Electronic commerce (EC) has influenced other industries and markets than others. These influences may be due to different forms of products or industry characteristics.
Product characteristics
The type of product is important for the success of EC. For instance, customers will find it simple to order digitized products than other forms of products. These products exploit the advantage of digitization, rely on a simple distribution system, and this result in low costs of doing business. Digitization of products allows dealers to reduce processes and procedures involved in the delivery of the order to the customer. Amazon has found it simple and affordable to digitize books and CDs for the global market.
Customers who wish to order products like cloths, which are difficult to digitize may find it difficult to do so through the EC platform because they have to deal with several questions related to product features. Selling such products through the EC platform is difficult because of their characteristics.
The customer wants to experience and feel such products before making a purchase decision. It is difficult to get information about these products without a direct contact or experience with them. In this case, knowledge and information concerning product characteristics are important to customers and retailers because they influence how customers interact with the product through the EC platform.
Thus, the retailer must highlight important product features when considering EC and media of communicating with customers. The retailer must replace the face-to-face communication of the traditional market in order to meet customers interaction needs. The EC retailer must consider product characteristics and media of communication alongside costs, customer service standards, and other characteristics of EC (Axelsson 3).
Products also have different prices, which may influence outcomes of EC. Products with high prices also have high risks to the retailer and the customer. This is critical when dealers and their customers are geographically far and lack trust. Customers prefer to purchase low priced products through EC platforms than high valued products.
Industry characteristics
The EC industry has experienced rapid changes as technologies continue to emerge with new solutions (Turban and King 569). In this context, an industry factor may affect the success of the EC business. For instance, there is no single standard of describing EC products. In other words, products lack specific standards, which they must meet. As a result, the lack of a single standard, which the retailer and customer can recognize, may hinder the EC business. Currently, most retailers highlight their product features through textual means.
However, these should change and include multimedia elements. When retailers incorporate multimedia features to product descriptions, customers will find it easy to understand and make purchase decision. Thus, retailers should consider audio, images, and video when describing their products to customers through EC platforms. The industry should adopt virtual reality to facilitate EC.
The EC industry may also look for brokers to match retailers and customers directly. This is necessary because of abundant information over the Internet. EC firms, which have third parties, may not experience many challenges from their customers. The industry should develop intelligent software that can reduce challenges that many customers face during EC transactions.
Industry characteristics are many and different. It may be difficult for a retailer to keep up with rapid changes in the industry. This scenario may hinder the success of a firm. However, adopting new technologies as the e-commerce market evolves can guarantee successful business.
Works Cited
Axelsson, Karin. Exploring Relationships between Products Characteristics and B2C Interaction in Electronic Commerce. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research 3.2 (2008): 1-17. Print.
Turban, Efraim and David King. Electronic Commerce 2012: Managerial and Social Networks Perspectives. 7th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
The fluctuating market often demands changes in a company, so that it stays successful. IBM is a world known organization that has seen rough times but managed to adjust to the world and the economy. Some changes took place several years ago but the major one was accomplished through innovation and is rather recent. The general adjustments that took place were a more environment oriented approach that led to lowering costs, increasing the role of stakeholders and a more customer oriented work technique.
The CEOs have also changed some of the management that would provide a shift from hardware to software focus. The technologies were upgraded that made work more efficient and much faster. A great part of the need to change came with the culture and the public demands. The new technology that gets improved very often dictates how the company will work within its own culture, as well as with the public.
IBM is a worldwide company and sometimes it is difficult to keep track of all locations. One of the strategic advances that were made is related to changing the consulting practice and connection between locations. The major focus has turned to people and interaction with the public. As customers will often return to the same organization if the products and services are reliable and of high quality, it was wise for IBM to pay special attention to how the business is conducted.
The international success has proved that people are expecting great service and IBM recognized this by increasing the number of employees responsible for customer relations. With nearly 3,500 strategy professionals worldwide, the IBM strategy and change practice is part of IBM Global Business Services and this increases the quality of services accordingly (Organizational Change Strategy).
As there is a lot of competition in the modern world, the changes that IBM makes have to be quick. While the adjustment of production has lowered costs and heightened quality, as well as making it more environment friendly, the changes to the services and workforce greatly added to the companys success
Sometimes the company that adjusts to the economy or fluctuating market must let some of its employees go but IBM chose a strategy that increased the amount of workers worldwide and it positively reflected on the organization. It is a wise strategy to improve both products and services because this means that with higher quality of merchandise people will also receive great services.
Comparing to other companies IBM has rooted out all competitors because the size of the organization, the amount of locations and people involved in customer oriented focus have majorly outnumbers all others. Another improvement that was made is the involvement of IBM in several industries at the same time.
This enlarges the scope of the company and makes it more knowledgeable in other spheres of everyday life. It is clear that the management understands what people want and need, and the ability to get everything in one place, with addition to outstanding service, makes it one of the best companies. Even though these changes were made through the demands of the company and the public, there are many other ways that IBM can better its products and services.
Overall, IBM has made many adjustments but the best treatment for its customers is one of the most important ones. A company that values the consumer will be the most successful.
The successful of business organisations is often depended on the leaders or executives who drive leadership in these business organisations. Business leaders are the main strategists of business programs that define the success of the firm in the industry and the economy in which it operates. Executive competence is one of the leadership attributes that combines other enabling qualities for business leaders (Henman, 2011).
There are many notable business executives across the world that have helped companies to gain strong positions through innovation. The late Steve Jobs id on of the most commonly known executives for his ability to drive Apple Incorporated to what it is today. It is argues that Jobs was able to develop the company through executive competence that he developed over time. This paper discuses Steve Jobs and his leadership skills that aided him in attaining executive competence that enabled Apple Incorporated to grow to success.
Overview of business performance and executive competence
It is important to note that no business company can attain growth without a clear and visionary leadership from the person leading the company. The companys success is often based on the policies that are developed and how these policies are implemented by the organisation.
Organisational leaders or executives are the overall overseers of policies of companies since they approve the policies and ensure that these policies are implemented to the latter. The kind of policies that are developed and their respective implementation depend on business leadership qualities of the executive. The executive must have a clear picture of where he or she ought to drive the company to (Goleman, 2011).
Goleman (2011) observed that good business leadership skills of organisational executives often result in positive business outcomes for firms. This makes firms more competitive and positions them in the sense that they become more strategic in the market. Business leaders form the first brands of organisation that they are heading.
Steve Jobs is one of the most echoed business executives having taken over leadership in Apple and diving the company to greater heights. Though business leaders are shaped the organisational environment, they should to have more influence to the organisational environment.
They need to take charge of the environment and subdue to favor the practices of the company and bring about achievements. This is what successful business executives like Steve Jobs were able to do. The performance of Steve Jobs as the Chief Executive Officer of Apple incorporated is linked to many factors most of which revolve around the business leadership skills and competence.
Performance of Steve Jobs as a senior executive
Business executives have to be transformative in nature. Transformation is one of the most desired aspects in organisational or business leadership. Steve Jobs was termed as one of the most transformative oriented executives in the world by believing in change and innovation and making that change happen through innovation.
This is one of the aspects of executive competence that made Steve Jobs leave a legacy by making Apple one of the leading companies in the competitive information and communication technology industry. Transformational leadership is argued to drive innovation which is one of the most desired attributes in organisational positioning.
One of the most important transformative aspects of Steve Jobs is his belief in innovation and the subsequent support and involvement in organisational innovation leading to creativity in the company (Mohr, Sengupta & Slater, 2010).
Jobs had an open and creative mind having been one of the important players in the information technology industry before being appointed to head Apple into developing most innovative products. Most of the products that were developed during the tenure of Jobs as the Chief Executive Officer of Apple have been termed as being evolutionary. Jobs was directly involved every step of developing these products; being a specialist in information technology.
These products include the iPhones, iPads and iPods which have left a big mark in the information and communication technology industry. Perhaps, the most important thing to ask here is what it takes for a person to be a good executive and drive change in an organisation. They say, experience is one of the important considerations of the ability of a person to manage a firm. This is a weighty factor and can be easily linked to Steve Jobs as a success factor an icon in business leadership (Schermerhorn, 2011).
Steve Jobs operated in the information and communication technology industry for long before being appointed to lead the Apple Company. Jobs had developed a great understanding and a passion for the company. He only got a platform for exploring his passion for the industry in Apple. Jobs carried a broader vision in him about the telecommunication industry.
He understood what was needed in the industry and the direction that the industry needed to take and executed that in Apple incorporated. Jobs took advantage of his position as a chance to explore (Betz, 2001). This is cited as one of the reasons why Jobs was able to effectively execute innovation in the company.
This can also be used as a basis for attaining executive competence for other companies. The use of technocrats in managing enterprises is taking course in many companies. This is a positive development basing on the Case of Steve Jobs and innovation in the Apple Company. Steve Jobs is referred to as a genius in information technology which s true because he was an active participant in thinking and developing of innovation (Schermerhorn, 2011).
Jobs was applauded for being able to articulate well between the vision and the objectives of the organisation. This precisely lies with the fact that the personal vision of Steve Jobs was to a big extent related to the vision of the organisation. Jobs always saw a big potential of delivering in the company and put this vision to work by devising better strategies to drive the vision of the organisation.
Good leadership and other communication and entrepreneurial skills combined to realise the vision of the firm. A business firm may have a good vision, but this vision can only be realised when the leader of the firm is able to read into the vision. The leader reads into the vision by devising strategies that are able to drive the company towards the achievement of objectives underlying the vision.
Realising the need for innovation so as to keep per with the competition in the company, Jobs embraced investment in research and development to back the development. During his tenure, Apple was rated as one of the companies that heavily invested in research and development. This was however paid off by the results of research and development as was implicated in innovative software and hardware products that have been produced by the company (Dawson & Andriopolous, 2008).
The other important factor of organisational success in the economy is the ability of the chief leader of the organisation to embrace a positive working environment. This refers to the relationship between organisational employees and the executive of the organisation. Without this, an organisational can hardly be innovative because the level of innovation often relies on the cohesiveness of product development groups.
The ability to communicate, foster, develop and manage employee and employee relations cannot be left out at the mention of Steve Jobs and the Apple Company. Jobs had good skills of communicating with employees in the company making him easily work with all workers in the company (Nelson & Quick, 2011).
Jobs put him at a level where he managed to bridge the gap between him and all the employees. This ranged from the manner in which he dressed to the way he communicated with and engaged organisational teams. While most ideas on product development and innovation were developed by Jobs, these ideas were implemented by organisational employees.
The ability of the employees to adopt and implement the ideas is associated with the ability of Jobs to effectively communicate them to innovation or project teams in the organisation. For most of the innovations, for example, the development of the Mackintosh computer by Apple, Jobs had the whole concept behind this but communicated it to project engineers. The project engineers were able to implement the whole concept to the later (Nelson & Quick, 2011).
Therefore, the employees of firms are very important assets which drive success in business organisations thence the success of the CEO and the company. Therefore, executive competence is also reliant on the ability of executives to initiate and maintain positive working relations which Jobs did to bring success in Apple (Rumelt, 2011).
Executives are the main defenders of organisations especially when organisations are troubled by competitors. Steve Jobs strongly defended the products of the company in the market by taking head on with companies that had intentions on infringing on the copyrights of Apple.
This prevented Apple from being a subject of unfair competition from other companies the market. Jobs, strongly advocated for international copyright laws which have helped in protecting the identity of the products of Apple. With many companies operating in the industry and producing substitutes and complementary products, Apple was assured of the uniqueness of its products. This is an important business leaders fighting for the company at all times (Henman, 2011).
Conclusion
Business executives are the leading players in organisational success because they are the chief players in organising and executing operations in organisations. It has been noted that a lot is often expected of business executives or leaders because they are the main influencers of the organisational environment.
Organisational executives are expected to make a lot of efforts to learn the external business environment and implement internal practices which drives development. All this depends on executive competencies of organisational leaders which are manifested in skills, characters and actions of firm executives.
These are the qualities that have positioned Steve Jobs as a successful chief executive officer during his leadership period in Apple. Apples success is strongly attributed to the business leadership qualities of Jobs which bond with personal qualities.
References
Betz, F. (2001). Executive strategy: Strategic management and information technology. New York: J. Wiley.
Dawson, P., & Andriopolous, C. (2008). Managing Change, creativity and innovation. London: SAGE.
Goleman, D. (2011). HBRs 10 Must Reads On Leadership. Boston, MA; Harvard Business School Publishing.
Henman, L. D. (2011). Landing in the executive chair: How to excel in the hot seat. Pompton Plains, NJ: Career Press.
Mohr, J. J., Sengupta, S., & Slater, S. F. (2010). Marketing of high-technology products and innovations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C. (2011). Organizational behavior: Science, the real world, and you. Mason, OH, USA: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Rumelt, R. (2011). Apple and Jobs. Web.
Schermerhorn, J. R. (2011). Organizational Behavior. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
The ever-increasing technological pace has led to some companies legging behind in ancient hardware and unneeded services. Some have been able to barely survive while others have found ways to prosper and adjust to changing times. Xerox is one such company that is determined to flourish in the market and innovate its business techniques to suit the demanding times.
One of the ways Xerox has been able to serve a large amount of customers is by creating business partners and offering comprehensive packages that include a number of services. More specifically, it offers help in developing the business and taking care of the necessary tasks. Any business has a lot of paperwork and detailed processes that must be complete for the business to develop and move forward.
The advertisements, numerous flyers, documentation and dealing with customers are only a few services that Xerox offers. Xerox has also shifted a great amount of resources towards its customers and was able to better the already existing relations.
The number of locations has increased, enabling customers to ask any necessary questions and raise concerns, find out the specifics and data needed for the business, as well as financial and accounting services. It is also widening its global services and partnerships with other companies. Parts of the world that are starting to develop create a great market for businesses. The establishments of new agreements in countries such as India and China have opened up more ways and opportunities for partnerships and economic growth.
A great amount of innovation was in the changes of the company itself. The pressures from laser scanners, file transference, enhanced networking and technological advances in general, have forced changes to the company. As the common age is becoming clean energy oriented, Xerox has been able to lower costs and offer reasonable solutions.
Many governmental companies have a higher responsibility to avoid any pollution or over usage of energy, and Xerox has been a good resource to such businesses. It has been dealing directly with the federal government, as well as individuals, to provide cost efficient energy uses for the business and peoples homes.
Another important change was in healthcare, which is valued highly by governments and private citizens. Xerox understands the demands and needs for healthcare and has taken a step towards bettering the management and administration in the provision of healthcare.
There are services that are primarily based on health information distribution, exchange of the needed advances, beneficial pharmaceutical progress, electronic databases in health records and a close management and organization of cases. It is clear that Xerox is very much involved in a lot of governmental and social aspects of life (Xerox, 2013).
The success of any company is based on the competitive market and advantages that a certain business can offer. Xerox has put extra focus on the internal scientific research, engineering breakthroughs and partnering companies that are interested in the common goal. The entrepreneurial potential of Xerox has also been on the rise, giving new abilities and ventures to do business with.
The innovation committee has been working on the implementation of new technologies into the global market and local customer population. Even though the primary business structure of Xerox has had some changes, it is still very much needed in the business world.
The success of every company lies in its management and internal structure. Xerox has been able to adjust to the technological changes and enhance it services and products, so that the company stays as popular as before.
Campaigning for the event is a critical aspect of the whole process since it is only through the campaign that potential attendees will get to know of the event and possibly learn about the BS8901 standard and adopt it. After the campaign, it is important to determine whether they have achieved success or not.
The first method that can be used to measure the relevance and success of the campaign is to record the number of potential attendees who respond to invites. For instance, potential attendees may be invited to the event through social sites such as facebook.
They are then expected to reply either to decline or confirm their attendance. Positive response by the potential attendees indicates success of the campaign while failure to respond indicates its failure.
The second method that can measure the success of the campaign is to analyze the number of responses received. Since one of the most effective ways of campaigning for the event is the use of the internet, a website can be appropriately used to advertise the event.
The success of the campaign is determined by comparing the traffic on the website before posting the information and after posting it. The web host is in a position to capture the total number of people hitting the site and this helps in determining the success of the campaign.
The third method that can determine the success of the campaign is to determine how long people stay on the website and the number of pages they view once they visit the site. This helps in providing information on whether the campaign has actually engaged the potential attendees or not If they stay on the site for a short period of time and view a limited number of pages, then it is likely that the campaign strategy has not succeed.
Reference List
Bruhn, M 2003, Relationship Marketing Management of Customer Relationships, Pearson Education Limited, New York.
Buttle, F 2009, Customer Relationship Management Concepts and Technologies, Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, New York.
Human resource management is a relatively young concept in the management of people in an organizational setting. This approach of managing employees considers people the most important resources in any organization (Daft & Marcic 2004). Human resource management entails the recruitment, selection, training, and development of the body of people that make up an organization in any sector of the economy (Anto 2013).
Kreitner (2008) defines HRM an organizations process of enrollment, choosing, progress, deployment, reimbursement, and inspiration of human resources.
According to Davidson, Woods, Simon, and Griffin (2008), human resource management involves the arrangement, categorization, leading, managing procurement processes, and improvement of organizational status until individual and collective targets are accomplished. The two functions of HRM chosen in this essay are recruitment and selection.
These processes are important for any organization that aims to improve the output of its human resource. The essay looks at how these functions are important in the competitive advantage of any organization. The study shows how these activities enable HRM meet its strategic objectives.
HRM and Competitive Advantage
An organizations human resources can be a significant source of competitive advantage. The performance of an organization is associated with how well this organization is able to influence the performance of its human resource. According to Anto (2013), human resource determines the success or failure of an organization. The human resource department in an organization influences its output through a number of ways.
One way in which the competitive advantage of an organization is influenced by the human resource is through the introduction of efficiency, which is the manner in which an organization ensures adequate output (Buchanan & Huczynski 2004). HRM enables the effective utilization of human resource in an organization. Besides, it allows effective performance in all functions of the organization.
Human resource management also enables the subdivision of functions in an organization. This strategy constitutes the subdivision of responsibilities and hence the adequate performance of the organization. Employees are able to work effectively in an organization that has clearly defined employee roles (Sung & Choi 2014).
Companies with a well-managed human resource are better competitors based on the exemplary output that they are able to register in comparison with organizations that lack these practices. The human resource department in an organization can ensure improved competitive advantage for an organization through the improvement of efficiency (Robbins & Coulter 2009).
The arm is the main contact point between the company and its clients. When employees are well motivated and/or have a positive attitude, they are able to maintain a significant client base for the organization (Anto 2013). This function ensures improved competitive advantage.
Recruitment and Selection
The two HRM activities that have been chosen for study include the recruitment and selection functions, which are important to the general performance and competitive advantage of an organization (Daft 2008).
There is a need for cooperation between the various individuals who are involved in human resource management for the above processes to be successful (Jones & George 2009). Recruitment and selection should be a planned, rational, and sequentially linked activity.
Australian Human Resources Institute (n.d) has given a detailed description of what recruitment and selection entail. Recruitment is a process that generates a pool of people that the organization recognizes as capable of applying for employment (Bartol, Martin, Tein, & Matthews 2007; Australian Human Resources Institute n.d).
On the other hand, selection is the process by which the individuals who are concerned with HRM in an organization use special tools to choose employees from a predetermined pool (Jones & George 2009).
According to Bartol et al. (2007), people who are selected from this pool are the most suitable to succeed in the available roles while working within the legal requirements and goals of the organization. Although these two functions of HRM are closely linked, there are different requirements for each of the functions, especially in the form of skills, expertise, and qualifications (Bartol et al. 2007).
Therefore, different staff members may be called to perform these functions. According to Start-up Special (n.d), some organizations even outsource the recruitment functions from external agencies.
Recruitment and selection are important in the people management in organizations. People involved in the management of employees in organizations have a role to play in the recruitment and selection of employees, and it is not a requirement for them to be human resource managers (Bartol et al. 2007).
Recruitment and selection of employees enables an organization to develop an adequate workforce to meet its goals and objectives. Therefore, the two activities contribute to the competitive advantage of an organization.
A competency approach is one of the established strategies in the recruitment and selection of employees, with the results being highly qualified workers who are suited for the various available jobs (Baron 2000).
When adopted in the recruitment and selection of employees, this approach ensures that employees who are available in the organization have the abilities and/or skills that are needed to perform the various functions of the organization (Bhattacharya, Gibson, & Doty 2005). This approach is better than the traditional one where employees were matched to the jobs that were available for an organization.
Recruitment and selection processes that adopt and welcome individual differences ensure the best performance of employees in the organization (OMeara & Petzall 2013).
A diversity approach in recruitment and selection creates thinking performers among the recruited employees, and hence better organizational performance (OMeara & Petzall 2013). Therefore, recruitment and selection activities within HRM are critical in human resource management.
Introduction of Processes to build Recruitment and Selection
Organizations can introduce practices to build the recruitment and selection activities within their operations. Since recruitment and selection are important activities within an organization, there is a need to get these activities right. The organization needs to adopt practices that ensure positive performance of recruitment and selection.
The resourcing cycle in an organization needs to be well-defined (Anto 2013). The processes within the recruitment cycle in organizations such as recruitment and selection need to be carried out in a timely and professional manner.
Some of the practices that an organization may introduce to ensure efficiency in the above processed of HRM include outsourcing in relevant agencies (OMeara & Petzall 2013). Some organizations are unable to perform adequate recruitment and selection of employees effectively. They may ensure that this role is done through contracting agencies that are experienced especially in recruitment.
The other way that organizations may introduce a change in these practices is through the training of individuals who are concerned with carrying out these practices. According to OMeara and Petzall (2013), training ensures that the management and other people who are concerned with recruitment and selection of candidates make decisions that affect the company positively.
Recruitment and Selection and their relation to HRM Strategic Objectives
The strategic objectives of HRM are similar in most organizations. The underlying ones include the provision of organizations with the best-qualified employees who can fill certain positions. Recruitment and selection are directly linked to the ability of HRM to meet these objectives (Meara & Petzall 2013). One way that these activities ensure that the HRM strategic objectives are met is that they act as control areas for the activities.
These activities are the first ones to be performed within the recruitment cycle. Therefore, employers are able to determine the type of staff that they get through the selection of employees who are best suited for their organization (Robbins & Stagg 2011). During this part of the recruitment cycle, the employer may set the requirements for the potential employees.
Recruitment and selection should be set according to the needs of an organization and according to the available resources (Sultana & Razi 2012). Confirming this claim, Leung (2014) addresses the need to focus on the workers experience when recruiting new employees.
The activities enable the organizations to select employees who are suited to the tasks within the organization and/or who can work under the conditions in the organization. They should work under the desired organizational culture for this organization.
The activities may also be used to establish the quality of employees within an organization together with the required training. Therefore, recruitment and selection are important control areas for employees who end up within an organization. They enable the HRM departments within an organization to set and meet their strategic objectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, human resource management is an important part of an organization. It enables organizations meet their strategic objectives. The essay has established that the main activities of human resource management are recruitment, selection, training, and development. The competitive advantage for organizations can be assured through efficient and effective HRM practices.
The two activities of HRM that have been discussed in this essay are recruitment and selection. These processes have been established as important ones in the success of an organization. The introduction of effective processes and management strategies for these activities ensures that the recruitment cycle in an organization leads to qualified and well-suited employees.
References
Anto, M & 2013, Human Resource Management Practices of Selected Companies, European Journal of Business & Management, vol. 5 no. 18, pp. 35-38.
Australian Human Resources Institute n.d, Recruitment and Selection, <https://www.ahri.com.au/>.
Baron, D 2006, Business and its environment, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, NJ.
Bartol, K, Martin, D, Tein, M & Matthews, G 2007, Management: a Pacific Rim focus, McGraw-Hill Education, N.S.W, North Ryde.
Bhattacharya, M, Gibson, D & Doty, H 2005, The Effects of Flexibility in Employee Skills, Employee Behaviors, and Human Resource Practices on Firm Performance, Journal of Management, vol. 31 no. 1, pp. 622-640.
Buchanan, D & Huczynski, A 2004, Organizational Behavior: An Introductory Text, Patience Hall, New Jersey, NJ.
Daft, R & Marcic, D 2008, Understanding management, Thomson/South-Western, Mason, Ohio.
Daft, R 2006, The New era of Management, Thomson/South-Western, International Mason, Ohio.
Davidson, P, Woods, P, Simon, A & Griffin, W 2008, Management, Wiley Publications, London.
Jones, G & George, M 2009, Contemporary Management, Academic Internet Publishers, New York, NY.
Kreitner, R 2008, Management, Cengage Learning, New York, NY.
Leung, M 2014, Dilettante or Renaissance Person? How the Order of Job Experiences Affects Hiring in an External Labor Market, American Sociological Review February, no. 79 no. 1, pp. 136-158.
OMeara, B & Petzall, S 2013, The Handbook Of Strategic Recruitment And Selection: A Systems Approach, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Robbins, B & Stagg, C 2011, Management, Pearson Education, Australia.
Robbins, S & Coulter, M 2009, Management, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Sultana, N & Razi, A 2012, Is Recruitment and Staffing Decisions Are Crucial to Success?, Global Journal of Management & Business Research, vol. 12 no. 20, pp. 81-85.
Sung, S & Choi, J2014, Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 35, no. pp. 393412.
This study is a summary report derived from the article by Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay titled: facilitating project success by eliminating interpersonal conflicts. The authors seek to formulate a leadership approach that embraces required proficiencies to manage interpersonal differences effectively to enhance project success. The method utilized in the collection of information in the article was a literature review study on standards and practices with no implementation of an official experimental design in the research. The competence of the project leader to employ the desirable leadership proficiencies to handle interpersonal disagreement could help in the attainment of project aims.
Introduction
This summary report is based on the article by Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay entitled: facilitating project success by eliminating interpersonal conflicts. The article was obtained from the EBSCOhost online library. Project management denotes the field of thoroughly designing or planning, systemizing, encouraging, and managing resources to realize specific objectives and attain success standards. A project entails a temporary endeavor planned to give rise to an exceptional product or outcome with a defined starting and conclusion (normally with limited time and restricted by financing or other aspects) carried out to satisfy unique aims and ideas, characteristically to result in positive transformation or added value. The basic difficulty of project management is the realization of the project objectives and intentions while considering the preconceived limitations (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 45-48). The main limitations are scale, value, time, and resources.
This subject was selected with the purpose of discussing what is required to realize project success because in most cases the project managers are centered on the particular aims of the plan but disregard numerous significant concerns that have to be tackled. The management of interpersonal disagreement on teams embarking on the project is amid the difficult concerns that could challenge project triumph (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 41-43). Amidst others, verbal communication, tension managing, resolution management, inspiration, empowerment, delegation, self-awareness, team building, and successful handling of conflicts are crucial to the triumph of a project.
Purpose of Paper
The intricacies that typify contemporary projects make it essential for project leaders to build up successful styles of leadership that take into account the holistic advance to the success of a project (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 43-53). On this note, the authors, in their article, seek to build up a leadership approach that includes the proficiencies while successfully managing interpersonal disagreements with the purpose of enhancing project success. The management of any project has to be effectively developed to strategize, direct, and influence the complicated and varied nature of present viable projects.
The rationale of project management is to forecast as many risks and challenges as achievable and to strategize, organize, and direct practices for the project to be accomplished successfully regardless of any difficulty. The pervasive aspect of challenges and uncertainties signifies that occurrences and processes resulting in project success cannot be predicted with absolute accurateness. For the majority of complicated or sophisticated projects, even the likelihood of successful completion could be of great uncertainty.
Methodology
The method employed in the compilation of data in the article was a literature review study on values and practices (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 43-53). There was no generation or execution of an official experimental design in the research study. Leaders have a critical task to undertake in the implementation of corporate visualization (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 41-43). The main thing in the execution of a business strategy is making sure that the dream is supported on all levels of the group. An apparent vision signifies a characteristic that permits the team to back the goal of the leader. An understandable vision assists in the empowerment of the different teams.A given manner in which leaders could execute their vision is via the application of SMART objectives.
In this case, SMART signifies a contraction, which means that the objectives ought to be specific, measurable, aligned, realistic, and time-bound (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 43-55). A wide pool of research has demonstrated that cooperative styles in the resolution of disputes, for instance, integration and compromising, are associated with favorable results while non-cooperative approaches, for example, avoidance and domination, are linked to unfavorable results. Effective management of a project could entail strategizing, choosing what is to be carried out; organizing, setting up arrangements; supervising, watching over the progression, and directing, acting to rectify any impending mire. Moreover, successful project management could entail innovation, finding better resolutions, and representation, the ability to liaise with the users.
Conclusion
Some of the findings of the article are that the project management leader ought to guide the creation of the team and pursue all the concerns of forming, norming, storming, as well as performing with the purpose of developing an excellent team. The channels of communication ought to be open and the significance ought to be accorded to encouraging communication (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 41-57). Additionally, motivation has a critical function in ensuring that interpersonal conflicts are reduced, and this requires a motivated leader that has the capability of motivating the employees and peers.
The authors concluded that there is no possibility of fully eliminating interpersonal conflicts with the purpose of enhancing the success of a project. The project leader ought to establish suitable approaches to resolving conflicts and the instances in which they could be employed. On this note, moderate levels of substantive dispute resolution ought to be realized and upheld for enhanced performance, which will go a long way to increase the chances of having a successful project. The capacity of the project leader to use the needed leadership proficiencies to manage interpersonal disagreement could aid the achievement of project objectives.
Evaluation
The article offers significant insights into project management by recommending the factors that could facilitate project success (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 41-43). Successful leaders ought to have suitable approaches for conflict management and generate an excellent means of sharing information to inspire and facilitate performance even in challenging conditions. The capacity of a leader to deal with difficulties through effective strategies facilitates the success of a project. The development of project management has resulted in the engagement of numerous activities prior to the completion of the task. In this regard, objectives must be specific for them to be measurable, and though there could be the main goal of the project, there could also be other minor goals in the course of embarking on the project.
Project Report
While managing or taking part in a given project or different projects, there are numerous qualities that a leader ought to inculcate. Some of these aspects are worth taking into consideration and have been discussed in the article. For instance, communication skills are crucial as they form the foundation of the roles of the leaders (Miller, Balapuria, and Sesay 41-57). Nevertheless, communication could be an even more crucial aspect in project management and submission of project reports since some team members may fail to present vital concerns to the leader thus jeopardizing project success. Moreover, it is crucial for the project leader to cultivate a culture of teamwork. The project manager ought to enhance common goals and determine strengths to develop while ensuring that every team member feels incorporated in the practice.
Works Cited
Miller, Autumn, Mansi Balapuria, and Monica Sesay. Facilitating project success by eliminating interpersonal conflicts. Journal of Information Technology and Economic Development 6.1 (2015): 41-57.
This essay is written to demonstrate the various management success factors for the many sporting events. The current competitive business environment has created abundant challenges for event managers in ensuring success for their various sporting events.
As was established, from sprinklers to corporate boxes, toilets to food outlets, media to first aid, event and facility managers have to account for the success or failure of sporting events and venues. The preceding assertion emanated from the fact that event managers are required to keep track on all activities happening before, on and after the particular events.
In this study, the author made a follow-up on the above theoretical frameworks and went ahead to identify and critique key factors relevant in ensuring competitive and successful bidding as well as hosting for any sporting event. This essay therefore sought to answer the following argumentative questions: What are the justifications for the need to manage events effectively?
What are some of the key factors necessary for managing sporting events? What have various authors articulated to support or oppose the specifications that need to be addressed in each of the identified factors?
In choosing this current, critical and important topic, the author was motivated by the existence of the following reasons that justified the need for effective events management.
Firstly, According to the UK Treasury Report (2007), sporting events exhibited many economic benefits to host nations. This was so simply because other than the pure sporting reasons, major sporting events provided the opportunities of showcasing emerging nations or cities intangible benefits, economic regeneration as well as positive economic impacts (p.9).
To add, Damster and others (2006) did also support this view by asserting that in light of the large variety of sports played across the globe, mega sporting events have now become big business (p.15).
Moreover, Getz (2007) also came to the support of this view by making a summative statement that pointed out that economic efficiency was useful for bidding on and creating events, to the extent that they accumulated revenues or other tangible benefits for publicly owned and subsidized facilities and parks (p.88).
With reference to the above supportive articulations, Clark (2008) therefore arrived at the conclusion that proper planning was needed for any hosting country to realize both the discussed secondary and primary benefits associated with hosting events (p.24).
Despite the above supporting argumentations, the author found out that Fisher and his group (1991) reserved opposing views on the need to consider only the positive impacts when justifying the relevance of effective events management.
This was revealed when the group insisted that other than looking at the positive economic impacts (as Clark, UK Report and Getz did above), it was also important to perform cost benefit analysis on major events. This was important because normal free market economics often failed to take into account negative effects that were external to the specific events.
Again, Getz (2006, p.89) went ahead to support this differing view by listing examples of air pollution, accidents and noise as often caused by traffics-oriented events. Surprisingly, these were normally left out when comprehensive evaluations were being done on the specific events (Getz 2007, p.89).
In the authors conclusive point of view, this should not be the case. Instead, the author recommends that both the negative and positive impacts should be given equal consideration in the justification for effective management of the various sporting events.
Identification and critique of the various factors
The author initiates this section by noting that though some managers, in assessing the quality or success of sporting events, have assumed that absences of some factors or problems (for instance, bad weather conditions) were the key to staging successful sporting events, different authors have opposed such notions.
As such, this essay paper went ahead to expound on this notion by identifying, listing and critiquing supporting and opposing views on each of the recommended factors of events management.
Understanding of the philosophy (mission statement) surrounding the events
According to Collins and Trenberth (2005, p.362), a statement expressing the purpose or the identity of the organization behind an event is vital at the start of any event plan. This mission statement should be followed by logic or reasons behind the staging of the event; the statement should clearly express the way in which strategies of an organization or agency fit into the particular event (Tonge, 2010, p.12).
Though the two authors gave valid reasons on the need for event managers to incorporate the understanding of the philosophy as a key factor, a recent study by Epstein and the group (2010) had contradicting views on this. These three scholars were of the view that there was need to provide relevant information to event managers.
As such, these scholars suggested that other than choosing the understanding of the mission statement, event managers should be re-directed to look at this notion as falling under the broader aspect of availing relevant information.
The author went ahead to derive that on insisting on the availability of relevant information, these groups of scholars were motivated by the fact that the availability of specific and relevant data and information was likely to reduce the many uncertainties surrounding the particular events.
However, though the two groups of authors expressed views that appeared to be slightly contradicting, the author arrived at the conclusion that the presence of relevant information (for instance from past events) was likely to provide equip event managers with a lot of knowledge. This can then be used in the formulation of the specific mission statements for the specific events.
Understanding participant expectations
A study by Parrish (2003) was of the view that it is pertinent that managers of particular sporting events pay attention to participant expectations (especially for grassroots or local events) and the various factors that might influence these expectations (p.171).
From a management perspective, participatory event directors should familiarize themselves with the gap model of service quality, and in particular, realize that participant expectations are a key component in participants event satisfaction (Parrish, 2003, p.171).
In assessing participant expectations, sporting event managers should make use of various variables, for example, the use of the participants skill levels (either advanced or lower) to clearly match these events with their appropriate sponsors; thus benefiting both the sponsors and the specific events (Nico, 2010, pp.2-4).
However, a study by Collins and Trenberth (2005, pp.361-362) stressed on the need of the event manager deriving the reasons or the expectations of the hosting organization as opposed to participant expectations. The views of the two authors were defended when they went ahead to re-state that it was from the clearly stated organizational expectations that the participant expectations can be easily derived.
Though the assertions by these last authors may appear as justified, the author of this essay proposed that a linkage need not to be drawn in such manner since this may present an uncertainty scenario to the sporting event managers. As such, the author points out that it would be of greater help to the sporting event managers if they went ahead to treat the 2 on independent basis.
Proper financial planning/ budgeting
In staging successful sporting events, event managers are required to brainstorm all potential areas of expenditure and income under the obvious catch all categories such as administration, marketing, event control, social events and merchandising (Collins & Trenberth, 2005, p.366).
In assessing the monetary sources associated with specific events, event managers are required to evaluate the hosting citys attractiveness to corporate sponsorship; since this is a key factor along with the proposed television package for broadcasting the event in question (Woods, 2007, p.148). A good example of how event managers successfully tapped on this factor occurred during the staging of the 1996 Olympic Games.
The event managers, in their efforts to stage a successful event, chose on Atlanta, Coca Colas home territory, as the hosting city. As a result of its strategic positioning, the event was able to attract Cokes corporate sponsorship when the giant multinational corporation seized the chance to advertise its products and services to the events global audience.
Other than evaluating the hosting citys attractiveness to corporate sponsorship, a recent study by Ottova-Leitmannova (2008) had additional did establish that the financial aspects have proved to be complex roles for many event managers since they necessitated managing multitudes of activities within changing environments. For event managers to succeed in this role, both breadth and depth knowledge and experience are necessary.
As Liu and Ottova-Leitmannova (2008, p.xv) advised, event managers training needs to be diverse and extend to areas within the realm of event management . These additional areas include ethics, marketing, facility management, sponsorships and law.
The training need is important since the pressure that is created at major sporting events by the expectation of the worldwide audience and the media is enormous; and thus a contingency plans to address the financial aspects of the events are vital.
Moreover, as Collins and Trenbertha (2005) postulated, the acceptance that for the participants, the event begins before they arrive and extends beyond the time they leave, has financial implications-presenting revenue opportunities that extend well beyond the typical entry fees, gate takings, hot dogs and programme sales.
In trying to overcome the financial constraints associated with staging major events, event managers are required to understand that their experience or knowledge is above the worth of the sporting event itself.
As such, their accumulated knowledge and experience can be used as a pointer to the many financial resources that include amongst others; pre-event functions, activities adjacent or outside the venue, parking, on site and post event merchandising and recordings or sale of event videos (Bennett & Baird, 2001, pp.100-103).
To conclude on this critical factor, the author points out that too often many sporting events have been held even when careful studies would have cleared revealed that the sporting events were heading for financial disasters.
In such cases, most event managers place poorly constructed and unrealistic budgets before them. The financial aspect in sporting events has been ignored mainly because the organizing teams assume that the events will be able to sponsor itself; especially from event ticketing. To sporting event managers, this should not the case for successful events at all.
Good infrastructure development
Infrastructure developments have proved to be the best exciting races against time nearly in all major sporting events (Freudensprung, 2008).
Before going ahead with their plans of hosting major sporting events, event managers have to develop most appealing infrastructure for them to be given event hosting rights. Legacies of developing unique infrastructures and initiating urban renewals have been legitimate objectives of most major sporting event bids.
Following on the above, event managers should therefore be tasked with overseeing the construction of major business and population centres and tourist areas to increase the chances of their events being successful.
When redeveloping the infrastructures in the various regions, event managers should consider making improvements on business resorts, business parks, hotels, housing, malls, venues and shops (Hans et al., 2002, pp. 303-319).
However, in critiquing the undertakings of most event managers on this factor, a latest research study by OToole (2011) highlighted that many had made mistakes of building new infrastructures and cities without understanding what participants need and want quality lifestyles (OToole, 2011, p.88).
In such circumstances, event managers are advised that re-developing infrastructure alone does not guarantee staging successful events but discussing the long-term infrastructure development strategy to assist the growth of events and create, what may be termed, as eventful cities (OToole, 2011, p.89).
An additional differing view on this was postulated by Bowdin and his group (2006).
This stated that in order to be able to manage sporting events efficiently and effectively, it is advised that event managers effectively liaise with local bodies and local communities to include developments in infrastructural areas such as transport, parking toilet provision, marshalling and safety of the improved structural facilities (Bowdin et al., 2006, p.366).
Ideally event managers are directed to consult the guidelines provided by various user group and sports bodies, for instance, Charity Fundraisers Institute. These bodies provide relevant source data for developing or improving sports infrastructure.
For instance if a sporting event has been associated with causing particular concerns, the event managers will be accordingly advised on the criteria to use to minimize the identified negative impacts (Humphreys & Howard, 2008, p.152).
To sum up the debate on this factor, the author derived the fact that it was important that event managers desist from carrying out haphazard infrastructure development. Instead, they should be encouraged to adopt long-term infrastructure development in this broad factor to win on the spectators dynamic preferences. This has come to be commonly referred to by a common business imperative as destination branding.
Risk or safety management
Pedersen and his group of scholars (2010) were of the view that this factor was relevant to event managers. This was so because it referred to the the control of financial and personal injury loss from sudden, unforeseen, unusual accidents and intentional torts (Pedersen et al., 2010, p.297).
From another perspective, risk management can be looked at as referring to the proactive efforts taken by a sport business to prevent loss-for instance financial loss due to a law suit or property damage, loss resulting from customers becoming unhappy with the event (loss of goodwill) and loss of market share (Masteralexis & Hums, 2008, p.300).
Event managers are required to initiate risk and safety measures to address the modern day challenges associated with sporting events. This is so because a study by Nohr, (2009) had revealed that current unstable world has exposed sporting events to the risks of terrorism, theft and fraud cases amongst others (p.54).
Some countries have established agencies to assist event managers to establish and protect participants from the many dangers that they are exposed to during their period of attending to the sports events (Vault, 2006). The USA, for example, has developed a Department of Home Security, to assist event managers to assess the vulnerability of sport and entertainment facilities to terrorist attacks.
Whether its a public or a private sporting event, event managers are required to establish event safety and protection measures to safeguard the participants. These measures can range from the provision of qualified first aid staff (use of St. John Ambulance or Red Cross is recommended), to the compilation of a comprehensive major incident or disaster plan (Bowdin et al., 2006, p.368).
From the above debated views, the author inferred that event managers are required to note that risk management does not just end with protecting their organizations from lawsuits, but protecting their organizations from the kind of risk or any wrong doing that could negatively impact on the customers perceptions on the specific event.
Competent event steering team
One of the most challenging tasks for event managers is establishing a competent coalition team to successfully steer the activities of the specific sporting event, whether the event is an exhibition, a festival, a street parade or a competition.
The competency aspect is enforced for the bid steering team since the chosen members are required to carry out the key roles of developing the event vision , conducting detailed job analysis for the junior event steering team , responding to the established constant changes ( especially in operational planning) and answering to the shifting communication needs.
This essay established that a critical debate had existed on the appropriate time of selecting the steering team by event managers.
To start with, the author asserts that research has shown that successful event managers identify and hire event steering persons many months before the staging of the particular events (Black, 2004, p.200). This is the case because it is very important that each person in the bid steering team correctly understands his supervisory or management role in his/her temporary position (Haulihan & Green, 2011, p.446).
However, despite having supported the need to hire the steering team before the start of the event, Haulihan & Green (2011) went ahead to warn that it is important that event managers hire the steering team as early as in the bid steering stage for a temporary basis.
The team should then be disbanded if the period for the start of the events proves to be far away. This is in order to cut on the many expenses that are likely to be demanded by these experts.
Having reflected on the above views, the author derived a conclusion that though it is important to establish an event steering team many months before the start of the events, it is also important to consider the type of engagement contracts between the event managers and these hired experts.
Though the second study did recommend a termination of their services after winning of the bids, this study recommends that their continued presence should be extended as long as their services are still worthy and needed.
To avoid on their excessive salaries during the inactive stages of event staging, the author recommends that constructive discussions should be advanced between event managers and these steering team members to arrive at affordable figures.
Proper marketing or promotional strategies
Tellingly, sporting event managers are required to implement best and unique promotional strategies that capture and aid in availing event information to consumers. To achieve this, they can use promotional mixes. According to Schwarz and others (2010, p.163) promotional mixes include advertising, sponsorship, public relations and atmospherics.
To expound, this study established that a critical debate arose on the selection of the major promotional mix amongst the 4 that were identified above.
For instance whereas Schwartz and others (2010), stressed that advertising was the major communication process that event managers should use to relay event activities their consumers (p.164), Masteralexis (2011, p. 188) was of the view that sponsorship played a significant role of providing additional revenues, increasing awareness of the event on the target market, improving organization image, market share as well the sales share amongst other roles.
The author, being the moderator of this critical debate, points out that the 2 aspects are both endowed with rich benefits that can ensure success for their various sporting events and as such it would be irrelevant for the sporting event managers to rate them on their individual worthiness.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the author re-states that this study had in the beginning sought to achieve 3 key objectives. These were to provide justifications for effective events management, to identify some of requisite management success factors as well as the supporting and opposing views on the specifications that need to be addressed in each of the identified factors.
To this point, the author highlights that the above were clearly achieved in the study. There is however need for future scholars to initiate research-based studies so as to achieve exhaustibility on this important event management topic. This is so because this essay had the limitation of being academically-oriented. As such, it was limited by the number of pages to be covered-namely 11.
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Clark, L.D. (2008) Local development benefits from staging global events. Australia: OECD Publishing.
Collins, C. & Trenberth, L. (2005) Sport business management in Aotearoa/ New Zealand. Melbourne: Cengage Learning.
Damster, G. et al., (2006) Event management: A professional and developmental approach. South Africa: Juta and Company Ltd.
Epstein, B.J. (2010) Wiley GAAP: Interpretation and application of generally accepted accounting principles 2011. 9th edn. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
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Freudensprung, P. (2008) Bidding & sports tourism. SportConnect. Web.
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Getz, D. (2007) Theory, research and policy for planned events. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
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Since its inception, Wal-Mart has experienced tremendous growth to become a dominant player in the retailing business worldwide. However, Wal-Mart operations have received ferocious attacks as some critics blame it for hurting the American economy. The debate has revolved around Wal-Mart low prices strategy and its decision to import supplies from China in order to maintain this status quo.
On one hand, Wal-Mart has been blamed for costing the American worker million of jobs every year, because by opting to import from china, most manufacturing companies have been shoved out of business(Fishman 112).Contrastingly, Wal-Mart has received support from Adam Smith proponents that low prices benefits everyone in the economy (Schell par. 2).
Against this backdrop, this essay will explore the key factors behind Wal-Mart extraordinary success and its effect on economy, the American worker/consumer and its contribution to U.S vs. China relations.
To begin with, Wal-Marts success has been attributed to two key factors; information technology and globalization. The rise of information technology has been recognized as a powerful force in promoting retail chains operations (Fishman 118). Consequently, information technology has turned out to be a key advantage for Wal-Mart success elevating it over its rivals and facilitating its effectiveness as a retail chain (Fishman 120).
Apparently, for a retail chain to be effective in its operations, the logistics, inventory, and distribution controls have to run in sync. Wal-Mart exploitation of technology is quite complex. It has a tailor made information network that sends alerts to suppliers about stock movement in the various stores to ensure prompt replenishment (Fishman 121).
Secondly, Wal-Mart interest in the global markets has been beneficial. By utilizing globalization opportunities, Wal-Mart has succeed to expand its operations outside United States (Schell par. 4).
The question whether Wal-Mart with its low prices is a monster or a savior is a two sided coin. On one hand, Wal-Mart has adopted numerous strategies to ensure that they maintain lower prices for basic goods. Consequently, the stores have become significant to the less affluent in America because with their low income they are able to afford goods that would otherwise be unattainable.
However, in order to maintain this trend, Wal-Mart have had to explore China market for its supplies since obtaining the same from United States manufacturers would be costly.
Consequently, this has compelled various industries in the United States to close down leading to massive loss of jobs. The above situation, has fueled the big debate whether Wal-Mart strategy is good for America not forgetting that it also provides jobs though its wages has been under great scrutiny (Schell par. 6).
The above question is quite elusive, and a no or yes answer might be inadequate. On this note, to assist in understanding whether Wal-Mart is a blessing or a curse in America, it is imperative to explore the pros and cons of providing low prices both in the short term and the long term.
Although the low prices slogan has been criticized for various reasons, the fact remains that Wal-Mart has succeeded in keeping inflation under control. Inflation has been an economic headache through the years, however, Wal-Mart have managed to keep prices low, although the strategy has ended up yielding undue disadvantages (Fishman 124).
In economic terms, the law of supply and demand is responsible for regulation the price of goods. However, Wal-Mart has taken up this role by applying imaginary price ceilings, thus ensuring that cost of goods do not go beyond a certain limit (Baumol & Blinder 81).
On the other hand, price ceilings are disadvantageous to small and emerging businesses because they are unable to compete when the prices are set below their overhead costs. After a series of losses, most of them end up closing down (Baumol & Blinder 82).
This translates to massive loss of jobs leading to high levels of unemployment. Consequently, if Wal-Mart succeeds in shoving competitors out of business, it will begin operating as a monopoly and the big question is whether it will still provide low prices as a monopoly (Baumol & Blinder 84).
Arising from this debate is the significant question whether the American worker and the American consumer are one and the same entity. On one hand is the American consumer who prefers shopping at Wal-Mart because of low prices, while on the other hand is the American worker would suffer from low wages and unemployment because of Wal-Mart outsourcing and low pricing strategy.
This implies that, the interests of the American workers and the desires of the American consumer will always conflict because, while the American as a worker demands high wages from Wal-Mart as the employer, the American as a consumer also demands low prices for goods.
Apparently, it would be impractical for Wal-Mart to strike a balance between this two entities, thus conflict is inevitable unless an economically viable solution can be devised.
Initially, the United States perceived the free trade agreement with China as beneficial because American manufacturers would sell their products to the mass market in China. However, Wal-Mart has been blamed for reversing this situation by elevating the U.S-China trade deficit to over $227 billion in 2009 because of its massive imports from China (Schell par. 10).
Despite of this shortcoming, the Wal-Mart China relationship is good for the America because the Chinese will also gain confidence buying from American manufacturers. However, the tricky issue is whether they can manage to produce low cost goods to cater for the low purchasing power of Chinese consumer.
The fact that Wal-Mart is a significant entity in the American economy is not disputable. Amidst the hard economic times, Wal-Mart may turn out to be the best option to most low end consumers. Thus, it becomes almost impossible for any checks and balances to be effective without hurting the interests of the masses.
Although pricing is not all that matters to business, Wal-Mart influence is not likely to diminish in the near future owing to its success in preventing inflation. Therefore, as long as Wal-Mart can sustain the low prices, the federal and state regulators are unlikely to act because its benefits to American economy outweigh the consequences.
Works Cited
Baumol, William & Alan Blinder. Macroeconomics: principles and policy. United States: Thomson South-Western, 2006. Print.
Fishman, Charles. The Wal-Mart Effect: How the Worlds Most Powerful Company Really WorksAnd How Its Transforming The American Economy. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.
This paper talks about how a business in this instance, a kitchen constructing company, can make use of different skills by effectively combining them to enjoy a profitable business that will benefit in the long run.
Significance of Networking
The success of a business depends on the person running it. This is where their people-skills come in. The way they best approach contacts, how they maintain them and make new ones is very vital to their business. For instance I run a business where we make kitchens, vanities and robes for new and existing houses so my interaction with people is constant. For me to get new contracts its very important for me to maintain a good relationship with my vendors, customers and my employees. The friendliness with my vendors allows me to get the best quality materials that I may need and that too very timely at the best rates. My inviting attitude allows my customers to feel comfortable around me and communicate exactly what it is that they want and creates a comfort level whereby I can advise them on what would be best for them and how to do things better keeping their best interests in mind. I also keep a very friendly attitude with my employees, making it a fun environment to work in and acknowledging their achievements, also keeping in mind little details such as birthdays in mind to make them feel important, which results in high productivity and low absenteeism.
There are many other skills that also come into play such as negotiation skills. The way to negotiate for best loans, prices, project completion dates and many others utilize this skill. For instance if I decide that I want to expand further Ill need assistance in the form of a loan from the bank. Ill have to plan my strategy out before I speak to them and anticipate any questions they might have and come up with satisfactory answers, convincing them to grant me the loan. The construction business is home to many vendors and that too of all types. The best will give you what you need but at a slightly higher price. Its very important to negotiate a price with them that fits your budget and doesnt offend them at the same time. When clients want something designed for them they would like it as soon as possible and hardly ever understand all the work and time that goes into creating the project. It is very important then to make them see things from your perspective and not to give them a date thats too far off neither too close, allowing for best the best to happen. For instance if a situation arises in the workplace where two of my workers disagree with each other over the way something is supposed to be done then I take these skills and put them into use. I sit them down and ask them to rationally explain what the problem is, once I have learned that we sit down and look for a solution that satisfies everyone. This is where my negotiation skills come in. I make them look at it in a way that is beneficial for all and we dont lose out on too much work time because of the bickering.
Remaining Stagnant?
Now that we know how important it is to initiate and maintain healthy relationships with a variety of people, we must ask ourselves is that enough? Is there anything more that we should be doing? Yes there is. We should maintain these relationships but at the same time we should create new relationships by increasing our contacts may these be vendors, clients, or even people who are working in the same type of industry. There are many ways to do this but the best is to participate in events and seminars which bring together the different people of the industry and allow them to exchange experience and knowledge.
Conclusion
There are many ways to run a successful business but some things are absolute key to it. One of these is creating and maintaining relationships with those who are closely involved. The better the relationship is handled the better the results will prove to be for the businesss future.
Bibliography
MacKenzie, L. (2004). CareerWomen.com 10 Negotiation Tips From Women in the Trenches .
OBerry, D (2007) Entrepreneur. 10 Ways To Strengthen Your Business Relationships.