Role of entrepreneurs during startups

The role an entrepreneur plays during startups is a major determinant of whether a project is successful or not. Entrepreneurs are responsible for coming up with a plan, selling the idea to the relevant stakeholders and executing the plan in a way that allows for attainment of the set goals and objectives. Good leadership skills are therefore ideal as entrepreneurs are often in charge of individuals who work together to promote the growth of a startup. Other than possessing desirable leadership skills, entrepreneurs must also learn how to be architects; tell a compelling story; and be disciplined when executing their plans.

Entrepreneurs who are architects find it easy to present their vision to the rest of the team. Their creativity helps them to share their vision with others in a way that brings people together to help achieve a common goal. As entrepreneurs, more attention is placed on sharing the idea with other colleagues in order to unite them towards a common objective (Gardner, 2015). The entrepreneur must therefore possess the skills needed to create an image of the desired end product and also how to go about bringing the idea to life. Entrepreneurs bear the responsibility of ensuring that the plan is clear to all stakeholders and this helps create an ideal environment to bring the ideas to life.

Once an idea has been generated, storytelling plays a major role in ensuring that the idea manifests into tangible product or service. Entrepreneurs must learn how to go about informing people about the vision for the startup and also coming up with ways to be more innovative. The image created by the entrepreneur helps to break down what is needed for the startup to be successful, acquiring capital to fund the project, recruiting employees to help meet the set objectives and creating interest for the products and services offered by the startup (Feld & Ian, 2020). In cases where the products being launched are new in the market, the entrepreneur ensures that the target audience is well informed about the products and how they are suited to satisfy customers’ needs and wants.

Discipline is also commendable because the entrepreneur is responsible for anticipating threats and finding ways to overcome them. Other than sharing the vision with other employees, entrepreneurs must also learn how to anticipate threats that could bring down the startup and come up with guidelines to help all parties involved overcome them (Tjan, 2010). The entrepreneur ought to set an example that other employees can follow not only when overcoming threats, but also when executing the steps suggested to yield desirable outcomes.

The role played by an entrepreneur in any startup is crucial because the individual is responsible for communicating the ideas to everyone intended to implement them. Although having good vision, being a good story teller and discipline in execution are ideal traits to have; entrepreneurs can be effective despite not possessing all the tree traits. Efficient entrepreneurs learn to identify areas that they are strong in and then delegate other responsibilities to other employees who are more capable. Entrepreneurship calls on the individual to not only identify their strengths but also identify the strengths and weaknesses of colleagues so as to position each individual in a team to a position that they are best suited for. Although there are various factors that determine the success of a startup, the leadership skills demonstrated by entrepreneurs during the architecture stage, storytelling and implementation are crucial to the success of any project ventured into.

References

Tjan K, (2010) “The three roles of great entrepreneurs” Harvard Business Review, retrieved        from, https://hbr.org/2010/06/the-three-roles-of-great-entre.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-         DAILY_ALERT-_-AWEBER-_-DATE

FELD, B. H., IAN. (2020). STARTUP COMMUNITY WAY: how to build an entrepreneurial        ecosystem that thrives. [Place of publication not identified], JOHN WILEY & Sons

GARDNER, D. (2015). The startup hats: master the many roles of the entrepreneur. United         States: Freebooksy Press

Recommendations to Improve Employee Motivation in a Fast Food Restaurant

Job characteristics model implies to the process of collecting information of how the work process can be streamlined while identifying possible ways of improving employee motivation (Robbins & Judge, 2019). The main idea behind the model is that the task itself is integral in improving employee motivation. For instance, if the restaurant employees find task monotonous and boring it is bound to affect their motivation. Therefore, making the tasks versatile or challenging such as having an opportunity to design the fast-food restaurant’s new menu can immensely improve motivation.

Employees in the fast-food industry often face challenges of low motivation mostly because of the nature of their jobs. Most of the employees earn a minimum wage. The management of most fast-food chains have devised a method of avoiding to pay employee benefits such as medical cover by employing them part-time and not full-time. The result is that most fast-food restaurant employees rely on some of government aid and have to take multiple jobs to make ends meet. There is also a lack of career progression as most will never reach management levels regardless of how long they have worked. The factors lower morale levels with most feeling they have not achieved anything of significance in their time working at the restaurant.

The model suggests five job characteristics to improve employee motivation, and thereby job productivity. It also includes individual variables that may function as moderators to determine the correlation between job characteristic and outcome variables. The five job characteristics include task identity, skill variety, autonomy, task significance, and feedback. The characteristics are responsible for outcomes such as absenteeism, motivation, performance, satisfaction, and turnover. Skill variety implies to the level to which a job requires different activities to complete a task. It implies to level to which a task demands employees to utilize their skills and talents. In this particular case, most of the tasks performed at the fast-food restaurant are repetitive and monotonous. The implication is that the employees do not develop a variety of talents. The outcome is that their low performance, motivation, and job satisfaction. The solution to solve this problem in the restaurant assigning employee different tasks, for example, management can identify duties where job rotation is possible. another solution can be assigning employees more responsibility and autonomy in decision making will help increase motivation.

Task identify refers to level to which work demands a complete process. Allowing employees to work on a complete process rather than completing only a small bit can immensely improve their morale. In the case of the restaurant, allowing chefs to come up with a special dish, prepare it, and even price it can make them feel very proud because employee value performing a complete process. There is low motivation, performance, and satisfaction in the fast-food restaurant because employees cannot identify with any product or process currently in place. The solution to the problem will be allowing employees to perform tasks to completion such as designing a menu to make them feel more responsible. The solution will work because employees will feel more part of the restaurant by feeling they have achieved something of significance.

Task significance is level to which tasks performed impact the lives of other people, society, and those within the company. The improvement can be financial, psychological, physical, and many other ways. Some employees in the restaurant currently do not feel significant because they perform monotonous and repetitive tasks that they feel are not significant. However, some such as the chefs feel very satisfied whenever a customer complements the food, hence feel they have made the lives of others better. Task significance generally results in low motivation, performance, and satisfaction in the restaurant. The solution would be reiterating frequently to the employees how significant their tasks are and without them performing them, the whole process will fail. The solution will work because people like to be reminded that they are important.

The characteristic of autonomy refers to degree to which employees are allowed to work independently. It entails things such as freedom to plan their workday and set up new procedures. Employees who are not in management level in the restaurant feel a weak sense of responsibility. They feel they no freedom to complete tasks autonomously through their personal initiatives resulting in low performance, motivation, and satisfaction. The solution would be involving all employees in decision making. Similarly allowing employees to perform tasks independently will help improve motivation. The final job characteristic that affects the restaurant is feedback, which is informing employees of their effectiveness. There is a weak system of communication in the restaurant with performance reviews nor completed in years. To solve this, the recommendation is for management to put in place a system of reviewing performance and recognizing high performers, for example, having an employee of the month award.

The expectancy theory aims to explain why individuals choose one behavior over another, for example, a person will choose to engage in action if they believe it yield desired results (Robbins & Judge, 2019). Therefore, the theory suggests motivation at work depends on the association between performance and expected outcome. Therefore, employees will model their behavior based on the anticipated outcomes. The expectancy theory can be useful in solving the high turnover rates in the fast-food industry through designing motivational programs and reward systems.

Frying potatoes and flipping burgers in hot and cramped spaces for impatient customers is often viewed as temporary jobs and primarily for teenagers seeking to earn a little side income. In turn, the industry does not have to worry about paying a living wage, job satisfaction, or offering career growth opportunities. However, the rate of turnover is beginning to fast-food chains as finding suitable replacements is becoming increasingly difficult.

The manager of the fast-food industry complains of having difficulty retaining his best employees for long. The expectancy theory can help alleviate some of these problems related to high turnover the restaurant is facing. The first solution is fair pay practices. Eliminating the notion that fast food restaurant work is for teenagers with limited skills through paying reasonable wages, which are above the minimum wage will help the restaurant retain its best employees. Another solution is offering reasonable work schedules. The employees should have necessary working hours per week, for example, by not having the same employees always working on weekends. Although overtime is popular, too much of it can lead to burnout. Another solution is recognizing high performing employees. High-performing employees should be recognized for contributing to the overall success of the fast-food restaurant. Reinforcing a potential career path is another solution to solving the high turnover. Although they may not potential for advancement explaining to them that they can one day be managers of the restaurant will convince them to stay. The final solution is offering proper training. Well planned training programs can help make employees feel empowered and ultimately convince them to stay longer.          

Reference

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2019). Organizational behavior. Pearson. Print.

Diversity, Stress, Wellness and Coaching at Coca Cola

Diversity

                        Advances in technology and the emergence of a global economy has made it easier for people to cross boundaries and interact for various reasons, top of which is business. Different organizations, businesses and governments have developed policies and approaches that are designed to help adapt to the diversity that exists in society (Christiansen & Chandan, 2017). For businesses like the Coca Cola Company, practices like employee recruitment have been designed to ensure that the company is able to attract and retain the most qualified and innovative employees. Since having a diverse workforce gives a company a competitive advantage, Coca Cola tries to create an ideal working environment by encouraging employees to be respective of other people’s culture. Employees receive different forms of training and team building activities that are designed to help improve communication (Coca Cola, 2020). Through training, the company is able to identify each employee’s different traits and also how to utilise in in a way that is beneficial to the individual, the team, and the organization.

            Embracing diversity is essential for a business’ growth as it reduces employee turnover and cuts on the cost of employment. businesses spend a lot of time and money when recruiting new employees. When trying to fill top positions, organizations are forced to compete with other organizations or lure employees from their current jobs with lucrative and at times expensive job offers (Christiansen & Chandan, 2017). A high employee turnover is however undesirable as it communicates to other employees that the organization may have issues addressing employee concerns. To resolve the issue of employee turnover, Coca Cola offers various reward packages for employees that perform exceptionally well (Coca Cola, 2020). Bonuses, shopping vouchers and paid retreats are used to motivate employees and also reward those who do exceptionally well at performing their duties.

            The Coca Cola Company also organizes different team building activities and training that is designed to promote interaction between employees. The company’s workforce is made up of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. The employees have different ways of doing things and majority are influenced by their customs, traditions and attitudes towards their work and the people they work with (Christiansen & Chandan, 2017). In order to create a common ground, the company organizes out door activities such as sports and hiking to try and engage employees in similar activities and create a corporate culture that serves as the common ground for all employees. The company’s corporate culture creates an ideal environment for working as it utilizes the skills and knowledge of each individual.

            During training, employees are equipped with the skills they need to find a common ground between their perceptions about work and the corporate culture so as to promote peaceful coexistence. The training helps to identify people’s unique skills and also help the employee to develop new ones (USDC, 2016). The skills identified are then used to determine what tasks are ideal for specific employees. It also makes it easier for managers to allocate employees to respective teams depending on their abilities.

            A diverse workforce is important as it utilizes each employee’s skills and knowledge to determine what role employees play within the organizations. Activities that promote diversity such as training make it easier for employees to identify what role they play in an organization (USDC, 2016). Employees are able to see the contributions they make in helping to meet the set objectives as well as the commitment that the business makes in trying to help employees become better at their jobs. This in turn motivates them to work harder and go beyond their job descriptions in an attempt to find better and more innovative ways to perform their duties.

            The Coca Cola company has managed to maintain its competitive advantage as it embraces diversity and hires employees from different backgrounds. The different variety of skills and talent that the diverse workforce is utilized in innovating new products, making advertisements and coming up with different ways to encourage the target audience to choose Coca Cola products over other in the market (Coca Cola, 2020). The diverse workforce combined with the company’s dominance in the market ensures that the company’s products and services are in constant demand and that employees have the skills and attitude needed to offer customers the quality of service that sets the company apart from its competitors.

Stress

            Stress is part of daily life and it is triggered by different factors while an individual is at work, with family, in school or when making decisions. It is both mental and physical and can develop based off of controllable events or from things that the individual could not control or was not even aware of. Since stress can occur in any setting, it is important for employers to develop strategies that can help employees reduce stress and cope with the hardships that come about from performing their duties.

            Stress in the workplace commonly occurs as a result of disruptions in the workplaces and changes in the way employees perform their duties. When a disruption to the flow of work occurs, it causes significant levels of stress to employees regardless of whether the disruption was intentional or by accident (Heathfield, 2020). Organization must therefore identify areas that are likely to cause stress for employees and find ways to reduce the effects and also compensate the employees for the disruptions caused. since change is inevitable, preparing employees for change greatly helps reduce stress as employees are informed beforehand on the disruptions that are likely to occur and how to prepare so as to overcome some of the inconveniences caused.

            The approach used by the Coca Cola company to reduce stress focuses on including employees in the decision-making process. Being a leader in the market it operates in, Coca Cola has to constantly innovate its products and services, and this subjects its employees to different forms of change and disruptions in the workplace (Coca Cola, 2020). Despite the changes introduced however, the company commands a significant share of the market it operates in and employees have found a way to adapt to the changes. The flexible nature has been reinstated by the company’s policy to include employees in the decision-making process. While the company is highly innovative, including employees in the decision-making process informs them of the direction the company is taking and the changes that are likely to be introduced in future (Heathfield, 2020). The information helps employees to prepare for the changes that will come about and also reinstates the importance of the changes and how they will help to meet the overall company objectives.

            Managing stress is important as it reduces the negative effect that it has on the employees’ overall well-being. Stressful experiences at work can cause physical, behavioural and emotional problems that negatively impact the employee’s mental alertness, health, energy, productivity and attitude towards work and other employees (Cummings & Worley, 2015). Some of the consequences of stress in the workplace include lack of adequate sleep, headaches, irritability and serious medical conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure.

 Regardless of whether the effects are mild or severe, stress has far reaching consequences as it leads employees into questioning their ability to perform their duties. Employees who are under too much pressure may question their ability to perform the assigned tasks and some may opt to quit or shy awa from tasks that appear too difficult (Cummings & Worley, 2015). In such an environment, employees are not motivated enough to try different approaches and this discourages innovation. Stress may also cause employees to lose trust in the organization and start questioning the security it offers for their future (Quelch & Knoop, 2018). Employees who loose hope in the organization they work for tend to limit their performance to the minimum requirements and this will also have a negative impact on innovations.

The Coca Cola Company is however committed to helping its employees cope with stress. When dealing with change, employees are given training and enough time to learn new skills that will make them flexible enough to accommodate the change. The company also offers team building activities that help to break work monotony and create an opportunity for employees to interact and share ideas on how to go about meeting the company objectives (Coca Cola, 2020). Employees are also given rewards and bonuses for meeting objectives. The company has also helped to align the employee’s interests with that of the organization. Meeting company objectives therefore helps employees accomplish their own personal goals and thus reducing the elements that could cause stress for employees both in the workplace and at home.

Wellness

            Managers bear the responsibility of ensuring that employees work in an ideal environment that facilitates good performance of duties and also promote employee wellness. As leaders, managers have the authority and resources needed to create an ideal working environment and promote good health and the overall well-being for employees. Promoting employee wellness is beneficial for both the employee and the organization as it promotes good health and reduces the cost of medical care on the side of all parties involved. Employees are able to work in environments that motivate and encourage innovations without the risk of falling sick or developing mental issues associated with stress caused by work.

            Different organizations have come up with different strategies that utilise employee wellness to cut down on healthcare costs and also foster happy relationships with employees to promote productivity. Although the wellness programs seek to protect the overall well being of employees, their effectiveness is greatly influenced by the management (Hall, 2017). At Coca Cola, the Human Resource department has come up with different strategies to communicate the importance of wellness and to encourage the management to encourage members of staff to practise wellness (Coca Cola, 2020). The management is responsible for structuring activities such as the provision of entertainment during lunch, yoga classes and team building activities that encourage employees to work out.

            Team leaders at the company also lead by example and practise self-care as a way of passing on the habit to other employees. The self-care involves activities that help to reduce stress and promote good health. Managers train other members of staff on how to regulate the amount spent during overtime as a way of encouraging employees to take care of themselves (Chenoweth, 2016). As a manager, taking vacations and utilizing leave days communicates to employees that it is important to relax and unwind away from the office during off days. Managers also try to respect employee personal time. communication with employees on leave or during off days is restricted to emergencies or occasions that require the employee input to resolve a problem (Cooper et al, 2008). Restricting business to the office helps employees to realize the importance of off days and also gives them space to pursue their personal interests without interference from the employer.

            The management also sets an example for employees by showing gratitude and expressing satisfaction for the exceptional work the employees perform. Compliments are used to commend positive input from employees and also to motivate other employees to follow in their footsteps (Colvin & Taylor, 2012). It also acts as a way of reinstating the employee’s importance in meeting the overall objective. Employees who feel as part of an organization are less likely to suffer from stress and operate at a positive state of mind. Reduced stress enhances the efficiency in which the employees perform their jobs and this greatly contributes to their overall state of being.

            The Coca Cola company has also tried to make wellness programs convenient for employees. Information on how to eat healthy and the type of exercise to engage in is made easily available to all interested parties. The company also gives early notice regarding outdoor activities meant for team building (Coca Cola, 2020). The early notice gives employees enough time to prepare and get in shape for the activities that will be carried out. The team building activities are further designed in such a way that they equip employees with the skills needed for communication, innovation and teamwork. Health professionals are also invited to the company instead of forcing employees to visit medical institutions (Quelch & Knoop, 2018). The professionals provide information that is crucial to employee wellness as it educates them on how to exercise, dietary needs and knowledge on how to remain safe in their working areas.

            Other than promoting wellness, the company also ensures that it offers healthy choices for all its employees. Emphasis is placed on healthy foods especially for employee meals while in the workplace and during training. Traditions that involved consumption of food such as birthdays and special occasions offer healthy food options to discourage unhealthy diets for employees (Coca Cola, 2020). Vending machines are also stacked with healthy food alternatives such as almonds and snacks that have a low nutrient content. Healthy options promote healthy eating which in turn motivates employees to be mindful of what they consume even when at home.

Coaching

            The Coca Cola company utilizes the coaching leadership style to boost team morale and foster good relationships with the employees by aligning their interests with those of the organization. The relationships established during coaching help the management to identify individual employee strengths and potential for growth. The information is helpful in assigning tasks and forming teams as the management is able to identify areas where individual employees are likely to excel in. the coaching is also beneficial in that it helps employees to identify areas that cause problems for them when performing duties and therefore how to go about improving. Coaching also helps employees to adapt to changes in the organization as it provides a guideline that employees can follow when performing their duties.

            The pressure to grow has made coaching an essential element for business growth and success. In order to be innovative, organizations have to adopt a diverse workforce and foster effective teams that can utilize the ideas generated by other team members and come up with an innovative product or service (Insala, 2019). Since the needs and wants of the customers are constantly evolving, coaching helps to establish proper channels of communication between the employees and the top management. Effective communication allows for effective feedback and quick decision making (Coca Cola, 2020). For Coca Cola, the lines of communication help to identify trends in the market and development of innovative ideas on how to exploit the opportunities created by the change in customer needs and wants.

            Coaching is also important in that it equips employees with the skills and knowledge needed to properly represent the company. For Coca Cola, employees act as the main source of contact between the organization and its employees (Coca Cola, 2020). The company carries out coaching to train employees on how to be proper brand ambassadors for the company. The employees are taught how to interact with customers, introduce and promote new products and also provide information to potential customers.

            The company’s approach to coaching is one that tries to fit in the learning alongside other activities. Employees are trained on the job as this gives them the exact experience they will have when performing their duties. Learning on the job helps to introduce employees to any changes early in advanced and in an environment that encourages asking questions and mistakes (Hull, 2017). The coaching is structured in such a way that the skills gained will help employees become better at their jobs and also motivate them to be more innovative. When employees learn new skills, they are motivated to try something new and experiment with different approaches when performing duties. The knowledge gained ensures that the innovations have credibility and are designed to improve the efficiency and quality of work that employees engage in.

            Coaching has an added advantage in that it helps employees to grow specific skills. although coaching is designed to enhance employee’s ability and efficiency when performing duties, managers can also use it to grow a specific skill for individual employees. Individuals with exemplary leadership skills for example can receive a different form of coaching that seeks to make them good leaders. The coaching will therefore focus on equipping the individual with the skills and knowledge needed to make an effective leader (Insala, 2019). The managers should therefore try and identify special skills that individuals may possess that could be utilised to assist in meeting the company objectives. Enhancing specific skills positively motivates employees as it helps them to meet their personal objectives while still meeting the goals set by the organization. Caution should however be observed as growing specific skills for individuals could create inequality within the organization. Managers must ensure that the knowledge and skills provided are accessible to all employees so as to discourage preferential treatment for some employees.

References

Chenoweth D, (2016) “Promoting employee wellness” SHRM Foundation, retrieved from,             https://www.shrm.org/foundation/ourwork/initiatives/the-aging-            workforce/Documents/Promoting%20Employee%20Well-Being.pdf

Christiansen, B., & Chandan, H. C. (2017). Handbook of research on organizational culture        and diversity in the modern workforce. IGI Global

Coca Cola, (2020) “About Coca Cola” retrieved from, https://www.coca-colacompany.com/

Colvin, H. M., & Taylor, R. M., (2012). Building a resilient workforce: Opportunities for the       Department of Homeland Security: workshop summary. The national academies press

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2015). Organization development & change. Australia,         Cengage Learning

Hall L, (2017) “Occupational health and wellbeing” Civica, retrieved from,             https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/coaching-employees-can-help-deal-change-     stress/

Heathfield M, (2020) “Understanding stress and how it affects your career” Work Life      Balance, retrieved from, https://www.thebalancecareers.com/understanding-stress-      and-how-it-affects-the-workplace-1919200

Insala, (2019) “Benefits of coaching for individuals” retrieved from,           https://www.insala.com/blog/6-benefits-of-coaching-for-individuals

Kinder, A., Hughes, R., & Cooper, C. L. (2008). Employee well-being support: A workplace        resource. Chichester, England. John Wiley & Sons

Quelch, J. A., & Knoop, C.-I. (2018). Compassionate management of mental health in the            modern workplace. Cham, Switzerland. Springer

United States Department of Commerce, (2016) “Best practices in achieving workforce    diversity” retrieved from, https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/workforce-  diversity.pdf

Application of Change Management and Innovation

Introduction

Amazon.com is a wide internet-based enterprise that focuses on the sale of toy’s, music, books, electronics, houseware and many other products either as the intermediary between retailers and the enterprise’s vast population of customers, or directly. Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos and was launched on 16, July 1994 as a website selling books only. However, Jeff Bezos had a vision for the company’s expansion and its domination in the world of ecommerce. Currently, the enterprise has become the world’s leading online retailer and a well-known cloud service provider. Their headquarters are based in Seattle, Washington and has many branches and service provider’s all around the globe. Amazon style of leadership has been categorised as pragmatist where leaders are practical, competitive, and driven. Pragmatic leaders are characterised by their tendency to set high standards for themselves and their teammates. This business report focuses on the organization’s clear change strategy outline and a multimedia presentation for the leadership of the enterprise.

Mission and goals

Amazon.com has a mission statement which has always revolved around its primary focus which is the online Amazon.com customer. Since the beginning Amazon has had a clearly outlined mission which is” to continually raise the bar of the customer’s experience by using the internet and technology to help customers find, discover and purchase anything, and empower businesses and content creators to maximise their success (Van Dijck et al, 2018).”

Amazon’s goals include:

Passion for invention, customer obsession rather than competitor focus and commitment to operational excellence and long-term thinking (Shamout et al, 2016).

Internal and external stakeholders

The prime stakeholders of amazon.com include: the board of directors, investors, employees, customers, suppliers and strategic partners and the community (Shamout et al, 2016).

Current leadership, policies and procedures

Amazon’s leadership is hierarchical headed by three senior CEOs and three senior vice presidents who are responsible for important aspects of the enterprise(collin,2017). This senior team reports directly to the founder Jeff Bezos. Notably, amazon organizational structure has three key features including the hierarchical  corporate structure which has developed due to the increasingly growing size of the business, flexibility of the business which allows it to adapt to the inevitable changes in the external market and stability in the topmost management which is one of the most vital feature in amazon(Shamout et al, 2016).

Moreover, products sold on Amazon must fulfil the organizations policies, rules and regulations.

Some of the general policies include: conditions of use, communication guidelines, Amazon seller code of conduct, supply chain standards, standards for brands selling in the Amazon store, referral fees reimbursement policy, monitor your account health and customer product reviews policies (Rivet et al,2017).

In order to make a purchase via Amazon one must create an account whose creation is free, once you identify a product you proceed to add it to the shopping cart followed by filling billing and shipping information, you should the select your desired shipping option then complete the order.

Fundamental problems in Amazon

Like many other organizations and businesses Amazon has been faced by a number of problems some of which include:

Firstly, unreasonably high standards and expectations where when the bar has been set extremely high these standards become tiring resulting to bitterness and unexploited potential in employees.

Secondly, overly forthright leadership where leaders are overprepared to go out on a limb for their believes. For instance, Jeff Bezos has a set of guidelines referred to as The Articles of Faith which encourages employees to outsmart themselves (Tou Y et al, 2019), outperform their workmates and even go to an extent as to sabotage their careers. This has resulted to an unhealthy competition amongst co-workers.

Change

Based on the above problems change is necessary for Amazon in order to meet its goals and mission because if employees who are largely responsible for the smooth running of the organization are not comfortable in their working environment means they wont be in a position to deliver quality services to their customers who according to the mission statement are the main body of the organization.

SWOT analysis

This analysis reveals how Amazon utilised its competitive advantages to become the main online retailer. It points out all vital strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the company.

Some of the strengths include:

A strong brand name which gives a strong and positive image in the market, brand valuation where Amazon has been ranked position 3 with a value of $125 billion as cited in (Van Dijck et al, 2018), many customers due to the ability of presenting inexpensive goods to their customers, differentiation and innovation where the company has constant improvements when it comes to service providence for example drone deliverance, cost leadership where the company is able to minimise costs incurred in maintenance through online service delivery, minimum pay rise where amazon is amongst the first organizations to increase its minimum hourly pay to$15 per hour and act local and go global strategy which has benefited Amazon the most by partnering  with local suppliers hence the ability to compete with local e-commerce rivals (Kirchner, S. et al, 2019).

Weaknesses

Government regulations in some critical countries such as those facing war (Watanabe et al,2019) , Amazon has been reported to have exploitative labour, increased cybercrime, increased competition especially from upcoming online retail companies, imitation where businesses take up the same business procedure which is almost similar to that of Amazon, fake products from suppliers which put the company at risk of losing customers, fake reviews which lower the demand of the product in question.

Recommendations

Amazon needs to maximise their strengths while minimising their weaknesses, create more opportunities and face their threats for progress. Below are several recommendations

improve network security so as to protect the rights of consumers, embracing new technology measures in order to address the issue of counterfeit and developing new partnerships in order to extend the market reach.

strategy 

It is clear that Amazon needs to improve on the employee’s body because this is critical for the day to day running of the organization and also for future purposes. To achieve this the enterprise can praise and appreciate the efforts of employees, stressing on the need for life-work balance because overworking can lead to body shutdown hence low productivity. Employees need to be prioritized because they are in direct contact with consumers in service providence hence, they need to be comfortable. happy workers will contribute directly to positive results and possibly a reduction in the negative reviews mentioned earlier.

Steps to prepare the organization for change

Encouraging workers to exploit their full potential rather than setting relatively high standards which some won’t be able to meet.

Motivating the employees to prioritize on their wellbeing through gyms and proper diet.

Regulating working hours to minimise on overworking.

Resources

A gym easily accessible to employees taking probably five months to acquire all necessary equipment and to put up one where an already existing space does not exist.

Therapists for workers where employees have someone to talk to if need be where the timeline can be two months for applications and interviews to ensure the best personnel are hired.

Hospitals in case of any emergencies and medical cover for workers so they feel secure and confident because their neds are taken care of with a timeline of a year for construction (if needs be) acquisition of equipment and working personnel for the hospital.

Success metrics

Increment in the number of consumers for products hence realisation of more profits.

 More profits can directly result in increment in Amazons value and maybe a higher rank with time.

The above changes can be sustained simply through discipline of the relevant authorities ensuring that the mentioned facilities are properly maintained and that their running is smooth.

Challenges that may be experienced

A longer timeline compared to the one proposed above for the implementation of the changes.

Employees may take a longer timeline to adjust to the new changes similar to the organization.

An extra amount of funds not accounted for in the organisation’s budget and channelled to the changes may be a challenge if there were no funds set aside for such.

Plans to counteract the challenges

A longer timeline for the challenges.

Creating awareness to the employees on the importance of the adjustments.

Devising plans to acquire the funds to cater for the changes such as borrowing.

4. The above information can be communicated through internal memos to everyone involved or usage of emails.

Slides

References

Tou, Y., Watanabe, C., Moriya, K., Naveed, N., Vurpillat, V., & Neittaanmäki, P. (2019). The transformation of R&D into neo open innovation-a new concept in R&D endeavor triggered by amazon. Technology in Society, 58, 101141.

Watanabe, C., & Tou, Y. (2019). Transformative direction of R&D–lessons from Amazon's endeavor. Technovation, 88, e102081.

Tou, Y., Watanabe, C., Moriya, K., Vurpillat, V., & Neittaanmäki, P. (2019). A new concept of R&D in neo open innovation: transformation of R&D triggered by Amazon. International Journal of Managing Information Technology, 11(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40991-017-0021-0

Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., & De Waal, M. (2018). The platform society: Public values in a connective world. Oxford University Press.

Kirchner, S., & Schüßler, E. (2019). The organization of digital marketplaces: Unmasking the role of Internet platforms in the sharing economy. Organization outside organization, 131-154.

Shamout, M. D., & Emeagwali, O. L. (2016). Examining the impact of electronic supply chain management processes on customer satisfaction: A literature review. Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), 12(1232-2017-2395), 141-163.

Rivet, D. J. (2017). Amazon's Superior Innovation: A Study of Amazon's corporate structure, CEO, and reasons behind why it has become the most innovative company in today's market.

Colin, N. (11). Notes on Amazon. The Family Papers# 010, 18 Jan. 2016.

Galloway, S. (2017). The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.

Shopping Centers/Grocery Stores Layout

Introduction

A store layout is an organized arrangement of goods in a way that attracts customers. The organized grouping of merchandise helps to provide customers with easy access through the store. It provides maximum exposure and an attractive display of merchandise. A store layout influences the flow of customers which also has an impact on the flow of sales. It also influences the shopping environment and the traits of customers that visit the store. A well-developed store layout can contribute to a positive shopping environment, resulting in the type of shopping traits a store merchant would want to attain.

 In the store layouts, the two main designs are the aisle and the shelf design. The aisle design determines the customer’s well-being experience inside a store and this focuses more on the individual space. Individual space can influence both the retail experience and customer selections in a store. The choices a customer makes inside a store are partly influenced by the amount of personal space in the store. Research shows that customers in congested shopping surroundings will focus more on deterrence which results in protection that is connected to product choice. The congestion levels of a store can be termed as “store traffic and customer traffic flow”. The store traffic includes the number of customers that visit the store at a particular point in time while the customer traffic flow is determined by the movement the customers have inside the store. Both store traffic and customer traffic flow determine the general performance of a store (Elbers 2016). For the shelf design, research shows that a well-developed shelf design is an advantage for both the customer and the retailer. A customer’s general shopping contentment is high when the store shelf layout is organized properly which leads to an increase in the sales. Managing how products are arranged on the shelves has a significant influence on the customer's shopping behavior. The visual attention that results from how the product is viewed from the shelves, has an active influence on the customer’s brand consideration.

The most commonly applied layout types in a store include grid, freeform, and racetrack. The grid layout is made up of long pathways that are similar to each other (Mukhlish & Masudin 2015). Retailers use this layout design because the rectangular organization of the shelves is a proper fit for the customer’s shopping behavior. With this layout, customers experience effective shopping experience. It is the most utilized and desired layout method by the store vendors. A freeform layout is a type of layout that does not have a structured organization of aisles, shelves, and exhibitions. This type is mostly used in clothing stores and emphasizes on increasing the comfort with which customers can get products all through the store. With this layout, customers tend to spend more time in the store which is a good thing for retailers according to research because the pore time spent in a store, the more the customer spends. The racetrack layout holds one central key aisle that leads the customer along with the whole store. This main aisle is used to guide the customer through the store areas. This type of layout gives a different and interesting shopping experience.

The connection between the architectural discipline and customer behavior is majorly concerned with the development and execution of the overall and specific designs of stores (Çakmak & Yılmaz 2018). The layout design and execution of stores in a manner that allows customers to buy more products and services conveniently requires both customer behavior and architectural knowledge. A strategically designed store layout influences shoppers to spend as much time in the store which results in the customer being exposed to many colorful and attractive products. Most of the grocery stores are structured in a similar way which is largely driven by purchase enticements. Every tactic that is used within the store, draws on a known psychological tie that subconsciously makes the shopper follow the general pathway through the store. The store brands use every tactic to ensure that they influence the customer’s perceptions and behavior while they shop. For example in a grocery store, the entrance is filled with neatly arranged bright-colored produce which is an intentional arrangement because it will automatically attract the customer. It is meant to create a welcoming experience and making the shopper adjust to the new environment. Grocers combine fresh produce with pleasant-smelling floral arrangement which is meant to take their time and also set the pace for their shopping experience. The slow background music also sets the mood for the shopper and research shows that slow music can result in a customer walking slower and spending more money.

 Away from the produce and floral section, customers are forced to follow a counter-clockwise pathway. This is an important tactic because research shows that customers will spend less money and process information better when they shop in a clockwise pattern (Štulec, Petljak & Kukor 2016). This shows that when a shopper follows a counter-clockwise pathway, they are bound to fulfill the economic interest of the grocery store. That is why most stores have their entrances on the right-hand side and their exit on the left which reduces the likelihood that a customer will shop in reverse. For a shopper to shop in a clockwise manner, the shopper will have to walk in through the exit which is not possible. Another alternative of a shopper shopping in a clockwise manner would be them getting in the entrance, walk through several zones to beginning shopping from the opposite loop. This slows down and confuses the customer’s path which increases their rate of exposure to products which is an added advantage for the store. This means that there is no way a customer will be able to make a decision that has not been altered.

Another layout tactic used by stores is the arrangement of perishable and most profitable products. Products such as dairy products, meat, and frozen foods are placed against the back and side walls which requires a shopper to walk through the entire store past many other products along the way (Brinkworth 2017). This strategic placement of these items increases the customer’s exposure to other items and higher chances that they will make an impulse purchase. The aisles and particularly the end caps are packed with enticing products of every color, shape, and smell. Stores utilize the most advertised items which are likelier to be bought on impulse to line the shelves that are closer to these areas. Even when a shopper resists the temptation of the impulse purchase, the store ensures that the shopper exerts substantial willpower in focusing on the things they came to shop for. Research shows that arranging products among grocery store zones has an impact on purchase and by default the behavior of the customer.

Apart from the general layout of the store, stocking the aisles is also put into account. Generally, shoppers spend most of their time along the racetrack and drop in and out of the aisle. This makes groceries to deliberately place impulse purchases to attract shoppers to the aisle (Brinkworth 2017). The popular products are positioned midway down the aisle making the shopper pass more items. The logic behind this strategy is, when the shopper moves throughout the store, their willpower and control tend to decrease making them likely make impulse purchases. Making a shopper walk as far as possible is a profit-based strategy in grocery stores. In the aisles, products are strategically arranged making it difficult for the shopper to identify all the options. Research shows that shoppers view products from left to right hence stores use the eye placement strategy to increase the rate of product choice. Items are typically assembled in vertical columns based on related groupings. Within the columns, the arrangement is hierarchically determined with the most profitable products being placed at the shopper’s eye-level. Cost-effectiveness is determined by the brands and companies that can afford the cost of the most visible shelf space. Aisles are organized in this manner to subconsciously encourage buying of the most widely held and profitable items. The strategic placement in the direct line of sight makes them more attractive and convenient to buy compared to finding the cheaper and better items which are intentionally placed out of direct sight.

The structuring of aisles in vertical columns by category makes shoppers be able to effectively utilize horizontal scanning to find what they want. However, when they find the desired category, the selection of the product becomes difficult due to the hierarchical vertical organization. In most cases, the bottom shelf is used for cheaper items high are less profitable and therefore placed out of sight (Hübner & Schaal 2017). The reasoning behind this is that savvy shoppers who are looking for a deal will put the extra effort to find these products and so they choose not to waste shelf space. The top shelves are reserved for local, gourmet, or smaller brand names. This shelf is also not in direct sight but items placed here are more likely to be purchased compared to the ones placed on the bottom shelf. This is mostly because of the convenience of it being easier to reach up that bend down. For the kid’s shelves, the lower shelving placement is used because it is in the direct sight of children. Stores mostly target this area with attractive, children friendly products. There is a middle eye-level shelf that is approximately 48 inches from the ground that is reserved for the bestselling products. This arrangement method is based on psychology and biology in that the eye muscles are intended for horizontal movement as opposed to vertical scanning. This does not mean that eyes cannot scan vertically only that this is not the default mode and therefore needs more effort and attention. This strategy influences the choice of product by promoting eye-level products further.

A noted psychological strategy at the level of the structure of the aisle involves leveraging the unconscious mind in product selection that is based on thought. Baby food products tend to evoke an emotional component and therefore such products are separated from the normal food aisles because shopping for baby food results in the shopper thinking about the product to select (Yoo, Park & MacInnis 1998). The level of emotional involvement lacks the typical foods and stores aim to reduce the need for thought in comparing products. This is mainly because when shoppers consciously compare items and make a thought- based decision, chances are that they will not spend as much money and they will be able to refrain from making impulse purchases. To reduce the possibility of this happening, products that seem emotional are separated from the others.

Conclusion

A store layout helps to provide customers with easy access through the store because of their organized arrangement. It influences the shopping atmosphere and behavior of a shopper. The store layout is also important for the retail managers because it helps them attract more customers hence increasing their sales. The two main layouts are the shelf and aisle arrangement styles. The product choice of a customer can be influenced by the layout of a store. Grid, freeform, and racetrack are layouts used to influence the customer’s behavior while shopping. A strategically designed store layout influences shoppers to spend as much time in the store which results in the customer being exposed to many colorful and attractive products and hence spending more money. Store layouts are made to expose the shopper to as many products as possible and end up making impulse purchases that benefit the store.

References

Brinkworth, C. (2017). Supermarket savvy: An analysis of psychological exploitation within

grocery stores.

Çakmak, B. Y., & Yılmaz, C. (2018). The impact of architectural design of shopping malls on

consumer behaviors: a case of Konya.

Elbers, T. (2016). The effects of in-store layout-and shelf designs on consumer behavior.

Retrieved from https://edepot.wur.nl/369091

Hübner, A., & Schaal, K. (2017). Effect of replenishment and backroom on retail shelf-space

planning. Business Research, 10(1), 123-156.

Mukhlish, F., & Masudin, I. (2015). THE DESIGN OF HYBRID VIRTUAL STORE LAYOUT

(HVSL): A SIMULATION EXPERIMENT OF INDONESIAN CUSTOMERS’CONTEXT. Journal of Basic and Applied Research International (JOBARI), 14(2), 147-157.

Štulec, I., Petljak, K., & Kukor, A. (2016). The Role of Store Layout and Visual Merchandising

in Food Retailing. In 9th International Conference on Social Sciences.

Yoo, C., Park, J., & MacInnis, D. J. (1998). Effects of store characteristics and in-store

emotional experiences on store attitude. Journal of Business Research, 42(3), 253-263.

Management style at Microsoft

Satya Nadella is the CEO at Microsoft Inc. Despite the company being a giant in the market even before he took over, his management style has enabled the company to experience significant growth and make huge profits during his short time in charge (Fox, 2019). His management style takes the positive leadership approach that relies on empathy and places emphasis on importance of having a growth mindset to reinforce action and achieve the set objectives.

            The positive leadership approach is an ideal management style as it builds strong relationships with employees and aligns their interests with those of the organization (Gibbs, 2019). The management style is also responsible for establishing a desirable workplace culture where employees are motivated and trust that the processes they have to follow will help to meet the company objectives.

            Nadella’s management style further promotes the growth mindset philosophy which focuses on the potential for growth rather hindrances to development. Instead of investing in ways to overcome challenges that hold employees back, his leadership approach tries to discover how to help employees thrive and gain more skills that will ensure that objectives are met (Kassa, 2018). His leadership style is based on the belief that learning can occur in any scenario and therefore teaches employee to teach every experience as a learning moment.

            An argument can be made that the success experienced at Microsoft is as a result of the company image, innovative employees and constant demand for Microsoft products. While the reputation does play a significant role in determining success for the company, the input from the management is crucial to success. The CEO makes the major decisions and then relies on the top management to communicate the same to the rest of the employees. Motivation and good leadership is therefore crucial and the approach taken greatly determines whether an organization will be able to meet its set objectives.

References

Fox M, (2019) “Examining the leadership style of Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella” Berret-            Koehler Publishers, retrieved from, https://ideas.bkconnection.com/examining-the- leadership-style-of-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella

Gibbs A, (2019) “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on the 3 qualities that make a great leader”          CNBC, retrieved from, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/26/mwc-microsoft-satya-nadella-   on-leadership-qualities.html

Kassa M, (2018) “Uncovering a leadership style: Satya Nadella” retrieved from,             https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/uncovering-leadership-style-satya-nadella-mekonnen-      kassa

Marketing Opportunity Analysis for

Ferrero Australia Pty. Limited

 Table of Contents

Description of the Core Industry

 The bakery industry is an expansive business that caters to people’s daily needs. According to past statistics, bakery products account for 2.1% of the gross domestic product in the USA alone. The baking industrial sector produces an estimated $30billion in revenues annually. The sector is made up of more than 6000 wholesale bakeries and 3000 marketable bakeries. Although small bakery retailers’ marketplace is extensively disjointed and three producers can take 55% of the entire market’s bakery revenue, economists claim that bakery products have an impact on the entire economy as it accounts for $423billion of the finances. For instance, retail bakeries produce $3billion worth of goods and profitable bakery businesses sell goods worth $31billion (Blažková, & Chmelíková, 2014). Nevertheless, it is vital to note that the high profits are not influenced by increasing prices of wheat and sugar as bakeries do not transfer the costs to its clients. 6% of the bakery industry constitutes a ten-person workforce and the majority of the retailers have only a single operating facility. In spite of economic challenges, the baking industry employs more than 800,000 individuals hence producing $44billion in salaries.

            Even though the bakery business is lucrative, new entrants need intensive capital for purchasing baking machinery and then facing stiff competition from all famous brands. Opening up a small-scale retail bakery is not capital intensive and it is easier to operate. Small bakeries can specialize in producing only a small range of products such as bread (Renko, Sustic, & Butigan, 2011). As time goes by factual information, small scale bakeries can allow themselves to accumulate capital and develop marketspace.

Assessment of Current Opportunities for Global Trade in the Bakery Industrial Sector

 In the past five years, the bakery industry has experienced growth in terms of profitability and international expansion. The demand for bakery items rose in European markets and northern parts of America hence forcing organizations to seek out new business openings in other regions. Additionally, the climbing revenues and consumer turning to highly-priced bakery items such as gluten-free products stabilized the annual growth rate of the entire market. Experts and analysts predict that the bakery industry will grow at a 4.2% annual rate which translates to $586billion per annum. The increment is inclusive of a 2.6% 2019 growth due to the increase in demand for healthier options. In light of the recent growth, the UK provides the tenth-largest bakery market regionally and all around the world with wholesales priced at $15.1 billion. More precisely, the European Union accounts for 12.8% of the bakery market share. In Canada, the exports account for $25.7 million with a compound yearly growth rate of 9.9%. Consistent development points to increasing business openings and exportation in the bakery sector. The largest and most marketable grouping of baked items is cereals and biscuits which make up 57% of the entire sales (Litvinova, Morozova, & Yatsechko, 2015). The bakery industry explains the rapid growth and the adoption of new marketing and development strategies so that the opportunities can be exploited for profitability. The current opportunities are basic to human nutrition and sometimes deemed necessary. The suitability, availability, and nutrition outlines related to bakery products are some of the aspects sustaining the growth of the bakery industry in the present-day market. Their significance as a primary diet component is predominant among different social classes. For more than a hundred years bread has been a major component in local cuisines hence helping the baking industry to withstand an economic crisis in different parts of the world. The rising trend in the consumption of natural diet and organic foods has sharply increased the demand for research products such as wheat and other baked products. The need for packed whole wheat, gluten-free, and organic foods is an important aspect of the growth of the baking industry.

Country Recommendation and the Underlying Reasons

 The country is recommended according to the Global Trade site in New Zealand. New Zealand provides essential things needed for market expansion. For instance, the nation is a politically stable and reliable economy. Globally, New Zealand has a welfare system that informs its economic development thus giving investors an easier time in terms of predicting market trends, policymaking, institutional design, and other commercial objectives. Furthermore, New Zealand has unicameral government since 1993 which facilitates stable politics, suitable for policy formulation, and permits economic and societal usage of sustainable mechanisms. All these things help in the creation of a conducive business environment. Despite its small size, its economic stability, and capability to expand, the gradual growth of its gross domestic product is 3.3% annually thus indicating that the consumer has a strong purchasing power and some obstacles might slow growth in the foreseeable future.  The economic surrounding makes it's surrounding conducive for expanding a bakery business which relies on daily expenditure. Apart from each factor, the New Zealand government offers businesses grants as a way of encouraging business growth. Hence a bakery in need of expanding into its territory can receive some capital from the government of the day. As part of its diplomatic image, New Zealand has adequate frameworks that are suitable for the commencement of a business expansion venture (Skořepa, & Pícha, 2016). One key area which makes a nation conducive to accommodate foreign investment is the ability to conventionally provide infrastructural frameworks and funding for business activities. Consequently, businesses can thrive due to a robust functional system supporting their daily endeavors. Maintaining positive relationships with neighboring nations within the Asia Pacific regions led to closer economic agreements hence the creation of tax-free zones in terms of exportation and importation of goods and services to other countries. A bakery can easily blend in and tap into the financial advantages brought about by the tax cuts and economic stability. Essentially, good relations implies low tariffs on importation and exportation hence business easily boom in such conducive situations. 

 All the conditions mentioned above would be conducive for the ABC bakers as it has been offering bakery products for the past four years hence New Zealand is suitable for the expansion of its particular business model (Blažková, & Chmelíková, 2014). More so, the economics of scale give ABC bakers a higher chance of appealing to consumers as New Zealand has a young population who can consumer sweet bakery products such as pastries and rolls. In other words, New Zealand would be a suitable host for the startup as it provides all the frameworks needed for the progressive approach of the business.

Recommendation of a Different Country

            An alternative country from the Market Research database is Somalia. Somalia is an underdeveloped country. However, it would give ABC bakers a conducive surrounding to startup and gain traction of the market due to the simple nature of the Somalian people. One of the most advantageous aspects Somalia offers is a straightforward provision of legal requirements (Blažková, & Chmelíková, 2014). Unlike other nations, getting permits and starting a business is simple and fast. Also, considering its young economy, the labor is cheap and other working conditions can be easily managed without any close supervision from other legal superiors. If ABC bakery sets up a business in Somalia, they may enjoy accessibility to its water bodies hence easy exportation to other neighboring African countries. In terms of unstable political scenery, the organization can make a pact with the government so that its assets may be protected from any harm that might occur in the near future. Even though the bakery business is likely to succeed due to a neutral surrounding, the regulation and impacting the norms of doing business would have to be upgraded so that each business actions is carried out properly.

Which of the Two Sites Provide Adequate Researching Information

Market research database provides the best researching information due to its accuracy and ability to narrow down on the research (Martínez et al., 2013). Isolating information and giving the researcher the chance to evaluate based on his or her needs is one of the most accurate ways of finding information. Besides, finding information is not enough, making the information relevant and actionable is key and the Market research database is good at achieving steady business growth within the market.

The Primary Barrier to Entry

            Market size can be a challenging barrier to entry in the baking industry. The market size dictates the level of competition and amounts of profits brought in by the consumers (Kubicová, & Predanocyová, 2018). There are numerous commercial bakers and if they commit to a small market, then the competition would be stiff the ability to come up with the effective means to expand the market size only means the organization has to increase its capital range in order to penetrate new markets.

References

Blažková, I., & Chmelíková, G. (2014). Market Concentration as a Precondition for Higher Competitiveness of the Czech Food Industry. In Proceedings of the 8th International Scientific Conference INPROFORUM: Investment Decision-Making in the Period of Economic Recovery (Vol. 1, pp. 121-126).

Kubicová, Ľ., & Predanocyová, K. (2018). Situation in the market of bakery products. International Scientific Days, 391-406.

Litvinova, T., Morozova, I., & Yatsechko, S. (2015). Experiential marketing as a tool of improvement of competitiveness of enterprises in the market of bread and bakery products. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3 S6), 11-11.

Martínez-Monzó, J., García-Segovia, P., & Albors-Garrigos, J. (2013). Trends and innovations in bread, bakery, and pastry. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 11(1), 56-65.

Renko, N., Sustic, I., & Butigan, R. (2011). Designing marketing strategy using the five competitive forces model by michael e. Porter-Case of Small Bakery in Croatia. International journal of management cases, 13(3), 376-385.Skořepa, L., & Pícha, K. (2016). Factors of purchase of bread–prospect to regain the market share?. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 64(3), 1067-1072.

Introduction

 Porter's model is a strategic economic model that tries to clarify the underlying reasons driving an external competitive surrounding (Ormanidhi, & Stringa, 2008). Information derived from Porter’s model can then be applied while analyzing one business's strengths against another. Consequently explaining the advantages one region has over another. Porter's model makes use of five factors- rivalry, broker influence, consumer's power, substitution threats, and new entrant threats. According to Porter, those five forces influence competition amongst different economic players. Hence, these five forces impact a business’s competitive surroundings thus distressing profitability (Huggins, & Izushi, 2011). The negotiating power of clients and suppliers influence a business’s capability to increase charges and regulate costs correspondingly.

Application of Porter’s Model

            Porter's concepts can be used to analyze various levels of competition in specified industries. It is commonly used whenever one starts a new business or while penetrating new markets (Hemmatfar, Salehi, & Bayat, 2010). Based on Porter's context, competition emerges from various sources such as the client's purchasing power and substitute goods within that market.  For instance, new market players introduce new prices and push up sales hence gaining a market share. Therefore, new entrants increase competition and rivalry. On the other hand, if market barriers hinder new entrants from penetrating the market, the existing business experience less competition (Pretorius, 2008). Secondly, if a customer has bargaining power, then he or she can seek better alternatives hence the business with a suitable price range can win more customers.

 It is vital to note that Porter's model of organizational approaches should align with external systems. A competitive advantage should depend on comprehending industrial systems and their alternating mannerisms (Esen, & Uyar, 2012). Porter claims that the goal of a tactician is identifying and managing competitive surroundings by designing a competitive environment to suit an organization's needs. Arguably, technological developments and various mechanisms of strategic management such as advanced consumer services and generating valuable goods have helped to prove Porter's argument to be valid and correct in the long run.

How to Apply Porter’s Model

            Porter’s model can influence and shape strategic marketing decisions. For example, a business can decide to focus its attention on customers by offering unique valuable items. Secondly, a business owner may set his or her price a little bit lower or higher than other businesses offering the same service or goods (Boja, 2011). The market forces help businesses conduct business activities based on external market forces. Besides, the model can help in reshaping the business approach as it exposes weaknesses and strengths in relation to trends, pricing, consumer preferences, and supplier pricing. The ability to understand all the five forces influencing competition manifests a company's brand image. More so, Porter's model applies to where there are more than two rivals in the market. Also, business owners can consider industrial patterns and learn how to predict or interpret challenges at different times.

Other Theories Related To the Porter Model

            Before Porter formulates his concepts, previous works claimed that a business can be competitive if only it acquires two or more attributes. In other words, previous competition concepts focused on rivalry while overlooking other market aspects such as consumers, suppliers, and other market forces (Teeratansirikool, et al., 2013). These previous competition ideals failed to identify specific market forces that would give a business or organization a competitive edge based on the external market environment (Baumann, Cherry, & Chu, 2019). Unlike Porter who looked at all competitive aspects, previous scholars gave managerial and organizational factors as reasons for failure. Thus, Porter’s model looked at competition in terms of external market forces rather than internal organizational systems. In summary, theories who came before Porter tried to point out the increased competition in labor, social amenities, and other economic aspects which affected rivalry between organizations.

Analysis of the Impact of Michael Porter’s Work and Paradigm Shift to Competitive Productivity

Powerful consumers could use their power to manipulate charges or demand for more services while paying a lesser price hence taking advantage of themselves. A client's bargaining power increases due to increased rivalry between organizations and a lack of differentiation. In this situation, businesses fail to differentiate their brand name hence giving clients higher bargaining power due to low-quality services (Magretta, 2011). More so, firms in various industrial sectors buy different inputs from traders, which account for the various pricing. Powerful suppliers take advantage of their influence to increase prices or demand for their goods hence lowering profit margins thus giving consumers leverage. The capability of a nation to attain sustainable rates of development in terms of gross domestic product reveals the competitiveness of that particular nation (André et al., 2009). Competitiveness reveals the ability of a nation to remain competitive under a stiff market environment.

Conclusion

 Porter’s model unveiled external market forces influencing competition. Porter’s aim was to aligning internal organizational strategies with external market factors such as pricing and consumer purchasing power. He dwelled on identifying a certain weakness and then putting in place measures to attain a competitive edge. The competition was no longer about looking at a rival organization but offering value and finding better ways of producing quality goods and services.  Also, competition exposes market forces such as consumer bargaining power and other factors surrounding a competitive market.

References

André, F. J., González, P., & Porteiro, N. (2009). Strategic quality competition and the Porter hypothesis. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 57(2), 182-194.

Baumann, C., Cherry, M., & Chu, W. (2019). Competitive Productivity (CP) at macro–meso–micro levels. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management.

Boja, C. (2011). Clusters models, factors and characteristics. International journal of economic practices and theories, 1(1).

Esen, S., & Uyar, H. (2012). Examining the competitive structure of Turkish tourism industry in comparison with diamond model. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 62, 620-627.

Hemmatfar, M., Salehi, M., & Bayat, M. (2010). Competitive advantages and strategic information systems. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(7), 158.

Huggins, R., & Izushi, H. (Eds.). (2011). Competition, competitive advantage, and clusters: the ideas of Michael Porter. Oxford University Press.

Magretta, J. (2011). Understanding Michael Porter: The essential guide to competition and strategy. Harvard business press.

Ormanidhi, O., & Stringa, O. (2008). Porter's model of generic competitive strategies. Business Economics, 43(3), 55-64.

Pretorius, M. (2008). When Porter's generic strategies are not enough: complementary strategies for turnaround situations. Journal of Business Strategy.

Teeratansirikool, L., Siengthai, S., Badir, Y., & Charoenngam, C. (2013). Competitive strategies and firm performance: the mediating role of performance measurement. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.

Parts Emporium Inventory Management Case

Parts Emporium is a distributor of automobile spare parts in wholesale and is currently located in the south side of Chicago. The company is under the ownership of two partners Ed Spriggs and Dan Block. Over the years in operation, Parts Emporium Inc. had managed to transform from selling automobile parts out of the premises, which expanded the business making it the top distributor of automobile parts in a monopoly market within the north-central region. Recently, the capacity of inventory projected from about 65% to 90%, which resulted in stagnant growth of sales. Consequently, the owners were forced to hire an outside manager for the first time since the company will be established. Block and Spriggs hired me as the inventory and operation manager to identify the problems causing a stagnant growth rate of the sales, as well as provide the most appropriate solution to cull the issues. In this paper, I seek to examine Parts Emporium Case and report the inventory management of EG151 exhaust gas and DB032 drive belt products to Spriggs and Block.

As the inventory manager, I was able to identify several issues affecting the growth of product sales in Parts Emporium Inc. In this case, each of the problems can be either short-term or long-term since the attention is required with immediate effect but averting and furnishing may take longer. The main issue is about customer services, which is not as effective and efficient as needed. Parts Emporium Inc.’s supply chain involves the owners who are not exceptionally equipped and skilled to manage the company, sales and marketing department, customer service management, and human resource department (Ha et al., 2016). The main issue likely to affect the growth of sales for the business is poor management from all the departments. In particular, the owners are not very good managers and still operated a company without qualified personnel for the managerial roles.

Another problem I managed to spot is in the sales and marketing department, where the marketers are not fully aware of the most effective and efficient marketing techniques giving significant competitors and the upper hand. Finally, the customer service management also majors their focus on selling while they should provide a friendly and satisfactory service to the customers (Krajewski et al., 2013). Such issues can be efficiently dealt with by hiring a qualified and skilled purchasing or slightly sales and marketing manager to improve the department’s effectiveness and performance. Additionally, the company should offer training programs the customer service department to improve its service delivery skills and proficiency (Krajewski et al., 2013). Hiring an inventory manager will ensure that all inventories area adequately prepared and managed. I intend to improve the company’s profit margin by increasing sales growth through appropriate inventory management.

As the company’s owners, I have made a crucial decision to examine two products DB032 and EG151 to understand the inventory system of management as well as propose the most appropriate policy for Parts Emporium Inc. In this regard, I examined the plans and identified the most effective one, which will increase the sales growth rate by yielding the lowest cost. In my investigation, I tested the two most appropriate inventory systems for the business, which include the periodic inventory system and the continuous inventory system. From the two products I selected, I collected data, analyzed and computed to find out that the most appropriate and effective system for we business, Parts Emporium Inc. is the continuous inventory system. We company provides an estimate of a cost held in the inventory at 21% of the inventory investment (Sangeetha, 2020). In this case, the opportunity cost is found to tie the funds in the stock, while the variable costs recognized by the percentage cost entails insurance, shrinkage, and taxes.

I now take the opportunity to introduce the continuous inventory system to you and include all relevant costs. Under the constant inventory system, the utilization of our new warehouse in Chicago has projected the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) from 65% to 90%. As a result, a considerable amount of the company’s funds are held in the inventory (Babiloni & Guijarro, 2020). Based on the calculations of EOQ, inventory costs, as well as the total annual inventory, should be minimized by the lot size (see table 1 below). Product DB032 has a safety stock of 162 units, while EG151 stocks 279 units. Accordingly, I have concluded to maintain a top-notch level of quality services to satisfy the customers, and maintain a cycle-service of not less than 95%, which results to a loss of 10% of consumer demands to the core competitors (Babiloni & Guijarro, 2020). Financially (see the table) expenses are not seen, because reserves (stock) is accumulating in the “investment” line. The only index, indirectly signalizing about overstock and most of the time it is viewed once every year is overall stock turnover. Usually, signalizes about the problem, but it fails to show how to solve the problem (Haughton & Isotupa, 2018). In this case, it is quite evident that the continuous inventory system promotes the company’s sales growth and profit margin by reducing the stock-out, order costs, and cycle inventory.

Variability in Costing can lead to degrading of performance of any organization. Companies tend to make mistakes by overpricing or underpricing the goods, which affects both the market reputation and demand of that particular product, which later acts as decrease (Haughton & Isotupa, 2018). As we know, Procurement is an integral part of the supply chain to produce the final product, so what does an Organization procures precisely for the final product. Its Raw material, Machines, spare parts. Since profit is a necessity to sustain in the market we will pass on these cost to the final price of the product. Because of many different types of “Saving” system minimum order quantity (EOQ, MOQ), or minimal transportation order and similar partitions blood of the company’s money are frozen in the warehouse (Babiloni & Guijarro, 2020). Every business needs increased Topline and decreased Bottom-line for a successful business. Supply Chain Management takes care of each aspect of one of the bottom-line Procurement by doing Strategic Planning, Capacity evaluation and enhancement, Procurement methodology, Inventory Management, Price negotiation, Statutory and regulatory requirements, Cost Optimization, VA/VE activity, Supplier Quality Management, and Supplier Performance Monitoring.

In summary, I recommend reducing our expenses by reducing the company’s overstock. But, there is one massive problem connected. If the companies understand what means not to have the correct product, because the shelf stays empty, having too many products is a different - foreign concept to them. This is the beginning of point wherein system we need to optimize the cost. Here I am excluding the fixed fees like Interest, Operating Cost and other legal liabilities. Once the final product is ready, we need to ship those to target customers as per we sales plan. In this case, we company will be forced to underprice the products and try to empty the warehouse to avoid further losses and wear and tear issue. To prevent this kind of scenarios, we need to have a full-proof Supply Chain model designed for we industry, which in we case is the continuous inventory system, where we have to be extra cautious to avoid or minimize unforeseen exigencies.

Table 1: Actual Demands for both EG151 and DB032

                                                                     References

Babiloni, E., & Guijarro, E. (2020). Fill rate: from its definition to its calculation for the continuous (s, Q) inventory system with discrete demands and lost sales. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 28(1), 35-43.

Ha, A., Long, X., & Nasiry, J. (2016). Quality in supply chain encroachment. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 18(2), 280-298.

Haughton, M., & Isotupa, K. P. (2018). A Continuous Review Inventory System with Lost Sales and Emergency Orders.

Krajewski, L. J., Ritzman, L. P., & Malhotra, M. K. (2013). Operations management: Processes and supply chains (Vol. 1). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Sangeetha, N., Karthick, T., & Sivakumar, B. (2020). Optimal Control of Postponed Demands in a Continuous Review Inventory System with Two Types of Customers. International Journal of Information and Management Sciences, 31(1), 1-14.

Whitley’s Gourmet Food

“Gourmet Online”

Table of Contents

1. Document Purpose_ 3
2. Project Background_ 3
3. OBJECTIVES ..........................................................................................................4
4. Value Statement_ 5
5. Stakeholders_ 7

Table 1: Specialty Food Association Executives and Staff 7

5. Success Criteria_ 7
6. Constraints_ 8
7. Scope_ 10
8. Work Breakdown Structure_ 11

Figure 1: Work Breakdown Structure for Gourmet Online. 11

9. Recommendation(s) and Approvals_ 12

References_ 13

Porter’s Competitive Advantage of Industries

Introduction

Porter's diamond model is a diamond structured system that concentrates on evaluating and explaining the underlying factors giving certain regions a competitive edge over other regions. Also, Porter's model investigates the key aspects influencing consistent innovative actions. Porter’s argument is centered on the fact that an organization’s capability to compete on a worldwide level relies primarily on an interconnected set of location strategies which in turn drives industrial growth in various places (Bakan, & Doğan, 2012). An organization’s strategy, internal arrangement and competitiveness, dynamic situations, demand settings, and correlated and supporting industries are some of the conditions which if favorable force organizations to persistently innovate and improve their market value. The competitiveness which results from continuous innovation and upgrade is necessary and key in giving organizations a competitive edge over its rivals (Greve, 2009). There are two aspects defined in Porter’s Diamond model- governance and opportunity. These two aspects fuse to influence the national surrounding on which companies compete for marketing space.

Theories before Porter

            Most of the scholars who came up with similar competitive advantage models assumed that a competitive advantage can only be gained when an organization advances or obtains a collection of attributes that permit it to outdo its rivals (Kharub, & Sharma, 2017). These authors could not narrow down on certain specifics but came up with managerial reasons as being at the core of gaining a competitive edge over other rivals. For example, the key competitive advantage theories were market-based or resource reliant. Their main competencies relied on resources or management strategies which in the long run would give them a competitive advantage.

The Development of Michael Porter’s Concept on National Competitive Advantage

 Porter's national competitive advantage model permits the examination of competitive zones and none competitive zones (Smit, 2010). As a consequence, the national competitive model can isolate or access competitive advantage resources of a certain industrial sector located in a particular region hence assisting in realizing the competitive status of a nation on a global scale. This model is made up of four national factors- factor situations, demands situations, associated and subsidiary industrial sectors, and the entire firm's approach and competitiveness (Kaplan, & Norton, 2008). According to Porter, these issues intermingle with each other to form situations where creativity and competitiveness take place.

 The development of Porter's model relied on the primary factors impacting competitiveness. The four determinants in the diamond model impact competitiveness heavily (Huggins, & Izushi, 2011). Porter's national competitive advantage concept is a proactive economic idea hence does not only quantify but substantiate its claims. The diamond model claims that nations can generate new competitive advantages for themselves such as a robust manufacturing industry, skilled workforces, and administrative support of the nation's economy. Also, the nationwide background under which organizations run extensively determines the manner in which these firms are fashioned, planned, and handled. Thus these issues impact strategy and mechanisms structures laid down by the administration (Wang, 2014). More so, the domestic rivalry is key in influencing global competitiveness since it exerts pressure on the development of exclusive sustainable advantages and competences. As the domestic competition stiffens, organizations are forced to attain a higher level of innovativeness in order to retain a competitive edge over other companies operating in the same market niche.  Consequently, this will assist the companies as they enter into a global competitive stage.

 In terms of usage, the diamond model helps in the analysis of external competitive surroundings.  The findings from the analysis can then be used to explain the strength of certain business activities. Consequently, this may explain the underlying reasons why some companies are stronger in specific regions than others (Rothaermel, 2008). Within the model, Porter tries to explain the reasons for driving competitive in one region than another. The existence of intercontinental competitive traders in a certain state could be resourceful in assisting organizations making use of those traders or suppliers. This is due to the simple fact that affordable accessibility to inputs.

Theoretical Impact

 Michael porter based his Diamond theory on the expectancy idea and value chain study. Through the expectancy concept, Porter organized the main aspects that affect a worker's motivation to achieve certain tasks (Stonehouse, & Snowdon, 2007). He revealed that various elements drive a worker's efforts to attain a logistic objective including the fact that anticipation that activity would yield desired outcomes and these positive outcomes would match the effort behind them (Boja, 2011). Through the value chain examination the author isolated operative supply chain organization, offering a system that groups the actions which make a company’s item- delivery system as principal or supportive activities and further revealing the collaboration between the two factors.

            In summary, the attaining a competitive edge is the pivotal theme of any organization in strategic managerial evaluations. The collection of informed decisions and activities lead to the creation and execution of approaches meant to attain the goals of a company. The continuous iterative mechanism designed at keeping a firm suitably matched to its surrounding helps in making it competitive and sustainable. Porter argued that previous competitive advantage concepts were based on cost and his concept was relevant as it appealed to other elements of competitive advantage.

References

Bakan, İ., & Doğan, İ. F. (2012). Competitiveness of the industries based on the Porter’s diamond model: An empirical study. International Journal of Research and Reviews in Applied Sciences, 11(3), 441-455.

Boja, C. (2011). Clusters models, factors and characteristics. International journal of economic practices and theories, 1(1).

Greve, H. R. (2009). Bigger and safer: The diffusion of competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 30(1), 1-23.

Huggins, R., & Izushi, H. (Eds.). (2011). Competition, competitive advantage, and clusters: the ideas of Michael Porter. Oxford University Press.

Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2008). The execution premium: Linking strategy to operations for competitive advantage. Harvard Business Press.

Kharub, M., & Sharma, R. (2017). Comparative analyses of competitive advantage using Porter diamond model (the case of MSMEs in Himachal Pradesh). Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal.

Rothaermel, F. T. (2008). Competitive advantage in technology intensive industries. In Technological innovation: Generating economic results. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Smit, A. J. (2010). The competitive advantage of nations: is Porter’s Diamond Framework a new theory that explains the international competitiveness of countries?. Southern African Business Review, 14(1).

Stonehouse, G., & Snowdon, B. (2007). Competitive advantage revisited: Michael Porter on strategy and competitiveness. Journal of Management Inquiry, 16(3), 256-273.

Wang, H. L. (2014). Theories for competitive advantage.