Structure Of Supply Chain Ford Motor Company - 1935 Words

Structure of supply chain Ford Motor Company manufactures and distributes vehicles across all the 6 continents. The manufacturing is carried out at 70 different plants of varying capacity across the world. Ford has relationships with over 1,600 production suppliers operating at over 4,600 manufacturing sites that produce 130,000 parts for inclusion in vehicles that the company sells. In addition, Ford purchases other non-production supplies, including services, marketing, construction, computers, industrial materials, health care and machinery from over 9,000 suppliers. There are as many 10 tiers of suppliers between Ford and the source of the raw material. Overall, the company spends over $65 billion globally per year on production and non-production purchases. (http://supplychain.unglobalcompact.org/site/article/51) Such an extensive, broad and global supply chain provides opportunities and risks. Opportunities arise from the fact that there are a lot points and places and options that could be changed to cut costs or to improve the quality of production. Similarly there are a lot more risks associated as many different things can go wrong. This is a reason that the SCM at Ford has been under constant change over the years to give them a competitive edge. Nearly from the beginning Ford has been a leader in supply chain. In the early part of the 20th century when there was shortage of materials on account of the world war, it resulted in stalling of the assembly lines.Show MoreRelatedSWOT Analysis: Ford Motor Company Essay1486 Words   |  6 Pagesto invest in Ford Motor Company will take the use of a SWOT analysis and learning about the stakeholders of the company. Business Analysis Part 1: Ford Motor Company There are a lot of factors to think about as a mutual fund manager when deciding whether to invest in a company. When it comes to investing in Ford Motor Company, I will have to make a decision on whether the investment strategy and the associated risks will be a good fit for me and my company. Most businessesRead MoreThe Ford Motor Company Supply Chain Management4996 Words   |  20 PagesThe Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Management Landon Orchard 292 Windermere Court West, London, Ontario, Canada 519-661-7006 Landon Orchard is currently an undergraduate business management major at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio North Central Ohio APICS Chapter Full-time undergraduate student The Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Management 2 The Ford Motor Company’s Supply Chain Management ABSTRACT The influx of foreign automobiles that flood the United States market is higher thanRead MoreGeneral Motors Supply Chain Essay1574 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Over the years, the U. S. auto industrys market has been experiencing fluctuations due to many reasons including: price, quality and foreign competition. General Motors Corporation (GM) which had been the leading car and truck manufacturer had been experiencing declining market share and facing stiff competition from both U.S manufacturers and foreign imports such as the Asian auto producers that included Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The main reason for increased foreign competition wasRead MoreFord Motor Company1426 Words   |  6 PagesFord Motor Company Supply Chain Strategy Background In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key competence for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find. Due to relatively new threats to the industry, increasing numbersRead More Ford Motor Company Supply Chain Strategy Essay1397 Words   |  6 PagesFord Motor Company Supply Chain Strategy Background In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized product manufacturing by introducing the first assembly line to the automotive industry. Ford’s hallmark of achievement proved to be a key competence for the motor company as the low cost of the Model T attracted a broader, new range of prospective car-owners. However, after many decades of success, customers have become harder to find. Due to relatively new threats to the industry, increasing numbers ofRead MoreFord Implementation of Virtual Integration: A Push Pull Strategy.1587 Words   |  7 PagesWith the implementation of Ford’s restructuring plan, Ford 2000, the company has set forth goals to compete with the expansion of foreign-based auto manufacturers globally. The goal of Ford 2000 is to continue to improve quality and reduce cycle times by finding ways to improve processes involving all stakeholders within the supply chain and the company itself. The key to achieving this goal lies in the ability to take advantage of the Ford Company’s size and global presence to invest in informationRead MoreGeneral Motors E Procurement906 Words   |  4 PagesREPORT ON E-PROCUREMENT Case on General Motors †¢ What business is the organization in? General Motors, as a representative U.S.–based automobile manufacturer, has several characteristics that make it a perfect fit for e-procurement and a great example of how e-procurement is reshaping U.S. Manufacturing. First, GM is the major part of a large supply chain. The scope of this supply chain and the role of GM in it is reflected in its annual $63 billion procurement expense. The costRead MoreFord Motor Company Is A Prosperous Business Essay1899 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction Ford Motor Company has been in business since the 19th century and it has enjoyed a rather successful run as one of the top automobile industries in the United States. Ford Motor Company is a prosperous business because of strategic changes that it was willing to develop and implement. Successful corporations have to adapt to the constantly changing environment or the company will be doomed to failure. In other words, customer shopping habits change as new products are introduced toRead MoreAnalysis Of Ford s Board Of Directors Essay1680 Words   |  7 PagesChairman William Clay Ford Jr.(age 58). He is the great-grandson of Henry Ford Sr. After earning his BA from Princeton University, he began a lifetime of service in the family firm (1979), culminating in his appointment as president and CEO in 2001. As CEO, Mr. Ford improved quality, lowered costs and delivered exciting new products. During his time in that position, he took the company from a $5.5 billion loss in 2001 to three straight years of profitability. On September 5, 2006, Ford announced thatRead MoreFord Case Analysis1706 Words   |  7 PagesMajor Issues Ford Motor Company is facing a major decision with regards to its supply chain strategy moving forward. The underlying question is, â€Å"how should the company use emerging information technologies and ideas from new high-tech industries to change the way it interacted with suppliers?†. Within Ford, there are 2 major, and opposing views. First, there are those that feel strongly that Ford should follow Dell’s model of â€Å"virtual integration† (reaping the benefits of vertical integration

World Record for Fastest Wind Speed

Have you ever felt a strong gust of wind and wondered whats the fastest wind ever recorded on the surface of the Earth? World Record for Fastest Wind Speed The fastest wind speed ever recorded comes from a hurricane gust. On  April 10, 1996, Tropical Cyclone Olivia (a hurricane) passed by Barrow Island, Australia. It was the equivalent of a  Category 4 hurricane at the time,  254 mph (408 km/h).   Americas Highest Wind   Before Tropical Cyclone Olivia came along, the highest wind speed measured anywhere in the world  was  231 mph (372 km/h). It was recorded at the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire on April 12, 1934. After Olivia broke this record (which was held for nearly 62 years), the Mount Washington wind became the second-fastest wind worldwide. Today, it remains the fastest wind ever recorded in the United States and in the Northern Hemisphere.  The U.S. commemorates this record every April 12 on Big Wind day. With a slogan like Home of the Worlds Worst Weather, Mount Washington is a location known for having harsh conditions. Standing at  6,288 feet, it is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States. But its high elevation isnt the only reason it regularly experiences heavy fogs, whiteout conditions, and gales. Its position at the crossroads of storm tracks from the Atlantic to the south, from the Gulf, and from the Pacific Northwest makes it a bullseye for storminess. The mountain and its parent range (the Presidential Range) are also oriented north-south, which increases the likelihood of high winds.  Ã‚  Air is commonly forced over the mountains, making it a prime location for high wind speeds.  Hurricane-force wind gusts are observed at the mountains summit nearly a third of the year. It is a perfect spot for weather monitoring, which is why it is home to a  mountaintop weather station called the Mount Washington Observatory. How Fast Is Fast? When it comes to wind, 200 miles per hour is fast. To give you an idea of just how fast it is, lets compare it to wind speeds you may have felt during certain weather conditions: Blizzard winds blow at 35 mph or moreWinds in a severe thunderstorm can gust in the 50 to 65 mph rangeA weak category 5 hurricanes strongest sustained winds blow at 157 mph When you compare the 254 mph wind speed record to these, its easy to tell that that is some serious wind! What About Tornadic Winds?   Tornadoes are some of the weathers most violent windstorms. Winds inside of an EF-5 tornado can exceed 300 mph. Why then, arent they responsible for the fastest wind? Tornadoes usually arent included in the rankings for the fastest surface winds because there is no reliable way to measure their wind speeds directly. Tornadoes destroy weather instruments. Doppler radar can be used to estimate a tornados winds but because it only gives an approximation, these measurements cannot be seen as definitive. If tornadoes were included, the worlds fastest wind would be approximately 302 mph (484 km/h). It was observed by a Doppler on Wheels during a tornado occurring between Oklahoma City and Moore, Oklahoma on May 3, 1999.

Obesity Among Children, Adolescents And Adults - 845 Words

Obesity among children, adolescents and adults has emerged as one of the most serious public health concerns in the 21st century. Being overweight or being considered obese is typically a direct result from daily lifestyle choices, the consequences of which gradually accumulate. Genetics and social factors such as socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, media and marketing as well as the physical environment also influence energy consumption and expenditure (KoyuncuoÄŸlu Gà ¼ngà ¶r, 2014). Obesity seems to be the result of a complex interplay between the environment and the body’s predisposition to obesity based on genetics and epigenetic programming. Poor diets and inadequate physical activity have both been widely acknowledged as the main drivers of the obesity epidemic in the U.S. (Fung, Kuhle, Lu, Purcell, Schwartz, Storey, Veugelers, 2012). Obesity has of recent, became a very hot topic on political agendas across the nation. We are hearing more and more how new laws and regulations are being designed and passed to improve the health of our children and lower the incidence of obesity among children and adolescents. The onset of technology has played a huge role in the epidemic of obesity (XU XUE, 2016). Before computers, video games and cell phones became permanently fixated in every person’s hand; children actually got up voluntarily and went outside to play. It was not an uncommon site to see a yard full of neighborhood children playing ball or running aroundShow MoreRelatedPrevalence Of Overweight And Obesity Essay1249 Words   |  5 Pagesoverweight/obesity among parents of children entering childhood obesity treatment and to evaluate changes in the parents’ weight during their child’s treatment (Trier, 2016). The study included the parents of 1,125 children and adolescents (aged 3-22) who were enrolled in a children obesity treatment program. They began by taking the heights and weights of the children and the BMI s cores were calculated. After 2.5 years of treatment, the mean weight was taking from the parents of 664 children. The resultsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Satirical Street Art That Sends Messages Of Awareness Of The Corrupt Society1626 Words   |  7 Pageshas remarked that â€Å" a recent survey or North American males found 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey.† With the rising awareness and prevalence, obesity has become an epidemic. In the United States alone, one of every five Americans are overweight, and one of every five are obese. Among the younger ages of childhood and adolescence, the National Health and Nutrition Examination reported that 17% of kids â€Å"age six through nineteen are obese.† This problem, of courseRead MoreChildhood Obesity Research1024 Words   |  5 PagesObesity in the United States Obesity is an ongoing epidemic characterized by excessive amounts of body fat that may cause other health-related issues. â€Å"Approximately 1 in 3 U.S. adults and 1 in 6 children and adolescents are obese† (Reducing Obesity, n.d.). The rates of obesity have increased throughout the United States in people of all racial groups and genders. Obesity does not discriminate on ethnicity or gender. However, research shows that â€Å"Black and Latino populations have substantially higherRead MoreObesity Is Prevalent Between Children And Adolescents In1177 Words   |  5 PagesObesity is prevalent between children and adolescents in the United States. Obesity is the second leading cause of death after smoking in the US. It also causes cancer, and it is associated with unhealthy eating and less exercise or physical activity. The concerns of childhood and adolescent obesity include earlier puberty and menarche in girls, type 2 diabetes and increased rate of the metabolic disease in a dolescence and adults. Therefore, the rate of obesity has increased in the American childrenRead MoreRisk Factors for Stroke in Young Adults1635 Words   |  7 Pages Risk Factors for Stroke in Young Adults Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States (CDC para. 1), affecting more than 7 million Americans over the age of 20 and representing 3% of the population (Rogers et al. e68). Current estimates suggest close to 800,000 Americans will experience a stroke each year; however, symptoms related to strokes often go undiagnosed. The prevalence of undiagnosed strokes is estimated to be 17.8% of the population over the age of 45, but some minoritiesRead MoreThe Field Of Psychosocial Epidemiology Essay1369 Words   |  6 Pagesassociated with a chronic health condition. Obesity is a chronic health condition characterized by presence of excess of body fat. Obesity is measured by using Body Mass Index (BMI) in children 2 years of age and older. The BMI is calculated by the body weight (in kilograms) divided by the height squared in meters. In adults, a BMI between 25 and 30 kg/m2 is regarded as overweight and a BMI greater or equal to 30 kg/m2 is regarded as obese. Obesity in adults is subcategorized as class I (BMI ≠¥30 toRead MoreChildhood Obesity : A Weighty Problem900 Words   |  4 PagesChildhood Obesity: A Weighty Problem In this day and age, people are living longer thanks to various factors. For example, evidence-based practices guide healthcare providers in delivering safe, effective health care. Additionally, technological inventions have increased the ability of healthcare providers to provide care that helps both quality and quantity of life. However, this technology has also had an unintended side effect - generations of children who are more comfortable playing videoRead MoreChildhood Obesity : A Growing Problem Essay1047 Words   |  5 PagesChildhood Obesity. I intend to first plainly explain a clear definition of what Childhood Obesity is. Next I plan on explaining some possible reasons why children develop obesity. I also want to give clear consequences and life struggles that may be associated with a child who is obese. I also want to discuss long term effects of this disease on the individual as well as society. Finally, I would like to discuss some possible treatments associated wit h curing obesity in children as well as in adults. TheRead MoreShould Not Be A Social Norm?1380 Words   |  6 PagesShould not being obesity How many obese individuals do you see a day on the street? How do you think if overweight consider be a petty group as our future social norm? There are many serious health issues in our society. Today, obesity is one of the most popular diseases in America. Being overweight is usually a warning sign that people could be on their way to becoming obesity. According to Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention report, the most recent national data shows moreRead MoreChildhood Obesity in the US1046 Words   |  4 PagesChildhood Obesity Research Proposal Introduction Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and other developed economies. Over the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents in the U.S. has increased at an alarming rate, from 5-7% to 18-20% by 2008 (CDC, 2012). In addition, a full one third of all children in the U.S. are now overweight. This obesity epidemic has been blamed on the consumption of too many calories appropriate for an increasingly

Importance of Louis Armstrong - 1568 Words

Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong was the greatest of all Jazz musicians. Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day. Only Charlie Parker comes close to having as much influence on the history of Jazz as Louis Armstrong did. Like almost all early Jazz musicians, Louis was from New Orleans. He was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Years Eve. At the school he learned to play cornet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. He didnt own an instrument at this time,†¦show more content†¦In 1931 he returned to Chicago and assembled his own band for touring purposes. In June of that year he returned to New Orleans for the first time since he left in 1922 to join King Olivers Creole Jazz Band. Armstrong was greeted as a hero , but racism marred his return when a White radio announcer refused to mention Armstrong on the air and a free concert that Louis was going to give to the cities African-American population was cancelled at the last minute. Louis and Lil also separated in 1931. In 1932 he returned to California, before leaving for England where he was a great success. For the next three years Armstrong was almost always on the road. He crisscrossed the U.S. dozens of times and returned to Europe playing in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland and England. In 1935 he returned to the U.S. and hired Joe Glaser to be his manager. He had known Glaser when he was the manager of the Sunset Cafe in Chicago in the 1920s. Glaser was allegedly connected to the Al Capone mob, but proved to be a great manager and friend for Louis. Glaser remained Armstrongs manager until his death in 1969. Glaser took care of the business end of things, leaving Armstrong free to concentrate on his music. He also hired the Luis Russell Orchestra as Louis backup band with Russell as the musical director. This was like going home for Armstrong, because Russells Orchestra was made up ofShow MoreRelatedLouis Armstrong And Duke Ellington804 Words   |  4 Pagesthe success of the jazz genre as a whole. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington are two composters that single handily contributed to the evolution of jazz. Both Louis and Armstrong performed for over fifty years. With this amount of time performing they both touch many eras in jazz. Although Duke was very influential during this time period I like Louie timeline more. Most likely because we are both from New Orleans and I feel closer to him. Before Armstrong had a great influenced on jazz music thereRead MoreKing Of Jazz : Louis Armstrong1617 Words   |  7 PagesJazz History 30 March. 2015 King of Jazz - Louis Armstrong At the mention jazz music, that person will first think of is likely to be a great figure with a clown image, nicknamed Satchmo. The man was Louis Armstrong. He is a husky singer, often with a trumpet in his hand. He played dramatic works of simple structure in Orleans jazz style and with the accompaniment of Dick jazz music. Each of the books on jazz music will mention his name. Louis Armstrong was to jazz music what Bach is to classicalRead MoreKing Of Jazz : Louis Armstrong1617 Words   |  7 PagesJazz History 30 March. 2015 King of Jazz - Louis Armstrong At the mention jazz music, that person will first think of is likely to be a great figure with a clown image, nicknamed Satchmo. The man was Louis Armstrong. He is a husky singer, often with a trumpet in his hand. He played dramatic works of simple structure in Orleans jazz style and with the accompaniment of Dick jazz music. Each of the books on jazz music will mention his name. Louis Armstrong was to jazz music what Bach is to classicalRead MoreThe Legacy Of Jazz And The Civil Rights Movement1432 Words   |  6 Pagesgenerally given more credit in criticism of society because of its upfront blatancy for example in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. Jazz could also be out front in its criticism, for example Charles Mingus was a voistrous opposer of segregation. Jazz and literature, both artistic mediums, were also subtle in their criticisms. A parallel to draw would be Louis Armstrong employing irony to subtly offer his point and George Orwell’s Animal Fa rm which uses allusions to not outright expressRead MoreThe Harlem Renaissance and Its Effect on the American Dream1541 Words   |  6 Pageshad already â€Å"set up shop† there. One of the places in which they did so was Harlem’s Cotton Club. This cabaret was famous for launching the careers of jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. However, the club was owned by whites, and its primary audience was whites. Still, the importance of the club is untestable. It was the way for upper class White Americans to experience what the African American culture was like at the time. A select group of prestigious African AmericansRead MoreAmerica s Struggle For The High937 Words   |  4 PagesArkansas during the 1950’s. Reed portrays life in the 1950’s through the eyes of the famous trumpet player, Louis Armstrong. â€Å"The C Above C Above High C,† goes well beyond the topic of racism and desegregation; providing an insightful look in to other forms of discrimination and political corruption. Although racism was a significant issue, sexism and gender discrimination is of equal importance, and created many problems for women during the 1950’s. Gloria is introduced in Act one, a black womanRead MoreJazz And Its Influence On African American Communities1141 Words   |  5 Pagesmore and more popular, the genre became identified by several defining qualities. To begin with, swing and syncopation play a major role in jazz. In fact, Duke Ellington’s song â€Å"It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)† emphasizes the importance of swing in jazz. Swing is a rhythmic style produced from the subdivision of a quarter note into a triplet. This rhythmic style of swing is the quality of jazz that excites listeners and makes them want to dance along or keep the beat by snappingRead MoreThe Best Type Of Musical Performance For Developing Musicians964 Words   |  4 Pagesthat there’s a gray area, as no one knows exactly how much practice qualifies a musician. That being said, in the middle of that gradient there’s a type of musical performance called busking. It’s a rather fam iliar term, but few stop and assess its importance. Busking is the best type of musical performance for developing musicians because it is played publicly, it can make decent money, and it is crucial to developing a professional repertoire. There are two different types of performances that a musicianRead MoreAmerica s Original Music Form : The Influence Of Jazz2552 Words   |  11 PagesAfrican percussion instruments; many likening the occurrence to the meeting between the powerful elements of weather. â€Å"Possibly, the earliest noted use of African rhythms coupled with European classical music was La Bomboula-Danse Negre composed by Louis Moreau Gottschalk in 1847.† (Birthplace of Jazz). The musicians of New Orleans, inspired by the lively tune, commandeered the music and combined it with the tunes drilled in their memories from churches and barrooms. In the process these ingeniousRead MoreMusic Improvisation : Jazz Improvisation2014 Words   |  9 PagesSmith and Louis Armstrong made a lot of call-and-response interactions, but the amount of these interactions was not divided up by the two musicians equally . Instead of collaborating together, what they presented are demonstrated elements of competition. Both of them wanted to play a solo as well as an improvisation at the same time, because they both wanted to be heard and noticed. Therefore, it was not hard to understand that Bessie Smith did not like Louis Armstrong, because Louis Armstrong didn’t

The Life You Save May Be Your Own Short Story Analysis

The True Meaning of Life What brings you true joy? Is it family and friends, a religion, or some material item? In the short story, â€Å"The Life You Save May Be Your Own,† Flannery O’Connor gives examples of what can bring Tom Shiftlet joy, but what he chooses instead. A tramp, Shiftlet, wonders to the Crater house in search of a job. Mrs. Crater knows she needs her farm fixed up, so she allows Shiftlet to sleep in the car and will feed him if he fixes things at the house. Mrs. Crater tries to pawn her daughter, Lucynell, off on Shiftlet. Shiftlet is offered the car he fixed, a place to live, and $17.50 just to marry Lucynell. Shiftlet finally agrees and accepts the bribe. On their honeymoon, Shiftlet leaves Lucynell at a diner and moves†¦show more content†¦The car that Shiftlet voluntarily fixes is also a symbol for freedom, the moving spirit, but also how material objects can block mankind from God’s grace. Shiftlet first notices the beat up old ca r and offers to fix things up car when he says he can just sleep in the car like, â€Å"the monks of old slept in their coffins!† (O’Connor 678). Shiftlet not only does not care to sleep in the house with human company, but he also compares the car to a coffin. The car is a symbol of much more than freedom, like Shiftlet says when he compares a man’s spirit to an automobile, but also as a symbol of death. When discussing symbolism, Tom Deignan discusses how â€Å"Shiftlet responds, eerily linking the car to a symbol of death. Mrs. Crater then says ‘They wasn’t as advanced as we are.’ But Mrs. Crater’s response be ironic. By inserting the image of stoic, noble monks, O’Connor seems to be contrasting their lives of devotion with these two lives of greedy pursuit. The monks, within O’Connor’s value system, are perhaps more ‘advanced.’ Furthermore, Shiftlet’s desire for the car just might lead him to some sort of death† (Deignan 133). Because the theme is about finding what truly matters in life, O’Connor uses symbols to show the reader what does not matter and what does matter. She compares Shiftlet to Jesus Christ, but then at the end of the story sacrifices someone else for his own gain instead ofShow MoreRelatedThe Life You Save May Be Your Own1122 Words   |  5 PagesWhat if you were given a chance to start over and do things differently? To make up for your mistakes, right your wrongs? This idea is featured as a theme in Flannery O’Connor’s short story â€Å"The Life You Save May Be Your Own†, published in the 1953 Spring issue of The Kenyon Review (Kenyon College). The story is about a homeless man by the name of â€Å"Shiftlet† who approaches an isolated, run-down farm where â€Å"Mrs.Crater† and her mentally retarded daughter â€Å"Lucynell† lives. Crater offers Shiftlet a homeRead MoreThe Life You Save May Be Your Own1506 Words   |  7 PagesEvery writer has their own story and because of said story, it has an impact on who they are and how they think. In turn, this leads the writer into unraveling their writing style and, in an artistic way, write out their feelings in the form of a poem or story. We see this in the case of almost every writer, but as of now we re only going to look at Mary Flannery O - Connor. A major theme that reoccurs in much of Flannery O Connors work is her strong dis- like for the worlds current state, asRead MoreAnalysis Of The Life You Save May Be Your Own 1331 Words   |  6 PagesThe Evil of Two, the Demise of One: An analysis of â€Å"The Life You Save May Be Your Own† Authors often depict their characters in a story through direct and indirect characterization. Direct characterization is simply portrayed through the author or speaker of the story stating actual facts of a character, such as, â€Å"She was kind and plump.† In the case of indirect characterization, many authors will use the dialogue of other characters of the mannerisms and actions of the character to display themRead MoreVictory Lap1369 Words   |  6 Pagesconversion. A form of change can be seen in â€Å"Victory Lap† by George Saunders, a short story written in such a way that the events that are enrolling throughout the story are being processed and told through the minds of three main characters. Having the perspective of each character allows us, the readers to get a much greater understanding about them and to make a better character analysis. Having said that, this story is simply about a girl, Alison getting kidnapped by an unnamed kidnapper. WhatRead MoreMy Ambition In Life Essay To Become A C1082 Words   |  5 PagesMy ambition in life essay to become a collector Free Essays on My Ambition In Life To Become A Collector for students. Use our papers to help you with yours. My Ambition Become a Collector: exaggeration of your dream and thoughts of how you want to be in your life. My ambition is to become an IAS officer. Though I. My ambition in life is to become a teacher. There are a number of reasons for my choice. First, about 35 per cent of the people in India are illiterate. They are. Plan essay thirsha WebsitesRead MoreDna Fingerprinting Is Not All The Title1533 Words   |  7 PagesWhat if you knew your own body has the potential to send you to jail? You would probably be more careful when going out in public and would probably start overanalyzing every aspect of your everyday behavior. However, this question is not a matter of your physical body having the potential to send you to jail through your actions. It is a matter of biological aspects of your body and how they can reveal secretive information about you. You may have heard the phrase â€Å"No two fingerprints are alike†Read MoreCom/155 Appendix C Rhetorical Modes Essay1750 Words   |  7 Pagesused. |method works best with each rhetorical mode. |each rhetorical mode. | |Narration |The purpose of narration is to |Narrative methods represent a form of inquiry|1. Clarity. Complex words and | | |tell a story or narrate an event|that has promise for integrating evaluation |syntax are a hindrance to | | |or series of events. This |and organization development. Narrative |clarity and should be avoided.| | Read MoreAltruism And It s Causes1581 Words   |  7 Pagesrelation to a story of a bus driver who risked her own life to save the children she was transporting. To achieve this goal I will: define the necessary concepts (part I), provide examples demonstrating the differing causes of altruism and how they relate to the event in question (part II), and refer to conducted research which supports and further describes the actions taken in my chosen event (part III). While there are many persons who acted altruistically in the following story, I have decidedRead MoreSt. Jude Charity Speech Essay1162 Words   |  5 Pagespersuade to donating. INTRODUCTION ATTENDTION GETTER/ RELEVANCE; Think back to a time when you were younger, maybe the time when you played dress up using mommy’s make up. Maybe it was a time when you when you pretended that you were a power ranger, to tell you the truth I wanted to be the pink ranger! Think of when you said you want to grow up to be just like mom or dad! And maybe pictured how your wedding would be like when were older or if you’re really going to be a police officer or evenRead MoreThe Bean Trees Taylor Character Analysis1146 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿The Bean Trees: Character Analysis Taylor Greer is the primary protagonist of the adventurous tale taking place throughout multiple states in America, The Bean Trees. Taylor is girl from a town of simpletons, and she wants to escape that and live freely somewhere else. The Bean Trees is written by Barbra Kingsolver, an acclaimed author, and the story is about Taylor and her life after leaving a small town in Kentucky to find happiness. Taylor is a very complex person with a number of defining

Strategic Management Dissertation free essay sample

The nature of corporate strategy problems cannot easily be framed within a fixed paradigm. Strategic management is necessarily a multi-paradigmatic discipline, requiring varied theoretical perspectives and methodologies. The purpose of this paper is to present and assess the evolution of corporate strategic management in the first decade of the current century, particularly under the influence of the recent economic crisis. For the last two decades strategic management has been dominated by a resource-based view. Recently we can distinguish two important perspectives of research: behavioral and institutional. The first regards decision-making processes of company executives based on considerable progress made by psychologists in identifying and validating fundamental cognitive constructs which are promising for advancing theory and research on top management teams. The institutional perspective is based on increased realization of the importance of national and global institutions for the competitiveness of companies, sectors and countries. Keywords: strategic management, evolutionary framework, behavioral perspective, institutional perspective, entrepreneurship, hypercompetition. JEL codes: D01, D02, D03. Introduction Strategic management as a field of inquiry is one of the more important and widely cited subjects and forms a critical part of the business and management curriculum at all levels. In the early 1960s, there was little mention of strategy in company reports, whilst today it is difficult to find a company report without encountering the word strategy several times. The field, like medicine or engineering, exists because it is worth codifying, teaching, and expanding what is known about the skilled performance of roles and tasks that are a necessary part of our civilization [Rumelt, Schendel amp; Teece 1991]. Strategy started life with a high degree of practitioner orientation and the theoretical perspective now holds sway. Strategy is academically more respected but arguably less relevant to needs of practicing managers [Ghobadian amp; O’Regan 2008]. 1. Strategic management as an academic field of inquiry Strategic management as an academic field has been reconceptualized and relabeled – from ‘business policy’ in 1979 by Schendel and Hofer [1979]. Strategic management is now a firmly established field in the study of business and organizations. During a relatively short period of time, this field witnessed a significant growth in the diversity of topics and variety of research methods employed. The field of strategic management is eclectic in nature. Its subject of interest overlaps with several other vigorous fields, including economics, sociology, psychology, marketing and finance. It is commonly asserted that the field of strategic management is fragmented and lacks a coherent identity. This skepticism, however, is paradoxically at odds with the great success that strategic management has enjoyed. According to Nag, Hambrick and Chen [2007] strategic management’s success as an academic field emerges from an underlying consensus that enables it to attract multiple perspectives, while still maintaining its coherent distinctiveness. Strategic management’s apparent weakness seems to be its strength. Its amorphous boundaries and inherent pluralism act as a common ground for scholars to thrive as a community without being constrained by a dominant theoretical or methodological strait-jacket. Strategic management acts as an intellectual brokering entity, which enables the simultaneous pursuit of multiple research orientations by members who hail from a wide variety of disciplinary and philosophical regimes. At the same time, however, these diverse community members seem to be linked by a fundamental implicit consensus that helps the field to cohere and maintain its identity. 2. Evolutionary framework Early strategy researches were predominantly concerned with identifying firms’ â€Å"best practices† that contribute to corporate success [Chandler 1962; Ansoff 1965]. 83 One of the more significant contributions to the development of strategic management came from industrial organization economics (IOE), specifically the work of Porter [1980, 1985]. The structure-conduct-performance framework and the notion of strategic groups, as well as provision of a foundation for research on competitive dynamics, flourished in the 1980s. The IOE paradigm also brought econometric tools to strategic management research. Building on the IOE economics framework, the organizational economics (OE) perspective contributed transaction costs economics and agency theory to strategic management. More recent theoretical contributions focus on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm. While it has its roots in E. Penrose’s [1959] work, the RBV was largely introduced to the field of strategic management in the 1980s and became a dominant framework in the 1990s. Based on the RBV or developing concurrently was research on strategic leadership, strategic decision theory and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm. Research focus returned to the company inside. The case method based on clinical case studies was preferred by the early strategy scholars. There was little attempt to generalize the findings of a case to strategy making in general. Largely because of this approach, strategic management was not regarded as a scientific field worthy of academic study. As the field embraced IOE, it began to emphasize scientific generalizations based on the study of broader sets of firms. Additionally, strategy researchers increasingly employed multivariate statistical tools with large data samples. The availability of commercial databases such as PIMS and COMPUSTAT provided strategic management research with convenient access to a large amount of firm level data. The development of strategic management into a more respected scholarly field of study was at least partially a result of the adoption of â€Å"scientific† methods from IOE. The research methodologies are becoming increasingly sophisticated and now frequently combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Normative, inductive case-based studies had dominated the early history of strategic management. Positivistic, deductive empirical research based on the falsification philosophy of Popper became dominant during the next period. Concern with explanation and prediction, rather than prescription, was strongly advocated by strategy scholars with the aim to elevate the field to a more rigorous, â€Å"scientific† academic discipline. The above described evolution of strategic management for the period 1960– 1999 can be shown with the aid of pendulum swings [Hoskisson et al. 1999]. After forty years the field of strategic management returned to its roots, e. . to the company inside (Figure 1). Strategic management owes a considerable intellectual debt to economic theory. A significant section of the strategy schools grew out of the neoclassical economic theory. The most influential contribution was undoubtedly M. Porter’s Competitive Strategy [1980] based on industrial economics. Porter argued that competitive ad84 vantage can be sustained. The doctrine of sustaina ble competitive advantage was embedded in the mainstream economic theory. 3. Last crisis effect on strategic management field Till now there has been no direct evidence that the last financial crisis had an influence on the strategic management theory. There is a significant inertia factor as in each field of science. The editorial cycle in the most prestigious journals is at least two years. For example, in 2010 The Academy of Management Journal published a significant article by four authors: Mishina, Dykes, Block and Pollock, titled Why ‘good’ firms do bad things: The effects of high aspirations, high expectations, and prominence on the incidence of corporate illegality. The article was based on a sample onsisting of all manufacturing firms that were part of the Samp;P 500 between 1990 and 1999 and had December 31 fiscal year-ends. The resulting data set contained 194 firms and 1749 firm-year observations. Mishina’s et al. research [2010] identified 469 incidents of corporate illegality, of which 162 were environmental violations, 96 were fraud-related, 124 were related Figure 1. Pend ulum swings: theoretical and methodological evolution in strategic management Source: [Hoskisson et al. 1999] Early Development Resource-Based View IO Economics Organizational Economics Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside Outside 85 to false claims, and 87 were anticompetitive violations. Recent corporate scandals involved prominent, high-performing firms. There is the assertion that the cost of getting caught decreases the likelihood that such high performers will act illegally. The authors have explained this paradox by using theories of loss aversion and hubris based on behavioral economics (see Section 4). Results demonstrate that both performance above internal aspirations and performance above external expectations increase the likelihood of illegal activities. The authors argue, on the base of behavioral economics, that the threat of decline in an organization’s future relative performance and the potential costs to the organization and its managers of not meeting internal aspirations and external expectations increase the likelihood of illegal behavior, and that this likelihood is even greater when a firm is also prominent (e. g. Arthur Andersen, Enron, World Com or Tyco). The study contributes to the growing literature exploring how cognitive biases shape top management team (TMT) decision making. Eight years before the above study, Bazerman, Loewenstein and Moore [2002] in their prophetic article Why good accountants do bad audits, written just after President G. W. Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in July 2002, warned of the repetition of accounting scandals. They underlined the psychological reasons of fraud. Corporate auditing is particularly vulnerable to unconscious biases. Accounting scandals such as Andersen’s audits of Enron, may have at their core a series of unconsciously biased judgments rather than a deliberate program of criminality. The most important in this case is self-serving bias: armed with the same information, different people reach different conclusions – ones that favor their own interests. Bazerman, Loewenstein and Moore [2002] stated that the reforms in the SOX did not address the fundamental problem of self-serving bias, and therefore they would not eliminate further scandals in the future. They were right. Most major financial institutions, which had to be rescued from insolvency in 2008, were more than compliant with SOX. At the banks that collapsed, 80% of board members were independent. All firms had evaluated their internal controls yearly, and the 2007 reports from their external auditors showed no material weaknesses in those controls [Pozen 2010]. But that did not stop the failures. The model for corporate governance was broken [Lui 2011]. The reforms did little to improve the quality of people serving on boards or change their behavioral dynamics. Each company should be free to craft the exact nature of the professional directors’ role in accordance with the size and scope of the business [Evans 2010]. In fact, almost any allocation of roles between directors and management is permissible in the United States under the current legal framework – the same is true in most free-market countries. Few CEOs would voluntarily embrace any scenario that shifts a significant degree of power from management to the board. A few brave and confident CEOs from sound companies might actually be willing to try out the new model. The practice 86 of majority often starts from the initiatives of a few enlightened CEOs. If experiments with the new model were to generate higher earnings or stock rices for the companies involved, then the new model would spread [Pozen 2010]. Pozen [2010] proposed a model of professional directorship. In this model, all boards would be limited to seven persons. Most of the independent directors would be required to have extensive expertise in the company’s lines of business, and they would spend at least two days a month on company business beyond the regular board meetings. The articles discussed above represent two different perspectives: behavioral and institutional. These two perspectives are strictly related by feedback. Institutions influence behavior of decision-makers. The behavioral perspective regards microeconomic decision-making by company’s executives. The institutional perspective regards macroeconomic institutions. Thus, the basic hypothesis of this article is that the two perspectives have dominated the current strategic management literature, although RBV is still influential (Figure 2). Figure 2. Evolution of predominant area of research in strategic management institutions (North, Williamson) ypercompetition (D’Aveni) capitalism reform (Porter, A. Smith) entrepreneurship (Schumpeter) innovations decision-making proces corporate governance Porter Jensen Wiliamson Wernefelt Barney Chandler Andrews Anso_ Decades 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Decision-maker Firm Industry Predominant areas of research State, Group of states, Global economy 87 4. Behavioral perspective: micro level Behavioral economics strengthens the expl anatory possibilities of economics by providing it with more realistic psychological foundations. The most influential authors, Kahneman and Tversky [1979], documented violations of neoclassical economics and proposed an axiomatic theory grounded in psychological principles. Behavioral economics is founded on the premise that human beings are not totally rational and are motivated by unconscious cognitive biases. 4. 1. Cognitive biases and improvement of strategic decision-making Kahneman and Tversky [1974] introduced the term â€Å"cognitive bias† for the description of a deviation pattern in the judgment of people that occurs in particular situations. It is used to describe effects in the human mind, some of which can lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, or illogical interpretation. Biases (e. g. framing, self-serving, confirmation, hindsight, loss aversion, status quo bias, money illusion, etc. ) can be classified on a number of dimensions. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel [1998, pp. 150–173] distinguished a cognitive school in strategic management based on the achievements of cognitive psychology. A strategy is some kind of interpretation of the world and strategy formation is a cognitive process that takes place in the mind of the strategist. Thus, strategies emerge as mental perspectives – in the form of concepts, maps, and frames – that shape how people deal with inputs from the environment. A survey prepared by McKinsey amp; Company [Lovallo amp; Sibony 2010] confirmed that cognitive biases affect the most important strategic decisions made even by the smartest managers in the best companies: mergers routinely fail to deliver the expected synergies, strategic plans often ignore competitive responses, and large investment projects are over budget and over time. Despite the growing awareness of psychological aspects of decision-making, most executives are incapable of recognizing their own biases. Kahneman, Lovallo and Sibony [2011] described how to detect bias and minimize its effect. Most strategic decisions are influenced by many people and decision-makers can adjust their ability to spot biases in others’ thinking. We may not be able to control our own intuition, but we can apply rational thought to detect others’ faulty intuition and improve their judgment. Kahneman, Lovallo and Sibony [2011] developed a tool based on a 12-question checklist that is intended to unearth defects in cognitive biases of the teams making recommendations for executives. A study by Lovallo and Sibony [2010] of 1048 important business investments showed that when organizations worked at reducing the effect of bias in their decision-making processes (â€Å"debiasing†), they achieved returns (ROI) up to seven percent. 88 4. 2. Leadership A big part of the strategic management literature is devoted to CEOs (chief executive officers). Leadership, especially in a firm’s senior positions, has a significant impact on company performance. Recently, psychologists have made considerable progress in identifying and validating fundamental constructs that hold considerable promise for advancing theory and research on top management teams. There are several psychological concepts useful in strategic leadership analysis: the concept of core self-evaluation, the idea of intuition, the concept of entrepreneurial passion, etc. Some new issues regarding leadership have appeared recently. According to I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi [2011], people behave less ethically when they are part of an organization. Individuals who may do the right thing in normal situations behave differently under stress. Common rationalizations, that one is acting in the company’s best interest, or justification that one will never be found out, lead to misconduct. Business leaders must extend beyond the company and create the common good. CEOs need to ask if decisions are good for society, as well as for their companies. Companies should start thinking of themselves as social entities charged with a mission to create lasting benefits for society. Unless companies create social as well as economic value, they will not survive in the long run. I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi [2011] after studying leadership in different organizations in the world, show that the use of explicit and tacit knowledge is not enough and CEOs must also draw on a third, often forgotten kind of knowledge, called practical wisdom. Practical wisdom is the experiential knowledge that enables people to make ethically sound judgments. The world needs leaders who will make judgments knowing that everything is contextual, and will make decisions knowing that everything is changing. . 3. Innovation Innovation is the central job of every leader, regardless of the place he or she occupies on the organizational chart. Innovators rely on their â€Å"courage to innovate† – an active bias against the status quo and an unflinching willingness to take risks – to transform ideas into powerful impact [Lafley 2009]. Dyer, Gregersen and Christensen [2009] id entified five â€Å"discovery skills† that distinguish the most creative executives: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking. Together, these skills create, according to the authors, the so called â€Å"innovator’s DNA†. Studies of identical twins separated at birth indicate that our ability to think creatively comes one-third from genetics; but two-thirds of the innovation skill set comes through learning – first understanding a given skill, than practicing it, experimenting, and ultimately gaining confidence in one’s capacity to create. 89 To grasp the invention process, it is important to understand how the brain operates. The brain does not store information like a dictionary. Instead, it associates words with experiences from our lives. Some of these are logical, while others may be less obvious and rather emotional. The more diverse our experience and knowledge, the more connections the brain can make. Fresh inputs trigger new association; for some, these lead to novel ideas. Associating is like a mental muscle that can grow stronger by using the other discovery skills. Innovators, engaging in such activity, build their ability to generate ideas that can be recombined in new ways. The more frequently entrepreneurs attempted to understand, categorize, and store new knowledge, the more easily their brains could naturally and consistently make, store, and recombine associations. 5. Institutional perspective: macro level The last decades have shown us that institutions matter, and matter greatly [Kowalski and Wihlborg 2010; Kowalski and Shachmurove 2011]. Corporations are supported and constrained by institutions in their strategic pursuits, and may also attempt to shape them to their own advantage. There is an increased realization of the importance of national and global institutions for the competitiveness of countries and companies. Williamson’s works have been extremely influential in management research, which has helped improve our knowledge on transaction governance and the role of the firm. In the last decade the institutional perspective in strategic management has been strengthened and developed by the concepts of North [1990], who received the Nobel Prize in 1993, sixteen years before Williamson. 5. 1. Douglas North’s theory of institutions North’s theory of institutions [1990] is constructed from a theory of human behavior combined with a theory of the costs of transacting. North’s focus is on the interaction of institutions, defined as any constraint humans devise to shape their interactions, and organizations, created to take advantage of the opportunities presented by institutions in shaping the development of economies. In other words institutions are the rules of the game in a society [North 1990, p. 3]. In consequence they structure incentives in human exchange, whether political, social, or economic. Institutional change shapes the way societies evolve through time and hence is the key to understanding historical change. Institutions affect the performance of economies. The central focus is on the problem of human cooperation – specifically the cooperation that permits econo90 mies to capture the gains from trade. The evolution of institutions that create an hospitable environment for cooperative solutions to complex exchange provides for economic growth. Defining institutions as the constraints that human beings impose on themselves makes the definition complementary to the choice theoretic approach of neoclassical economic theory [North 1990, p. 5]: â€Å"Building a theory of institutions on the foundation of individual choices is a step toward reconciling differences between economics and the other social sciences. The choice theoretic approach is essential because a logically consistent, potentially testable set of hypotheses must be built on a theory of human behavior. The strength of microeconomic theory is that it is constructed on the basis of assumptions about individual human behavior. Institutions are a creation of human beings. They evolve and are altered by human beings; hence our theory must begin with the individual. At the same time, the constrains that institutions impose on individual choices are pervasive. Integrating individual choices with the constraints institutions impose on choice sets is a major step toward unifying social science research†. North’s theory was exemplified by Crossland and Hambrick [2007]. They base it on three fundamental national-level institutions – national values, prevailing firm ownership structures, and board governance arrangements – and argue that CEOs in different countries face systematically different degrees of constraint on their latitudes of action, and hence they differ in how much effect they have on company performance. To test these ideas, they applied a variance components analysis methodology to 15-year matched samples of 100 U. S. firms, 100 German firms, and 100 Japanese firms. Results provided robust evidence that the effect of CEOs on company performance – for good and for ill – is substantially greater in U. S. firms than in German and Japanese firms. For example, in U. S. board governance constraint is reduced by the prevailing practice of CEO/board chair duality and the power of CEOs to influence board member appointments. In approximately 80% of U. S. companies, the CEO chairs the board that is supposed to monitor him or her. 5. 2. Recommendations for institutional change The last global economic crisis provoked a permanent discussion regarding necessary changes of capitalistic institutions. Conclusions of the discussion are very important for strategic management on the corporation level. According to majority of authors [Porter amp; Kramer 2011; Martin 2010; Barton 2011], in recent years business increasingly has been viewed as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. Companies are widely perceived to be prospering at the expense of broader community. Companies remain trapped in an outdated approach to short-term value creation that has emerged over the past few decades. 91 According to Martin [2010] the shareholder value has almost nothing to do with the present value. Present value earnings tend to be a small fraction of the value of common shares. Over the last decade, the average yearly price/earnings multiple for the Samp;P500 has been 27x, meaning that current earnings represent less than 4% of stock prices. For managers, implications of this are clear: the only sure way to increase shareholder value is to raise expectations about the future performance of the company. Short-term rewards encourage CEOs to manage short-term expectations rather than push for real progress. The need for a healthy share price is a natural constraint on any other objective set. Making it the prime objective, however, creates the temptation to trade long-term gains in operations-driven value away for temporary gains in expectations-driven value. To get CEOs to focus on the first, we need to reinvent the purpose of the firm [Martin 2010]. Many reasons of the crisis stemmed from failures of governance, decision making, and leadership within companies. Barton [2011] met with more than 400 business and government leaders across the globe. Those conversations have reinforced his strong sense that, despite a certain amount of frustration on each side, the two groups share the belief that capitalism has been and can continue to be the greatest engine of prosperity ever devised. Barton [2011] underlines that we need a shift from quarterly capitalism to long term capitalism. Executives must infuse their organizations with the perspective that serving the interests of all major stakeholders – employees, suppliers, customers, creditors, communities, the environment – is not at odds with the goal of maximizing corporate value; on he contrary, it is essential to achieving that goal. According to Porter and Kramer [2011], the solution lies in the principle of shared value, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses must reconnect company success with social progress. It can give rise to the next major transformation of busi ness thinking. The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profit per se. It will also reshape capitalism and its relationship to society. Shared value should help to start the next wave of business innovation and growth. According to Porter and Kramer [2011], we need a more sophisticated form of capitalism, one imbued with a social purpose. Creating shared value represents a broader conception of Adam Smith’s invisible hand. It is not philanthropy but self-interested behavior to create economic value by creating societal value. There is a general consensus that capitalism as an institution is an unparalleled vehicle for meeting human needs, improving efficiency, creating jobs and building wealth. But a narrow conception of capitalism has prevented business from harnessing its full potential to meet society’s broader challenges [Porter amp; Kramer 2011; Martin 2010; Barton 2011]. 92 6. Strategic entrepreneurship The behavioral perspective has created interests in the role of entrepreneurship in strategic management. Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel [1998, pp. 124–147] distinguished an entrepreneurial school which focused the strategy formation process exclusively on the single leader, and also stressed the most innate of mental states and processes – intuition, judgment, wisdom, experience, insight etc. The term ‘strategic entrepreneurship’ was created at the beginning of the previous decade in order to describe entrepreneurial action with a strategic perspective. Strategic entrepreneurship is the integration of entrepreneurial (i. e. , opportunity-seeking behavior) and strategic (i. e. , advantage-seeking) perspectives in developing and taking actions designed to create wealth [Hitt et al. 2001]. Contemporary entrepreneurship research originated in the work of Schumpeter [1934, 1942] who argued that the main agents of economic growth are the entrepreneurs. They introduce new products, new methods of production, and other innovations that stimulate economic activity. Schumpeter described entrepreneurship as a process of ‘creative destruction’. He viewed this process favorably, because innovations typically represent an improvement in terms of product or process utility and as a result create greater buyer interest and overall economic activity. Entrepreneurs have ‘carried out new combinations’, including the doing of new things or the doing of things that are already being done in a new way [Schumpeter 1934, pp. 132, 1947]. Entrepreneurship links micro and macro levels in a feedback. Baumol and Strom [2007] underline that current institutions, shaped by history and government are critical in determining where entrepreneurs will find it most promising to direct their efforts. One goal of good policy is the redesign of institutions so as to direct entrepreneurial activity to a beneficial direction. Entrepreneurs recognize the commercial opportunities offered by innovations and transform these opportunities into new products that may improve the lives of all citizens and contribute to increased productivity throughout the economy. Entrepreneurship is perceived as an engine of socioeconomic growth and development, providing new job opportunities and diverse goods and services to the population. The new entrepreneurial practices are emerging by trial and error. Governments need to exploit all available experience and commit to ongoing experimentation. They must follow an incomplete and ever-changing set of prescriptions and relentlessly review and refine them [Isenberg 2010]. The entrepreneurship ecosystem consists of a set of individual elements – such as leadership, culture, capital markets, and open-minded customers – that combine in complex ways. In isolation, each is conducive to entrepreneurship but insufficient to sustain it. The striking dissimilarities of such countries like Rwanda, Chile, Israel, and Iceland illustrate the principle that leaders can and must foster homegrown solutions – ones based on the reali93 ties of their own circumstances, natural resources, geographic location, or culture [Isenberg 2010; Habiby amp; Coyle 2010]. Government cannot build ecosystems alone. Only the private sector has the motivation and perspective to develop self-sustaining, profit-driven markets. For-profit organizations today have the opportunity to collaborate with citizen-sector organizations (CSOs) on problems that neither group has been able to solve independently [Nidumolu, Prahalad amp; Rangaswami 2009]. The power of such a partnership lies in the complementary strengths of the participants: Businesses offer scale, expertise in manufacturing and operations, and financing. Social entrepreneurs and organizations contribute lower costs, strong social networks, and deep insights into customers and communities [Drayton amp; Budinich 2010]. Entrepreneurs can play a central role in finding new approaches to the world’s toughest economic challenges and social problems [Thompson amp; MacMillan 2010]. If successful, socially minded entrepreneurial efforts create a virtuous cycle: The greater the profits these ventures make, the greater the incentives for them to grow their business. And the more societal problems they help alleviate, the more people who can join the mainstream of global consumers. 7. Hypercompetition as a potential new paradigm It is easy to suggest replacing short-term capitalism (quarterly capitalism) by a longterm approach. Now, due to new technologies and globalization, all processes occur faster and faster. Since the mid-1970s, a fundamental change has occurred in the structure of the American – and much of the world’s – economy. It has shifted towards far more competitive markets [Polowczyk 2010]. Technology, globalization, and deregulation – all of these intensify competition among companies to get or keep consumers, and to attract investors. To keep shareholders, CEOs had to do everything possible to raise the value of their companies’ shares. And just as consumers kept the pressure on companies by moving with ever greater ease to a competitor with lower prices or better quality, so did investors – aided by fund managers – become more agile in hunting for bargains. In the 1990s, the average investor held on to a share of stock for a little more than two years. By 2002, the average holding period was less than a year. By 2004, it was barely six months [Reich 2007, p. 71]. It has made markets far more volatile and produced yawning gaps between corporations’ market price and their actual value. The advent of high-frequency trading (HFT) has only strengthened this trend. 1 According to Barton [2011] in the 1970s the average holding period for U. S. equities was about 7 years; now it is more like 7 months. 94 The â€Å"hyperspeed† traders (some of whom hold stocks for only a few seconds) now account for 70% of all U. S. equities trading [Barton 2011]. The managers of the largest pension funds and mutual funds squeeze companies for higher profits. The obsessive drive among CEOs to meet or exceed Wall Street’s estimates of pending quarterly earnings has undoubtedly led to excessively short-term thinking in executive suits, as well as a string of abuses and distortions [Graham, Harvey amp; Rajgopal 2004]. Unsuccessful CEOs were quickly fired, and an average CEO tenure has dropped from 10 to 6 years since 1995 [Barton 2011]. The new competitive landscape in many industries gives rise to a relentless pace of competition, emphasizing flexibility, speed, and innovation in response to the fast-changing environment. D’Aveni [1994, p. 2] coined the term â€Å"hypercompetition† to describe the condition of rapidly escalating competition characterizing many industries: â€Å"an environment of fierce competition leading to unsustainable advantage or the decline in the sustainability of advantage†. Almost from the beginning of strategic management as a field of enquiry, considerable effort has been made to define and empirically demonstrate the existence of sustainable competitive advantage. The two key sustainable advantage models are Porter’s five forces model and the resource-based view of the firm. Both Porter’s five forces model and the resource-based view of the firm are rooted in a conception of the world that is essentially stable. Recent studies suggest that sustainable competitive advantage is rare and declining in duration [Wiggins amp; Ruefli 2002, 2005]. There is growing empirical evidence that the volatility of financial returns is increasing, suggesting that the relative importance of the temporary component of competitive advantage is rising [Thomas and D’Aveni 2004]. The creation and management of temporary advantage is an alternative to sustainable models of competitive advantage. The hypercompetition phenomenon with temporary competitive advantages has significant implications for both practice and research, and needs new analytical methods. The empirical data used for research must match the applied paradigm. Much of the research in Porter’s approach and RBV was largely developed using longitudinal panel data based on public archival annual company or industry data. In the new hypercompetitive landscape data should be more dynamic and detailed, and can be based even on business press or internet daily news. There are many actions which should be analyzed during a month, a week, or day-by-day. For example, new product introduction has a significant positive impact on stock prices immediately after the introduction for the introducing firm. On the other hand, stock prices are negatively affected by rival imitation. The use of daily stock prices allowed to show the Schumpeterian creative destruction effect: the positive effects of innovation and the negative effects of rival response [D’Aveni, Dagnino amp; Smith 2010]. Hypercompetition is probably an unavoidable process covering bigger and bigger areas of the global economy. Capital markets will undoubtedly continue to pressure 95 companies to generate short-term profits, and some companies will surely continue to reap profits at the expense of societal needs [Porter amp; Kramer 2011]. All participants of the economic and business processes have to adapt themselves to the above presented phenomena, as well as the theory of strategic management. Conclusions The above presented evolution of strategic management as a field of academic inquiry at the beginning of the XXI century can be summarized by the following remarks: 1. The last global economic crisis provoked a permanent discussion regarding necessary changes in capitalistic institutions. Conclusions of the discussion are very important for strategic management on the corporate level. 2. The resource-based view is still very influential in strategic management, but now it is supplemented by two different perspectives: behavioral and institutional. Institutions influence behavior of decision-makers. The behavioral perspective regards microeconomic decision-making by company’s executives. The institutional perspective regards macroeconomic institutions. These two perspectives are strictly related by feedback. 3. Processes within the feedback microbehavior-macroinstitutions are supported by the phenomena of entrepreneurship and hypercompetition originated by Schumpeter. 4. The nature of strategy problems cannot easily be framed within a fixed paradigm. Strategic management is necessarily a multi-paradigmatic discipline, requiring varied theoretical perspectives and methodologies. 5. Capitalism as an institution has been and can continue to be the greatest engine of prosperity ever devised, despite the crisis turbulences of the last years.

Application of Theoretical Concepts Free Sample for Students

Question: Discuss about the Coles Supermarkets Australia Pvt Ltd, a Leading Supermarket Chain in Australia Pvt. Ltd. Answer: Introduction The study has identified Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, a leading supermarket chain in Australia as the organisation to be described. The supermarket chain business is owned by Wesfarmers. The company operates in multiple industry i.e. retail, consumer services, and supermarket chain business including 776 supermarket stores in Australia (www.coles.com.au, 2017). By identifying the current strategic management practices of the firm, the study has evaluated the impact of theoretical concepts on the existing management of Coles. Apparently, Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has to deal with other market competitors such as Woolworths and Aldi as the price war of products increases in the recent years. Through the identification of theoretical concepts utilised by the supermarket chain, Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has established its market authenticity. Therefore, the study evaluates the industry attractiveness, resource based review, and competitive advantage of the farm. Lastly, a list of recommendation has been provided to improve the current strategic practices of the firm leading to growth (Jie, 2010). Application of Theoretical Concepts Industry Attractiveness In order to understand the influence of industry attractiveness over the operations of Coles, the Porters five force analysis has been conducted. Due to the huge number of buyers and alternative options available in the market, the bargaining power of the buyers is too high for Coles. However, loyal consumers of Coles Supermarkets have been the major plus point for the business (Hawthorne and Low, 2017). On the other hand, Coles purchases goods directly from the farmers and manufacturers that reduce the bargaining power of the suppliers. Decisively, Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has targeted the suppliers so that the profit margin of the company can be enhanced. For instance, the company has located producers and suppliers of products such as milk, vegetables, beef, meat, and other products that can be cost-effective for the business. As a result of the outcome, the pricing of products and quality of the items can be offered at the best rate. In this way, strategic cost-saving practices and low bargaining of suppliers have helped the business structure of Coles. Reportedly, the supermarket sales data in Australia has voted that the leading supermarkets chains have discounted the prices of products to be the first choice of the customers. Meanwhile, such aggressive pricing strategy of Coles has increased the market potentiality of the company (Ridge et al., 2015). The level of current rivalry is quite high in the supermarket industry. The supermarket chain business in the Australian market has attracted so many firms to take advantage of the target demographics all over the country. As a result of the increasing number of market participants, leading organisations associated with the industry have to face significant challenges. By considering the tough market challenges from the leading business competitors such as Woolworths and Aldi, Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has implemented conceptual theoretical framework to draw finest strategic interventions. On the other hand, the level of substitution is high because Coles deals with a particular range of products that have a huge number of substitutes in the market. Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has identified the market opportunities and the demand of the target demographics. Precisely, the company has valued the pricing strategy, facilities and services to get the attention of the target demographics. Meanwhile, the company has utilised the pricing theory in the product pricing to improve the business environment (Rotha?rmel, 2017). Precisely, Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has never compromised with quality, to say the least. Hence, the goodwill of the brand has worked in favour of the company (Hawthorne and Low, 2017). Hence, it becomes quite difficult for a new firm to enter the supermarket business and stand against a market leader like Coles. Resource Based View The resource based views have been analysed in this particular section as follows: Resources Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd has aggressively utilised the human resources as well as financial resources to good effect. The management of Coles has utilised the employee skills to the serve the customers in a better way. The human resources have been given adequate sales training so that the workforce can influence the customers to change their purchasing behaviour. On the other hand, the financial resources have been utilised so that the condition as well as infrastructure of the business such as marketing, transportation of products and other facilities in the stores are improved as per the requirement (Hawthorne and Low, 2017). Capabilities The supermarket chain business of Coles has correctly identified the organisational capabilities such as brand name, quality of services, stores at major locations and professional workforce. As a result of the scenario, the management has increased targets for the employees so that the overall productivity and market share of the firm will be improved (Heizer, Render and Munson, 2017). Recently, the organisation has been awarded for showing exceptional corporate social responsibility towards the community. Understandably, such sustainable organisational capabilities have improved the image of the business towards the target demographics. Core Competencies Customer loyalty and satisfaction of the target demographics have been the prime core competencies of Coles. The company value the customers and respond to their demand so that the supply chain will be maintained at the highest order. On the other hand, the employee engagement has improved the overall performance of the firm. Decisively, the core competencies of the firm have elevated the performance of the retail business in the target market so that the company can stay a step ahead of the other market rivals operating in the Australian market (Pitts and Lei, 2010). Competitive Advantage Michael Porter developed the competitive advantage theory that analyses the competitiveness of a nation and its implications. The competitive advantage theory is an essential management tool used to understand the factors that leads to competitive advantage for a firm (Foss, 2007). It is important to note that a firm competes in the international market and not a nation. Hence, the theory begins with individual firms and builds up to an entire economy as a whole. According to Michael Porter, the four major determinants of competitiveness are presented herein below to understand the influence of the theory on the strategic management practices of the Coles (Doyle, 2009). Factor Conditions: The factors such as human resources, physical resources, knowledge resources, modern infrastructure and good financial position help the firm to seek competitive advantage in the market. Coles focuses on utilising its resources effectively in order to stay ahead of its rivals (Petit, 2012). Demand Conditions: The reputation of the firm and growing demand in the market for daily products is a supporting factor for Coles to seek competitive advantage in the Australian market. On the other hand, the economic boom has resulted in the rise of prices in the last two quarters resulting in price war in the industry (Hawthorne and Low, 2017). Related and Supporting Industry: Coles purchases its raw materials directly from the farmers and manufacturers that help the firm to eliminate the margin taken by the middle agents. Hence, it is the primary factors that help Coles to sell its products in lower prices (Hawthorne and Low, 2017). Firms Strategy, Structure and Rivalry: Coles has highly trained management professionals with modern infrastructure to attract its customers (Cole, 2015). The company has a virtual online store to enhance its market reach. Meanwhile, the high level of rivalry results in a price war that enforces the company to implement competitive pricing policy to gain competitive advantage in the market. Recommendations By considering the above analysis, the following recommendations are provided to the management of Coles Supermarket to enhance its market growth: Product diversification: The product diversification strategy is required to seek competitive advantage over the rivals. For example, the company sells particular brands and category of products that limits the number of customers (Smith, 2014). Hence, increasing the product range will enhance the customers and revenue of the firm. Focus over marketing strategy: Coles need to focus on digital and innovative marketing strategy in order to enhance the number of customers and retain the older ones. It can make use of social media advertising, Google AdWord and many other to attract more customers. Competitive Pricing: In order to survive and maintain its market positioning, the company needs to maintain the competitive pricing policy (Smith, 2014). As the company is operating in a price war environment, a hike of price may lead to a high level of profit for the rival firms. Hence, the competitive pricing policy is recommended to the firm to survive and seek growth in the current market. Conclusion Coles is one of the reputed and largest Supermarket chain businesses in Australia. The core competencies of the firm and the current strategies have helped the company seek competitive advantage in the market. On the other hand, it has several core competencies that have led to the success of the firm. Irrespective of the current success, the company needs to make changes in its current policy in order to enhance its growth in the long run. Conclusively, diversification strategy, modern marketing strategy and competitive pricing policy are the key to success for Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd in the upcoming years. References Cole, G. (2015).Personnel management. 1st ed. London: Continuum. Doyle, W. (2009). Situated Practice: A Reflection on Person-Centered Classroom Management.Theory Into Practice, 48(2), pp.156-159. Foss, N. (2007). Strategic belief management.Strategic Organization, 5(3), pp.249-258. Hawthorne, M. and Low, C. (2017).Struggling supermarkets rely on beer, babies and smokes. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/coles-woolworth-aldi-in-battle-for-diminishing-shopper-dollars-20170124-gtxwgq.html [Accessed Mar. 2017]. Heizer, J., Render, B. and Munson, C. (2017).Principles of operations management. 1st ed. Boston: Pearson. Jie, Y. (2010). The Optimal Supermarket Service.International Journal of Business and Management, 5(2). Petit, Y. (2012). 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