Project management of a company Essay

With the current rapid development of various business. Market competition becomes more and more fierce. Hence, a specific business plan is crucial to help a business successfully achieve goals and become competitive. The aim of this report is to prepare a business plan for a business. Some parts will be analysed in detail below which include a description of the business, sales and marketing strategy and risk management plan. A famous interior designer, Mark, owns Master Furniture (MF) which is located countryside in Melbourne. The major function of MF is providing customized furniture. There are three options provided to customers by MF: buying the existing furniture without any changes, changing the design of existing furniture displayed in showrooms, and providing design plans by customers themselves. In the next five years, MF plans to develop its own ERP system and expand his business to open linkage shops around Victoria. The main marketing principle is that the entire efforts of a company should be directed towards customers needs. MF is positioned as a high quality retailer that offers a unique selling proposition. MF sets its business apart from others due to its unique feature of providing customized goods to its customers. Advertising and Promotion also necessary through a variety of channels in order to attract customers. These approaches include the Internet, newspaper, radio, television and tradeshows. Besides sales and marketing strategy, risk management plan is also a significant factor that cannot be neglected. Specific and deliberate risk management plan should be established in order to minimize the negative influences on the business development and better achieve business goal and objective. The risk management plan contains the following parts, identifying and recording the potential risks, classifying the identified risks and assessing impacts of risks and developing the risk mitigation strategy for each risk. Those identified risks are categorized into six groups, including customer risks, supplier risks, staff risks, competitor risks, product risks and financial risks. 2.Description of the product/service Master Furniture (MF) is a business planned to provide furniture design and sale services for both individual and companies who have special or unique furniture requirements. Goals of enterprise are to provide high-quality customized service that is reliable and convenient. Mark, the owner of Master Furniture, also is a famous interior designer and won many relevant international prizes. Mark praised free spirit as his operation concept, which also directly affects his design. Purposes of establishing this entity are expressing and disseminating his artistic concepts, as well as exchanging ideas with professors and hobbyists. Customers are on top and middle class of society, who have special requirements and enthusiasm for furniture designing are targeted customers. The primary market focuses on special groups, such as the blind, the elder and people who are passionately fond of designing personal furniture. The physical shop locates in the city of Melbourne. Therefore, the target market areas are the suburbs around Melbourne. The shop includes three showrooms, which divided into bedroom, living room and kitchen. Mark designs all furniture displayed in the shop. There also have one meeting room and one stock room, which store the art works and goods customers ordered. Initially, the major function of MF is providing customized furniture. There are three options provided to customers by MF: buying the existing furniture without any changes, changing the design of existing furniture displayed in showrooms, and providing design plans by customers themselves. For the first situation that customers buy furniture directly from the shop and without any change, MF provides discount in delivery service if customers do not want to pick up by themselves. For the second situation that customers want to change the size, color or materials of furniture based on the design of Mark, MF charges extra service fee. The extra service fees are based on the change of furniture. For example, MF charge extra 20% of the furniture price for changing color and extra 30% of price for changing size. In this case, MF provides the design drawing directly to customers in the shop or sent to customers by email. After customer confirm the design, especially in size and color then it will be sent to factory. For the last situation that designs are provided by customers, Mark may provide professional suggestions based on design, such as budget, drawbacks, and safety risks. After the negotiation between Mark and customers, the design drawing will send to the factory. MF owns a truck, which is able to provide delivery service to customers. For loyal customers who had transaction records in MF database, can enjoy discount delivery service as well as customers buy furniture directly from shop and do not have any change. On the other hand, customers also can pick up by themselves. All advertisements include leaflets, which displayed the new designed furniture and price, a phone number that potential and current customers can call to query the service. For the customers who want to change the design or designed by themselves, MF calls customers once their goods arrived in the shop. The background factory of MF is outsourced to Rojos furniture factory, which is located in the countryside of Melbourne. Once Mark confirms the design drawings and send to factory by email or fax, factory sends an invoice which includes due time of production, price, and quantity back to MF. In this period, MF will confirm the price with customers and then response factory. Factory will start to work after receiving the confirmation from MF. After factory completes the invoice and sends goods back to MF, MF will inform customers to decide whether they want to pick up by himself or herself or delivery furniture to home. MF has two full-time receptionists and one part-time driver. When customers step into the MF, the front desk receptionists, who understand Mark’s design concept completely and have excellent communication skills, will communicate with them and introduce products in the showroom to clients. If clients want to design furniture by themselves no matter completely self-design or partly design, they could make appointments with Mark to discuss. When customers decide to purchase, they need to pay whole amounts for existing products or deposit for new design products. Then receptionists will create account for clients in the MF customer information database, which can help customers get discounts for delivery service in next purchase. On the other hand, receptionists also need to confirm delivery information with customers, such as delivery address, time and payment method. Once clients confirm the delivery, it is the responsibility of receptionists to inform delivery information to the driver. The major responsibilities of driver are delivering and unloading products as well as receipts to customers. After customers signing for confirmation, the last mission of driver is bringing back confirmation of customers to MF. MF offers after-sale services to customers, such as maintenance, consultancy. In the next five years, MF will develop its own Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system, which includes a website for advertisement Customer Relationship Management System. Moreover, Mark is planning to expand his business, which focusing on open Linkage shops around Victoria. In order to attract more clients, membership will be applied in MF system. Based on the expanding business, more staff is required for different purpose. There are several kinds of positions will available in MF: designers, receptionists, salesman, full time delivery drivers, and back officers. Moreover, as a famous designer, Mark will provide videos in shops to show his award-winning art works, and by this way to disseminate his design concept and let more people know about furniture art. 3.Sales and marketing strategy 3.1 SWOT Based on the goals of MF: build company image, gain competitive market share and refine logistic, productions and operational systems, SWOT analysis applied to in this subsection to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The evaluation of the strategic process has to be done in order to conduct the SWOT analysis. Strength †¢In these recent years there is an increase in demand of furniture products that is modern and unique. These classifications make the house of the MF customers to be different from others. And the minimal design is used to express a maximum effect of the art used in the furniture; the arts used in minimal design mostly will be in the form of visual art and music. †¢The MF has the highly educated workers in the organization. The human resources used in both the outlet shop and the factory are skilled, capable of producing the design requested by the customer. †¢Diversity and ideas is the most important strength of the organization. This innovative idea makes us differ from our competitors. Integrating different ideas into a furniture product, that forms the critical success factors. †¢The furniture market has a big democratic market, where there is always a way to establish our organization and product information through the media. This also forms the strength of our organization. Weakness †¢The major part of the weakness lies in the stock control, which is inefficient. There are many cases where the stocks may be outdated. In some cases there may be insufficient stocks. And at sometimes the stocks would not be available on the time needed, sometime available more than what is needed. †¢Trust, forms the core of the business process. The materials that are supplied by the external organizations at sometimes create a lack of trust in them. As the furniture company is mainly dependent on external organization for the raw materials, lose their trust when the raw material is not good and when it is not supplied the time needed. †¢Master Furniture is known especially for its uniqueness in the product. When there is some situation where the organization has to share the knowledge with the other employees and external organization, the knowledge shared can be misused. These cases the organization has to take the risks. †¢The demand for the traditional structure of the furniture’s is decreasing rapidly. On the other hand new innovation and change in this industry has slow absorption. †¢Till a product is completed the quality of the product cannot be judged. Once the quality of the product fails a new product has to be created and the raw materials used cannot also be reused. As known for producing single furniture a large quantity of raw material has to be invested. Opportunities †¢Big potential is developing in the market sector for designing. As the main part of this business is designing as per requested by the customer, the minimal designs are creating new opportunities for these kind of design patterns in the market. †¢The labor cost can be reduced by outsourcing it to the other countries such as China. †¢There is a large scope in the research and development as the customers are looking forward for the uniqueness in the product they buy. So, research and development capability is high. †¢Hybrid solutions can be achieved by blending and balancing. This can be done using the effective production methods. †¢There is only a very little competition in the designing of the modern furniture’s. Threats †¢The major threat to be considered is that the cost of the raw materials, which is always showing upward trend in the rise of the prices. This causes the regular price fluctuation of the products produced. †¢The new ideas or methods that are used in the manufacturing of the product sometimes lead to uncertainties. The innovation in the product cannot be always successful. †¢The MF Company also has to hope with the fast changes and new inventions in the industry. When a new production method is introduced then there will be a change in the stock control. This will lead to a large fluctuation in stock control. 3.2 Marketing Strategy Customers are considered as core in any business. The companies manufacture goods according to the needs of its customers. They would like to increase their market share by beating their competitors through sales. One should have a proper business plan to achieve this. The company should know the likes and dislikes of its customers. Based on these factors it can build a business strategy that allows you to satisfy your customers. The two main marketing principles are: †¢The entire efforts of a company should be directed towards customers needs. †¢Profitable sales volume is more important than maximum sales volume. Positioning: Master furniture is positioned as high quality, moderate price retailer that offers unique customizes goods. As Master furniture provides special services to their customers their goods are positioned at high quality which lean towards higher prices. Their market positioning goals are accomplished through the following: †¢Appointing outstanding sales persons in Master furniture retail store who understand the customer needs. †¢Explaining their manufacturing capabilities and uniqueness through demonstrations. †¢To highlight their ability to customize and quality they should provide invitational sales. Unique Selling Proposition: A unique selling proposition is what your business stands for. It sets your business apart from others. Instead of attempting to be known for everything, businesses with a unique selling proposition stand for something specific, and it becomes what you’re known for. Master furniture sets its business apart from others due to its unique feature of providing customized goods to its customers. Price vs. Quality & Design: Master furniture maintains high quality & provides appealing customized design according to the customer needs at affordable prices. Advertising and Promotion: Master furniture will use different sources to communicate with their targeted market. Newspaper, local cable, billboards, pamphlets are different sources to attract customers. They use the electronic media to attract customers and explain their concept of customization. Their customers being the middle and high class in the society Master furniture uses radio and television to advertise. Posturing and vehicle writing methods can also be implemented to advertise. Master furniture uses media to advertise. These include: †¢Internet †¢Newspaper †¢Radio †¢Television †¢Tradeshows Internet: Advertising through the Internet is the best way to advertise these days. Social networking websites like Facebook are used for advertising. This would be the most effective advertising plot for Master furniture. Newspaper: Most people in Australia read newspaper. So for that reason Master furniture can use the most popular newspaper to advertise. Radio: Radio is also considered as a popular media item. Many people use it for audio entertainment. So Master furniture can also use radio as to advertise. Television: Television is the most popular media item. Every person in the country uses television for entertainment. Therefore Master furniture can use television to advertise. Tradeshows: The trades how is an excellent mechanism to stay connected with the market and network potential customers. Aside from sales promotion the trade shows offer you the ability to see your competition. Master furniture will attend the trade shows held every year and try to attain potential customers. 4.Risk management plan 4.1Purpose and Objectives Risk management plan is to identify and record the potential risks which may threaten the company and also assess identified risks and establishing risk mitigation strategies to mitigate negative impacts on achieving goals and objectives of the business. The purpose of the risk management plan is to describe all aspects of risk management, including: 1)Identifying and recording the potential risks; 2)Classifying the identified risks and assessing impacts of risks; 3)Developing the risk mitigation strategy for each risk; 4)Allocating responsibility; 4.2 Target Audience The target audience of the risk management plan includes: all employees of MF company and its customers and the supplier. 4.3 Risk strategy In order to minimize the negative influences on the business development, the risk management procedure is developed by considering both internal and external factors. The necessary steps are risk Identification, risk assessment and risk Mitigation. All identified risks are categorized into six groups, including Customer Risks, Supplier Risks, Staff Risks, Competitor Risks, Product Risks and Financial Risks. Identified risks are measured in terms of likelihood of occurrence and impacts. By combing the likelihood and impacts, the risk rating is identified to provide the priority of the risks, which would present a better perspective for risk management. The detail information is shown in Table 1below. Table 1 †¢L=Likelihood: 1=Unlikely; 2=Possible; 3= Very Likely †¢C=Impact: 1=Minor; 2=Moderate; 3= Major †¢R=Risk Rating: L=Low; M=Medium; E=Extreme #Risk NameRisk DescriptionConsequence RRisk MitigationResponsibility ACustomer Risks A.1The company highly relies on a small number of major customers Once the larger customers turn to other companies’ product, then the company’s profit will be affected in the short time.The company’s profit and cash flow will be affected in a period of time until finding the new customers to yield revenue.22M†¢Improving the customer satisfaction and keeping long-term relationship with valuable customer groups by regularly contacting them and continually providing the superior products and services. †¢Locking the existing customers and make them become larger customers. †¢Expanding the target customer groups and seeking new and profitable customers.†¢General Manager †¢Department Managers †¢Salesmen BSupplier Risks B.1Highly depends on one supplierOnce the existing supplier is not able to provide the products and services or produce the products to the company, then the company’s normal operations will be affected.The company’s normal operations will be affected because of the shortage of supply.33E†¢Seeking alternative suppliers who are able to provide the similar products and services to the company. †¢Locking the existing supplier by the long-term contracts and maintaining the relationship with the supplier regularly.†¢General Manager †¢Department Managers B.2Product delivery delay riskThe suppliers cannot produce the product and deliver products on time.The company will not deliver products for its customers on time and loss reputation and credibility.11L†¢Seeking alternative suppliers who are able to provide the similar products and services to the company. †¢Monitoring supply contract regularly and urging products delivery.†¢Department Managers †¢Salesman †¢Customer Service Manager CStaff Risks C.1The staff turnover riskSome employees are critical to the business success, such as they deal with the key supplier and larger customers. The company will be affected by staff turnover.Resulting in disruption of the business operation and hard to find the appropriate new staff. The company has to spend both time and money to train the new staff.22M†¢Implementing a strict personnel selection mechanism to find the right employees for the company. †¢Allocating more employees to key position and training employees for backup. †¢HR Manager †¢Department Managers C.2Employee face occupational health and safety(OH&S) risksBecause of the nature of the work, the employees, such as vehicle drivers and porters, would injure in the particular event.The company will be under the risk of fines or paying for injury or death of an employee.11L†¢Establishing appropriate OH&S policies. †¢Regularly maintain vehicles and advocating safe driving.†¢Employees DCompetitor Risks D.1Competitor riskCompetitors will pose a current or potential threat to the business, such as competitors may open the new business nearby or launch similar products with lower price in the market.The sales and revenue of the company will be affected.12L†¢Improving the relationships with large clients. †¢Investing money in developing new products and services. †¢Protecting intellectual property assets confidential and proprietary information, such as designs and copyright. †¢Continually monitoring competitors.†¢General Manager †¢Designer EProduct Risks E.1Large-scale product recall riskDue to product defect, the company has to recall all sold products.The company will huge losses in expense of reworking and the sales and reputation of the company will be affected in long term.13M†¢Monitoring the quality of the products and avoid the situation which would damage the company’s reputation. †¢Training employees.†¢General Manager †¢Salesman †¢Customer Service Manager E.2Copyright riskThe company’s copyright is violated.The sales and revenue of the company will be affected.13M†¢Establishing a copyright policy. †¢Protecting intellectual property assets confidential and proprietary information. †¢Signing a confidential agreement when contracting work out to third parties. †¢Getting copyright consultancy services.†¢General Manager †¢Designers †¢Department Managers FFinancial Risks F.1Liquidity riskThe company doesn’t have enough money to pay its debts.The company’s operation will be affected.22M†¢Managing and monitoring cash flow. †¢Carefully making financial decisions.†¢General Manager †¢Finance employees F.2Credit riskDue to the products and services sold on credit, the customers may be unable to pay the money back.Resulting in financial loss.12L†¢Checking customers’ credit status and signing terms an conditions of trade with customers.†¢Finance employees †¢Salesman 5.Conclusion From what mentioned above wo can get the conclusion that a business plan which includes several parts, a statement of the business, marketing strategy and risk management plan. Establishing a detailed business plan plays a significant role in operating the business and achieving their goals successfully. When setting a plan, the organization should particularly pay attention to risk management plan which can help the business reduce loss the risks result and operate in a smooth way.

Importance of Leadership

Chapter 1 The Importance of Leadership D. Quinn Mills Leadership How to Lead, How to Live  © 2005 D. Quinn Mills. All Rights Reserved. Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live Few things are more important to human activity than leadership. Effective leadership helps our nation through times of peril. It makes a business organization successful. It enables a not-for-profit organization to fulfill its mission. The effective leadership of parents enables children to grow strong and healthy and become productive adults. The absence of leadership is equally dramatic in its effects. Without leadership, organizations move too slowly, stagnate, and lose their way. Much of the literature about organizations stresses decision-making and implies that if decision-making is timely, complete, and correct, then things will go well. Yet a decision by itself changes nothing. After a decision is made, an organization faces the problem of implementation—how to get things done in a timely and effective way. Problems of implementation are really issues about how leaders influence behavior, change the course of events, and overcome resistance. Leadership is crucial in implementing decisions successfully. Each of us recognizes the importance of leadership when we vote for our political leaders. We realize that it matters who is in office, so we participate in a contest, an election, to choose the best candidate. Investors recognize the importance of business leadership when they say that a good leader can make a success of a weak business plan, but that a poor leader can ruin even the best plan. 10 The Importance of Leadership Who Will Gain from Leadership? Do you want to be a leader? Or, if you’re already a leader, do you want to improve your leadership? Do you want to affect what other people do—to help them accomplish important goals? Do you want to point the way in your organization? Do you want to climb the promotion ladder to positions of higher authority and greater pay? Leadership will make these things possible. You should read this book if: †¢ †¢ You are interested in leadership and how it affects you. You plan to lead an organization or are already in a leadership position. You are interested in developing yourself to meet the challenges you will confront in a leadership role. You wish to make a difference in the world through leadership. †¢ †¢ The Meaning of Leadership What is leadership? It is a process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others. Leaders set a direction for the rest of us; they help us see what lies ahead; they help us visualize what we might achieve; they encourage us and inspire us. Without leadership a group of human beings quickly degenerates into argument and conflict, because we see things in different ways and lean toward different solutions. Leadership helps to point us in the same direction and harness our efforts jointly. Leadership is the 11 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live bility to get other people to do something significant that they might not otherwise do. It’s energizing people toward a goal. Without followers, however, a leader isn’t a leader, although followers may only come after a long wait. For example, during the 1930s Winston Churchill urged his fellow Englishmen to face the coming threat from Hitler’s Germany. But most Englishmen preferred to believe that Hitler could be appeased—so that a war could be avoided. They were engaged in wishful thinking about the future and denial that the future would be dangerous. They resented Churchill for nsisting that they must face the danger. They rejected his leadership. He had very few followers. But finally reality intruded—Germany went too far and war began. At this point Churchill was acclaimed for his foresight, and became prime minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. During this period almost all Englishmen accepted his leadership willingly. True leadership is sometimes hard to distinguish from false leadership, which is merely a form of pretending. Winston Churchill was a real and great leader. But there are also people who wish to appear to be leaders, but aren’t actually. They say that they are leading others; they posture as if they are setting direction and inspiring others. Yet often they are merely pretending. There’s an old saying that the way to become a leader is to find a parade and run to the front of it. We refer to a person â€Å"leading† a parade, but walking at the front isn’t really leadership unless the person in front is actually choosing the direction! If the person isn’t choosing the direction, then being at the front of the line is merely a way to pretend to be a leader. 12 The Importance of Leadership Leadership can be used for good or ill. Hitler seemed to be a leader of the German people, but he set an evil direction. He had great leadership skills, but put them to terrible uses. Sometimes people in business use leadership skills to exploit others. Sometimes people in charitable organizations use leadership skills to benefit themselves rather than the people they are supposed to help. Leadership skills can be perverted to pursue bad ends. The Importance of Ethics The danger that leadership will be perverted is why ethics are so important to good leadership. Ethics are the inner compass that directs a person toward what is right and fair. Only if a person has an inner ethical compass can he or she be sure that leadership qualities will not turn to evil ends. Learning to lead with good objectives is the only purpose of this book. So let us say that those who do harm are not leaders at all; we recognize that they may be influential and persuasive, but we will not think of them as leaders. With confidence that you, good readers of this book, will put leadership to noble ends, we go forward. The Work of the Leader Taking a leadership position means several things: A leader must have a vision of the future for the organization and its members. 3 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-1 TAKING A LEADERSHIP POSITION Taking a leadership position means: †¢ †¢ Having a vision about what can be accomplished. Making a commitment to the mission and to the people you lead. Taking responsibility for the accomplishment of the mission and the welfare of those you lead. Assuming risk of loss and failure. Acc epting recognition for success. †¢ †¢ †¢ A leader must be able to express his or her vision clearly and in a compelling manner so that others are engaged by it. (See Executive Summary 1-1. A leader has to make a commitment to his or her vision, to the organization, and to the members of the organization. A leader can’t be committed one day and uninterested the next. People will judge a leader by his or her commitment, and will commit themselves no more than the leader does. A leader assumes a considerable amount of responsibility— not just for the mission that he or she urges others to accept, nor just for the organization he or she heads, but for his or her followers, their lives and efforts, as well. 14 The Importance of Leadership A leader assumes risk. If there is no risk, little leadership is required. If the effort is easy and certain to succeed, anyone can, and probably will, â€Å"lead† it. But where the effort entails a risk of failure, then many people will quail before the challenge and leadership is necessary to get people to make the commitment and the effort to succeed. In most organizations, one associates high levels of leadership with high levels of authority. The chief executive of a company usually plays more of a leadership role than people at lower levels of the hierarchy in the firm. It is the same in notfor-profits and government agencies. The higher on the job ladder a person is, the more she is expected to exhibit leadership. In the military, however, the opposite holds true, and for a very good reason. In the military the greatest leadership challenge is to get other people to risk their lives in combat. Generally, the higher one goes in the chain of command, the less exposure he has to the battlefield, and the less exposure to men and women who are in combat. The officers who have responsibility for commanding soldiers in combat have the greatest leadership challenge, for they must get others to risk their lives. Michael Jordan’s brother is an army sergeant major leading a deployment in Iraq in which he is responsible for more than 2,000 soldiers. Offered an opportunity to leave his assignment in combat, he chose to stay with his unit in harm’s way. In so doing, he accepted one of the military’s most significant leadership challenges. 15 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live The first responsibility in a position of leadership is to have a vision. (See Executive Summary 1-2. ) The visionary leader must create his or her concept of what the organization can accomplish. A business leader may be leading a few people in a department or an entire company; a military leader a small squad or an entire army. The vision may be smaller when the group of people is small; and much broader when the group of people is large, but it must be forward-looking and exciting in either case. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-2 VISIONARY LEADERSHIP Visionary leadership requires: †¢ †¢ Creating a vision, a mission, and a strategy. Communicating the vision/mission/strategy and getting buy-in. Motivating action. Helping an organization grow, evolve, and adapt to changing circumstances. †¢ †¢ The leader must also provide a mission—what needs to be done—and a strategy, a path, for how to accomplish the mission and achieve the vision, a way for the group to get there. But having an exciting vision, an exciting mission, and a careful strategy is not sufficient. A leader must clearly communicate them. Only if people grasp the vision can they commit to it, and buy-in is crucial to motivating action. Finally, a vision cannot be rigid and unchanging; it must adapt 16 The Importance of Leadership to changing circumstances, growing and evolving. Otherwise it becomes outdated and obsolete, and loses its power to excite and motivate people. Leaders versus Administrators and Managers Leadership is not the same thing as being in a position of authority. It is possible to be a boss in a company without being a leader. A boss can be more of an administrator than a leader. Conversely, an administrator can be effective in his job without being a leader. The administrator is a bureaucrat— whether in government or in business—a person who keeps careful records and sees that things are done according to the rules. On the other hand, a leader can be effective without being an administrator—leaving rules, regulations, and their enforcement to others. Administration is not as exciting a topic as leadership, but it is almost as important. The success of organizations depends to a great degree on how well they are administered. A manager is often thought to be primarily an administrator. But a manager is not an administrator; management requires a special set of skills of its own. And being a manager is different from being a leader, as we shall see below. So there are three roles: administrator, manager, and leader. A manager has the broadest role, and a good manager has much of an administrator and a leader in him or her. A manager needs to set direction and inspire others to get work done (leadership functions) and he or she needs to keep records and see that rules are followed (administrative functions). 17 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live The manager is a necessary combination of leader and administrator. (See D. Quinn Mills, Principles of Management, Waltham, MA: MindEdge Press, 2005. ) But leadership is the most important of the three roles. Administrators What does an administrator do? (See Executive Summary 13. ) An administrator applies rules and regulations generally developed by top executives of an organization. In the government, the key rules and regulations are often issued by legislative authorities like the U. S. Congress). He or she keeps records and fills out forms necessary to take administrative steps (like getting employees paid or reimbursing an employee for travel expenses). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-3 ELEMENTS OF ADMINISTRATION The elements of administration are: †¢ †¢ Making rules and regulations Making decisions that apply and interpret rules and regulations Keeping records Filling out forms †¢ †¢ 18 The Importance of Leadership Managers What does a manager do? See Executive Summary 1-4. ) He or she makes plans and creates budgets that set forth in great detail how something will be accomplished and how much money and other resources (e. g. , people, office space) are necessary to accomplish those plans and budgets. He decides who is going to be assigned to the necessary tasks and how they will fit into the organization. She supervises the actions people take, ensuring that they are doing the right things, that no money is being misappropriated or wasted (we call this â€Å"controlling†), and when problems arise she helps to resolve them. Finally, by combining these tasks into a coherent whole, the manager makes the organization operate efficiently. Running an organization effectively requires administration, management, and leadership. Leadership is ordinarily in shorter supply than administrative or managerial competence. Leadership is more important and more demanding for most people. Fewer people are able or willing to be leaders, so it tends to be a higher calling than administration or management. There is a large literature discussing the differences between leaders and managers. There is also an important distinction to make between leaders and administrators. In general, a leader takes a broader view and points an organization toward necessary, even critical, change. The core of the criticism in the literature is that organizations of all sorts (corporations, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations) tend to be over-managed (and/or over-administrated) and under-led. Because of over-management and overadministration, organizations are slow to make necessary changes and achieve less than what they could. This is a substantial criticism that points to the importance of leadership. 19 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-4 ELEMENTS OF MANAGEMENT The elements of management are: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Planning and budgeting Setting direction Organizing and staffing Aligning the efforts of many people Controlling Decision-making and problem solving Motivating and inspiring people The Nature of Leadership True leadership is special, subtle, and complex. Too often we confuse things like personal style and a position of authority with leadership. †¢ Leadership is not primarily a particular personality trait. A trait closely linked to leadership is charisma, but many people who have charisma (for example, movie actors and sports figures) are not leaders. Leadership is not primarily a set of important objectives. It involves getting things done. †¢ 20 The Importance of Leadership †¢ Leadership is not primarily a formal position. There have been great leaders who did not hold high positions—for example, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jeanne d’Arc—and there are people who hold high positions who are not leaders at all, but administrators who don’t want to rock the boat. Leadership is not primarily a set of behaviors. Many leadership manuals suggest that what defines leadership is things such as delegating and providing inspiration and vision; but people who are not leaders can do these things, and some effective leaders don’t do them all. †¢ Many discussions of leadership confuse any and all of the above— personality, important objectives, formal position, specific behaviors—with leadership. (See John P. Kotter, What Leaders Really Do, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999. ) But leadership is more than any of the above characteristics. It’s a process by which one influences the thoughts and behaviors of others in a substantial way. It may involve charisma, important objectives, a formal position, and a particular set of behaviors, but it is not limited to any of them. Effective leaders are often very complex people. Writing about Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England during the English civil wars of the seventeenth century, a foremost historian marveled at the complexity of his personality. â€Å"There was no single Cromwell, â€Å" he wrote, â€Å"—that is, a clear-cut individual†¦Instead, there was a multiplicity of Cromwells, each linked to the other by his enormous vitality†¦Firstly, there was the very human, simple and compassionate man, a visionary and a romantic. Secondly, there was a violent, boisterous and irascible bully. Thirdly, there was the resolute and iron-willed general†¦Fourthly, the calculating politician, the man of expedients who had no guiding principles. 21 Leadership: How to Lead, How to Live And lastly, there was†¦the Cromwell†¦who, as the interpreter of God’s will, was capable of committing any atrocity. † (J. F. C. Fuller, A Military History of the Western World, Volume 2, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1955, p. 110. Because leaders can be so complex, we must be careful in our generalizations about leaders and their personalities. But not all leaders are such complex personalities, which is good for most of us who aspire to leadership. Examples of Leadership Leadership in Business In the 1980s Harley-Davidson was almost knocked out of business by competition from other firms. To survive, it needed to change dramatically. Rich Teerlink, the company’s leader, was able to save the firm financial ly, but with the pressure off, the challenge of continuing to improve seemed even more daunting. Could Teerlink get his managers and employees to make the significant, and to many of them inconvenient, changes necessary? He did it by building a different company, one driven from the bottom up by employees rather than from the top down by managers. It’s a story of successes and failures, advances and setbacks, dead ends and breakthroughs, ending in a much stronger company than before. (Read the inspiring story in Rich Teerlink and Lee Ozley, More Than a Motorcycle: The Leadership Journey at Harley-Davidson, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. 22 The Importance of Leadership Leadership in Government When Charles O. Rossotti became commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1997, the agency had the largest customer base—and the lowest approval rating—of any institution in America. Mired in scandal, caught in a political maelstrom, and beset by profound management and technology problems, the IRS was widely dismissed as a hopelessly flawed an d dysfunctional organization. Rossotti— the first businessperson to head the IRS—transformed the much-maligned agency. In the glare of intense public scrutiny, he effected dramatic changes in the way the IRS did business—while the agency continued to collect $2 trillion in revenue. Through heated congressional hearings, encounters with Washington bigwigs, frank exchanges with taxpayers and employees, and risky turnaround strategies, Rossotti demonstrated leadership against daunting odds. (Read this enlightening story in Charles O. Rossotti, Many Unhappy Returns: One Man's Quest to Turn Around the Most Unpopular Organization in America, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005. ) 23

Development and Social Change Essay

DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL CHANGE STRATEGIES IN KENYA IN THE 21ST CENTURY DEFINATIONS Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited. Strategy is also about attaining and maintaining a position of advantage over adversaries through the successive exploitation of known or emergent possibilities rather than committing to any specific fixed plan designed at the outset. Henry Mintzberg from McGill University defined strategy as â€Å"a pattern in a stream of decisions† to contrast with a view of strategy as planning while Max McKeown (2011) argues that â€Å"strategy is about shaping the future† and is the human attempt to get to â€Å"desirable ends with available means†. Development means a progression from a simpler or lower to a more advanced, mature, or complex form or stage. It is also defined as the gradual advancement or growth through a series of progressive changes. Development is a process, not a leve l. It is a path to achieve certain goals. see more:factors affecting social change INTRODUCTION In the 21st century Kenyans have come up with different strategies to advocate for development and social change. These strategies are mostly based on economic issue, political issue, and social issues those which are affecting the development and growth of our country. These strategies are aiming at transforming Kenya into a newly industrialized middle income country providing a high quality life to all its citizens. For these development to be achieved thre have to be an all inclusive and participartory stakeholders and a consultive process involving Kenyan from all parts of the country. Kenyans are also willing to from suggestions by some of the leading local and international experts on the newly industrialized countries around the world have made the leap from poverty to widely spread prosperity and equity. Every strategy has been developed to address issues lying across them e.g. economic strategy aims to improve the prosperity of all Kenyans through an economic development programme covering all the regions in Kenya. Social  strategy seeks to build a just and cohesive society with social equity in clean and secure environment. Political strategy aims to realize a democratic political system founded on issue based politics that respect the rule of law and protect the rights and freedom of every individual. Kenyans in the 21st century are advocating for a consultive approach in its development involving as many ordinary Kenyans and stakeholders as possible i.e. public service, private sector, civil society, media and non government organization. The importance of consultations is to provide in-depth understanding of countries development problems and necessary strategies to achieve development. Detailed analysis is carried under the consultative approach in order to come up with the s trategies capable of resolving the social and political problems that face Kenyans today. Findings  In every category of the strategy Kenyans have come up with ways to address the problem found in that particular category. The Social Strategy  Kenya’s journey towards prosperity also involves the building of a just and cohesive society, enjoying equitable social development in a clean and secure environment. This quest is the basis of transformation of the problems found in the category of social strategy, I .e. Education and Training; Health; Water and Sanitation; the Environment; Housing and Urbanization; as well as in Gender, Youth, Sports and Culture; and also in terms of promoting equity and poverty reduction across the entire Kenyan society. It also makes special provisions for Kenyans with various disabilities and previously marginalized communities. Education and Training Under education and training Kenya will provide a globally competitive quality education, training and research for development. The overall goal for 21st century is to reduce illiteracy by increasing access to education, improving the transition rate from primary to secondary schools, and raising the quality and relevance of education. The Health Sector To improve the overall livelihoods of Kenyans, the country aims to provide an efficient and high quality health care system with the best standards. This will reduce health inequalities and improve key areas where Kenya is lagging, especially in lowering infant and maternal mortality. Specific  strategies will involve: provision of a robust health infrastructure network; improving the quality of health service delivery to the highest standards and promotion of partnerships with the private sector. Water and Sanitation Kenya is a water scarce country. The country therefore aims to conserve water sources and start new ways of harvesting and using rain and underground water. The 21st century has a vision for Water and Sanitation is to ensure that improved water and sanitation are available and accessible to all. The goal to increase both access to safe water and sanitation in both rural and urban areas beyond present levels The Environment Kenya aims to be a nation living in a clean, secure and sustainable environment. Specific strategies will involve: promoting environmental conservation for better support to the economic pillar, improving pollution and waste management through the design and application of economic incentives; and the commissioning of public-private partnerships for improved efficiency in water and sanitation delivery. Housing and Urbanization The 2030 vision for housing and urbanization is an adequately and decently housed nation in sustainable all inclusive environment. The goal for 2012 is to increase the annual production of housing units from the current 35,000 annually to over 200,000. Kenya’s cities and towns are poorly planned. There is an acute need therefore for an effective capacity for regional and urban development planning. In addition, there will be better development of and access to affordable and adequate housing; enhanced access to adequate finance for developers and buyers, and pursue targeted key reforms to unlock the potential of the housing sector. 6. Gender, Youth and Vulnerable Groups The 2030 vision for gender, youth and vulnerable groups is gender equity, improved livelihoods for vulnerable groups, and a responsible, globally competitive and prosperous youth. The goal for 2012 is to increase opportunities all-round among women, youth and all disadvantaged groups. 7. Equity and Poverty Elimination The 2030 goal for Equity and poverty elimination is to reduce the number of people living in poverty to a tiny proportion of the total population. Kenya will aim at a society that guarantees equality of opportunity in accessing public services and providing income generating activities as widely as possible. That will be achieved by placing the citizens at a level of income sufficient to cater for basic requirements of a healthy, productive life. 8. Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Vision 2030 will be based on the creation of international competitiveness through more efficient productivity at the firm and household level, with government support. However, all the strategies and flagship projects will exploit knowledge in science, technology and innovation (STI) in order to function more efficiently, improve social welfare, and also promote democratic governance. STI can and will be applied in all the lead sectors. The education and training curricula in the country will, therefore, be modified to ensure that the creation, adoption, adaptation and usage of knowledge become part of formal instruction. Economic strategy The Kenyan economy, East Africa’s largest, has experienced considerable growth in the past few years, driven by several key factors. The country enjoys some particular advantages: a reasonably well-educated labour force, a vital port that serves as an entry point for goods destined for countries in the East African and Central Africa interior, abundant wildlife and kilometers of attractive coastline and above all, a government that is committed to implementing business reforms. This strategy seeks to improve the prosperity of all regions of the country and all Kenyans by achieving a 10% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate by 2012(vision 2030). To achieve this target, Kenya is continuing with the tradition of macro-economic stability that has been established since 2002. It is also addressing other key constraints, notably, a low savings to GDP ratio, which can be alleviated by drawing in more remittances from Kenyans abroad, as well as increased foreign investment and overseas development assistance The country is continuing with the governance and institutional reforms  necessary to accelerate economic growth. Others critical problems being addressed include poor infrastructure and high energy costs. The five key sectors described below are being given priority as the key growth drivers for achievement of the economic vision: * Tourism * Increasing value in agriculture * A better and more inclusive wholesale and retail trade sector * Manufacturing for the regional market * Financial services Tourism This sector aims to be one of the top ten long- haul tourist destination in the world. To achieve this it has put ahead some strategies as their guideline that is offering a high end, diverse and distinctive visitor experience, achieving high tourist revenue by improving facilities in all underutilized parks, creating new high value niche product and investing in new conference facilities to boost business tourism Agriculture This aims to promote an innovative, commercially- oriented and modern agricultural sector. This will be accomplished through transforming key institution in agricultural and livestock to promote agricultural growth, increasing productivity of crop and livestock, introducing more irrigable areas in arid and semi- arid areas for both crops and livestock. It also aim sat adding value to our firm and live stock products before they reach local and international market (vision 2030) Whole sale and retail market Aims to raise earnings by giving our large informal sector opportunities to transform itself into a part of a formal sector that is efficient, multi tiered, diversified in product range and innovative. This will be raised through training and credit, improving efficiency by reducing the number of players between the producer and the consumer (vision 2030) Manufacturing It aims to have a robust, diversified and competitive manufacturing sector. This will be achieved through the implementation of the following restricting key local industries that use raw materials but are currently  uncompetitive, exploiting opportunities in value addition to agricultural product. The Political Pillar This aims to realize a democratic political system founded on issue-based politics that respects the rule of law, and protects the rights and freedoms of every individual in Kenyan society. It hopes to transform Kenya into a state in which equality is entrenched, irrespective of one’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender or socio-economic status; a nation that respects and harnesses the diversity of its peoples’ values, traditions and aspirations for the benefit of all its citizens. The political pillar vision for 2030 is â€Å"a democratic political system that is issue-based, people-centered, result-oriented and accountable to the public.† An issue-based system is one in which political differences are about means to meet the widest public interest. â€Å"People-centered† goals refer to the system’s responsiveness to the needs and rights of citizens, whose participation in all public policies and resource allocation processes is both fully appreciated and facilitated. A result-oriented system is stable, predictable and whose performance is based on measurable outcomes. An accountable system is one that is open and transparent and one that permits free flow of information. This vision is expected to guarantee Kenya’s attainment of the specific goals outlined under Vision 2030’s economic and social pillars To meet objectives outlined in the economic and social pillars, Kenya’s national governance system is being transformed and reformed to acquire high-level executive capability consistent with a rapidly industrializing country. The country is adopting a democratic decentralization process with substantial devolution in policy-making, public resource management and revenue sharing through devolve d funds. This has been achieved through a delivery of a new constitutional dispensation which came in effect in August 2010. Transformation within Kenya’s political governance system under Vision 2030 is expected to take place across six strategic initiatives, whose overarching visions, goals and specific strategies for 2012 are as follows: * Rule of law * Electoral and political processes * Democracy and public service delivery * Transparency and accountability * Security, peace building, and conflict management Rule of law Under the rule of law the vision 2030 is adherence to the rule of law is as applicable to a modern market based economy in a human right respecting state. A lighting the national policy and legal framework with the need of a market based economy, national human right and gender equality commitment. Increasing access and quality of service available to the public and reducing barriers of justice. Democracy and public service delivery People centered and political engaged open society, pursuing, constitutional and legal reforms necessary to dissolve to more resources and responsibility to local governance institution. Encouraging formal and informal civil education and action programmes, promoting open engagement between government and civil society as well as the free flow of information. Transparency and accountability Transparent, accountability, ethical and result oriented government institution strengthening the legal framework for ant- corruption, ethics and integrity. Promoting result based management within the public service, introducing civilian oversight around key legal justice and security, strengthening government legislative oversight capacity. Security Security of all persons and property throughout the republic, Promoting public- private cooperation and community involvement for improved safety and security, Deeping policy legal and institutional reforms for improved enforcement of law and order, Promoting national and international dialogue in order to build harmony among ethnic, racial and other groups. Electoral and political process Seeks to cultivate genuinely competitive and issue based politics introducing rules and regulations covering political policies, enhancing the legal and regulatory framework covering electrical process, conducting civil education programmers to widen knowledge and participation among citizens leading to an informed active citizens. Conclusion For development and social change to occur Kenyans in the 21st century Kenyans should evaluate the pre and post development and analyze the strategies they want to put across and see whether they will be of any impact or they will be able to serve them effectively. There should be an integration of all strategies for sustainable development to occur. That is they should put value both in economic, social and political strategies. Commitment is expected for both the government and civil society, international, local and personal positive relationships are also major contributors to sustainable development in the 21st century. Mission, vision, goals and objectives should be successfully laid, well defined and achievable. References Vision 2030 document The national broad strategy Vision 2030 flagship project

Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Coursework Example The two females featured in Bend it like Beckham experience their gender in different ways. Jesminder â€Å"Jess† Bhamra is infatuated with football but her parents who are Indians have forbidden her to play because she is a girl. However, Juliette â€Å"Jules† Paxton parents are okay with it yet she is still a girl. Jess family expect her to have a job that is suitable for ladies her age that’s why she pretends to have a job so that she can play with the Hounslow Harrier a local women’s team. Jules is allowed to follow her passion for female football. Both Jess and Jule’s parents become concerned when these two best friends fight and they fear that their daughters are lesbians thinking that the girls’ disagreement is a lover’s quarrel. All in all, both families expect Jess and Jules to dance at a Sikh wedding in which Jess’ elder sister is getting married. In the fifty years since television became commonplace for western civilization, this one piece of technology has had incredible impact on society and basically revolutionized the way people see themselves and the world around them. The debate as to whether the impact is positive or negative has been taking place since the inception of the TV in the late 1940’s. Television’s potential to connect, educate and inform the public is often overshadowed by the lack of individual responsibility in using this modern-day miracle, therefore causing its impact on society to be viewed as negative. Television provides viewers access to arts, music, religion, new technology and information. Such technology is a venue for inspiration and enrichment and it also allows the viewer to become engaged in issues that have personal and societal implications. Viewers have been able to witness everything from presidential debates to man walking on the moon to wars being fought right in front of them. They have discovered ways to renovate their homes, look

Environmental Ethics - Climate Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Environmental Ethics - Climate Change - Essay Example This lack of action on climate change has the potential to turn this world into an inhabitable place for the future generations. Climate change can be considered as one of the most challenging issues in this era of development, and it has to be the moral responsibility of every individual and government to take action against climate change to make this earth a safer place for future generations. A recent report commissioned by the World Bank has stated that by the end of this century the world will become warmer by 4oC and to avoid this, stringent measures need to be taken immediately. The report has already observed the negative impacts of climate change on human health from events like rising sea level, draughts, heat waves etc (Climate Change Report....., 2013). Climate change Some of the sun’s heat that reaches the earth’s surface gets absorbed and the rest gets radiated back to the atmosphere in the form of infrared heat. However, 90% of the heat gets absorbed by the greenhouse gases like water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc and is radiated back to the earth’s surface thereby rising the temperature of the earth. Human activities are to a large extent responsible for the creation of these gases. The most common factor is burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil which increases the level of carbon dioxide (CO2). Some lesser contributory human factors for production of greenhouse gases are clearing of land for agriculture and industry. Today, human beings heavily rely on industrial activities, and these have â€Å"raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in the last 150 years.† The general belief among climate scientists is that greenhouse gases produced by human activities have a 90 percent contribution towards the rise of earth’s temperature in the past five decades (A Blanket around the earth, n.d.). The impacts of climate change are manifold. Ice ha s been melting at a rapid pace all over the world especially at the poles like mountain glaciers and ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland, and also Arctic sea ice. There has been an increase in rain and snowfall across the world, and sea level has risen considerably in the last century. Continuous global warming can cause increased rate of natural calamities like hurricanes and other storms, floods and draughts (Effects of global warming, 2007). Climate change is also affecting the economy and health of human beings. The increasing heat and heat waves can have extreme effects on health and can also cause deaths. Climate change also increases the probability of diseases that get transmitted by food, water and insects (An Introduction to climate change, 2011). Climate change is also having negative effects on global economy. According to a recent study, nearly 400,000 people are dying annually all over the world that puts a dent in the world economy by $1.2 trillion. This decre ases the world GDP by 1.6%. The effect is more common in developing countries whose main occupation is agriculture. Climate change can destroy crops and other agricultural products and this leads to massive deaths caused by poverty, malnutrition, hunger and other related diseases. Burning of fossil fuels causes air pollution that kills almost 4.5 million people per year. But the extreme impacts of economies will be caused by weather extremities like droughts, floods and hurricanes

Discusion question Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discusion question - Case Study Example Many e-commerce businesses are detached from the customers and they find no new ways to entice more customers. With Zappos however, their free shipping and free returns policy is what makes it not only stand out but likeable as well. Even though they act in good faith, every business needs to be strict and have boundaries between them and their customers or potential customers. The 365 days return policy is not the best of choice considering the items they sell. People can take advantage of the products use them and later return them with fraudulent claims but having served their purposes. The next customer will therefore get a used product and even with the free shipping costs, the quality of the products remains questionable. 3. Which of the management challenges-globalization, leading a diverse workforce and ethics character and personal integrity-have had an important impact on the evolution of Zappos? Explain your answer Globalization has presented the major challenge in the management of the organization Zappos. This is so because with globalization, many e-commerce companies are facing hard competition from the multinational companies which are physically present in most locations where they provide the same products Zappos provides and without any time delay or risk of return. Globalization has also meant that customers come from all over the world and since the company is shouldering the shipping costs, they end up incurring a lot of cost for shoppers who are in different continents. This has restricted its growth as they still are unable to make huge profits and it even took long for it to breakeven. This slow trend is hindering its evolution. 4. How has Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh addressed the management challenges of globalization, leading a diverse workforce, ethics, character and personal integrity and

Case Study Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Case Study Assignment - Essay Example The automobile manufacturing industry is globalised by its very nature. Several industry analysts and marketing scholars have affirmed the aforementioned, arguing that with very few exceptions, car manufacturers look towards the global market, identify segments therein and seek to create a niche for themselves within that expansive, borderless market (Dickson-Simpson, 2007; Schweinsberg et al., 2007; Van Acker and Uludag, 2007). It is a globalised industry due to the universal nature of its product, the fact that not all countries have a domestic automobile manufacturing industry, and that variant and divergent consumer cost, design and quality requirements cannot be satisfied by a limited number of manufactures (Dickson-Simpson, 2007; Schweinsberg et al., 2007; Van Acker and Uludag, 2007). In other words, the very nature of the industry, product, market trends and consumer demands have determined this as a global and globalised industry. Consequently, being a global industry, the su rvival of firms within is dependant upon the accurate identification of the industry's threats and opportunities and the extent to which a company's operations are, themselves, globalised. The imperatives of Daimler Chrysler's evolving into a truly global automobile manufacturer may be established through a detailed industry analysis using Porter's Five Forces. Proceeding first with the factor of rivalry, one finds that within the context of this industry rivalry is extremely high and is intensifying as a direct outcome to the formation of horizontal alliances between budget and high-end manufacturers for the explicit purpose of cutting down on costs. Not only is rivalry intense but it is intensifying due to the emergence, not only of new industry players but of alliances which may be identified as a bid by smaller firms to become market leaders. For example, Fiat is allying itself with Tata, an Indian automobile manufacturer, fir the explicit purpose of supplying developing markets with the much demanded cheap/economy automobiles. Similarly, GM is forming an alliance with Daewoo for the production of an economic Chevrolet model in South Korea. The implication here is that even in the absence of direct mergers and takeovers, manufactures are teaming up for the design and manufacture of models as would expand their existing market shares in particular automobile market segments. As one looks towards Daimler, one finds that it has not, in its marriage with Chrysler, embraced the imperatives of globalisation for the purpose of maximising its competitive edge. Chrysler is not a manufacturer of budget automobiles and its production costs are high. It is, furthermore, just as the case with Daimler, centred in an industrialised market. This means that the aforementioned marriage has not expanded Daimler's global market presence and has certainly not allowed it to cut down on production costs and to venture into different segments of the automobile market. In other words, whereas competitors are forming alliances which facilitate the realisation of the latter mentioned goal, thereby giving them a competitive advantage over rivals, Daimler has not. Within the context of the stated, it falls short of being a global company, despite its presence in the global market place. As regards the second of Porter's Five Forces, the global nature of the industry has made the threat

Observation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Observation - Essay Example Whole foods are widely recommended for any person any time but in most cases those who consume them want to manage their weights. This is an observation essay about Whole Foods and the people who partake of whole foods (Steve, 2002). Nutritionists and health professionals recommend that foods are best taken in their natural form or when they have been minimally altered to derive maximum benefits from the nutrients. The human body works best with natural foods and consumption of processed foods means that the body has to go the extra mile so as to digest the food. Consumption of such foods means that the body derives maximum nutritional value from the foods which translate to better health. Another reason as why people opt for whole foods is due to health reasons such as vegetarians or heart conditions that could be eliminated by taking the right foods in their natural state. To such people, eating of this group of foods is necessary for their health to keep diseases at bay. Most people who consume whole foods also do so that they could lose weight while at the same time managing it. Different people come in and out Whole Foods depending on their reasons for opting for eating these kinds of foods. In most cases, the main group of people who opt for such foods is those who would like to lose and manage their weight (Steve, 2002). You will notice mostly women who look big and walk as if their weight is a big luggage to them. Others are mostly women who would like to lose their birth weight and consequently being in such a diet ensures that it reduces their chances of craving for junk food which ultimately adds more weight. Similarly, they need to stay healthy for their babies who feed exclusively from their breast milk. The elderly people also opt for this group of foods since their immune system is deteriorating, and they should be at a position to maximize on the nutritional content of everything that they consume. The majority of these people walk into this

A close analysis & comparative study on two pieces of Romantic Poetry Essay

A close analysis & comparative study on two pieces of Romantic Poetry - Essay Example of a prosperous and growing England, with an exciting increase in worldly importance, others viewed the bustling city in a much more negative light, in which individuals became lost members of a crowd and social ills became much more apparent. These aspects of the city can be traced through the poetry of William Blake in poems such as â€Å"London† from Songs of Experience and William Wordsworth as it is reflected in book seven of his Prelude. In â€Å"London† for example, Blake describes the way in which the human spirit had been shackled in 1794, the year when the poem had been written. Through careful imagery, Blake expresses an abiding belief in the unchristian nature of the restrictions on freedoms being experienced by the British people. The French Revolution had just occurred and sentiment in Britain had reached an all-time low as expressed in lines such as â€Å"How the chimney-sweepers cry† (9) and â€Å"†¦ the hapless Soldiers sigh / Runs in blood down Palace walls† (11-12). These lines reflect the way in which even time-honored occupations such as chimney sweeps and soldiers had fallen into disrespect and despair. Although he is describing physical situations in lines 3-4: â€Å"A mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe†, he makes it clear that he is also discussing the state of the souls of people he meets. The signs of decay and desperation are seen in ever y face encountered as the speaker walks down what is presumed to be an average London street. This is reinforced in the second stanza as the speaker says, â€Å"In every cry of every man, / In every infant’s cry of fear, / In every voice, in every ban, / The mind-forged manacles I hear† (4-8). In this, it is apparent that someone is controlling these people, although it remains unclear if the ‘mind-forged manacles’ are of their own creation or someone else’s. However, because of the inclusion of infants, who cannot possibly be imposing harsh punishments on themselves

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example In every year starting from 1970 and ending at 1979, the number of references remained 20. The number of references approximately doubled with the start of the year 1980 i.e. the number of references increased from 20 to 41. In the decade between 1980 and 1989, each year saw a total number of references of 41. The number of references did not increase from 41 until the start of the year 1990, when another 21 references were added to the total to make them 62. It is noteworthy that the addition in the number of references at the junction between the end of 1979 and the start of 1980 is exactly equal to the addition in the number of references at the interface between 1989 and 1990. Each transition was equal to the addition of 21 references to the total. Starting from the year 1990 till the year 1999, the number of references remained stable at 62. Right at the point of transition between 1999 and 2000, the number of references approximately showed a five-fold increase, thus becoming 3 00 in the year 2000 from only 62 in the year 1999. The number of references remained 300 in each year between 2000 and 2009. Overall, the increase of the number of references from 1960 to 2009 occurred in such a way that makes the pattern of stairs. Every decade from 1960 to 2009 represents one tread of the stair and every riser of this staircase is a point of transition between one decade and another. Overall, there has been an increase in the number of references from 1960 to 2009, with the number remaining constant for each decade between the two years. It is also noteworthy that the references increased by small numbers in the starting years, but suddenly shot up at the junction between the year 1999 and the year 2000. With the onset of the 21st century, there occurred an immense transition in the number of references. In just a matter of fifty years, the number of references that were non-existent in the year 1960 and remained so

Article Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Article Critique - Essay Example Purpose of the research The research sought to establish the factors from the SCT standpoint that influence the consumption behaviour of fruits and vegetables among the adolescents in the low-income bracket of the black Americans in the lower Mississippi Delta region. Personal, environmental as well as behavioural factors have been investigated in the study to establish the extent to which they influence the consumption patterns of fruits and vegetables by the targeted adolescents. Method of the research This qualitative research used the focus group methodology to collect data from the participants. 42 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 13 years were involved in the focus groups which were divided equally into six. 21 female and 21 male adolescents were involved in this study. The advantage of this method is that it enabled the researcher to get personal opinions from the participants about the factors that influenced their consumption behaviour and patterns of fruits and vegeta bles. Results of the research The results of the research have been divided into three main categories of the Social Cognitive Theory which include behavioural, personal and environmental factors. ... Personal factors such as taste played a major role in influencing the consumption behaviour of fruits and vegetables among the youths who participated in the survey. There were both negative and positive connotations about the taste of fruits and vegetables. For instance, many youths revealed that they like fruits because of their sweet taste while the taste of vegetables produced more negative reactions. Many youths described the taste of vegetables as â€Å"nasty† and they said that they would rather prefer to eat vegetables that have been prepared with sugar or cheese since these ingredients could improve the taste. The results of the study also revealed that environmental factors have an influence on the consumption behaviour of fruits and vegetables by the youths. The aspect of availability played a major role in influencing the behaviour of youths towards fruits and vegetables. Many participants pointed out that fruits and vegetables were not readily available at their h omes as well as the nearby grocery shops. Some of the youths said they ate fruits and vegetables when they visit their friends’ places. This showed that the youths cannot be able to consume something they cannot readily access and this is seen as a barrier to their consumption behaviour of the fruits and vegetables. Conclusion of the research The purpose of this research was to explore factors that influence the low-income southern black American adolescents' fruit and vegetable consumption patterns with the aim of developing tools that are culturally relevant for intervention and measurement of behaviour among this target group with regards to choice of fruits and

Bentham and Mills on Utilitarianism Essay Example for Free

Bentham and Mills on Utilitarianism Essay Im Researching Saved Recents Uploads My Answers Account Products Home Essays Drive Answers Texty About Company Legal Site Map Contact Us Advertise  ©2016 Bentham and Mills on Utilitarianism Utilitarianism, Ethics, John Stuart Mill Mar 28, 2006 1882Words 355Views PAGE 5 OF 5 As an American society statues and laws are placed before us to set a standard of morality and justice. But what truly determines whether an action is moral or immoral? As I analyze the works of Jeremy Bentham, in his Principle of Utility, Alongside John Stuart Mill, on Utilitarianism, we will better understand what the foundations of morality are in accordance to their writings. Furthermore, through their standards of utility I will analyze the situation proposed as to whether cheating on your income taxes can be justified as morally right or wrong in the eyes of the utilitarian. In his Work, Jeremy Bentham states Utilitarianism as that principle which approves or disproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have augmented or diminished the happiness of the party whose interest is in question. Plainly stated, Bentham defines utilitarianism as the ethical rightness or wrongness of an action directly related to the utility of that action. Utility is more specifically defined as a measure of the goodness or badness of the consequences of an action. J. S Mill later expands Benthams definition of the term by saying utility holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to promote the reverse of happiness. Mill defines happiness as the absence of pain. Mill further states that there are different levels of pleasures. He states that some pleasures are of higher quality than others and thus more desirable. Mill states that, if all pleasures are equal and the only difference is in their quantities then human beings and lesser beings (such as a pig ) would receive gratification from the same sources of pleasure. Whereas Benthams utilitarianism makes no distinction between different beings and assigns the same pleasure to all members of the community, Mill separates human beings and lesser beings, which have pleasure that is of different category and worth. Mill gives an example by saying, It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. In comparing the two, one can see that Bentham and Mill agree that utility is measured by the result of happiness (or absence of pain) of an action. The next firm foundation of utility, according to Bentham, is the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people who are affected by the performance of an action. He states, The interest of the community (the sum of the interest of several members who compose it) is one of the most general expressions that can occur in the phraseology of morals. He supposed that social policies are properly assessed in light of their effect on the general well-being of the majority of the population that is involved. In a utilitarian philosophy the effects of an action is to be meticulously calculated for the greater good of the masses. Mill later describes the perfection of utilitarian morality with the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth. In this rule he alludes to the section in the Bible where Jesus claims that we should do as you would be done by, and to love your neighbor as yourself. In saying this he states that laws and social arrangements should place their happiness of every individual as nearly as possible in harmony with the interest of the whole. It can be said that maximum utility results when the following process is undertaken: 1) analyzing the majority (level of happiness experienced by people) after each action made. 2) Summate the levels of happiness experienced in each case. 3) And lastly, compare the results. The one that can be said to lead to the greater amount of total pleasure or happiness is the superior alternative. Perhaps the difference between the two can be that Bentham believes in a precise calculation of the utility of each possible action in a given situation. This precise calculation is achieved through different criteria which are as follows: 1)Pleasure minus pain 2)Intensity 3)Duration 4)Fruitfulness 5)Likelihood The first criteria, of pleasure minus pain, refers to whether the pain produced by the decision is worth the happiness produced. The second, being intensity, refers to the resulting strength. Duration, as the third criteria, relates to the length of time the experience lasts. The fourth factor of fruitfulness refers to the long-term results of the pleasure. And finally, likelihood determines whether it is likely the choice will result in the presumed effect. Through careful calculation of these factors, Bentham believes it is possible to come to select the greatest choice, thus bringing pleasure to the most amount of people. Mill, on the other hand, does not oppose the very nature of calculating utility, but merely the effort and time it would take to calculate the decision made. Mill believes that decisions are superiorly made through the application of rules that have been calculated ahead of time. He states, We shall examine presently of what nature are these considerations; in what manner they apply to the case, and what rational grounds, therefore, can be given for accepting or rejecting the utilitarian formula. With the afore mentioned foundations of Utility, can the following given circumstance be said to be morally right in the eyes of the Utilitarian: Suppose you have a dear friend who needs $1000 for her mothers medical bill and, if not treated, her mother will die and the pain of her family will be enormous. Suppose further that the only way to help your friend is to cheat on your income taxes that will never be audited. You believe that the money will not affect the IRS greatly because the government wastes billions of dollars anyways. You do not tell your friend how you got the money so that her and her family can experience enormous happiness. In deciding whether or not to cheat on your income taxes, a utilitarian must evaluate both sides of the overall welfare of the people affected by this action and the consequences of the action taken. In this case, the people affected would be (on one side) your friend, her mother, her family, and yourself, also (on the other side) the US government. The next step taken by Utilitarians would be to measure the pleasure and pain which would be caused by cheating on your income taxes. The consequences that can relatively be calculated, on the side of your friend, if the action is not taken can be: 1)the mother will have pain and die 2)your friend and her family will suffer enormous pain 3)you will suffer alongside your friend. And the pleasure would be the opposite. On the other hand, the consequences for the government, in your eyes, will be minimal since you will not be audited: 1) they will be oblivious to the fact that they should have received $1000 more 2) the government usually wastes billions of dollars. However, the true consequences of cheating on your taxes can be said to: 1) break the law of paying your taxes in their entirety 2) bring you pain if you are caught 3)effect the budget of a certain program that your money would have gone to. In this case, from the eyes of the person cheating on the income taxes, the greater pain would be to deprive their friend of the money at the present time. However, according to Mill, utilitarianism must be qualitatively weighed. This requires for one to consider, not only, the amount of pain and pleasure, but also the quality of each pain and pleasure. Mill states, According to the Greatest Happiness Principle, the ultimate end, is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quality and quantity. A flaw in utilitarianism, is that nothing is really said to be absolute. Every circumstance is relative to each person. What one person may consider to be morally right and just and of good quality, may not be the same for another. Mill suggests that to distinguish between different pains and pleasures a person who has experienced both sides of pleasure and pain should be able to measure and choose which result concludes in more happiness. In this particular case, many things can result from cheating on your taxes. For example, the $1000 that you withheld from the government could have gone to help a school in a poor community, therefore causing pain to the teaching staff that will not receive the money they deserve, or the students who will not receive appropriate supplies. Another result can be that one less item can be bought to support the nation in a fruitless war, which will bring happiness to those who oppose war. In such a case, there really is no way to be able to determine the direct result of what ones income taxes will benefit, so it is very arduous to weigh the quality of pain and pleasure in each side of the circumstance. With the previously given examples it is no wonder why Mill states, It is often affirmed that utilitarianism renders men cold and unsympathising; that it chills their moral feelings towards individuals due to the fact that an individual can not calculate the measured unhappiness of each action. Therefore because we do not have the time to calculate accurately in every instance, Mills supposed, we properly allow our actions to be guided by moral rules most of the time, which in this case would be the laws set forth by the government. As Mill stated we should be able to rely absolutely on ones feelings and conduct, and to oneself of being able to rely on ones own, that the will to do right ought to be cultivated into this habitual independence. Plainly stated, if one feels that it is morally wrong to cheat on your taxes, because it is a direct violation of the laws given by the government, then we must rely on those feelings to make the morally right decision to not cheat on the taxes. Therefore it can be concluded that the action of cheating on your income taxes to help a friend in need can not be accepted as morally right. Though the intentions may be noble, and may be meant to bring quantitative and qualitative happiness, the action still remains morally wrong and can bring about even more quantitative and qualitative unhappiness. In such a case, the conclusion will always be met with some sort of pain. Mill stated that neither pains nor pleasures are homogeneous, and pain is always heterogeneous to pleasure. So alongside the pain caused by an action to cheat or not cheat on your taxes will always bring alongside a pleasure. In conclusion, the utilitarian foundations as stated by Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill altruistically put the happiness of others or of the majority ahead of the individual. As stated by Mill, in the long run, the best proof of a good character is good actions and such actions place the masses over the mutually exclusive. So through the works of Bentham and Mill, a greater perception has been given of what the foundations of utilitarianism truly are.

Corporate Restructuring Strategies Business Essay

Corporate Restructuring Strategies Business Essay Corporate restructuring is the process of redesigning one or more aspects of a company. The process of reorganizing a company may be implemented due to a number of different factors, such as positioning the company to be more competitive, survive a currently adverse economic climate, or poise the corporation to move in an entirely new direction. Here are some examples of why corporate restructuring may take place and what it can mean for the company. In general, the idea of corporate restructuring is to allow the company to continue functioning in some manner. Even when corporate raiders break up the company and leave behind a shell of the original structure, there is still usually a hope, what remains can function well enough for a new buyer to purchase the diminished corporation and return it to profitability. Purpose of Corporate Restructuring To enhance the share holder value, The company should continuously evaluate its: Portfolio of businesses, Capital mix, Ownership Asset arrangements to find opportunities to increase the share holders value. To focus on asset utilization and profitable investment opportunities. To reorganize or divest less profitable or loss making businesses/products. The company can also enhance value through capital Restructuring, it can innovate securities that help to reduce cost of capital. Corporate Restructuring entails a range of activities including financial restructuring and organization restructuring. 1. Financial Restructuring Financial restructuring is the reorganization of the financial assets and liabilities of a corporation in order to create the most beneficial financial environment for the company. The process of financial restructuring is often associated with corporate restructuring, in that restructuring the general function and composition of the company is likely to impact the financial health of the corporation. When completed, this reordering of corporate assets and liabilities can help the company to remain competitive, even in a depressed economy. Just about every business goes through a phase of financial restructuring at one time or another. In some cases, the process of restructuring takes place as a means of allocating resources for a new marketing campaign or the launch of a new product line. When this happens, the restructure is often viewed as a sign that the company is financially stable and has set goals for future growth and expansion. Need For Financial Restructuring The process of financial restructuring may be undertaken as a means of eliminating waste from the operations of the company. For example, the restructuring effort may find that two divisions or departments of the company perform related functions and in some cases duplicate efforts. Rather than continue to use financial resources to fund the operation of both departments, their efforts are combined. This helps to reduce costs without impairing the ability of the company to still achieve the same ends in a timely manner In some cases, financial restructuring is a strategy that must take place in order for the company to continue operations. This is especially true when sales decline and the corporation no longer generates a consistent net profit. A financial restructuring may include a review of the costs associated with each sector of the business and identify ways to cut costs and increase the net profit. The restructuring may also call for the reduction or suspension of production facilities that are obsolete or currently produce goods that are not selling well and are scheduled to be phased out. Financial restructuring also take place in response to a drop in sales, due to a sluggish economy or temporary concerns about the economy in general. When this happens, the corporation may need to reorder finances as a means of keeping the company operational through this rough time. Costs may be cut by combining divisions or departments, reassigning responsibilities and eliminating personnel, or scaling back production at various facilities owned by the company. With this type of corporate restructuring, the focus is on survival in a difficult market rather than on expanding the company to meet growing consumer demand. All businesses must pay attention to matters of finance in order to remain operational and to also hopefully grow over time. From this perspective, financial restructuring can be seen as a tool that can ensure the corporation is making the most efficient use of available resources and thus generating the highest amount of net profit possible within the current set economic environment. 2. Organizational Restructuring In organizational restructuring, the focus is on management and internal corporate governance structures. Organizational restructuring has become a very common practice amongst the firms in order to match the growing competition of the market. This makes the firms to change the organizational structure of the company for the betterment of the business. Need For Organization Restructuring New skills and capabilities are needed to meet current or expected operational requirements. Accountability for results are not clearly communicated and measurable resulting in subjective and biased performance appraisals. Parts of the organization are significantly over or under staffed. Organizational communications are inconsistent, fragmented, and inefficient. Technology and/or innovation are creating changes in workflow and production processes. Significant staffing increases or decreases are contemplated. Personnel retention and turnover is a significant problem. Workforce productivity is stagnant or deteriorating. Morale is deteriorating. Some of the most common features of organizational restructures are: Regrouping of business: This involves the firms regrouping their existing business into fewer business units. The management then handles theses lesser number of compact and strategic business units in an easier and better way that ensures the business to earn profit. Downsizing: Often companies may need to retrench the surplus manpower of the business. For that purpose offering voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) is the most useful tool taken by the firms for downsizing the businesss workforce. Decentralization: In order to enhance the organizational response to the developments in dynamic environment, the firms go for decentralization. This involves reducing the layers of management in the business so that the people at lower hierarchy are benefited. Outsourcing: Outsourcing is another measure of organizational restructuring that reduces the manpower and transfers the fixed costs of the company to variable costs. Enterprise Resource Planning: Enterprise resource planning is an integrated management information system that is enterprise-wide and computer-base. This management system enables the business management to understand any situation in faster and better way. The advancement of the information technology enhances the planning of a business. Business Process Engineering: It involves redesigning the business process so that the business maximizes the operation and value added content of the business while minimizing everything else. Total Quality Management: The businesses now have started to realize that an outside certification for the quality of the product helps to get a good will in the market. Quality improvement is also necessary to improve the customer service and reduce the cost of the business. VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS RESTRUCTURING Smart sizing: It is the process of reducing the size of a company by laying off employees on the basis of incompetence and inefficiency. Some Examples Acquisitions: HLL took over TOMCO. Diversification: Videocon group is diversified into power projects, oil exploration and basic telecom services. Merger: Asea and Brown Boveri came together to form ABB. Strategic alliances: Siemens India has got a Strategic alliance with Bharati Telecom for marketing of its EPABX. Expansion: Siemens is expanding its medical electronics division- a new factory for medical electronics is already come up in Goa. Networking: It refers to the process of breaking companies into smaller independant business units for significant improvement in productivity and flexibility. The phenomenon is predominant in South Korea, where big companies like Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo are breaking themselves up into smaller units. These firms convert their managers into entrepreneurs. Virtual Corporation: It is a company that has taken steps to turn itself inside out. Rather than having managers and staff sitting INSIDE in their offices moving papers from in basket to out basket, a virtual corporation kicks the employees outside, sending them to work in customers offices and plants, determining what the customer needs and wants, then reshaping the corporate products and services to the customers exact needs. This is a futuristic concept wherein companies will be edgeless, adaptable and perpetually changing. The centrepiece of the business revolution is a new kind of product called a Virtual Product Some of the these products already exist, camcorders create instant movies, personal computers and laser printers have made instant desktop publishing a reality. And for all these we can obtain cash instantly at ATMs. Verticalization: It refers to regrouping of management functions for particular functions for a particular product range to achieve higher accountability and transparency. Siemens in 1990 moved from a function-oriented structure to a vertical entrepreneur-oriented structure embracing size business and three support divisions. Delayering- Flat organization: In the post world war period the demand for goods was ever increasing. Main objective of the corporations was production and capacity build up to meet the demand. The classical, pyramidal structure was well suited to this high growth environment. This structure was scalable and the corporations could immediately translate their growth plans into action by adding workers at the bottom layer and filling in the management layers. But the price paid in the whole process was much higher. The overall process became complicated; number of middle managers and functional managers grew making the coordination of various functions complex. Senior/top management was alienated from the front-line people as well as the end users of the product or sen/ice. Decision-making became slower. Hence, a need is felt to attack the unproductive, bulky and sluggish network of white-collar staff. A powerful strategy would be to remove the layers of senior and middle management i. e. making the organization structure flat. The perspective of organizational restructuring may be different for the employees. When a company goes for the organizational restructuring, it often leads to reducing the manpower and hence meaning that people are losing their jobs. This may decrease the morale of employee in a large manner. Hence many firms provide strategies on career transitioning and outplacement support to their existing employees for an easy transition to their next job. The important methods of Corporate Restructuring are: Joint ventures Sell off and spin off Divestitures Equity carve out Leveraged buy outs (LBO) Management buy outs 1. Joint Ventures Joint ventures are new enterprises owned by two or more participants. They are typically formed for special purposes for a limited duration. It is a combination of subsets of assets contributed by two (or more) business entities for a specific business purpose and a limited duration. Each of the venture partners continues to exist as a separate firm, and the joint venture represents a new business enterprise. It is a contract to work together for a period of time each participant expects to gain from the activity but also must make a contribution. For Example: GM-Toyota JV: GM hoped to gain new experience in the management techniques of the Japanese in building high-quality, low-cost compact subcompact cars. Whereas, Toyota was seeking to learn from the management traditions that had made GE the no. 1 auto producer in the world and In addition to learn how to operate an auto company in the environment under the conditions in the US, dealing with contractors, suppliers, and workers. DCM group and Daewoo motors entered in to JV to form DCM DAEWOO Ltd. to manufacture automobiles in India. 2. Spin-off Spinoffs are a way to get rid of underperforming or non-core business divisions that can drag down profits. Process of spin-off The company decides to spin off a business division. The parent company files the necessary paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The spinoff becomes a company of its own and must also file paperwork with the SEBI. Shares in the new company are distributed to parent company shareholders. The spinoff company goes public. Notice that the spinoff shares are distributed to the parent company shareholders. There are two reasons why this creates value: Parent company shareholders rarely want anything to do with the new spinoff. After all, its an underperforming division that was cut off to improve the bottom line. As a result, many new shareholders sell immediately after the new company goes public. Large institutions are often forbidden to hold shares in spinoffs due to the smaller market capitalization, increased risk, or poor financials of the new company. Therefore, many large institutions automatically sell their shares immediately after the new company goes public. There is no money transaction in spin-off. The transaction is treated as stock dividend tax free exchange. Split-off: Is a transaction in which some, but not all, parent company shareholders receive shares in a subsidiary, in return for relinquishing their parent companys share. In other words some parent company shareholders receive the subsidiarys shares in return for which they must give up their parent company shares Feature of split-offs is that a portion of existing shareholders receives stock in a subsidiary in exchange for parent company stock. Split-up: Is a transaction in which a company spins off all of its subsidiaries to its shareholders ceases to exist. The entire firm is broken up in a series of spin-offs. The parent no longer exists and Only the new offspring survive. In a split-up, a company is split up into two or more independent companies. As a sequel, the parent company disappears as a corporate entity and in its place two or more separate companies emerge. 3. Divestures Divesture is a transaction through which a firm sells a portion of its assets or a division to another company. It involves selling some of the assets or division for cash or securities to a third party which is an outsider. Divestiture is a form of contraction for the selling company. means of expansion for the purchasing company. It represents the sale of a segment of a company (assets, a product line, a subsidiary) to a third party for cash and or securities. Mergers, assets purchase and takeovers lead to expansion in some way or the other. They are based on the principle of synergy which says 2 + 2 = 5! , divestiture on the other hand is based on the principle of anergy which says 5 3 = 3!. Among the various methods of divestiture, the most important ones are partial sell-off, demerger (spin-off split off) and equity carve out. Some scholars define divestiture rather narrowly as partial sell off and some scholars define divestiture more broadly to include partial sell offs, demergers and so on. Motives: Change of focus or corporate strategy Unit unprofitable can mistake Sale to pay off leveraged finance Antitrust Need cash Defend against takeover Good price. 4. Equity Carve-Out A transaction in which a parent firm offers some of a subsidiaries common stock to the general public, to bring in a cash infusion to the parent without loss of control. In other words equity carve outs are those in which some of a subsidiaries shares are offered for a sale to the general public, bringing an infusion of cash to the parent firm without loss of control. Equity carve out is also a means of reducing their exposure to a riskier line of business and to boost shareholders value. 5. Leveraged Buyout A buyout is a transaction in which a person, group of people, or organization buys a company or a controlling share in the stock of a company. Buyouts great and small occur all over the world on a daily basis. Buyouts can also be negotiated with people or companies on the outside. For example, a large candy company might buy out smaller candy companies with the goal of cornering the market more effectively and purchasing new brands which it can use to increase its customer base. Likewise, a company which makes widgets might decide to buy a company which makes thingamabobs in order to expand its operations, using an establishing company as a base rather than trying to start from scratch. 6. Management buyout In this case, management of the company buys the company, and they may be joined by employees in the venture. This practice is sometimes questioned because management can have unfair advantages in negotiations, and could potentially manipulate the value of the company in order to bring down the purchase price for themselves. On the other hand, for employees and management, the possibility of being able to buy out their employers in the future may serve as an incentive to make the company strong. It occurs when a companys managers buy or acquire a large part of the company. The goal of an MBO may be to strengthen the managers interest in the success of the company. Purpose of Management buyouts From management point of view may be: To save their jobs, either if the business has been scheduled for closure or if an outside purchaser would bring in its own management team. To maximize the financial benefits they receive from the success they bring to the company by taking the profits for themselves. To ward off aggressive buyers. The goal of an MBO may be to strengthen the managers interest in the success of the company. Key considerations in MBO are fairness to shareholders price, the future business plan, and legal and tax issues. Benefits of Management buyouts It provides an excellent opportunity for management of undervalued cos to realize the intrinsic value of the company. Lower agency cost: cost associated with conflict of interest between owners and managers. Source of tax savings: since interest payments are tax deductible, pushing up gearing rations to fund a management buyout can provide large tax covers. Conclusion: Restructuring strategies encompasses enhancing economy and improving efficiency. When a company wants to grow or survive in a competitive environment, it needs to restructure itself and focus on its competitive advantage. Thus, the merger and acquisition strategies have been conceived to improve general economic well-being of all those who are, directly or indirectly, connected with the corporate sector. The intension of buy back is visualized as to support share value during periods of temporary weakness, survival and to prevent takeover bids.