical crisis within them. With regards to this, general managers should develop their understanding of this matter, and apply it during their interaction with foreign investment. Still, according to Dunning (1993, 87), the experience of the South East Asian economies with FDI tells us that it can be extremely useful for emerging economies if it is used strategically .
Further, the important maxim that general managers are to know well and to expand their knowledge is using economic liberalization as it is the primary engine of growth (Luo 2001). According to Nunnenkamp (2001, p.1047), economic liberalization became the power that enabled launching proactive programs to improve the environmental and social performance of products, processes, services, and facilities produced in the countries with the emerging economy.
In addition, creating a sustainable superior performance in emergent economies is closely connected to the transfer of progressive technologies from the countries with advanced economies and, thus, pursues progress towards convergence between developed economies and the developing ones in terms of economical development and the improvements of the standards of living (Lipsey 2000). The application of such technologies along with the participation of foreign investment in the development of the emergent economy is crucial for the success in the countries of the third world. This tendency can be well explored in the example of China with its ever more growing economy achieving unbelievable results during the last decades (Nunnenkamp 2002). What is also important with regards to the implementation of foreign technologies within emergent economies, is the fact that they contribute to the lessening of the amounts of needed foreign investment capital. This, in turn, is also crucial for such economies as they do not have to be overweighed with the constant payment of ever-growing percents on credit provision (IMF 2010).
Finally, according to Aulakh (2007, p. 287), strategic orientation helps build dynamic capability and its contingencies in emerging economy . Thus, general managers are to acquire a vast piece of knowledge on strategic orientation maxims and to learn how to apply them in practice at every stage of the economical process. In addition, surveys of numerous firms indicate that strategic orientations are important drivers of adaptive capability and are key elements of dynamic capabilities (Kumar 2007, p. 89).
In conclusion, the examining of a variety of sources on the facts that general managers should know about creating a sustainable superior performance in emergent economies shows the following picture: the most important factors for emergent economies are enterprises internationalization, foreign investment, economic liberalization, the transfer of progressive technologies, and strategic orientation. The knowledge of the above-mentioned factors would undoubtedly help general managers in their orienting in the situation of emergent economies. Among these factors, foreign investment is by far the most important source for developing emergent economies as local financial assets are scarce and mainly directed to social needs, but not on the development of the economy. With regards to this fact, general managers need to develop their knowledge on foreign investment attraction and proper operation.
References
Aulakh, P, 2007, Special issue on emerging market multinationals from developing economies: motivations, paths and performance , Journal of International Management, 13(3): 235-402.
Dunning, J, 1993, Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. Wokingham, The United Kingdom.
IMF, 2010, International Financial Statistics Yearbook. Washington, D.C.
Kumar, N, 2007, Emerging TNCs: trends, patterns and determinants of outward FDI by Indian enterprises. Transnational Corporations, 16(1): 1-26.
Lipsey, R, 2000, Inward FDI and Economic Growth in Developing Countries , Transnational Corporations 9 (1): 6795.
Luo, Y, 2001, Determinants of entry in an emerging economy: a multilevel approach , Journal of Management Studies, 38: 443-472.
Nunnenkamp, P, 2002, FDI and Economic Growth in developing Countries , Journal of World Investment, vol 3: 657677.
Nunnenkamp, P, 2001, European FDI Strategies in Mercosur Countries . Institute of World Economics, Kiel Working Papers 1047, Kiel.
Large organizations are difficult to manage as one segment. According to Siegel and Shim (2006), to enhance performance accountability, an organization should have separate segments, each segment with its own resources (p.166). The segments are common known as responsibility centers and they should be responsible for their performance. The responsibility centers fall into four main categories viz. cost, revenue, investment, and profit centers (Warren, Duchac, & Reeve, 2010, p.1010). Each responsibility center should have a manager who controls the activities of the center and is accountable for its performance. Cost centers do not generate revenue but incur cost when carrying out its operations, investment centers generate revenue and incur cost revenue centers generate revenue but do not incur the cost, while profitability centers are in charge of managing the other centers (Needles, Powers, & Crosson, 2007, p. 353).
ABC, a multinational corporation, manufactures and sells computer hardware worldwide. The company has three divisions and each division has its own production unit but the functional units are in the companys headquarters. Each of the division reports directly to the main company, but production operations are independent. The division managers have to deliver monthly reports to the headquarters showing their budget estimates, actual performance, and variance on production cost.
Top management of ABC uses responsibility management as a tool to evaluate the divisions production ability to minimize cost of production, but still produce quality computer hardware. Reports from the divisions reflect the direct material costs, direct labor costs, and manufacturing overheads. In addition, the reports indicate the budget estimates, actual cost incurred, and variance.
ABC has given the three departments the autonomy to adopt strategies that allow them to reduce cost during production of the computer hardware. All the divisions have access to equal resources, which are outsourced by the headquarters. All the divisions produce the same number of computer hardware per month and this enhances performance comparability between the divisions. If a divisions performance has been consistent, top management offers all employees of the division end of year bonuses.
For the month, of December 2010, division:
showed favorable variance of two thousand dollars; division
showed an unfavorable variance of five hundred dollars, while division
showed a favorable variance of one thousand five hundred dollars.
Responsibility accounting has advantages to both top-level management and responsibility centers. In a large organization, top managements ability to delegate some responsibilities to lower levels leaves them with ample time to do other pertinent activities such as planning (Hall, 2008, p.424). Moreover, the responsibility centers are able to set targets, which offer guidance and act as a motivating factor.
In ABC, Division A and C had favorable cost variances, hence are able to cut on production cost considerably. However, division B exceeded its budget estimates by five hundred dollars. Top management held a meeting with the managers of division C to evaluate which activities were driving the divisions, costs, and strategies to achieve cost reduction in the division.
In conclusion, responsibility accounting is a tool through which large organization can enhance accountability in its divisions or departments. Accountability management devolves power to cost centers, which are responsible for performance. The strategy helps top management to concentrate on vital functions such as planning on top of motivating the responsibility centers towards meeting the set objectives.
References
Hall, J. A. (2008). Accounting Information Systems. USA: Cengage Learning.
Needles, B. E., Powers, M., & Crosson, S. (2007). Managerial Accounting. USA: Cengage learning.
Siegel, J. G., & Shim, J. K. (2006). Accounting handbook. USA: Baron Educational Series, Inc.
Warren, C. S., Reeve, J.M. & Duchac, J. (2010). Accounting. USA: Cengage Learning
Performance evaluation is a critical activity when evaluating the accomplishment of a workers duties. His contribution to the companys productivity is determined by the rating made by managers monthly, quarterly, or annually. Highly rated employees have a strong emotional commitment, leadership skills, strong ties with the staff, and flexibility. Employers use peer review, self-assessment, quantitative evaluation, graphic ranking, and other techniques to encourage workers to improve their performance.
Employee Performance Evaluation
Industrial Organizational Psychologists believe that assessment provided by the supervisor is the most efficient compared to other subjective and objective methods (Adler et al., 2016). The reason is that supervisors usually possess special training, which allows them to rate employers professionally. Usually, companies comprehend subjective methods from peers or 360 degree feedback from customers and subordinates (Shaout & Yousif, 2014). It helps employees figure out how others perceive their work by giving their thoughts about professional skills, teamwork, and motivation. Workers improve their productivity because they get a chance to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Thus, they learn to make new decisions justified by others evaluations based on reduced bias and leniency.
Although many experts find performance evaluation bureaucratic and disappointing for employees, they cannot eliminate it. In practice, employee evaluation is an effective strategy to engage both manager and worker in dialogue by providing structured feedback. The only problem that managers should resolve is the interpretation of this valuation. If an employee receives poorly communicated destructive feedback, he loses all motivation. In personal experience, this took place once, leading to eventual dismissal, due to the lack of opportunity to regain motivation. Conversely, effective feedback urges employee to improve his performance, resulting in pay increases and promotions. Such feedback could have been vital in personal experience, preventing the dismissal, definitely being worth the time and effort. Therefore, many evaluation methods bring benefits to the workers if appropriately applied.
Conclusion
To conclude, companies define employee performance differently: by job behaviors, managers and colleagues judgments. The adopted type of assessment depends on the type and size of a business. Most companies tend to evaluate their workers from different perspectives, considering quantitative and qualitative methods. Despite what kind of assessment they specifically chose, the most important is that it should be transparent, flexible, and structured evaluations stimulating workers efficiency, concentration, and ambitions.
Shaout, A., Yousif, M. (2014). Performance evaluation methods and techniques survey. International Journal of Computer and Information Technology, 3(5), 966-978.
UAEs property sector has been recording tremendous growth over the years. The growth is attributable to high demand for residential and commercial housing units. The demand is based on the growing population who need buildings for shelter and execution of commercial activities. Clearly, the demand ratio for residential and commercial housing units remains proportional in most towns in UAE. This shows that demand for both commercial and residential property is increasing at an alarming rate. According to most empirical studies, UAE has never recorded immense growth in construction sector as evident in this century.
The growth and high demand for housing units have made competition to become stiff in the sector since every industry player wants to capture the market share and earn more returns. The stiff competition is greatly affecting pioneering corporations such as Emaar Properties. This requires companies that operate in the sector to develop viable strategies to counter competition and ensure that they remain in operation. This paper gives a comprehensive study of the UAE property sector where Emaar is the company adopted as a comparative institution under study. The paper focuses on its key competitors where Deyaar, Adyner and Nakheel PSSC have been selected to aid the study. It also covers background information on the Emaar Company and how competition is treated as a performance strategy.
Emaar Company
Emaar Properties is a renowned construction company that is based in the UAE. The company operates in the building and construction industry where it focuses its potential on building commercial and residential houses. Since its inception in the year 1997, the company has grown from an in-house service provider to a leading construction corporation. Its performance has also been positive over the years. This is apparent in its annual reports that show growth in profitability every year. Its profitability index currently stands at $ 493 million. Similarly, the companys strong asset base gives a clear picture of how well it has grown. The exemplary performance that it has always recorded is attributable to its effective operating strategies and development of quality housing units. Its units are attractive since they are spacious, built with quality fittings and furnishings. These potentials give it a leverage advantage in the industry as compared to its competitors.
High-quality housing units that the corporation builds have enabled it to be the most competitive company in the industry. The company now boasts of having over 14,000 housing units in UAE as compared to its competitors. Its growth has sparked immense hostility between the industry players. The hostility has made housing providers to be great rivals as they compete to capture the market. Every company wants to gain competitiveness and to benefit from the competitive advantage. They are also keen in enhancing their growth and expansion that is necessary for sustainability. Although the Emaar Company is well established in the market, competition from its rivals may affect its growth, because all the companies including potential new entrants are competing for the same customers. This will require the companies to build on their strengths to enable them provide quality-housing units that suit the needs of customers.
Discussion of the Companys Competitors (Deyaar, Adyner, Nakheel PSSC) and Competitors Performance
Evidently, Emaar Properties has strong competitors in the construction industry that include Deyaar, Adyner, and Nakheel PSSC. In particular, Deyaar remains the companys main competitor in the industry. The company that is known as a leading local and regional real estate developer, has developed viable modalities to ensure that it gains competitive advantage. The real estate developing company is working on a mission of countering growth strategies of Emaar. The modalities are to enable it to close in on the companys performance. Major performance strategies that the Deyaar Company is employing include constructing quality houses and hiring of qualified constructors. Others include acquisition of necessary equipment and developing attractive housing designs that match real estate standards. In particular, the company seeks to ensure that quality is not compromised. It operates with an aim of providing safety structural set ups whose durability is not under question.
For example, it is using quality-building materials to facilitate its local and international real estate construction activities. The materials that include strong building stones, sand, metal bars, cement among others contributes to their exclusivity. Variably, the company is determined to revolutionize operations in the construction sector by adopting conventional construction techniques. This is evident since it constructs housing units with quality fittings that match real estate standards. The houses are well partitioned, painted, and furnished. The houses also have serene areas and lounges for resting, spacious balcony, and groomed rooms from living to bedrooms. It seeks to advance fitting systems to outdoor Emaar that has not adopted some of the conventional techniques. The strategy is to enable it to attract more customers and build market share. The business also seeks to use the strategy to counter the influence of other industry players.
The corporation also constructs houses that are meant to serve both low and high-income earners. This strategy is to enable it to cover a wider range of customers and in turn gain competitiveness. Variably, the company has quality construction equipment such as tractors that facilitate its operations. Variably, Nakheel PSSC remains a serious competitor to Emaar and other companies. The company has over 7000 housing units that it has constructed in a spurn of 9 years. It has a strong capital base and personnel capacity that enables it to grow faster. Its current performance level stands at $326m that shows how well it is coming up. Over the years, the company has been a serious challenger to Emaar enterprise. It has been constructing quality residential and commercial houses just as Emaar Company. Both locals and the rich in the society target the houses under its management for use. This wide target customer range makes it more competitive and a threat to other players in the industry.
Evidently, the stiff competition that is present in the sector has enhanced performance in the construction industry. Firstly, the competition has been favourable to customers or tenants who hire houses in the region for both commercial and residential purposes. The competition has resulted in the availability of many houses in the region that has in turn led to the reduction of cost of acquisition. Therefore, tenants are finding it easy to cope with the rent levies especially when the players are many as compared to singular players. Secondly, the stiff competition has resulted in construction of quality housing units that are safe for use by the tenants. The houses are built using quality materials and adherence to set procedures that foster their sustainability. Thirdly, competition is making the industry to become vibrant in terms of performance.
Emaars Performance Level in the Next 20 Years Using Strategic Thinking
As noted, Emaar Properties has made a milestone in the construction industry that its competitors may not match easily. The company has cut itself a niche based on its quality strategies that will still guarantee its exemplary performance even in the years to come. Strategically, the company has positioned itself to counter any form of competition from its rivals. Firstly, it rolled out superior marketing campaign to create awareness of its products and to attract more buyers. It has also launched effective promotional activities that are carried out through personal selling, media advertisements and use of flyers. Similarly, the company has made contingency measures to enable it to operate under noble principles.
It seeks to continue executing its operations through adoption of best construction practices. That is its buildings are to be constructed using quality materials, they are to be furnished with modern fittings and they are to be well-ventilated. To maintain its market capitalization, the company seeks to continue constructing unique and masterpiece buildings that hold luxurious and safety features such as bulletproof, noise, and waterproof walls. The buildings are also to be built using designs that promote land conservation and eliminate misuse. Indeed, the strengths of the company that have made it remain competitive over the years will make it thrive in the years to come. Its projected financial performance also reports a 30% growth in profitability in the years to come from the current figure that stands at $943 million. These aspects show that the company is bound to continue recording good performance despite the existence of the strong rivals in the industry.
Bibliography
Dubsky, Alexandra. Emaar Takes on the Global Challenge. Middle East no. 367 (2006): 34-35.
El-Bannany, Magdi. Global Financial Crisis and the Intellectual Capital Performance of UAE Banks. Journal of HRCA: Human Resource Costing & Accounting 16, no. 1 (2012): 20-36.
Jeffreys, Andrew. The report Sharjah 2008. London: Oxford Business Group, 2008, 96.
Leahy, Joe. Reits Plan for Emaar Growth. Financial Times no. 396 (2012): 2-69
Mark, Kent. Adyner growth prospects in UAE property sector . Business Wire no. 2 (2011): 23-69.
Silfuna, Triza. Growth in the property industry . Middle East Business News, Gulf Financial and Industry no. 2 (2012): 2-258.
Yahoo, Inc. is a multinational company that operates in the internet industry. It is a publicly held company that was established in 1994. The headquarters of the company is based in California, USA. The company offer products and services that comprise of communication, search, and content tools.
The products and services are offered in a variety of languages. A significant amount of revenue for the company is generated from advertising. The company also generates revenue from other sources such as royalties among others. The paper seeks to analyze the performance of the company for the between 2010 and 2012.
Analysis of Trend
Income Statement
Analysis the trend of various values and ratios of a company gives information on whether the performance of a company is improving or deteriorating. Analysis of income statement of the company shows that the revenue declined from $6,325 million in 2010 to $4,984 million in 2011.
The value slightly improved in 2012 to $4,987 million. This shows a decline in the amount of revenue earned by the company over the period. The cost of revenue also declined from $2,628 million in 2010 to $1,503 million in 2011. In 2012, the cost of sales increased to $1,621 million.
These changes resulted in a decline of gross profit over the three-year period. The value declined from $3,697 million in 2010 to $3,482 million in 2011. The value further declined to $3,366 million in 2012. The operating expenses changed in the same trend as cost of revenue.
The value declined from $2,925 million in 2010 to $2,681 million in 2011. In 2012, the operating expenses increased to $2,800 million. The resulting operating income increased from $773 million in 2010 to $800 million in 2011. However, in 2012 the operating income declined to $566 million.
Analysis of income statement reveals that the company made a number of sales of its investments. For instance, in 2010, the company sold Zimbra, Inc. and HotJob. In 2012, the company sold Alibaba Group Shares at $4,603 million.
These sales boosted the value of net income. Net income declined from $1,232 million in 2010 to $1,049 million in 2011. The value increased to 3,945 million in 2012. The graph presented below shows the trend of the values.
Balance Sheet
The total current assets declined from $4,346 million in 2010 to $3,453 million in 2011. In 2012, the value increased to $5,653.The increase was attributed to the increase in the amount of total cash. Despite the sale of total investment, the value of non-current assets declined increased from $10,584 in 2010 to $11,330 in 2011.
The value further increased to $11,451 in 2012. The value of current liabilities, total liabilities, and shareholders equity declined between 2010 and 2011. The values increased in 2012.
Finally, the value of total assets (total liabilities and stakeholders equity) declined from $14,928 million in 2010 to 14,783 million in 2011. In 2012, the value increased to $17,103 million. The graph presented below shows the trend of the values.
Profitability ratios
The profitability ratios are presented in Table 1. Gross profit margin and net margin show that the profitability of the company improved over the period.
Table 1
Profitability
2010
2011
2012
Gross profit margin %
58.46
69.85
67.5
Net Margin %
19.47
21.04
79.12
Return on Assets %
8.25
7.06
24.75
Return on Equity %
9.83
8.36
29.12
Asset Turnover
0.42
0.34
0.31
However, return on assets and return on equity indicate that profitability declined in 2011 and improved in 2013. Finally, asset turnover indicates that the company reported a decline in efficiency over the period.
Conclusion
During the dot-com bubble, a number of companies reported a significant increase in the value of the company. However, after the bubble burst, the companies reported a significant decline in performance and some companies did not survive the burst.
The results above indicate the bubble burst affected the operational performance and efficiency of Yahoo, Inc. However, the company used a number of turnaround strategies such as sale of investments. These strategies resulted in the success of the company after the dot-com bubble burst.
Auroras Grid was established in October 2016 and has gained business-driving relationships and clients in Western Switzerland relatively quickly. An opportunity that makes the business proud as its abilities are increasingly valued and acknowledged, even outside of Switzerland. The business is currently self-financing and has begun to generate cash flow. However, the CEO and founder believe that if the startup has to move more quickly, it will not hesitate to invite angel investors in for a two-digit Series A round. In 2021-2023, Auroras Grid intends to expand its staff and have a significant impact in both Europe and the USA. The software created by Auroras Grid aims for the best lithium-ion battery management. The startup increases the accuracy of the dimensioning and guarantees, among other benefits, an increase in battery life by incorporating electrochemical aging models. The 40% longer lifespan that the company guarantees to customers who use its software and a Li-ion battery. Customers might be either individuals or companies.
The system permits the storage of energy generated by renewable sources and empties the battery quietly when there are not any available. Assigning a Li-ion battery to many simultaneous uses, such as self-consumption, charging an electric vehicle, or even selling energy to the Grid, is another option provided by the software. Thus, the management system lowers the costs of the initial investment. As a type of assurance of origin, it also makes it possible to check at any time the composition of the energy that is stored and subsequently reinjected. Although Auroras Grid is now concentrated on large batteries (residential, industrial, and electric cars), nothing prohibits the algorithm from being used with phones and laptops in the future.
The startup primarily targets companies that create batteries for electric vehicles and houses. In actuality, as the profitability of energy resale to energy suppliers declines, the home battery industry is growing. The use of batteries to store and use the electricity generated by solar panels at home is now prevalent, as opposed to selling it. The algorithm created by Auroras Grid uses a patented machine-learning technique to understand the users behaviors. The program reduces power and lengthens charging time if load consumption typically lasts a lengthy time. Industrial partners can use Auroras Grid software to provide longevity to their batteries by integrating it into their devices. Although their performance has increased, their cost has not. As a result, the software may be a key selling feature for producers.
In cooperation with PSA Groupe, Auroras Grid is the principal partner of a Swiss project that intends to give discarded electric car batteries a second chance at life. In order to extend battery life and provide auxiliary services, the software could be incorporated into the charging stations. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and its initial local clients helped the startup avoid the need for outside funding. The program is being industrialized, and the initial investigations on its effectiveness have produced some extremely encouraging findings. Auroras focus on the Grid market segment has altered in the past nine months.
The company is now concentrating on the integration of second-life battery storage as well as the so-called building-as-a-grid, or building supplied with solar panels and EV fast charging stations. These days, Auroras Grid uses an industrial controller that incorporates the startups algorithm. Speaking about product development, the business wants to improve its organizational setup so it can scale and increase the number of licenses it can obtain annually. Cloud connection was one of the primary advancements made during the 2020 pandemic. Today, the corporation can commission its system from its headquarters, greatly lowering costs and raising benefits. Thus, it should be noted that the company is currently at an active stage of its development. The proposed technology has significant positive aspects, which, with a proper approach, will be able to generate positive demand from investors and large companies.
In addition, it should be understood that such a technology is relevant with respect to modern technologies and the active use of batteries. Therefore, considering that the company managed to conclude a deal for only $3.07 million and has two investors, it is necessary to point out that the startup is at the stage of its inception. However, it is worth noting that with substantial support from the Swiss government, the startup has the opportunity to conduct additional research that will help establish itself in the future when entering larger market players. Summing up, it should be noted that all economic factors indicate a great potential for the growth and development of the company. In addition to this, the important point is that the company was established not so long ago, which may indicate the unwillingness to accept serious and large transactions. However, such a market offer is unique, so it is expected that maintaining the pace of development and the introduction of more advanced technologies like phones, electric cars, and others will significantly accelerate the growth rate of the financial indicators of the prospector.
Gurbuz (2009, p. 1), says that human resource practices have experienced significant changes in the last thirty years that have transformed the practice to a new level. The forces of globalization, privatization, competition and technology changes have forced firms to adopt new approaches in their workplaces to maintain high performance and productivity of the employees.
These practices are also referred to as strategic human resource priorities, and high performance work systems in human resource studies. Additionally, they may also be referred to as high commitment management systems.
According to Appelbaum et al. (2000), these systems consist of flat hierarchical structures that emphasizes on job rotation, self administered teams, increased roles for employees in decision making, communication channels horizontal in nature and pays systems that are based on skills (p.23).
Kirkman & Rosen (1999, p. 44) defines high performance work systems as a collective human resource practices and that aid employees to optimally use their skills and knowledge towards the achievement of organizational goals.
Besides the adoption of high performance work systems, organizations are increasingly implementing job enrichment and empowerment programs that are geared towards helping them survive the competitive environment in the 21st century. According to Kirkman & Rosen (1999, p. 58), over 70% of organizations nowadays have adopted some form of empowerment for all or at least part of the workforce.
Kirkman & Rosen (1999, p. 58) add that knowledge, new ideas, and creativity of each employee is critical in the success of organizations in todays business environment. Empowerment according to Lawler, et al (1995), helps employees to acquire initiative to serve the interest of the company without necessarily being micromanaged (p. 46).
They in other words act like owners of the business because they feel their interest have been taken care of. Wall, et al (2002) adds that empowerment in many organizations has been implemented in two levels (p.65). There has been social structural empowerment that concentrates on improving work place conditions and psychological empowerment that concentrates on empowerment at work.
The benefits that these changes have brought to the organizations cannot be overestimated. According to Freeman & Kleiner (2000), the changes encompassed by implementation of high performance work places and work enrichment as well as employ empowerment has led to higher flexibility, higher productivity, and higher performance among employee (p. 78).
Additionally, they have led to the involvement of employees in decision-making and reduced the management burden previously placed on high-ranking managers. Freeman & Kleiner (2000, p. 80), adds that these practices have a direct impact on the employee turnover, revenues make by these firms and the market value of the firms involved.
Furthermore, some HR experts argue that the benefits that high performance work systems and empowerment are not only limited to the employers but also the workers chiefly through job satisfaction. Not many researches have been carried out to determine the effect of introducing high performance work systems and employee empowerment.
Some researchers argue that job enrichment, high performance work systems and empowerment are a radical transformation in management-employee relations. Others argue that these approaches are cosmetic, having no effect on the power and reward inequalities in contemporary organizations.
However, the few that have been carried out seem to suggest the merits easily outweigh the demerits. The necessity therefore to explore the potential impacts of HPWS and empowerment among organizations forms the basic drive to carry out a literature review to ascertain if the extent to which the asserting by the researchers is true.
Use of terms
In this paper, the term High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) will be used to mean all the elements that are being discussed include employee empowerment and work or job enrichment. The initials and the full definition will be used interchangeably as applicable. Their meaning in this context will be similar.
Literature Review
This literature review will focus on the performance of the areas that HPWS are thought to exert the greatest influence; job satisfaction hence improved performance and employee turnover, productivity, customer and employee satisfaction and company revenue growth.
Due to the costs associated with implementation of HPWSs many organizations, have yet to fully implement them or have shied away altogether. However for those that have implemented the systems successfully, the benefits are visible in various levels operation of the organization.
General benefits
According to Lloyd (2000), there is enough research that supports the claim that HPWS systems have numerous benefits to organizations (p. 54). Lloyd says that the benefits include retention of employees, high job performance, improved work quality, loyalty and willingness to undertake high quantities of work.
Given that, the above variables were measure in this research and the data that was used was collected from real participants who were working in the systems, it gives impetus to the claim that HPWS really works.
One of the best examples of increased productivity according to Martha & Mark (1996) is Ames Rubber Corporation that is based in New Jersey. The company experienced a 48% jump in productivity and five years characterized by revenue growth after the implementation of HPWS.
According to Appelbaum et al. (2000), positive worker outcomes in the work place thanks to HPWS have helped boost innovation which effectively has been beneficial to labour and management in numerous organizations (p. 123).
Reduced stress among employees, reduced organizational costs and increased job satisfaction were some of the outcomes various researchers have identified are as a result of implementation of HPWS.
For instance, Connor Manufacturing Services in San Francisco reported that after implementation of the high performance work system, employee morale rose by 60% which in turn helped the company to grow by 21%. At the same time new sales orders rose by 34% while operation profits of the company grew by over 21% (Martha & Mark, 1996, p.30).
According experts the above results can only be expected from a well functioning HPWS system. It therefore serves to highlight the changes the system can bring to an organization.
Its proven that HPWS systems that include employee empowerment and job enrichment elicit discretionary efforts from workers (Appelbaum et al. 2000, p 229). There is increased participation of every employee in a high performance work system that effectively ensures problems are solved quickly through workers latent knowledge that reduces wastage.
Additionally, the increased participation helps in balancing the workload and the regulation of the production process of the organization.
The point stressed by these researchers is that in high work performance systems, workers work smarter compared to work environments that still operate within the traditional work place setting. Additionally there is a better feedback system in high performance work systems that help minimize wastage while increasing productivity (Mohrman et al, 1992).
Freeman & Kleiner (2000) say that managers and workers have positively reacted to improved employee wellbeing. This is compared to employee involvement that had little effect on the productivity (p. 43). The flexibility that high performance work environments accorded employees helped employees come up with their own styles of working that tremendously led to a significant change of attitude (Gollan & Davis, 1999, p. 50).
In Tennessee for instance, the Eastman Division of the Eastman Chemical Company had its productivity increase by 0ver 70% when HPWS were implemented. Furthermore, it was ranked by over 75% of its customers as the chemical company of choice due to increased customer satisfaction (Martha & Mark, 1996, p. 28). HR experts agree that change of attitude is key to increased performance in any organization.
Rodgers & Ferketish, (2005, p. 3) assert that a high performance work systems creates the prefect conditions for talent maximization by employees effectively improving performance on key variable as such as labour productivity, absenteeism and flexibility. The above benefits are realized through the creation of a cooperative working environment facilitated by HPWS.
In this setting, employees are willing to work harder collaboratively with employers to share ideas for mutual benefit. For instance, Granite Rock of California implemented a high performance work system which resulted in an increase of market share of 88%.
Additionally, it improved its delivery time from 65% to 95% while their revenue per employee was ranked 30% above the national average (Martha & Mark, 1996, p. 21). One of the areas that have been touted by experts as a beneficiary of HPWS is performance and turn over.
Performance and turnover
According to (Huselid, 1995, p. 650), HPWS have enhanced human resource management strategies which complement external strategies that together help in increasing productivity, and both employee and customer satisfaction. Increased employee satisfaction is almost a sure way of improving performance of an organization. Moreover, its highly unlikely that satisfied employees will leave there place of work for competitors.
For instance One Valley Bank of Clarksburg that is based in West Virginia experienced a 48% in employee turnover while productivity increased by 24% after implementation of HPWS. Additionally, return on equity of the bank grew by over 70% while profits increased by over 100% after the high performance work system model was adopted (Martha & Mark, 1996, p. 26).
Due to HPWS therefore, the ability of organizations retaining employees is increased. Still on performance, Guthrie et al. (2002, p. 78) says that there is conclusive evidence that organizations that have implemented HPWS had attractive operating results dues to reduced costs.
Still on employee turnover and performance, HPWS according to (Batt, 2002, p. 74) aid firm in developing solid human capital that enhances knowledge of the businesss products and processes of work. This development enables employees to freely associate with customers.
According to experts, increased interaction between employees and customers helps in increasing performance and commitment from employees which in turn reduces turnover.
Jeff Arthur studied 30 steel mills and found out that after implementation of HPWS, the steel mini-mills productivity increased by 34% while employee turnover declined by 57%. At the same time the mills experienced a drop of over 60% in the scrap generated (Martha & Mark, 1996, p. 36).
The above benefits serve to highlight the successes that have come as a result of implementation of HPWS. Despite the rosy picture painted, the fact that some of the systems have not worked well cannot be ignored.
The ideal HPWS is a representation a holistic system design that utilizes interrelated features including employee empowerment, openness, trust and rewards based on performance to help in improving quality as well as customer and employee satisfaction.
However there have been hiccups characterizing the approach that serves to highlight the fact that in some cases high performance work systems have not lived up to their expectation. There is for instance a sense of resistance from middle level managers of many organizations that have implemented or are in the process of implementing HPWS.
This is because of the feeling of job insecurity due to reduced roles on the part of the managers. This forms part of the genesis of the skepticism from other researchers who term it a cosmetic operation that has no effect on the power and only rewards inequalities in contemporary organizations.
Failures
Its important to note that for HPWS to succeed there should be willingness from top management. Both the stakeholders and stockholders must fall within the same line of thinking to ensure the systems succeed. According to (Tesluk et al., 1999, p. 298), top management must believe in the skills and abilities of the workforce.
Belief on the workforce will persuade stockholders to implement changes while availing opportunities to the employees to make necessary improvements. Top management also comes in formulating reward and recognition systems that help in encouraging employee participation.
One of the biggest problems facing implementation and success of HPWS is that interference by top management. In a number of cases, workforce restructuring that accompanies such processes is used to target employees who are not in favor with top management. Skills are not considered in this situation and only top management cronies get rewarded in the structure shake up.
OToole & Lawler (2006, p. 190) cites top management as the biggest barrier to the successful implementation of HPWS. More often than not, managers are not able to implement belief systems or ideologies that they believe in. sometimes, they are forced to implement what they dont believe in. the result is partial commitment from these managers who are so critical in the success of these systems.
When the above happens, it only amounts to cosmetic operation devoid of the necessary dedication that is needed for its success.
For high performance work systems to succeed, Gollan (2005) says that is necessary for organizations to improve HRM practices (p. 187). Improved HRM practices will complement HPWS by increasing efficiency and productivity.
It also has to have the same level of support and commitment from management in terms of attention, time and resources. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most of the firms that are seeking to implement HPWS.
Many a times, firms rush to implement HPWS in response in a bid to outdo their competitors. Most of the time, the firms dont know what they are getting into (Addison, 2005, p. 276). What they fail to take into account is the labour costs that are likely to increase with more training that is needed ad may needed to maintain HPWS.
The approaches that these companies use to implement this systems more often than not are not based on comprehensive research rather, basic assumptions that later prove too costly for the organization. In cases such as the above, the benefits of HPWS are unlikely to be realized.
Conclusion
From the literature that exists on the two position fronted by various researchers, its clear that there are more merits than demerits of HPWS. There are numerous cases that illustrate the benefits of implementing HPWS in organizations. From the introduction, its clear that the role of HR in realizing a HPWS is critical.
Besides, there is emphasis on empowerment of workers and enrichment of their jobs through thorough and constant training. That way the momentum that a HPWS gives accord to the organization is maintained. The numerous benefits as illustrated above include increased productivity, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction and retention, company growth and higher revenues.
They all are visible benefits of HPWS in many organizations as illustrated by the examples. On the other hand, there has been failure associated with implementation of HPWS. These failures are as a result of lack of planning from implementing authorities.
Many researchers have found lack of commitment and willingness on the part of top and middle level management in implementing HPWS. In cases where the implementation takes place, the process is riddled with favoritism especially through layoff of parts of the workforce that are deemed unfriendly to management.
After all is considered, it safe to conclude that HPWS have more benefits than failures hence the need for all firms to adapt them. Besides, the organizations that are yet to implement HPWS can learn from the mistakes that have been committed in order to avoid them.
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