Effects of Fiscal Policy on Private Business Investment

Fiscal sustainability is important as it refers to the affordability of the government spending and taxation programs in the investing activities. It is important as it plays a critical role in maintaining and supporting the government programs in the future. Economic growth occurs when the government activities commence through infrastructures such as road, hospitals, and schools as they relate to everyday activities (Sercu, 2011). Changes in technology, natural resources per worker, human and physical capital per worker have contributed to economic growth (Kurian  & John, 2009).

Business investments register a growth when there is an increase in capital per worker. In return, this generates a higher output per worker due to the efficiency experienced in the working environment. As a result of the high output by every worker, there is an increased yield which promotes greater economic growth (Sercu, 2011).

Interest rates have a direct effect on the incentive of investment. High interest rates tend to limit investors in that if the risk involved is high and the rate of return is low few investors will be willing to consider the investment (Mankiw, 2012). Low-interest rates tend to show that that fluctuation of the currency is low and the current value has appreciated tend to encourage investors to invest more. An increase in the market reduces the incentive to invest because the risk involves is high and it has a direct effect on the value of the currency (Kurian  & John, 2009). This also implies that only the risk takers will consider the investments due to the high rate of the interest in which the return may not yield back. It is, therefore, true to say that lower interest rate encourages more and additional investment spending which boosts the economic growth (Mankiw, 2012).

Large government budgets that show a deficit have an effect on the equilibrium interest rates. This increases government borrowing thus decreasing the demand for valuable funds which has a negative effect on the equilibrium rate (Mankiw, 2012). The interest rate falls lower decreasing the quantity demanded.

In conclusion, government borrowing is crucial and its sustainability shows the level of government borrowing which should be maintained at equilibrium (Kurian  & John, 2009). It is, therefore, important to maintain the debt level that is sustainable so that the lenders may not lose confidence to the government in order to maintain economic growth and increase the incentive to investments.

Reference      

Kurian, N. J., & John, J. (2009). Sub-national fiscal sustainability in a globalised setting. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Pub.

Mankiw, N. G. (2012). Principles of macroeconomics. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

 Sercu, P. (2011). International Finance: Theory into Practice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS PROJECT

Apple Computer Inc is among the companies with a large base of loyal customers who offer the main support for a continued growth in the company.   Apple has come to be known as a very innovative firm offering its customers user experience which can be considered the best. The company’s strategy has involved building a product ecosystem which integrates its products into almost every aspect of human life.  The company derives its strength in competitive advantage from its brand image, Apple which is among the best IT brands in terms of establishment and product health (Ker,2015).  The company’s main competitors include Samsung and Dell in terms of computers, tablets and mobile phones. Apple competes directly with Dell in the PC market and this competition is mostly based strictly on price. In the year 2015, company managed to beat Dell in terms of growth in the market and in fact saw a marginal increment of its market as compared to Dell whose market remained stagnant in the same period. This growth is being informed by the MAC and iPad products which are continuing to be common and popular in the world of business and forms the biggest portion of the Apple’s revenues. Apple’s competition with Samsung is mostly on the mobile phone frontier. The iPhone products continue to face stiff competition from the Samsung advanced mobile phones with similar functionality (Alam &Khan 2015).   

The electronics industry continues to attract a lot of investment in strategic research and development an area that present a common ground for Apple and the other firms.  The growth in the market for Smartphone continues to be a major determined in the revenue collection for the above firms. This is because of an ever-expanding and growing market which presents growth opportunities for the Apple and its competitors. These characteristics inform the kind of rivalry experienced with the electronics market which has seen rapid changes in marketing strategies ranging from features, prices and physical presentation of the products to the customers. The competition is very stiff as every firm is trying to outdo others as evidenced in a race to introduce high performing and quality phones and PCs. However, Apple Incl. can be considered to be winning the whole competition gig given its innovation production of high quality iPhones and PCs (Wunbin, 2014). The Apple brand has allowed the company to set premium prices for every product which has made I possible for the firm to achieve high profits and margins. The competition has resulted to a situation where none of the company’s can claim full market leadership in the recent times. The competition affects the whole industry where other players are forced to adjust on prices or up their game in research and development sector.  As per the attached table, Apple receives high ratings when it comes to innovation at 4, compared to 2 for the other firms. Even though the other firms have high market share than Apple, it has at better financial positions due to high rating for quality (Wunbin, 2014).

A VRIO analysis involves a thorough assessment of various capabilities and resources of a firm .Internal environment of an organization refers to its internal capabilities and resources activities which provide the core competences to the firm so that it achieves competitive advantage and therefore earn returns which are above average (Bencsik,2016).  A VRIO analysis of Apple indicates that the firm competitive advantage stems majorly from its innovation, brand and a constant customer loyalty.  A combination o the three elements enhances this competitiveness. The iTunes and Apple brands have acquired a lot of trust from its customers due to the aforementioned innovation.  iPod and ITunes innovation when combined with iPhone forms an important factor in the firms competitive advantage . These innovative products are commonly user friendly and involve services which cover a means to organizing and store music in a computer and an easier purchase of new music.  The efficient integration of hardware and software has enabled the firm to continue being competitive given that these features develop strong customer loyalty (Bencsik, 2016).  

Furthermore, the company has managed to achieve high efficiency in the supply chain function such that the company is able to carry out is operations as monopsony. This means that it is able to dictate its terms to suppliers. This gives it a big advantage over its rival companies. The innovative nature of its products can be attributed to a wide berth of experienced employees and management. Innovation can be attributed to the major turnaround experienced in the company at the close of 90’s (Alam &Khan 2015). It’s therefore the major  capability which assist the firm to continue gaining rounds on the competition frontier against its bitter rivals , Samsung and Dell .Through the innovation of its founder , the company was able impact on the whole industry in terms of hardware , software , music , communication and publication. Creation of value was the main goal of its founder, a strategy that relates well to innovation (Alam &Khan 2015). As discussed earlier, the core activities that inform this innovation include operations, sales and supply and human resources. The increased research and development has meant that the firm sets another era of technological innovation in the industry.

Reference

Bencsik, A. (2016). Knowledge Management Initiatives and Strategies in Small and Medium Enterprises. Hershey: IGI Global. 185

Alam,M.Khan, U. (2015).A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management. Retrieved from: http://ijecm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/3660.pdf

Wunbin, A. (2014).Apple Inc. & the Mobile Telecommunication Industry. A strategic analysis of Apple Inc. position within the mobile communication market and ways to create and sustain competitive advantage. Retrieved from: http://www.academia.edu/9254033/Apple_Inc._Executive_Summary_1_Contents

Ker,J.(2015). Apple Inc. (AAPL). Consumer Goods Electronic Equipment. Retrieved from: http://tippie.biz.uiowa.edu/henry/reports15/AAPL_fa15.pdf

Appendix

            CPM Matrix

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS PROJECT

Microsoft Corporation is considered a major technological giant in the world and has managed to amass a lot of profits and continues to come up with innovative products for its many clients.  Th technological industry continues to be highly competitive and a lot of companies struggle to acquire and retain clients. For a company to survive in this industry, they have to be innovative and apply various strategies so that to achieve the status of Microsoft.  The company derives it competitive advantage from innovation which is supported by research and development activities. Increasing working capital is a strong basis for Microsoft innovation and thus, competitiveness which has enabled it to overcome handles in the mobile phone market (Bi, Xiao, Shi, Gan & Che, 2012).  The major competitors for Microsoft Corporation include the biggest and prominent technology firms in this industry. Apple and Google continue to pose a lot of competition for the firm which is informed by the fact that Microsoft is diversified and offers many kinds of products or services provided by these companies.  These firms invest a lot in research and development which provides a common ground for them, since this is one aspect of the market that they have to embrace. The software is the main focus of the firm and although the company is diversifying in other areas, this is it major emphasis.  The Windows operating system is the major brand that sets the company apart from the rest. This software product faces stiff competition from operating systems provided by the other two companies which includes Android for Google and the iOS for apple since they compete directly (Bi et. al 2012). This means that competition is highly intensive as each company endeavors o establish and maintain its own market niche.

The technological industry continues to attract a lot of investment in strategic research and development. The growth in market for mobile phones and specifically the Smartphone is major determinant in the collection of revenue for the aforementioned firms. This is due to the ever-expanding market which presents growth opportunities for Microsoft and its bitter rivals. This is what brings about the kind of competition experienced in the Information and Technology market as seen in the changes in marketing strategies which ranges from product prices, features and the physical appearance of mobile smart phones.  Innovation and diversification has continued to inform market leadership in this industry and this has seen Google continue being a market leader (Microsoft Corporation,2015). This can be attributed to the company’s diversification in products and services it provides. However, Microsoft competitive advantage is still impressive despite the many challenges it faces in trying to penetrate the mobile phone market.    A CPM matrix shows that Google is the leader in the market with its brand Android having biggest rating in brand loyalty (Jurevicius,2013).

A VRIO analysis involves a thorough assessment of various capabilities and resources of a firm .Internal environment of an organization refer to its internal capabilities and resources activities which provide the core competences to the firm so that it achieves competitive advantage and therefore earn returns which are above average (Bencsik, 2016).)  A VRIO analysis of Microsoft Inc. indicates that the firm competitive advantage stems majorly from its innovation, brand and a constant customer loyalty. A combination o the three elements enhances this competitiveness. Innovation is the major aspect that makes the company to have a competitive capability in constantly changing market (Microsoft Corporation, 2015). The company prioritizes innovation which is enabled by a strong activity in research and development which creates a strong competitive edge and thus helps in building band equity. The major area of research for Microsoft Incl. includes theory and algorithms, development of hardware and increased interaction between computer and human.  Other area of research includes machine learning, intelligence and adaptation, networking, cloud computing and smart connecting devices. The company also has strong investment in emerging technologies which spans fro, communication, organization and access of information which are the major focus of innovation efforts.  Microsoft Research Group is the major organ where new technology efforts are explored. Innovation is helped by intellectual property which is very strong and highly important for development of product portfolio for the company (Microsoft Corporation,2015).

A patent portfolio that is strong result to exclusivity of market in proprietary technology and this gives a competitive edge to the company. Its success is thus dependent on the ability to establish and keep the technology’s proprietary nature by way of patent process. The firm’s innovative products are commonly user friendly and involve services which cover a means to organizing and store information in a computer and an easier access of new information (Bi et. al 2012).  The efficient integration of hardware and software has enabled the firm to continue being competitive given that these features develop strong customer loyalty.  The company also has an efficient marketing and distribution network. The distribution network involves three main channels which include OEMs, Online, distributors and resellers.  Innovation is, therefore, the major capability whose impact is experienced in the whole industry (Microsoft Corporation, 2015).  

References

Bencsik, A. (2016). Knowledge Management Initiatives and Strategies in Small and Medium Enterprises. Hershey: IGI Global. 185

Microsoft Corporation (2015). Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. Retrieved from: http://callisto.ggsrv.com/imgsrv/FastFetch/UBER1/68489_GDTC22599FSA

Bi, P., Xiao B., Shi,W., Gan, R., Che,J.(2012).Microsoft. Case Synopsis. Retrieved from: http://www.sfu.ca/~sheppard/478/syn/1123/SynopsisE.pdf

Four Subsystems of Budget Execution; Book Review

Tax Administration

In reference to chapter 11 on tax administration in the budgeting system, collection of local revenues is the best practice carried in accomplishing the task. Local revenue budgeting serves as one of the most visible as well as essential element of the first national property tax structure. The chapter suggests that it is the best in scheduling the country’s outlay law.  However, it is not only a planning tool plus a way to explain how the community objectives levels of services should be met but also serves as a point of engagement with the taxpayers as well as individuals who will at providing inputs on how the budget resources are allocated (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Local revenues are highly affected by the economic technology despite being the best element in taxation administration. It is also artificial by the technology as well as demographic changes due to their frankness to the external surrounding, efficiency of the income scheme plus their administrative of the political accountability. The major literature on taxation assemblies considers the possibility that tax decision on local revenues may be influenced by decisions made in other prerogatives (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Intra-soft revenue solution appears as the best resolution to the current challenges faced by local, state as well as national tax and revenue agencies. The solution encompasses a set of highly configurable, best for taxation applications which are developed explicitly for the public segment. The book suggests that Intra-soft system ensures there are better planning, programming as well as projecting in the budgeting system through collection of local revenue (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Cash Management

The books provides much detail on cash flow in the budgeting system thereby, it main purpose is controlling the spending in the amassed, implementing the budget efficiency, reducing the cost of government borrowings as well as reduction of the prospect cost of incomes. Controlling the cash flow is the key element in the macroeconomic budget control thus; it must be conducted by an adequate classification of handling obligation. In the budgeting scheme it is necessary to reduce the transaction cost as well as borrowing at the lowest rates in order to generate additional cash on investment. The control of cash flow opts to involve the reduction of interludes between the times when cash is received as well as when it is ready for carrying out outflows. In order to avoid delays in the cash flow they should be a penalty applied on the taxpayers (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Cash flow experiences various challenges especially where there is an economic boom thus; business experience cash flow difficulties. In such situations entrepreneurs and managers can take various steps in preventing the impact brought about by the economic bang. The other challenge related to cash flow is risk that comes along with debt thereby; the management opts to establish an adequate mix of these instruments which must be based on the needs of investors. According to the book debt management has got two main aspects which involve, the Central bank borrowing operations which is part of the fiscal strategy.  For the budgeting system to be successful through the cash flow system, debts must be avoided by offering adequate support arrangements as well as controlling the monetary authorities (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Procurement

In reference to chapter 11, procurement in the budgeting system has got various elements but defining the business need is the key component to consider. The management needs to understand what fundamental business requirement as well as solution. The business budget requires control which involves monitoring the implementation of the plan plus taking the corrective activity required. The business control process is continuous since it is possible in predicting the timing impact of external surrounding. Controlling the budgeting system involves documentation which is the assumption as well as specific plans reflected in the master budgeting (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

The book provides various challenges procurement in budgeting system faces which includes; insufficient supply’s where several procurement decisions correlate to a company’s risk management strategy. Suppliers who recognize the management risk strategy accommodates a purchasing company’s needs to maximize their performances. After a research on the business competitors the procurement approach need to evaluate the available solution. The procurement transactions which exceed the budgeting system are not due to the reckless spending bud due to the available communication gap and it should be addressed to avoid misunderstanding to the management (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

The article suggests that procurement practice comes along with critical challenges such as fraud, waste as well as scandals thereby; the management should take control of the illegal practices for a successful budgeting process. The business budget requires control which involves monitoring the implementation of the plan plus taking the corrective activity required. Procumbent process opts to be addressed effectively especially while making decision which correlates the corporation’s jeopardy administration (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013). 

Risk Management

In the risk management process of budgeting has several elements but the article suggests that evaluations of risk serve as the key elements. Considering the urgencies identified in the article evaluation of the risks decides on the appropriate responses. It is the responsibility of professional organisation to decide on whether to accept the menace based on valuation on either the risk is anticipated or undesirable. According to the article desirable risk opts to receive the entity’s business model. Risk should be addressed as soon as possible since they can appear from several sources including the financial economy. Risk sources in budgeting system should be identified as well as located in human factor variables for the purpose of reliable decisions (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

Even the most sensibly planned project run in distress thereby; risk is any uncertain event or condition which might affect the organization project. Risk management take into account potential challenges thus considers the possible outcome. Jeopardy supervision faces hitches in assigning incomes thus; this is the idea of outlook fee. Commercial incomes disbursed on risk organisation which could have been spent on more portable activities. There are various solutions in solving risk management challenges where the article suggest that once a risk have been identified it must be addressed as to it potential severity of impact which might involve damage and loss. According to the article there are key difficulties in the risk management process which comes along with the determination of occurrence rate, this happens due to an accuracy of the statistical data provided especially concerning the past details (Lee, Johnson & Joyce, 2013).

References

Lee, R. D., Johnson, R. W., & Joyce, P. G. (2013). Public budgeting systems. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Reflective analysis

My choice for the a major in General Business was informed by the fact that it prepares one for a wide range of career opportunities that are available in the current business world. The curriculum of general business does not specialize in one area, but I designed to offer students skills and knowledge from a broad perspective. Many organizations’ prefer hiring entry level employee with a background in general business and then provide for them training on skills that are specific for the company once employed. The business world is after those individuals who are dedicated and willing to learn and develop the skills and knowledge for the promotion of the firm’s success.  Furthermore, a major in general business allows an individual to have a variety of opportunities in the job market since they can work as managers in many areas. The choice imports one with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills which are very important for my development plan considering that owning a business is part of my plan. It also provides a good background I decide to pursue a more specialized work as in my desire into further accounting skills and knowledge.

The reason for choosing a career in business is because I enjoy the higher-powered nature and professionalism of large business and such a career would act as a stepping stone for high-status , high salary career . In the current world, careers in corporate business can be found in almost all sectors I can think of. All the industries need leaders who are strong, managers and decision-makers who are market survey. A career in business holds a strong appeal in this respect since broad variety of such issues is explored while studying in this course. Moreover , if a straightforward career in corporate world is not forthcoming or does not gets me excited , I program in business can provide me with skills of creating my own venture or rather taken on roles in management and business within industries that I consider creative and would match my interests. It also provides chances of being good managers. Though a tough job, the upside of this role is that it is highly paying and provides a lot of opportunities for one’s career progression or a change in career. Even if becoming a manager does not happen quickly, I will be well placed to become one in later future. My decision to major in general business was helped majorly by the experience I received while undertaking my internship at CMS Capital Company and The Fortune Securities co ltd. this experience opened up my view of the wider job market and especially what it takes for one to have a successful career. Passion is the single most aspect that I pointed out as very significant in choosing one’s major and thus career path. My desire and passion to be a successful business person in the future made me switch from majoring in Finance to General Business. That way, I can manage to follow through my development plan which involves acquiring skills and knowledge in accounting. Part of the experience I gained from the internship is that having a fulfilling personal growth and development takes more than just passion, but choosing what works for me plays a big role in ensuring that goal is achieved.

In addition, I managed to acquire a lot of experience during the learning, internship and CO-OP programs. The large portion of the knowledge I acquired during the learning process improved my employability to a great extent. I am now confident that I can appear in any interview with fear of failing to impress. The various interview tips offered at the university will go a long way in assisting me land a good job in the across all the industries as well as assistance offered about how to create my resume. Learning how to better describes my abilities, skills and knowledge is another aspect that will convince managers to consider me in the hiring process and the job placement. The experience I gained from the CO-OP placements and internship programs will be of big assistance to my career development. The experience I acquired at CMS Capital Company involve pre-market analysis, pre-financial analysis and the statistical analysis of in a company environment. My communication skills were enhancing through engaging in discussions in the departmental unction and slides presentations to the management. I also acquired experience on how to collect information, recording and interpreting them. These functions imparted team working skills in me factors that will help improve my resume. At the Fortune Securities, I learnt how daily documents are organized and sent to the respective recipients. I learnt about the various roles performed by the departments in the firm and how their functions are actually carried.  In essence, I was gain a real world experience which requires a lot of adjustments from the academic world. It provided me with knowledge that I can utilize in handling difficulties in a work environment.

RECRUITING AND SELECTING EMPLOYEES

Qn.1

Strategic human resource planning is a very vibrant element exploited for the purpose of strategizing the entire HR management and this will definitely aid in achieving the set missions and goals (Murphy, 2016). Basically, it would take several steps which include assessing the capacity of HR, forecasting, GAP analysis and lastly developing the strategies which should be well integrated with organizational support and future plans (Arthur, 2012). As soon as the strategic plan is set, organization has to align and project guidelines and practices that would bring success. Additionally, the workforce should also be assessed in terms of quality as per the need of the organization.

Qn.2

Free job-posting websites most definitely takes the giant hop forward by bringing job seekers close to realizing their dreams. With a simple click of the websites those who are looking for jobs would have a chance of applying for the jobs matching their dream jobs and skills as well (Murphy, 2016). This has lowered expense costs and brings more convenience since there would be no need to send those papers to HR anymore. Online interviewing is another milestone in HR which offers indispensable recruitment process. There is no need for face to face interview anymore when we have such and note that, this would bring advantageous to both sides. Applicant would not waste fare and time scheduling is affordable. Social networking such as LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter has made tremendous efforts to HR recruitment no doubt (Arthur, 2012). They have been wonderful platforms for connecting job seekers and employers as well.

Qn.3

Employers have to consider a number of factors before deciding who the qualified candidate is. The characteristics should be carefully assessed so as to identify those features to be looked into during the interview. Developing the right interview questions and this would be used to ascertain how the candidates would respond certain situation and the possible outcomes (Murphy, 2016). Another thing is for the organization to make plan prospective analyses and follow-up quiz which will lead to evaluating their response in regards to the anchored scales. It has been found that systematic analyzing of personal response to interview questions is very caring in a number of ways.

Reference

Top of Form

Arthur, D. (2012). Recruiting, interviewing, selecting & orienting new employees. New York: American Management Association.

Top of Form

Murphy, M. A. (2016). Hiring for attitude: A revolutionary approach to recruiting and selecting people with both tremendous skills and superb attitude.

Bottom of Form

Bottom of Form

The Home depot

Overview

            The Home depot company was founded in the year 1978.  It is a home advancement superstore supplies that sells a huge variety of building materials and home refining products. It has opened many stores across America, the Canadian provinces and in Mexico. The Company’s headquarters are located in Atlanta and has wide spread in the Sunbelt Layout.  Based on the revenues that are shown to the American Securities and Exchange directive, the company is the huge home refining seller in America.  The Company first went public in 1981 where it became a New York Stock Exchange traded Company in 1984 (Roush, 1999).    

Strategies

            The main strategy of the Home Depot is to build and gain a market leading presence in all the home advancement business modes.  The company has built a good market leadership in the selling segment by giving out more than 40, 000 varieties of products to equal the needs of the local domain through their many stores that are located across America, China, Canada and Mexico.  The company gives low prices on their products that so as to have a clear competition with other product segments. For the customers who require professionalized home renovation projects, the Company gives fixing services through their professional contractors.  The Company acquires its mineral growth by gaining business in the MRO sector.  The company grew in its maintenance position, repair and its business sector through interline.  This acquiring has also helped the company to get back 5% of the 50 billion markets in maintenance and repair and this has helped it have more than 1500 stakeholders and other partners.  The company is well known of its offer of the end to end home refining product and services.  This means that the company strategically gives home improvement services for persons and the product through services offered by professionals (Plunkett & Plunkett Research, Ltd, 2005). 

            The other strategy is the growth of Personal and professional customer sectors.  The company gains this by connecting with the customer needs where it is working on providing interrelated shopping experience to its customers.  The company gained 4.5% of its net sales from its online business channels.  This made the company start using its in store mobile technique so as to make it able for its partners to help the customers with their home refining projects.  Thus the company gives many fixation services that are targeted to its customers. The improvement of the customers segments is another Home Depot strategy.  The Company customers are the main income generators of the company. The company gives many special programs to these customers such as delivery services, a good service staff, parking spaces and well prices to bot the online and the in store buyers.  The company also gives a devotion program that gives the specialized customers discounts on the useful business services and buyer track device. The company has also other initiatives such as online business, buy online and pick from the stores, which are directly helping the firm in generating revenues and improving its income.  The Company concentrates on its professional customer in helping it get their products incomes together with the service revenues.  The Company gives a wider product assortment through its home yard, home decorators and websites (Plunkett & Plunkett Research, Ltd, 2005).   

Performance to Date

            Home Depot Company took strategies in reducing their operation costs which has now led to a profit increase without any growth effort.  The markets have been remunerated by these developments and have helped the company share their equality and reduce their debts.  In 2009, the company announced a dismissal of their associates and closing of the stores internationally. The partners at the EXPO were permitted to reapply for the jobs at Home Depot after the dismissals and they did not lose any occupancy of being hired back.  In that year, the total sales amounted to $71.288 billion which was more by $20 down the line of two years where the revenue had dropped due to the sale of the HD supply and the revenue at the business.  In 2012, the company closed some of its stores in China although some of the specialized stores that were good in the customer products and maintained a more intact connection between the customers and the partners were not closed (Palepu, 2007).  

            The company ruptured its data in 2014 due to the entering card numbers in the computers at the service desk and in some of the company’s departments such as the kitchen rather than the use of the credit cards directly. This service was sojourned and the company gave a year free credit survey through the ALLClearID for the customers who needed it.  In 2015, the company gained Interline products from their partners and the management of the interline brand for $1.6 billion.  The Company stores are about 9,755m2 in size and are made on the granary style where they stock a huge number of products.  In May 2016, the company revised its commercial cypher of Conduct and Ethics where the program was focused to improve the guidance based on conflicts of interests.  The Home Depot has been the leading company in U.S home refining market since there are many scopes having the business and it has invested more than $30 million so as to improve its e business market.  Since the year 2014, the company has gained an increase of $ 1 billion on its online sales (Palepu, 2007). 

References

Palepu, K. G. (2007). Business analysis and valuation: IFRS edition, text and cases. London: Thomson Learning.

Plunkett, J. W., & Plunkett Research, Ltd. (2005). Plunkett's retail industry almanac 2006: The only comprehensive guide to the retail industry. Houston, Tex: Plunkett Research.

Roush, C. (1999). Inside Home Depot: How one company revolutionized an industry through the relentless pursuit of growth. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Building a strong organization

An organization that’s contemplating approach to increase productivity and reduce costs using a team-based is Zappos. Zappos organization is an online shoe company that was established in the year 1999 as a middleman, transferring orders between supplier and customers but not holding any inventory. In the year 2000, Zappos’ CEO started an online shoe marketing where he got profit only to pay a warehouse and once setting his salary at just $24 and sometimes generating nothing as his profit. In 2004 Zappos moved to Las Vegas to take an advantage of experienced worker in order to get a larger pool of profits. The company generated faster in the year 2007 after reaching $840 million in the annual sales hence eliminating bureaucracy to increase productivity (Hsieh, 2010).

Training issues Zappos organization is likely to face

All companies need to train their employees because training is the key role of generating positive attitude and boosting the company profits. Training issues are one of the most reasons that get an audible groan out of most people in leadership who have a task thrust upon them.  In Las Vegas Zappos Company is likely to face training issues. The first issue is the active revulsion employees where the trainees get bored faster and intrusive of their personal time. Zappos set a large amount of financial to the trainee for it goes for four weeks. The trainee would not be interested in the training since it goes for long hence seems to waste their time with no payment in return. Trainee goes for some few week and tends to quit the training and the financial allocated to the training tend to reduce for trainee get bored quickly for fearing their career should fail (Reingold, 2016). Trainee intrusive and being bored while they are in the training is one of the challenges that Zappos Company is likely to face.

The second major issue of training in Zappos Company is favoritism. Favoritism in Zappos Company has opened a negativity feedback in the company which has brought frustration feeling to the trainees. Favoritism has led to change of manager from one to another in order to reduce favoritism in the company which is likely to lower the profit of the company. When favoritism takes place in Zappos Company, employees creeps to unfair by the management hence lower the company morale since the employees were not employed due to their success or their hard works (Reingold, 2016).

Reingold (2016) implies another training issue in Zappos Company is the lack of engagement leading to negative attitudes. Trainees lack engagement during training in the company since they did not have passion. Engagement brings motivation among the trainees but since they lack engagement to the training brings the negative attitude to the trainees hence tend many to quit the training. Negative attitudes do not empower the inspiration purpose of the trainee but instead it brings most of the trainee in Zappos Company to lose the interest of the training. Negative attitude and lack of engagement from the trainees has become a problem to the Zappos Company during the training.

According to Reingold (2016), the final training issue that Zappos is likely to face is lacking humble of trainees which make trainees being arrogant to the leaders who are training them. Trainer in the Zappos Company faces many challenges basing of impatient of the trainees because trainees who are arrogant cannot wait to be tell something by their leaders. Trainees in Zappos Company tend to be arrogant because their trainers are younger and genders are not the same hence making the trainee not to cooperate with what they are trained to.

How Zappos organization can address these issues

Zappos Company can use experienced trainers with good communication who can speak well and express their thoughts understandably and they know what they are talking about since they are well experienced and have knowledge in the field. Experienced trainer know how to cold the topic and knows how they can ask the trainer question according to what they have trained. This may help to lower the rate of boring trainees hence create a positive attitude to the trainees in Zappos Company. Trainers who are interested in their work are flexible since they can be able to regulate training plan. Trainers who are interested in their work are open-minded which help trainees to be humble because they understand the topic well which can overcome favoritism in Zappos organization. Experienced and interested trainer are very creative and they create a good environment of trainees because they inspire and encourage trainees to reach beyond what the already know (Blanchard, 2010).

In briefly, Zappos is an organization that has eliminates bureaucracy to increase productivity. Training issues that Zappos organization is likely to face, are active revulsion, favoritism, negative attitude, and arrogant of trainees. These issues Zappos organization can address them by employing trainers in good communication who are creative, interested in their work and well-experienced trainer. When Zoppas company address these training issues it will end up building a stronger organization.

References

Hsieh, T. (2010). “Why I sold Zappos” Inc., Retrieved From:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100601/why-i-sold-zappos.html

Blanchard, K. (2010). Leading at a higher level. (5 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Education.

Research on Agility Implementation – The State-Of-The-Art and Future

Background Information

            Agility implementation in the systems of manufacturing is one of the major significant objectives for manufacturing structures with considerations of the surrounding complexity (Khalgui, & Hanisch, 2011).  Implementation of agility means that fresh aspects as well as the fresh affect that were no previously considered by the manufacturing structures theory.  These, therefore, includes the energetic  re-configurability  of manufacturing systems, promotion, the emergence which are inherent aspects of agility and the  necessity of  resources integration outside the  innovative  manufacturing system.  These aspects provide the necessities for a particular organizational framework and tools.  Agility implementation is characterized by three distinct elements which are rational to transform, the transformation direction as well as how the particular transformation is to be achieved (Khalgui, & Hanisch, 2011).

Agility strategy gives the most significant and suitable leverages and practices of main business capability intelligence technology that is aimed at assisting in closing the gap that was created by previous technological and intelligence processes creation (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).  Agility strategy acts as the intelligence software which helps the enterprises in acquiring competitive advantage in the changing global market. Because of the turn of business operations, the manufacturing field has witnessed important environmental and structural transformations across the world.  The developed   international marketing and international outsourcing intensity concerns over the growing resources cost, quality issues and security of the international chain of supply networks, as well as energy, are amongst the main aspects of the fresh competitive business surroundings.  Agility as an approach to manufacturing is purposed on providing businesses with competitive abilities to flourish from energetic and consistent changes in the world of enterprises and it has proven to be a prevailing approach but the general scope may have transformed with the situation (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).

Agility as an approach to manufacturing gives bossiness the capability of capitalizing on consistent and dynamic transformations in the surrounding of the business both in a reactive and a proactive form.  Agility approach utilizes distinct manufacturing methods in accomplishing its purpose as it is described as a holistic theory (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016). This research project is thus aimed at establishing the implementation of the agility strategy in the modern market, the utilized designs of the supply chain, management strategies, integration approaches that are utilized in supporting its implementation today as well as the future of the agility approach.  The generated results of the research are expected to provide guidance as well as directions to the industry of manufacturing in its design, administration as well as continuous supply chain development currently and in the future.

Introduction

Agile manufacturing is described as a representation of interesting strategies that are aimed at developing a competitive advantage for the bossiness in the rapid growing market.  The strategy places an extremely strong response and focus towards achieving satisfaction to the consumers through turning agility as well as speed into the major competitive advantage aspect (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).  A corporation that has adopted agile is in a better position to grab the emerging opportunities in the market as well as the rapid transformations of consumers demand.  Agile strategy when implemented effectively turns to be efficient as it addresses the uncertainty issues directly. Uncertainty and transformations in the business are very crucial in determining the competitive capability of any business (Khalgui, & Hanisch, 2011).  It is thus asserted that the most crucial role of any enterprise is developing strategies that may assist in managing the business uncertainties.  This is thus referred to as an entrepreneurial task which generally involved the transformations search, changes responses as well as opportunities exploitations.

            The agile strategy acknowledges the actualities of modern marketplace and changes them into the enterprise's competitive advantage. Since the enterprise world is changing very quickly it is therefore necessary to adopt an effective strategy.  The set of factors that are affecting the business world today are bound to develop an increase in the future as they involve sets of financial, political and economic factors (Khalgui, & Hanisch, 2011).  Future changes drivers include efficiency and cost changes.  Agile manufacturing adoption is the best practice that is required. There is a necessity to administer the chains of supply more effectively and this involves the shift from being standardized to the adoption of differentiation and transforming the uncertainty degree in the business.  In responding to the business changes that e there is a need for the enterprises to adopt and implement agile strategy more efficiently that Exists today and in the future. Agile strategy helps in equipping the business with corporate partners, differentiated product designs, a corporate culture with capability as well as information advancement. 

The manufacturing industry arose in the market world during the early days when humans began to structure the natural accessible elements of the manufacturing business in fulfilling particular needs. One of the suitable ways of gaining responsiveness and flexibility in the manufacturing industry is through the implementation of agile strategy.  Agility approach is described as the wide capability of the business that ensure that the structures of the organization, logistics information and information systems.  There is a lot of information that exist in the definition of agility theory the surrounding themes but not an extensive literature exists on the agility implementation state of art as well as the future enhancement. Agile implementation and development has attracted attention in both research and practice field.  The objective of this project’s literature review is to update, extend and validate prior reviews in regard to the general nature of agile implementation current and future state. Therefore this paper will seek to focus on a discussion of the practical agility implementation methodology currently and in the future with the utilization of literature reviews as well as agility implementation models in the industry of manufacturing. 

Literature Review

Complex competitive scenarios had led to the growth of agility implementation attention which is being offered to consumer’s satisfaction because customized and timely products as well as services are the key theories to achieving competitiveness.  As the cycle of products heightens the quality of the provided products and services and becomes the survivals necessity.  Markets become diversified, globally in high forms and unexpected and consistent change becomes the main success factor.  The necessity for an approach that is a cost-efficient and rapid strategy that considers design, market control and planning strategy has currently led to agility implementation in the manufacturing industry.  Agility is described as the ability of surviving and prospering in a highly competitive market surrounding of consistent and unexpected transformation by responding in an effective and quick way with the drive of consumers products designs and services.

Agility Drivers and Descriptions

The early 21st century brought a lot of changes to the business world.  Today the world is faced by important transformations in almost every aspect of the business and particularly technological innovations, changing demands from consumers as well as the level of competition in the market.  Mass and global markets are ongoing to portion as consumers are rapidly and increasingly changing trends and as well as changing their general expectations in regard to services and products.  The improvements have therefore caused major rebuilding’s or revisions of the priorities of business as well as approach vision.

Most of the corporation has thus realized that agility implementation is important for competitiveness as well as survival.  Agility implementation n holds scares literature but it has been essential in the provision of theoretical overview of the existing agility dimensions that has further generated a conceptualization of the associated components.  In addition there is the main empirical review for the attention of management of agility which gives an indication that agility implementation is essential to the business although effectiveness has not been achieved in its implementation.

The definition of agility is held in a mutual way by most authors and most research which implies that the definition has no contradiction as compared to its implementation (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016). Agility is described as the capability of an organization to perceive, sense, response and analyze the transformations that raises in the turbulent surrounding based on cost, quality, speed, responsiveness, participation, changes exploitation, learning as well as knowledge (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).  This therefore implies that an effective agility implementation must be portioned in three distinct phases which includes transformations, organization’s capabilities as well as the context of the organization.

Agility is a fresh paradigm for developing competitiveness which has been researched widely since its introduction in the 20th century.  The theory in its distinct natures is currently recognized as the winning approach for development if not the general survival in particular surroundings of the business.  Agility means that   this is not the capability of responding to the unexpected changes but also the capability of acting proactively in the context of change.  Change in regard to because is one aspect that remains constant at all times and should therefore be considered.  The main aspects that have been identified to be the major shapers of the competitive future surrounding today and in the future is technology acceleration,  information  availability, international market, skills shifts, limitation of resources, competition,  wages as well as developing  consumers’ expectations and demands.  The changes are mainly influenced by the changing structures of the market, consumer’s necessities, social and technological factors as well as competition.  From the summary of different studies it is clear  that  the major influences of agility  are  the growing competition,  consumers expectation enhancements, acceleration of innovation and technology,  market globalization, cultural and social factors, variability of the market, information advancement  human resource scarcity and modernity changes (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).

According to Gong, & Janssen, (2012), agility is the ability of the business processes to respond to the unexpected market changes.  He defined agility as the capability of administering and applying the acquired knowledge effectively in order to ensure that an organization gains the capability of thriving inconsistent transformations and unexpected business surrounding. Qiu, (2013) provides the expression that the agility theory is the procedure by which researchers and individuals in the business practice develops a definition.  Agility, therefore, focuses on the threshold of being able to compete and operate within an energetic and consistently changing environment.  The theory of agility is one of the numerous primary industry visions that have been established (Qiu, 2013).

Agility has auxiliary been defined by Gong, & Janssen, (2012), as the energetic, context particular, growth oriented and aggressive changes embracing. From this viewpoint, agility involves a continuous willingness to transform and therefore there is no adequate time when a corporation has achieved the purpose of agility time becomes inadequate. Based on the definition above agility in a specific context in those distinctions among the market limit the detailed rules are generalized in becoming agile.  Agile corporations embraces  transformations as they understand not only their  present market, services and product lines, consumers, competencies but also comprehend the possibility for future markets and consumers and the requirements of changing to meet the presented opportunities (Qiu, 2013).

Based on Holmqvist, & Pessi, (2006), Agility is an effective competitive exploration which includes flexibility, speed, reactivity, innovation, profitability and quality via integration of configurable resources and suitable practices in a rich surrounding knowledge to give consumer-driven services and products in transforming market surrounding fast.

Agility Implementation Approaches and Models

Agile corporations have been advocated as the paradigm in the 21st-century organization and it is currently the winning approach in achieving business competitiveness in the transforming consumer necessities (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016).  However the ability to build an agile organization and can develop the rapid anticipation based on technological development which is ongoing.  In embracing agility organizations agility has to be adopted in the best way.  The organization therefore is necessitated to understand that agility has been achieved,  how agility can be evaluated and assessed, the degree to which the  attributes of an organization are affected by agility, how agility can be developed if needs is achieved how agility can be achieved effectively. This helps in assisting business practitioners in achieving an organization that is agile and that holds various studies that are dedicated to implementing, determining, design and developing a corporation that is agile (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016).

Based on literature, agility aspects include consumer’s value delivering, changes readiness in regard to market and advancement and prosperity in market that is characterized by competitiveness. According to Holmqvist, & Pessi, (2006), The most essential aspect of business agility is consumer’s prosperity, information, firm’s cooperation with others as well as the capability of fitting to distinct uncertainties and changes.  Based on several studies actual agility components in the manufacturing industry are strategic procedures identification, main competencies, numerous winners, information advancement as well as integration.

According to Mertins, Bénaben, Poler, & Bourrieres, (2014), agility application assists enterprises to respond to changes effectively.  Agility is associated with four major dimensions which help in changes responsiveness.  The first one involves consumers enrichment which entails a fast comprehension of unique necessities of every consumers and providing their demands.  The second one involves cooperation general which entails partnerships and developing relationships in the quest for achieving competitiveness.  The third agility dimension uses fresh structures of the organization in mastering the transformations and uncertainties via techniques like teams functions and engineering of the existing organizational process. The fourth dimension in particular entails the effect of individuals, technology, information as well as recognizing employees significant as an organization’s asset thus placing more developed emphasis on training, empowerment and education (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016).

Baskerville, (2005), opts to define agility as the managing and knowledge application capability in cooperation with proficiency of change.  Via both management of knowledge and proficiency change there are several practices that are termed as immature. Rahman, & Sousa, (2014), Holds that information insufficiency in regard to agility implementation results into most business projects being unsuccessful. He states that an organization that is agile is that one that holds high proficient in regard to changes. This therefore means that the organization demonstrates competency at resulting in and dealing with transformations in distinct significant competitive business aspect.  There are three major theories that are related to agility implementation which involves competency assessment, critical practices of a business and transformations proficiency (Salmela, Tapanainen, Baiyere, Hallanoro, & Galliers, 2015).

            Due to the distinction of pressures and transformations that a business achieves, agility degree is always different.  In the implementation of agility the degree of its need must be established first. This is then followed by an assessment of the existing agility and the difference is utilized in developing requirements in its implementation (Salmela, Tapanainen, Baiyere, Hallanoro, & Galliers, 2015). Agility needs determination assists in examining the abilities of the presented agility to the corporation. Distinct methodologies are utilized in implementing agility in a corporation this methods may entails an examination of the environment of a particular business, establishing the agility degree that is required, speculating on strategic approaches that are best suitable, establishing the corporations abilities in the context of unpredictable changes responsiveness and establishing the priorities and abilities of an organization in meeting the abilities necessitated by the corporation in changes responsiveness (Salmela, Tapanainen, Baiyere, Hallanoro, & Galliers, 2015).

Since agility is mainly based on a developed company’s abilities and structural knowledge the following steps must therefore be adopted in ensuring that agility is achieved.  This step includes agility attributes, obstacles and metrics (Salmela, Tapanainen, Baiyere, Hallanoro, & Galliers, 2015). This criterion helps in ensuring that a business secures a competitive position in the market. The main aim of agility implementation is to achieve satisfaction through ensuring that the employees as well as the consumers are satisfied.  The major influence of agility implementation is change. Despite the fact that change is not viewed as something new or something that is of great essence presently change is occurring at a very high speed than it did previously.  Competition and business uncertainty have currently become the major causes of manufacturing industry issues and failure.  The changes number and characteristic or the general specifications cannot be established easily since they are probably indefinite. 

A successful agility implementation into any business must follow the following aspects. The first feature is that consumers necessities, competition strategy, technology, market, social factors are transforming the surrounding of business competition today.  The following aspect is that agility in an organization attempts to enhance and satisfy consumers based on components like time, cost robustness and function.  Agility abilities that are involved in the third aspect of a business involve quickness, flexibility, competency and responsiveness. In order for organizations to achieve agility they are therefore required to reinforce the enablers of agility like  competence,  technology,  integration, quality,  market, technology, education, team building uncertainties and changes (Salmela, Tapanainen, Baiyere, Hallanoro, & Galliers, 2015).

            Critical Analysis of the State – Of – The – Art and Literature

Most manufacturing organization today have released that agility is important for competitiveness as well as for survival on the business market presently and also in the future (Sangari, Razmi, & Zolfaghari, 2015).  As mentioned prior the available literature on agility provides theoretical overviews of the aspects as well as the agility related components.  It is obvious that distinct agility facets have been continuously emphasized by different studies and this has thus resulted in the development of varied views which have been well reflected in literature. Despite the growing differences all the definitions of agility and the structure of implementation emphasize on flexibility and speed in responsiveness as the main attributes to effective agility implementation.  Despite the fact that there has not been a common implementation strategy of agility and the associated definition that has been achieved the large parts in regard to the opinions that concerns agility implementation are mutual. Agility term is utilized in generating a research on the way that an organization can best handle energetic and unpredicted surrounding of the environment.  An attribute that is equally significant in regard to agility is successful and quick response to uncertainty and transformations.  A successful agility implementation is equal to proficiency change as well as management knowledge.  In addition there is a huge number of publications that generates data in regard to agility implementation in regard to particular techniques, strategies as well as manufacturing practices.  In addition implementation of agility had been associated with various approaches, manufacturing practices and techniques (Sangari, Razmi, & Zolfaghari, 2015). However few studies have focused on the state of art and agility implementation’s future.

Agile implementation presents challenges based on the reviewed literature. This is because currently the concepts of agility implementation have not been thoroughly conceptualized and defined (Taji, Siadat, & Hoveida, 2016).  Although the major and most significant agility attributes have been established implementation of those attributes into the business structure tends to be very complex.  In reference to literature the following components have been established to be the most significant in a successful implementation of agility. This includes people, organization, as well as technology.  The above mentioned elements is a complex and multidimensional structure and therefore different related  aspects and  concepts in this projects literature can be  analyzed in two different forms.  First the literature can be categorized based on the adherence of the agility relevance to the primary attributes.  In the above reviewed literature, huge agility diversity has been acknowledged.  Therefore according to this category of review the following are the major agility implementation attributes which includes adaptability, flexibility, speed, responsiveness, low complexity, integration, competences mobilization, customized products, high quality as well as cultural transformation (Taji, Siadat, & Hoveida, 2016).

It is essential to note that from the mentioned attributes the  main and the international agility characteristics  that can reflect in most of the significant enterprise aspects include organization, workforce, and production (Tseng, & Lin, 2011). Flexibility is accounted as the capability to pursue distinct business tactics and strategies to quickly transformations from one approach to the next.  The approaches should, therefore, be a different course in reasonable extent which endangers the main purpose and integrity of the organization.  On the other hand, responsiveness refers to the capability to establish opportunities and changes in an effective way.  The term cultural change is a definition of the supportive environment experimentation, innovation as well as learning and continuous environmental changes.  The changes of culture area surrounding are where individuals of all the levels of an organization hold fearless and optimist attitudes towards uncertainty, changes, technology as well as ideas.   For an organization to responding effectively, changes and opportunities have to be identified. The market and business surrounding have been evaluated in the quest to establish fresh technologies production methods, management as well as organization practices.  Speed refers to the capability of completing necessities of all other agile agility in the shortest period. Learning ability can be determined by the underlying capability to respond to transformations effectively.  The integration and reduced complexity dimensions which are defined as simple components of agility (Tseng, & Lin, 2011).

Agility classification concepts and features are grounded on their adherence to the structures of an enterprise. The international agility attributes can be identified as objectives for high-status management and are applicable to the general enterprise (Sangari, Razmi, & Zolfaghari, 2015).  The implementation of agility in any business mainly depends on the particular goals of an enterprise.  However, at the uppermost and international enterprise level can be identified through few domains should mainly focus for enterprises while attempting to achieve agility.  These major domains are focused on achieving consumer’s satisfaction, learning, management of knowledge and cultural transformations development (Taji, Siadat, & Hoveida, 2016).

Agility Implementation

Cruz-Cunha, & Putnik, (2006) acknowledges that an effective agility implementation necessitates to the transformations and also in exploitation of those changes.  A successful implementation of agility requires transformations in five distinct government areas regulations, enterprise cooperation, information technology and the flexibility of an organization.   In order to implement agility level effectively driver’s identification should be based on the agility drivers.  In order to determine the present agility level, corporation holds the abilities of responding to changes that happens in the competitive environment is asses and established the capabilities that the organization does not have. After the determining the  agility degree that is held by an organization and the agility level that it requires, the strategic intent to be an agile it is important development and preparation strategy. Through determining the present and the desired agility level and strategic planning the providers may therefore assist the organization in enhancing the existing capabilities are particular and promoted.  Agility implementation should follow the following steps which include agility influences, the capabilities of agility as well as the provider’s agility (Vlaanderen, van Stijn, Brinkkemper, & van de Weerd, 2012).

Capabilities refer to the continuous transformations, competencies, flexibility, integration and responsiveness. This should therefore be cost effectiveness with and application of the acquired knowledge (Wylie, Harvey, & Liddy, 2016).  The main drivers of agility involve  the demand derived from consumers, market transformations, enterprise networks the ability  to deliver  the expectations of consumers as well as  the capability of overcoming  the issues that are subjected to the social and financial environment.  Agility structures refers to the skilled creativity, innovation, resource, cooperation, communication,  consistent learning, leadership,  rewards approaches,  administration style, coordination, productivity, outsourcing independent development of decisions and authority delegation (Vlaanderen, van Stijn, Brinkkemper, & van de Weerd, 2012).

Presently many corporations are experiencing growing and continuous intense competition in the marketplace (Wylie, Harvey, & Liddy, 2016).  This competition is mainly influenced by innovational technology, the transforming market surrounding and the transforming consumer’s demands and expectations.  The critical scenario has resulted in major reconstructions of business-focused, strategic visions, contemporary models as well as conventional viability.  In the increasing competitive market there is a necessity to build and develop organizational responsiveness and suppleness.  In the previous decades most corporations adopted business procedure-engineering as well as quality management strategy in addition to other approaches that are aimed at generating improvement in the context of responses demands and challenges which have not turned to be success (Wylie, Harvey, & Liddy, 2016).

Findings

From the literature that is related to business management agility is a conceptual progress that is established by flexibility.  Agility state of art development is fully dependent on responsiveness speed as well as quickness. This is mainly because speed is highly necessitated in responding to consumers demands and completing different operations.  In short agility is the capability to sense inside and external high uncertain changes and respond quickly and effectively based on innovation (Pigosso, McAloone, & Rozenfeld, 2016).

Agility implementation should hold consumer satisfaction in mind as it helps in determining the effectiveness of the business in general.  From the above discussion it is therefore clear that agility definition is not certain but it is mainly directed to achieving improvement and operational advantage in terms of consumer’s satisfaction.  Agility evaluation is therefore important before conducting any implementation since it is meant to deal with the distinct changes that occur in the business surrounding (Qiu, 2013).  

Agility implementation cannot be referred as just a general procedure as knowledge and skills are highly required.  It is thus clear that the implementation of agility in any business requires resources, cost skills and expertise knowledge. This therefore proves to be change for most organizations in the business since most of the implementation are not successful.  Future implementation of agility should therefore take consideration of cost efficiency, skills and developed knowledge (Qiu, 2013).

In the competitive business surrounding where globalization, innovational, technological, market emergence and economic factors are rapidly taking course the success of any organization regardless of its size is solemnly dependent on the ability to implement agility successfully.  Strategic agility is described as the dynamic capability of revising the reinvent of an organization and its strategy as the surrounding of the business experiences different changes.  According to the recent studies on agility implementation the dynamic capability in the business surrounding is the success factor as the environment is transforming very fast and it can thus be described as the capability of offering support and handling the sudden transformations so that the changing market opportunities can be capitalized.  However the same phenomenon is described as the ability to give the actual services and products at the actual location and period for the accurate consumers.  According to Dahlén, Urby, Fredriksson, Dabérius, Qaderi, Wilson, & Nilsson, (2016), strategic agility in general does not imply to the status of having an approach but it is a strategic thinking and precise vision emphasis rather than strategic planning.  Agility is therefore the theory of approach development and implementation in the quest of achieving business development.

Agility implementation is the methodology where business operations are planned minimally and are conducted in reduced increments.  Agility planning is short as it only requires the setting of goals and the strategies to achieve the developed goals. Agility ensures that the capability of an organization to adapt to project changes is made easier as it minimizes the involvement risks and requirements for changes adaptation (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016). From the analysis of literature, agility implementation was found to be the easiest and most beneficial as compared to the existing improvement strategies. The efforts required to translate the business to agile cannot be underrated either.  Transforming an organization into agile manufacturing necessitates high commitment from the general organization.  This is because anything less the commitment may result in compromising the decision making process.  This can therefore result in limited agility benefits.  Continuous development should be incorporated in the business. Since agility implementation has been applied in most organizations it is still in the evolution process as it is bound to change in the future.   This indicated by the aspect that distinct business improvements are suited by different approaches.

An organization’s changes fitness is another agility implementation necessity.  Since the business surrounding future and present times are characterized by uncertainties and changes the manufacturing sector is highly required to be fit. Therefore organizations are required to have clear and well-defined strategies and visions on how agility will best operate.  This does not simply imply to the general ability to developing changes but the capability of responding and recovering quickly from the different changes that occurs (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016).

Agility conceptual model is comprised of divers, capabilities and the agility enablers. Based on this model a manufacturing enterprise experiences different transformations which influence the business to identify its abilities that can be acquired or enhanced in taking advantage of those changes.  In turn the organization is focused to search for different ways of enhancing those capabilities (Romero, & Vernadat, 2016). Agility implementation is dependent on the criterion that follows.  This includes government regulation, cooperation of business, information technology, reengineering, and flexibility. In short this means that in order for agility to be effective the formulated government laws that relate to business operation must be considered.  In addition re-engineering of the business structure and strategy may assist in gathering more competitive advantage through the acquired information.

Discussion

It is very clear that the significance of agility in any business cannot be understated. Most organization is experiencing issues in the implementation of agility in gaining a competitive advantage as well as in produces and development of processes. Agility is mostly accepted as a fresh competitive theory in the sector of manufacturing in fulfilling the ranging demands from consumers. This is mainly influenced by the change of technology as well as innovation development which has resulted in demands and expectations shifts (Cruz-Cunha, & Putnik, 2006).  Therefore agility implementation evaluation has turned to be aggregate necessity for the present and future development of agile manufacturing application.  The general success of an organization relies on the general capability to manage results that are based on the essential factors of success and provide unique and content attention so that they may generate an increased performance.  For the manufacturing sector this project proposes a set of efficiency factors for agility implementation analysis which are considered to be suitable in regard to the manufacturing industry.

Agility mainly depends on flexibility, innovation as well as good leadership.  These aspects can thus be utilized in the implementation process of agility to ensure that efficiency is achieved maximum.  In the context of agility success leadership, organizational flexibility and innovation are the major focuses of most organizations today (Dahlén, Urby, Fredriksson, Dabérius, Qaderi, Wilson, & Nilsson, 2016). This is mainly because suitable leaderships are capable of providing the business with solutions of overcoming complexities and future uncertainties.  Flexibility on the other hand is the ability to handle changes in operations as well as raise of uncertainties.  Agility gives the organization flexibility since the business is able to quickly adapt to different changes changing market situations as well as trends.  An organization’s agility is the major function of the design of that organization.

Based on this project’s review’s fresh age enterprises are highly required to efficiently and effectively respond to the distinct changes and benefits that are provided by agility implementation.  In order for the businesses to get used to agility the enterprises necessitates updating the existing processes of business while giving different agility implementation methodology.  This can, therefore, be achieved through the utilization of service-oriented systems in ensuring that agility implementation is successful (Holmqvist, & Pessi, 2006). 

Based on the literature review of this project it is thus clear that small enterprises are faced with greater challenges when implementing agility as compared to a large corporation.  This is influenced by the fact that agility implementation requires more resources which most of the small firms lacks (Holmqvist, & Pessi, 2006). Additionally, the firms are faced with challenges because of expertise knowledge inadequacy and financial constraints.  Agility implementation requires well-developed knowledge and skills in order to yield the expected benefits.  The large firm’s agility implementation effectiveness is hindered by the lack of adequate information in regard to the strategy’s implementation.  In order for agility to be effective in any enterprise, the businesses must have the capability of changing and adapting to different changes by making strategic decisions that are aimed at developing the business (Holmqvist, & Pessi, 2006).

The theory of strategic agility is different from the application of other strategies that are aimed at generating improvement to the business.  Despite the fact that agility and strategic application are the major essential aspect of the business in the marketplace today strategic planning necessitates to be replaced by the strategic agility in order to generate more development (Dahlén, Urby, Fredriksson, Dabérius, Qaderi, Wilson, & Nilsson, 2016).For most enterprises, improving the agility capacity involves developing fundamental transformations to the mode in which the business is administered. The fundamental transformations can be less drastic or even more as this depends on the structure of the organization.  Changes cannot be evicted as they are major sections of the businesses.  Despite the possible positive effects change cannot be resisted both at an organizational and individual level. Changes are associated with different implications whose certainty cannot be verified and therefore a more strategic approach is required as it is a common singularity.

In this context change management is crucial for an organization to be efficient and competitive.  Fresh thoughts and innovation should be incorporated for the future should be apparent as pressures. One of the most significant factors in the effective organizational change implementation is the managerial behavior change (Gong, & Janssen, 2012). There are several organizations that opts a leadership style that is dictatorial while most organizations opts for consultative and participative leadership. In the success of agility implementation people are the main success factor as they help in determining the best methodology to apply.  Agility mastering state of art necessitates the focus of three major enablers that is grounded in the management practices series. The evaluation of literature illustrates that flexibility and agility content terms holds overlapping notions. Agility is the enterprise’s capability in responding to transformations quickly and efficiently. On the other hand flexibility is the capability of responding to transformations situations.  Although the both definitions look similar agility emphasizes more on being speedy.  Several scholars conclude that agility and flexibility in regard to the future of any business are similar terms (Gong, & Janssen, 2012). 

The theory of agility was developed in 1991 when the industrial sector was able to view distinct business surrounding changes. These changes includes growing market competition,  market fragmentation, consumer demands changes, reduced lead times, high quality products as well as services and customized goods (Rahman, &  Sousa, 2014). Agile manufacturing is a manufacturing strategy that combines technology, innovation, persons and the organization in yielding developments.  Agility helps in developing processes tools for organizations which helps in responding quickly to the market changes and the consumer demands and at the same time controlling quality and cost.  The most crucial aspect of agility is cooperation, information, persons and consumer’s prosperity. This implies that the development of the different products must consider the expectations and needs of the consumers in order to increase the development procedure of different products. The products should additionally be cost effective and of developed quality to satisfy the consumers.  Agility requires individual’s skills within the organization in ensuring that the development process is well guided.  This involves the skills and knowledge that is necessary in recognizing the needs and expectations of the organizations operating market.  Information providence to the employees and the consumers is additionally essential in agility implementation as it helps in ensuring that effective communication is achieved. Due to the rapid technological transformation and consumers demands changes cooperation amid firms is highly necessary.  This is because a single company cannot be able to hold the necessary skills and knowledge which are required in meeting the requirements of consumers (Rahman, & Sousa, 2014).

This project further suggests that future research is conducted in investigating casual impact relationship amid implementation of agility, cost as well as time benefits in the state of the art and future state development (Rahman, & Sousa, 2014). Additionally, comparative studies can be performed to identify any distinction that may occur in agility implementation in both large and small firms.  This will help to develop increased knowledge in regard to the challenges that are bound to be experienced in the implementation procedure.  The engagement of SME’s in the implementation and adoption of agility should additionally be investigated and evaluated in regard to the present and future development (Rahman, & Sousa, 2014).

This project researched on the state of the art and the future of agility implementation in organizations based on the available and related literature.  Agility implementation methodologies were thus established to be the major influences of competitive advantage success.  However implementing agility is associated with different changes as it requires expertise as well as extended resources (Dahlén, Urby, Fredriksson, Dabérius, Qaderi, Wilson, & Nilsson, 2016).  Technology, as well as innovation, is another challenge which hinders agility implementation success. Despite the fact that technology was established based on a literature review that pertains the matter of achieving improvement a practical applicability should be established.

Presently organization is highly required to operate in highly competitive and energetic surroundings matters to externally and internally induce the rising changes (Yauch, 2011).  While most of the business transformations can be considered as consistent there are several changes are disruptive which holds high capability of affecting the operation of the business world.  Based on the above literature review a practical method is thus proposed by this paper in the implementation of agility and its development in the future.  As mentioned in this research all the businesses and especially the manufacturing ones are necessitated to take consideration on the inside and external surrounding of the business in recognizing the pressing changes.  Organization’s managers are therefore required to develop and enhance abilities and capabilities of corporations in exploiting and responding to changes that may occur within the given environment (Gong, & Janssen, 2012). Following this, an analysis procedure gap can be developed in determining the present and suitable agility level state.  Organizational responsiveness, programs, and corrective actions can be utilized in developing constraints which help in developing the enterprise's agility. This research suggests that the future researcher considers an examination of validity as well as agility implementation strategy

Conclusion

            In summary, agility manufacturing is an issue that is gaining growing acceptance in the world today from the academic and practitioner field.  Agility is directly connected to the direct benefits of the business because it helps in attaining capabilities that would not be achieved easily. However, agility implementation for future development requires the utilization of more resources as well as increased cost. This is because the future of agility is bound to be faced by uncertainty issues due to the changing economy, innovation as well as technology. The demands and expectations of the consumers will be altered in the process. Agility implementation must take into account process flexibility which is the general capability of the business to deal with the changes that can be foreseen and those that cannot.  This should be accomplished by ensuring that the objectives of the business are not altered and they are achieved at a specified time period. Flexibility is described as a transformation that does not affect the general operations of the business at any cost.

            References

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Dahlén, O., Urby, F., B Fredriksson, S., Dabérius, K., Qaderi, I., Wilson, M., ... & Nilsson, G. (2016). Traveling Into the Future: The Development of a Currency Exchange Application.

Gong, Y., & Janssen, M. (2012). From policy implementation to business process management: Principles for creating flexibility and agility. Government Information Quarterly, 29, S61-S71.

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Taji, M., Siadat, S. A., & Hoveida, R. (2016). Identification and Ranking of Key Factors Influencing Organizational Agility Implementation on Total Quality Management (TQM) in Universities (Case Study: Isfahan University of Medical Sciences). International Business Management, 10(15), 2814-2822.

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Vlaanderen, K., van Stijn, P., Brinkkemper, S., & van de Weerd, I. (2012, June). Growing into agility: process implementation paths for scrum. In International Conference on Product Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 116-130). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

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Revolution of Blue Oceans

Findings

A blue ocean creation denotes industries that are not in existence as their demand not fought over through competition but through creation. Red oceans are those oceans that are in existence where the competitive rule is understood and the boundaries are set as the companies try to outperform each other and have a competitive advantage over the others in order to have a greater share of the demand in existence (Kim &Mauborgne, 2004). There is a huge capacity in the companies to create new and re-create existing ones as a result of the deep changes experienced today. The element of technology has sphere headed the creation of the blue oceans as it has created improvement, increased productivity and better product and services. Ford, Apple, and Dell are some examples of the new entrant while Palace theaters, Compact PC serves and CTR’s are examples of an incumbent in the blue ocean industries (Kim &Mauborgne, 2004).

Problems

The blue ocean industries have faced the challenge of the traditional strategic analysis that gives a little explanation to power the industry hence no consistency success. As a way of solving this problem, the industry has been able to come up with the right strategic move such as establishing corporation so that the companies may know what drives them (Kim &Mauborgne, 2004). The industries have moved to the product of strategy and managerial action in order to create growth and profits over time.

Critical issues

Barriers to imitation are a critical issue to the blue industry as there are credible challenges as it attracts a large number of customer’s immediately after its creation. The consistency pattern in the field is critical as it should be maintained to enhance its success otherwise there will be a boycott of the industry (Kim &Mauborgne, 2004).

Recommedation

The industry is faced with a significant subject of ensuring that there is a realization of strategies that can create and capture a different logic to be used rather than that of the red ocean there will be more blue oceans in the future.

Reference

Kim, W C. & Mauborgne, R (2004). Blue Ocean Strategy. Harvard business