Business Management Essay Topics University

Business Management Essay Topics

Below you will find a great range of business management essay topics for you to purchase. These business management essay topics are here to help inspire you in creating your own Business essay or assignment. Our sample business management essay topics will prove helpful in formulating your own dissertation topic, objectives, literature review, methodology and analyses. Our sample Business essays are an ideal tool for any student struggling to start their own business management essay topics.

Business Management is an essential part of any organisation and there are many elements of Business Management. By browsing our collection of business management essay topics, you will get ideas for your Business essay through the following Business subjects: Global Business, Business Strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Change Management, Project Management, Organisational Behaviour, Leadership, Globalization, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation Management. We hope you find the business management essay topics you are looking for.

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MBA Change Management Assignment: Snap-on Incorporated. For an organisation to remain competitive, flexible in changing market conditions and at the forefront of their particular market segment, change has become an essential part of the management process. Change does not necessarily have to form part of the day-to-day operations once a particular activity has been agreed. However, to prevent as little disruption to normal business practices as is completely necessary the resultant effect of the change must form part of the organisations longer term, three to five year, strategy. Snap-on Incorporated is a global leader and developer of automotive diagnostic solutions and, over the last several years, has been faced with stiffening competition and the threat of new entrants from diverse markets. Snap-on Incorporated has throughout this time been reorganizing its facilities in order to sustain these challenging times and prepare itself for long term growth. It is now time to review how the recent change activities have aligned Snap-on Incorporated to ensure long-term success. [2,000 words]

Management Theory: Conflict Is An Essential Part Of Management. Conflict is a state of mind. It has to be perceived by the parties involved. If two or more parties are not aware of a conflict, then no conflict exists. This broad definition encompasses conflicts at different levels within an organisation. Conflicts are based upon differences in interest and values, when the interests of one party come up against the different interest of another. Parties may include shareholders, managers, departments, professionals and groups; while conflict issues can include dividends, control and wage levels. [2,300 words]

Management Theory: Analysis Into Approaches & Evolvement Of Management. There are a number of management theories that have emerged and evolved over the years. The importance of management theories didn’t materialise until the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. The growth of large organisations with high concentrations of people and resources in one area created a need for co-ordination and organisation which highlighted the need for management [3,300 words]

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Management Theory: An Evaluation of Taylor and McGregor’s Management Theories. Organisational theories develop from different backgrounds, experiences, and way of life and through unique set of frameworks, which in retrospect offer new perspectives to old conceptions and theoretical frameworks. Organisation theory can be defined as the study of the structure, functioning and performance of organisations; and the behaviour of groups and individuals within them [4,000 words]

Change Management: Human Relations & Organisational Behaviour. Change is an organizational reality. External forces for change include the marketplace, government laws and regulations, technology, labour markets, and economic changes. Internal forces of change include organizational strategy, equipment, the workforce, and employee attitudes. Changes within an organization need a catalyst. Managers can serve as change agents by becoming the catalyst for change in their units and by managing the change process. People who act as catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing the change process are called change agents. Any manager can be a change agent. A no manager can also be a change agent. Internal managers who act as change agents may be more thoughtful and possibly more cautious. As change agents, managers initiate change because they are concerned with improving their organization’s effectiveness [1,700 words]

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Demand Chain Management. Demand chain management can be seen as a further development to the existing supply chain management theory. Demand chain is essentially a concept that focuses more on the market need than on the efficiency of supplying the product. This concept is becoming more relevant as manufacturers strive to be more competitive by adopting mass customization approach [3,000 words]

Analysis into Knowledge Management. There are major obstacles to the management of knowledge. The most important one is the people in the organisation. Knowledge is in people’s heads and therefore, without them there would be no flow of knowledge. People can be obstacles to knowledge management if they do not seek advice and learn from others; this could be because of psychological reasons such as pride or maybe because the environment is not the one that encourages a flow of the knowledge [2,000 words]

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Management Theory: Managing Diversity within the Organization. Diversity within the workplace has certainly increased over the last decade, being a key issue among organizations of today. This paper will identify and discuss some of the important issues when managing diversity within the workplace. The paper will also document numerous key challenges that managers face regarding workplace diversity. Key strategies to overcome such challenges will be employed. Finally, some important opportunities and benefits that arise as a result of workplace diversity will be examined [2,000 words]

MSc Procurement Management: Managing Relationships & Multicultural Negotiations. The reform and open door policies initiated by the Chinese Government through its Ten Year Programme for Social and Economic Development in 1978 has led the country to unprecedented economic growth. The key strategy that was adopted by the Chinese in order to accelerate these reforms was to attract foreign investment frequently in the form of joint ventures. These joint ventures are often complex processes and should not be underestimated by foreign executives. Specific consideration must be given to the negotiation process at which time difficulties such as language, cultural differences and political barriers will develop [3,000 words]

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MBA Strategic Management: A Strategic Appraisal of Vodafone. The aim of this report is to appraise Vodafone’s current strategic direction and choices with a view to making relevant recommendations on options for future direction. Vodafone appears to be at crossroads strategically, it has reached what may be termed a mature stage as a company and investors are applying increasing pressure due to what they see as under performance by the company. Includes PEST, SWOT, BCG Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and KSF analysis [17,000 words]

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MBA Project Management: Analysis of the Success of the Channel Tunnel. The purpose of this report is to determine whether the Channel tunnel project was a success or a failure as a project management exercise. Based on the supporting documents and investigation into the project the following report will identify key aspects of project management, fundamental to any project succeeding, and if these have been applied. Necessary recommendations at the end of this report will support any findings. Initial reports would support the decision that this project was a failure due to the fact of it costing twice the original planned budget, the final product being delivered several years late, loss of life during the project life cycle and numerous well documented failures of rolling stock and significant lapses in security arrangements [2,000 words]

Business Management: Low Costs Airlines – What Impact Have They Had On Tourism? The report will look at how, and in what way, low cost airlines affect tourism. While air travel was once a luxury only the rich could afford, the entry of more airlines serving the busiest and most profitable routes has caused airfares to plummet. Some of the airlines that will be analysed are Buzz, Go, Ryan Air, and EasyJet. These are well known low cost airlines [1,600 words]

Analysis into Organisational Behaviour. Hackman’s model identifies a causal link between group effectiveness and factors related to the task, group composition, managerial support and processes of the group. The implication is that when these factors are favourable, the result will be a greater level of group effectiveness, determined by such outcomes as the acceptability of the output, meeting of team members’ needs and the continuity of the group. The model asserts that challenge, complexity and interdependence are requisite task characteristics for maximum group effectiveness for the sake of efficiency and succinctness, it will be assumed henceforth that this is the ultimate objective and justification for recommendations proposed [3,000 words]

Contemporary Management Theory: Analysis into Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The management of customer relationships has changed in the past decade. Previously, organisations had a very personalised relationship with customers that can be referred to as ‘one-to-one’ relationships. It was argued that companies were able to do this -at the time -due to their refined customer base, where they were able to customize products to suit individual needs and tastes. As a consequence, customers remained satisfied and loyal. In the mid 20th century, however, product availability increased substantially and so changed the way organisations have relationships with customers. Evidently, companies lost the uniqueness of this relationship and the ability to track customers’ ever changing needs and wants. Presently, however, organisations are very much looking to regain this one- to-one exchange, to establish loyalty in a very competitive market place. Subsequently, a new phenomenon of customer relationship management (CRM) has been introduced. This includes the management’s guidelines that are needed to develop the long-term relationship between organisations and customers, which they crave. The initiation of this management issue has sparked criticism however, where its application has been described as ‘just another buzzword’. Yet other theorists have contradicted this idea and denoted it as ‘the holy grail’ [8,000 words]

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Using relevant theories, discuss critically the validity of the contention that the motivation for staff to work well depends on more than a high salary and good working conditions. All people who work within an organisation need to maintain a level of motivation for a company to exist. Organisations are required to be financially viable, and the staff they employ are needed to ensure that this occurs – if these members of staff carry no motivation, then the company for which they work will incur major problems. What I intend to do, is to analyse proposed theories on this subject, in order to establish what it is that provides worker motivation, and which providing factors need to be considered [2,500 words]

Marketing Communications Strategy: Analysis Into Marketing Communications of Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s main objective is to increase sales to retain their number one spot in the supermarket industry within the UK. Sainsbury’s goal to achieve their objective is by delivering an improved quality shopping experience for its customers with high quality products for low prices. Sainsbury’s are trying to gain back the customers that they have lost in the past years. Today Sainsbury’s are competing against the major leaders of the supermarket industry. These include Tesco who happens to be the market leader in the UK, ASDA which Wal-Mart took over and also happens to be the market leader in the world, and Morrison’s which is also a well-established supermarket retailer [2,000 words]

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International Management: Management Styles In India. This MBA essay discusses about the organisational culture of India and than compare its culture with cultures of UK and Japan. It will be done with the help of different models. Like human civilisation, where they have a set of values, beliefs, traditions and behaviours, which define the way the people live on day to day basis, every organisation have its own culture, which defines the ‘way the things are done here’. These cultures are mainly influenced by the society or country, these organisations are operating in. India is an emerging market in the global market, therefore most of the management researchers are trying to figure out the kind of management and leadership styles that are used in India and which can be useful for foreign corporations to be used in India. These researchers have found that the westernised management styles can not be used in India because of its history and family oriented business [2,500 words]

Global Advertising: Ford Fiesta Project. This project focuses on the Ford Motor Company and its take on advertising. The project aim is to analyse competitive advertising in the car manufacturing industry. In 2005 Ford came third in the world ranking of car makers behind General Motors and Toyota. Ford has exited for over 100 years and has managed to penetrate global markets on a large scale and is thus recognized worldwide as a leading brand. Nonetheless, Ford itself, aside from its sister brands, is not positioned in the premium market. In fact, the main advert that we have selected portrays Ford’s Fiesta Zetec Climate, which is priced from £8,995. Similarly, prices for Ford cars in the UK range from just over £7,000 for 3-door hatchbacks up to £20,000 for 7-seaters with vehicle (mainly vans) prices ranging from £10,000 to £23,000, which clearly positions Ford in the affordable prices market [2,300 words]

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MBA Project: Market Analysis Of LG Consumer Durables & Dealer Development In India. Before the liberalization of the Indian economy, only a few companies like Kelvinator, Godrej, Allwyn, and Voltas were the major players in the consumer durables market, accounting for no less than 90% of the market. Then, after the liberalization, foreign players like LG, Sony, Samsung, Whirlpool, Daewoo, and Aiwa came into the picture. Today, these players control the major share of the consumer durables market. Consumer durables market is expected to grow at 10-15% in 2007-2008. It is growing very fast because of rise in living standards, easy access to consumer finance, and wide range of choice, as many foreign players are entering in the market [10,000 words]

MBA Project: Analysis Into The Major Segments In The Indian Retail Market. The retailing sector of India can be split into two major segments. They are the informal and the formal retailing sector. The informal retailing sector is comprised of small retailers. For this sector, it is very difficult to implement the tax laws. There is widespread tax evasion. It is also cumbersome to regulate the labour laws in this sector. As far as the formal retailing sector is concerned, it is comprised of large retailers. Stringent tax and labour laws are implemented in this sector. If the retail industry is divided on the basis of retail formats then it can be split into the modern format retailers and the traditional format retailers. The modern format retailers comprise of the supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Departmental Stores, Specialty Chains and company owned and operated retail stores. The traditional format retailers comprise of Kiranas, Kiosks, Street Markets and the multiple brand outlets. The retail industry can also be subdivided into the organized and the unorganized sector. The organized retail sector occupies about 3% of the aggregate retail industry in India [10,000 words]

Strategic Business Management Essay Topics

Project Management and Control & IT Project Management Methodologies. IT project has deliverables: a delivery date and a budget, and each stage of the project lifecycle carry its own risks. Since IT projects are often difficult to estimate and manage, the project should not be allowed to go from one phase into the next until a formal Risk Assessment has been performed, in order to achieve deliverables and expectations and to meet with user’s satisfaction. Risk assessment can take place at any stage and during any time of the project lifecycle, though the sooner the better. In this paper risk management and assessment in the early stages of IT projects will be discussed, along with methodologies on project management that will help ensure that a project start off with a reasonable chance of being successful. Emphasis will be on the TenStep methodology [3,500 words]

Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Behaviour. There is a common understanding that entrepreneurs in general can be stereotyped, however all entrepreneurs are different, and subsequently the reasons for why they initially start their businesses is unique to each of these individuals. Due to this it does not exist any valid general agreement on what the definition of what an entrepreneur is. Likewise, there exists multiple differences within social entrepreneurs. What is clear, however, is that social entrepreneurs differ from other entrepreneurs in their mission of creating superior social value for their clients. In today’s society, the common consensus of improving the world through social responsibility and environmental accountability seem to attain growing importance. We are increasingly becoming more educated in terms of the augmented social needs in our integrated world, and therefore social entrepreneurship is attracting an increased amount of talent, money and attention from multiple sectors [5,000 words]

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Leadership: Donald Trump & Sir Richard Branson. The chosen leaders of our team are Donald Trump and Sir Richard Branson, each possessing extraordinary leadership skills, allowing them to soar high in their respective enterprises and succeed. They are among the most prolific brand builders in the world, irrepressible businessmen whose corporate empires are created in the image of their over sized personalities. Donald Trump and Richard Branson continue to extend the reach of their personal brands to remote corners of consumerism which is fueled in part by their showmanship. They are a study in contrast: Donald Trump, the boastful, button-downed, grim Yankee deal maker who has ridden the real estate boom and his personal myth making to phenomenal business success; Sir Richard, the toothy British adventurer who sprouts new businesses as quickly as the hairs of his bushy goatee [4,500 words]

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Methods for Managerial Decisions: Application of Inferential Statistical Tests in Quality Control. Technology is moving forward with contactless products. Contactless products allow the consumer to purchase without a human intervention while using electronic technology to make purchases or payments. The most valued part of this new technology is that the consumer is apt to use this type of ‘card’ more often, thereby increasing the credit card company’s revenues. “Issuers hope contactless technology will help them convert the mostly cash payments at such locations into card transactions. The magnetic strip will remain on the cards for now for larger purchases [2,000 words]

What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma has been sweeping the business world with remarkable results to the bottomline of many organizations since its adoption in the late Eighties, driving breakthrough improvements in product and service quality. Today Six Sigma as a business strategy has been proved to be successful in reducing costs of poor quality, improving cycle times of various processes, eliminating errors or defects from processes, enhancing customer satisfaction and so on. So what is Six Sigma? [2,500 words]

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Porters 5 Forces – The BBC. Knowledge of the environment in which a firm operates is vital for it to work at full efficiency and achieve its goals. The BBC was the first national broadcasting organisation and was founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd; it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and was made a publicly funded corporation in 1927. The corporation produces programmes and information services, broadcasting globally on television, radio, and the Internet. The stated mission of the BBC is “to inform, educate and entertain” (as laid down by Parliament in the BBC Charter); its motto is “Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation”. In this paper, I will analyze issues facing the BBC using Porter’s 5 forces [2,500 words]

Business Analysis – Lidl. Question 1: Use the model of input/output procedure and critically analyse the importance of managing resources and identify the techniques that have been applied to deliver Lidl’s outputs. Question 2: Discuss and provide the evidence of Lidl’ main operation performance objectives to remain competitive in retail industry? Question 3: Apply Slack, Chambers and Johnston’s adaptation or Parasuman’s SERVQUAL Model to discuss how quality gaps can be diagnosed; and evaluate how Lidl’s quality planning and control can be improved by understanding any gaps evident from your examination of customers/operation domains [2,000 words]

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Business Management Essay Topics

Critically evaluate a B2B organisation of your choice – Yahoo. In this report it is my aim to critically evaluate a B2B organisation in order to gain a sound knowledge of the business, the area it operates in and also to be able to make recommendations in how the organisation can improve. Typically B2B organisations tend to be out of the spotlight of customers, as it is there nature to operate business to business. Examples of these kinds of organisations include IBM, EMAP and obviously more well known Microsoft. They operate on a grand scale within the B2B sector and are obvious choices when discussing B2B organisations [2,500 words]

Business Operations: AAPL vs. DELL. Over the years many businesses and corporations has been changing PC’s to Mac because they found that Mac was much easier to use and user friendly and smooth in just about every way, and due to lack of services provided by the Dell customer care services, if they had a problem they would call it a nightmare because it would just take almost forever for them to get something done, unlike Apple services which is known to be excellent and fast. Apple Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries design, manufacture, and market personal computers, portable digital music players, and mobile communication devices, and sell various related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions. Dell Inc, was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and support of computer systems and services worldwide [2,500 words]

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MBA Global Business Context: Retail Banking Industry; Focusing on the Changes in the Market Industry and Cross Border Restructuring. For the past ten years a serious changes have been occurring in the banking industry. Significant transformations can be noticed in the financial sector market structure due to the mergers and acquisitions. Decrease in credit institutions operating in the Western Europe and noticeable increase in concentration and competition. Additionally the total value of assets increased in all examined countries. Western Europe market as a whole saw an increase of almost 100% in the asset value. The total number of operating banks declined to around 7000 institutions, a decline of 30% during the time period. The concentration ratio increased in majority of the countries with Estonia and Netherlands holding the biggest CR5 ratios. The number of micro and macro environmental factors contributed to the changes in the industry. The most influential and therefore important were political factors, including changes in regulations and policies regarding consolidation in the banking sector. Economic, Social and Technological factors were less effective with economic growth being the most influential force [2,800 words]

Global Business: With Reference to Business Fortunes, Compare and Contrast the Economies of India and China. In this assignment, I will be investigating India’s and China’s background and comparing their economies to develop an understanding of their position in the world economy and how it was achieved. In addition, I will be looking at the differences in their economic growth as well as problems both countries may encounter as they try to become the world’s leading economies. My assignment will be supported by books such as The Business Environment by Ian Worthington and Chris Britton as well as the internet. The key indicators which affect the economy are growth, population and gross domestic product [1,500 words]

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Global Business: Russia’s Accession to the WTO Discuss Barriers and Opportunities of This Entrance. Russia’s entrance in the World Trade Organization is very actual issue today and this is very important for Russian business and economic environment. This issue is important also for the other countries which are members of the WTO, because World Trade Organization’s main objective is to develop and facilitate open international trading system and adjudicate trade disputes between or amongst member nations. As the Georgia is the member of the WTO it is very important for us, whether Russia will enter this organization or not. The main purpose of our project is to discuss positive and negative consequences for Russia that might result from entering the WTO, will they gain much by entering this organization or they will not. We will discuss why President Vladimir Putin made it a top priority to enter the World Trade Organization [3,000 words]

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Managing Culture using Hofstede’s 5 Cultural Dimensions & Trompenaar’s 7 Cultural Dimensions. Power Distance means the less powerful members of organizations accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. In high power distance countries, such as India, Mexico and South Korea, employees always accept and obey superior therefore the organization’ structure is centralized and tall. On the other hand, the structure of low power distance countries, for instance Finland, Ireland and Austria, is flat and decentralized. Universalism versus Particularism, universalism search for general rules and applies judgment to every circumstance. While, particularism look for finding exemption and judgments are influenced by relationships and environments [3,500 words]

MBA Project: Management People and Organisations Assignment Employment practices at A & B. In order to fully understand the marketing directors proposal, a situation analysis technique known as SWOT” has been used to identify the salient points. Also, underpinning my theory is the HRM “Warwick Model”. Influencing factors of Warwick Model: (a) More clearly illustrates the effect of external forces. For example; the political, technical, competitive and economic climates on internal decision-making. (b) Recognises the influence, internal culture, leadership and structure has on business strategy and the HRM context. (c) Acknowledges the effect that work systems, reward systems and employee relations have on the ability to deliver business strategy. (d) Supports the view that the workforce is a valued resource and key to the organisational development [3,000 words]

Supply Chain Management & Logistics Strategy. Identify and critically evaluate the major supply chain issues of conventional volume car manufacture and explain how these issues had been addressed by the Smart Concept and Logistics at MCC. The smart car is definitely one of the best innovations of the hundred years. It is usually the simplest businesses on this planet that generates profit while materializes ecological safeguarding visions. The smart car is definitely an ideally little auto that is made from synthetic whole body panels as well as a strengthened metal covering, which suggests less energy and heavy-industrial substances necessary in the process of producing them. The best characteristic in this auto is its superb fuel gas consumption. Quite simply, the smart car is petrol useful, which will not, just helps the car owner reduce your bills gasoline, but additionally minimizes the Carbon dioxide release from shedding the gasoline, for that reason tremendously contributes to the safeguarding of our environment [2,500 words]

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A Strategic Analysis of United Parcel Service (UPS). United Parcel Service (UPS) is one of the oldest and most successful courier companies in the world. It was founded in the year 1907 and started as a messenger company in the United States of America. Sine their humble beginnings UPS has grown from strength to strength to a $36 billion dollar corporation. UPS is a multinational company and is one of the world’s most recognized and admired brands around the globe. They are also one of the largest package delivery companies in the world and a major competitor of FedEx and DHL in supply chain management operations. Every day, they manage the flow of goods, funds, and information in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide [5,500 words]

International Trend Analysis – The Evolution of Green Cars. Change is a phenomenon that affects all aspects of life. In the business sector, change determines the directions taken by business venture. The survival of any business venture is largely dependent on how the sector responds to change. There are trends in a business environment that acts as indicators of the possible events in a sector. The current automobile industry is a product of trends in the world social economic front for the last century. The car has become an integral part of modern society and therefore subject to the changes in every society. Source of energy to the automobile engine has been subject to different market trends. The history of the car is characterized by shifts from the steam driven engine where coal was the major energy source to use of oil [4,000 words]

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MBA Change Management Assignment – Leadership challenges to the communication silos in business organizations. Overcoming numerous barriers in organizational communication is one of the major challenges for managers in business organizations. In business literature, a silo is defined as an organizational entity that resembles as an information container working as a communication barrier to other organizational entities. The objectives of the current study are to investigate the communication silo and its cause and impact on Royal Greenland and to provide suggestions to overcome this barrier. The method of the research is qualitative where a cumulative method of data collection and analysis were followed. It has been found that Royal Greenland lack of a proper corporate culture, and the communication silo existed in every corner of the organization, where the senior managers were actively involved [6,000 words]

Analysis of Apple Inc. business Strategic Unit (iPad unit) Apple is an American-based multinational company that deals in the sale and design of personal computers, computer software plus a range of hand-held gadgets. Apple Inc. is best known for its hardware products branded as Macintosh. Started in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Apple has grown to become one of the current day’s iconic designers of consumer electronics. Although Apple deals in a wide range of products, the company treats every product line in a unique way. Each product of Apple is treated as a standalone business unit. This report singles out the Ipad product of Apple Company and analyses this business unit in terms of its strategic competitive position, its external environment and the value addition proponent of its strategic position. This report is based on the UK market [3,000 words]

Case Study of the Strategy Adopted by Japan Airlines Corporation. By external and internal analysis as well as SWOT analysis, the report points out the strength and weakness of JAL, analyses the opportunities and threats of JAL, and puts forward the three key strategic issues confronted by JAL, i.e, financial crisis, lack of capital, overdue liabilities and the inability to maintain sustainable development; the decrease in attendance due to external factors such as economic crisis and security issues, etc; redundant organization structure, low efficiency in operation, high human resource cost, all of which lead to heavy burden on the JAL. By Ansoff Matrix analysis, the report puts forward the three strategic options faced by JAL: market penetration, market development and diversification. By comparative analysis, the report indicates the adoption of market penetration strategy would be the optimal choice for JAL and there are two issues to be resolved if JAL adopts market penetration strategy [3,000 words]

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MBA Operations Management Essay. Operational Management is a subject which applies for every organization as well as for individuals, from accomplishment of organizational goals to run the day-to-day operational activities. In this report author will discuss an operational issue which face by a leading Sri Lankan financial institute. And currently they are experiencing some bottleneck effects along their lending process and it started to cause long delays which lead to unsatisfied customers, time waste as well as frustration among staff members. Through this report author will describe what the causes for process constraints are and propose a set of recommendations and processes with the use of operational management theories to overcome these issues [4,500 words]

Critically evaluate the extent to which the growth strategies of large MNCs in China are affected by local institutions. The paper examines the ways in which indigenous Chinese firms are competing with FDI influx in China and how MNCs operating in China are trying to come out victorious in face of such stiff competition. International Marketing is a subsystem of marketing that thrives on the interaction of nations since it involves business transactions across the borders and is therefore grossly transnational in nature. These transactions help turn geographical boundaries into frontiers and therefore influence the world markets immensely. Since most developed nations are slowly turning towards a more and more services sector centric economy, and the retail sector being one of the foremost of the industries dominating the services sector across the world, international business cannot afford to do away with the impact that the retail sector has made on the economy [2,500 words]

Total Quality Management (TQM). This paper examines critical factors of TQM Implementation in most popular electronics companies, Samsung and Apple. Various levels of researches have been made to evaluate the performance, predictions, workouts and requirements not only for company’s personal growth but also for customer’s satisfaction. This research paper covers Total Quality Management of two giant companies representing their quality control system against their software whether it’s mobile or relative product. Need of SQA is quite demanding today as it involves 100% end user’s satisfaction where there are most likely chances of deficiencies, bugs and problems in software area nowadays [4,000 words]

Leadership Challenges to the Communication Silos In Business Organizations. Overcoming numerous barriers in organizational communication is one of the major challenges for managers in business organizations. In business literature, a silo is defined as an organizational entity that resembles as an information container working as a communication barrier to other organizational entities. The objectives of the current study are to investigate the communication silo and its cause and impact on Royal Greenland and to provide suggestions to overcome this barrier. The method of the research is qualitative where a cumulative method of data collection and analysis were followed. It has been found that Royal Greenland lack of a proper corporate culture, and the communication silo existed in every corner of the organization, where the senior managers were actively involved [5,500 words]

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IKEA Business Strategy. IKEA is Swedish furniture emporium. Nowadays, IKEA has become the largest furniture and household goods emporium in the world, the range of products IKEA offers focuses on better design and function at a lesser price. It offers smart home furnishing solutions for all areas of a house. The brand caters to the likes and needs of different people; for those who prefer a romantic touch, to the minimalist and everyone in between. In order to give the people a better everyday life, IKEA asks the customer to work as a partner [5,000 words]

Analysis of the internal and external business environment of Vodafone. Vodafone Group is among one of the world’s largest mobile communications companies by revenue operating in over 30 countries across the globe providing a range of communications services including mobile voice, messaging, data, and fixed broadband. The company has its operations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, The United Stated (under the name Verizon), Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East through its subsidiaries, investments, joint ventures and associates. In this report, I aim to analyze the business and management of Vodafone UK with the help of a number of models and theories to understand the internal and external environment of the company. Porter’s Diamond Model, PESTEL Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, Global Environmental Analysis and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis [4,000 words]

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Business and Project Management. This individual report discusses in detail the association between business objectives, programs, computer systems projects and benefits realisation. The next section discusses how a business can be organised for taking advantage of project management methodology and a PPSO (Programme and Project Support Office) for achieving the business strategy. Next part focuses on the safety management system which is incomplete without the predictions of the risk management done by proper research. These both terms are often considered as independent but these are linked together. Further the associated project structures required for implementing a project management methodology such as PRINCE2 and a review of the stages, processes and components necessary as well as how quality is discusses in detail in the project [3,000 words]

Strategic Management In Government and Voluntary Organisations. Government and nonprofit organization encounter the problem of strategic management most of the time during their operations to curb the problem it is very crucial to have better understanding of it true sense and meaning. Strategic management is defined as successful achievement of organizational goals stem from development of competent edge in the industry by the allocation of resource available at disposal and a comprehensive analysis of internal and external industrial environment in order to carve the strategies and all this is found as blessing of strategic management by managers [4,500 words]

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Oxfam Case Study. Oxfam is a name today internationally acclaimed for their humanitarian services. The non-governmental organisation today consist of seventeen Oxfam organisations all working together in ninety-four countries around the world. The key mandate of Oxfam is an organisation, which strives to get solution to the looming poverty experienced in some countries as well as find solution also for issues, which the organisation considers as injustices globally. The organisation has been successful since they work with communities and together form a strong lobby group, which then influence those in power to ensure the poor get a chance to improve their lives through their voices. The entire different organisation under Oxfam all work in unison globally, which allows the overall organisation to achieve its objectives better [3,000 words]

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Business Forecasting Predictions MBA

Business Forecasting

Business Is the Art of Predicting the Future and Getting Benefit from It

“The art of predicting the future and getting benefit from it” in business can be narrowed down to one term which is business forecasting. Business forecasting is the backbone of a successful business in every business venture. According to different scholars, the management of business should always make predictions based on overall running of the business, sales and finance handling (Hailey 2007).

Business Forecasting is described as the art and method that can be used by the business owner or shareholders to make a prediction of future business activities basing it on the accuracy of your data. The information obtained can be used in the determination of future trends in finance performance, sales performance and also customer behavior. Most businesses need business forecasting, and usually, they are done on a quarterly basis, but some can prefer forecasts made on a monthly basis (Evans 2009).

Types of Business Future Predictions (Forecasts)

General business outlook. Each and every business needs a forecast to is undertaken. This is mainly to foresee the likely changes that might occur shortly. There are certain conditions that are always present in a community that a certain business operates. Some examples are; controls, population, fiscal policy, political conditions, and the national income. Due to the presence of these factors, it is necessary to make future predictions of the business (Hailey 2007).

Sales forecast. The sales department is a major determinant of success in a company. Due to this reason, sales forecast should be carried out with precaution and due care to gain business success. In every business, sales forecasting is considered as the to notch factor in planning and a major aspect to consider in an organizational setting. Plans and policies made by the business to maximize their profits are obtained from expected sales so whether sales forecast is carried out annually or yearly; it is the main factor to future business plans.

Capital forecast. Every business in operation must have financial plans. Capital should be a factor to be determined to meet present and future needs of business. Forecast based on business capital requirements is a necessity and is considered as the primary step in every organization. Accurate forecasts greatly help an organization to employ capital fully and get optimum returns from their investments (Morlidge 2010).

Major Merits of Future Business Predictions (Forecasts)

Promoting a new business in the market. Making future predictions is one vital factor that has a huge contribution when it comes to setting up of a new business. This is because starting a new business is not as easy as it is perceived by most people because business is subject to risks and uncertainties. By carrying out forecasting, the business promoter finds out if the probability of the business thriving and if the business has high competition. After making these predictions, the business promoter assembled all the necessary resources and based on the forecasting made; the business is subject to success or failure (Morlidge 2010).

Formulation of a plan. Proper business forecasting plays a major role in business planning. Major business plans require proper forecasting in business thus making it an essential aspect in consideration. Therefore, as a business person, it is always important no note that adequate planning, whether long-term or short-term highly depends on forecasting.

Estimation of financial requirements. Estimation of business finances is a major business concern because in running a business, capital is vital. Business finances can be characterized by cash used to start the business, the money stored in the bank and cash used to run the day to day operations of the business. The presence of working and fixed capital is based on sound financial forecasting.

The viability of decisions made by management. Correct management decisions highly depend on the accuracy of forecasts made. As described by various scholars, the administration is a decision-making process, and management has the responsibility of making decisions which are uncertain. In the running of business whether small or large, certain changes might occur, e.g. personnel changes and unforeseen contingencies. Decision making by management is a process that goes on throughout the life of business (Evans 2009). Therefore, forecasting is relied upon in matters of production planning and resource allocation.

Business success. Proper forecasting helps the procurement department of the business to procure the necessary and necessary raw materials based on the business needs and future needs. The accuracy of sales forecasting is essential in making budgets. When a business fails to make accurate sales forecasts, it becomes difficult for the business and management to figure out how much production should be done (Hailey 2007).

Conclusion

As discussed in this paper, prediction of future is a vital step that every business has to undergo. Through future prediction, business is assured to thrive and reach its set limits. Many advantages have been realized by businesses which have taken the step of making good and proper business forecasts. On the other hand, lack of prospects might lead to a drastic failure of business. All the discussed merits are some out of the may many benefits of making future predictions of business.

Bibliography

Evans, Michael K. Practical Business Forecasting. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Hailey, Linda. Your Business, Your Future: How to Predict and Harness Growth. Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin, 2007.

Morlidge, Steve. Future Ready: How to Master Business Forecasting. New Jersey: Wiley, 2010.

Tesla Motors Case Study

With the increased focus on renewable energy driving all, sector the country’s economy. The transport sector has also received numerous recommendations to reduce carbon emissions. It is against the backdrop of these ideal that Tesla Motors Company was created. This case study will examine Tesla motor companies strategies as well as assess their internal and external environment in order to create viable recommendations for a sector, which is highly competitive. This case study report will begin with background information about the company then assess the organisation strategic positions and this will be undertaken with the use of Porter’s five forces and SWOT analysis. The outcomes from this model will aid in the recommendation, which will be vital for the organisations.

Tesla Motors Background

According to Tesla (2014) the organisation was formed in 2003 as a revolutionary car business using the latest technology as its competitive advantage. The car was able to conceptualise and create an independently electric vehicle known as the roadster. The concept of the car designs was Silicon Valley inspired. According to Ehrler et al. (n.d, p. 381) the organisation “designs, manufactures and sells zero emission electric cars and power train parts, such as lithium-ion battery packs”. The organisation has sought for strategic partnerships with companies such as Daimler, Panasonic, Toyota and US department of energy (Ehrler et al., n.d, p. 383).

Tesla Motors PESTEL Analysis

PESTEL analysis is a viable tool used to examine an organisation environment and is crucial in the identification of key areas of improvement as well as potential problems likely to emerge (Yuksel, 2012). The external environment is a factor, un-controlled by the organisation and all the eternities function as influences to the organisation operations as seen in figure 1 below. The models take into consideration the political, economy, the social, technology, legal and environment.

Figure 1 PESTEL Model

(Sourced from: Business and Management: 4th November – 11th November 2013, – PESTLE Analysis, 2015).

Political

According to Tesla (2014), Tesla motors sell their cars in numerous countries across the United States, Europe and Asia and hence, the company is exposed to different political situations occurring in all those countries. According to the Environmental- protection.org.uk (2014), some countries political environment are affected by climate change issues and hence, law enacted to cut carbon emission by a particular percentage and this affects car manufacturers. The US government is offering incentives to car manufactures that endeavour to product cars more efficient and better in utilising green car technology.

Economic

There is an alternative avenue for growth for cars offering cars, which utilise alternative energy. The increase costs of petroleum have made business more difficult and hence, businesses and individuals are in need of an alternative solution to the rising fuel costs. Most developed countries are now recovering from the financial crisis; the purchasing power is now higher, great new for manufacturers who have products that at needed.

Social

Today the word green technology is associated with companies that are considered to be producing products that are good for the environment. Carbon emission from vehicle exhausts are a big contributor to greenhouse gases affecting the earth environments (Wunch et al., 2009).

Technological

The car sector has seen tremendous changes due to technological innovation affecting several aspects of the car efficiency. Vehicles have been going through metamorphosis with car manufactures looking for way of reducing the fuel intake in order to improve efficiency.

Environmental

Eco friendly car is the word spoken to car manufacturer if they rare to remain competitive by customers across the world. With fuel leakages reported in some places, resulting in a loss of marine and bird life, there have been a growing number of environmentalists forcing their government to regulate the sector and allow only fuel-efficient cars on their roads. What happens to the ozone layer is another factor pushing some individual and institutions to consider vehicles, which do less damage to the environment.

Legal

The US has a market presents challenges for Tesla as a car manufactures especially due to the franchise laws in the country (Fisher, 2014). The energy loan program also in the country increases the chances of car manufacturer to produce more green cars in the sector.

All the factors seen above have the effect of directing the way a car manufacturer does business in US. It is vital to determine how external environments affect the organisation in order to work from there, building competence in a way, which is likely to result in a more beneficial manner. Of major significance in the assessment of Tesla’s external environment are the franchise laws, which would stop the company from distributing their cars in some states in the country. However, the much of the external influence faced by the car manufactures geared to more in support of the company and trends show the vehicle sector is set to follow Tesla direction in the future.

Tesla Motors Competences (SWOT Analysis)

In order to determine Tesla’s competences in the vehicle industry, a SWOT analysis is carried out to examine the organisations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Hill, & Westbrook, 1997. It is vital to assess the organisation internal capabilities for a more effective recommendation outcome. A SWOT analysis model is presented in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: SWOT analysis

(Sourced from: Doing a SWOT Analysis to Focus Your Marketing Strategy, 2015)

Strengths

Tesla motors have been able to create executive cars, which are totally fuel free and are energy efficient since they are based on electric power, which are saved on batteries. Tesla cars have been able to go for more than 300 miles without having to recharge their batteries and the closest competitor can only reach 100 miles, which is a significant benefit to the company. In 2013 their car, the “Tesla S” was awarded the price as the trendiest car of the year.

Tesla has been able to reduce its input costs significantly through outsourcing of other parts needed for the manufacture of their vehicles and this has allowed the organisation to reduce its costs. Its collaboration with Panasonic is likely to have an even more powerful battery, which is likely to push their cars even further. In addition, its collaboration with Daimler and Toyota has greater advantages and the company is set to provide vital parts for needed for electronic cars for the two companies.

The organisation has invested a large amount of research and development and this is key to pay off in the future when new technology which is likely to further revolutionise the car sector will be a necessity and this goes in hand with their objectives which is to be in the forefront of the electric vehicle sector.

The organisation has been able to utilise just in time JIT manufacturing systems and only those cars, which are ordered, manufactured and this reduces storage costs and enables them to have a smaller facility. This form of lean management process allows staff to become specialised in a vast number of skills hence, fewer staff are able to accomplish the task of the organisation.

Weaknesses

The major problem that Tesla Motors has is a lack of adequate capital base on which to sustain its operational successfully. Despite having sales for its vehicles, the organisation is not making profits and is due to a low demand and high cost of sales, which are eating up the sales revenues.

The organisation is running on debt financing which is expensive and puts the company at greater risks of being taken over if they are not able to pay up its debts on time. The large research and development costs do not seem to bear profits at this time.

The Tesla car brand is not international recognised as compared to other brands such as the Toyota Prius. The organisation has focused on the higher end of the market, attracting only those with considerable resources to purchase the cars.

Opportunities

The opportunities for Tesla are enormous today especially with fuel prices rising, making life difficult for those who have cars that consume a lot of fuel. The car manufactures need to communicate the benefits of their vehicle to the entire car market since the benefits accruing with owning their cars far outweighs having a regular gasoline car. There is a ready market for small fuel-efficient vehicles also which the company has not tapped (Pollet, Staffell & Shang, 2012). Already the car manufacturer is in a sector, which few have tried to venture fully. Those car manufactures who have tried to venture either have hybrid cars of inefficient electric cars as compared to Tesla motors.

Threats

Other car manufacturers have greater financial resourced or sources, which could easily allow them to venture into the niche market, Tesla is viewed as a smaller inexperienced car manufactures are compared to the long term experienced car manufactures in vehicle sector. If other car manufacturer with greater capability for economies of scale to start making electric vehicles, this could affect Tesla revenue sine the organising is not able to manufacture as cheaply as those who are established worldwide.

Tesla Motors Competences (Porters 5 Forces Analysis)

Porters five forces as seen in figure 3 below is useful in assessing a business sector to find how attractive the sector is and who has influence in the sector.

Figure 3: Porters 5 forces Analysis Model

(Sourced from: Porter, 1981)

The Threat from New Entrants

The sector which Tesla Motors company is in has challenges for those who want to enter that market segment. The capital expenditure needed for this electric vehicle sector is very high and keeps new business away from this sector. The only business which may find it easy to enter this market are those existing car manufacturer that have large resources readily available as well as have the capacity to venture fully into this sector.

The Bargaining Power of Buyers

Tesla is a vital company in the electric vehicle sector and today they have a very solid relationship with their customers. Since the company has invested a lot of money and skill in research development, they have been able to manufacture quality products, which are useful for companies such as Daimler, and Toyota hence Tesla Motors power is very high. Tesla has a manufacturer, produces cars which are unique and scarce hence, with increased demand likely to set in the market, they will have considerable power thought, this is only vital if they are able to generate awareness of their brand.

Threat of Substitution

The threats of substitution are the Tesla Motors market segment can be seen from hybrid cars, diesel cars as well as other electric cars and solar power cars. There are also substitutes arising from people choosing to ride buses, trains as well as use bicycles instead of purchasing an electric vehicle.

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Since Tesla Motors is highly dependent on its suppliers and this is due to adopting lean management system where parts sought when an order is availed. This means that the suppliers have a higher bargaining power. If the suppliers do not bring the raw materials in time, Tesla is likely to suffer as a result.

The Intensity of Rivalry in the Industry

The global car sector is fiercely competitive with car manufactures competing on a global platform with different categories of their products to cater for different clientele. In the electric vehicle, sectors server car manufactures have created cars, which have not been able to meet the standard of Tesla though; companies such as Nissan have created compact affordable electric cars, which are selling in different countries.

Porter’s five forces show a growing threats to the Tesla car company if they do not work quickly and cater for other segment. This threat can only be from already established car manufacturer. The sector is still inaccessible due to the high capital-intensive investment an organisation will have to undertake and the skill needed to ensure an organisation is competitive.

Conclusions

This case study features Tesla Motors a company that was set up to create in 2003 as a revolutionary car business using the latest technology as its competitive advantage. The car was able to conceptualise and create an independently electric vehicle known as the roadster. The company’s revolutionary cars are set on a global stage, as a car with moves without the conventional fuel. The external environment scanning undertaken through PESTEL analysis of the organisation revealed that the organisation had greater opportunities to enhance their business with support from the American government. The international analysis undertaken using the SWOT analysis revealed that organisation has inherent weaknesses, which saw the company perform in a sector, which is very lucrative due to a lack of adequate finances. Threats in the electric vehicle sector were seen to arise from existing car manufacture, with greater competences as well as finances to build electric vehicles even cheaper than Tesla. Porters 5 forces analysis that was undertaken on Tesla Motors revealed that the sector was very hard to enter by new players in the sector. This was due to the high capital intensity the sector demanded as well as the skills necessary for a business to actually undertake the business successfully. The case study also showed that Tesla Motors strategy was more focused on the upper clientele of the car market with quality, better performance as well as expensive vehicles, which used electricity as compared to petrol.

Recommendations

Tesla was advised by its customer to manufacture a car that was of a lower price but the company has still manufacture a car that is half the cost of its pioneer car thought still relatively high for many to purchase.

Since Tesla is in a sector, which has the highest potential in the vehicle sector, the organisation should find ways of building a cheaper option, which can be bought by a number of people worldwide. Since the companies cars are of the best quality, in order to capitalise on this aspect, selling on mass production could be more beneficial to producing on demand. It is better to derive fewer profit margins and sell more cars, which then equates to a greater profit as compared to selling premium, which affects demand. With threats evident as existing car, companies have started embarking into electronic car sector, this is poised to destroy Tesla cars in the market if those car manufactures are able to manufacture and sell at a cheaper price. This is an aspect Tesla should not forget and having beautiful expensive cars does not equate to profits but rather having a car, which has demand.

The company’s strategy on focusing on premium cars and attracting the rich to purchase their cars is failing with little or no demand. The rich have the capacity to purchase any other car despite the consumption and hence, a change to their focus can create changes to the financial reporting. Coming out early and capturing a greater market share will hinder even existing car manufacturer from venturing into Tesla niche market. The organisation should come out with different models from compact small cars to their SUV since this is a car concept which any individual is unlikely to pass out.

Tesla should embark on selling key part to other car manufacturers to ensure they have a steady stream of revenue apart from selling their cars. This ensures that the car manufacture remains relevant even with increased competition, which is set to grow in the coming years. Being in the forefront or provision of vital innovative electrical parts for car manufactures can even bring in a greater percentage of revenues. Samsung Company has been able to remain competitive as a result of producing vital parts for iPhone which is a major rival.

Tesla should continue with its research and development and produce batteries, which are able to take the car further as well as reduce the time it takes to charge the car batteries, which many view as a challenge when using electric vehicles.

Most importantly, Tesla needs to create awareness of its products to the international market not just in American and Europe. There are many government and organisation, which could benefit from having a car that utilises less harmful substances as compared to petrol of diesel. A greater percentage of the revenue should be spend in advertisement and education on harmful carbon emitted in petrol and diesel consuming cars.

References

Business and Management: 4th November – 11th November 2013, – PESTLE Analysis (2015) Business and Management: 4th November – 11th November 2013, – PESTLE Analysis.

Doing a SWOT Analysis to Focus Your Marketing Strategy (2015) Doing a SWOT Analysis to Focus Your Marketing Strategy.

Ehrler, C., Gillis, J., Huesemann, M., Sandoval, M., & Turckes, L., (n.d) Tesla Motors: charging into the future? Case 29 1(1) pp. 381-395

Environmental-protection.org.uk, (2014) Car Pollution | Environmental Protection UK.

Fisher, D. (2014) Tesla’s Elon Musk Learns An Old Lesson Fighting Protectionist Dealer Laws.

Hill, T., & Westbrook, R. (1997) SWOT analysis: it’s time for a product recall. Long range planning, 30(1), 46-52.

Pollet, B. G., Staffell, I., & Shang, J. L. (2012) Current status of hybrid, battery and fuel cell electric vehicles: from electrochemistry to market prospects. Electro-chimica Acta, 84, 235-249.

Porter, M. E. (1981) The contributions of industrial organization to strategic management. Academy of management review, 6(4), 609-620.

Tesla Motors, (2014) About Tesla | Tesla Motors.

Wunch, D., Wennberg, P. O., Toon, G. C., Keppel Aleks, G., & Yavin, Y. G. (2009) Emissions of greenhouse gases from a North American megacity. Geophysical Research Letters, 36(15).

Yuksel, I. (2012) Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, 7(24), p52.

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Business Strategy John Lewis

Business Strategy and Sustainable Development – John Lewis Partnership

John Lewis Partnership is considered one of UK’s major retail businesses that have over twenty seven departmental stores and a hundred and six Waitrose stores. The enterprise is owned and operated as a partnership entity and the first store was set up in 1864 with Waitrose chains coming up in 1904. The first trust settlement was established in 1929 when the business gained a legal entity and profits became available for distribution to all partners; employees. The owner, Spedan Lewis sacrificed his personal business to fulfill his vision of establishing a business owned and run by employees as part of promoting ‘industrial democracy’ in the business.

In 1950, the partnership trust was transferred from a settlement trust to a legal Trust company under the name; John Lewis Partnership Trust Limited. In this arrangement, the Trust company would be under the Trust Chairmanship and his deputy elected by the three governing councils. John Lewis partnership is also regarded as Britain largest worker co-ownership business with more than 63, 000 permanent staffs as partners in the business. In this arrangement, the staffs share business profits and participate in important decisions for the enterprise development. The staffs’ commitment has seen the retail giant garner a unique competitive edge for over seventy five years with unparalleled growth.

One of the major aspects that have propelled the business to greater heights is due to a partnership approach based on understanding that profit is the main aim of business. Another important aspect that has propped the enterprise to its position is a business partnership model anchored on the principle of social economy and the integration of workers as company partners. All these have shaped the structure and principle of the company into a cooperative ownership that shapes the company policy and development.

John Lewis partnership has a legal form based on governing partnership and at no time are business operations directed by shareholders quest for profits but principles of the members’ happiness as enshrined in the partnership constitution. In particular, workers happiness comes from good job performance in enhancing successful business. The partnership constitution has ‘responsibilities and rights’ which enjoins the workers obligation of good job performance with overall betterment of the business for their benefits.

Evaluating John Lewis Partnership principles of conscious capitalism

John Lewis partnership is governed through principles of power, purpose, members read and profits. The principle of purpose dictate that the aim of the partnership is to promote, enhance and facilitate the happiness of its members through their work as employees in the business and as managing members of the business success. The partnership is based on trust and each member shares genuine responsibility of ownership and rewards that are accrued from the business entity such as knowledge, power and profits.

Conscious Leadership

At John Lewis, all employees are co-owners in the business a democratic management structure run the business. Power is held in esteem by John Lewis partnership and there are three governing authorities that share power; the partnership Board, the Partnership Council and the partnership council. The principle of profits in the partnership dictates that, the enterprise make more profits through its trading operations in order to sustain its commercial prominence, finance development activities and distribute part of the profits to members. Furthermore, the principle of profits making aims to enlarge the enterprise returns that enables the business engage in other activities in accordance to its goals.

Under the principle of members, the partnership constitution is to increase more employees who are competent and committed to working and supporting the enterpri9se principles. In the principle of membership, courtesy, mutual respect and equality among the different members is highly encouraged. The aim is to enhance and encourage individual contributions fairly and reward each accordingly.

Evaluate the principles of conscious capitalism

The concept of conscious capitalism refers to establishing enterprises that implement practices which benefit people and the environment (Mackey, 2013:123). The concept of conscious capitalism is tied to conscious business that is gaining popularity in the modern age especially with regard to increased demand for corporate social responsibility by many business enterprises. Conscious capitalism is ‘values-based’ economic values that push for social and environmental concerns for business as they pursue their economic interests (Baron and Cayer, 2011: 344). The principle of conscious business is driven by the belief that when conducting business, it is not just for profit but facilitating social environmental responsibility for the general good.

Principle of Conscious Culture

Besides a democratic management structure, John Lewis has upholds the principle of radical transparency when conducting all business operations. All employees (co-owners) share, inquire, criticize and tell the management all that is important (Laszlo and Zhexembayeva, 2011:156). Each partner has a priority to voice any aspect deemed necessary regardless of age, education or experience.

Another aspect of conscious culture at John Lewis is its conscious consumerism through socially responsible investments (Zender, 2015). Ideally, the principles of conscious capitalism are based on certain criteria that demand businesses do no harm while undertaking their enterprise operations. One principle of conscious capitalism is that the products and services of business enterprises should never be harmful to the environment or people. This requires business to have mechanisms that forestall social and environmental effects while doing business as well as adopting beneficial social and environmental practices (Korschun, Bhattacharya and Swain, 2014).

Another principle of conscious capitalism is the triple down line model of doing business. Under the triple down model of doing business, the aim is to promote positive value in domains such as the planet, profits and people (Mackey, 2013:123). Profits are what distinguish an entity as a business and not social enterprises. As such, the degree to which an organization has adopted ‘conscious capitalism’ may be reflected in how it utilizes part of the profits for social and environmental welfare. In modern firms, there is a tendency to utilize part of the profits accrued in business for social welfare through donations or establishing an organization foundation whose purpose is social welfare; a good example is the Aga-khan Foundation, Bill Gates Foundation among others.

In line with the principles of ‘conscious business’ firms that have an understanding of conscious capitalism should desist from accumulating profits through illegal means or deceitful operation practices such as failing to pay employees, poor working conditions or supporting harmful causes. For instance, the recent revelation that HSBC Swiss Bank has been evading tax cuts is an example of a business operating without conscious culture principles. The bank is alleged to have allowed bank transactions involving stolen oversees funds and this disqualifies the bank as being a ‘conscious business.’

A conscious business seeks to enhance the external and internal lives of its stakeholders (shareholders, clients, neighboring community and importantly its employees). In addition, a conscious business should benefit its other stakeholders such as the suppliers, creditors and humanity at large globally. Business enterprises embrace consciousness by forming welfare workplace programs, fair trade in manufacturing and assisting the general community with outreach programs. A business that is conscious aims to reduce the effects of its business operations on the environment in various ways such as engaging in recycling, using renewable energy and working with environmentally conscious partners.

Furthermore, businesses that are conscious use their resources in benefiting the environment and the society through direct or indirect programs related to the distribution of services and products. It has become increasingly important for businesses to reflect their ‘conscious capitalism’ spirit in the way they treat their employees and other stakeholders. Businesses are increasingly reflecting their consciousness through their company missions and values. In particular, paying employees well, donating services and products to non-profit organization is considered a good conscious business spirit. Operating under the spirit of conscious capitalism model pushes the fortunes of a business up by projecting a positive role of improving humanity in the society.

Conscious capitalism helps business to create value and ethics of economic exchanges, elevate humanity existence and creates prosperity by lifting people from poverty. In addition, when business operates on higher purposes other than the pursuit of profits, businesses creates value for all stakeholders, eliminate tradeoffs and elevate performance. The key pillars to conscious capitalism is having; higher purpose, stakeholder integration in the business, conscious leadership, management and culture (Rooke and Torbert, 1998). Neglecting one pillar would lead to jeopardized principle of conscious business. Examples of companies that have successfully embraced conscious capitalism are Google, POSCO in South Korea, Patagonia among others. These companies have created win-win situations for their customers, suppliers, employees, the general community and the environment.

Although conscious capitalism is related to corporate social responsibility, the two are different, Conscious capitalism purposes on creating value for the community stakeholders through actively engagement in business decisions as opposed to engaging them in periphery business programs (Fialka, 2006: 4).

The principle of conscious stakeholder integration

John Lewis Partnership is an example of conscious capitalism on many fronts. First, the partnership is based on conscious purposeful principles whose objective is promoting social economy (Mackey, 2015:1). By developing a co-ownership with workers is one important tenets of conscious capitalism employed by the partnership. Employees are important stakeholders in any organization and play critical roles in the success of an entity (Burden and Warwick, 2013: 3). It is common knowledge even among the company shareholders that employees are the cogs that support the organization in achieving its objectives and goals.

John Lewis Partnership is keen in building transformative relationships and co-develops solutions with all key stakeholders. John Lewis progressively builds transformative relationships with clients, employees, the local authority and charity organizations in its pursuit of sustainable business. In this way, by integrating the interests of all its stakeholders in the core of business activities, John Lewis is an example of a conscious capitalism.

Although organizations may boast of effective leadership, without competent and committed employees becomes an exercise in futile for mangers. Employees’ posses’ important skills and experience on areas that need improvement in the firm based on their day to day interaction with the various aspects of an organization. As such, having competent, committed and selfless employees is not easy and many modern firms are spending heavily in incentives and welfare programs meant to boost employees’ morale for performance (Mackey, 2015:1). Although these employee betterment programs are related to the principle of conscious capitalism, they are less effective in taping employees’ contribution to the firm. John Lewis might have done a critical assessment on these issues prior the development of a co-ownership with thousands of staffs at the retail enterprise. Enjoining employees in business ownerships serves many advantages. One is that employees contribute selflessly and actively in shaping the firms development policy based on their day to day work. Employees are not only motivated to work hard for the business but consistently strive to innovative new ideas that will benefit ‘their’ business.

In addition, the aspect of ‘owning’ the business and being part of decision making helps to improve employees motivation, cooperativeness and overall a corporate culture of harmony (Hind, Wilson and Lenssen, 2009: 23). John Lewis notes that, by enjoining thousands of his staffs in the business, he promoted ‘industrial democracy in which each employee has a fair equal responsibilities and rights in the affairs of the organization. The key pillar in John Lewis Partnership is promoting the happiness of its members who are employees. Human resources studies have found that, motivated and happy employees means happy customers and subsequently increase in sales returns (Somerville, 2013: 2). As such, by promoting the a conscious capitalism approach that focuses on improving employees happiness, the Partnership is a win-win model; employees will strive to make clients happy in return for good business to their partnership business (Abergene, 2005: 23).

Furthermore, by enjoining the employees in the business, this helped improve their welfare by raising their income thereby improving their social economy. In this way, by focusing on the general welfare of employees, John Lewis serves as an example of working ‘conscious capitalism’ enterprise. John Lewis is a good example of a ‘conscious business’ through its conscious management and leadership (Hind, Wilson and Lenssen, 2009: 23).

The Partnership enterprise is government by a well-structured constitution that establishes three centers of authority. These centers of authority promote democracy in the management and running affairs of the business especially in decision making; all employees are members while assessing the business problems. In this way, John Lewis partnership serves as an example to other businesses on what true conscious capitalism means.

Although modern firms allege to have conscious business, employees do not take part in decisions making and are often used as tools to achieve end goals. An example in case is Barclays bank that boast of a ‘conscious business’ but has been implicated with cases of employees mistreatment, underpay and contributing resources to programs that have hazardous effects on the welfare of humanity at large (Smith, 2013: 2). At John Lewis Partnership, employees have absolute freedom of openness in the management of the business; employees can inquire report and raise criticism based on actions deemed unsuitable for the business (Brown, 2012: 73).

Employees’ share business rewards, power and knowledge at the partnership and this has enhanced the firm have a competitive edge against conventional business those that treat employees as mere operational cogs in a business. All employees have equal opportunity to promote their potential and hold principle management positions in the Partnership Council. The management structure and organizational culture allows for two ways decentralized communications among the members. In this way, no individual feel neglected or out of the management structure (Lin, Hu S-y and Chen M-s, 2005: 534).

Another aspect of ‘conscious capitalism’ exhibited by the partnership is that, it does not condone or take part in social positions, sex, gender and political favoritism.’ This is a rare feat of ‘conscious capitalism’ especially in the modern world where most businesses take positions in social, political and religious matters (Burden and Warwick, 2013:2). According to Mackey (2013: 123), business enterprises project conscious business by contributing to the larger community in which they operate. At John Lewis Partnership the entity contributes to the general community in distinct ways. In particular, the enterprise has established links with Schools, local authorities, charitable institutions and other stakeholders in the community as part of giving back to the community (Shumate and O’Conner, 2010: 580).

John Lewis Partnership has important community outreach activities include the Partner volunteer work, charitable giving and development, customer panels and others. The principles established by John Lewis are strong indictors of a business operating under the principles of conscious capitalism. In particular, the entity main objective is to make more profits not for the purpose of enriching private shareholders but for the general good of partner members and the society at large (Korschun, Bhattacharya and Swain, 2014).

In summary, it is evident that the John Lewis entity was not formed with the sole aim of profit making but to facilitate social economy for members and the society at large. John Lewis Partnership serves as a good example of a conscious capitalism through its interest in the welfare of its employees and other stakeholders such as suppliers, having a conscious management structure, leadership, and democratic work culture and spreading the fortunes of the business to surrounding communities.

Conclusion

Conscious capitalism is an important aspect for modern business. The principle of conscious capitalism enables business organizations to surmount myriads of problems associated with employee management, stakeholders’ relation and projects a good role model in the society. Conscious capitalism facilitates free enterprise capitalisms that uphold social and environmental interests beyond economic interests. Conscious capitalisms is inspired by the need to improve humanity welfare, create business value to all stakeholders and improve organization performance competitiveness against conventional enterprises. Conscious capitalism is pillared by stakeholder integration, having conscious leadership in organizations, conscious management, conscious working cultures and creating value for the general community at large.

John Lewis Partnership is a good example of a successful ‘conscious capitalism’ that enjoined its employees as co-owners. The principles adopted by John Lewis have enhanced the firm uplift the welfare of its employees, suppliers, shareholders and the general community at large. Conscious capitalism is inspired by the need to improve social and environment needs in line with achieving economic gains. In short, conscious capitalism is means through which the ends goals of company profits are increased due to improved social reputation. John Lewis Partnership is a creation of conscious capitalism and this has enhanced the enterprise to remain competitively profitable as the largest retail store in UK.

References

Baron, C. M., & Cayer, M. (2011). “Fostering post-conventional consciousness in leaders: Why and how?” The Journal of Management Development, 30(4), 344.

Brown, B. C. (2012). “Conscious leadership for sustainability: How leaders with late-stage action logics design and engage in sustainability initiatives.” Dissertation Abstracts International, 73(07A), UMI No. 3498378.

Fialka, J. (2006). “Some Companies Move From Opposition to Offering Proposals on Limiting Emissions. “Politics & Economics: Big Businesses Have New Take on Warming”. Wall Street Journal. p. 4.

Hind, P., Wilson, A., & Lenssen, G. (2009). “Developing leaders for sustainable business.” Corporate Governance, 9(1), 7.

John Mackey (2015): “Why Companies Should Embrace Conscious Capitalism” Forbes.

Pete Burden and Rob Warwick (2013). “Exploring Conscious Business Practice: Sensing as we act reacting to what we sense” AMED.

Korschun, D.; Bhattacharya C. B.; Swain, S. D. (2014). “Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Orientation and the Job Performance of Frontline Employees.” Journal of Marketing 78 (3): 20

Rooke, D. & Torbert, W. R. (1998). “Organizational transformation as a function of CEO’s developmental stage.” Organization Development Journal, 16(1), 11-28.

Smith, Nicola (2013). “Corporate social responsibility: Power to the people”.

Shumate, M; O’Conner, A. (2010). “The symbiotic sustainability model: Conceptualizing NGO-corporate alliance communication”. Journal of Communication 60 (3): 577–609.

Somerville, Michael (September 13, 2013). “Nearly half of Britons would buy more from a store that supports charity”

Zender Tom. (2015). “Discover the power of consciousness in your business.” Phoenix Business Blog.

Abergene, Patricia (September 2005). Mega Trends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism. Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

Mackey, J. (2013). Conscious capitalism : liberating the heroic spirit of business. Boston Mass.: Harvard Business Review Press.

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Organizational Culture

Management of Organizational Culture and Structure In Pursuit Of Generics Business Strategy – A Case Study of Apple

Organizational Culture and Strategic management is concerned with the activities of various domain of the organization, which encompasses the creation and management of business strategy, values, and various organizational constitutions. Through proper management of strategy, firms are able to translate its vision and sustain a competitive positioning in the industry. Therefore, strategic management involves the dedication of organizational resources to meet its various challenges associated with its internal and external environment.

With a vision to make great products, Apple Inc. represents one of the most successful organizations in these days. Apple has revolutionized personal computer, computer software and mobile and portable device market through integrating innovation with design and functionality to bring performance and sophisticated user experience and has manifested itself as the most notable iconic designer in the consumer electronic market. Apple has achieved numerous awards for its innovation and design and was Fortune Magazine’s most admirable company several times. Due to this outstanding achievement in innovation and creativity, Apple has become one of the most valuable company with a market value equivalent to US$623 billion by the year 2012 (Heracleous, 2013).

The aim of the current study is to determine what business strategy the organization has adopted in order to achieve this rank and to assess the implications of its business strategy with its corporate culture and structure. The research will also investigate the effects of organizational structure on its communication and decision making processes.

Review of Relevant Literature

Generic Business Strategy

Firms’ profitability depends upon industry structure and the firms’ competitive positioning within the industry. Professor Michel Porter (1985) devised two theories to explain firms’ profitability–i) five forces theory to determine the industry structure or attractiveness and ii) a generic competitive strategy to determine firms’ positioning within the industry. Porter (1985) distinguished three successful generic strategies to outperform competitors in an industry: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.

Overall cost leadership: According to Porter (1985), if a firm can achieve a sustainable cost leadership, it will perform above average in the industry, assuming that the firm has the ability to command an industry average price. In order to achieve an overall cost leadership, firms need to adopt a number of low cost production strategies, such as cheap suppliers, special R&D efforts, appropriate inventory management, enhanced distribution channels, reduced advertising and promotional costs, etc. (Porter, 1985).

Differentiation: Through differentiation, firms create products and services with special values to the customers and position themselves uniquely in the industry. Through successful differentiation, technology firms can gain customers’ loyalty and can command a premium price for the products (Porter, 1985).

Differentiation strategy is peculiar to the industry type and structure, and based on this peculiarity, firms can undertake a product differentiation strategy (such as new features, enhanced values, etc.), a marketing differentiation strategy (such as launching special campaign to target particular class of buyers from a mass market), etc. or a combination of both. Through differentiation strategy, firms can mostly target price insensitive buyers. However, differentiated products are vulnerable to low cost competitors offering similar products. So in order to make differentiation sustainable, strong R&D outcomes, innovation, and creativity are tied with the products so that it becomes difficult to emulate by the competitors (Porter, 1985).

Focus: Focus strategy allows firms to narrow the competitive scope to gain advantages. In this strategy, firms select a segment of the industry that can facilitate them to pursue either a low cost strategy or a differentiation strategy. The selection of one of these strategies solely depends upon the nature of the customers in relation to the product within the segment (Porter, 1985).

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture can be defined as a set of value, assumption, beliefs, artifacts, rituals, and ceremonies that help organizations to accomplish various goals and to coordinate with internal and external environment (Schein, 2010). Deshpande and Farley (1999) recognized four types of corporate culture: consensual, entrepreneurial, bureaucratic, and competitive. This classification of culture is very similar to the widely accepted classification of organizational culture described by Cameron & Quinn (2006): hierarchy culture, clan culture, market culture, and adhocracy culture.

The hierarchy (or bureaucratic) culture: German sociologist Max Weber found seven attributes in bureaucracy culture in government organizations–rules, specialization, meritocracy, hierarchy, separate ownership, impersonality, accountability (Cameron & Quinn, 2006). Cameron & Quinn (2006) determined hierarchy organization as a formalized and structured place to work leading to stable, efﬁcient, highly consistent products and services. Hence, organizations that require efficient, reliable, smooth-flowing and predictable output seem to adopt this culture. Other principle characteristic of hierarchy culture are– clear lines of decision making authority; standardized rules and procedures; and strong control and accountability (Cameron & Quinn, 2006).

The clan culture: The typical values of clan culture are shared goals, cohesion, participation, individuality, and a sense of togetherness. This type of organization is largely managed through employee empowerment, employee commitment, and loyalty. In a clan organization, customers are treated as partners (Cameron & Quinn, 2006).

The market culture: Market culture is the typical to an organization that functions as a market. The foundation of market culture is the strong emphasis on various external constituencies, such as suppliers, customers, contractors, and other market regulators to achieve competitiveness and productivity (Cameron & Quinn, 2006). In a market culture, organizational effectiveness is determined by transaction costs, i.e., exchanges, sales, and contracts, and other market dynamics, instead of internally defined rules and controls. The core values of a market culture oriented organization are competitiveness and productivity which are opposed to the complacent, hierarchy and arrogance observed in a hierarchy organization.

The adhocracy culture: Adhocracy culture represents an organizational culture that is typical to the modern high-tech firms where the organizations have to face the ever challenging and ever changing landscape. The assumption in an adhocracy culture is that the innovation and entrepreneurial initiative is the central to the organizational success or profitability, and the organizational activities are product and service oriented. The organizational configuration is temporary and takes the shape around project and product based structure such as teams, taskforce and committee.

The major characteristics of the adhocracy culture are the absence of organizational chart, lack of centralized power and authority relationship, temporary role of employees, creativity, and innovation. Leadership applied to the adhocracy culture is visionary, innovative and risk oriented, and the power flows from person to person on the need basis.

Formal Organizational Structure

Organizational structure can be determined through both formal and informal contexts. While informal organizational structure relates the social structure of the organization, such as culture, behaviors, interactions and social connections within the organizational context, formal structure can be understood as the abstract form of structure that is comprehended more easily through management structure, hierarchical relationship, leadership type, etc. (Meyer & Rowan, 1977 ).

As organizational structure determines the relationship within various elements of an organization, it has profound impact on the behavior of employees, various organizational units, and the whole organization (DeCanio, Dibble & Amir-Atefi, 2000). Dissanayake & Takahashi (2006) recognized that the development of organizational structure is typically the result of two constructs–i) a “system organization” which is formed through the sharing of perception of their actors and ii) a “structural configuration” based on the first one. Csaszar (2012) noted that organizational structure can be conceptualized as the decision making structure among the people within the organization and argued that this structure substantially affect different initiative taken by the organization.

Chen (2006) noted four different types of leadership style, such as transactional, charismatic, transformational, and servant, and then identified interrelationship between the leadership style and organizational structure. Mintzberg (1989) demonstrated seven forms of organization in the effort to demonstrate organizational structure: entrepreneurial, machine, diversified, professional, innovative, missionary, and political organization.

Research Methodology

The aim of the current research is to assess the business strategy, organizational structure, and culture of Apple Inc. The research evaluated Apple’s business strategy through Porter’s theory of generic business strategy and investigated various cultural elements through the cultural classification (Section 2.2) of Cameron & Quinn (2006). The structural aspects of the organization were analyzed on the light of generally perceived organizational constructs and conventional leadership concepts. Due to the nature of theoretical implications with the research, a qualitative research approach in the form of case study was adopted, which fulfilled the purpose of the research as well as revealed important insights on the subject.

The method of investigation was both descriptive and explanatory (Baxter & Jack, 2008). An explanatory approach was adopted on contextual investigations, where a descriptive approach was taken to document facts and figures (Yin, 2003). Data used in the research was secondary in nature that comprises of case studies, peer reviewed journals, and blog articles collected through internet research.

Results and Discussion

Apple’s Generic Business Strategy

Porter (1985) demonstrated that an organization will be able to sustain profits and perform above average if it adopts a differentiation strategy that can incorporate substantial values for what users are willing to pay a premium price. Apple successfully integrated differentiation strategy through serial innovation with its various product lines (Heracleous, 2013). The organization can successfully command a premium price which is the principle sources of revenue growth, highest profit margin, and substantial market share.

Apple’s Mac computer was the onset of the masterful combination of innovation and design in hardware and software in computer industry. Mac particularly targeted K-12 education, graphic artists, and high-end users, which is a unique indictor to differentiation (Gamble & Marino, 2011). Mac was unique from other computers, and the added values were realized by customer classes who were willing to pay high. The campaign that the Mac computers are immune (relatively) to viruses also attracted creative workers who need a very stable and consistent work environment (Bhatnagar, Gupta & Chauhan, 2012).

The most notable differentiation strategy of Apple’s iPhone was its 3.5 inch scratch resistance gorilla glass display–a unique attribute that carry substantial value for the product (Mickalowski, Mickelson & Keltgen, 2008). But this is one of the many features that the product offered, including the ease of use, simplicity, faster performance, and overall users’ experience.

Apple implemented differentiation in iPad through, among others, incorporating attractive design, introducing its own line of applications, and a built-in App store. Apple introduced focused differentiation by introducing sleeker and lighter second generation iPad. Apple added more value to the third generation iPad through incorporating processing speed. In both cases, Apple targeted high-end customers who are willing to buy the new products with extra price for its added value. Brand image, customer loyalty, etc. served to quickly reach differentiated products to the customers. Mac also gained a boost in sale after the success of iPad and iPhone, which indicates the effect of image and customer loyalty significantly created opportunity for Apple (Porter, 1985; Gamble & Marino, 2011).

Strategic route in differentiation: In order to successfully differentiate a product, firms may adopt extra means, such as outsourcing and strategic partnership (Porter, 1985; Hill & Jones, 2011). Apple successfully utilized both in its operation, for example, conducting high value added functions in California and outsourcing manufacturing activities to the cheapest locations (Heracleous, 2013).

Strategic partnership of Apple with AT&T helped the organization distribute their iPhone quickly first time to the US market (Yoffie & Kim, 2011). Apple also was able to command cost substantially over other players. When Apple launched its first iPhone, the major rival Nokia was selling their N95 at $749 in the US market (Mickalowski, Mickelson & Keltgen, 2008).

Apple’s differentiation strategy in marketing and sells: Porter (1985) argued that organizations can adopt more than one differentiation strategy to successfully pursue the strategy. Apart from great innovation and product design, Apple incorporated differentiation in its marketing strategy. Apple seems to create all sort of marketing buzz and creative marketing ploy before product launch, which adds substantially to the product success (Anderson et al., 2013).

Apple dedicates substantial resources and multiple subsidiaries in marketing and sells. Each retail points are organized with trained employees. In the retail outlets, customers have the opportunity to test and experiment with the products (Wooten, 2010). Apple indeed trained employees to interact creative ways to teach customers about the product, such as through one-on-one or workshop training, so that the customers can enjoy the best buying experience (Wooten, 2010).

The Nature of Apple’s Corporate Culture

Apple has a highly unique organizational culture that serves its vision and innovation. The principle characteristics of Apple’s organizational culture are–innovation, confidentiality, compliance, and self-responsibility.

An innovative culture: Innovation is the cornerstone of a successful differentiation strategy. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs created an innovative culture that sustains enthusiasm and hard work (Anderson et al., 2013). Jobs and his leadership team put substantial efforts to recruit employees and socialize employees into its innovative culture (Wooten, 2010). The most emphasis Jobs would give was on intelligence and passion. To cultivate true entrepreneurship and innovation, Jobs established “Apple University” that teaches employees the fundamentals of Apple’s corporate DNA and creative culture.

A secretive culture: According to Porter (1985), an organization’s differentiation strategy will be sustainable if the product cannot be easily imitated. In today’s competitive landscape, corporate information is vulnerable to leakage and exploitation. Apple maintains a very secretive culture to protect its intellectual property. Each project or product development initiative takes a team-based structure, where teams work individually, tasks are micromanaged, and one unit is physically separated from other units (Anderson et al., 2013). Apple does not encourage people to discuss projects and share ideas. Instead, ideas are directly incorporated within the products. Team coordinates under the direction of CEO or top executives and on the need basis (Anderson et al., 2013). Despite this secretive nature of the organization, Apple has been able to manage seamless co-ordination of projects through clear direction, self-accountability, and constant feedback.

A culture of responsibility: Another feature of Apple culture is a strong sense of self-responsibility. Jobs would instill responsibility through clear and directive instruction to demonstrate employees’ positions and tasks. The term DRI is an integrated jargon in Apple’s culture which points to the “Directly Responsible Individual”, particularly at the executive level, for various agendas (Barry M. P., 2013).

Employee motivation: The employee perks in Apple are not similar to that of other high-tech companies, and in this regard, employee motivation comes from other sources, which is the product itself. Despite being a big multinational company, employees’ salaries in Apple are not better than the other places (Anderson et al., 2013). Apple believes that a great product development opportunity will retain people who are motivated (Anderson et al., 2013). So, Apple sustains a culture with people having some kind of passion for the organization. Nonetheless, employees are able to choose a customizable benefit package to suit their individual needs under the program called FlexBenefits (Anderson et al., 2013).

Apple’s Formal Organizational Structure

The structure has profound impact on an organizational management. Apple has a very unique and flat organizational structure. Before returning of Jobs in Apple (in 1997), the organization maintained a large number of middle managers. Jobs fired 4000 middle managers and rebuilt a flat structure composed of only the executive team and vice presidents. The executive team would directly pass Jobs decisions onto the employees (Anderson et al., 2013). This would facilitate direct and more personal level interactions. This flat organizational structure and considerable authority to the executive team successfully managed a large organization with approximately 60,000 full time employees along with 364 retail outlets situated in fifteen countries (Anon, n. d.).

Organizational Communication and Decision Making in Apple

Organizational communication and decision making is very unique in Apple. Apple’s flat organizational structure typically serves to reduce the layers of bureaucracy and creates a fast paced and collaborative environment (Sawayda, 2011; Anderson et al., 2013).

Before Jobs’ returning to Apple, the projects were discussed openly. Jobs created a patchy, segmented and team-based structure where team interactions were absent. Despite this secretive nature in its culture, the flat organizational structure increases communication and faster implementation of decisions (Heracleous, 2013). The co-ordination is done on need basis with the direct supervision of CEO and the executive team (Anderson et al., 2013).

Apple conducts a series of weekly meetings, which is the central strength of its organizational communication. The purpose of the meetings is to bring clarity, unity, and simplicity of the message, keep everyone at the same page, and to set the right tone for its upcoming journey (Barry, 2013).

Decision making at Apple is very unique and unusual. During the time of Steve Jobs, most decision would come from Jobs without any analysis, focus group or thorough consultations (Morrison, 2009). This style of decision making imply the fact of authoritative rather than autocratic, which was one of the Jobs leadership skills who had exceptional ability to provide clear and powerful message (Chaffin, n. d.). In many cases, Jobs would directly interact with the employees.

Conclusion

In the core of Apple’s success, there remains innovation, performance, and reliability, where a combination of differentiation in product design, marketing and customer services has been adopted. Apparently, two most important factors driving these successes–Jobs’ leadership skills, and the right set of people. Organizations’ culture and structure have profound impacts on people and their behavior, which is important for the success of any business strategy. The successful composition of various structural and cultural components in organizations is achieved through appropriate directions and a competent leadership. The paper discussed how leadership of Jobs applied to simplify the organizational structure and processes, such as to enhance communication and decision making.

From the study of this paper, it can be concluded that the organizational culture of Apple is that of adhocracy category where all challenges and tasks circle around the product success. This product oriented culture can be attributed to the reflection of Jobs’ leadership vision to make great products that customers will fall in love with, which is a significant proposition for its differentiation strategy. Jobs successfully diffused his passion and motivation in Apple’s culture and instilled accountability, self-responsibility, innovation, and creativity. To sustain innovation and entrepreneurship, which is the central to an adhocracy culture, Jobs surrounded his workplace with creative people through recruiting right talent and rewarding the creativity.

Adhocracy organizations lack of centralized power and authority relationship, which may apparently seem contradictory in Apple’s case. However, it is notable that Jobs reduced the bureaucracy of the organization to support a more flattened organization where authority can do more interactions on the need basis. Jobs’ visionary, innovative and risk-oriented leadership style is the perfect match to that of an adhocracy organization culture. Apple’s project or product based business units and team oriented structure also reflect the nature of the adhocracy culture.

References

ANDERSON, R., FLORENCE, B., SHEPHERD, S., TILK, C., & TURNER, J. (2013) Apple Inc.: The Rise and Fall…and Rise Again. Salt Lake Community College. BUS-1050-025

ANON. (N. D.) Analysis of Apple Inc. business Strategic Unit Organizational Culture (iPad unit).

BAXTER, P. & JACK, S. (2008) Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The qualitative report, vol.13, no.4, pp.544-559.

BHATNAGAR, N. G., GUPTA, V., & CHAUHAN, A. (2012) A Comparative Study of Differentiation Between Macintosh and Windows Operating System. International Journal of Research in Engineering, IT and Social Sciences; vol.2, no.6, pp.77-85, ISSN: 2250-0588.

BARRY, M. P., (2013) Lessons from Apple under Steve Jobs.

CAMERON, K. S., & QUINN, R. E. (2006) Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework (Revised ed.) John Wiley & Sons.

CSASZAR, F. A. (2012) Organizational structure as a determinant of performance: Evidence from mutual funds. Strategic Management Journal, vol.33, no.6, pp.611-632.

CHEN, S. S. (2006) Leadership Styles, Organizational Culture and Organization Structural Configurations. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning. pp.39-46.

CHAFFIN, M. (N. D.) Strategic Plan for Apple Inc.

DESHPANDE, R. & FARLEY, J. (1999) Executive insights: corporate culture and market orientation: comparing Indian and Japanese ﬁrms. Journal of International Marketing, vol.7, no.4, pp.111-127.

DECANIO, S. J., DIBBLE, C., & AMIR-ATEFI, K. (2000) The importance of organizational structure for the adoption of innovations. Management Science, vol.46, no.10, pp.1285-1299.

DISSANAYAKE, K., & TAKAHASHI, M. (2006) The construction of organizational structure: Connections with autopoietic systems theory. Contemporary Organizational Culture Management Research, vol.2, no.2, pp.105.

GAMBLE, J. E. & MARINO, L. (2011) Apple Inc. In 2011: Can It Prosper Without Steve Jobs?

HERACLEOUS, L. (2013) Quantum Strategy at Apple Inc. Organizational Dynamics; vol.42, no.2, pp.92-99.

HILL, C., & JONES, G. (2011) Essentials of strategic management. Cengage Learning.

LESHINSKY, A. (2012) Inside Apple: How America’s most admired and secretive company really works. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group.

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MICKALOWSKI, K., MICKELSON, M., & KELTGEN, J. (2008) Apple’s iPhone launch: A case study in effective marketing. The Business Review Cambridge, vol.9, no.2, pp.283-288.

MORRISON, C. (2009) How to innovate like Apple – Organizational Culture.

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Review of Relevant Literature

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Research Methodology

Results and Discussion

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Organizational Communication and Decision Making in Apple

Conclusion

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