JACK MA –ALIBABA

Alibaba is an online holding commerce firm that was incorporated in 1999 by a Chinese Jack Ma as the founder. As an investment firm, it provides technology, software and other related services through online business to business marketplaces globally (Wall Street Journal, n.d). It provides internet-based and transaction based services like registration of domain name, software applications and consultation services related to technology on different platforms. The founder, Jack Ma, who is a former English teacher, started the company for the purpose of championing small businesses. He believed that the internet would finally provided a uniform playing field by making it possible for small firms to leverage technology and information and therefore  manage to compete effectively in the  local and world economies (Wall Street Journal, n.d).

 After its foundation, the company adopted the vision of building a future commerce infrastructure while envisioning that customers will find a meeting, working and living point in Alibaba and the firm will last a minimum of 102 years (Alibaba Group, n.d).  The company and Jack its leader have driven growth through blending of the best Chinese and Western technologies, management and even culture. This has made Alibaba to be the world biggest ecommerce firm by some measures and it has potential to become the most diversified and largest global technology company. Its three major platforms – Taobao, Alibaba.com and Tmall have been generating significant amount of revenue especially in Chinese market, and its other interest including cloud computing, electronic payments, streaming entertainment and investments funds have been a large contributor to the success.  The three platforms have many users and hosts many merchants and businesses so that the firm business operations are more than other e-commerce firms in the world (Alibaba Group, n.d).

The growth of the firm can be attributed to leadership of Jack Ma, who used unorthodox philosophy of management to build this company in just fifteen years.  This leader blended the best of Eastern and Western styles of management, operational practices and even technology to build and  steer the growth of the firm from a domestic one to a global company. His history involves failure to secure jobs in the various places including a hotel , KFC and police but he kept his belief that if  a person work hard , obey his principles then anything they want is possible to attain (Wall Street Journal, n.d). The strategic management employed by the firm with Jack being the leader involved an understanding that as e-commerce is turning into a traditional business, players who purely focus on e-commerce will encounter big challenges in the market (Trefis Team, 2016). Jack led a group of his friends in utilizing the little resources they had in forming a platform that would serves business to business needs in the market using the online platform (Trefis Team, 2016). Strategic management involves managing resources available to achieve some set objectives and goals. It involves an analysis of the environment and assessing strategies that will ensure the utilization of these resources in delivering services or products competitively in the market. It requires strategic skills that can marshal the people to adopt a strategy while motivating them so as they do not give up when faced with challenges (Morrill, & American Council on Education. 2010).  As a great leader and entrepreneur, Jack Ma did not allow setbacks to bring them down, and saw what is possible and placed his focus on the possibilities. The inner strength was seen in his optimism and decided to actualize his belief that technology can breed success in the business world and change the way business operations are done both domestically and internationally.

Jack Ma sticks to his principles, work ethic and dedication and maintaining a perception that is constant throughout. His success is very powerful and inspiring to the business world and especially small businesses.  His strategic management and leadership styles have been based on values and attitude. In fact, many rich and powerful individuals who have come into contact with Jack Ma have tended to obtain important information and experiences about his leadership or about the company he helped found.  He has carried his attitude and values with him so much that Jim Kim, while meeting over a dinner with him was startled by his humility and attitude towards enabling global trade through online platform. Kim was surprised by Jack’s passion for enhancing global trade especially by placing his focus on small businesses (Lashinsky, 2017). Others have been moved by Jack’s humility in leadership and some managers such as Jean Liu have consider him as a mentor over some years after knowing him. This highlights the kind of leadership his influence has on other people and especially in his company. To realize the set vision that depends on technology in selling, financing and delivering products on the various digital platforms, Jack Ma has presented himself as a leader in the world (Lashinsky, 2017).  He has relied on the understanding that innovation is not always equated with invention and therefore builds the success of Alibaba on what was already present in the market. Therefore, he adopted various concepts such as ebay’s customer to customer model to build the infrastructure of Alibaba (Lashinsky, 2017). He appears to have acknowledged that history, culture and mind-set held the same importance as functionality.

The transformation leadership that has been adopted by Jack Ma is based on actualizing ideas since ideas without actions add up to nothing. Many managers and leaders may have great ideas but do not have the motivation to execute them. The fact that Ma has been daring to execute ideas in the Company is what has set it on a successful path .This  aligns with a vision  to bring transformation in the way businesses is done in the domestic and global market and impact the same to smaller businesses (Lashinsky, 2017). As companies operating on pure e-commerce platforms are looking for options to stir growth, Ma is guiding the firm in looking for ways of creating ecosystems that can incorporate online experience with traditional shopping. To achieve this goal, the company has joined together with other firms such as Intime Retail and Suning Commerce which will enable the firm to enable businesses in improving marketing productivity and overall sales (Trefis Team, 2016). The strategic leadership has enabled Alibaba to create alliances with various logistics firms across Asia so that have a strong delivery network and hence serve the customers better (Trefis Team, 2016). This has created an undisputed position for the firm in China even though the global expansion has been quite slow.

A quality that has defined the leadership and management styles of Jack Ma is good communication skills. He seems to be a natural communicator and promoter so that he gives a tuned year to customers, businesses and regulators (Lashinsky, 2017). He is good at influence people and working teams through his communication, and this has been seen in various large transactions involving the company. An example is the desire by Ant Financial that is affiliated to Alibaba and under Ma’s control to buy out Moneygram which is a payment firm and required the approval of the U.S government. This has made it possible to avoid unhealthy competition with other large online firms such as Amazon and focusing on small businesses through Taobao access Chinese markets (Lashinsky, 2017). Through his communication skills, Ma has been involved in many international firms and subsequently raised his stature and that of Alibaba. He sees this profile as an obligation for sharing ideas and decisions not only within his company but with others around the globe.

Jack Ma portrays quality leadership skills that I admire and that are based on experiences, an understanding of role of culture in an organization and the need to influence others in decision making. Strategic leadership involves anticipating and taking up opportunities to develop ideas into viable businesses using the available resources (Morrill, & American Council on Education. 2010). Ma has the confidence that is needed in to make decisions that will lead to success of the organization and tackle management issues related to the technological world. He has succeeded in building the strategic leadership capacity in Alibaba through recognizing the technology is constantly changing and there is a need to align decisions with necessary adjustment. His ability to influence others and impact positively on the performance of small-business and world leaders underscores the kind of leadership skills he possesses. His communication skills has elevated his leadership and thereby becoming a mentor for other business leaders.

References

Wall Street Journal, (n.d). Defining Alibaba. Retrieved from: http://projects.wsj.com/alibaba/

Steps Involved in Creating a Business Report

When creating a business report, it is important to consider the following steps, hence coming up with an effective business process. These processes are: audience analysis, planning, drafting, proofreading and revising.

Audience Analysis

Analysing the audience is a very critical step, since one needs to understand the knowledge which the audience has on the given topic. In addition, this is also the step whereby one needs to understand how the audience will use the information in the report (Kuiper, 2009). The information on the report should consequently target the audience, hence being of importance to them. The report should consequently be less informational, and more persuasive, in order to attract the attention of the audience (Kuiper & Clippinger, 2012). The nature of the problem being dealt with should be carefully researched, hence coming up with clear, concise information.

Planning

            Planning is a very essential step when writing a business plan, since this is the stage whereby al the strategies have to be put together (Kuiper & Clippinger, 2012). When planning, one needs to understand the main objective of the business report, the target of the business report, and the strategies to be used in the business report. In addition, the structure of writing the report should also be put into consideration. Secondly, one needs to understand how the message will be structured, this includes how the report provides evidence and recommendations (Kuiper, 2009). Finally, the main objective of the report should passed in a critical way, thus allowing the audience to fully understand.

Drafting

            In this step, all the plans need to be put on paper (Kuiper & Clippinger, 2012). Draft the report according to the structure in the plan. Secondly, draft the findings of the business report, beginning with the information which is less significant while moving to the more significant information. Provide evidence where possible, in order to allow the audience to understand how the information was reached at. Moreover, graphs and tables may also be used in order to explain the information (Kuiper, 2009). Thirdly, finalize by writing the recommendations, which should be providing solutions to the problems noted in the business report. In this part, show how the company can be able to improve sales, the strategies which can be used to improve the sales, and finally explain why these recommendations may be important for the company.

Proofreading

            In this stage, one is supposed to reread through the report, to make sure there are no mistakes (Kuiper & Clippinger, 2012). This mistakes may include spelling mistakes, and structural mistakes. The report should be proofread two to three times, making changes where necessary (Kuiper, 2009). Different people can also be allowed to read through the report, to ensure there are no mistakes. After clearing all the mistakes, the formats should then follow the next step which revising.

Revising

            In this stage, the whole report should be looked at carefully, whereby all the mistakes should be removed, thus making the report clean. Secondly, new structures and formats, which may be better than the actual formats should be used. This is responsible for making the report to be more attractive to the audience (Kuiper, 2009). The new format and structure should not change the message being conveyed by the report, but it should help in improving the presentation of the report by an executive. Finally, the report should be printed, in the best format, which should be formal and clear, hence allowing the flow of information to be concise (Kuiper & Clippinger, 2012).

Reference

Kuiper, S. (2009). Contemporary business report writing. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Kuiper, S., & Clippinger, D. A. (2012). Contemporary business report writing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

SOW

Similarities and differences between consumer buying behavior and B2B buying behavior

 Similarities

Both B2B and consumer marketing cope with the way a person buy and consumes goods. The other similarity is that marketing toward a business and advertising to clients are related in provisions of the basic principles of marketing. Both B2B and consumer marketing objectives reveal the basic principles of the advertising mix and as a result, in both circumstances, the marketer should always successfully match goods strengths with the requirements of an exact target market. The other similarity is that both B2B and consumer marketing need exceptional customer service (Wright, 2006). When a transaction is made, the capability a consumer has to get to support group and get supportive service related with charge rate. Both B2B and consumer marketing have distinctive challenges. Frequently, the major challenge that both marketers have is a lack of buying budget. This varies from consumer marketers who might moderately have a better buying budget along with other means to broaden the statement about their buying goods. Logically, this has an important effect on strategic executions (Wright, 2006).

Differences

 In B2B marketing, marketers cope with lesser number of people when compared to consumer marketing where an individual has to cope with the mass market. In general a single worker of one organization might be appointed to cope with the concerned worker of the other organization (customer). The other difference is that whereas emotional aspects play a large fraction in a consumer's decision to buy goods, B2B buying decisions are less expressive and extra task-oriented. In Consumer marketing, transactions are made to people who are the last decision makers, even if they might be predisposed by relative’s associates or friends (Wright, 2006). On the other hand, a business marketing (B2B) marketing, transaction is made toward a business or firm. The other difference is that the costing and buying process for B2B procures are longer and additional multifarious than consumer purchases. Conversely, business marketing normally involves shorter and extra direct channels of allocation to objective audiences. Diverse features of the promotional mix might be simply modified because of the connection involving a B2B dealer and the individual purchaser (Wright, 2006).

Reference

Wright, R. (2006). Consumer behaviour. London: Thompson Learning.

NAME _________________________________________________

SA1 – (4 pts) We talked in class about the importance of anticipating customer needs and pleasing the customer.  Assume you work in a product industry for a manager who is ‘numbers-driven.’  She does not see the overall benefit of satisfying the customer.  You have been asked by the marketing department to make a short presentation to her that will persuade her of the importance of meeting/exceeding customer expectations.  What are four hard-hitting points you would make?  She has a short attention span, so be concise.

The art of any good business enterprise lies in the need of realizing higher levels of effectiveness i.e. doing the right things.

Moreover, by executing its daily operating activities efficiently, it means such a business will have the capacity of offering the right services to their clients, whilst remaining cost-effective.

By meeting customer expectations, and putting flexibility at the forefront of efficiency, it will be easier to bringing the firm’s objectives into line through.

Lastly, meeting customer expectations has the ability of increasing their lifetime value as well as reducing customer churn (Brink & Berndt, 2008).

SA2 – (4 pts) Do waiting lines only form when the service operation is understaffed? Explain?

Waiting line is part of the business’s everyday life. Waiting lines might be as a result of congestion, overfilling, or overcrowded. Any time that there is high demand for services, waiting line forms. Waiting time mainly depends on the amount of customers who are waiting to be served, the time taken serve each one of them, and number of servers serving line (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2000).

SA3 - (4 pts) Briefly discuss the concept of order winners and order qualifiers

Order winners offer reasons as to why clients ought to select the business, its products, or services. Contrary to that, by not in the position of meeting the minimum standards on the order qualifiers offers reasons as to why clients will ignore or reject the business, its products, or services (Hofmann, 2012).

BONUS!  (2 points)  Who developed the concept of order winners and order qualifiers?

              Terry Hill

Problem 1.  (8 points)  Consider an espresso stand with a single barista. Customers arrive at the stand on average, every 2 minutes according to a Poisson distribution.  Service times are exponentially distributed with a service rate of 35 customers per hour. What is the probability that there are more than 2 customers in the system?

Stand time (λ) = 2minutes, Service rate (μ) = 35 customers per hour

            Probability (P₂) = Stand time (λ) / Service rate (μ

                                    = λ/μ

                                    = 2/3

Problem 2. (10 points)  Dumplings –To-Go (DTG) provides take-out dumplings and noodle dishes to customers at its chain of drive-through restaurants. The target for a customer’s waiting time is 3.0 minutes +/- 1 minute.  Each month, one of the managers observes the drive-through process and collects a sample of 4 waiting times a day over a 6 day period.  The data from one restaurant appears below.

1. a) (3 pts) Find the centerline, UCL and LCL for an X-bar chart for this data

Center Line = median or average of the data

                        = 91.5/6

                        =15.25

Upper control limit (UCL) = (17.5 + 13.8 + 16.5 + 11.3 + 15.7)/6 + 3(x/ )

                                    = 15.25 + (16.5-16.1)6

                                    =15.25 + 0.4x6

                                    = 17.65  

Lower control limit (UCL) = (17.5 + 13.8 + 16.5 + 11.3 + 15.7)/6 + 3(x/ )

                                    = 15.25 + (16.1-15.7)6

                                    = 15.25 + 0.4x6

                                    = 17.65

1. b) (4 points) Is the process in control?  Why or why not?

No. this is because the control limits which are used to monitor the mean and the variance of the data lie outside (Sower, 2011).

Problem 3 – (8 points)  The PlayBetter Golf Company has begun using QFD in an attempt to improve their declining sales.  They commissioned a customer study that resulted in the following assessment.  Your job is to clearly and succinctly tell PBGC where they should focus their design efforts and why.

                                                            Competitive

                                                            Assessment

With regard to the above data, PBGC should focus their design efforts because its facilities have the potential of being revived. This is to say that they have not yet reached the bottom-line regardless of the current declining sales. 

Problem 4 - (8 points) A company is evaluating which of three alternatives should be used to produce a product. The following cost information describes the three alternatives

Give the range over which each process will be preferred

                        Range = (maximum –minimum) of the fixed cost (Viswanathan, 2007).

                                    = $ (70000 – 10000)

                                    =$ 50000

Problem 5 (10 points).  Oklahoma State is playing the University of Oklahoma for the Big 12 championship.  OSU is trailing 21-14 when we score a touchdown with 1 second left in the game.  Still losing 21-20, the Cowboys (OSU) can choose to either go for two points and the win, or go for one point to send the game into overtime.  The conference championship will be determined by this game.  The Big 12 champion will go to the Orange Bowl, with a payoff of $10 million; the loser will go to the Toilet Bowl with a payoff of $1.6 million. 

Mike Gundy is a very analytical coach…..he has asked you, as an ETM graduate student, to create a decision tree to determine what he should do.  He tells you that if OSU goes for two points against OU, there is a 30% chance of success (and the win), and a 70% chance of failure (and OSU will lose). 

If the Cowboys go for one point, there is a 98% chance they will be successful and tie the ball game, and a 2% chance of failure.  If they tie, the game will go into overtime and Coach Gundy believes his team has only a 20% chance of winning in overtime because of fatigue.  What would you recommend that Coach Gundy do? 

(YOU MAY ASSUME THAT NEITHER TEAM WILL SCORE ON THE KICKOFF FOLLOWING THIS PLAY)

                                                  T 20/100

                                                   T   80/100

                       W 3/10

                               L   7/10            T  20/100

OSU  ½                                                           T  80/100

                                                                        T   80/100

OU   1/2               W  98/100                          T  20/100

                             L  2/100                                   T   80/100

                                                                           T 20/100

  Probability of OSU winning in case they tie (P_W) = ½ X 3/10 X 20/100

                                                                        = 0.03

  Probability of OU winning in case they tie (P_W) = ½ X 98/100 X 80/100

                                                                              = 0.392

From this computation, it then means that in case they tie, OU will have a higher chance of winning. Therefore, OSU should ensure that they have scored two points against OU so as to avoid being defeated during extra time because of fatigue (Hardaker, 2015).

Essay  (8 points)  Consider a service firm known for high quality, for example, the Ritz Carlton.  Define ‘quality’ for RC, and create a Balanced Scorecard for the firm.  Include at least two metrics in each category, and define the metrics in terms of how they would be measured. 

Quality for RC mainly entails transcending from traditional notions about its daily operating challenges into improved problem solving and decision-making process which will translate into improved performances. This in return will translate to high profits hence making the firm to enjoy the economies of scale (Gordon, 2002).

                                                                     Balanced Scorecard

                                                                                                             How do shareholders view the firm?

How do our customers view us?

                                                                                                                                   Can the firm continue with

                                                                                                                        its strategies for improving

                                                                                                                                       and creating value?

(Niven, 2006)

                                                            References

Brink, A., & Berndt, A. (2008). Relationship marketing and customer relationship management. Lansdowne, South Africa: Juta.

Fitzsimmons, J. A., & Fitzsimmons, M. J. (2000). New service development: Creating memorable experiences. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.

Gordon, M. J. (2002). Six Sigma quality for business & manufacture. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Hardaker, J. B. (2015). Coping with risk in agriculture: Applied decision analysis. Boston, MA : CABI

Hofmann, E. (2012). The supply chain differentiation guide: A roadmap to operational excellence. Berlin: Springer Berlin.

Niven, P. R. (2006). Balanced scorecard step-by-step: Maximizing performance and maintaining results. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Sower, V. E. (2011). Essentials of quality: With cases and experiential exercises. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Organisation Development and Change

Introduction

Development and change in organizations is usually affected by the impact of the society on the lives of a given peoples. The culture of a given society consequently determines the type of development which an organization can undertake. People live according to societal dictates in their countries, making the flow of business to be different in different countries. Hofstede’s cultural dimension explains how the society may affect marketing trends. In this essay, this paper will therefore compare Singapore and Australia using Hofstede’s cultural dimension, before explaining how the French culture and the Raven’s Five Bases of Power are influenced by national culture. The paper will finally conclude with an argument on how the use of power in organizational change may either be efficient or less efficient.

1. Singapore Vs Australia in terms of Hofstede’s Dimension

Power Distance

Australia slashes low on this dimension, and this is attributed to hierarchy which is established in Australian organizations (Dückers, Frerks & Birkmann, 2015). Hierarchies are basically established for ease, supervisors are always available, and the employees, and teams are relied upon by the managers. Information in these organizations is regularly shared, between the managers and the employees. The flow of information within the organizations is direct, unceremonious and participative.

On the other hand, Singapore scored very high in this dimension, this is attributed to the Confucian culture, which is dominant in Singapore (Jonathan, 2009). The main principle of the Confucian culture is the permanence of the society, which is founded on uneven relationships between people. In organizations, power is centralized, hence managers depend on their seniors for rules. The employees rely on what they are told by their seniors, and they cannot participate in the company’s decision making.

Individualism

            Australia is a highly individualist country, since people look after themselves, and their close families. In the world of business, the employees are required to rely on themselves, and display inventiveness (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009). In addition, promotions and hiring are only based on personal achievements.

            Singapore scores low, since it embraces collectivism. People belong into groups, and a person cannot operate as an individual, but in a group of people (Jonathan, 2009). This is also related to the Confucian culture, whereby people belong in groups commonly known as families. Communication in groups is indirect, and coordination has to be maintained, whereas open conflicts should be highly avoided. Relationships are based on moral teachings, and this always provides the opportunity of task fulfilment.

Masculinity

            Australia slashes 61, on this dimension, hence is deliberated a masculine society. Social behaviours in schools, at work or even at playgrounds depend on shared values, state that people should endeavour to be the best, because winners get the opportunity of getting it all. Due to the pride that the Australians have for their success, this allows for the foundation of elevation and hiring decisions in the places of work. Individuals resolve conflicts on their own, with the aim of becoming the best of the best.

            Singapore is more of a feminine country, since femininity performs slightly higher than masculinity in the country. Softer aspects of the society in Singapore are highly valued and desired. Humbleness is highly desired, and the know it all people are not liked. Conflicts are highly avoided, through being cautious in during discussions.

Uncertainty Avoidance

            Uncertainty avoidance in Australia is slightly high, since the country focuses more on the current affairs, while preparing for the future. In the business world, organizations also focus more on the current affairs, at the same time preparing for the future (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009).

            Singapore scores very low on uncertainty avoidance. Singaporeans focus on the current events, and they believe that everything will always be fine, since they are in a fine country.

Long Term Orientation

            Australia scores low (21), on this dimension, thus having a normative culture. In this type of society, people are very concerned with establishing total truth, due to their normative thinking. Australians highly value their culture, thus, they are reluctant to prepare for the future through saving, since their main focus is on achieving quick gains (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009).

            Singapore scores very highly in this dimension, due to cultural qualities which support long-term investments. The Singaporean culture encourages persistence, slow results, sustained efforts, and having a sense of disgrace. This has consequently enabled the country to be ranked among the five dragons which have vast economic success (Dückers, Frerks & Birkmann, 2015).

Indulgence

            Australia is highly indulgent, due to the willingness of the Australians to realise their desires and instincts with respect to enjoying life and having fun too. They are very optimistic a move which makes them to maintain a positive attitude. Most of their time and money is spent on leisure events and on valuable things. (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009).

            Singapore is low on this dimension, since Singaporeans are bounded to their religion, making them not to do somethings (Jonathan, 2009). They are very optimistic about the future, but their thoughts are confined to their religion, and they may not be able to perceive somethings due to the fear of going against the Confucian teachings.

2. The Influence of National Culture on French and Raven’s Five Bases of Power

According to Hofstede, power comes from the dictates of the culture, whereby leaders rule based on the dictates of the society (Jonathan, 2009). For instance, the Singaporeans live according to the Confucian culture, which gives a leader total authority over his subjects, leading to unequal distribution of power within the society. People within such a society abide to the dictates of the Confucian teachings, thus allowing their leaders to have total powers over them. The same applies to Legitimacy, in the Five Bases of Power. Culture leads to the formation of unity, which results in the emergence of authority, under which people are governed. Furthermore, culture acts as a means of making people to have similar beliefs, thus being able to relate in a similar way (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009).  

Cultural beliefs tend to affect the mental beliefs of people, thus making them to react differently to a given situation, even though it might be of negative effect to their lives. In order for power to be exercised effectively, there must exist a good relationship between a certain groups of people, who share common beliefs. Sharing cultural beliefs leads to minimal or less resistance which leaders are likely to face, since culture allows people to highly avoid conflicts. Power therefore relies on the type of relationship which exists between individuals under the same culture.

Individualism allows a person to work harder, in order to achieve his or her personal goals. Most countries embrace individualism, since it allows the economy of a country to grow, due to the will to perform better by most individual employees, thus impacting the performance of their workplace. The same applies to reward, in the Five Bases of Power (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009). Reward is aimed at improving individual’s ability in the workplace, thus improving the overall performance of an organization. Rewarding an employee poses a challenge to other employees, making them to work even harder in order to be rewarded too. This is consequently similar to individualism, since a person aims at being the best of the best, in order to stand out, hence being rewarded.

Expert power, which is the person’s ability to do something effectively, is similar to masculinity. According to Hofstede’s cultural dimension, masculinity is the society which is driven by achievements, and success. In such a society, people aim to do each and every tasks assigned to them in the best way possible (Dückers, Frerks & Birkmann, 2015). This makes them to be successful, hence being among the best of the best. When a person possesses expert power, he or she has the ability to perform a task better as compared to other people. This consequently makes the person to stand out, hence becoming successful. Masculinity and expert power are therefore related in the sense that they focus on the same thing, which is performing a given task in the best way possible.

Referent Power, is the outcome of a person’s apparent attractiveness. Referent power basically comes from the respect which one has towards another person, thus making the person to do according to what a person with referent power is doing (Karkoulian, Messarra & Sidani, 2009). This is type of power is similar to indulgence, whereby a certain of group of people may be extravagant, due to their cultural dictates, which allow them to spend their money on valuables, rather than saving for tomorrow. Referent power is equally the power which someone else possesses, whereby he or she can be able to influence other people into doing something which he or she is doing. The two attributes are therefore related in the sense that the culture through indulgence, determines the type of life we lead, whereas referent power affects the type of life we lead through making us to do things because of those with referent power (Dückers, Frerks & Birkmann, 2015).

Coercive Power, this is the type of power whereby those in authority can punish their subjects due to non-compliance. In coercive power, those in authority have total power over their subjects, hence they can do anything if their subjects do not corporate. This type of power is therefore similar to power distance, since the leader has total power over his or her subjects, thus the leader can punish his or her subjects in case of any mistakes (Kolesnik, 2013).

The National culture basically talks about the effect which cultural beliefs have on a nation. Different aspects and undertakings in a country rely on the cultural beliefs of the given country. The Five Bases of Power, are basically derived from cultural dictates (ten et al, 2016). This consequently makes it easier for a leader to be able to effectively lead his or her subjects in an organizations, towards the right direction. Hence National culture fully influences the Five Bases of Power, since it provides the foundation of each and every power in the Five Bases of Power.

3. Use of Power in Change programs

            The use of power in change programs may be more efficient in Singapore as opposed to Australia, due to power distance in Singapore (Kolesnik, 2013). The power distance which exists in Singapore is very high, thus most leaders to use power as a means of influencing change. The use of power in change programs is not good at all, since employees within an organization should be allowed to do things according to their ability. Using power may create resistance from the employees, thus leading to little efforts from the employees, in order to foster change. Singapore is however an exceptional case, since power distance in the country is very high, making the use of power in change programs to be the most efficient method (Dückers, Frerks & Birkmann, 2015).

            The Singaporean culture allows the use total power by the leaders over their subjects. These people are therefore used to this type of life, and using power, in order to in change programs will definitely yield positive results. In organizations, leaders the employees only wait for commands from their supervisors, in order to execute their tasks (ten et al, 2016). Due to being used to this type of culture, it might be very hard for an organization to effectively execute change programs, without the use of power. Singaporeans depend on what their leaders tell them, and if they are not told to do something, then they will not do so. This means that in order for them to work effectively, power must be used. The respect which the Singaporeans have for leaders makes them to execute the commands without any questions, or opposition, this method will therefore be very effective in Singapore, since it will face little to no resistance (Jonathan, 2009).

Conclusion

            In this essay, I have compared Singapore to Australia based Hofstede’s cultural dimension. Through the comparison, it is evident that the two countries have different cultural dictates and beliefs. Secondly, I have looked at the influence of National Culture on French and Raven’s Five Bases of Power, whereby through the evidence provided in the paper, it is true to say that national culture influenced French and Raven’s Bases of Power. Finally, I also looked at use of power in change programs, whereby I argued in support of the use of power in change manage management in Singapore, due to its form of leadership and cultural beliefs.

Reference

Dückers, M., Frerks, G., & Birkmann, J. (2015). Exploring the plexus of context and consequences: An empirical test of a theory of disaster vulnerability. International Journal Of Disaster Risk Reduction, 1385-95. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2015.04.002

Jonathan Wee Pin, G. (2009). Globalization's Culture Consequences of MBA Education across Australia and Singapore: Sophistry or Truth?. Higher Education, (2), 131. doi:10.1007/s10734-008-9186-5

Duran, M., Irfan, S., Sipoche, D., Blough, D., Turner, D., Phuong, N., & Steinberg, H. (2016). CUSTOMER SERVICE & HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS AMONG ARABS, AUSTRALIANS, CANADIANS, GREEK, JAMAICANS, PAKISTANI, SINGAPORIAN, & AMERICAN ACCOUNTING INFORMATION PERSONNEL. Allied Academies International Conference: Proceedings Of The Academy Of Accounting & Financial Studies (AAFS), 21(1), 6.

French and Raven's bases of power. (2015). Sports Leadership: A Concise Reference Guide.

Karkoulian, S., Messarra, L., & Sidani, M. (2009). CORRELATES OF THE BASES OF POWER AND THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION. Allied Academies International Conference: Proceedings Of The Academy Of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict (AOCCC), 14(1), 7-16.

Effective Change in Educational Institutions: Does the Construct of Power Influence Management and Leadership Models in Everyday Professional Practice?. (2016).

American Psychological Assoc. (2012). Requirements Pertaining to Third Party Conformity Assessment Bodies. Federal Register.

ten Have, S., ten Have, W., Huijsmans, A., & Otto, M. (2016). Reconsidering Change Management : Applying Evidence-Based Insights in Change Management Practice. [Place of publication not identified]: Routledge.

Kolesnik, K. (2013). The role of culture in accounting in the light of Hofstede's, Gray's and Schwartz's cultural dimensions theories--a literature review. Efinanse, (3), 33.

Ye, X., Anderson, D., & Leon, R. (2016). Understanding Cultural Difference: Examination of Self-Authorship among International Students.

Girlando, A. P., & Eduljee, N. B. (2010). An Empirical Investigation of the Malleability of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions: The Case of the United States and Russia. Journal Of Transnational Management, 15(3), 265-289. doi:10.1080/15475778.2010.514201

Introduction to Business

Why a closely held corporation might choose to remain private

            Closely held corporations may choose to remain private because of the following reasons; firstly, privately owned corporations normally have a few shareholders and some businesses may prefer a company to have a few players hence opting to remain as private. Some corporations may choose to remain private if they do not want the information about their operations to leak for example leakage of information exposes your information to various stakeholder such as the suppliers, the customers and the competitors. Privately held companies do not disclose details about their operations and this may deny competitors information. Corporations may also choose to remain private in case their business requires confidentiality (Ebert & Griffin, 2003). Information such as legal settlement, executive compensation and other sensitive information is always kept confidential in privately owned corporation which is not the case with publicly owned. Corporations may also choose to remain private because of the flexibility in structuring the company for instance they can structure their company such that the incomes flows to the shareholders who are then taxed, thus avoiding the risk of double taxation (Ebert & Griffin, 2003).

Why it might choose to be publicly traded

            However, there are also valid reasons that a closely held corporation may choose to be publicly traded. Public corporations offer stock shares to be purchased by the public and this can be a good way to raise funds in case of financial shortages. A closely held corporation may also choose to be publicly traded because of the ease of borrowing in public corporation (Griffi, 2007). In case of financial need, it is easier for a publicly owned corporation to borrow money from outside sources compared to private corporations. Banks may see it easier for public corporations to pay back the money borrowed due to multiplicity of the investors involved. Similarly, the customers may also prefer a public corporation keeping it that their purchases will yield a huge profit as a result of diversity of people (Griffi, 2007). Finally it is easier to sell and buy shares in a publicly held corporation.

References

Ebert, R. J., & Griffin, R. W. (2003). Business essentials. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.

Griffi, (2007) introduction to business. Published by Prentice Hall, 2007

Oracle- Balanced Score Card

General objectives

Oracle Corporation has it focus on becoming the largest company globally dealing in the field of software development through listening to customers, coming up with smart decisions, creating great products. To ensure its success in this industry, the company aims at being ahead in terms of technological advancement and marketing curve. The most important strategies for Oracle focuses on engineering systems business initiatives, mobile, social, cloud, Big Data Analytics and customer experience. Various overriding themes aim at directing the position of the Company in an increasingly competitive market and a technological position that influences how it relates with its customers.

 The objectives of the firm are based on its strategy that involves embracing Disruptive Technologies. While in the past the firm has not been keen in embracing the disruptive technologies that form part of the strategies and pervades the products, listening to customers and the general market which, already has led to integration of various technologies into applications for business (Humble, Molesky & O'Reilly, 2014). A major objective involves focusing innovation and treating application modernization as part of innovation. The modernization involves achieving cost savings as well as efficiencies and at the same time acquiring larger marker share, increasing sales to customers, retaining more customers and this will be possible with greater predictability. Embracing the disruptive technologies aims at acquiring a specific position in a marketplace that is becoming increasingly crowded (PROFES (Conference) & Jedlitschka, 2014). The company’s engineering systems will enable the transition of Oracle from software firm to silicon and Software Company. The strategy will also involve numerous acquisitions that are profitable and mostly involving Engineering Systems .The disruptive technologies are mostly aligned to the acquisition of more customers and hence larger market share and enhancement of the company’s revenue.

 Another objective involves using the cloud strategy to as an approach for cloud breadth and customer choice. Customer choice involves taking an all-above approach strategy through availing software delivery in public cloud and Oracle cloud or a combined hybrid of the previous technologies. Customer choice is important for business and the ubiquitous cloud strategy will provided portability and flexibility for those customers who are keen on keeping their own applications but have different delivery selection or cloud provider whose basis is on their specific objectives (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). The cloud breadth involves taking a top-bottom strategy, which is a continuation of the bigger idea of not continuing the previous model involving mismatching parts and forcing the integration of the costly system (McKinsey & Company, 2015). The objective involves social software included in cloud continuum and in overall the strategy promises to bring about new technology leverage while mitigating various cloud problems that have been cited including loss of visibility and control and even cloud silos.

Oracle social objective involves enabling organizations as customers to develop social relationships with various stakeholders including influencers, customers, employees and partners by the use of social media technologies for listening, engaging and marketing. The use of Social Relationship Management involves various remedies for social listening and social engagement, internal social-networking and social marketing, social insight and data (Galka & Baran, 2016). To improve Oracle’s capacity to address the challenges facing organizations  which relates to noise-signal filtering and better sentiment analysis , innovation will equip the firm with sophisticated tuning that  beats many  other in the market. Improving Customer experience involves various observations including changing the way companies and customers engage, shifting the purchasing power to customers and increasing the demand for vendor receptiveness (Galka & Baran, 2016).Customer experience improvement will be achieved through improved research and development that is consistent. Focusing on analytics strategy will ensure delivery of a whole Business Intelligence suite, providing options in delivery and packaged analytics.  The achievements of these objectives will be enabled through valuing and respecting Oracle’s partners, through continuous expansion and business interests that overlaps those of its various partners and competitors. This is expected to intensify competition but the firm will use its capabilities and partnerships to improve its position in the market.

To engage more with customers, the company aims at simplifying the marketing process given that markets today encounter a network of technologies, systems and data that make it make difficult the process of managing centralizing and planning customer experience that is major individualized.  As these marketers deal with this complexity, the process may become dysfunctional and hence negatively affect the customer experience. The aim of Oracle Marketing Cloud is to assist the organizations in maximizing the marketing resources and achieving highest revenue through provision of a simple yet unified perception of customer information. Marketers can use this to assess the different behaviors, preferences and attributes which will act as a driver for revenue and loyalty (Sathi, 2014). The development of this capability for organizations will help in increasing the market size by developing a competitive advantage (Sathi, 2014). This will be align with modern marketing that calls for marketers to posses technological knowhow in the process of collecting and assessing customer information that can be used in the  customer oriented products or services. The Marketing Cloud is such technology whose application forms the basis for learning more about customer preferences and coming up with new strategies. The Oracle software can help organizations in having a centric view of the global market with dynamic needs.

Balanced Score Card for Oracle Corporation

Financial objectives

The aim of Oracle Corporation is to attain consistent financial results by leveraging extensive research and market experience in the development of standardized collection methodologies for very business section on which it lays its focus on. For the software section, the organizational objectives involve revenue on sales, net profit and solvency of the company, and observance of ethical and professional standards in financial statements preparation and reporting.  The achievement of the set sales revenue will involve the IaaS (Cloud Infrastructure as a Service), a segment that will form part of the company’s on-premise and cloud software business. The metric for  this objective involves the attainment of 3 % annual growth rate  and this  be possible if the products enabled by this infrastructure will form part of 3 % total revenue for the  coming fiscal years. The segment for IaaS cloud comprises of Oracle Managed Cloud Services and Oracle Cloud IaaS which forms part of the software business. Increased investment in IaaS technologies will ensure that there is simplification of customer migration to Oracle Cloud and also providing customers with workload running flexibility and portability that can help in shifting workloads in between. The target revenue can be achieved through the expected increased sales of cloud which has the ability to sustain impressive growths for the software business section of Oracle Corporation. The U.S dollar is expected to remain constant so that to minimize effect of a strengthening dollar on the sales. The Cloud and On-Premise Software revenues are expected to be up by 3 percent annual if the currency remains constant.

The expected revenue increase is also expected to drive the gross margin up and hence profitability throughout the year. The growth rate in profitability is expected to increase by at least 35 percent annually driven by the improving sales in the software business of the firm especially cloud. In addition, the software maintenance and license will be expected to increase in the same period further lay the basis for targeted increase in profitability as sales increases. Major actions will be carried out to achieve the revenue growth, which includes slashing of operation costs for the updates of performing software, license support, consolidating and redirecting efforts from any area that will not support the attainment of this objective. This involves halting any development work on things that cannot directly improve generation of revenue. The achievement of this financial milestone will be in line with the mission and vision of the company whose outcomes indicates that cash flow is good,  operating costs are under control and returns on investments are acceptable.

Solvency of the company will indicate the financial leverage targeted by the firm and includes both long-term and short-term debt and this will be determined through debt-equity ratio metric. The solvency ratio will be calculated in terms of overall debt divided by total equity if the shareholders. The aim is to have debt ratio for the company being 0.2 which will be an indication that financial health is achieved every year and avoid issues that comes with poor health and inability to deal repay the debts. It will also indicate the ability of the software business operations to remain in course by meeting its obligations. The high ratio will be an indication that the firm is financially sound. The debt/equity ratio is important since it will consider the liabilities of the company against equity.

In the previous financial year, the long-term debt for the firm was about $42.5 million with its total equity totaling about $47 million; with a high debt ratio and this suggest that the financial leverage being weak. In order to achieve a lower debt to equity ratio, the company will result to the strategy of reducing heavy reliance on capital infrastructure. This will enable the company to maintain lower total liabilities which will ensure that the company is financially stable. The objective is to maintain a low value of debt ratio, and this will be possible if Debt to capital ratio is 0.2.  When the total debt for the firm relative to its capital cannot be outweighed, it means that the company will be financially stable due to lower total liabilities. Reducing capital liabilities will be an essential factor in ensuring that the financial health of the firm is maintained in the near future. The company also aims at achieving financial health by ensuring that reporting standards and compliances are met in order to avoid litigations which can be costly to the firm. The objective is to comply with all laws and regulations and codes of conduct that will enhance the firm’s capacity to develop software applications and solutions without any disruptions that can lead to losses in sales and even services opportunities.

Customer perspective

The customers for Oracle Corporation are of different sizes and from different industries, and the objective is to make them the main driver for innovation and increased success especially for Oracle Cloud. The customer oriented objectives aim at capitalizing on a large customer base that is mainly composed of institutional users. The concentration of this customer base can managed to serve an example to the industry and ensure a competitive edge for the company in a very dynamic market (Nasir, 2015).

 Among these objectives is to increase the market share for the company through increasing the number of customers who can use the Saas, IaaS, PaaS and many other such technologies which can transform their business or operations and engage the market in better ways. Controlling a dominant market share is likely to bring about high profits for any company whose products serve this market.  It also implies that such a company will win the power and leadership and all the glory that accompanies such dominance (Galka & Baran, 2016). Therefore, to have a large market share of the dominant market, the objective is to have the market size increase by at least 5 percent annually for the total of software business. To achieve this, the company will seek to spur growth in the software business including Oracle Cloud software with an aim of adding many customers in every year. This will involve a strategy designed to having the major organizations in major industrial countries utilize the software products in order to minimize complexity and cost while at the same time acquire a competitive edge in their particular markets. The software products including Oracle Cloud software will be designed in such a way that it can be used in various organizations. In addition, the achievement of this objective will involve improved innovation, a strong customer relationship and even acquisition of competitors. This will go a long way in increasing the number of institutional and individual customers who are ready to adopt the company’s software products in different areas of their business operations. Innovation is a major method which will be used as strategy for increasing the number of customers.

When a new technology is introduced in the market by a firm and which cannot be matched by the competitors, consumers who are willing to own this technology will buy it, even though they have previously done business with rival firms (European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, In Dameri, In Garelli & In Resta, 2015). The efficient of the new technology will make these customers to be loyal to Oracle and which will add to the market share already dominated by this firm while reducing the market share for the rivals. Through strengthening relationships with customers, the firm will be protecting the current market share by preventing customers from shifting their attention when a rival firm introduces new software into the market (European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, In Dameri, In Garelli & In Resta, 2015).  Customers who feel their needs business needs have been met by the products being offered will tell others of the positive experience they have had to their business partners and associates who are very likely to try out the new products.  Gaining more customers through a word of mouth increases profitability of the firm without having to commit resources in expenses for marketing effort. The aim is to have major organizations to  look for Oracle software products especially cloud solutions which will make it possible for them to achieve quick integration , customization and even extension as their business are being migrated to cloud. Through this, the company is expected to see increased adoption of the products by customers with a higher number of organizations seeing the need to move their cloud applications to Oracle Cloud Software.

Innovations will make it possible for institutions to turn to the software products of the company in building, deploying and extending applications that are gaming changing and which can work business workloads that are critical in a secure and reliable cloud software environment. Any marketing strategy adopted by the company will be directed at connected the needs of the customers that what can be provided through the software products provided by the company. Through increased acquisitions, the company is able to increase its share of the market, since the acquired firm is most likely to be a competitor. This will enable Oracle Corporation to tap into the customer base of the acquired firm and improve its position in the market and reducing the number of companies that are endeavoring to take a slice of the pie.  Good management involves having an eye on the possibility of a good deal for acquisition especially when the acquiring company is experiencing growth. Customer satisfaction is expected to be achieved through improved innovation in the software business, which will make it possible for the company to solve challenges that comes with introduction of new software technologies.

Improving customer satisfaction is another objective of the firm which will be measured through carrying a survey on customers’ view on the software products for the firm. The success for the Company will be driven by customers’ satisfaction and this will be achieved through finding means of infusing cutting-edge software technologies into every aspect of how its largest market- institutions and big organizations in the market plan , operate and execute. This will also involve doing so without disruption and in a smooth way. Customer satisfaction involves customer focus driven by effective leadership and teamwork.  The software section in the company will work in collaboration with others in order to understand how the software products can be integrated into customers’ business operations without any hitch or disruption to these operations.  Such efforts will place attention to the fact that leadership and customer focus can be used to enhance the relation between major technological partners and the global organizations. In the current market, such relations do not only become strategic but also intimate and this will improve customer satisfaction. The measure of the customer satisfaction will be carried out and will involve carrying out a survey and finding a medium average of the customers whose needs have been fulfilled – at least 95 %. The objective is to assess the status quo so as to enable the implementation of an optimization strategy.

Customer retention is another objective that aligns with the goals of the company and involves preventing customers from defecting to other software products introduced by competitors. The customer retention rate will be measured through an attrition rate, which will be calculated by finding the percentage of clients Oracle Corporation will have lost in every fiscal year. The aim is to have at most 5 percent attrition rate.

 Customer retention is a major indicator of market performance especially in SaaS market which relates to products offered by Oracle Corporation. To achieve customer retention, efforts will be directed towards collaboration, which entails working closely with software products users to ensure that present and future services or products satisfy the needs of every customer regardless of size and industry of their operations. Providing the appropriate product for every specific customer, helping them understand the software product and how it can be integrated into their own business operations. Investing in a platform for digital adoption will ensure that disruptions are minimized in the business and hence maintaining the continuity of these operations. The software has to be adoptable by the employees so that the organization can see the need for investing and maintaining business relations. Customer retention involves being proactive and aggressive while addressing the adoption of end-user products, without having to change any underlying software. Addressing the present and future needs of the customer is a good way of ensuring the customers do not defect to other products in the market provided by competitors. Therefore, whenever customer needs changes Oracle will adapt to such changes and aim at satisfying them as quickly as possible.

Learning Perspective

Learning objective is a very important aspect in ensuring that the other objectives put in place are achieved. The need for employee training is informed by the fact that employees have to feel that they are growing and developing in their career so that can give their best in the organization and remain there (In Mupepi & IGI Global, 2017).The aim is therefore to introduce learning programs that will improve the talent of the employees in a technological environment that is constantly changing. The employees will improve their skills and the technological knowhow which fulfill personal development desires and improve their performance in meeting customer needs. It will involve analyzing skill gaps and motivating the employees to master news skills and develop critical thinking skills in the process of innovation. The metric involves measuring this involves reimbursement funds for employee training at - $7500.

The other objective involves lowering turnover rate in the organization which can affect the performance if the firm especially where best talent is lost. To reduce turnover rate, the recruitment process should involve hiring the right skills and those that fit well with managers, co-workers and the culture in the workplace (In Mupepi & IGI Global, 2017). In addition, employee retention will be enhanced through assisting them in developing a plan for personal growth and development.  Through mastering their own skills and improving their knowledge will enhance their innovation capability. This brings about the possibility of attaining satisfaction in the work environment and giving their best to the course taken by the organization. Improving the working environment will ensure that employee adapt to the culture of the workplace and hence their fitting in (In Mupepi & IGI Global, 2017). Turnover rate targeted is below 2 percent annually.

The other objective involves implementing a compensation plan that motivates and hence ensure employee retention. The plan for the employee compensation will ensure that payment costs are controlled, employees are motivated and there is equity in rewarding. The compensation plan will be based on the market rate, and what other employees are earning in the same industry. A good compensation plans ensures that there is both internal and external equity. The plan will mirror the efforts of employee and the responsibilities undertaken by each in ensuring that the overall objectives of the organizations are achieved (In Mupepi & IGI Global, 2017). Hence, skills and knowledge of an employee and how they contribute towards customer satisfaction and financial performance will be major factors in determining the group in which the compensation rate for each employee falls. Prevailing wage rate in the market will form the basis for target rate of compensation.

Internal perspective

Innovation

The objective involves Oracle Corporation being an organization that is embraces innovation internally, and will involve an innovation strategy implemented by leadership. The software products will be improved through adoption of the emerging technologies both within and outside the company. To achieve this, a culture that offers support for innovation will be encouraged through advocacy team and allocation of adequate resources to research on how to improve the existing technology (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). It is the responsibility of leadership to instill a culture that offers adequate support for innovative technology and being persistent on the need for it. Continuous improvement on technology used in creating software products will provide competitive products into the market and which ensure customer satisfaction and retention. The metric for measuring the objective will be percentage of revenue allocated to Research and Development process – 20 percent.

Technology replacement  

The objective is to phase out the older technology that can reduce productivity, increase cost of operations and whose life cycle has expired. The older machines can bring about unscheduled downtime and inconsistency in producing new products (Information Resources Management Association, 2016). The aim is to replace the older computers with new ones that have high processing powers and which can be used for multiple operations without causing disruptions. Achieving this will involve making the technology replacement plan part of the strategic planning and obtaining feedback from staff involved in software development on how this will impact the budget. By use of asset management techniques, it will be possible to determine the computers that need replacement. The metric involves the ratio of older to new tools - 1:3.

Product improvement

The objective is to have continuously improved software products that are offered by Oracle Corporation through innovation and ensure that they are at par with market trend and prevailing technology. This will ensure that customer value is delivered at any given moment since the changing customer needs will be addressed overtime or at once. The aim is to have a competitive edge in the market since products’ efficiency is addressed as required by existing and new customers. Product improvement process involves active participation of managers who ensure consistency in innovation (ESOCC (Conference), In Celesti et al. 2016). This can be achieved though assessing the market performance of the existing product, selecting the ones to be improved and initiating the innovative process through available skills in the organization. The metric for measuring improved is the ratio of old to new products – 1:5.

References

Humble, J., Molesky, J., & O'Reilly, B. (2014). Lean enterprise. 123-125

PROFES (Conference), & Jedlitschka, A. (2014). Product-focused software process improvement: 15th International Conference, PROFES 2014, Helsinki, Finland, December 10-12, 2014 : proceedings.

Information Resources Management Association. (2016). Project management: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications. Hershey: Business Science Reference.1887

McKinsey & Company (2015).The reality of growth in the software industry. Retrieved from: http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/the-reality-of-growth-in-the-software-industry

Galka, R. J., & Baran, R. J. (2016). Customer Relationship Management: The Foundation of Contemporary Marketing Strategy. Taylor & Francis. 401-403

Sathi, A. (2014). Engaging customers using big data: How marketing analytics are transforming business.152

Nasir, S. (2015). Customer relationship management strategies in the digital era.

European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, In Dameri, R. P., In Garelli, R., & In Resta, M. (2015). Proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship: ECIE 2015 : The University of Genoa, Italy, 17-18 September 2015. 332-334

ESOCC (Conference), In Celesti, A., In Leitner, P., International Workshop on CLoud for IoT, International Workshop on Adaptive Services for the Future Internet, Workshop on Seamless Adaptive Multi-Cloud Management of Service-Based Applications, International Workshop on Cloud Adoption and Migration, ... Workshop on Federated Cloud Networking. (2016). Advances in service-oriented and cloud computing: Workshops of ESOCC 2015, Taormina, Italy, September 15-17, 2015, revised selected papers. 276-279

In Mupepi, M., & IGI Global. (2017). Effective talent management strategies for organizational success.24-27

Introduction to Business

The key similarities and differences between consumer buying behavior and B2B buying    

Consumer buying behavior refers to the sale of products by an organization to potential customers whereas B2B behavior refers to a transaction that occurs by one organization selling products to another organization and those goods are further resold by the later to support their own operation (Lascu & Clow, 2008). These two forms of buying behaviors have similarities and differences as explained below;

Similarities

            First of all, both consumer buying behavior and B2B deal with the way people buy or consume products. In both situations, the buying process starts with identifying the need. With both situations, the seller must always match product strengths with the need of a particular target market. The seller must also communicate and sell products so as to effectively express value to the target market (Lascu & Clow, 2008).

Differences

Buyer behavior; emotional factors play a bigger role in consumer buying behavior, which is not the case with B2B buying behavior which tends to be less emotional. Business consumers look for product elements such as productivity, economy in cost, and quality and they often spend more money as the buying process tends to be lengthy and complex (Lascu & Clow, 2008). Similarly, organizational buyers purchase products in large quantities unlike consumers.

Buyer-customer relationship; with consumer marketing the negotiation process between the seller and the buyer tends to be personal. Marketers and sales representatives are always assigned to market the products. Whereas business consumer normally includes a number of meetings held between the buyer and the seller before transaction can take place. For instance, B2B marketers present products in private presentation and the B2B organization may also invite customers and prospects to private or public events for further conversations (Peter & Olson, 1999). This tends to build trust and confidence between the buyer and the seller in the long run.

Decision making; decision maker with consumer buying is always the person buying the product for example if a father may decide to buy clothes for his children, he stands to be the decision maker (Peter & Olson, 1999). Whereas with organizational buying, the whole process starts with an idea, which is followed by a formal approval and the person who makes the final purchase, is always the departmental representative or the purchasing agent.

References

Peter, J. P., & Olson, J. C. (1999). Consumer behavior and marketing strategy. Boston, Mass. [u.a.: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.

Lascu, D.-N., & Clow, K. E. (2008). Essentials of marketing. Mason: Cengage Learning.

Introduction to Business

Importance of a company’s informal organization

            Informal organization of a company refers to the interlocking social structure governing how people work in an organization. Importance of informal organization arises from the functions carried out by informal groups and they are as follows; it has influence on job satisfaction and productivity. It is a way through which workers feel a sense of belonging. It is also important because in meeting the personal needs of the members, which cannot be met by formal structure. It boosts productivity; this is because when employees feel at home while at workplace, it will have a positive impact on their productivity. They will focus on their work in a better way, hence achieving the targets (Griffi, 2007). There is easy accessibility in an informal organization and employee issues cannot be buried under layers of hierarchy but rather reach the top management at a proper time because there are no layers of hierarchy to block your issue from reaching the top management. Anyone irrespective of one’s role can easily contact the top management and share opinions. This structure of the organization improves communication by encouraging employees to ask questions share their feedbacks on specific issues, thus reducing chances of misunderstanding, which strengthens trust within the organization. It also enhances collaboration as communication channels are established that bring teams in one page making them struggle to achieve a common objective (Griffi, 2007). There is also flexibility in the working environment for instance the employers understand their employees’ problems and offer them a room to address, thus many employees love to work in a flexible environment

Some of the drawback and benefits of the informal organization

Drawbacks

            Certainly, not everything about informal organization is good. In some organizations, this structure serves as a forum for rumor mongering and other bad behavior such as bullying and backstabbing (Ebert & Griffin, 2003). When employees do not fulfill their roles, the organization might rely heavily on the leadership chart hence less flexibility.

Benefits
            The informal structure is always considered as the most important corporate structure since it reveals the actual operation of the organization. It is an indicator of a healthy organization characterized by teamwork and proper communication. Finally, it helps employees make sense of communication flow (Ebert & Griffin, 2003).

References

 Ebert, R. J., & Griffin, R. W. (2003). Business essentials. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.

Griffi, (2007) introduction to business. Published by Prentice Hall, 2007

Project

Kick off

The starting point will include creating a workers program that entails training, advancement and growth opportunities. It will involve developing a plan, presenting the plan, testing the program , implementation of the program in form actual training. The program will be presented to the manager of the overall project.

Design Phase

-Working with the employees including the customer service representatives to gather information about the training, personal growth and development needs .Creating the content of the training programs based on the collected data or information. Developing the appropriate ways of evaluating the programs to ensure that they are in line with training objectives and presenting the developed programs and training schedules to the human resource management for review will be done in this pace.  

Building phase

The trainers will develop all the training contents that can improve employee productivity and involvement. The developer of the program will them provide a plan that can be used to test the outcome of the training program. The testing of the program will be done on the customer service representative before being adopted by other workers. A plan will be created that involve a good compensation plan including bonuses after workers performance has been improved through training. Creating a working environment that is favorable to the workers by reducing time spent on meetings, playing music and providing snacks to employees. Coming up with communication process where employee can raise concerns. These factors are important since they improve the employees’ morale and make them feel happier working in the organization (Mielach, 1). 

Implementation

The HR department will implement the program across the organization and provide the necessary resources required in the process

Training phase

All the individuals involved in creating and implementation of the program will be offered training in how to do so. The individuals will present the [progress of the program at a monthly meeting.

Closure

The program will be transferred to the relevant individuals who will ensure its continuous adoption by new and existing employees.

Works cited

Mielach, David .11 Things That Make Workers.Happy.BusinessNews Daliy. 2012

Economic growth

Economic growth results from increase in production capacity in the market or country, and this growth are measured through Gross Domestic Product. Essentially, economic growth is an increase in actual Gross Domestic product and it is caused by increased aggregate demand and aggregate supply. Aggregate supply refers to productive capacity and its increase is brought about by more labor participation, new resources, and specialization of labor, improved technology and increase in level of trade (Mankiw, 2017). The growth in economy is driven by business capital investment, where the business uses financial capital for investment in capital goods. Increase in capital goods lead to more labor productivity, utilization of resources and higher level of research and development which leads to improved technology. Therefore, long-run economic growth needs more long-term aggregate productivity capacity /supply which are provided through increased business investment (Mankiw, 2017).

The intersection between loanable funds demand and supply in a basic demand and supply graph determines the interest rates. Since businesses are the major loanable funds borrowers, they will only turn to borrowing if they are able to invest in real capital and therefore produce goods or services whose return on investment will be higher than interest rate that is charged on the loanable funds. This means that businesses investment in terms of capital goods will be determined by whether they are able to access the financial capital whose cost is determined by the prevailing interest rates. The supply of loanable fund is higher if the interest rates are high while demand for such funds will be low at such high interest rates (Mankiw, 2017). The Federal Reserve normally manipulate the rates of interact to set the monetary policy, by increasing and decreasing the loanable funds. Decrease in the interest rates induces more buying and this in turn stimulates the country’s economy. An increase in the rate of interest lead to higher borrowing cost, which means that the cost of loanable funds will be high and which leads to reduced incentive for businesses and individuals to invest(Mankiw, 2017). The higher rates also  makes the value of currency to increase making the market less competitive and , increases imports and reduces exports and eventually it leads to reduced aggregate demand. The high interest rates affect the confidence level of investors, by making them less willing to carry out risky investments (Mankiw, 2017).

Every year, a deficit in the government budget adds more to sovereign debt of the country. The interest on this debt has to be paid yearly, and as it grows the spending increases without any returns. A high payment on interest brings about slow economic growth, since these funds could have been utilized in stimulating the economy. The yearly rise in interest rates leads to change in loanable funds supply, and an increase in interest rate equilibrium would occur if there is a shift of loanable funds demand to the right and supply to the left.

The conclusion by the McKinsey Global Institute that fiscal sustainability is important for growth of the economy stems from the need for managing government debt which is likely to affect the interest rates and the ability to repay the debt. The increase in fiscal budget may be costly where the government expenditure through debt financing so that it surpasses the spending by the private sector investments which may lead to a raised actual interest rates (Mankiw, 2015).

References

Mankiw, N. G. (2015). Principles of macroeconomics. Cengage Learning. 272-273

Mankiw, N. G. (2017). Brief principles of macroeconomics. Place of publication not identified: Cengage Learning.169-172