Business Law

Part 1

Type of business

 Clothing Boutique

 The type of business that I would like to start is a clothing boutique. In conducting my research, I have learned that the town lack decent shopping that offer basis clothing necessities. Thus, I want to operate a fashion boutique and meet the interest of women. My target market is women since they are the most likely to purchase clothing.  I will run the business as a single individual to enjoy the flexibility of management as well as the business profits.

 Form of business

Sole proprietorship

 I would like to select a sole proprietorship form of business.  In conducting the research, I have learned that there are various types of business entities such as sole proprietorship, Limited Liability Company, partnership, among others (Fontana & Trakin, 2010). Out of these options, I have chosen sole proprietorship since it's easy to set up, it’s easy to maintain, and I will have 100% control of the business.  In conducting the market research, I have researched about the competition in the clothing market and I have gained knowledge on how competitors conduct the business.  I have also gained an insight into what customers need, and their interest and preferences.  I have researched the legal status, sources of finance (capital), and business risks.  In  general,  the basis for my selection has been based on the  features of the sole proprietorship and from my research, I have  learned that  this is a business  that is run  by a sole trader,  the capital comes from personal sources,  it has unlimited liability,  the business owner is responsible for  all business management,  the business owner  accepts both profits and losses alone, and  there is no special  legislation (Fontana & Trakin, 2010). With this knowledge, I have a better understanding of this form of business and I will be in a position to meet customers’ wants.  

 The pros of a sole proprietorship

 Even though other forms of business such as partnerships and corporations have higher revenues and a great impact on the economy,   I would like to start a sole proprietorship business since it is easy to form and to dissolve (Fontana & Trakin, 2010). For example, my business plan is to start a clothing boutique and provide fashionable clothing to women.  Note that I have made this decision in a timely and quick manner without involving other people.  Thus, it will be easy to start this business since no one will bring counter-arguments or oppositions toward my decisions. Another important point is that if I feel I no longer need the business, I will just dissolve it since I have complete control of the business and freedom to terminate.  I also like the sole proprietorship business since I will have management flexibility, I will retain all profits, keep business secrets, and handle the risk (Fontana & Trakin, 2010).  Unlike corporations and partnerships, I will require a little amount of capital and I can raise the amount from friends and family, micro-loans, business grants, line of credit, among other sources.  Last but not least, I will be in a position to create direct contacts with my customers and this will enhance understanding with customers and better provision of services (Fontana & Trakin, 2010). Generally, I want a sole proprietorship to avoid legal formalities, enjoy the flexibility, pay personal income taxes only, and make decisions alone.

 The cons of a sole proprietorship

 In conducting the research, I have also found that sole proprietorship is associated with demerits since I will be responsible and accountable for all financial liabilities of the business (Fontana & Trakin, 2010).   At times the business may incur losses and liabilities and as a sole business owner, I will handle the unlimited liabilities.  Another challenge is that I may want to expand the business and provide men's clothing but since the financial resources are limited, I may not be in a position to expand the business.  I have also learned that the business may grow and as a sole proprietorship, I may be unable to perform all duties (Fontana & Trakin, 2010).  Lastly, unexpected life circumstances such as bankruptcy, illness, or death may lead to business termination and this is a big challenge.  Considering both sides, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages and thus, I would prefer starting this simplest form of a business. As  long as  I understand that  I  will be liable for all unlimited liabilities of the business, and  that  I will face challenges in raising capital,  I will protect the business by obtaining insurance,  and hire contractors.

Part 2

Enron scandal

 Clients who were part of the savings plan at Enron Corp were allowed to contribute 1 to 15% of their salary to the plan. Clients invested their contribution towards different investment options including stock funds and Oil and Gas Stock Fund and both were company stock (Sterling, 2002).  However, the clients filed a lawsuit against the officers and members of the Savings Plan for failure to show loyalty and to adhere to the rules of plan documents.  The plaintiffs argued that the entity responsible for the Savings plan failed to adhere to the duty of loyalty and as a result, they acted to their own interests to gain personal benefits (Sterling, 2002).  The officers mislead the participants and beneficiaries and ignored the interest to attain personal benefits. Initially, the fiduciaries offered investment advice to the clients and they had a positive statement that inspired the clients to purchase Enron stock. However, their investment turned sour when the Enron and the Board of Directors responsible for compensation and development breached their duty by failure to handle the matter carefully. The first breach of duty was based on appointing unqualified fiduciaries. Secondly, Enron and the board of directors failed to monitor the investment decisions that were raised by the appointed fiduciaries. Third, the Administrative Committee that was responsible for monitoring the Enron stock and evaluate whether the available stocks were the right stock breached the duty of prudence (Sterling, 2002). They neither assessed the Enron's investment option nor did they establish a processor plans to terminate the use of Company stock since it was not the right investment option.  Fourth, the Enron, the Board of Directors and the Enron officers very well knew about the precarious financial condition of the company but they failed to prevent the clients from buying and selling the stocks (Sterling, 2002).  Thus, the clients proceeded with the investment and during the lockdown, the company lost its value and clients lost hundreds of dollars.  Finally, the Administrative Committee and the Northern Trust Company failed to diversify the investments to minimize the risk of losses (Sterling, 2002).  The cause of the problem is that the unqualified fiduciaries failed to comply with the plan requirement and much of the investment was on the Enron stock.

 Every corporation including the Enron Corp has a standard of care derived from the tort law.  The law obligates the corporate officers to uphold the duty of prudence, exercise due care, monitor the corporation's business, and behave in a reasonable way (Wade, 2002). These standards of care play a significant role in protecting the corporate from governance failures. However, most corporations including Enron do not adhere to the duty of care. Note that all board members were aware of the fiduciary duties and they were responsible for the company's affairs.  According to the company's rule of conduct, they were expected to act in honesty, be competent, and provide reasonable care. In addition, they should support the corporation's strategies and more importantly, maintain the company's investment-credit rating and reduce the burden of debt (Wade, 2002).  However, the following corporate officials were aware of the criminal activities going on in the organization but they failed to act in according to the standard of care.

Kenneth Lay Enron CEO- Sherron Watkins, the Enron's Vice-President of Enron blew the whistle or rather he disclosed the illegal actions in Enron Corporation.  He communicated to Kenneth Law (CEO) through a memorandum to bring attention to the unethical actions that were going on in the organization.  In the memorandum, he said that the financial situation of the corporation will get worse and there would be accounting scandals.  Watkins was suspicious about the Enron accounting actions and he predicted that Enron does not comply with accounting rules and as a result, there would be accounting fraud (Wade, 2002). However, Kenneth Lay did not take the matter seriously but he remained silent to avoid diminishing his stature in the profession.  Despite the complaints from the Vice-President concerning the apparent improprieties, the CEO demoted Vice-President Watkins. In other words, he was demoted to human resources. In addition, she failed to handle the concerns that Watkins expressed.

Jeffrey Skilling- Note that Enron's ethics code stated that there should be no disrespectful treatment in the organization and people should treat each other with respect.  In addition, members should show integrity, communicate effectively with each other and be excellent in everything (Wade, 2002).  However, when the investigative reporter was Enron investigating Enron’s financial statements, she held a conversation with Skilling among other corporate officers.  Skilling was not happy with the investigator's inquiry and he argued that the questioning was unethical and he failed to answer the questions completely and accurately.

 Ben Glisan – he was a corporate treasurer who was involved in a criminal conspiracy that negatively affected the corporation.  He was involved in an illegal transaction of %938, 000 among other finance schemes that concealed losses (Wade, 2002).

 Andrew Fastow - Fastow was involved in an ethical act of failing to record the assets and liabilities of the company on the balance sheet.  He concealed the records containing the massive losses of the corporations and as a result, this led to the company's bankruptcy.  Fastow also concealed that Enron was involved in trade with other companies and that that it was partnering with related party transactions.

References

Fontana, P. K., & Trakin, J. C. (2010). Choosing the right legal form of business: The complete

guide to becoming a sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, or corporation. Ocala, Fla:

Atlantic Pub. Group.

Sterling, T. F. (2002). The Enron scandal. New York: Nova Science Pub.

Wade, C. L. (2002). Corporate Governance Failures and the Managerial Duty of Care. . John's L.

Rev., 76, 767. Retrieved from: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1365&context=lawreview

Huu Cuong, N. (2011). Factors Causing Enron's Collapse: An Investigation into Corporate

Governance and Company Culture. Corporate Ownership & Control Journal, 8(3). Retrieved from: http://www.virtusinterpress.org/IMG/pdf/10-22495cocv8i3c6p2.pdf

Evaluation of Carlsberg’s Business Strategy In Relation To Management of People and Innovation

Human Resource management and innovation

Sustainable strategy

Carlsberg’s corporate strategy embeds sustainability as an objective way of generating an appealing philosophy within the organization. It is the organization’s goal to participate in bettering the immediate community, which consume their products (Evans et.al, 2017, 598). In 2017, Carlsberg revised their sustainability priorities and realigned their long-term goals. In order to serve the community where they sell their beer Carlsberg needed to utilize human resource management and innovation for the sake of having an effective outreach.

In 2016, the firm conducted a materiality evaluation in conjunction with Business for social responsibility in order to define the roles of human resource department, threats facing human resource management sections (Prajogo 2016, 213). The findings from the evaluation along with universal trends such as global warming water shortage lie at the center of the new sustainability strategy and innovation.

More so, Carlsberg frequently involves stakeholders in handling issues in order to gains new perspectives and gauge whether they are in the right direction or not. Yearly, reputation surveys carried out in main Carlsberg market areas with customers, workers and the entire public as the main participants lends a helping hand in decision making and shaping human resource skills (Souto, 2015, 146). In other words, stakeholder involvement introduces a third party, which helps rectify any mistake made by human resource personnel.

            As mentioned earlier, Carlsberg’s corporate strategy comprises four other strategies in its sustainability package: reduction that is, weight of manufactured items, recycling and reusing and innovation. The first two strategies are ecological ideologies hence aimed at reducing the impact of their products on the natural environment and the other principles focus on sustainable packaging (Cortimiglia, Ghezzi, and Frank, 2016, 429). All of the above require innovation and good human management skills. The idea of possessing a constant circle of resources, which cater to the needs of both the workers and consumers such, motivates good organizational culture. According to renowned scholars, sustainable growth, efficient packaging meets the functional necessities such as effective utilization of resources by the firm, preservation of electricity and water during its lifecycle which safeguard the public and natural surrounding from harm. In addition, the firm applies a holistic approach to environmental challenges facing it, that is, assessing the eco-friendly performance of items, which then motivates investors to improve the item based on its impact on the natural surroundings. Moreover, Carlsberg’s sustainable strategy operates under a fully tried and tested item design sustainable methodology, which evaluates consumer preferences, worker’s occupation satisfaction among other aspects.

 Human resource management

The capability of an organization to sustain and possess a market share within its line of specialization requires some sort of innovation and relevant skills from its human resource departments (Ghezzi, Cortimiglia, and Frank, 2015, 350). In a summarized manner, Carlsberg all through its years of operation has been able to endure and exist in an ever changing corporate surrounding based on its tactic to administrative decision making. In the end, the Carlsberg made profits without putting the finances of its workers, community and operating surrounding in jeopardy (Noe et.al, 2017, 78). Therefore, the achievement of a company relies on the manner in which the organization, in this case Carlsberg handles the needs of the stakeholders and employees. To emphasis further, the extent to which workers engage or commit to their duties determines the success of the entire firm hence giving the firm its success.

  Carlsberg’s success, as economic experts claim, relies on the hands-on roles of workers in the manufacturing sector. Since integrating, the concept of tactical human resource management goes hand in hand with a good working atmosphere while at the same time joining agendas of Carlsberg’s competitive plan with human resource administration norms (Guo, Su, and Ahlstrom, 2016, 538). Hence making use of balanced of workers’ reactions and market conditions improves the performance of the company. In the end, the business strategy links the workforce with human management skills. For the sake of improving the business results.

Human resource management’s success hinges on how well it fits within the firm’s development and goals. As the company enlarges, human resource management activities and operations must alter at the same pace as the development rate. Carlsberg’s ensured a persistency between its corporate strategy and development rate (Haigh, Walker, Bacq, and Kickul , 2015, 8). Human resource management becomes more complicated as the firm grows and passes through various organizational stages. Each stages depend on the initial stage. For this reason, Carlsberg prioritized basic human resource management concepts such as recruitment, compensating and training of staff members. As an end outcome, the company formed an official personnel subdivision and delegated some sub functions of human resource tasks to the subdivision. More so, workers attached to the subdivision formulated their own financial plan and then helped other sectors uplift the entire company up. This led to an increased growth rate, as the subdivision would take note of nitty gritty details, improvise, and correct certain factors.

 One of the factors that enabled Carlsberg’s sustainability was controlled growth, proper planning, specialized administration or supervision and proper management of limited resources. The proper management of the firm enabled future prospects and better investment strategies. Thus, Carlsberg regulated its growth for the sake of sustainable expansion (Carayannis, Sindakis, and Walter, 2015, 98). In fact, measurement and regulation of a company’s development facilitates and accommodates the increasing diversity among workers, streamlines communication, motivates investment in technological equipment for human resource management hence increases productivity and cost efficiency.

Selling beer is not a hobby for Carlsberg but a serious business, which coordinates human resource management while integrating functions such compensation, training, and recruitment to its staff members (Vrontis, Bresciani, and Giacosa, 2016, 1883). The focus should be on minimizing duplication and increasing synchronization among various department within the organization. Integrative curriculums such as productivity upgrades, progression preparation, and performance administration emerge to push up sales (Leiponen, 2012, 1256). At the end of it all, the human resource department controls and improves the firm’s operations through the business strategy and proper establishment of the organization.

            There is a substantial similarity in the possibility of logical resource supervision and information organization. However, primary variances between their efforts and perceptions hence logical resource supervision concentrates on shaping and directing logical resources from strategized and innovation management (Sengupta, 2018, 136). Generally, human resource management functions as department that safeguards intellectual capital of the organization. More so, knowledge management through the human resource is a tactical and operational way of bringing the opinions of other people on board and executing the ideas in a holistic manner. Information management is complex in nature and eases administration of information regarding tasks such as generation, transportation, and utilization of the firm. Its roles are planning, execution, operation, and supervision of all the information regarding the firm’s schedules for the sake of overall performance of the company (Chan, 2013, 1891). In summary, workers offer skills and in return, the human resource department has to manage both internal and external data that passes through its business entity for better analysis and performance of the entire business.

It is vital to note that Human resource is not about counting heads but ensuring a consistent flow of information, which help the firm improve its output, efficiency, and productivity (Binder, and Mantovani, 2017, 123). Therefore, human resource department is part of the management system of the firm and regulates various vital aspects such as goals alignment.

 All in all, the performance of Carlsberg is entirely in the hands of its workers as they are the executors of the business strategy hence the human resource management creates ways of integrating the business strategy with the duties of the workers in order to attain the short and long term goals of the organization with ease and relevant skills (Carlsberg, 2018, 8).

 Innovation

Carlsberg just like any other beer brewing company concentrates its marketing strategy on adjusting its upmarket. This approach encompasses the environmental development of its international exceptional products, increasing the upmarket placing for resilient local products and investing in high value products’ innovation (Carlsberg, 2018, 7). More so, with the thought-provoking situations dominant in essential European marketplaces, Carlsberg is doing its level best to enlarge its presence in the growing market within Asia pacific continent. The organization built a rationally reliable policy through which it can take advantage of its projected robust performance in the Indian and Vietnam markets.

 Currently, the popular beer market is facing substantial shifts in customer demand. The preferences especially among youthful clients are gradually shifting and variating strongly. On the other hand, interest in the craft and product is tremendously rising throughout the years and the categories are experiencing extreme competition from other rival beer companies (IR Corporate Presentation 2018, 5). Carlsberg is aiming at developing beer-crafting styles to counter competition and venture into beer free drinks. In other words, updating crafting styles needs innovation some changing in the management style hence tailoring every innovation based on the needs of the company.

            Carlsberg’s reputation of creating products successfully tailored to the likings of the target market such as Asia Pacific strengthens the name and market presence of the brand (Sustainability Report, 2017, 8). When Carlsberg commenced its beer brewing industry in a foreign market in Myanmar 2015 and released its first local brand in Tuborg hence expanding its market preference and bringing new venues for making profits.

The second largest beer market for Carlsberg is Russia and it gradually declines as the federal government tries to reduce beer intake due to the hard-hitting economic times (Pudelko, Reiche, and Carr, 2015, 181). Subsequently, Carlsberg pursues to put a limit on the effect Russia’s policies have on its products by upgrading the supply chain systems to focus more on value addition than volume.

 Situated in Copenhagen, Carlsberg is the third leading brewing company in terms of volume (Chan, 2018, 8). The organization’s market share is huge in Western Europe and Eastern Europe and the two regions account for an estimated 62% of the international beer capacities sold and produced in 2017.

Nevertheless, Carlsberg is facing a barricade of challenges in its key regions hence forcing it to move and concur new territories in emerging markets such as Asia Pacific. Certainly, Asia Pacific will succeed Western Europe as the second key market region. The organization also acquired new Chinese breweries such as Chongqing brewery (Liket, and Simaens, 2015, 286). Furthermore, Carlsberg continued its enlargement into new Asian territories in 2015and gained complete control of most beer groups in China.

 Carlsberg’s procedures permit selling of different kind of beer but its geographical regions strategy centers on participating in offering the consumers high-end items hence beer makes the company 99% of its profits (Bertrand et.al, 2018, 89). Carlsberg also seeks to diversify its items by tapping into the cider market, which is growing at a tremendous rate hence to invest.

The figure above shows the alcoholic beverages Carlsberg sold all over the world in the year 2017 (IR Corporate Presentation 2018, 10). In addition, Carlsberg accounts for 5% of the total amount of beer sold internationally in terms of volume. In 2017, Carlsberg realized a decline in beer sells from 2012-2017 according to its annual reports especially in key markets such as Russia.

Carlsberg has a variety of products within its brand’s portfolio that encompasses all kinds of beer as well as some cider related items. The graph above demonstrates the beer and cider products sold by Carlsberg in the year 2017.

            In 2015, Carlsberg underwent an interior assessment and restructured its procedures (sail 22) based on the findings. Carlsberg aims at retreating the unsatisfactory economic performance experienced recently and change its goals for the sake of improving upcoming development and net worth. One of the main regions of concentration is renewal of the brewery’s essential beer brands inclusive of several international local brands (Liket, and Simaens, 2015, 99). More so, focusing on Asia pacific minimizes dependence on the shaky European region. Immediately Carlsberg looked into new horizons. Eastern and western sections of Europe together brought in an estimated 78% of Carlsberg total sales in terms of volume. However, in 2017, the dropped to 62% due to its reduced presence in Eastern and Western Europe. Most markets within these regions were hard to crack due to the nature of their macroeconomics circumstances, market development, governmental policies to minimize consumption of alcohol and the firm encountering steep competition from various rival beer producing companies.

            In order to counter stiff competition from various beer-producing firms, Carlsberg adopted a local perspective to international trends (Vrellas, and Tsiotras, 2015, 47). Presently, with craft style alcoholic beverages influencing the beer industry and directing advancement of new products tailored according to the consumers’ specific needs, Carlsberg introduced Brew masters collection, which specializes in making crafted beer such as steam beer. In this manner, the different beer companies endorse Carlsberg products in various market, which in turn increases their market share (Goodale et.al, 2011, 117). For instance in Finland, an Irish brand endorses a California brand hence the market becomes more receptive toward the California beer brand.

Corporate philanthropy

Carlsberg foundation incorporates corporate philanthropy through its main functions such as value generation and philanthropy to the local community (Besenbacher, 2018, 2). In terms of philanthropy, the organization funds researches pertaining humanities and social studies. While funding researches, they are able to come up with sustainable solutions that benefit the local communities.

In order to establish a reference point and ensure their operation depend on philanthropic ideals, Carlsberg Foundation holds the following values: pursue excellence, passionate duties, science and innovation, societal accountability and a holistic approach toward its immediate communities (Besenbacher, 2018, 3). All of the above values founded and embed in the fabric of the foundation facilitates and initiates philanthropic works all through the Carlsberg foundation and onto the community. Furthermore, the values help steer the company toward philanthropic deeds such as creation of employment and grants. In the end, the profits generated by the company shape the entire society. In short, the Carlsberg Foundation has two objectives: participating in decision making and supporting scientific researches leading to sustainable solutions.

            According to the remarks of the chairman of Carlsberg foundation, Lemming Besenbacher, the foundation influences decisions of the parent company: the foundation has 30% shares and 70% of the vote cast on anything (Castello, 2018, n.p). The objective is to give room for scientific research which most of the times goes into helping the communities who consume their beer and other products. More so, the researchers’ exposes climatic iss3ues and some of the measures global leaders can take

 A stated earlier, the universe wants cooperative action while facing intricate sustainability problems such as global warming, accessibility to resources and societal medical issues (Gautier, and Pache, 2015, 58). According, to sustainable development goals and climate treaties assisting to fight off climate change and increasing government obligation; businesses should conduct their operations in ways that preserve and protect the community. Conservation of the natural environment needs a joint effort for it to succeed.

            Sustainability is at the center of Carlsberg resolution of brewing beer in a justifiable manner. Manufacturing using ecofriendly methods ensures preservation of resources and water for future productions (Gardberg, 2017, 23). This is the main reason Carlsberg introduced ‘Together Toward Zero’ program for raising awareness and laying the foundation for harnessing conservation efforts of the company. ‘Together Toward Zero’ is Carlsberg input to global issue affecting the earth as a whole. It is vital to note that the ‘Together Toward Zero’ program initiates new industrial principles for scientific-founded collaborations toward sustainability. In addition, the company believes that a sustainability approach toward manufacturing is the best way of keeping the planet safe from the gradual destruction and slowing down depletion of resources (Bell, Bryman, and Harley, 2018, 108). In the end, a conducive environment is beneficial to both the business and the community. Furthermore, these programs will enable an increase in efficiency, decrease hazards, harbor flexibility in the supply chain system while at the same time relating with consumers through the sustainable efforts of the company hence increasing consciousness toward conservation efforts of the company.

 In 2017, Carlsberg recognized the four sections with the highest significance for both the business entity and the community as a whole: carbon, power, marine resources accountable for formation of rainfall and safety of the environment. ‘Together Toward Zero’ contains the company’s aspirations in each and every of the four areas: Zero emission of carbon dioxide, zero water wastage, zero reckless consumption of alcohol and zero drinking while driving incidences or accidents and promotion  of responsible drinking for the business(Lasserre, 2017, 102). Underneath each aspiration, Carlsberg the company has certain short-term goals attainable between 2022 and 2030. The reason for setting such a high standards is to ensure safety during brewing, distribution, and innovation of some of the items. The goals are only achievable if the company joins hands with other business entities since people share and utilize the same environment (Weske, 2012, 339). Therefore, it is sensible to join hands then let everybody play their part carefully. In other words, partnership is vital for the success of any sustainability program.

 Climate leaders enterprise fueled through the world economic forum continued its pursuit for sustainability partnerships and negotiating for proper information systems. Through Carlsberg sustainability report, the company informs stakeholders on the progress made regarding its commitment, transparency, and accountability toward sustainability. Nevertheless, in the year 2017 was for developing and designing schedules which will monitor progress and improve on the overall sustainability programs of the company. It is always good to make strides and tangible progress within and outside the company operations. For example, Carlsberg breweries minimized water consumption by 3% and carbondioxiode emissions by 6% in 2017. The figures were lower compared to previous years. Frankenberg brewery situated in Sweden is an example of a company, which utilizes clean energy, which is an impressive progress in terms of sustainability and attaining vision 2030 (Szőcs, 2016, 377). In terms of raising awareness and campaigns, the company was able to reach many people and impact lives through the drinking campaigns. Within the medical and safety department, the company saw it fit to reduce the number of road accidents caused by drank driving. Nevertheless, a single individual died in one of Carlsberg’s breweries in India (Bogers, & West, 2012). This served as a wakeup call for the company to tighten efforts toward reducing irresponsible drinking and educating the public on issues affecting the community. Sustainability policies woven with the corporate strategy ensures a continuous circle of proper conducting of business activities and meeting various objectives. The community needs to feel the effects of the business as the business takes a personal and humanitarian initiative to improve the conditions of the people living within the community.

 Social responsibility

 In the current corporate environment, social accountability and sustainability are tremendously important for determining a company’s competitiveness in the market (Jeston, 2014, 29). Corporate social responsibility is a key administration tool and Carlsberg assimilates societal and conservational alarms within its commercial actions and connections with the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility is usually a comprehensive way of striking a balance between financial, conservational, and public requirements while at the same time elaborate on the stakeholders’ and investors’ expectations for the company. In terms of definition, corporate social responsibility refers to extra or supplementary measures an organization engages in for the betterment of the society (Lasserre, 2017, 78). Presently, Carlsberg functions in 150 commercial markets within three areas: Western, Eastern Europe, and some sections of Asia. According to information retrieved from Carlsberg’s reports and websites without taking into consideration workers’ perspectives, the company. To reiterate further, according to experts’ point of view, social responsibility is made up of commercial activities and duties. The first responsibility is generation of profit, the second is adhering to the rules and regulations; the third duty is being ethical while conducting their business operations. The forth duty is philanthropic duties toward the community. Carlsberg achieved all the four phases’ social responsibility.

 In summary, Carlsberg revised their sustainability priorities and realigned their long-term goals. In order to serve the community where they sell their beer Carlsberg needed to utilize human resource management and innovation for the sake of having an effective outreach. Carlsberg revised its beer producing schemes and made it more environmental friendly to the natural surroundings. Integrating business strategy and human resource management assists uplift the entire company.

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Weske, M., 2012. Business process management architectures. In Business Process Management (pp. 333-371). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

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Bogers, M., & West, J. (2012). Managing distributed innovation: Strategic utilization of open and user innovation. Creativity and innovation management, 21(1), 61-75.

Goodale, J.C., Kuratko, D.F., Hornsby, J.S. and Covin, J.G., 2011. Operations management and corporate entrepreneurship: The moderating effect of operations control on the antecedents of corporate entrepreneurial activity in relation to innovation performance. Journal of operations management, 29(1-2), pp.116-127.

Business in Kenya

Legal and political situation

The legal and political factors in Kenya are as a result of the laws that were borrowed from the British that colonized the country as well as laws from Arab other considerations made when structuring the Kenyan constitution. Although the government has the mandate to protect the rights of all citizens, the country is still a developing state and there are a lot of human rights violations (Kasi, 2015). Corruption is also a major issue especially due to the government’s inability to do away with corruption in the region. The United States on the other hand is known for its strong democratic set up as well as the free and fair elections held in the country. The stable government greatly boosts the economy there are also policies and laws in place to govern the way businesses operate and this greatly favors business in the country (Focus Economics, 2019). Of the two, US is the most ideal country to conduct business. However, being a developing country, Kenya has the demand and opportunities that could be exploited to make profits through a new business venture.

Sociocultural climate

            Kenya has sociocultural climate that makes it difficult for business ventures. To begin with, most Kenyan citizens have lost faith in the government’s ability to address their needs and protect their interest. This is mainly due to the high rate of corruption in the country as citizens strive to find a way to overcome all the challenges that exist in the country (Nation Master, 2019). However, Kenyans are business driven and most have found a way to work around all the challenges that result from the ineffective policies implemented by the government. In the case of the United States, the government’s determination to grow the country’s economy has had a positive impact on business and citizens. The country’s stability and strong economy provides the company with the capital and resources to not only venture into the Kenyan market, but also establish a business that will overcome all the challenges in the region. While the sociocultural climate may be negative, most Kenyan citizens are dissatisfied with the government policies, most are determined to conduct business as there is a ready market with huge demand for products and services.

Relevant issues

            At present, the most relevant issue in Kenya is the topic on corruption and the government’s failed attempts to manage it. Corruption has been a major challenge in the country and its existence greatly affects the economic growth especially due to misuse of funds by the government. Various cases involving embezzlement of funds by top government officials have greatly threatened the government’s ability to govern and this has made citizen loose trust in the government’s capability to rule (Deloitte, 2017). While the political situation in the United States is more stable, the country is also battling crime and a lot of investments have been made to try and do away with crime. The crime rates are however low and have little, if any, impact on businesses. Even with the high rate of corruption, most businesses tend to do well in the country. Since the headquarters for the Kenyan business venture will be the United States, the company can use the corporate culture in the United States and implement it in the Kenyan branch to try and overcome issues related to corruption.

Kenya U.S Relations

            Kenya has maintained good relations with the United States since it gained independence. The relationship is cemented by the common interests shared by the two countries such as the desire to protect human rights and freedoms. Although the relationship has faced some challenges, especially due to the current president’s decision to seek aid from countries in the east instead of the west as it has happened throughout history, the bond remains strong and the two countries continue to share common interests (Deloitte, 2017). The good relationship between The Us and Kenya make it an ideal location for a new business venture. The cooperation between the two governments will create profitable business deals that will greatly help the company as importing and exporting goods and raw materials will be relatively easy and cheaper. Furthermore, since the two countries have common interests, the laws and policies are similar and thus easier to work around legal and political barriers.

Kenyan economic outlook

            Kenya has had a relatively slow economic growth throughout the year 2019. The economy is however expanding and is expected to continue growing throughout the year due to the large scale infrastructure projects funded by the policies under the Big Four Agenda implemented by the government. The country’s GDP is expected to grow by 5.8 percent in 2019 and a further 5.7 percent by the year 2020 (Nation Master, 2019). The slowed economic growth is greatly due to the decline in the private credit growth experienced in the first two months of 2019 and, combined with the decline in remittances, household spending was greatly reduced thus the slow economic growth. However, with a population of about 46.7 million citizens and an annual consumption variation of 7.0 percent, the country has the right customer and market needed to support a business venture like the one sought after by the company (Nation Master, 2019).

Reasons for manufacturing in Kenya

            Kenya is rich in natural resources and manpower needed to allow the US based company to manufacture products for the Kenyan branch within the country. The country relies greatly on agriculture and industrialization thus making it ideal for manufacturing products for the company’s Kenyan branch. Kenya is rich in agriculture and thus has the raw materials needed in the manufacture of products. The state of the art industries and ready manpower ensure that the company will have an easy time getting employees and raw materials thus saving on cost. Most research on the topic present Kenya as a highly industrious nation capable of manufacturing high quality products (Brady, 2014). Despite the political instability in the country, industries have state of the art technology and skilled labor that manufactures the highest quality of products. Researchers further present Kenya as having the potential for growth which means that the quality of production will continue to improve, thus making it profitable to manufacture products within the country instead of importing (Brady, 2014). There is also the element of cost whereby raw materials in Kenya are cheaper than in the US. The process from raw material, to manufacture and up to the point where a final product is presented to the customer will therefore be less expensive if the company decides to manufacture its products in Kenya as opposed to manufacturing in the US.

Reasons to compete in Kenya

            The business should compete in Kenya because it already has a competitive advantage. The relationship that Kenya has with the US has created a positive image for US based organizations. Customers from Kenya will therefore be more susceptible to products from the company compared to others in the market (Makena, 2017). The relationship also favors imports and exports which will lower prices and allow the US Company the freedom to use pricing as a competitive tool. Another reason why the company should compete in Kenya is because the country is still developing. This means that there will be a lot of opportunities as the target customers’ tastes and preferences grow as the country continues to develop.

Recommendation

            Even with the political instability in the country, Kenya is still an ideal international market that the company should exploit. The best approach that company should take is franchising as it will allow the company to rely on the corporate culture and approaches used in the US branch to increases the chances of success in the Kenyan market. Franchising is likely to be successful because, on the one hand, the franchiser shares the knowledge and experience of working in different markets. On the other hand, those franchised share information on the target customers, how to attract customers and other vital information that could prove crucial to the success of the new business. Other than franchising, it is recommended that the company engage in training activities to help the new employees enhance their skills and maintain the same standard of quality that the company is known for in the US. By doing so, the company will be able to overcome most of the challenges and succeed in the Kenyan market.

References

Brady L, (2014) “Essentials of international marketing” Illustrated, reprint

Deloitte, (2017) “Kenya economic outlook 2017: Joining the dots” retrieved from,             https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ke/Documents/tax/Economic%20outloo  k%20ke%202017%20Final.pdf

Focus Economics, (2019) “Kenyan economic outlook” retrieved from, https://www.focus-            economics.com/countries/kenya

Kasi A, (2015) “PESTEL/PESTLE analysis of Kenya” PESTLE, retrieved from,             https://freepestelanalysis.com/pestelpestle-analysis-of-kenya/

Makena S, (2017) “Doing business in Kenya” Kenya Climate Innovation, retrieved from,             https://kenyacic.org/blog/doing-business-kenya

Nation Master, 2019) “Economy stats: Compare key data on Kenya and United States” retrieved from, https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/compare/Kenya/United-          States/Economy

 Employing a strength -based approach to developing employees

Executive summary

The research below summarizes the techniques that are used in employing strengths- based approach of developing employees, it also contains details about theories of organizational behavior, information concerning GSF is also contained in the research. Lastly, information concerning faith integration and the worldwide implication of employing a strength-based approach of developing employees. It is important and significant because it discusses and sheds light on a practice that organizations and companies worldwide are using to improve the knowledge and skills of their employees thus increasing the output of the employees which in return increase the profit margins of these organizations and companies.

According to the research, job rotation, job shadowing, mentorship, steward leadership, stretch assignment and job enrichment are important tools that contribute to achieving a strength-based method of developing employees. These findings can be applied in a real-life situation by companies who want to achieve the strength-based approach of developing their employees. Lastly the research was undertaken in order to gain more insight on the topic of “employing strength-based approaches in developing employees”

Introduction

Employing a strengths-based approach to developing employees is important for any business in supporting the long term and short-term professional goals of the organization. Every leader should invest in employee development methods, these methods will help their employees develop into effective team players of the business. Employing a strength-based method to developing employees will help these employees make great strides in their knowledge and skills which in return will benefit the company and it will be launch into new territories successfully. A strength-based approach of developing employees allows employees to increase their productivity in everyday performance. This approach ensures that the efforts of employees are not wasted instead, they are valued. Gallup in his research’s answers questions of how leaders of an organization can learn how to use a strength-based approach to develop their employees. Mentorship, job rotation, stretch assignment, job shadowing, job enrichment, and steward leadership play an important role in employing a strengths-based approach of developing employees of an organization. Organizational Behavioral theories such as the theory of division of labor and contingency theory are elaborated. Brief details of GSF are also discussed. Feedback is an important tool in developing employees; therefore, it should be utilized. Lastly, the faith integration of the strengths-based approach of developing employees is explained. The business world is an evolving world, therefore management should employ strengths based approaches of developing their employees for them to thrive in the business world.

The role of mentorship in employing a strengths-based approach to developing employees

Mentorship is the guidance provided by a mentor to the workers of a company, a mentor has to be an experienced person. Mentorship plays an important role in employing a strength-based approach to developing employees. Supervisors are people with more experience than the employees, therefore, they should mentor and empower employees to discover and grow their strengths. In an organization, only a small number of employees actually feel like they are using their strengths, while a vast majority feel that their strengths are neglected (Gagliardi, Webster, Perrier, Bell, & Straus, 2014).  Many employees also feel like the supervisors ignore their strengths and focus more on their weaknesses which do not promote growth but leave them feeling useless. It is the role of leaders to mentor their employees as they work towards achieving a strength-based approach of developing employees.

One way to mentor and empower your employees as a leader is by encouraging them to grow their strengths by furthering their education, the leaders should take time to discuss with these employees their skills and strengths. If the organization is fully committed to mentoring its employees it should offer flexible working hour that will enable the employees to have time to work and further their education, which is for the benefit of the company (Gagliardi, Webster, Perrier, Bell, & Straus, 2014). The organization can fund their tuition fee in exchange for their services, an incredible way to mentor and empower them.

 When it comes to mentoring and coaching it doesn’t matter whether the company that is planning to employ a strength-based approach of developing employees has a formal mentoring program or not. The company can start small and as it progresses enlarge its mentorship program.  Mentoring and coaching provide demonstrated benefits of good quality work and skills of problem solving (Gagliardi, Webster, Perrier, Bell, & Straus, 2014).
The role of job enrichment and job rotation in employing a strengths-based approach of developing employees

Job enrichment is a common motivation that has been used by companies many times to give their employees greater satisfaction in their work. Job enrichment involves giving an employee responsibility that was reserved for their managers or a person in a higher rank than them, this provides an employee with an opportunity to increase and knowledge without necessarily getting a promotion. Job enrichment is one of the factors that help to increase the productivity of the employee, and increasing the productivity of the employees is the main role of employing a strength bases approach of developing employees, therefore, job enrichment plays an important role in establishing a strength-based approach (Umstot, Mitchell, & Bell,1978).

To increase the productivity of employees pertaining a certain post, potential changes relating to the post have to be made, these changes include; introducing new and difficult tasks that were not previously handled are introduced, assigning individuals specific tasks according to their strength in that field and granting these employees additional to employees in as they overcome the new unhandled tasks (Umstot, Mitchell, & Bell,1978). These will help employees find their strengths in fields they had not explored. Job rotation which is changing the working departments of the employees is also important in helping these employees identify their strengths in other departments (Juneja, n.d).

The role of stretch assignment in employing a strength-based approach of developing employees

A stretch assignment is a specific task to develop the expertise or experience of an employee outside their comfort zone. When employees undergo these assignments, they meet new challenges that help in increasing their knowledge and skills which is the aim of employing a strength-based approach of developing employees. Stretch assignments play an important role in developing strength-based employees. Pushing an employee to work out of their comfort zone creates a good condition that facilitates the growth of skills and knowledge of the employee. These stretch assignments are cost effective, many companies spend a lot of expense in training and hiring new employees instead of engaging in a stretch assignment which is cost saving and a good way of developing strength-based employees (Ternynck, 2015).

 The process of using a strength-based approach of developing employees helps to identify emerging leaders thus increasing the resiliency of the company in times of planned and unplanned changes. These employees with leadership skills and knowledge are easily identified by using stretch assignments, they allow an employee to develop skills that are necessary for a certain managerial leadership position. Part of increasing the strengths of the employees is ensuring that they are put through tasks that enhance their retention. Stretch assignments are a way of showing employees are valued thus creating an environment where there is a flow of ideas. For stretch assignments to be completely used as a tool of developing a strength-based system of developing employees it has to be correctly implemented (Ternynck, 2015).

            The first step of implementing this tool that helps in the employing a strength-based employees’ system is Identifying individual, companies tend to choose the same individuals over and over again increasing the knowledge and skills of the same people thus overlooking the potential of other employees. The second step of implementing this tool is selecting an assessing, the scope of these assignments should be broad. The third step is considering the organizational goals and, in this case, the goal is to help in employing a strength-based approach of developing employees. The last step is assigning the employees a mentor, mentors also act as a tool in developing this strength-based approach of developing employees (Ternynck, 2015). Mentors play the role of providing immediate feedback to the employees after they asses the stretch assignments they have been assigned.

The role of Job shadowing in employing a strength-based approach of developing employees

Job shadowing is an on the job training or career development. It involves employees with a different experience shadowing another in order to teach them what they know, it is an important tool in employing a strength-based approach of developing employees. Shadowing allows for the development of expertise, skills, and knowledge which is important in developing a strength-based system (Ternynck, 2015). Job shadowing provides the employees with a chance to learn critical elements of other jobs while still developing the critical elements of their line of work. Job shadowing also offers employees the chances to explore their strengths in other career opportunities while still in their job. Job shadowing is an important in developing a strength-based approach of developing employees.

The role of steward leadership in employing a strength-based approach of developing employees

 Steward leadership is a trend that is defining many organizations, it can be interpreted as the act of leaders realizing they are servants of others and strive to meet the need of others. Steward leadership is also an important tool in developing a strength-based approach to developing employees. When leaders focus on the needs and identifying their strength and weaknesses then they are likely to help them work on their weaknesses which will help better their strengths (Ternynck, 2015). A steward leader struggles to achieve important characteristics such as empathy and healing, persuasion and conceptualizing. Leaders play an important role in encouraging the strengths of their employees; therefore, steward leadership becomes important in developing the strengths of the employees

Theories of organizational behavior

An organization is defined by the employees and the goals that the employees work towards. Two of organizational behavior theories are; Division of labor and contingency theory. Division of labor is the specialization of labor in specified tasks and roles. Division of labor has been found in the culture of organizations for many years. This theory can be applied in any field, it can apply to the difference of work done by different genders in an industrial plant (Cultural Reader, 2014) This theory holds the concept that dividing labor increases efficiency, many scholars have encouraged and discriminated it one Adam Smith criticizes it by saying it leads to mental mutilation (Berry, Paganelli, & Smith, 2013) According to this theory specialization of workers on a single task results in them acquiring great expertise in that field, it also results greater productivity.

Summarizing research done by great scholars’ application of this theory has its advantages and disadvantages. These advantages include; it is efficient in terms of saving on time. It also reduces the time needed to train employees since their tasks are simplified into subtasks, concentrating on one task makes the employee acquire expertise in that field, no time is wasted since minimal time is spent moving in between tasks. The last advantage of the application of this theory is the quality of the work produced will be improved. The disadvantages of application of this theory is that it lacks motivation and the interest of the employees in their work decreases, a break in the production chain will cause a problem to the entire production team due to the dependency attached to the division of labor. Lastly, it limits the knowledge of the workers since they are confined in performing the same subtasks over and over again (Cultural Reader, 2014).

            Contingency theory is an organizational behavior theory that claims there are no best ways to organize or lead an organization, therefore, the only solution is to have a contingency plan in place that they can depend on in case of external or internal crisis. This theory was influenced by two researches that were conducted with the aim of pinpointing good, effective leadership. The researches were conducted in the 1950s at Ohio State University. Gareth Morgan describes the main ideas that form this theoretical approach; organizations and companies are open systems and careful management should be put in place to satisfy  the internal demand of the company, this management must be highly concerned with achieving good fits for the organization and lastly different types of organizations and companies are needed in different environments (Morgan, 1998).

            According to Fred Fiedler’s definition of the contingency theoretical approach focused on the contingency model of leadership in a company or organization. Fiedler described this theory into three dimensions; leader -membership relationship, it is  high if the leaders are respected and their leadership accepted by the employees, the degree of the task structure which is high if the task is effectively structured and the leaders position of power which is high if a lot of authority is attributed with leadership (Fiedler, 1964). This theory can be seen as the most dominant paradigm of all organizational behavior theories. It can be concluded that this theory approaches the issue of the effectiveness of the leaders in charge of an organization.

Role of feedback in developing employees

Giving feedback is one of the tactics that should be used by organizations to develop employees. Providing feedback will keep them involved and increase their chances of remaining with the organization. Feedback back does not include; disapproving or criticizing, feedback given to these employees must be constructive. Feedback should include recommendations that these employees should put in place to continue increasing their productivity. Feedback responses should be given regularly such as weekly or monthly, it should be accompanied by data and examples such as performance metrics. Feedbacks are important and guide an employee in his/her professional career. Employees always want to know the progress they make in their work and chances of losing interests if they do not get feedback are high (Kettner, 2017). Feedback should be a tool for growth for and recognition but not a tool of discouraging employees.

Feedback is a tool for motivation, continuous performance evaluation with feedback increases the output of the employees. To ensure that the employees are working towards the goals of the institution managers have to relay feedback to the employees constantly.  Through managerial observations conducted on employees they can be able to gain an insight on their weaknesses and strength and find the motivation to work on improving their weaknesses, many employees take negative feedback as criticism, but then it is well constructed criticism. In providing feedback managers have to be confident and provide unpleasant feedback when a need arises (Kettner, 2017).

Feedback can be a two- way street, it is not necessarily that the managers are the ones giving feedback, employees can also give feedback to their supervisors. Providing feedback this way helps the juniors and seniors succeed in their work. Giving managers and supervisors helps shed light on how they are hindering or promoting the work of those working under them. Feedback has also been known to elevate engagement, in the process of delivering feedback the juniors and seniors engage in conversations with that typically connect them and when these conversations are done right, they motivate the employees to perform better in order to maintain the good communication (Kettner, 2017).

Strength Finder

Gullup was responsible for introducing the first online version of the Clifton StrengthsFinder, which is now responsible for helping millions of people discover their top five talents. The book contains many strategies for applying one’s strengths. After the first version of StrengthsFinder Tom Rath wrote StrengthsFinder 2.0 to pick up where the first book left off.   The online test is designed to asses a total of 34 strengths and talents. These strengths measures are defined as naturally reoccurring pattern of thoughts. The feedback provided by the test argues that those who are at the top of their achievement apply those tasks in their jobs (Hodges & Clifton, 2004). The main goal of this test is to encourage people to encourage their strengths rather than always working on their weaknesses.

The GSF has been so far translated into 24 languages and has been taken for over 3 million times. The test is used for work and academic testing. All psychometric information concerning the GSF comes from internally produced report from the developers.  Despite the fame, it has experienced this online version has faced a number of criticisms an example is that the definition it gives of strength slightly differs from the original definition given by the authors (Hodges & Clifton, 2004).

As a leader of an organization identifying your strengths and the strength of your employees is important. Knowing these will help everyone in an organization focus on the efforts that are brought forth by their strengths. GSF has been designed to help employees uncover their strengths and utilize them to their own advantage.  When leaders in an organization identify their leadership strengths, they will be able to apply them to their leadership style.  The test provided by GSF evaluates the taskers of the test by rating them according to how they view a specific question (Hodges & Clifton, 2004).

People who have already used GSF and identified their strengths are able to focus on one singe tasks instead of multitasking. Those who maximize their strengths are always looking for guidance from specialists when seeking answers to questions arising in their line of work. Employees with input strengths often crave knowledge and are in constant use of academic language. Employees with strengths inputs are often gathering information that can be used to elevate the business to another level, these employees also find satisfaction in passing their knowledge to other people (Hodges & Clifton, 2004).

Faith integration: Implication of a worldwide view on employing a strengths-based approach in developing employees

To achieve success the world must draw from the most important resources which are skills of the workforce of an organization. To maintain competitive advantage also strengths-based approach of developing employees must be developed.  Companies have greatly adopted methods of employing strength-based management practices, it is a practice that has been well received by the world at large (Toolkits, 2015). Employing these strength-based approaches to developing employees will have no impacts on their faiths.

The strengths-based approach is something that has been embraced by the church.  The Salvation Army church confirms that every person has a special gift that should be recognized and put into use. In their approach to start a faith-based facilitation, they start by appreciating the many resources and gifts that individual people have. They use the faith-based facilitation to identify the existing strengths and resources among the members of their community. And if there is a gap they try and fill it by finding people with those strengths and resources (The Salvation Army, n.d). The church has embraced this method and therefore the business should also embrace this method to develop their employees.

Conclusion

Employing a strength-based approach to developing employees is important for any business in supporting the long term and short-term professional goals of the organization. Tools such as mentorship where employees are mentored to increase their productivity and focus on their strengths, stretch assignment where employees are given assignments that are beyond their comfort zone and job shadowing where they are allowed to explore other careers while still in their current employment play an important role of developing strength-based employees. Two theories of organizational behavior are discussed above, contingency theory and division of labor. Feedback plays an important role in developing this strengths-based approach. Feedback is a motivating factor and is also important because it allows employees to discover their strengths Ans weaknesses, feedback should be a two-way street, where even the employees are allowed to give feedback to their supervisors. GSF is an online version of StrengthsFinder where individuals can measure their strengths and talents, its tests are used for work and academic testing. Despite its global recognition, it has faced few criticisms. To achieve success the world must draw from the best. This strengths-based method has no impact on the faith of the employees and, The Salvation Army has embraced the use of this method and the businesses and organizations should embrace the use of this method to rip full benefits from the strengths of their employees.

References

Cultural Reader. (2014). Division of labor theory: Smith, Marx and Durkheim-summary. Retrieved from; http://culturalstudiesnow.blogspot.com/2014/06/division-of-labor-   theory-smith-marx-and.html

Fiedler, E. F. (1964). Contingency model of leadership effectiveness. Retrieved from;                            https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065260108600519

Gagliardi, R. A., Webster, F., Perrier.L., Bell, M. & Straus, S. (2014). Exploring mentorship as a                     strategy to building capacity for knowledge translation research and practice: a        scoping systematic review. Retrieved from;    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25252966

Hodges, T. & Clifton, D. O. (2004). Strength-based development in practice. In A. Linley & S.    Joseph (Eds), Handbook of positive psychology in practice. Hoboken, New Jersey:           John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

In Berry, C. J., In Paganelli, M. P., & In Smith, C. (2013). The Oxford handbook of Adam Smith.

Juneja, P. (n.d). job rotation-meaning and objectives. Retrieved from;                           https://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-rotation.htm
Umstot, D., Mitchell, T., & Bell, C. (1978). Goal Setting and Job Enrichment: An Integrated       Approach to Job Design. The Academy of Management Review, 3(4), 867-879.   Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/257940

Kettner, G. (2017). 4 Reasons Why Giving and Receiving Performance Feedback is Important.    retrieved from; https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/4-reasons-giving-             receiving-performance-feedback-important

Morgan, G. (1998). Images of organization. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

            Retrieved from; https://www.salvationarmy.org/fbf/tool2_6

Ternynck, J. (2015). 7 High-Impact Approaches for Employee Development. Retrieved from;                     https://www.google.com/search?q=4+approaches+of+employee+development&sa=                       X&ved=2ahUKEwj7oqCwgM_hAhWnx4UKHfSeCPoQ1QIoA3oECAoQBA&biw                    =816&bih=678

The Salvation Army (n.d). Identifying Strengths and Resources.

Toolkits. (2015). Accommodating Religion, Belief and Spirituality in the Workplaces. Retrieved   from; https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-  samples/toolkits/pages/accommodating-religion,-belief-and-spirituality-in-the-            workplace.aspx

Management

Executive Summary

            Workplace flexibility is an approach that is used by organizations to improve their performance and satisfaction level of their employees. The paper focuses on examining the impact of flexibility of time at work on the business organizations and employees. An extensive literature is consulted in this paper, which reveals that workplace flexibility improves the performance level of the organization, as well as the satisfaction of employees.

Introduction

Majority of the employees, married, single, old, and young report that the increase in pressures in management of life responsibilities and work interferes with life (Kossek, Thompson & Lautsch, 2015). There are also workforce competitiveness trends that include dropping fertility rates, increase demands to care for the elderly, replacement of workers, shifts in the labor market, and aging population. These challenges are overcome through the adoption of the workplace flexibility policies that offer managerial tools for attracting, motivating, and retaining talent. Employees often develop the sensation of being famished at work, which makes them lack the motivation to execute their duties and have poor performance output (Jena & Memon, 2018). The consequence of this is that the organization is subjected to a state of not being able to achieve its business success in the competitive market environment.

Thesis: workplace flexibility needs to be implemented to ensure business success and maximum satisfaction of the workers.

The flexibility practices and policies tend to fail when the stakeholder’s interests are not balanced and respected in the implementation (Kossek, Thompson & Lautsch, 2015). These traps are fairness, culture of unbalanced flexibility, and alteration in the dynamics of work-life. The issues of negativity of workers to the organization because of the lack of flexibility can be managed by ensuring that all employees have access to flexible schedules that ascertains that they can manage and balance their family and personal life successfully, as well as the work that they are doing (Yadav Rangnekar & Bamel, 2016).

The provision of the workplace flexibility aids in the realignment of the workplace to the needs of the changing labor (Christensen & Schneider, 2010). Quality workplace flexibility programs, which are provided without penalties would ensure that working parents are freed and they have the opportunity to devote maximum time to their families. However, challenges emerge where the aging population focuses on going past the conventional retirement ages where they do not need to have full-year work. Proper implementation of the workplace flexibility is vital for the workers and their families, as well as the organizations (Christensen & Schneider, 2010).

A new way that organizations can ensure that they manage their employees successfully is the use of the workplace flexibility (Brown & Pitt-Catsouphes, 2016). Firms are also formulating the best approaches for workplace flexibility to match the current trends in dynamic and competitive global business environment. The current multinational state of work seeks to have an increase in the utilization of the flexibility in locations, hours, and schedules. Irrespective of the barriers linked to adverse productivity effects, manager uncertainty, and monitoring, the expansion of the workplace flexibility is highly compelling to make it complex to disregard. Therefore, having a comprehensive, highly enforced, and efficiently operated flexibility program creates a winning situation for the employers and the employees (Yadav Rangnekar & Bamel, 2016). The employers get the benefits attached to work engagement, increased morale of the employees, retention of the workforce, better outcomes of recruitment, and enhanced productivity for stable pool of talent. These gains offer competitive edge for a firm. On the other hand, employees enjoy a significant reduction in job stress, improved mental and physical health, and better balance of work, life, and family.

The organizational support theory indicates that employees have a tendency of interpreting specific aspects of the firm environment, which include workplace flexibility as key indicators of how the organization supports and comprehends their needs (Jena & Memon, 2018). Even when workers do not engage in the utilization of the flexible options that they have, the understanding of the options assists them significantly (Brown & Pitt-Catsouphes, 2016). They are able to judge the level and the extent at which the organization cares for their well-being and desires. Moreover, the ability of the organizations and efforts to support the balance of work and life of employees improves the commitment of the workers to their jobs, makes them handle their responsibilities at home and work efficiently, and ensures that they are satisfied with what they do in the organization.

 Advantages of workplace flexibility

Permitting workplace flexibility gives workers and employers the ability to adjust their workplace environment based on suitable aspects. In addition, work place flexibility assists employees preserve a healthy work-life equilibrium which in turn assists employers upgrade the levels of output with effectiveness of the entire business. If any business entity puts in place a solid, unwavering, and unchangeable workspace, the chance of hiring top-notch talent becomes difficult.

Brilliant leaders grasp the concepts pertaining talent and how it influences the success of a firm or an organization. Without the appropriate talent, a business entity will remain stationary for a long time without exhibiting great results. In order to appeal and retain workers, a manager has to incorporate workplace flexibility in all job duties. Ultimately, workplace flexibility transforms the workplace into a valued place hence performance of the workers peak as workers feel more appreciated and more involved rather than left out.

 Incorporating workplace flexibility in careers

When conversing on benefits students desire most, the capability of working extra flexible schedules on a systematic basis is one of their top priorities. What is more fascinating is the fact that awarding young students flexible working hours motivates them to explore, research and come up with sustainable solutions to challenges.

A student should be able to switch between home and school any time of the day. Technologies such as telecommunication enables one to balance work and schoolwork at once without any query or feeling pressurized. According to a research on flexible jobs, conducted in 2016, 3.9 million employees can conduct their work activities from the office or at home. This 3.9 million figure represents 2.9% of the whole American labor force.

Encouraging workplace diversity has its own share of positives and surplus benefits to clients. However, one needs a holistic approach toward diversity and hiring technique- retaining workers may turn out to be harder than fresh enrolment (Rice, 2015). This is a fact for organizations located in areas with less diversity hence minority workers feel disengaged. Furthermore, an individual must take an active duty in assisting minority employees adjust and connect with the work environ and the external community.

 Diversity not only harbors beneficial results but sometimes negative outcomes. It is vital to note that heterogeneity among workers or teams may minimize intra-group cohesiveness and also result into disagreements and misinterpretation hence depressing workers’ satisfaction, residency traits, and lower turnover (Guillaume et.al, 2017). On other hand, adequate evidence shows that work performance increases with increases in diversity in the workplace because it improves creativeness and innovativeness via the team members’ varied opinions. The public have slight information on the circumstances and mental mechanisms needed for increasing worker performance especially within groups and dynamic settings.

 Diversity in the workplace, from a conceptual perspective means variance existing among people on any features, which may result into observations of one person is different from another individual (Guillaume et.al, 2017). Some of the examples of diversity are demographic features, practical features, personality traits, individualistic values spiritual views, and even sexual orientation.

Consulting local establishments with societal networks such as churches, educational institutions may help employers increase diversity in the workplace. Community establishments assist in getting candidates from various backgrounds thus increasing diversity. One the other hand, a business entity can recruit assistance from nonprofit institutions such as urban league or from internet platforms, which offers information on marginal job seekers (Guillaume et.al, 2017). However, employers should not limit themselves to local areas alone. If able, an employer can go further and expand his or her search to foreign territories. The internet makes it easier for streamlined searches and locating people with unique territories.

  Strategies

            Increasing diversity leads to differentiated talents, which gives firms an upper hand in terms of competition and recruiting talented personnel. The first tip is writing a job advertisement in a manner that appeal to diverse populations. If one can attract a group of diverse potential candidates, then the language utilized is the only thing that makes the difference. Secondly, coming up with workplace policies which accommodate and encourage diversity is key in ensuring an increment in workplace diversity. In addition, research reveals that organization with flexible working hours and situated in friendly neighborhood assists in attracting more diverse workforce (Hunt et.al, 2017). The third tip is the utilization of personality evaluation techniques during recruitment to enable more diversity in terms of character and background. The normal recruitment standards relies an organization’s needs and the qualities of the workers such as educational qualifications and experiences. In the end, only the qualified makes it through the front door hence decreasing diversity. Therefore, the only reliable way of increasing workplace diversity is through the evaluation of a candidate’s personality, skills, and inspirations. Personal evaluations increase the probability of attaining diverse workforce and influence other function of the workplace positively. The forth tip through which one can increase diversity at the workplace is selecting sourcing approaches which cover diverse work personnel. One of the underlying reasons for lack of diversity in the workplace is hiring through referrals. From an overall perspective, people’s network consists of persons of similar nature. Therefore, the diversity of decreases when a person hires through referrals. Hence, an employer has to search for workers from a public rather than rely on people’s referrals.

 Issues that may arise due to increased diversity in the work place

Workplace enrolment organizations have a way of battling diversity issues on a daily basis. Some people are of the opinion that diversity is simply striking a balance between race and sex. Nevertheless, diversity is more than just race and gender parity in the work place. More so, diversity in the workplace enables acceptance, mutual admiration, and collaboration between workers in spite of the variances in ethnicity, age, sex, values, and communication mannerisms between workers (Hunt et.al, 2017). The benefits of having a diverse work place outweigh the minor negatives associated with diversity. First of all diversity causes an upsurge in innovation outcomes due to having workers from various upbringings and demographics. When people from various backgrounds integrate under the same workspace, they may use varied ways of solving challenges and meet target or work goals. In fact, human resource experts revealed that organizations, which practice and retain workspace diversity, perform better than firms with a low diversity index do.

 Whereas diversity in the workplace ensures a more rounded work ethic, some challenges may arise as a result of high diversity. One of the challenges arising from a high diversity in the workplace is accommodating foreign beliefs and norms from various people. Integrating personal values from one worker to the next makes it hard due to the distinction thus it is easy to disrespect other people’s opinion and language.

The need for incorporating work flexibility in the
Conclusion

In conclusion, workplace flexibility is an integral item that contributes towards improving the satisfaction level of the employees and ascertaining that there is a better business performance in the organization. The human resource department in the organizations should always focus on ensuring that new and innovative ways and strategies are devised, which will offer workplace flexibility. Such does not only help employees to develop higher loyalty levels to the organization, but also to appreciate the entity for its effectiveness in service delivery. The firm also becomes competitive in the labor market where it gets the opportunity to attract the right talent that is composed of competent and reliable persons.

References

Brown, M., & Pitt-Catsouphes, M. (2016). A mediational model of workplace flexibility, work

family conflict and perceived stress among caregivers of older adults. Community, Work & Family, 19(4), 379–395. 

Christensen, K, & Schneider, B. (2010). Workplace flexibility: Realigning 20^th-Century jobs for

a 21^st-Century workforce. United States of America: Cornell University Press.

Jena, L. K., & Memon, N. Z. (2018). Does Workplace Flexibility Usher Innovation? A

Moderated Mediation Model on the Enablers of Innovative Workplace Behavior. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 19(1), 5–17.

Kossek, E. E., Thompson, R. J., & Lautsch, B. A. (2015). Balanced Workplace Flexibility:

AVOIDING THE TRAPS. California Management Review, 57(4), 5–25. 

Yadav, M., Rangnekar, S., & Bamel, U. (2016). Workplace Flexibility Dimensions as Enablers

of Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 17(1), 41–56. 

Guillaume, Y. R., Dawson, J. F., Otaye‐Ebede, L., Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2017). Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity?. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 276-303.

Hunt, V., Layton, D., & Prince, S. (2015). Diversity matters. McKinsey & Company, 1, 15-29.

Rice, M. F. (2015). Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe.

 Biggs, D. C., National Research Council (U.S.)., Airport Cooperative Research Program., & United States. (2010). Guidebook for conducting airport user surveys. Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

            According to the authors, customer satisfaction is one of the economic factors that have been considered to be that has the potential of improving the products or services offered by the company. The reason for that is because the failure to satisfy the needs of the clients, it is obvious that such parameter are the ones that has the ability of replacing the negative effects that business might be experiencing. This is to imply that within the transportation industry, what counts are the strategies that the business uses in meeting the demand of the customers. The authors suggest that the reason for that is because customer satisfaction is the ultimate means of improving the wellbeing of the organization.

Coyle, J. J. (2011). Transportation: A supply chain perspective. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Coyle (2011) suggests that the majority of the business organizations that provides those services need to be more and more vigilant when it comes to the need of retaining and attracting the customers. Furthermore, regardless of whether the customers are contented with the services that they are provided with, the general expectations of the company ought to be based on the goals of its establishment. Economically, business organizations always strive towards meeting the de3mands of the customers. Therefore, Coyle (2011) implies that in order to have a competitive edge, it is important to ensure that customer satisfaction have been derived from the provision of quality customer services in the transportation industry.

Evans, J. R., & Lindsay, W. M. (2017). Managing for quality and performance.         Boston, MA : Cengage Learning

According to the authors, customer satisfaction is perceived to be an individual’s pleasure or disappointment which ultimately emanates from the need of comparing it with the services provided as compared to those offered by other businesses. As much as transportation is concerned, business transportation has to be noted to be one of the factors that has the ability of improving customer satisfaction is the general understanding the shortcomings of the organizations.  As the authors continues to explain, customer satisfaction is something that relies on the services they are likely to receive from their esteemed business organizations.  Other than improving the economies of scale, customers will remain contented with the services they will receive each day.

Faed, A. (2013). An Intelligent Customer Complaint Management System with Application to the Transport and Logistics Industry. Heidelberg: Springer.

Within the transportation industry, offering quality services to customers is one of the factors that have been realized to have the potential of enhancing customer satisfaction. Ideally, the general transportation performance is the one that has the potential of exceeding customer satisfaction when it comes to the need of improving the requirement or the objectives of the business. As a result of that, the main objective of transportation entails achieving the satisfaction of the customers whether in public or private sectors. Taking into account the perspectives of the authors, it is, therefore, important to ensure that some of the possible means as well as other solutions have been advanced in enhancing the services to be offered.

Turnbull, K. F., National Research Council (U.S.)., United States., & United States. (2008). U.S. and international approaches to performance measurement for transportation systems: Summary of a conference [held] September 9-12, 2007, Beckman Conference Center, Irvine, California.

            According to Turnbull et al (2008), business organization that ultimately lies within the transportation industry has been realized to have the potential of exposing to the public to such a business enterprise. The reason for that is because a large percentage of the transportation companies take the responsibility of maintaining customer service as well as establishing customer contact with each representative. As a result of that, the need for improving customer transportation services is the one that has the ability of extending the services to be provided by each department. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the management authority to ensure that they have implemented various strategies that can be used to improve the services to be offered to their clients.

In Warkentin, M., & Decision Science Institute,. (2015). Trends and research in the decision sciences: Best papers from the 2014 annual conference. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Decision Sciences Institute.

            With respect to the transportation services to be provided, the authors suggest that customer service training is the one that has the potential of educating everyone that has the potential of improving the direct contact with the clients. The reason for that is because there is the need of emphasizing the general significance of the companies that regards the need of maintaining and responding to the services to be offered at the end of the day. On the other hand, at each section or department dealing with customer satisfaction, Warkentin & Decision Science Institute, (2015) indicates that it is important to ensure that each department has had the ability of recognizing the general priority of the customers. This then implies that some individuals such as bus drivers, flight attendants, commuter rail, ticketing agents, and so on, ought to sustain a friendly environment.

Mentzer, J. T. (2004). Fundamentals of supply chain management: Twelve drivers of competitive advantage. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

            The author suggests that it is important to ensure that the business has communicated the expectations of its customers to each stakeholder. It is vital to ensure that the same have been done through emphasizing the importance of the management meetings that enhances the achievement of the objectives of its establishment. Nonetheless, the general implementation of the various competitions as well as the prevailing context to aimed at generating the specific suggestions regarding on how it has the potential of enhancing customer satisfaction. Mentzer, (2004) explains that the reason for that is because it the one that has the ability of incentivizing the performance of the customer when it comes to the need of improving the performance of the services to be offered to the customers. Furthermore, this has the ability of improving or encouraging active transportation activities through continual client service improvement.

National Research Council (É.-U.). (2000). A guidebook for performance-based transportation planning. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press.

According to the views of the author, sustaining good client services in the transportation industry has the potential of improving customer satisfaction. Ideally, the whole processes will ultimately as one of the destinations that have the ability of improving the economies of scale of the company. Ensuring that customers have been satisfied is one of the factors that have the ability of maintaining a good relationship with them. This is to imply that customer relationship is the one that has the ability of playing a crucial part in enhancing customer satisfaction. As much as transportation is concerned, it means that customer relationship has the ability of ensuring that the business is brought more and more close to its potential customers

Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2008). Foundations of marketing. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin.

            Insufficient customer satisfaction has been perceived to be one of the factors that have the patenting limiting the manner in which the business responds to customer complaints. Basically, respecting the needs of the customers is the one that advances the business towards competing favorably within their industry. Pride & Ferrell, (2008) suggests that the reason for that is because some of the changes that have been noted re the ones that have the potential of increasing the general importance of customer services as well as the ongoing changes in demand and preferences of the customers. Such an industry is one of the main contributors of the economy regardless of the competitive forces that exists in the modern businesses. 

Transit Cooperative Research Program., & National Research Council (U.S.). (1999). A handbook for measuring customer satisfaction and service quality. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press.

In the transportation industry, the provision of proficient customer services has the ability of enabling the business to respond effectively to any customer complaints that might arise. In so doing it means that the customers will be contented with the services they will be receiving from such an organization. Economically, customers are one of the main factors that enable the business to expand or enjoy the economies of scale. As a result of that, the authors explains that this scenario is one of the factors that has  become the simplest means of doing away with the little incomes that the company could be earning that equally limits it from achieving its economies of scale.

Walmart SWOT Analysis

Walmart is among the major competitors in the retail industry and it has managed to secure significant control in the markets it operates in both locally and in the international market. Since it was founded in 1962, the company has over 11718 stores in the 28 countries it operates in. its corporate policy combined with the 2.3 employees working towards accomplishing the company objectives has helped the company to achieve a large market share in all the regions it serves (Berg & Robertson, 2012). The main objective for the company is to help its customers save money yet still live comfortably by ensuring setting low prices for its products and services. The company also innovates its products and services to ensure that customers can access high quality products at their convenience. The company has an Every Day Low Prices policy which strives to set the lowest prices possible for all its products. By maintaining the high quality that customers have gotten used to, the company is able to develop customer loyalty especially with the inclusion of Ecommerce which makes it easier for customers to access Walmart products. Although Walmart has maintained a huge market share over its years in operation, the leadership policies used have greatly challenged its success in today’s society and lack of good management has made it difficult for the company to satisfy its customers’ needs.

            Walmart uses the transactional theory approach which gives most of the authority to the management. Managers are tasked with various responsibilities that are fulfilled through the various leadership practices. Managers within the company are responsible for supervising employees and helping them to meet the company’s objectives (Hargaden & Sills, 2014). Leaders in the company often rely on corridor supervision where management responds to the immediate needs of both customers and employees. Although effective, the method often requires leaders to make rushed decisions that may not always satisfy the customers or employees. Another leadership quality practiced at Walmart is organization where the leaders are tasked with the responsibility of assigning duties and setting up teams needed to meet the goals set by the company. When organizing, leaders use information related to employee skills and experience, the requirements needed to successfully accomplish a specific task and the time frame in which a task should be accomplished. Lastly, leaders are responsible for maintaining appropriate group performance levels and this is achieved through the Risk vs. Rewards approach (Gandossy & Sonnenfeld, 2004). When employees perform exceptionally well, they are rewarded with bonuses, retreats and acknowledgements such as being labelled employee of the month. Failure on the other hand is reprimanded to discourage employees from being laxative or failing to take their responsibilities with the level of professionalism expected by the management.

Although Walmart has been relatively successful in the retail market, the current leadership has had negative implications on the company’s organizational culture as it makes it difficult for employees to fulfill their duties. This is especially because the company does not place enough effort in training employees and addressing their needs as it does in satisfying customers’ needs. The company has had a significant number of lawsuits due to its poor treatment of employees and lack of an ideal working environment (Mourdoukoutas, 2016). Some of the issues that employees raise include unequal wages, poor working environments, unpaid overtime and poor benefits for the work the employees perform when fulfilling their duties. The poor treatment has greatly affected the company’s organizational culture as employees are not motivated enough to perform their duties to the best of their capabilities. Lack of motivation has made work monotonous because employees only strive to achieve average performance. Most people who work for Walmart only focus on fulfilling their duties with little interest in improving quality of service or finding better ways to carry out tasks assigned to them.

SWOT Analysis

            While the challenges at Walmart make it difficult to meet the set goals, the company can rely on its strengths and opportunities that exist in the market to build on weaknesses and overcome threats. One major strength that Walmart has is its brand (Berg& Roberts, 2012). The company brand is recognized across the different parts of the world the company operates in. Being among the largest retailers, the company brand is also associated with quality products and this makes it easy to attract and retain customers (Kneer, 2009). Another strength is the incorporation of new forms of technology to assist in keeping inventories, establishing good customer relationship and improving the ease in which customers access its products.

            One major weakness for Walmart is the negative image created due to the poor treatment of employees at Walmart. The company is known for the lawsuits and high employee turnover which creates a negative image for the company brand. There is also the issue of inferior products that further degrade the company brand (Smithson, 2019). In line with Walmart’s strategy of offering the lowest prices possible for its products, the company also stocks low end products that some shoppers view as inferior. The association with such products reflects poorly on the company and its products and customers seeking luxurious products may opt for other retail businesses from competitors.

            Walmart’s success in the international market creates opportunities such as the chance to serve developing countries in different parts of the world. Developing countries have more disposable income and are therefore ideal targets for Walmart products (Amanchunkwu et al, 2015).  The developing countries are ideal markets as the competition is not stiff and Walmart could assert its dominance and make market entry difficult for competitors. Another opportunity is the potential for new business in the regions that the company already has branches in. Most Walmart stores also have a McDonalds that sells fast foods. The company can opt to start its own cafes and fast food restaurants as a way of getting more income from its customers.

            Competition is the major threat that Walmart faces. Companies like Target and Carrefour are major competitors and their presence in the market makes it more challenging to attract and retain customers. Another threat has to do with the price for commodities which makes it difficult for the company to maintain its policy of offering the lowest possible prices (Faarup, 2010). High manufacturing costs forces Walmart to raise the price of its products and some customers may view this as a deviation from the company objective to help customers save money by offering low priced products.

Leadership evaluation

The primary leader at Walmart has various strengths that assist in performing the duties delegated to him. The leader has successfully mastered the requirements of a situational leadership theory approach. The leader has good decision making skills which greatly assist in managing the large number of employees. Since decision making is reserved to top management, the leader has to make most of the serious decisions that help make profits (Achua & Lussier, 2012). Another strength is his visionary skills that enables the leader to anticipate customer needs and wants. An example is the sundown rule that strives to answer customer queries and resolve conflicts before close of business. The leader is also a good team player and often leads by example. Even though there is a tense relationship between employees and management, the leader has managed to run an effective team and achieve company objectives. Situational theory gives leaders the liberty to determine the most appropriate course of action depending on the situation being resolves (Clarke, 2005). The good decision making skills; being a visionary and a team player ensures that the leader has the tools needed to adapt to any challenge and come up with the most appropriate solution in line with situational leadership.

While situational leadership requires swift decision making, the leader tends to be hesitant before making decisions and this greatly slows down operations. Another weakness is the leader’s poor delegation skills. While situational leadership requires a leader that adapts quickly, the leader faces a lot of challenges when delegating duties especially when resolving a conflict (Bertocci, 2009). The leader spends too much time assessing the most appropriate course of action and more time is wasted before determining the best employees to carry out specific tasks. The leader also faces challenges when communicating with employees. In scenarios where a situation requires involving other leaders, the primary leader fids it challenging to communicate what needs to be done and this makes it difficult for them to adapt to the challenges as is a requirement under situational leadership.

The leader can implement the use of theory based practices and follow the requirements of the situational leadership approach to maximize his success and also that of the business. One practice that can be used is individualized consideration where the leader provides support, training and motivates individual employees to make them better at their jobs. Motivated and skilled employees are best suited to adapt to adapt to the requirements of situational leaderships as they have the motivation and competence needed to adapt (OUP, 2010). There is also management by exception whereby leaders focus on standards set by the organizations and assesses whether employees adhere to them. Since situational leaderships adapts to situations, management by exceptions ensures that the same problems do not keep reoccurring once they have been resolved. Lastly, the leader can use inspirational motivation to encourage employees to maintain the expected quality of work. Under situational leadership, adhering to the job requirements reduces the occurrence of negative implications in the company and therefore assists in maintaining a conducive working environment.

References

Achua F and Lussier N, (2012) “Leadership theory: Theory application and skill development”    Cenage Learning

Amanchukwu N, Ololube P, and Stanley J, (2015) “A review of leadership theories, principles     and styles and their relevance to educational management” Scientific and academic   Publishing, retrieved from, http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.mm.20150501.02.html

Bertocci, D. I. (2009). Leadership in organizations: There is a difference between leaders and     managers. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.

Clarke, A. E. (2005). Situational analysis: Grounded theory after the postmodern turn. Thousand             Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

Faarup, P. K. (2010). The marketing framework. Aarhus: Academica.

Frue K, (2018) “SWOT analysis of Walmart” PESTLE Analysis, retrieved from,             https://pestleanalysis.com/swot-analysis-of-walmart/

Gandossy, R. P., & Sonnenfeld, J. A. (2004). Leadership and governance from the inside out.      Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley.

Hargaden H and Sills C, (2014) “Transactional analysis: A relational perspective” Routledge

Kneer, C. (2009). The Wal-Mart Success Story. München: GRIN Verlag.

Mourdoukoutas P, (2016) “Walmarts outdated management style is failing customers” Forbes,    retrieved from, https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2016/01/30/walmarts-     outdated-management-style-is-failing-customers/#172ab48813ae

Oxford University Press, (2010) “Situational action: Oxford bibliographies online research           guide” USA

Roberts, B. R., & Berg, N. (2012). Walmart: Key insights and practical lessons from the world's largest retailer. London: Kogan Page.

Smithson N, (2019) “Walmart SWOT analysis and recommendations” Panmore Institute,             retrieved from, http://panmore.com/walmart-swot-analysis-recommendations-case-study

Labour Program And How It Deal With the Issue of Discrimination in the Labour Market

Discrimination in the Labour Market

Unemployment rate can be defined as the proportion of the persons that are in the labour market, that presently have no jobs and they are either in the available list or the list of people looking for employment. Unemployment is an issue that continues to receive a great debating all over the world because of the effects that this has on the society. Canada is one of the many states that continue to deal with the issue of unemployment with the rates of the people that are unemployed continuing to significantly rise every year (Campolieti, 2011). In most states, the rate of people that are unemployed is viewed as an indicator of the performance in the labour market. When this is put into consideration, Canada’s economy has then greatly depreciated ever since the 1980s with its increasing unemployment rates. The average decadal redundancy rate rose from about 6.7% in the 1970s up to 9.3% in the 1980s (Campolieti, 2011). What is more revealing is the increase in Canadian redundancy as compared to the United States. All through the post war period, the unemployment rates in the two states went through a very similar trend, and they were nearly equal in 1960. This however changed in 1980s when the average Canadian redundancy rates went 2% higher than that of the United States. 

The issue increased redundancy rates has severe impacts on mostly the young people that are trying to get into the job market, most especially those that are looking for their first job.  Between the years 2008 and 2009, the rate of the youths are unemployed increased by about 3.4 points and it has even more recently reached 11.5% by the end of the year 2017. It is projected that the Canadian unemployment rate in the year 2022 will remain at 6.3% which is a great percentage (Cappellari et al., 2018).

Many people living in Canada today are unemployed a high percentage of them being the immigrants that get discriminated against in the labour market. Canada is known for its diversity and it is commonly referred as a nation of newcomers having the highest percentage of foreign born citizens as compared to other states.  In the current day, the immigrants represent more than 20% of all the total Canadian population (Oreopoulus, 2008). However, even with this diversity in Canada, the immigrants face a lot of discrimination most of which is in regard to job opportunities that has led to increased rates of unemployment in Canada. The immigrants, most especially the ones that are skilled face so many struggles when trying to find jobs in Canada because of the high rates of racism that is there (Oreopoulus, 2008). The few that are able to acquire the jobs have to deal with lower wages as compared to the non-immigrants which demoralizes them and it leads them to quit their jobs and hence the increasing populations of the unemployed.

Discrimination along the lines of ethnicity and nationality is a common aspect in Canadian labour market where it affects job applicants. When employers make decisions about the applicant that they should consider for a position, the unobservable characteristics on the resume of the applicants is in most cases used as a signal for information that is not known (Oreopoulus, 2008). A good illustration is when employers make assumptions in regard to the language skills of an applicant based on their country of education and their names. In this case, the employers are susceptible to discriminate based on the prejudice of that country and this has greatly contributed to many immigrants not getting employed leading to the increasing unemployment rates in Canada.

The Labour Program

The policy that have been implemented in line with the issues that face the labour force is the labour program that tries to look into the issues that are faced by employees and the issue of employment at large. The labour program is part of the Employment and Social Development Canada Portfolio and its role is to protect the rights and wellbeing of both the workers and the personnel in federally controlled work places (Social Development Canada, 2019). It was created in 2003 when the Human Resource Development Canada was split into two departments and this department was left to deal with work force related issues.

 The program works closely with both the provincial as well as the regional managements, unions, proprietors and global allies to ensure that there are fair, safe and productive workplaces as well as collaborative work place relations. This policy states that it is the right of every Canadian to be treated fairly in matters of employment at all stages of employment whether it is during the recruitment process or even when one is already an employee (Social Development Canada, 2019). The policy is committed to providing clear and consistent interpretations in regard to its regulations in a language that is clear and easy for everyone to understand in order to enable employers to meet its regulatory requirements.

The labour programs normally develop clarifications and procedures for specific provisions of the acts and the connected protocols that are under its obligation including the Canada Labour Code, the Employment Equity Act and the Government Employees’ Compensation Act. The strategies are envisioned to guarantee that the regulation is interpreted constantly and also that the programs are supplied effectually across the country by the labour program personnel (Social Development Canada, 2018). The programs’ guidelines are always frequently restructured based on the sponsor needs and response. This program is very dedicated in providing the finest conceivable guidance and information to the stake holders bearing in mind that the guidance does not in any way modify the requests of the law and its protocols.

The policy has three main pillars;

1. Predictability

The policy ensures that there are consistent and predictable regulatory interpretations that are put in simple language that is accordance with the communication policy of Canadian Government. The policy always ensures that it receives feedback from the stakeholders through open and timely discussions. It ensures that there is always steadiness in the submission of its guidelines across the state while using clear and concise language to communicate its intentions. The program also ensures that it posts the frequently posted questions and answers for the labour program regulations that are accessed most (Social Development Canada, 2019).

1. Service Commitment

This program is committed to ensuring that it provides exceptional service to productions as well as to all Canadian citizens. This includes ensuring that it responds to the enquiries of its stakeholders. This is done through ensuring that their employees are well trained to ensure professionalism and consistency in service provision. It also provides information on the federally controlled occupation values, health and protection, compensation and employment equity through its website and it ensures that responses to questions asked are given. The program also ensure that its services are modernized and this includes the replacement of paper reports that are time consuming and adopting online reporting tools that are fast and efficient (Social Development Canada, 2019).

• Stakeholder commitment

The policy is devoted to continually engaging stake holders in its purposes to increase and advance consciousness of the enterprises to avert work place risks, improve the agreement with labour values and assurance that employees are appropriately remunerated for injuries that they experience when they are at their work places (Social Development Canada, 2019). In order to get first-hand data on issues that are met in the labour market, the programs ensures that it regularly conducts outreach undertakings all through the year for both the employers and the employees. The program also guarantees that it gets response from companies and also persons who aid the program to advance and advance its understandings, supervision and also recognize the guidelines that necessitate additional interpretation (Social Development Canada, 2019).

Neo-conservative in unemployment issues in Canada

Ideology as defined by Mullay & Dupre (2004) is "a consistent set of social, economic and political beliefs". One ideology that comes out clearly in this program is neo-conservative. Racism and neo-conservative are two ideologies that go hand in hand in reference to the fact that some groups that is the minority are discriminated against so that other majority groups can prevail. Racism in regard to neo-conservative is brought out with the fact that racism is something that started out during the colonial era and it is an issue that the world has been trying to eradicate but has not been successful. With the labour market in Canada discriminating the skill immigrants on the basis of their ethnicity, it just shows that the society is still not ready to let go of the ideologies of racism and this is what defines neo-conservative.  Neo-conservative relies on racism as both a source of profit and also as a means to divide and rule, the ideology of neo conservative motivates the wedge that is there between people who though from different backgrounds can work together and create a united society where everyone can live in peace and harmony (Carlaw, 2017).  

In the past, the society believed that some races are superior to others. The whites were believed to be the superior race and so they had all the authority over all the other races. The world has however changed in that other races have proved to be just as superior, there are great, intelligent people that come from other races which are just an indication that there is really nothing special about the white race that other races cannot manage. It is however sad to realize that even with the proof that other races can just be as superior as the white race, the society is still stuck with the ideology that whites are special and should not be equated with the other races (Carlaw, 2017). The labour program is full proof of this concept in that it allows the discrimination of the skilled immigrants in the Canadian job market allowing the natives to control the free labour market. With the natives having authority in the job market, the immigrants do not get any job opportunities which are really unfair because most of these immigrants are more skilled than the natives. The labour program that is expected to help reduce cases of unfairness in the labour sector, does not really deal with the issue it is stuck with the neo conservative ideology and this is what causes the major problem of unemployment in Canada.

In regard to human nature, neo-conservative ideology believes that people are corrupt and self-centred and they need to be fundamentally controlled because of their negative nature (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). People are responsible for their current behaviours because it’s their choice and they should always be harshly be penalized when they are on the wrong. The society encourages inequality by allowing people to believe there are races that are more superior and others are supposed to suffer under their authority. It is this belief that has led the Canadian society to have great percentages of unemployed individuals because even when the immigrants are skilled and capable, they are still viewed to be inferior and irrelevant. Welfare services in this ideology are offered in a selected manner in that the ones that are in great need who are the jobless qualified immigrants are not really considered. This ideology supports inequality in the society and the hierarchical political-economic order.

Social Democracy and Marxism ideal ideologies in unemployment issues in Canada

Social democracy

Social Democracy can be defined as an ideology that favors communal, partisan and monetary moves in order to help encourage social justice within an entrepreneurial economy (Dorrien, 2019). Social democracy is against any form of inequality which includes racism most especially in the employment sector because of its impacts on the economy. Social democracy argues that racism creates a rift between workforces who have everything in common and also every motive to partner and consolidate together (Dorrien, 2019). But they are continuously driven apart to the profit of the class that rules. In the current issue of unemployment in Canada based on racial discrimination, the immigrants who are the minority are deprived of the chances to work which pointers them to become poor in the society and this also means that they do not have the power. The power is left with the natives who are the majority take this chance to control the market such that they are able to acquire cheap labour from the immigrants who are forced to take up any jobs that they find no matter the wages that they are given.

Social democracy is an ideology that is grounded on equity and its principles have not been properly implemented in the Labour program.  The labour program that has been implemented to help deal with the issue is not really reliable. The program only focuses on the employers and the people that are already employed which is not socially democratic. By doing this, the policy does not deal with the matters that are challenging the people for instance trying to find employment for the skilled immigrants. By only dealing with the employers, it encourages the concept of neo-conservative in that the whites continue to enjoy better lives in their work places where they get good salaries while the immigrants continue to suffer without jobs.

Graham at al., (2017) indicates that ‘societies where some people are well cared for than others is unfair and it means that the society will be divided into two groups, there will be the superior group and the minority group’. These two groups can never get along because there are those that will always feel that they are unfairly treated and this will only lead to commotions in the society and this is what neo-conservative thrives on. This program does not in any way solve the issue of human nature in that; it does not have any elements that deal with the issue of discrimination in regard to job applications. Labour program does not have any control on the people that employers decide to employ. All its powers fall on the already employed employees and this means that the ones that are not employed are not really fully covered in this program. The society today has embraced the issue of racism without consideration of the effects that it has on the victims. It is assumed normal for the whites to be superior and even though there are equity laws that have been amended to help deal with the issue, there are still no changes observed.

Marxism  

Marxism is against racism and it believes that the future of unity in the society is dependent on the struggle against racism and any form of racial discrimination most especially in the work force (Sypnowich, 2003). Marxism argues against the issue of social classes mostly brought about by racism that strives to separate the society into two groups the superiors and inferiors.  Mullay & Dupre (2004) ‘If there is no commitment by the revolutionary organizations as well as programs to fight the issue of racism, then there is no hope for working class unity and the potential of the working class will never be realized’. Oppression is used to defend and also elucidate the imbalanced associations that are there in the society that augment the minority that live off the labour of the majority. Marxism argues that the only way that the society can be united is if they are allowed to work together in unity irrespective of ethnical traits (Sypnowich, 2003).

The most suitable program to deal with the issue of unemployment based on racial discrimination would be one that ensures that every member of the society is given equal work opportunities without any biasness based on their race. When a policy that is expected to help deal with the issues of employment, it should ensure that all areas of employment beginning with the recruitment stages are looked into in order to ascertain that there is equity in the employment system. Guidelines should be given on the manner in which the employers are supposed to conduct, the recruitment fairly without encouraging any form of discrimination. Race should not in any way be a quality that should be taken into consideration in selecting one for a job opportunity. Employers should only consider the qualifications of that individual as well as their past experiences because race does not in any way determine one’s qualification. A policy that embraces the points given in Marxism is more effective because its main objective is to ensure that every individual is treated fairly and equally most especially in matters entailing work opportunities.

 Racial discrimination in matters relating to job opportunities is something that the society should not be dealing with, given that the main aim of having workers is to get more production (Melrose, 2017). Employers should strive to get more qualified workers whether they are native or immigrant in order to ensure that there is more productivity for them. Graham at al., (2017) indicates that ‘The people are the ones that should be involved in the creation of a policies’, in this case an all-inclusive policy dealing with racism in the employment sector should be done in the presence of both the employers and also the employees. It should involve people from various ethnicities and backgrounds in order to better understand the problems that are faced by people in the society when it comes to acquirement of jobs. By doing this, it would ensure that the policy targets the employees that are always forced to deal with the issue of discrimination and this would in the overall help to reduce the cases of racial discrimination in the society in all levels of employment.

Both Marxism and social democracy In regard to human nature, believe that People are basically born with infinite possibilities and this means that they can be shaped for the good. People do not really need to be controlled; all they need is protection from corruptive activities like discrimination (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). People deserve a right to compete and be provided with equal opportunities to blossom and prosper and it is the right of the government to interfere when people need help.

These two ideologies value diversity the social system believing that different groups have different interests. Every group has its own interest but it is important for the groups to accommodate one another in order to attain their goals. The social system should be able to embody the checks and balances of the constitution to ensure that every group is treated fairly (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). Vigorous public policies are important in helping to eliminate any form of inequalities in the society which is the best strategy to help preserve civil rights and progressive values. The social and economic systems contain imperfections that can be corrected only through government interventions. The government is the best entity that can provide a structure as well as an environment where adequate services and opportunities can be made available. It is therefore the responsibility of the government to ensure that the needs of the citizens irrespective of their cultural backgrounds are met.

The programs that are created in the labour market should ensure that there is no sense of discrimination and that every individual is offered a job based on their qualifications and not race. Social welfare is a necessary response in helping people to attain the reasonable life standard that is healthy. Provision of social welfare is something that is standard and legitimate in an industrial economy. This is an accepted way of fulfilling social needs and the society has a responsibility to support its members and to provide the benefits that are needed.

Implications of the varying policy ideologies 

Racial discrimination is an issue that greatly affects the contemporary society where some races are viewed to be more superior to others.  In Canada, the coloured people are discriminated against mostly in employment settings which has led to most of them being unemployed even though they are skilled and qualified. This is an unfair thinking; there is no evidence that the white people have better working qualities than the people of colour. Racism is just an irrational ideology that the society has created based on historical backgrounds of colonization eras. The world however needs to understand that people have outgrown the past and no race is superior to the other. Every individual deserves a chance in getting good job opportunities just as long as they are qualified.

The policies that have been implemented in the employment sectors for instance the Labour program though effective does not really deal with the real problem of unemployment and the main causes of this unemployment most especially among the coloured people. The labour program supports the neo conservative way of thinking where the Canadian society has been divided into two, there are those that superior who are the whites and there are those that are inferior all the other races. The whites enjoy having good jobs and good wages while the immigrants struggle to find jobs and even get the low wages that are availed for them. A good policy is one that follows the Marxism and social democracy reasoning, that understands the need for people most especially people at work places to have equality.

Equality means allowing every person irrespective of their race to get employed depending on their qualifications because that is what is right. The society should be created on the basis of equality so that it can embrace the concept of unity. With the labour program, the minority will continue to suffer in poverty which means that crime activities will continue to increase in the Canadian society as these people try to survive in the unfair society. I believe that it is the work of the social workers to ensure that the society is based on equality and they should encourage the adoption of ideologies that support equality in every sector which will create a unified society at large. A social worker should always be courageous enough to advocate for what is right irrespective of the consequences because that is the ethical thing to do.

References

Cappellari, L., Polachek, S. W., & Tatsiramos, K. (2016). Inequality : Causes and

Consequences (Vol. First edition). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1196788&site=ehost-live

Carlaw, J. (2017). Authoritarian Populism and Canada’s Conservative Decade (2006–2015)

in Citizenship and Immigration: The Politics and Practices of Kenneyism and Neo-conservative Multiculturalism. Journal of Canadian Studies, 51(3), 782–816. https://doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0054

Campolieti, M. (2011). The ins and outs of unemployment in Canada, 1976-2008. Canadian

Journal of Economics, 44(4), 1331–1349. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2011.01676.x

Dorrien, G. (2019). The Birth of Social Democracy. Commonweal, 146(7), 19–25. Retrieved

from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=135617462&site=ehost-live

Graham, J. R., Shier, M and Delaney, R. (2017). Canadian social policy: An New

            Introduction (5th ed), Scarborough, ON: Pearson Education.

Oreopoulus, P. (2008). Discrimination Against Skilled Immigrants in the Canadian Labor

Market. Retrieved from https://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/discrimination-against-skilled-immigrants-canadian-labor-market

 Mullaly, R and Dupré. (2019). The New Structural social work: Ideology, theory and

            practice (4th ed.). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Melrose, J. (2017). Before the Revisionist Controversy: Kautsky, Bernstein, and the Meaning

of Marxism, 1895-1898. Journal of Labor & Society, 20(3), 410–415. https://doi.org/10.1111/wusa.12295

Luk, ianchikova, T., & Iamshchikova, T. (2017). The Theory and Reality of Social

Inequality. Problems of Economic Transition, 59(11/12), 931–941. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611991.2017.1431484

Sypnowich, C. (2003). Equality: From Marxism to Liberalism (and Back Again). Political

            Studies Review, 1(3), 333. https://doi.org/10.1111/1478-9299.t01-2-00003

Social Development Canada. (2019, April 04). Labour Program. Retrieved from

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/corporate/portfolio/labour.html

Social Development Canada. (2018, May 24). Interpretation policy. Retrieved from

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/laws-regulations/labour/interpretation.html

                                                            Introduction

            Wells Fargo is one of the American international financial service companies that provide banking services.  Conversely, the enduring vision of the company is what the management authority has considered to have the potential of assisting its customers to thrive financially. There are various values that have the ability of making the company to achieve the goals of its establishment (Pastin, 2013). For instance, the management authority regards their customers to be the cornerstone of anything that they do. The reason for that is because the desire of the company entails exceeding the expectations of their customers as well as building a long lasting relationship with them.

            On the other hand, the company has been striving to develop, inspire, attracts, as well as retain its resourceful team members that have the ability of collaborating with other business organizations. As a result of that, it means that the company is committed the highest standards of transparency, integrity, and principled performance. Doing the right thing in the right way is what makes its management authority to be accountable for any mistake that might evolve (Anthony, 2010). In return, it is evident that gives the company the potential of promoting diversity in all aspects of the organization. The reason for that it is because it has been realized that the general success of any business mainly emanates from incorporating and inviting diverse perspectives.

            Research indicates that people are meant to be leaders taking into account the role they play within the organization. Because of that, another objective of establishing this company entails leading team members, governing their actions, and that of the business as a whole. This takes into account offering equal opportunities to team members, communities, customers, and shareholders. In order to be in the position of ensuring that the company has become the financial service leader, it is crucial to respond to customer complaints or suggestions. To do so, the management authority takes the responsibility of listening as well as understanding the needs of their clients as well as their financial goals (Moody & Mays, 2005). The reason for that is because it is the one that enables the company to continue offering exceptional services and guidance to aid them to excel financially.

            Since the establishment of this company, team members are one of the factors that have been perceived to be valuable resources. The management authority ensures that each employee feels valued, supported, and respected which in return enables them to achieve the goals of the company and their career objectives. As a result of innovative thinking, desire to test and learn, industry-leading technology, it is possible to create value for their potential customers. This has the ability of increasing the efficiency of its day-to-day operations (Chandler, 2006). 

                                                What caused ethical collapse?

            In the process of working or setting the global standards that aid in managing the activities of the company, the desire of the management authority entails ensuring that the needs of their customers have been met. This in return has the ability of protecting the company’s assets, privacy, and information. The company has also been in the position of positively contributing to the community through advancing diversity, compassion, and inclusion. In the long run, it is becomes easier to create economic opportunities as well as promote environmental sustainability (Chandler, 2006). The objective behind this also entails creating or delivering a long-term value for its shareholders via a strong risk discipline, balanced business model, a world-class team, and efficient execution.

            The vision, mission, and vision of the company are one of the fundamental factors that used to foster its day-to-day operating activities. This is to imply that the company was absolutely trying to operate an ethical business despite its huge blunder. Because of that, the scandal that enveloped the company is what mainly teaches other business organization the importance of running an ethical business. Initially, the company had a fiduciary responsibility of treating its potential customers fairly (Pastin, 2013).

            The bank used to offer different services before setting unrealistically high sales goals to its employees. This in return ended up encouraging many workers to game the system. For instance, in case a client purchased one service, workers were advised to cross-sell more of it. The only option that its employees used in order to meet such unrealistic sales target entailed making up accounts that clients had not yet requested for. The intention here was to ensure that the workers have maintained their work. In return, it was realized that millions of fraudulent accounts had been fabricated by employees so as to keep their bosses happy (Anthony, 2010).

            Economic research indicates that it is important to have created and maintained the trust they have with their customers. The reason for that is because a healthy economy is always established on a strong foundation of banking. So as to be in the position of building and maintaining that, there have to be a system to aid in monitoring as well as penalizing misconduct against the clients being dishonored and taken benefits of by their banks. Taking into account the vision, mission, and values of Wells Fargo Company, ethics used to be one of its five principal values. Regardless of that, it was later discovered that this was a value that was not respected (Moody & Mays, 2005). According to the information that was published by the CNN Money report, it suggested that there were various workers who failed to flag proper sales tactics hence forcing the management authority to fire them. 

            Although this retaliation is perceived to be shameful, the truth is that the company had already set up an ethics hotline as well as implementing different ethical training.  However, the bank ended up punishing workers who had the ability of doing the right thing and the right time as well as reporting their misconduct to the company (Chandler, 2006). Another mistake the bank did was driving away workers, for instance, financial advisers, who had already noticed the unfair and harsh practices of the bank. When a person decides to change his or her bank, it will only depend on the integrity of their financial advisors (Anthony, 2010).

How did the top leadership at Wells Fargo undermine the foundational values of the Wells Fargo code of ethics?

            Taking into account the transformations that other business organizations are experiencing, it means that massive technological advancement is one of the factors that have played a crucial role in driving new businesses models and products. Despite that, it has been realized that “fintech” start-ups have already started disrupting traditional way of handling businesses to the extent of bringing the required efficiency to the banking sector. This takes into account the manner in which digitization have managed to change the primary way that financial institutions used to operate (Moody & Mays, 2005).

            Innovation is perceived as being one of the important factors that are used to foster sustainable growth in the banking sector in the near future. The reason for that is because innovation within the banking sector is regarded to be an important fact that aid in controlling the functions of banks. Apparently, it was noted that a huge gap existed between the expectations of the consumers in this area as well as banking leaders’ progress in enhancing innovation. This implies that the management authority of Wells Fargo had extremely failed to nurture an environment in which innovation and other new ideas could have been appreciated. The reason for that is because this is the main foundation for developing new products and services (Pastin, 2013). Its main focus was on cross-selling as well as driving thousands of workers to participate in inappropriate sales conduct with their clients.

            As stated above, the root cause of the ethical collapse is because of the lack of accountability within the organization. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that the accountability of the company’s external shareholders was still lacking. According to the report that was recently published, Wells Fargo used to be the leading consumer cross-selling financial institution amongst the American banks. Regardless of that, one area of concern is whether the management authority really had this focus on cross-selling (Chandler, 2006). 

            As noted, one of the main reasons is because the focus of its management authority seemed to be too concentrated on the company’s short-term return. Economically, it has been proven that with cross-selling, it is easier to acquire customers quickly as well as making such an acquisition to be relatively cheaper. Because of that, it implies that the bank had the potential of reporting to its potential investors that it was more profitable using such a strategy (Hill, 2011). For instance, one of the former head of the company was about to escape with millions of money which in return resulted to the firing of employees as well as jeopardizing their career under his leadership.

            Ideally, as potential investors and customers, it is important to evaluate the transparency that exists within the banking sector. The reason for that is because such organizations always interacts with customers and companies that associates with them.  What its management authority failed to take into consideration is to understand their metrics for success for both the short-term and long-term visions. It is important to ensure that the management authority have had the potential of assessing their success so as to develop extra mechanisms to be used in enhancing or increasing the profitability of the business.

            On the other hand, the company failed to raise the bar for its corporate governance. In the process of utilizing or investing the resources of the company, this is one of the fundamental areas that increase the chances of meeting the objectives of its establishment. As noted from above, having a vision that has the ability of meeting the company’s core values is one of its priorities. Regardless of that, what its management authority failed to take into consideration is monitoring the manner in which its internal policies are formulated, implemented, and met (Hume et al., 2010).

            How did Wells Fargo Corporate culture promote unethical decisions and actions?

            In the modern business world, any business organization should have the ability of creating ethical cultures that has the potential of wining customer loyalty. The reason for that is because it is the one that enables it to safeguard its long-term performance. Furthermore, its management authority needs to have the ability of bearing the ultimate duty of promoting tactical behaviors. In the act of punishing transgressors and rewarding ethical behaviors, it implies that it is possible to reinforce morally upright behaviors as well as creating a positive culture within the company (Hill, 2011). The efficient promotion of business ethics is the one which will in return assist in boosting workers’ morale retain them as well as increase business performance in the long run. With the absence of a strong behavioral reward system and a well-structured ethics, it means that the company did not have the necessary tools in place to assist in creating an ethical culture.

            Another reason is that the existence of unauthorized accounts with clients’ monies is one of the sales cultures that had the potential of providing incentive structure for rewarding employees. Such incentives were ultimately based on the amount of products that the workers managed to sell. According to research, it was later realized that a large percentage of the workers had failed to open accounts that were initially requested. What they did involved accumulating several account applications which were to be opened later (Hume et al., 2010). What followed is that some workers continued to inform their esteemed customers them that some products can only be available only with additional retirement or insurance plans. This then implies that the culture of Wells Fargo is the one that failed to foster incentive-compensation program. Such a program is the one that was to enhance sales practices that do not take into account proper oversight. Therefore, the management authority of the company should be blamed for lacking the potential of establishing internal controls that has the ability of preventing such practices (Hill & Jones, 2013). 

How did the investment banking community contribute to the ethical collapse of Wells Fargo?

            Taking into account the investment activities of the banking sector, it is evident the company had already managed to instill and maintain a reputation of sound management. From the information collected, it is evident the existing banking community had extremely failed to identify the relationship that existed between the bad behavior and the goals of the organization through engaging in unethical activities. For instance, as the sales of the community became more and more difficulty o achieve, a lot of banking misconduct arose from other banking sectors (Eileen, 2012). It was later realized that the majority of the individuals who had already participated in such misconduct were already associated with the unethical behaviors of other banking institutions.

            On the other hand, in the process of managing the risks that their banking sector was experiencing, the banking community had ultimately failed to work in line with the requirements of the company, group risk officers and so on. As a result of that, it was impossible for the company to be in the position of spreading decision-making amongst themselves. The significance of this is that it could have enabled the company to produce better business results since its management authority was closer to their customers (Hill & Jones, 2013). Another reason that made the company to ethically collapse when associating with other banking community is just because of the failure to control its functions so as to understand the systematic nature of the other banks.

            Conversely, the adoption of the control functions by other banking community made the company to adopt narrow transactional approaches that could have not enabled it to prosper. Basically, the general focus of individual lawsuit or employee complaints is something other banking sectors failed to addresses.   Some of the operational risks that other banking sectors had experienced were kept secret to the management authority of the Wells Fargo Company. This is return deprived it the potential of reviewing compensation issues or sales practices that was impacting the compacting as per that time (Plunkett, 2008). The reason for that is because they could have considered the scenario as being something that was ultimately contained, well-managed by the organization.

            Legally, other banking sectors made it evident that the management authority of the company could have lacked the ability of quantifying its financial activities. The reason for that is because the management authority of the company was already confident in handling the sales integrity issues that were initially reflected in the systematic breakdown. As a result of that, it was evident that its human resource did not have a great deal of information that could have enabled them develop other means of consolidating sales information. Generally, it implies that the processes and controls that were used by the existing banking sector did not have the potential of detecting, investigating, and remediating sales practice desecrations by the company (Eileen, 2012). This is what made it impossible to determine the main root cause of such unethical practices.

                                                            Conclusion

            Taking into account the information collected above, it implies that although the advisability of the general centralization is one of the subjects of disagreement within the company, the events that transpired indicates that there still existed a strong centralization risks in the banking sectors. In the process of emphasizing the need of meeting the goals of its establishment, cross-selling is one of the metrics that the company used in rewarding incentive payment to its esteemed workers. Although the company had managed to publish scorecards that were aimed at ranking its branches on sales metrics, the truth is that they all failed. Other than using such a mechanism in enhancing its incentive systems, the program could have somehow functioned properly if it could have been structured differently.

            On the other hand, the pressure that the workers experienced was also one of the contributors of ethical misconduct as compared to financial incentives. Such deceptive practices were already acknowledged by the management authority but there was no action taken to correct it. Together with the banking community, this is what made it employees not to be able to meet their goals in an ethical way.

                                                            References

Anthony, B. (2010). The Big Lie: Spying, Scandal, and Ethical Collapse at Hewlett-Packard. ReadHowYouWant.com

Chandler, R. J. (2006). Wells Fargo. Charleston, S.C: Arcadia Pub.

Eileen, P. F. (2012). Ethical Lessons of the Financial Crisis. Routledge Press

Hill, A. (2011). Reimagining equality: Stories of gender, race, and finding home. Boston, Mass: Beacon Press.

Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2013). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning.

Hume, J. B., Thacker, J. N., & Wilson, R. M. (2010). Wells, Fargo & Co. Stagecoach and Train Robberies, 1870-1884: The Corporate Report of 1885 with Additional Facts About the Crimes and Their Perpetrators, revised.

Moody, R., & Mays, V. (2005). Wells Fargo. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Pastin, M. (2013). Make an ethical difference: Tools for better action. San Francisco, Calif: Berrett-Koehler Pub.

Plunkett, J. W. (2008). Plunkett's Banking, Mortgages & Credit Industry Almanac 2009: The only complete guide to the business of Banking, Lending, Mortgages and Credit Cards. Plunkett Research Ltd.

Introduction

            Tesco is one of the biggest retailers in the United Kingdom and also has a strong presence in the international market through the multiple stores it owns in different parts of the world. Its strong base in the United Kingdom has made it easy for the company to venture into different countries and dominate the market with its products and services regardless of the type of competition and different cultures present. While international operations have been relatively successful, the company has had a lot of difficulty entering and benefiting from the opportunities present in China. Although Tesco’s corporate culture has greatly favored the company in the United Kingdom, its emphasis in maintaining the same, or a similar operations culture in other countries has led to its failure to penetrate and benefit from the Chinese market.

Background

            Tesco has sought to venture into different markets such as Ireland, France, United States of America and China to mention a few. Its ventures have however had mixed result whereby the company does well in some countries but performs poorly and has to close down shop as it did in the United States of America. The challenges in succeeding in international markets stretch back to as early as 1979 when the company tried to exploit the market in the Republic of Ireland. When the company bought 51% of the Three Guys operation owned by Albert Gubay, the move resulted in failure especially because the company was not ready for expansion during that time (Hopkins, 2015). The company was not doing as well domestically and thus lacked the capital to fund expansion into foreign markets. The company was also operating on data collected regarding its success when venturing into international markets. Later on, Tesco had to divest the Two Guys Operation in 1986 to H. Williams, a supermarket company based in Dublin after it failed to bring in the profit it was intended when it was purchased (Hopkins, 2015). Although Tesco continued to conduct research on how to exploit markets in the European countries and the United States, its success was greatly challenged as was the case in China.

            The challenges that Tesco face are greatly influenced by the decisions the company makes when selecting which markets to exploit in its goal to expand to international markets. To begin with, the company’s market entry operated on a rather small scale approach despite its intent to success in the diverse markets that exists in different parts of the world (Holiday, 2017). Instead of creating a plan that was inclusive of all the requirements needed to success in a large market, the company treated its different international ventures as small scale venture despite all the requirements that must be fulfilled before a company becomes successful in the international market (Holiday, 2017). Instead of viewing the foreign markets as large ventures that need proper planning and a lot of research, Tesco overlooked all the requirements of international business operations and treated the target market as a region on its own and therefore failed to learn all that was required to successfully enter and succeed in the international markets.

            Tesco also saved stiff competition from businesses that were already present in the regions it ventured into as well as upcoming businesses. The presence of businesses like Wall-Mart, Carrefour and other retail stores meant that Tesco had to fight for the customers in the target markets and convince them to choose its products over others in the market. Its flawed market entry approach and the high level of competition made it difficult for the company to succeed (IBCC, 2016). Furthermore, the company sought to benefit from the opportunistic events that occurred within the retail markets it sought to venture into. Although the strategies it came up with positioned it in a way to benefit from the opportunities, they failed to prepare the company on how to go about meeting the needs and wants of the target audience during times where the opportunities were scarce. Instead of understanding the market the company sought to venture into, the market selection criteria only positioned Tesco to benefit from opportunities without enough data to determine how to satisfy customers even when opportunities were absent (BBC, 2013). The company was therefore unable to fully understand its customers and this had a major impact on Tesco’s inability to excel in international markets like China.

Problem statement

            Similar to its other ventures in the international market, Tesco had a hard time attracting and retaining customers in the Chinese market and only managed to capture only a small portion of the grocery market in China. The failure is greatly attributed to the fact that the company failed to fully understand the requirements of the market it sought to venture into. When Tesco failed to make the expected sales upon entry into the Chinese market, the company tried different approaches to try and attract more customers (Pendrous, 2013). Having established a solo strategy where the company did not affiliate with any other business in the Chinese market, Tesco had a hard time understanding its customer’s needs and therefore could not enjoy the same market share it had in the United Kingdom. Its attempts to sell live toads and turtles to appease the Chinese customers was not fruitful and the company had to result to other measures to try and strengthen its position in the Chinese market. In 2013, Tesco was forced to drop the solo approach and merge its 131 stores with China Resource Enterprise which had over 2986 outlets in China (Pendrous, 2013). The deal benefited both parties as China Resource Enterprise was able to borrow from Tesco’s expertise in the retail industry while Tesco benefited from the relationships that China Resource Enterprise had built with the government as well as its knowledge of the local market and the type customers present.

Another reason why Tesco failed to do well in China has to do with the late entry into the Chinese market. When Tesco moved into the Chinese market, there was already stiff competition from companies like Wal-Mart that had already moved into strategic store locations that were not only cheaper, but could also be easily accessed by the target customers. Early entry meant that Wal-Mart and other businesses had all the time to set up their premises, market their products and attract customers without too much competition (Nevile, 2013). It also meant that there were fewer similar products in the market and this gave customers the chance to determine which products to stick to and which ones to drop. When Tesco moved into the Chinese market, the competitors were already well established, had loyal customers, and the target audience comprised of people who already had a product or service in mind when they sought to satisfy a need (Nevile, 2013). Tesco therefore had to not only introduce its products into an already highly competitive market, but also convince the target audience that its products and services were better than those from the competitors. The aggressive competition therefore made market entry more difficult and it greatly contributed to Tesco’s failure in the Chinese market.

Lastly, Tesco failed to conduct enough market research and decided to use approaches that were successful in other markets such as the club card approach, especially with its success in the United Kingdom. In the implementation phase, the company quickly rolled out massive stores into the Chinese market with the hope of gaining a competitive advantage over its competitors with club cards as incentives (Anderlini & Waldmeir, 2015). While the move may have worked in the United Kingdom, it was not as successful in China especially because the target audience had already gotten used to shopping from one business to another and therefore had a lot of store cards. Tesco had once again failed to understand the market it sought to venture into as it did not understand how the target audience behaved when making purchases. Unlike the United Kingdom, store cards mostly benefited customers as they had multiple cards from different stores (Witzel, 2016). The target audience were of the opinion that having more choices of shops to buy from gave the customer more power and therefore had store cards from different businesses. What Tesco saw as a tool to beat the competition was actually a challenge that directly impacted the decisions that Tesco and other businesses in the market made in terms of prices, quality, quantity, marketing and other activities taken up by the businesses in the Chinese market seeking to attract and maintain customers. It is this lack of understanding the market that Tesco sought to venture into as well as its target audience that made it difficult for the business to succeed in China.

Implications and recommendations

            Tesco wanted to dominate the international market by first dominating the small regional markets that were yet to get the interest of other multinational retailers. In addition, the company sought to limit the losses associated with startups by entering markets one at a time rather than venturing into different markets at once. While the move did allow the company to enter different markets, it did not prepare Tesco for the challenges it would face even in the smaller markets it intended to serve (William & Thompson, 2010). Since the company entered the target markets with the belief that it would not face competition from multinationals, it focused more on how to benefit from the opportunities present but failed to prepare for competition because it was not expected. When competition did arrive, the company was ill equipped and wound up struggling to keep up with its competitors.

            The aggressive competition combined with the market entry approach made it even difficult for Tesco to succeed in China. The company wanted to attain success by exploiting the strength it had as a leader in the United Kingdom. It sought to establish a market position that would give a market share that would enable Tesco to operate using the lowest cost base so as to offer the best prices to customers for its products and services and in so doing, attain the best buyers (Barnes, 2018). Although the plan was likely to yield the expected results, Tesco failed to do its due diligence and learn all it could about the Chinese market. As a result, the strategy used made it easier for Tesco to benefit from the opportunities that existed in the market but made it rather vulnerable from any challenges that would come up. The opportunistic approach taken meant that support would be given to locations that were doing better than others so as to benefit from the opportunities present (Prange, 2016). The store by store development approach made it difficult for operations to go on especially when there were no opportunities to exploit, thus limiting the efficiency of the business’ operations strategy.

            In order to succeed in China and other international markets, Tesco must first change its mode of entry into new markets. When venturing into the Chinese market, the multinational entry mode meant that the main branch in the United Kingdom had to manage the requirements of both the small ventures pursued by the company as well as entry into markets like China where aggressive competition existed. While the small markets may have been easy to enter, those dominated by stiff competition like China required more attention and market research (Barnes, 2018). The workload involved in market research for all these new ventures created a lot of work in relation to research on the type of market, the type of customers and how best to enter these markets and satisfy the customers’ needs and wants. Instead of entering different markets at the same time, Tesco should have treated each market as a separate entity and devoted enough time and effort into understanding the requirements of a business that sought to do well in a market like China.

PESTEL analysis

            One approach that Tesco should have taken in order to better understand the Chinese market in order to enter and benefit from the opportunities present should have involved a PESTEL analysis of the region. Like any business environment, understanding the factors that determine how business is conducted as well as what approaches are most likely to be successful would have helped the company develop a better and more detailed market entry strategy (Tian, 2007). The information would have also ensured that the company is aware of both opportunities and challenges it is likely to experience in China and what approaches to take in order to benefit from the opportunities as well as overcoming any challenges that may arise.

• Political factors

China stands to greatly benefit from the various policies and regulations passed by the government with the intent to boost the economy. The Chinese government is determined to improve the level of production in the country and this is likely to have a positive impact on the economy and business (Tian, 2007). Had Tesco conducted enough research on its target market, it would have identified areas that are likely to benefit from the political factors in the country and identify ways in which it can make its products and services meet the demand created by an improved economy.

• Economic factors

China has experienced growth in its GDP for over five consecutive years making it an ideal region to target as a potential market for business. The development experienced has brought about great development as it boosts the consumer’s purchasing power. A good economy also means that there is cheaper labor and this helps employers to cut down on cost. Another advantage of a strong economy is that the goods and services increase in value especially when exporting to other countries (Tian, 2007). Understanding the economic factors can help Tesco to better understand the market and what requirements it has to fulfill before making profits in its new market. Strong economies for instant make the environment highly favorable for SME’s and their presence means a great level of competition. The information can be useful for Tesco as it will be able to understand the type of approaches to take in order to do well in its new market.

• Social factors

Family size and social behavior are some of the social factors that impact the way in which customers purchase products and services. Understanding what drives the target customers to make purchases is crucial to creating an appropriate market entry approach as it helps to better anticipate they type of products and services the customers want and how best to make them available (Tian, 2007). Other than influencing the purchase decision, social factors also determine how customers get to know about products and services. E-commerce, for example, is popular in the country and people go online for various reasons, among which is to conduct research and collect information regarding products and services they wish to purchase. Technological developments have also made it possible for customers to make payments online and businesses must create an online platform to ensure that customers get the most out of the online shopping experience. 

• Technological factors

Understanding the level of technology used helps to determine the approach used to offer goods and services to customers as well as how they pay for the services offered. In the case of China, the country has a rather unsafe online mode of payment and customers rarely use online transactions to purchase goods. Debit cards are not as common either and businesses seeking to exploit the Chinese market must therefore find a way to offer the goods and services especially with the introduction of online shopping yet still guarantee the security and comfort associated with other mode of payment (Tian, 2007). Tesco should have exploited the lack of a safe online payment system and developed a more secure way for customers to make purchases and in doing so, gain a competitive advantage as customers would have found it easier to use services they can trust.

• Environmental and Legal factors

The environmental and legal factors greatly determine a business’s ability to conduct business in the market it seeks to satisfy. Since the trend has shifted towards E-commerce in china, Tesco could have used online shopping to advocate for preservation of the environment as people would have made purchases online and therefore no need to drive to actual stores. Online shopping therefore means little emissions from motor vehicles and Tesco would have managed to establish itself as a company with China’s best interests at heart hence the push to protect the environment (Tian, 2007). E-commerce also means that the customers are more likely to buy online even with the lack of security in the modes of payment used. Tesco could therefore come up with secure modes of making transactions as well as abide to the laws and policies set in place by the Chinese government to help prevent theft and scams on the online platform and in doing so, encourage customers to purchase more since their transactions are now more secure.

Conclusion

            Tesco’s inability to succeed in China is greatly due to its lack of proper analysis of its target market and unwillingness to change. The company’s emphasis on using the same or similar operations culture in China s the one that brought it success in the United Kingdom did not take account of the differences between the two regions. Even when ventures such as the solo approach when setting up stores failed, Tesco was hesitant to consider new strategies that borrowed from the Chinese culture. While Tesco was successful in the United Kingdom, understanding the differences that exist in other parts of the world can greatly help when venturing into international markets. This is because people have different customs and traditions and their culture greatly influences their purchase decision. Tesco must therefore learn to take culture into consideration when determining a market entry approach as this will give a better understanding of the target audience, their needs and how best to fulfill them in order to succeed even in the Chinese market.

References

Anderlini J and Waldmeir  P, (2015) “Foreign grocers struggle in fast moving China retail            market” Financial Times, retrieved from, https://www.ft.com/content/99139f00-ee52-        11e4-88e3-00144feab7de

BARNES, D. (2018). Operations Management: An International Perspective.             https://nls.ldls.org.uk/welcome.html?ark:/81055/vdc_100058858742.0x000001

BBC, (2013) “Why Tesco struggled to crack China” retrieved from,             https://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-24374863/tesco-struggles-to-crack-chinese-          market-as-profits-fall

Holiday D, (2017) “Why was Tesco and Wal-Mart’s expansion into China not very successful”   retrieved from, https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Tesco%E2%80%99s-and-  Walmart%E2%80%99s-expansion-into-China-not-very-successful

Hopkins K, (2015) “Why Tesco failedto crack China” Raconteur, retrieved from,             https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/why-tesco-failed-to-crack-china

International Business Culture Clash, (2016) “Case study: Tesco in China” retrieved from,             https://internationalbusinesscultureclash.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/case-study-tesco-in-   china/

Neville S, (2013) “Tesco set to withdraw brad from china in new joint venture” The Guardian,    retrieved from, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/09/tesco-withdraws-           brand-china-joint-venture

Pendrous R, (2013) “Tesco failed to understand the Chinese customer” retrieved from,             https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2013/09/06/Tesco-failed-in-China-because-   of-cultural-differences

Prange, C. (2016). Market Entry in China: Case Studies on Strategy, Marketing, and Branding.

Thompson, J. L., & Martin, F. (2010). Strategic management. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Tian X, (2007) “Managing international business in China” Cambridge University Press, print

Witzel M, (2016) “Doing business in China” Taylor & Francis, print

Vegetarian middle eastern restaurant

Introduction

For a long time, restaurants serving vegan food have been rare and introducing one in the market would be a good business opportunity since this market is not well served. Most vegans have been known to prefer traditional middle eastern dishes therefore, opening a restaurant serving those dishes is an even greater opportunity. For this business to run effectively a well-equipped kitchen is needed, chefs with interest and knowledge in middle eastern dishes to help in formulating of new recipe. The location has to be where many people have access to. A constant supply of groceries and ingredients used to make this foods  is needed ensure there are no shortages. Proper budgeting has to be done and the business requires a good management team.

The target market of this restaurant includes all people who are vegetarians by choice and those who have been forced by health conditions to be vegetarians these people can be children, male and female and all may prefer different meals. For someone with a high risk of diabetes it is advisable to start eating foods that will not affect their health therefore middle eastern vegan diets are advisable (Lorette, n.d). Children have been known to enjoy middle eastern dishes such as tabbouleh and to accommodate them such dishes will have to be included in the menu (Fayed, nd). The vegetarian market of middle eastern food is a wide market that has not been well served and cuts across all gender and age. These diets are also recommendable for people who want healthy life styles and in order to broaden the market the dishes must be able to be afforded by people from all social classes.

There are many other existing restaurants serving middle eastern dishes therefore, this business will be coming to compete with other already established restaurants. In order to deal with competition chefs will come up with recipes that are rarely served in order to attract vegetarians to try other meal. These meals have only been afforded buy people from on social class, due to their high prices. Its my aim to make simple recipes of middle eastern meals to accommodate people from all social classes (Fayed, n.d). It is my aspiration that my business outdo the other businesses already existing in the market and the only way it can do this is by broadening its market to accommodate every vegetarian and also introducing new recipes still in the field of vegetables middle eastern dishes.

When starting the business there are many tactics to be put in place in order to attract customers. Sampling the food to potential customers and asking for their opinion. These customers are more likely to come back to buy the dishes if they are made to their preferences (Lorette, n.d). This is one tactic of attracting customers. Posting about our business on online platforms is also likely to attract curious customers to come and tryout our dishes.  Adverts on televisions and radios informing people about the new restaurant, its dishes and its location will also help to attract customers.

                In order to serve a large market door to door delivery to areas that are not very far from the restaurant will be done but for the sake of profitability door to door delivery to distant areas will be charged. This restaurant will deal with only vegetarian foods from middle eastern. Cooking ingredients will be bought from groceries, supermarkets and some ingredients will have to be bought from farms directly when they are fresh (Lorette, n.d). This restaurant will help to broaden the choices of vegetarians’, it will also serve them with rare dishes from the middle Eastern that are not commonly available in the market. The methods of payments will be broad in order to accommodate everyone ranging from, credit cards to cash payments.

                Competition from already existing businesses is a challenge since this business are well known and are already serving a great part of the market. Some of the foods that will be served in this restaurant are already being served in those other middle eastern restaurants therefore, attracting those same customers will be a challenge. Direct competition is greater than indirect competition. Most of the middle eastern dishes have already been modified in many ways and the new dishes are in the market. We plan to introduce these same dishes in the market without changing them and then introduce other new recipes for the sake of attracting customers. Dealing with this competition is a challenge that threatens the existence and continuity of the restaurants (Alter, n.d). With good customers attracting methods, the business is likely to prevail in the market and establish itself. Below is a competitive matrix that is likely to help the new restaurant deal with existing competition. The matrix is ranked using a scale ranging from 1-5.

Table 1: showing competitive matrix

According to the matrix direct competition from restaurant selling vegan middle eastern food is high than from those other restaurants that do not major with vegan middle eastern dishes only.  New marketing campaigns will be put in place to deal with this direct competition. Many recipes from for middle eastern dishes will be formulated in order to set apart our business from the direct competitors. Recipes will also be adjusted to meet customers preferences (Alter, n.d).

My target market is the vegetarians who have a loving for middle eastern traditional dishes. By introducing new recipes from the middle eastern original recipes, I will be creating a new opportunity that does not exist in the market. I will pace the restaurant in the heart of a busy city where anyone passing by will be tempted to enter and try out the dishes. My main market target is the vegetarians but still other non-vegetarian customers can try the dishes. Marketing strategies such as free samples and advertising will be put into place. Knowledgeable chefs with deep knowledge will be a vital tool for the success of the business (Lorette, n.d).Targeting to partner with top investors who will invest their finance in the business with the aim of generating more returns for them. Strategies to cut on cost will be put into place.

Conclusion

Establishing a restaurant serving vegan middle eastern dishes is a market opportunity since this market has not been explored extensively. A lot is needed to start and keep the business running. Supply of ingredients will be from groceries, supermarkets and from farms growing the ingredients needed. The business is likely to face direct and indirect competition from other well-established restaurants serving vegan middle eastern dishes. A competitive matrix is in place to help deal with the competition that is likely to face the business. Payments will be made through means such as credit cards and cash. Investors to provide starting and running capital are needed. The aim of exploring this market opportunity is to create a new brand and generate profits from it.

References

Alter C. (n.d).The Competitive Matrix Analysis. Retrieved from; https://www.allbusiness.com/the-competitive-matrix-analysis-12278078-1.html

 Fayed S. (n.d). Our 7 Top Favorite Middle Eastern Vegetarian Dishes. Retrieved from:       https://www.thespruceeats.com/top-vegetarian-middle-east-dishes-2355802

Lorette, K. (n.d.). How to Develop a Marketing Strategy for a Restaurant. Small Business -                 Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/develop-marketing-strategy-     restaurant-1407.html

Debating on the prime directive is problematic, as one has to separate the captain’s decisions from real life scenarios (Christopher Morpheus, 2009). In the movie, actually no one calls it a prime directive. However, this does not mean that they do not exist. Hence, the captain does everything in his power to protect, safeguard, and maintain law and order in the fleet of ship.

 In terms of categorical imperative, Captain James saves Commander Spock and violates the prime directive order. In case of any danger, one would love someone else to take the initiative and save the situation. Huge part of the Star Strek season centers on discovery, which encompasses many issues and emergencies that require fast-paced action and parts and parcels with quick-witted actions (Christopher Morpheus, 2009). Therefore, for the sake of the greater good, A good leader has to salvage any situation that threatens the danger of his subordinates or threatens to jeopardize the whole mission. In addition, his missions portray him as fast learner and a genuine leader who carries himself with care and puts safety in front of his ego or personal ambitions.

 In terms of his actions and the drive that pushes him into action despite the odds stack against him, the captain success is not chance but a deliberate effort to make the right decisions. The decision to save his first officer, Commander Spock was because he is simply a great team leader who ensures the safety and completion if the mission ahead of them (Kurtangleukrborn, 2007). It is with no doubt the characterization of captain kirk allows him some emotional intelligence and to some extent some control hence, no one can question his ability to disobey directive order and save his first officer, Spock successfully.

            Captain Kirk has a reputation of walking into danger unscathed therefore he already formed a trait and a tendency to achieve goals even though he has to forego some good in order to achieve greatness. Spock is at the mercy of his captain’s actions hence it is up to the captain to carry the burden of two people and executes actions in a fair manner that will sustain a safe distance from harm and any impending danger (Kurtangleukrborn, 2007). Therefore, from Spock perspective, he expected a save from Captain Kirk no matter what the situation or circumstance at the time and in the just like any great leader that Captain Kirk was, the captain came through and saved his first officer. Some people are of the opinion that intelligent people do not have good communication skills and socialization ethics but that is not the case when factoring in Captain Kirk, who ensures all aspects of the game go as usual and nothing remains out of the norm. Simply put, Captain acted according to his duties designated for him as a captain of the ship and not for selfish reasons.

 According to moral act the right or wrong aspect of a decision lies in the long and short terms consequences of his act do not really matter but the resulting outcome of the actions (Kurtangleukrborn, 2007). So one can say the captain acted out of good will of others and his decisions were outright. In the end of it all, its all about the steps he took to establish reformed decision with Spock in mind and help assist violently or peacefully.

References

Christopher Morpheus (2009) Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise "Alien Madness & The Funky Conjunction" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VepNygurxqI

Kurtangleukrborn (2007).Star Trek: I'm Captain Kirk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDIIONwPVc