Balance of Payment

Balance of Payments and Multinational Corporations

Introduction

Balance of Payments – Over the last two decades, the world economy has been changed to an extent on which the nations are interconnected with each other in terms of commerce and financial relationship. This circumstance is popularly known as globalization (Vinals, 2004). This interconnection not only helps to exchange goods or service but also force to keep account of financial payment between two countries (Dabrowski, 2006). This record is known as balance of payment. Generally, a multinational corporation has a strong relationship with the balance of payment between two countries (Stein, 1984). The multinational corporation may be affected positively or negatively in the host or home country by the balance of payment (Wilamoski and Tinkler, 1999). The positive relation between MNCs and Balance of Payment creates many opportunities for the multinational corporation. A manager of multinational company must take necessary steps to grab those nice opportunities.

What is Balance of Payment?

Balance of payment is a process of keeping record of transaction of a country with the rest of the word. It includes not only payment for goods and services but also all others payment over the border (Chamberlin, 2009). According the Sloman John, Balance of payment is an account that contains all monetary transaction of a country with the other countries of the world (1998). The transactions contain exports, import, incoming payment and transfer of finance. The balance of payment is usually evaluated based on certain period such as year.  It is also calculated on a single currency, normally US dollar (Mcbride, 2007).

Sources of money are considered positive and deployed of funds is negative items. According to Investopedia, the balance of payment generally should be zero to be optimum (2013). However, it does not happen most of the time. The balance of payment is normally surplus or deficit for maximum country. A surplus balance of payment is said to be exist when the incoming payment is higher than total transfer.  On the other hand, a deficit balance of payment is said to be exist when the transfer payment is higher than the incoming payment.

What is Multinational Corporations or MNCs?

A multinational corporations or MNCs, also known as Multinational enterprise (MNE), is a company that operates is business or produce and sale product in more than one country (Daniels, Radebaugh and Sulivan, 2001). According to Van De Kuil, a multinational corporation follows the internationalized philosophy and operates its business both home and host country (2008).

He also added that to be a multinational corporation, a company must have the assets and facilities outside the border of national country. The host country, home country and the multinational company get benefits from a multinational trade (Kokko, 2006). The host country gets higher tax or vat, the home country get foreign currency and the multinational company get profit. Here is some example of well-known multinational company Honda, Toyota, Google, HSBC, Wal-Mart, Samsung and chevron etc.

Relevance of Balance of Payments to Multinational Corporation

There is a strong relationship between the balance of payment and Multinational Corporation. A multinational corporation helps both host and home country to increase their balance of payment. In the contrary, the balance of payment situation of a country impact the operation of a multinational corporation by changing the rules and regulation based on country specific needs (Ker and Yeates, 2013). Let us look the relevance of balance of payment to Multinational Corporation in terms of different situation.

Relevance Based on “Direct impact”

 A country in which a multinational company is located tends to be get higher balance of payment. It experiences capital inflow when a multinational company get started with a certain fee. It also gets funds or money from the portion of profit of that Multinational Company (Shoo, 2005). On the other hand, the multinational company helps to improve the balance of payment of home country. The home country gets funds when the MNC make profit and return the money to the home country.

Relevance Based on “Regulatory Relation”

Another positive or negative relation between balance of payment and the MNCs is regulatory relationship. The balance of payment represents the foreign reserve of a country. The trade policy of a country changes with the changes on balance of payment position. If a country has negative balance of payment, it tries to hold the money by encouraging more export than import (Hale, 2013). It also tries to get more tax or VAT from the normal sources. This tighten money policy affects the business flow of multinational companies. They have to give more tax to the government. The sales volume of MNCs may rise because the local producer is busy to export in other countries. The MNCs can be the market leader. It may not happen all time.

The rules and regulation may be strict for both domestic and multinational companies. On the other hand, if a country more reserve or balance of payment, it tries to deployed money. It encourages import than import or it invests money to another country as FDI or foreign direct investment. It may reduce the tax burden for MNCs (Bhusnurmath, 2011). By this way, the MNC can get maximum profit. The host country may be benefited from this policy by getting portion of profit when it will get back to it.

Relevance Based on “Measurement Challenge”

The MNC puts a measurement challenge of balance of payment for both home and host country. The goal of a Multinational company is to maximize the profit in after tax all over the world. To do this, they allocate resources, make mixing price system and make extra bill. These conducts is very difficult to measure for the regulatory bodies (Landefeld, Moulton, and Whichard, 2008). There are some good reasons behind this; the resources of production are not same in all countries and the price too. Therefore, it is very tough to evaluate the perfect amount of balance of payment. The mix price is also difficult to detect. Therefore, the proper amount of payment is in question in all countries due the inappropriate recording of MNCs transactions.

Relevance Based on “Foreign Exchange”

The balance of payment is a better indicator of country’s financial status. It helps to evaluate the foreign exchange rate of a country. This exchange rate has direct or indirect effect to the multinational corporation (Wang, 2005). When a currency of a country is strong, the import will cheaper and the export will less competitive. This situation puts pressure to the MNCs to adjust the situation. At that price of goods tends to be cheaper so that the multinational corporation must adjust their price level. Again, when the exchange rate of a country is weaker, the import will expensive and export will high competitive because of inflation. This situation makes higher price level within the country and the MNC have to adjust their price in a high level.

Relevance Based on “Asset Reserve”

The balance of payment also consists of asset such as gold reserve. The higher gold reserve means country has higher trade surplus and thus the higher money supply. This tends to create inflation within the country. Therefore, the MNCs can make higher profit by raising their price level. Conversely, when there is a trade deficit means low assets reserve. This makes the price lower because there is a low money supply. Therefore, the MNCs must adjust their prices level to cope up with host country’s policy.

Relevance Based on “Decision Making”

The balance of payment statistics is very important for all kinds of decision makers. The authority of a country looks carefully the flow of balance of payment. The balance of payment generally is a great indicator of future exchange rate of a country. This put pressure to the monetary authority to take necessary steps to control the money supply. Again, the balance of payment indicates the proper amount of assets reserve for a country. This makes concern for the fiscal authority. They should determine the trade policy, VAT, income taxes and the policy for the multinational corporation. Therefore, we can say, balance of payment accounts are closely related to the overall saving, investment and price policy of a country.

Relevance Based on “Business Policy”

The MNCs are also a good user of balance of payment statistics. They must assess the balance of payment both host and home country for their business policy. The policy of a MNC much depends on the balance of payments flow because change in balance of payment also changes the rules and regulations. When a multinational company try to start their business in another country, they must assess the domestic balance of payment. Because the domestic balance of payment, indicate the permission. If the host country has surplus balance of payment, the MNC can start their operation.

Conversely, if the balance of payment is in deficit position the MNC may not get the foreign investment permission. Again, the MNC must assess the host country’s balance of payment. If the host country has already huge surplus balance of payment, it may not give permission to a new MNC because it tries to invest their money not get money. Conversely, if the balance of payment is in deficit position in the host country, they may welcome new money flow to their country. Thus, the balance of payment position in host and home country affect the decision of business start up. The MNC should also asses the foreign exchange rate position in home and host country.

The weaker currency in home country means the multinational company have to pay more to start their business in another country. Conversely, if the exchange rate is weaker in host country, the Multinational Corporation can start their business cheaply in the host country. Balance of payments also influence the interest rate because of high bank reserve, the MNC also have to consider the interest rate in the host country. The higher the interest rate means the higher business cost for MNC in the host country.

Finance Essays Balance of Payment
Finance Essays

Changes in Balance of Payment and Management Actions

What is change in balance of payment?

Balance of Payments should be equal in all time. However, in reality, it does not happen. The balance of payment is continuously fluctuating all time. This is called disequilibrium of balance of payment. According to TR Jain, disequilibrium payment is a situation when the balance of payment fluctuates from zero (2008). Another author Cherunilam argues that a country’s balance of payment is disequilibrium when there is surplus or benefit (2010). There are three types of changes in balance of payment favourable, unfavourable and balance. Favourable balance of payment means surplus balance of payment. Unfavourable balance of payment means deficit balance of payment. Balance in BOP means equal incoming fund and outgoing funds.

Causes of Changes in Balance of Payments

There are various causes of change in balance of payment. From them, Raj Kumar, author of international economics pointed out three main reasons such as economic, political and natural (2008). He said that if a country is in developing position it must be in deficit balance of payment. The reasons behind economic cause are huge economic development in infrastructure, inflation or deflation, cyclical fluctuation and changes in foreign exchange rates. Again, the reasons behind political cause in balance of payment are political instability and international relations. The natural consequences such as earthquakes, hurricane and others are the reason for natural cause in balance of payment.

Result of Changes in Balance of Payment

The changes in balance of payment may affect positively or negatively to the economy. Here are some Results of changes in Balance of payment:

  • Positive effects of Changes in BOP increase the creditability of a country. Conversely, Negative changes in BOP lower the international creditability.
  • Positive changes decrease the foreign dependency in terms of financial help. Conversely, Deficit changes in BOP increase the foreign economic dependency.
  • Surplus changes increase the foreign exchange reserve. Conversely, Negative changes in BOP deplete the foreign exchange reserve.
  • Reserve of gold is increase in the case of surplus balance of payment. Conversely, the reserve of gold decreases and goes away in negative BOP situation.
  • Negative balance of payment hampers the economic development. Conversely, positive balance of payment improves the economic condition.
  • Surplus balance of payment increases the global market leadership for the home multinational company. Conversely, Deficit balance of payment hampers to get global market leadership position.

Opportunities for MNCs Revealed by Changes in Balance of Payments

The changes in balance of payment position affects positively and negatively for a country’s economy. As the MNCs are one of the important parts of economy, it also gets affected due to changes in balance of payment. Here are some opportunities for MNCs revealed by the changes in balance of Payments.

Business Growth: A multinational company can get business growth advantages in both home and host country. If the home country has surplus balance of payment, the authority approves MNC to start their business internationally. It means they do not mind in capital outflow from the nation as they have surplus funds to invest. On the other hand, a MNC can expand their business to a host country if they have negative balance of payment. They must try to grab money from the other national to increase their business infrastructure. For this reason, MNC is the best way to get finance.

Low start-up cost: A multinational company can start their operation cheaply in host country due to changes in balance of payment. If the host country has deficit balance of payment, they must encourage funds flow from MNC with low regulations and cost. Again, if the home country has high balance of payment, they allow MNC to start its business with lower fees.

Tax benefits: An MNC can also get tax benefits both home and host country due to fluctuation of balance of payment. The home country encourages FDI when it has surplus balance of payment. For this reason, the tax tends to be lower than deficit BOP to encourage foreign direct investment. Again, in the host country the MNC gets lower tax benefit due to deficit balance of payment (Robert, Dunn and Mutti, 2009). The MNC can also get the lower tax benefit, when the country tries to increase their export and reduce import.

Exchange rate benefits: The fluctuation of exchange rate is highly related to balance of payment. This exchange rate or balance of payment affects the operation cost positively or negatively to a multinational corporation. The MNC pay less if the home country has higher balance of payment or strong exchange rate. Here, they get exchange rate benefits due to weak currency in host country. This strong exchange rate also reduces the resources costs in the host country. Moreover, the MNC can get bill paying benefits due to change in balance of payment system.

Low cost of operation: A multinational corporation can experience low cost of operation due changes in balance of payment in both home and host country. It can get factors of production such as land, labour, machinery and others tools at low prices where the balance of payment is lower. Because, lower balance of payment indicates high rate of unemployment in the host country.

Higher Sales: A multinational corporation can increase their sales due to impact the balance of payment in the host countries. When a country experience lower balance of payment, it tries to increase the export and reduce import to get higher balance of payment. To do this, the country should ensure high production unit. The domestic producer may unable to cope up this policy. Therefore, the MNC get the opportunity to sales more during the recovery situation in balance of payment.

Higher Profit: A multinational corporation can make higher profit due to changes in balance of payment. As we discuss earlier MNC can sale higher volume in the host country in the recovery situation. By this, it can make higher profit because higher sales means higher profit (Deresky, 2009). On the other hand, the MNC can make higher profit if the currency of host country is devaluated. For example, European MNC operates its business in US. If the US dollar is weaker than Euro, the European countries will get higher value of money when they convert the money into their own currency.

Measures to exploit opportunities revolved by changes in Balance of Payments

As a MNC operates internationally, it must cope up with the changes on balance of payment in both home and host country. The manager of MNC should be careful to grab every opportunity provided by the BOP. The management measures have been given below:

Seek for growth: A manager of Multinational Corporation should always seek for business growth in home, host or any other country. To seek the business growth opportunity the MNC have to assess the balance of payment position. If the balance of payment is favourable, the manager should grab the opportunity for growth.

Alert all time: The manager should be alert all time to grab the best opportunity for business. As there are various obstacles for a multinational business, the manager have to overcome the obstacle by grabbing the best available opportunity.

Acquire new technology: New technology is very important for a business to get the competitive advantages. A company can implement a new technology to track the balance of payment related data to know the future trend of exchange rate, business cost and tax rate.

Hire business analyst: The manager can hire a business analyst to analyze the balance of payment data and recommend the best opportunity. The analyst also may responsible for making quick and instant decision regarding balance of payment trend.

Implementing short and long-term strategy: The manager can implement a short and long-term strategy for grabbing the opportunity of balance of payment. The short-term strategy may be for less than one year and the long-term strategy may be for above the one year. In addition, this strategy should include the yearly business strategy.

Conclusion

Due to high impact of globalization, every country must engage business internationally through Multinational Corporation. The multinational corporation contribute in the economy of related party’s as well whole world. This report describes that there is a strong relevance of balance of payment to Multinational Corporation. They are related to each other’s in terms of direct impact, regulatory relation, assets measurement, foreign exchange, business policy and decision-making.

This report also describes that the changes in balance of payment creates some opportunities for MNC such as business growth, low start up cost, exchange rate, higher sales and higher profit benefit. Moreover, this report suggests that a manager of a company should take some important measures such as implementing new technology, higher business professional and hiring business analyst to grab the best available opportunity revealed by changes in the balance of payments.

References

Akrani, G. 2010. Disequilibrium in the Balance of Payment – Meaning , Causes.

BusinessDictionary.com. n.d.. What is unfavorable balance of payments? definition and meaning.

Cherunilam, F. 2010. International business. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited.

Dabrowski, M. 2006. Rethinking balance-of-payments constraints in a globalized world. [e-book] Available through: Munich Personal RePEc Archive

Daniels, J., Radebaugh, L. and Sulivan, D. 2011. International business. Boston: Pearson.

Deresky, H. 2011. International Management. Boston, Mass.: Pearson.

Eicher, T., Mutti, J., Turnovsky, M. and Dunn, R. 2009. International economics. London: Routledge.

Essay.uk.com. n.d.. Negative and positive impact of globalisation

Hale, G. 2013. Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco | Research, Economic Research, Europe, Balance of Payments, European Periphery

Investopedia.com. 2013. What Is The Balance Of Payments?

Investopedia.com. 2013. How The Federal Reserve Manages Money Supply

Jain, T. 2008. Macroeconomics and Elementary Statistics. V K Publications.

Kokko, A. 2006. The Home Country Effects of FDI in Developed Economies. [e-book] Stockholm School of Economics

Kumar, R. 2008. International economics. New Delhi: Excel Books.

Landefeld, J., Moulton, B. and Whichard, O. 2008. The Impact of Multi-National  Companies on Balance of Payments  and National Accounts

Mcbride, C. 2007. How to Calculate the Balance of Payments | eHow

Palgrave-journals.com. 2004. United Kingdom Balance of Payments: The Pink Book – Further information on UK balance of payments

Shoo, D. 2005. Economic Effects of Multinational Corporations | eHow

Sloman, J. 1998. Essentials of economics. London: Prentice Hall Europe.

Stein, L. 1984. Trade & structural change. London: Croom Helm.

The Economic Times. 2011. MNCs lower tax burden by swopping domicile – The Economic Times.

The Sydney Morning Herald. 2013. Multinationals cry foul at tax changes

Van De Kuil, A. 2008. Strategies of Multinational corporations in the emerging markets China and India. Mu¨nchen: GRIN Verlag GmbH.

Vinals, J. 2004. “European Central Bank Statistics and Their Use for Monetary and Economic Policy Making”, paper presented at Second ECB Conference on Statistics, European Central Bank, 22 and 23 April 2004. Germany: European Central Bank.

Wang, P. 2005. The economics of foreign exchange and global finance. New York, NY: Springer.

Wilamoski, P. and Tinkler, S. 1999. The trade balance effects of U.S. foreign direct investment in Mexico. Atlantic Economic Journal, 27 (1), pp. 24-37

meritnation.com. n.d.. What are the advantages & disadvantages of MNCs?

Balance of Payments Relevant Links

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Insider Trading University Essay

Insider Trading Ethical or Not?

Insider trading is malpractice that involves buying and selling stocks using information that is not available to the public. The practice gives some traders an unfair advantage over others, and it is a punishable crime. Insider trading is commonly found among the corporate officers or people who receive the non-public information. Traders are always tempted to carry out this malpractice to make more profits than others or avoid losses. This act is illegal, and the Securities and Exchange Commission usually investigates and prosecutes it. However, insider trading can be legal if the trading is done based on information that is available for public use. This papers aim is to discuss why insider trading is considered unethical and finding out if allowing insider trading would hinder the operation of the stock market in raising capital for new and existing companies.

Is Insider Trading Ethical?

Insider trading is unethical because it involves exploiting the knowledge that is only known to a few people. The insiders are usually given an unfair advantage that allows them to benefit from information of the stock market before the general public. These people get to exploit the opportunity before the rest making accumulative profits and avoid risks. Generally, insiders ought to maintain a fiduciary relationship with their companies and shareholders so when they try to benefit from the inside information puts their interest above the people they serve. The practice is unethical since the insiders are supposed to protect the interests of the entities they serve rather than using it to their advantage.

There are other times the people on the inside divulge the information to the people on the outside (Alldredge, 2015). The process involves a tipper and a whistle-blower, with the tipper being the person who divulges the information to the outsider and the tepee the receiver of the data. The whistle-blower then utilizes the information obtained to seek profits or avoid financial losses in the stock market. As much as the tippler may not benefit directly, it is still unethical since it makes some people gain unfair advantages over others.

In most cases, insiders are after personal gains at the expense of the investors and the company at large which is unethical. On moral grounds such as actions are unjust and are termed as a fraud. The investors feel unsafe and insecure to invest since they lose trust that they hold to the insiders.

Any interests in a stock market must look after the interests of all shareholders and not just favoring a few (Skaife, 2013). Generally, insider trading betrays investors’ trust; insiders act on data that is not available to shareholders for monetary gains, officers of a company are acting to satisfy their interests. The insider trading is an unethical practice and should be checked on and brought to a stop.

However, there some people who argue that insider trading is not a bad practice. Such people insinuate that insider trading allows for all the relevant data to be reflected in the shares’ price. The process makes the security it easy for investors to understand the costs before purchasing the shares (Alldredge, 2015).

In such situations, potential investors and current shareholders are able to make informed decisions on purchase and sale respectively.  Another argument is that barring the practice delays something that will eventually take place. Blocking investors from accessing the information on the price changes can subject them to buying or selling shares at losses which could have been avoided if the information had been available.

Insider Trading University Essay
Insider Trading University Essay

Insider trading hinders the operation of the stock market in raising capital for the new and existing forms. Instances when a few people benefit from the stock’s information, investors lose trust in the company hindering them from participating in the activities of the stock market. The process leaves the stock markets with nowhere to gets funds consequently affecting the market’s ability to carry out its operations. Without the services then it becomes difficult for the stock markets to finance new or existing companies (Skaife, 2013).

Additionally, when insiders reveal security’s information to some people before the sales take place, the stock markets become integrated affecting the stocks prices. The stock market fails to exploit the pricing advantage since buyers already know what to expect. The process may cause the market to suffer losses making it difficult for the market to raise cash for other firms. Generally, insider trading is allowed to continue, and it can lead to many investors being driven away and avoiding the practice.

Insider trading affects general business management and decision making. Managers may make wrong on a particular situation using the inside information which is not reliable all the time. On top of that, insider information influences investor decisions impacting the stock’s market price or valuation. For example, when the investors are aware that the price of shares is going to drop they sell their shares in advance to avoid losses consequently impacting a firm’s stock valuation.

Conclusively, insider practice is an unethical practice since it favors some people over others. The people on the side get to exploit nonpublic information for their benefits at the expense of the investors. The investors lose trust in the whole process of stock exchange and with time they get driven away. The method may leave the stock exchange market with funds that are needed to finance upcoming and existing companies. Insider trading is unfair and unethical since it involves lying to the investors and should be stopped to avoid negatively affecting the economy.

References

Alldredge, D. M., & Cicero, D. C. (2015). Attentive insider trading. Journal of Financial Economics, 115(1), 84-101.

Skaife, H. A., Veenman, D., & Wangerin, D. (2013). Internal control over financial reporting and managerial rent extraction: Evidence from the profitability of insider trading. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 55(1), 91-110.

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Top 10 Business Studies Essays

Top 10 Business Studies Essays

In this post we will give you an insight into our Top 10 Business Studies Essays for college and university students. These essays and assignments will prove valuable reading and will assist you in structuring your own business studies assignments. We have many titles that will help university business studies students. Subject areas that we provide include: business management, HRM, marketing, economics, finance and accounting, all of which will be covered off in a business studies degree.

Below are some outstanding business studies essays and assignments to get you started. Be sure to reference all material in accordance with your university’s guidelines and code of conduct.

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Innocent Drinks Brand Marketing Strategy

Innocent drinks was created in 1999 by three young entrepreneurs and has been 90% owned by The Coca-Cola Company since 2013. They produce smoothies, juices and veg pots which are sold in the UK and in a few European countries. The innocent drink brand values are healthy, natural, sustainable and ethically responsible. These values are reflected in their products, made exclusively with natural and sustainable sourced ingredients, with no added sugar and no concentrate, and whose 10% of profits go to charity. Innocent drinks communicate their brand values through above-the-line and below-the-line advertising by using subtle marketing techniques that seek to communicate the brand’s personality. According to academics core values are essential to defining the corporate brand identity and support the brand promise being made to the customer, and they guide internal and external brand building.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Innocent Drinks Marketing
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Innocent Drinks Marketing

Managing Human Capital

Human resource is the most crucial asset of a firm since the organizational growth and profitability are determined by the effective human resource management, according to Reece (2013). When a firm successfully places the best employee to the suitable position, the productivity tends to increase. In this case, an effective and efficient employee adds value to the organizational well-being. The employees of a firm deal mostly with the customers and service delivery to the customers is determined by the level of motivation to the employees. A motivated employee tends to engage with the job with higher intensity and persistence. This higher intensity and persistence result in quality and timely service to the customers. Hence, customer satisfaction is closely linked with the employee motivation. Employee satisfaction as well as customer satisfaction leads to the organizational growth and profitability for a firm, claimed by Truss et al (2012). In this case, the role of customer satisfaction on sales turnover can be referred. When customers are satisfied, the loyalty of the customers increases. Besides this, the customers also do word of mouth marketing for the firm which lead to growth in sales. Thus, the profitability and growth of the firm is ensured.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Human Capital Management
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Human Capital Management

Corporate Finance – Mergers and Acquisitions

Business organisations are primarily instituted with the rationale of maximizing shareholder value through growth. To achieve this end, businesses will have to operate in a competitive landscape characterized by high uncertainties. Given the kind of environment they operate, businesses can be affected by financial volatility such as the credit crunch of 2008. One of the strategies to offset this financial distress is through Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). This report will carry out a performance review in the banking sector on the acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds Banking Group within the precarious times of the global financial recession in 2008.

Drawing on qualitative and quantitative information this report aims to establish the profitability effect of the acquisition on acquirer. The report also reflects on the rationale that necessitated this acquisition and the effect its announcement had on shareholder value. Secondary data in the form of profitability ratios (2004 to 2013) will be sourced from OSIRIS and FAME financial databases. Other qualitative information for analysis will be sourced from annual reports of the banks and credible news agencies. Share prices to be used to perform the event study will be sourced from Yahoo Finance. Performance indicators in the form ratios will be analysed using graphical interpretation of results with the help of Microsoft Excel. The event study will be performed using the market model in deriving the abnormal returns on the day of the announcement. The performance of the acquirer will be bench-marked through a trend and peer analysis review.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Corporate Finance Mergers Acquisitions
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Corporate Finance Mergers Acquisitions

Psychographic Segmentation Of Luxury Goods

Market segmentation can be defined as the division of a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes. Psychographic segmentation is a mechanism of market segmentation that is utilized to divide the heterogeneous whole market into sub markets whereby each individual shares homogeneous traits, socioeconomic statuses, personality or behavioral characteristics. The luxury goods industry is a market that consists of copious products that present themselves as being of superior quality and functionality in juxtaposition to competitors, while also attaining esteemed regard and a high perceived quality by consumers in the market.

This report fundamentally examines the luxury goods industry with relation to aspects such as size, brand leaders, competition, market trends and consumer decision making, while subsequently utilizing theoretical knowledge of psychographic segmentation to explore managerial implications and strategies associated with the presence of certain consumers in the luxury goods industry. All information will be substantiated by expertise knowledge in the form of peer-reviewed journals, while also utilizing market-specific information derived from the passport database to enhance statistical and theoretical knowledge of the industry, and the methods of psychographic segmentation implemented to assess the luxury goods market.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Psychographic Segmentation
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Psychographic Segmentation

Leadership – A Critical Assessment on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

Leadership is the key to ensuring the desired efforts by different parties within a firm to achieve the goals and visions whereby the stakeholders are inspired and motivated for the achievement of individual goals as well as organisational goals. As the application of proper leadership theory can ensure the growth of a firm, the choice of leadership theory is often described as a complex decision to make. Considering the vision and mission of a firm, the leaders must choose to implement a leadership theory that can truly contribute to the organisational growth as well as employees’ professional development.

Through innate qualities and hard work, leaders make a firm competitive in the industry. On the other hand, by showing flexibility; leaders transform their leadership style based on the opportunities and threats from the internal and external environment. In this paper, by focusing on a single approach different theories of leadership are assessed comprehensively. These theories of leadership are the benchmark for leaders to reinforce their control throughout the organisation. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory of leadership is critically assessed in this paper to comprehend the development and implication of the theory in organisational framework.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Leader-Member Exchange
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Leader-Member Exchange

Professional and Personal Development – Leadership Theories

To be a successful leader in any organization, leadership theories help to give guidance of skills and character to people. Several leadership theories like trait theories, contingency theories, behavioral theory and Leader –Member Exchange theory will be described here that helps to give different guidance in different situations. Among all these leadership theories, trait theories are one of the effective theories. In this study, Trait theories significance and empirical reviews are determined properly that helps to determine habitual pattern of behavior. Traits are different in different situations in different types of people that influence behavior. Leaders should be transforming their leadership styles in different situation to adjust with market demand and to enhance leadership qualities and approaches. When leaders can get effective leadership skills and attributes, then they can handle any type of situation easily and enhance organizations well-beings as well as individual development.

The objectives of this study are given here:

  • To analyze some leadership theories and determine one important and effective leadership theory
  • To inscribe a reflective evaluation of preferred theory to understand substantial body of academic and professional knowledge about this theory
  • To trace out development of leadership approach

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Leadership Theories
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Leadership Theories

Marketing Analysis on Red Bull Company

Red Bull was the first company to offer Energy Drinks throughout the world, creating a completely new category on the consumer beverage marketplace, therefore becoming synonymous with energy drinks for a large number of consumers. This new category of Energy Beverages is sold in over 169 countries worldwide, making Red Bull Energy Drink market extremely broad. The product Red Bull sells is of course the drink and as described above there are some variants, but in the essence it is all based on the traditional recipe of the energy drink. Red Bull offers the customer a refreshing beverage that includes various stimulants. However a big part of the product is the branding; e.g. the substance found in the cans of Red Bull might seem extremely similar to competitors, the brand name, including the iconic packaging, is what defines the product that is offered by Red Bull and creates value for the customer.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Marketing Analysis Red Bull
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Marketing Analysis Red Bull

Marketing Management Energy Drink Industry

Managing and appraising the funds and activities of firm relates with the marketing management. In order to reduce the costs and increase the profitability of a firm, managing the marketing issues effectively is crucial. A start-up energy drink company has decided to launch their products. In this case, the United Kingdom (UK) environment will be considered to assess the internal and external environment of the new firm. With the help of different models like PEST, SWOT, Five Forces, etc. the firm’s internal and external issues as well as competitive factors will be assessed. A marketing plan will be developed considering the SMART objectives along with the 7P analysis of the firm. The energy drink industry is a competitive industry with giants like Monster, Rockstar, Red Bull, etc. operating in the industry. To formulate the marketing strategy of the start-up, a critical assessment of the marketing and promotional assessment of the giant firms will be conducted.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Marketing Energy Drink Industry
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Marketing Energy Drink Industry

Strategic Management – British Airways Business Environment

Strategic management deals for better arrangement of corporate strategies and strategic significance to maintain optimum administration practices. Any business strategy gives the guidelines and ways of enhancing company’s profitability and achieving competitive advantages. This report will be described several terms and concepts of strategic management based on British Airways Company. As a consultant of British Airways, I have to suggest business new or incremental strategy for business resilience and sustainability. At the very first part of this report, internal and external environmental factors will be described by using SWOT analysis and Porters five forces model. A new or incremental strategy will be recommended based on company’s strategic capabilities, competitive analysis and organizational structure. Recommended strategy will be critically analyzed and developed a relationship with human resource capital, financial conditions, operational conditions and technological conditions in the second part. Change management program will be determined in the last part of this report and factors to be determined that may hamper or enhance change management program here.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - British Airways Environment
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – British Airways Environment

Consultancy Report – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

This report has focused on the need for strategic change within GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a UK based global pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor. The report has identified the strategic need of change within the international value delivery system of GSK. This report has identified that GSK is facing problem with its current hierarchical organisational culture which has been resulted in interrupted organisational communication and inefficiency in the value delivery process. The factors driving the change process are volatile financial performance, changing customer buying behaviour and the intensity of the market rivalry. McKinsey’s 7S Change Model has been suggested to bring the strategic change within GSK. The challenges to the change process that have been identified are employee resistances to change, resource constraints and ideological resistances to change. The change process is aimed at enhancing organisational efficiency, organisational value, uninterrupted organisational communication and employee engagement.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - GlaxoSmithKline Consultancy Report
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – GlaxoSmithKline Consultancy Report

Analysis of Supply Chain Management at IKEA

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate three dimensions of supply chain management at IKEA. The supply chain management is wide concept and IKEA retail business is familiar with it. The IKEA business is being evaluated in its first dimension the structure adopted by it. Logistics structure, supply chain structure and product development structure are being studied in this report. The second dimension of report has showed that what kind of issues and problems in its current logistics structure. Lastly, it has showed that how structure is recommended so that it can meet challenges in future while adopting business in most competitive business. The first part of report also showed that what is uniqueness of business and show it has adopted that uniqueness ideally. The business nature of business and retailing process development are core elements of report. The main concern of report is to identify that how much IKEA is responsible towards society and its customer and even with its suppliers. This is only possible with low cost production, just time model n supply chain management and cost effective supplier selection. The report has ensured with several mindsets about supply chain management that how IKEA is leading in retail industry.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - IKEA Supply Chain Management
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – IKEA Supply Chain Management

Cultural Influence on International Marketing

The era of globalization is here as economies are integrating with other economies, expanding and are exposing themselves to universal marketing decisions. Marketers in the international market need to understand that promotion of a product is adversely affected by cultural patterns in various countries. The demand trends for various products and choices of people depend on cultural values, customs, and tradition of a specific region. Culture is depicted entirely by the attributes and way of life of a particular group of people. This entails the way people speak, believes, their dressing styles, learning, attitudes values, and norms. Many factors are there which affects the marketing process for a product like economy, competition, target market, and budget but culture play an essential role on impacting consumer preference which was not seen as a critical element many years ago. Marketing processes relate to planning, product promotion to cope with cost control, maintaining quality and competition.

Top 10 Business Studies Essays - Culture International Marketing
Top 10 Business Studies Essays – Culture International Marketing

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Change Management British Airways

Change Management at British Airways

Change Management British Airways – In liquid times (Bauman, 2007), the market is characterized by growing complexity and the capacity to innovate is essential to survival of the firms, as there are more competition. In this context, the traditional factors of production become obsolete fast, and the human resources emerges as the flexible factor that gives dynamism to the firms, been more than a strategic asset , but the competitive advantage (Barney and Wright, 1997) , as it can responds quickly to these changes.

As an important factor of production, human resources must be applied efficiently under the framework of business administration theories and practice, as a controlled and guided process within the firm, known as human resources management.

In the 1970s, the economics structure was being transformed towards the transactions, due the development of the Euro Market and the entering of Oil Dollars. The increase in those financial operations and the development of the Lean Management by Toyota enabled the multiplication of financial services, making the financial markets grow more than the GDP through lending (Schiller, 2008). This led to the abandonment of the Bretton Woods and the oil crisis, disrupting the market. At same time, the developed world faced stagflation and the Keynesian policies were de-legitimized towards the neo-liberal ones (Krugman, 2009).

The British Airways, a State owned firm back then, was hit hard by the oil crisis which increased its operational costs. Notwithstanding, the recession lived by the United Kingdom were paired with a rigid management system, making the firm lose market share and revenue. A cultural shift was proposed in the 1980s, transforming the company, which became the world leader of the aviation market in just one decade and a paradigm both of the cultural change and the change management of strategies. For that reason, it was the elected case to present the present Report, where it will be analyzed the cultural change, the management of change strategy and the consequently performance of the firm.

British Airways Human Resources in Practice: towards the flexibility of Human Resources Management through the cultural shift

In 1983 British Airlines was losing almost 140 millions per year and the saying of the time defined it as “Bloody Awful” . Few years earlier, in 1980, a survey conducted by the International Passenger Association put the BA as the wort airliner carrier. The culture of the company was internally driven, as demonstrated by one of its seniors managers which said in 1984 that they could run a good airliner if it werent for the passengers. The uncertain environment was completed with the privatization which would be carried during the 1980s (Carleton and Lindenberry. 2004).

In this unstable environment, a new CEO assumed in 1983, aiming to recover the company. Its most relevant decision was the transformation of the culture of the BA, which would not be in the “transportation business” but in the customer services market, re-orienting it towards the external driven framework. This change management would allow to focus in the client and provide a quick response to the markets needs, as the customer became the center of the management policies. Although, the company faced the challenge to re-adapt the thinking of 50,000 employees towards this new values, changing their concepts about the BA, their jobs and objectives, essential to align the operational aspect of the HRM (group) to the intangible (culture), keeping the organizational processes coherent ( Schein, 2013).

The change of culture at British Airways aimed to transform the organization towards the customer, with costs and benefits approach, from a profit perspective. The leadership role was relevant, as the CEO was present in all operational processes, from the flying crew to the sessions of the program Managing People First (Turnbull et al, 2001), though, the most relevant changes in the culture, in the period from 1983 to 1995, were, the following:

  • Putting People First (1983) –It was aligned to the culture change towards the externally driven company, consisting in the mandatory of attendance to all staff members of the BA worldwide. The CEO, Colin Marshall, was present in more than 9 in 10 of those events, aiming to describe his vision of the new company structure to the staff.
  • A Day In The Life (1984) – BA had a rigid management style, where hierarchy was one of the core values. The Day in the Life program was a one day training which were mandatory to all the staff worldwide, aiming to improve the communications among the sectors, by familiarizing the staff with other departments. The objective was to create empathy towards the others employees and customers in general, by the accountability of the staff.
  • Terminal Supervisor Development Program (1984-1985)– It consisted of a thirteen-day residence program directed to all the supervisors of the company´s terminals, as the new customer centric approach required all supervisors working in the provision of customers services to the re-trained. The program required also that supervisors who wished to keep their positions after the training program, to re-apply to their jobs.
  • Managing People First (1984-1990)– It was a five program developed for the training of all managers worldwide in the executive levels, in terms of the leadership organizational behavior. The managers reviwed their careers and were encouraged to develop acting lines to adapt their behavior in the new cultural approach.
  • Performance Appraisal (1985) – As the company was changing, with new jobs and management practices, the performance appraisal estabilized the cultural change, which still needed to be defined through the practice. The performance appraisal, thus, became important in embedd and evalue and new culture adoption, as the bonus was tied to the use of the new organizational values within the company.

The change management processes, through the culture defined by the CEO Colin Marshall was continued by the appointed CEO in 1985, Robert Ayling, which proposed the following:

  • Customer Service Leadership Programs (1988-1989) – Creation of a brand through the five class services,aiming to attend the customer´s demand through extensive market research. The program was developed in 5 days, destined to the ground management staff which added value to the customer, to all ground managers worldwide.
  • Winning For Customers (1990) – It was a one day program destined to all the staff to reiterate the cultural shift towards the customer satisfaction, using computer-based simulations of different customer consumption behaviors (British Airways Report, 2010).

Attained Results and the impact of the culture in the Change Management British Airways

The BA Change Management applied into practice the organizational culture from the behaviorist theory, adding a fluidity approach, in terms of flexibility. The HR organizational project aims to model the right behavior to the company, and is particularly focused on ensuring that behaviors to support the change on direction of the customer attention are embedded throughout the organization.

Change Management British Airways
Change Management British Airways

Although, as the Organizational Behavior, traditionally, divides organizational mechanisms as the structure and the culture, and, group mechanisms as leadership behavior and team functioning, for a result to be achieved, there is need to coordinate organizational mechanism with group mechanisms, as they are interdependent, one being the object and the second being the action. Notwithstanding the perceived change was at the cultural level, the leadership was reinforced and emphasized in the Change Management strategy, aiming to direct behaviors through the alignment to the new culture. In this sense, the approach of the BA group can be understood from a systemic perspective, as it conceives both organizational and group mechanisms. The leadership, management training and other programs demonstrates the equilibrium weight between the HRM mechanisms. The culture change was allied to the structural change of the company, which had passed through wage cuts and reformulation of compensations.

As the company determined what it wants to be in terms of culture (results, in the case be more customer oriented), it identified the behaviors it need to follow to attain those results, trained the leaders in the skills needed to achieve those behaviors and rewarded those who achieved, the control of protocols furthered the reaching of the strategy of the culture shift, through a coherent Change Management program, transforming the BA in the most profitable airline company in 1996.

Though, the focus in the culture must be counterbalanced with the other organizational aspects of the firm which were also relevant in the reinvention of the BA in the market (Turnball et al 2001). According to Schein (2013), the real culture, is embedded in the behaviors, values and practices of the group mechanism, being a multidisciplinary approach more proper than the classification of the BA change in terms uniquely or more relevant of the culture. This is because the cultural change supposes a series of inferences which are linked by the behavior of the group according to its values, thus, although companies modifies and creates subcultures in the long run (Avolio, 2011), the leadership and fellowship training programs and strategies, and, the structural change, also were fundamental to enable the cultural shift of the organization, consolidating the BA position in the market in the 1990s. The flexibility and quick response to the markets through the redirection of the firm towards the customer services only were possible because the practices of the company already were being transformed, before the new culture be developed (Tushman et al, 2006).

References

Avolio, B. et al. (2011). An Integrative Process of Leadership. American Psychologist. V. 68, n.6.

Barney, J. and Wright, P. On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in Gaining Competitive Advantage. Cornell University ILR School, 1997.

Bauman, Z (2007). Liquid Times, living in an age of uncertainty. Kindle version book, Paperback.

Carleton, R. and Lineberry, C. (2004). Achieving Post Merger Success: a stakeholder guide to due diligence, assessment and integration. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Chomsky, N. (2005) Profit over people: neoliberalism and global order. Seven Stories Press, New York.

Hirsch, A. (1992) Milton Friedman: Economics in Theory and Practice. University of Michigan Press.

Jeffery, R. (2014). What you can learn from Santander.

Maslow, A. (1992) Maslow on Change Management.

Schein, E. (2013). Change Management, Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schiller, R. (2008) The subprime solution: how today´s global crisis happened and what to do about it. Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Turnball, P. et al (2001). Strategic Choice and Industrial Relations: a case study of British Airways.

Tushman, M. et al (1996). Managing Innovation and Change Management British Airways. London: Sage.

Warner, M. (1994). Japanese Culture, Western Management: Taylorism and Human Resources in Japan. Organization Studies July 1994 vol. 15no. 4 509-533.

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Health and Safety Management

Health and Safety Management Essay

Health and Safety Management – The British Airways Company being a member of the European airlines’ royal family, carries cargo and passengers to destinations exceeding 150 in some 75 states from hubs at the city of London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and airports in London city. The carrier does its operations to a fleet of aircraft exceeding 240, which consist mainly of Boeing jets and Airbus.

BA (British Airways) stretches its network and services to destinations that exceeds 400 in total, through agreements of joint business and relationships that are code shared with AMR’s airlines from America and Oneworld alliance members, for instance, Qantas. Iberia, which was Spain’s number one airline, merged with the BA (British Airways) in 2011 that led to the formation of IAG (International Airlines Group).

The company comprises of a workforce personnel who add up to approximately 57,000, who happen to be distributed to several sectors or sections, for instance, the management, customer service, grounds operations, security, finance, and so on. However, BA being a well recognized airline company, my company is an affiliate of it whereby it deals with clearing and forwarding of goods that are being transported.

The company does its operations on ground level only mainly for BA airlines, and it has a workforce of about 450 employees. The employees are spread across and all over within the airline’s are of work (grounds only). The company mainly deals with luggage on transport or that are imported or exported, cleaning of the aircraft, luggage inspection and so on.

Health and Safety Management

For every company that has employees or workforce that exceeds five in number, should come up with health and safety management measures as required by law in addition to several other management of safety that are subjected as legal requirements. The British Airways (BA) is one of the companies that are subjected to this. Every year, over 200 people get killed and over a million get serious injuries every year at their work stations or places.

Those who suffer from illnesses made worse by or caused by their work are over two million. Forestry industries are the industries that are well known to be more dangerous, and workers in this sector are prone to more dangers that can result to death and/or illnesses when they are at work compared to any other industry or company, for instance, in construction sites or even airports in this case. However, no danger is greater than the other, provided that it can maim or even kill, it is still danger and for that reason, safety and health measures should to be put to safeguard the lives of the workers at the work premises.

Health and Safety Management
Health and Safety Management

The provision of health and safety management training and information has its importance to every individual in instances where it helps to; ensure that workers or employees is not made ill or/and injured by the kind of works that they engage themselves in, developing of a culture that is safe and of positive health, whereby healthy working and safety becomes every worker’s second nature, realizing and finding out how to manage safety and health better and finally, meeting the legal obligation of protecting the health and safety management of workers.

Training the workers effectively also has its significance, whereby; it contributes towards enabling the workers to be experienced in safety and health, assists companies to keep away from stresses that ill health and accidents cause, and finally, help the companies to stay away from financial expenses that are likely to be caused due to ill health occupations and accidents. In addition, it is important to consider that, not all losses are covered by the insurance company. Products that are damaged, production that are lost and workforce that lacks motivation can all be the cause.

Health and Safety Management at Airports

Health and safety management in airports is paramount in the delivery of every project, and operate a system of safety management. The system of system management adopts the main beliefs of the guidance on successful health and safety management and is controlled in full observance with every current legislation safety. Young and Wells (2011 p. 78) give out a suggestion that, highlighting that is done is normally based on regulations on construction, design and management (2007) with airports gratifying the role of contractor or principal contractor, the assessment of risk for the purposes of identifying hazards, risk evaluation, implementation of harmless and secure systems of work and related controls, providing training and awareness for every employee from every level and finally, controlling of the sub contractors.

Like in most airports, according to Fuller and Varssie (2004 p. 112), the health and safety management and systems, replicates detailed approach to in the provision of work for every employee and the company’s duties to others. The company has a safety record that is of excellence, managers who normally attend course of safe management, are usually trained with perfection. The monitoring and the enforcement of the policy regarding health and safety management performance across every business activity through:

  • Toolbox talks
  • Safety audits and inspections
  • Reporting of accidents and near miss
  • Regular reports about safety
  • The involvement of a member of staff and communications
  • Regular meetings regarding management team, with a resilient stress on performance of safety
  • Regular meetings on management with a resilient highlighting on management, safety and performance

Accident assessment at workplace

According to Ludwig and Ayres (2007 p. 67) they suggest that, there are various common accidents that do occur in workplace. Injuries at places of work that are suffered by workers who work in the airport, are not restricted to scrapes, paper cuts and other negligible issues. A good number of workers (probably thousands) — whether they conduct their work inside an office or at a site that construction is underway — put up with incapacitating, life-changing injuries every year. If anyone or a loved one for that matter, became ill withed an injury when he was on his place of work, he should seek out for the assistance he needs as soon as possible.

According to Ludwig and Ayres (2007 p. 76), waiting excessively for so long to file an allegation, could put one’s capability of obtaining full reimbursement at jeopardy. For example, Hank Barnett of The Barnett Law Firm has important familiarity of helping workers who are injured to obtain their compensation via the compensation system of Georgia’s workers’. As of 1983, he has assisted a lot of clients file winning claims or appeals a refutation of reimbursement benefits of workers’. He figures out the functionality of the system, has familiarity in dealing with companies that handle indemnity (insurance companies) and works hard to defend the rights of his clients at any given time.

Common Injuries Due to a Workplace Accident

A number of law firms, among them, The Barnett Law, Firm have assisted workers with injuries who are from the range of syndrome of carpal tunnel and injuries of repetitive stress to accidents that have caused a catastrophic death of a cherished one. It is understood that that a number of injuries may have need of an employer to create accommodations for instance, an impermanent change in duties of work, at the same time as others averts the injured worker from working for extensive periods of time. Whatever the state of affairs, According to Fuller and Varssie (2004 p. 134), the law will make sure that the injured worker is given the care and reimbursement he necessitates. Other common workplace injuries include:

  • Neck and back injuries
  • Injuries of the spinal cord
  • Brain trauma (TBI) and head injuries
  • RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) and chronic pain
  • Ankle, knee and leg, injuries
  • Occupational / workplace disease
  • Burns or injuries those are chemically-related
  • Psychological disorders
  • Aggravation of pre-obtainable injuries

The law is conscious that one is going through a traumatic time. Therefore, it concentrates on getting results fast and provides the clients with the kind of respect they ought to have (National Research Council 2012 p. 89).

Common examples of accidents at work – Health and Safety Management

Accidents at places of work can occur at whichever time and to any person whether an individual is working in an office, a warehouse or a shop. According to Fuller and Varssie (2004 p. 167), scores of these will rely on the kind of working surroundings, for example, recurring Strain Injury is more probable to occur in an office like place of work and injuries of the back from physical work. Despite the fact that it is the employer‘s responsibility of anyone to minimize the risk of accidents, they do unluckily take place from time to time. There are scores of injuries of dissimilar types that can come to pass in the places of work including:

Trips and Slips

Just about a third of accidents that come about in the places of work are a consequence of trips and slips. Trips and slips injuries take place mainly for the reasons that are relating to wet floors because of bad weather poor or housekeeping, or objects hindering the footpath for example cables or floors that are uneven. Young and Wells (2011 p. 126) suggest that these injuries can vary from negligible bruises and bumps to main fractures. To minimize such incidences or accidents then some measures have to be put to combat injuries that are liable to be brought about by trips and slips. Ensuring that there should be no wet floor and incase of any, then it should be dried up immediately. The floors should be rough like to enhance grip while walking hence no trips will be likely to occur, and finally, doing a thorough housekeeping and ensuring that no object is hindering the footpath. If this is followed, least amount accidents will be witnessed.

Lifting

Yet again this is an additional major reason of accidents in places of work. Accidents that are resulted by lifting are more possible to take place amongst those staff members who have to take on manual management including pulling, pushing, lowering, lifting or carrying huge items on a customary basis. An injury can take place if the maneuver is not done in the approved manner or when an individual has not been shown how to perform the task as it should be in line with health and safety management course of action. People in this particular of environment should be well taught on how to perform these tasks appropriately in order to avoid injuries at work. In addition, the use of machinery should come to place in order to make their work easier when it comes to lifting of heavy objects, for example, the use of fork lifts

Falls

According to National Research Council (2012 p. 109), this kind of accident can consist of falling from stepladders or other platforms that are raised from the ground, for example, scaffolding. Injuries that are obtained from falling can array from slight strains or sprains to major back or head fractures and injuries. In this scenario, there is only one simple step that can keep individuals in the places of work safe, and that is simply them being watchful and careful

Workplace Traffic Accidents

These can take place in any place of work that makes full use of motorized vehicles like for example, in warehouses, and airports for that matter. Injuries can take place if the automobile that is being used, crashes or overturns or when items descend from it. The safety measures for this case are quite strict and should be followed in order to avoid such cases. As Ludwig and Ayres (2007 p. 89) suggests that the staff using the automobile, should acquire appropriate training on how to use the machinery, in terms of the required speed, maximum weight to be lifted (commonly in forklifts) and so on, because when it comes to automobiles, it is required that care and watchfulness should be the order of the duty.

Burns

Young and Wells (2011 p. 117) suggest that individuals who do their works in the kitchen, are not the only ones who can go through major or minor burn injuries, but even those perform electrical work are also capable of suffering from burns typically because of shock caused by electricity. The only safety measures to be put to practice in this situation, is the wearing of gloves at all times and never handling hot or naked wires with bare hands.

Neck and Back injuries

Despite the fact that working in an office can appear safe enough, having the same sitting position from time to time can occasionally result to neck and back injuries. According to Reese (2009 p. 113), this can take place if an individual is not in the appropriate sitting position, for instance, when the chair too low or high for the desk, no support of the back, when the computer too low so drooping over the desk. Getting the appropriate office furniture is the solution on top of sitting in the correct position, normally, 90 degrees and eyes straight to the screen.

Driving accidents – these take place to those individuals, who engage in driving as part of their work, for instance, taxi drivers, dispatch riders, sales rep, fast food delivery and so on. Following traffic rules is the only solution to avoid accidents, which is common sense.

Heavy apparatus – members of staff who work with heavy and plant apparatus for instance industries that deal with construction can put up with major work accidents. The use of machinery should be put to practice and weight balancing should also be put in mind to avoid accidents that are being caused doe to overload.

The RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) – is mainly resulted by excessive use of the arms or hands to do a recurring job for so long without taking a break, for instance, factory work, typing, writing, driving, and so on. Taking a break is important n this case and this allows the body to coordinate well.

Problems with Vision– this injury can frequently take place to the individuals who make use of computers as their working toll on a daily basis. This injury is becoming the most widespread injury because of the frequent exploit of computers in the place of work.

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) – according to Taylor (2005 p. 167), it is a type of a concern disorder that is able to arise after an individual has experienced or witnessed a shocking and disturbing event that drew in the risk of injury or death. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is more frequent in jobs of, for example, driving as one could possibly be involved in a dreadful car accident, or working in a business that may possibly be held up, for example, banks, post office or bookmakers.

Example of an Accident That Occurred

Not much time has passed since one of the mentioned accidents happened to one of the workers and sustained serious injuries that he obtained from burns caused by electric shock. The worker and his colleagues left their respective places of work late in the night and were headed for the engineering department where all the repairs are done. They normally hang out there as they catch up on old time stories, because apparently, they happened to be friends who were united together by the job that they were doing.

It rained heavily that night that the drainage system was becoming a nuisance, so the rain water flooded everywhere and water managed to find its way in the room. Peter accidentally dropped his phone and rushed to pick it up, but without knowing, he supported himself with the wall and his other hand reaching for the wet phone and got an electric shock that was caused by a naked cable that was being used for welding. The burns were so serious that his hand had to be amputated. Following this incident, the colleagues also developed PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) that made them to develop fear of that particular place for the reasons that, it reminds them of that incident.

In such cases, according to National Research Council (2012 p. 78), there are measures that if were put into practice, the occurrence would not have happened. The first thing that should have been done is making sure that all the apparatus that use electricity especially of high voltages, should have been properly checked, managed and repaired, for the reason that any naked wire can result to serious damage as experienced by the staff member. The second thing that should have been done, is ensuring that water drainage system should be regularly checked and corrections should be done upon being spotted, because apart from the shocking incident, water can make floors slippery hence casing someone to trip and fall, something that can bring about head, back or even spinal injuries, and as known, these are deadly injuries with severe results. Lastly, tools must never be left in the open, especially electric tools; they should be disconnected from any source of electricity and be stored and kept in dry places in order to reduce such cases.

References

Fuller, C., & Vassie, L. H. (2004). Health and safety management: principles and best practice. Harlow (Essex), Pearson Education.

Ludwig, D. A., & Ayres, M. (2007). Safety management systems for airports. Washington, D.C., Transportation Research Board. National Research Council (U.S.), Airport Cooperative Research Program, United States,

Ricondo & Associates, Planport GMBH., Two Hundred, Inc, & Flughafen Zürich.      (2012).Airport apron management and control programs. Washington, D.C., Transportation Research Board.

Reese, C. D. (2009). Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach. Boca   Raton, CRC Press.

Taylor, B. (2005). Effective Environmental, Health and Safety Management Using the Team Approach. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons.

Young, S. B., & Wells, A. T. (2011). Airport planning and management. New York, McGraw-Hill Professional.

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