The Evaluate Current Strategic Choice And Implications Management Essay

The Evaluate Current Strategic Choice And Implications Management Essay Strategic Management is a term that is not new, first used in the 1970s it was conceived that a team of strategic planners would come up with strategic ideas to sell to decision makers. It is all about identification and guideline used by the managers in order for the company to have a competitive edge over the competition. Joel Ross Michael Kami(Fred 2011, 35) mentioned that; Without Strategy, an organization is like a ship without a rudder, going round in circles. Its like a tramp; it has no place to go. According to Wheelen and Hunger(2006,3) A set of decisions and actions that are used to charter the performance of a corporation can be defined as Strategic management. The process of this would take into account the scanning of external and internal environmental factors, long term and strategic planning for strategy formulation as well as the implementation and evaluation and control process. Wheelen Hunger(2006,3) strongly focused on the analyzing and evaluating of external opportunities and threats compared to the companys strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is an ideal tool for strategic managers to plan for both predictable and unfeasible contingencies. In the point of Dess and Miller(1993), the combination of three major interrelated activities; strategic analysis, strategic formulation and strategy implementation can be called strategic management. These activities are a continuous process that helps evaluates and controls the company and the industry it is in, benchmarks the competition and set realistic targets and strategies to meet its existing and potential competition. Lamb(1984) states that strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and industries the company is in; it also assesses the competitors to set goals and strategies then reevaluates them every quarterly or annually to decide on the implementation of the strategy is successful. It then reevaluates the if there is any new factors such as technology, competition, economic market, social, financial and even political environment that can be used to create a new strategy. As a summary, Strategic Management and Planning is the understanding of the process of strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. For company an organization to gain the edge over its competition regardless of size, scale; each organization needs to have a well planned strategic management in order to strive and compete in the market while optimizing its potential for tomorrows trends of today. Background of company The birth of Singapore Airlines was from Malaysian Air Limited where it first started in 1947, because of political reasons, the company was renamed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines and finally the company split its shares to Malaysian Airlines System and Singapore Airlines in 1972 on which Singapore Airlines is owned by Singapore state owned investment house; Tamasek Holdings Singapore Airlines was forced to focus on the international market that was subjected to intense competition because there was no domestic route available to after the separation. The difficult start of was one of the factors that drove Singapore Airlines driving spirit to compete and dedication to branding. It started the branding strategy by engaging a French haute-couture designer in 1972 to come up with a special version of the Malay Sarong Kebaya for the airline stewardess uniform and adopting a branding Singapore Girls that provide top quality in-flight hospitality. This feature became one of the most recognized signatures for Singapore Airlines. The marketing strategy was accompany by background lobbying effort to talk country in granting access to its airport and dedication to its human resource management by investing 20million on training facilities. This was paid off at 1973 when the airline was ranked third in the Far East Asian region. The company then are force to conduct cost cutting program to struggle with surge of oil price on 1973~1977. Surviving this, in 1977 the airlines joint operation with British Airway to provide Concord jet service between Singapore and London, the service was terminated in 1980. This however was deem a marketing success as Singapore Airline were make famous around the globe with this achievement. At the same period, new Changi Airport was constructed, leading to a higher service standard being provided by Singapore Airline. This has paid off and Singapore Airlines were the top preference in Asia-Pacific Region in 1981. The airline follows a steady internal growth strategy in the 1980s, expanding its size, renewing fleet and adding route. SIA was privatised on 1985, listing on Singapore stock exchange with Temasek Holding owning a 63% initially and gradually reduced to 54% in 2008. During 1990s, the company follows a more aggressive growth pattern, two subsidiaries were form in 1992, Silk Air to close the gap between its route networks and cater to a lower cost market segment, SIA Engineering is form to increase productivity and pursuit better business opportunity. Globalisation in the 1990s have also prompt the airline to expand overseas, invest in other airline company and forming new subsidiary in other country to provide better support on is airlines. The Asia financial crises at the end of 1990s prompt the airline to review its operation cost again, cutting down on not profitable route. [St James Press, 1999]. Against conventional wisdom, the company have utilized its strong financial resources during financial crisis to make capital investment, spending 300million to renovate cabins of its aircraft. This had benefit the airlines as the price level during the crisis is low and the airlines have more bargaining power over its supplier [Scott, 2008]. Till date, Singapore Airlines group of companies provide passenger and cargo air transportation, airport terminal services, aviation engineering services, training of pilots, air charters and tour wholesales and related activities. As of March 2009, the group have 31,834 employee, posted a revenue of SGD 15,996 million. The airlines also operate route on 36 countries with 66 destinations and 726 weekly flights. The performance of Singapore Airlines at the beginning of year 2009 was severely hit by the economic downturn and pre-purchase fuel priced hedge at high level before the financial crisis [SIA annual report 08/09]. Recent health crisis like bird flu, H1N1 had also affected the travel industry which the airline is operating in. Organisational structure SIAs organisation is divided primarily by function and has disadvantages of low responsibility at bottom level staff and compartmentalize on manager. To tackle this, SIA have a flatten organisation chart with few level of hierarchy within the organisation, this allows autonomy and create a more flexible and dynamic business that empower people to make decision and leads to job enrichment. The company also promotes independences and encourage senior staff to train and allow junior staff to made decision. To tackle problem of job compartmentalize, non technical manager are rotated on jobs and allows them to have a broader picture. The management of SIA also stress on importance of maintaining good and healthy work culture inside the organisation. Team works is place on high importance by the company. As the company have established sales office in over 80 countries, it had divided the sales operation by geographical area. To tackle problem on management control, the company had placed the focus point on end results objective allowing site manager to exercise flexibility and made adjustment based on situation. Full authorities had been given to its overseas regional general manager allowing decision to make quickly in respond to local issue and customize business operation to suit local climate [Times 100, undated.]. The company used organic growth strategy and stress on profitability rather than size, this allow slow and steady growth and leader to be groom properly. In general, the organisational structure of SIA is decentralise encourages autonomy allowing quick response to business treat and opportunity which is crucial in the airline industry which are very fast and dynamics. 4.0 Analysis of External Environment 4.1 Political The political environment of Singapore is stable with its dominant political party Peoples Action Party (PAP) controlling the government since the independence. Singapore government has allowed the freedom in corporate governance and has little set restrictions to the industry. Singapore Airlines make 90% of the decision on its own and has only influence the appointment of the director over the company (Sikorski, 1995). Singapore Airlines was allowed to stress on profit in comparison with public or social responsibility and was even backed by the government during its retrenchment practice during the economical crisis. (Sikorski, 1995) With a strong foreign policy that maintains good relationship with 175 countries, Singapore has a particular good relationship with huge economical countries such as France, United Kingdom, and Germany. It also has a mutual free trade agreement between Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, United States of America and recently with China in 2008. With Singapore signing the Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in December 2008, it embarks to build strong ties with the middle east countries as well. Singapore is a stable base for the operations for SIA comparing itself to other regions in the Asia Pacific that have seen unrest over the recent years. Terrorism alerts affected some countries in the Asia region with India(2008) and Pakistan(2009) hit with the lost of hundreds of life. The tourism industry for Thailand was affected in 2008 during the protest and heavy floods as well as the Tsunami event that happened in Langkawi, Malaysia as well as Thailand that affected the influx of tourist there. There was also the riots in China and the Korean Missile crisis that effect the Singapore Airlines to re-route its flight to other locations. 4.2 Economic Financial Crisis in 2007 affected many countries over the world that brought recessions to most of the affected countries. This slum lasted through 2008 that made the global financial institutions very cautions on its loans of money and many companies had to underwent a cost cutting measure to stay afloat. The IMF predicted the regeneration of the world wide economy by 2009 and it the up market trend has steadily grown from there. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also contributed to promote Singapore as a destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions). In SGD 90 Million BOOST (Building on Opportunity to Strengthen Tourism) program was launched in February 2009 and was followed up in October with an announcement for a new Tourism Compass 2020 roadmap to grow tourism 2015, with the goal to set Singapore as the leading city for MICE (STB,12 Oct2009). The growth was further spurred by the building of two integrated resort projects, Marina Bay Sand and Resort World at Sentosa. Singapore has also continued to host the Formula One Night Race and with all this factors surely has a positive impact for the travel and tourism sector for the country. 4.3 Social Cultural Singapores population comprises of more then 75% Chinese, followed by Malay and Indian; the main religion of the country is Buddhism, Islam, Christian, Taoism and Hinduism. Having a rich Asian culture in the country, Singapore is one of the most westernized countries within Asia. With the growing China economy and its open door policy; Singapore has landed a great pool of foreign labor arriving from China. This in return has created a cultural conflict among many Singaporeans. With a highly diversified culture with close to 35% of its population is non citizen residing in the country, (25% of is foreigner and 10% are permanent resident); Singapore can be considered as an immigrant country. Although having high non-citizen to citizen ratio, the country never stops to promote foreign talent and believes that if the immigrant policy were to be stopped, Singapore would face a shortage of quality labor. Having a strong Chinese influence over its working culture that has made it a culture of high in power distance with the lower employees accepting the subordinates positions that seldom questions the managements decisions. The working culture also stresses on good team work and maintaining group harmonies. (Warnstam,2007). This has made Singapore to become a very cooperative employee to employer relationship and its labor union is in good terms with companies throughout. 4.4 Technology The growth in the usage if Internet around the globe has prompted the growth of customized web addresses to be used around the world. This has also given the potential for the usage of Chinese characters to form the web address (Choe,Oct 2009). With the emergence of such technological advancement, the electronic devices has also evolved to become more portable with increased performance and now almost every household in Singapore would have a portable laptop, hand phone and digital cameras loaded with personalized music, games , photo and video. The growth of such technology has prompt an expansion of innovation over the past decade. The development of high speed networks and compression has allowed faster transfer of data and transfer rate, resulting in the availability to have high quality real time video conferencing with people around the globe from the office or even without leaving the house. This has made it a very good substitute for companies to use instead of having to send its employees for business travelling. (Yu, 23 Jun 2009). 5.0 Evaluate Current Strategic choice and implications 5.1 Analysis of Current Strategic Position 5.1.1 Financial position Singapore Airlines has maintained its profit over the years, the group has maintained its profit even through the 2008 financial crisis. After the growth in 2009 the group assets are worth SGD 22.04 million and debt of SGD 1.077million with an equity debt ratio of 0.08. With a general reserve of SGD 11.264 million the company is poised to be able to sustain its operations in any case of crisis. (SIA, Annual report 2012) 5.1.2 Product position Carrier RPK (Million) SIA 90,128 Cathay Pacific 90,975 Qantas 99,176 Total of   AAPA member 550,014 Table 1 Comparison of RPK Airlines market size can be measure by Revenue Passenger-Kilometer (RPK). Having based in Asia Pacific region, SIA, Cathay Pacific and Qantas all falls into the same category of medium cost, developed airlines. These airlines have similar offering and price level. It can be seen that SIA, Cathay and Qantas have market share of similar size [AAPA, 2009]. The company is ranked number two in Skytrax Best airline award; the airline is in the top five ranking for 10 out of the 12 award Skytrax have. The airline has the Best 1st Class and best in-flight catering award in 2009. The only part the company dont have a ranking is on the airport lounge service [Skytrax, 2009]. 5.1.3 Marketing capability The initial distribution of SIA is mainly by the travel agents or through internet bookings, SIA has come a long way by providing a ticketless system for its passengers that even allows boarding as well even for connecting flights with its partner airlines (SIA,2009). SIA also engages social networking website in Facebook though quite limited in its presence. This is a drawback with the current trend of younger generation who associates more with social networking sites. Another factor that is a slight disadvantages for Singapore Airlines is that the domain www.sia.com and www.sia.com.sg is not owned by Singapore Airlines, but to counteract this, they company has engaged to actively publish itself as the preferred search referee if anyone searches for SIA online. SIA has also made good placement in the search engine for using the key world Singapore airlines and Air Ticket Singapore which prompts SIA at the top of the search list. 5.1.4 Organizational structure The organization is divided by function and the disadvantages of low responsibility for the employees at the bottom as well as the compartmentalization on the managers. To overcome this, SIA has flat organization chart with few hierarchical levels for its organizations, this enables autonomy and create a more flexible but yet dynamic business that empowers its people to make decisions and lead to better job satisfaction. The promotion of independence and encouraging its senior employees to train and give chances to the junior personnel to make decisions are a key factor for SIA. Non technical management personnel are rotated on jobs and this gives them to have a broader perspective for the job. This is further strengthening by the stress on the importance of having a good and healthy work culture for the company. Great importance is stressed on having good team spirit. To overcome sales operation issue, SIA has focused on end results while giving its site managers to exercise flexibility to make necessary changes based on the situations. The full power is given to its overseas regional general manager to ensure fast response time for local issues and a more localized business operation to site the climate. The company focuses on the growth strategy that focuses more on profitability rather than size, thus allowing slow and steady growth with chances for leaders to be groomed properly. In general, the organisational structure of SIA is decentralise encourages autonomy allowing quick response to business treat and opportunity which is crucial in the airline industry which are very fast and dynamics. 5.1.5 Human Resources SIA has a strong emphasis on human resources. The requirements for entry level to the company is only for diploma holders are accepted, these employee would then go through the recruitment process. After the appointment, these cabin crew is trained for 15 weeks, 2 times longer the industrial standards. The SIA employees have a 6 month probation that needs to be reported continuously by their supervisor with a confirmation rate of 75% while 20% will be on extension. These trainings are changed periodically to adjust to show the customers expectations. While on the job, the employees are also required to engage in various voluntary community services, arts and cultural activities. Refresher courses will be available for employees allowing 3 to 4 days per year, this is a form of motivation for the employees to engage in self learning and the employees will be accountable for their own growth and development. Results from these stringent training has been obvious by producing Stewardess that have high esteem, motivated and capable in handling the customers in the companys best interest (Heracleous and Wirtz. 2009). The focus on talent form within the company, the company focuses on development of the human capita given training spending of SGD100million for its employees. The company also offers scholarship programs for recruiting management trainees from the universities. 5.1.6 Condition of facilities and equipment Having one of the newest fleets in the world, with an average age of 6 years, Singapore Airlines is one of the most updated planes compared to the worldwide average of 15 years (Prystay, 28 Aug 2009). By adopting the newest planes and technology this impacts in the reduction of maintenance and petrol cost. Other than that, SIA also went through an upgrading of its plane cabins to provide customers with the most updated entertainment systems and a better seating arrangement. Training equipment for its pilots is also provided from the SGD 1 million flight simulator that is capable of simulating the high altitude scenario. SIA also updated its training center in 1999 to ensure the recruitment is capable to facilitate a better and efficient training environment. Overall the airlines does have a great training faclilities for its personnel as well as their commitment to bringing top quality service with a strong financial background but because of the financial crisis in 2008 and the lack of demand over supply, SIA is laden with excess aircraft that has not been utilized. 5.1.7 Past objective and strategies SIA corporate level uses a diversified strategy whereby it expands its business to airline catering, airport terminal services as well as into aircraft maintenance. These dual strategy in cost leadership and differentiation enables SIA to have excellent cost efficient service through high business efficiency. SIA has secured its high business competence through the execution of five organizational systems. The first is the structured service development and design that allocates dedicated departments for its enhancement of service and thorough testing to ensure that there will be a quality service that will be able to meet the latest customers expectations. Second is the focus on consumer trends over the years, with a specific department that monitors closely to ensure that innovation is tailor to focus on improving and enabling a cost effective and highly productive service innovation. The focus will also be on the companys weak point, adapting the best practices from other successful developments while reducing the cost and risk involved for the innovation. The third set is the focus on a profit conscious culture, with the education of its personnel on the priority of profit and customer satisfaction. SIA also focuses on a reward based system that gives proper recognition to employees based on their performance to encourage team work and productivity while reducing wastage. The fourth is the goal for the organization to achieve success through the diversification and infrastructure of its subsidiaries. These integration allows the focus and control that will enhance the knowledge while reduction of cost at the same time. The management of its subsidiaries is based on a clear expectation that enables the subsidiaries to be subjected to market discipline. The last focus for the company is the development of its personnel through training and development while encouraging the development of a direct self continuous learning system to boost their self esteem. The overall strategies that SIA has adopted has made the company to have a high competence core with the overall ability to achieve a differential offering through exceptional levels of efficiency (Heracleous et al 2009) 6.0 Strategic Potential Justifications Choices for strategy for SIA should be based on the logical elements for the process and have a central role. The company should focus their choices of strategy through based on the internal and external factors while taking into account its core competency to strive for profitability and service excellence of its personnel. Strategic Choices for Singapore Airlines Business Level Strategy Corporate Level Strategy Direction and Method of Development Strategy for competitive advantage Adhere to government regulation and satisfaction Internal training and development Profit measurable success for strategies Diversification in market Creation of value added services to gain competitive advantage 6.1 Business Level Strategy Price Based Strategy This strategy takes into consideration of the product to price to gain a competitive advantage. There are many low cost airlines company as of this moment that is conducting business in the Asia region. This causes the market to be very competitive and Singapore Airlines is one of such company that faces challenges. Low cost airline companies such as Air Asia is one of the competitors that are focusing on the usage of price based strategy to capture a market share in the current market. Justification: Acceptable and feasible pricing strategy: The focus for the price based strategy is important as the current completion from the low cost airlines also focuses on the same routes of travel while providing a lower air fare. One of such routes traveled is from Singapore to Bangkok, from this example, Air Asia is selling its seats for a round trip for a price of $150 while compared to SIA that cost $500. Because of this the company is losing money as customer trends are now slowly switching over the low cost seats. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/16-b0f782e011.jpg 4.2 Corporate Strategy Direction Policy Matrix Used to measure the health of the industry for the Asian regions and the capabilities of Singapore Airlines. Below is the representation of Singapore Airlines in comparative to Air Asia ad MAS in the Asian Region. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/17-978ec5a00e.jpg Source: Johnson G, Scholes K. 2005. P 320 Justification: Acceptability Feasibility of Directional Policy Matrix From the analysis it can be seen that the market positing of Singapore Airlines is aimed towards the middle business class strength that offers a highly attractive market. The bargaining power, threats for substitute and competitive rivalry is high for the Singapore Airlines. In the event of a cost increase for jet fuel to USD 115/barrel, the supplier has the upper hand the the treat of substitute is potentially high for the market. For this the feasibility and acceptance of a directional policy matrix for Singapore Airlines is High. 6.3 Directional and Method of Development TOWS Matrix Through the analysis of the internal and external environment, the generation of a TOWS based matrix. This will enable Singapore Airlines to focus on the strategic options available to cater for any potential changes or adapt strategies to further strengthen its market share while limiting its weakness. http://htmlimg2.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/18-6f7d0e3282.jpg Suing the strength and opportunity for Singapore Airlines, there is potential for market diversification. To overcome the potential treats, SIA can have a merger or acquisition with certain airline companies. Avoidance of weakness for Singapore Airlines can adopt a cost leadership strategy. The airlines can develop their internal factors to avoid the treats and weaknesses. Justification Diversification: The current airline industry for the Asian region is highly competitive. There are many airline operations in the region and one of such competition comes from the low cost airline Air Asia. Air Asia flies twice daily from Malaysia to Guangzhou. Currently Air Asia has 86 routes that offers no frills service and has garnered wide recognition from the china market comparing to Singapore Airlines which has 88 destinations in 38 countries. Singapore Airlines would need to strengthen and diversify its market by planning out more feasible routes to high business locations and take a competitive advantage though expansion of the Asian market. Merger and Acquisition: Singapore Airlines needs to have a strong understanding on its competition and to avoid the treats they possess. With their strong financial background, the potential for merger and acquisition is a great choice for Singapore Airlines. Currently there are two national carriers that are seeking to limit Singapore Airlines to access their home market thus slowing down the growth for the airline. Because of this Singapore airlines joined the Star Alliance to take advantage of its international strategy. This is also boosted by the investment of SIA groups into China and India to ensure strategic alliances with the local organizations for their cargo divisions, airport services, enginnering and catering. Internal Development During the previous years, Singapore Airlines recorded a low asset turnover ration in comparison with its competitors. Because of this, the weaker asset turnover ratio has a potential to show that the companies ineffectiveness to utilize the assets to generate profit and will eventually lead to the decline in the groups growth. Singapore Airlines can adapt to this by using better use of information technology to enhance its services to the customers and gain back better response and efficiency. Singapore Airlines website is now one of the most advance and user friendly in the industry that offers the customers to check their schedules, buy tickets, check in and manage their accounts as well as even choosing the meal for their flights. Because of this value added service, the company is able to further maintain its market share and slowly cover up the losses by creating a portal for customers and potential clients to interact with Singapore Airlines. The efficient use of IT has proven to significantly reduce the cost and enhance service levels for Singapore Airlines. Conclusion Singapore Airlines is the national carrier for Singapore and is one of the industry leaders in Asia. Currently the operations route carries Singapore Airlines to South East Asia, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Australia. The analysis for the external factors indicates that Singapore Airlines does face some barriers due to the international economic and political sector. The prices of oil over the years have been very volatile and would play a major impact on the profitability of the airline industry. Other than that with some ups and downs in the economy and the growth of high speed networks through the usage of information technology has played an impact for the overall performance in the airline industry in general with people become less mobile while still being able to work with their counterparts across the globe. The internal factors with the successful branding of Singapore Airlines is one of the drawing factors that is able to sustain its competitive edge as well as w ith strong management background that ensure a quality of service for its customers gives the company its core competencies. For Singapore Airlines to keep evolving towards the new market trends, the company should take into account the internal and external surroundings.

Silvio Napoli At Schindler India Management Essay

Silvio Napoli At Schindler India Management Essay Schindler, a Swiss elevator company, had decided to develop and grow its international market share by planting a fully owned subsidiary in India. Its primary goals were to achieve 50 orders in its first year and break even after four years of trading. It also planned to win 20% of the market share inside of 5 years. Silvio Napoli, had been carefully selected as he was the author of the business plan which had documented this take-off. The mindset was that Silvio could replicate his winning Swatch strategy in a rising market that had strong growth prospects. The two key elements of his business plan strategy was (a) the introduction of a line of standardised and non-customised S001 and S003 elevators and (b) the local supply of materials and components. It had been eight months since he took up office and there hadnt been a single sale. Things had gone pear shaped frustrating Silvio as they had hindered his attainment of the targets set for him. Firstly, selling non-standard elevators in India was myopic where customised elevators were critical to new entrant strategies. Secondly, his strategic expansion highlighted cost reduction instead of focusing on product customisation. Thirdly, communication problems and lack of vital support beleaguered the new low-cost subsidiary from its parent company. Finally, it appears personnel were not listening. Introduction The Schindler dynasty had been established 1874 in Switzerland by Robert Schindler. Fifteen years later they were manufacturing elevators. The current successor was a fourth generation Schindler who had chosen to change the companys cultural orientation from an engineering based manufacturing model to a customer centric service company. Over time it had grown into a world class technology leader in elevators and at the time of study was second to none in the production of escalators worldwide. With such accolades it was amazing that it had no operations of its own in the second fastest growing market in Asia India. Schindler had collaborated with a couple of companies to sell its elevators in this market but terminated both agreements due to irreconcilable differences. So, after a long and drawn experience in the Indian market without much success, Schindler has now concluded its best option would be to utilise a Greenfield strategy. This would offer lower risks and higher control. The time was ripe, as in early 1990s Indias economic liberalisation was designed to welcome international competition and foreign investment . In line with this market entry strategy the corporate executive committee appointed Silvio Napoli to head the launch into India. Their decision was based on Silvios strong knowledge of the project derived from the various assignments he had undertaken for them. Other factors swung in his favour including his trustworthiness, flexibility, and more to the point, who was better qualified to realize the business plan than, him, the originator? The strategic implementation of the business plan was not as easy as anticipated. Whilst Silvios myopic vision may be partially blamed he cannot be impugned for other factors beyond his control. This report seeks to clearly show on conclusion that Silvio Napoli was suitable for the General Managers job. It evaluates his first seven months in this position as a leader and offers advice on resolving the challenges and issues that threaten to derail his thorough business plan. Finally, it will provide recommendations to Silvio Napoli for rectification of operational dysfunction and addresses actions Luc Bonnard should take with Silvio to move forward. Silvio Napoli and his Leadership Style Silvio comes across as a young dynamic leader, a company man at that, who leads from the front. Having graduated from Harvard with an MBA and his former semi pro rugby play makes it feasible to say he was gutsy, energetic, well-disciplined and not averse to strong challenges. These leadership qualities were no doubt essential in taking, what his contemporaries called a high-risk decision to spearhead a start up in a cross cultured environment like India. His leadership style isnt democratic which would have suited the task in hand. It seems a hybrid between bureaucratic and laissez-faire with more of a slant towards the bureaucratic. Leaders exploit or employ different power bases. Silvio opted to use the power of position and control. A pedigree from Harvard, he would have known the best leadership style to suit the situation. It seems he wanted to retain responsibility rather than comprehensively delegate otherwise, probably, this style gave him increased control. Whilst it could be used to indicate poor leadership skills, the authors view is that he may have adopted this tight control style to assist in cost cutting and productivity. Different styles offer different degrees of advantages or disadvantages. A negative side of this mixture of leadership style is the blocked contact aspect which creates barriers to communication which can, as seen in the case, hinder success. This is a classic example of a company charging forward wit h an ill-fated product solely because staffs are afraid to pass on negative customer feedback messages. Getting no feedback, positive or negative, should have set alarm bells ringing. At least positive feedbacks can be advantageous as they have a likelihood of producing increased returns. His hyper-focused work style would leave staff in unhealthy positions of weakness and demotivated. Leadership examination would be incomplete without considering the motivation of the leader or the role or motivations of their followers (Kellerman 2004). The mixed views of his team sum him up. His subordinates see him as impulsive, hard-driving, impatient and over-communicative and angry when deadlines are not met. The authors view is that he is not that kind of leader. He has set high targets for himself and knows he will be able to get his staff to emulate him. It could be that as a first time foreign manager he wants to set the boundaries for his new team but has clearly not communicated it well. Another plausible reason may stem from a clash of cultures both national and organisational because these underpin the attitudes, values and beliefs of the staff. Such differences can create misunderstandings, conflicts and tensions. Punctuality is important in Swiss culture where Silvio has begun his working life. However, in the host country the culture is a laid-back attitude. His contemporaries see him as focused, resolute and strong-headed. Such assertiveness does not help his team who are excellent world class professionals. This leader has a lot to learn. His actions suggest he has not quite understood the culture and the market he has been asked to tap into. To, make matters worse hes not ready or willing to change his views. Silvio knows his weakness in relation to the survival of Schindler India, which is a good thing. He sees himself as a warrior with need to have monk tendencies. He knows his controlling nature requires an infusion with patience. Luc Bonnard sums it neatly when he advices him to work on his monk part. As Silvio is a fledgling GM his priorities need to be more relationship-oriented than task -oriented. Getting this issue right would reduce his problems dramatically. Schindlers Penetration into India Alfred Schindler made an excellent choice of starting his own operation in India. His vision was that India would be testing ground for new products and if the project was a success it would be rolled out with modifications for various markets including China. His organisation had all the activities I the value chain (marketing, production, installation design and service) so having a subsidiary in India to design and test the market was a logical step of its evolution. As mentioned earlier, Schindler India planned to use standardisation to penetrate the market quickly utilising economies of scale. Their simple standard product lines had no allowances built in for customisation. It was strangely in direct contrast with the usual modus operandi employed by other Schindler subsidiaries and, in fact, their competitors who also had more product lines. Instead of using Schindlers successful strategy of offering custom equipment, they chose this entry method. Furthermore, to cut costs it would subcontract the manufacturing of the bulk of its component to local suppliers with the rest being supplied through its European counterparts. Many successful companies entering India create long term investments and a strong organisation obligation by assigning senior executives to work with established local personnel. Conquering this market would require recognition of Indias changing elevator landscape. Such knowledge would be instrumental in considering the next course of action where products can be tailored to budgets and tastes of the consumer base. To capture their custom and wallets successfully Schindler should adapt their business model to local environments. Schindler Indias Management Team Silvio has carefully selected from a set of personnel which have been recommended from a top recruitment firm. His core team were adept in their fields. Silvios real world experience on the platform of international trade is almost non-existent. One would argue that Silvio made up for this deficiency by the calibre of personnel he hired to make up his management team. He realised he was out of his comfort zone in India so he hired people that would complement his own weaknesses. Porter (1996) affirms it is possible to improve operational effectiveness by performing similar activities better than rivals through efficiency. It may be that he strategically hired the two people from Otis to pick their brains and share ideas to achieve this goal. Schindlers Key Problems The first error which snowballed into other areas was the decision to use the swatch plans of low-cost entry strategy to conquer India. The success of the low-end Swatch watches had impressed Alfred Schindler he commissioned Silvio to see if he could imitate their low-cost production approach. A big mistake!!! Schindler have always their markets and customers making them number one worldwide allowing them to maintain their strong position in the escalator market. Schindler didnt need to reinvent the wheel in India. The products were not meeting the needs of the market; as could be seen by their voting with their wallets. Drucker (1954) asserts there is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer. Disregarding the opinions of the potential customer can be destructive. The choice as to how escalators should be sold should really be down to the market. Silvios strong- headedness and single mindedness, impatience and over communicative tendencies could breed foes or disgruntled subordinates and jealous colleagues. A variety of internal and external forces influence employee behaviour. Fig 1 shows the impact of top management behaviour and other forces on employees. Culled from Performance Measurement Management Control Fig 1. Forces influencing employee behaviour Another misaligned judgment is seen in how the Schindler Indias cost structures were developed. The strategy failed to take into account the corporate cost structures were based on a customisation model. It subsequently backfired as it meant he had to revise pricing for elevators to a point where building them would be sustainable. Increased costs sent Silvios budget rocketing. The unforeseen and unfavourable exchange rate hikes and hefty increase from 22% to 55% in duties created another problem. The increase in duty and custom tariffs were on the table. He just hadnt thought it through thoroughly. Likewise the increase in transfer pricing. Shipping the sub-assembly products become more expensive thus uneconomical and impractical. With his team, Silvio sought to find an alternate source locally to bypass the risen import duty. It took some time. Time which could have been utilised better if their European counterparts had warned them. This was a non-issue which could easily have been avoided. Silvio had to with resistance on two fronts. The conflict on the European subsidiaries side was based on change. There was no synergy as both sides had different goals. To cap it all two members of his team had sold customised models. Recommendations Solving this problem will entail Silvio Napolis re-evaluation of his strategy. Perhaps, even, he could opt for a new perspective. The swatch strategy is not compatible with the culture and the market they want to enter. Customisation will improve sales and offer higher gross margins. He should focus on orchestrating a new strategy for Schindler and its marketing of escalators in India. This means taking notice of what the customers want as opposed to what his Business plan says. Whatever strategy he chooses will rely heavily on quality business processes and systems. It will rely on synergy which may require training of personnel. To carry out any strategy would require further investment. This investment would be to cover some / all of the following options. One of their major problems relate to customisation. It therefore seems fitting that customisation is adopted to secure targets. Silvio should not digress from product development as it would detract from meeting Alfred Schindlers test track goals. Product development using latest technologies would allow them to stay at the forefront of their game and allow them to transform their vision into reality. The provision of a factory for these processes would be essential. Greenfield operations are particularly noted for the need for recruitment, management and training of local employees. Silvio organised some night-time training for his staff but he, as an expatriate, was not given cultural training. This would have alerted for example him to how cultures communicate differently through silent language. Being lonely in the middle is characteristic of an expatriate who has superficial familiarity of a territory and lacks cultural understanding. In such instances the local workforce manages operations. So his training will need to be done sooner than later. This will enable him to manage as he should as the current feeling of being in full control is illusory. Schindler must consider a merger with a local competitor to further improve local knowledge, offer an established customer base, and giving them access to local plant production units. Alfred Schindler needs to iron out a few issues relating to the structure of the new subsidiary in relation to Head Office. At the moment there uncertainty as to whether head office decides all global policy or if this Silvio has a say, or indeed if strategically the subsidiary operates autonomously. This uncertainty extends to whether Silvios subsidiary has been set up to access and evaluate long term opportunities in the region. He would also need to address cross-cultural management competencies. He will need to decide how various subsidiaries relate to each other. He will need to know if employees in his multinational teams share similar assumptions and causal relationships. A strong memo is required to the various branches to enforce cooperation. Coming from the CEO it will reshape the negative culture. In dealing with the non-standard glass elevator issue Silvio should be customer- centric and accept the order. It would reflect well and possibly give him a foothold to enter an otherwise dominated market if his company forward a superb service. Customers networking have been known to make or break companies. Again, the lack of support from his European counterparts should be reported to the CEO as it will continue to bug his strategy if he lets it fester. The transfer price issue and the lack of technical cooperation are detrimental to the organisation as a whole. It has far-reaching consequences that cannot be overlooked. A key component of his business model called for the outsourcing of manufacturing to Indian companies to give it the edge in the market through its cost differentiation. But if the supply of technical information is being withheld and transfer pricing is not being honoured then Alfred will need to know. Such Petty squabbles may ruin Schindler India especially if it fails to meet it targets constantly. As theres a lot of reverence for Alfred, his involvement could put Silvios backslide into reverse to progress and ultimately hit his set target. Conclusion Strategies are critical factors for the success and maintenance of competitiveness in any firm. All strategic components are vital, no matter how trivial, as all have impact on the implementation. Understanding the complexities of strategies for entering the Indian market was a tough lesson for Silvio who subsequently discovered planning and implementing the initial plans were different, especially where a lacking of inter-cultural competency and communication problems collided to misalign the strategy. His real-world experience to appreciate and recognise these threats were limited but these should in no way negate his qualification to manage the subsidiary in India. Hes the first to admit that the manager would be key to the success of the business plan and Alfred Schindler may have understood the situation and his company better when he predicted Silvio would feel what it means to be in a hostile environment where nothing works as it should. His first seven months may have been a painful lesson. Silvio has had to learn the hard way. It must be said these experiences have made him a better GM. He is made some positive strides since he took over. Juggling both family relocation and building corporate subsidiaries was not planned well. He should have focussed on one before the other as he wore himself out. Nonetheless, he had open two branches, hired the right calibre of people, especially as they were locals. From day one, he had positively tried to elicit commitment to his business plan. His decision to offer strictly standardised products without customisation was irrational especially in the face of customer feedback which indicated otherwise. Silvio should take time to reflect and reassess his business model with his team taking on board their views. He has failed this far because of his inflexibility and his failure to listen.

The Impact of the Media on the Vietnam War Essay -- Vietnam War Essays

The Impact of the Media on the Vietnam War This essay will discuss to what degree the media can be blamed for the United States’ loss in the Vietnam conflict ending 1975. It will be based predominantly on key written resources on the subject, but it will also contain - by means of an interview - certain first-hand observations from a Vietnam War veteran. For the sake of conciseness, and in order to focus the bulk of the content on the main topic, this essay will make certain assumptions. Most importantly, the essay assumes that the conflict in Vietnam was, indeed, lost by the US. It also presupposes that ï ¿ ½ due to the political climate in the US ï ¿ ½ the war itself was unavoidable. Finally, the essay takes for granted that the reader has a basic knowledge of the reasons and major events behind the US military intervention in Vietnam from the mid-1950s until 1975. In the late 1960s, the low-intensity conflict in Indochina that had been in progress since the end of the Second World War became a full-scaled war. In order for the transition from low-intensity conflict to war to have taken place, a change in the public opinion surrounding the war must have taken place, resulting in the politicians of the time having support for the conflict. When the invasion was initiated, it was proved that the politicians in effect had the press in their pockets: the American press was not asking why there was a need for intervention, but rather how the logistics and economics of the invasion would fit together (Herman & Chomsky 1988). Escalation of conflict The US media did not become interested in the conflict until November 1960, when the US troops stationed in Saigon suffered a spectacular failure during a hunt for a small group of rebels: approximately 400 civilians were killed by American troops. With the conflict suddenly caught in the media spotlight, a small group of war correspondents were sent to Vietnam. The reporters were from the NYT, Herald Tribune, AP , UPI , Reuters and AFP . Stringers and / or reporters from Newsweek, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and the Observer soon followed. (Knightly 1975) Eventually ï ¿ ½ when the conflict escalated further ï ¿ ½ â€Å"Indochina was flooded with war correspondents† (Herman & Chomsky 1988, 193) Warfare can be conducted for many reasons. In the case of the Vietnam conflict, the conflic... ...; The media showed what happened, no more. And what was going on in Vietnam was not pretty, as with most other wars. It is safe to say that the media did not lose the war, but rather expressed the feeling that the US soldiers were dying by the thousands without a good reason. As Melnick quite profoundly summarises it: â€Å"Nobody wants to die for somebody else’s country, and that’s what it boiled down to†. Works cited: Albig, W (1939) Public Opinion New York: McGraw-Hill Cook, M et al. (2001) Tet Offensive http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=tet+offensive Herman, E.S. and Chomsky, N (1988) Manufacturing Consent: The political economy of the mass media New York: Pantheon Books Kennedy, W.V (1993) The Military and the Media: Why the Press Cannot Be Trusted to Cover a War. New York: Praeger Publishers Knightly, P (1975) The First Casualty London: Pan Books Lugo, J (8 Oct 2002) Lecture: Manufacturing consent and public opinion. Liverpool John Moores University Melnick, Mark (12 Oct 2002) Interview via e-mail: Media and Vietnam Schulzinger, R.D. (1998) A time for war: The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975 New York: Oxford University Press

VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA: DO WE REALLY CARE? :: essays research papers

The TV is designed to show images more than to go deeply into the information, where the written press takes the baton because it is a way for nature reflexively: the reading. The radio, in turn, has the gift of entertaining and to make reflect because of being a way that is transmitted, in general, live and that does not need the whole attention of the listener. The opposite thing happens in the television which audience is attracted by the magnets of the explosions, the fire, the pursuit, the shots, this means: scenes full of violence... it is enough to see to raise the "rating" of the newscasters when there are brutal notes compared with the information of the long speeches in political discussions considered boring because the image stays static in a certain speaker and lacks of dynamism. The TV is a way for the action, not the reflection. It is done to optimize the entertainment, it means, to be relaxing and to manipulate, not to think, not even to grow... This leads us to the following questions: Is the people who asks for violence?, or with what purpose the media offers it? The climate of hostility has been intensified?, or it is a faithful reflex of a social decomposition due to the unemployment, the shortage of money and the radical political changes through which the nations cross? Nobody knows the answers of these questions, but the television stays as the only window opened a world supposedly better. The addiction to the TV and the lack of communication in home prohibit the people the balanced development of their capability to have relationships and the acquisition of qualities as the ease, the good deal, the affability, the comity; the nobleness in the males and the thin sensibility in the women. The people who remain a lot of time in front of an electronic equipment, the TV or a computer, lose the necessary talents to be with other human beings and those people who shelter and construct themselves a perspective of the world across the television world, have much more hostile vision of the reality. For this reason, they behave with more hostility and less solidarity. The viewer has the trend to increase consuming and every time worse. He prefers being isolated; each one looks at the TV in his/her own place: father, mother, son and daughter.

Vagrancy in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England :: British History 16th 17th

Vagrancy in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England Throughout the work An Account of the Travels, Sufferings and Persecutions of Barbara Blaugdone, there is a common occurrence of imprisonment. Wherever Blaugdone traveled, she seemed to come across some confrontation with the law. This should not be surprising, for in the time period when this work was written many laws, statutes, and acts had been established to thwart the spreading of unpopular Quaker views. Many acts were established primarily to prevent the ministry of Quakerism; however universal laws, especially those to prevent vagrancy, were also used against traveling Quakers. Vagrancy had always been a concern in sixteenth century England, resulting in the passing of four anti-vagrancy bills in 1547 alone. This resulted in legislation so harsh that a person charged with vagrancy could be sentenced to two years enslavement, which could be extended to life enslavement if they tried to escape. When these bills did not seem to prevent the occurrence of beggars on the street, the Vagrancy and Poor Relief Act of 1572 was instated. This act called for a â€Å"three strikes and you are out† policy, where on a person’s third vagrancy offense they could be rightfully put to death (Woodbridge 272). This legislation was the policy for over twenty years until it was repealed in 1593 for being too strict. In 1597, the new Vagrancy Act authorized the government to banish anyone caught offending the vagrancy laws. After a 1598 statute reestablished slavery as the proper punishment for vagrancy, there were a number of years where periods of l eniency and harshness of punishments alternated. It is important to note the history of these laws since many of them were never entirely repealed. However, it was in the early seventeenth century that a particular legislation finally became the common law that would rule for centuries. In 1601, England passed the Act for the Relief of the Poor, which would be the commanding authority on this issue until 1834. This act established the church as the sole establishment responsible for the care of the poor. If a family was not able to get by, it was the responsibility of the area parish to ensure that the family was taken care of (Woodbridge 272).

Essay : Witness (Film by Peter Weir) Essay

The film, Witness, deals with characters in conflict with the world around them. Discuss the methods Weir uses to convey this idea of conflict. In Peter Weir’s film, Witness, several characters come into conflict with their environment. This is evident through the use of various techniques such as symbol, camera angle, and imagery. Samuel’s protective life as a child in the Amish community is corrupted when he comes into contact with crime and the city and experiences a loss of innocence. By contrast, John Book faces many obstacles when he leaves his life in the city for that of the sheltered life of the Amish and suffers turmoil when he falls in love with Rachel, who comes from a world in which he cannot belong. Similarly, the corrupt policemen, McFee, Schaeffer and Fergie find obstacles when they enter the world of the Amish, looking for Book. When Samuel is brought into Philadelphia it quickly becomes obvious that he is in conflict with the environment around him and we witness his loss of innocence at the railway station. Weir uses sound and camera angle as a method of showing Samuel’s confusion. From low angle shots, viewers can identify with Samuel’s perspective and can appreciate his confusion, noting that all the child can see is people from their midriff down, walking past in all directions. Weir also portrays Samuel’s confusion by having many people talking at once, thus creating contrast between the buzz of a city and the peacefulness of his home. The director uses cinematography well in this scene. Samuel’s conflict is evident when he is confronted with a huge statue. The camera slowly tilts upwards from a low angle until he can see right to the top; he is clearly not used to seeing something of this size. Aside from creating a vulnerability in Samuel, this contrast in size reveals his unfamiliarity with his surroundings, evident by the expression of awe on his face of wide-eyed innocence. The next shot is a bird’s-eye view from the top of the statue, it shows Samuel, who is dressed differently to the rest of the crowd, standing still, in sharp contrast to the constantly moving bustling city crowd. The look on Samuel’s face when he thinks he sees one of his own people is that of excitement and comfort and his disappointment is evident when, after running up to this man, he discovers that he is not an Amish, but an Orthodox Jew. His mother is aware of the dangers of this  strange world and is keeping her eye on Samuel until he wants to visit the toilet. When Samuel walks into the men’s toilets, the man washing his hands (who is later murdered in front of Samuel) turns around and gives the boy a friendly smile. He then walks into a cubicle. As this happens two men walk into the bathroom, McFee and Fergie. Mcfee nods to his partner then puts a bag over the head of the man washing his hands. The next few shots splice between Samuel’s eye peering out of the cubical in utter horror and the murderers slashing this man’s throat. This intricate camera work stresses the fact that Samuel is watching and his shock reinforces the clash in the two cultures–the violent city versus the pacifist ways of his Amish community. It is in this scene that Samuel’s life is changed forever, as he witnesses this man’s bloodthirsty murder. Viewers no longer witness an innocent child, but a boy using all his wit in his fight to survive. The scene where Rachel returns the hidden gun to Book, presents the clash of these two cultures, through the use of images and film techniques. We first witness Rachel with her back to the camera, at medium range, washing dishes–a true domestic scene. She turns as John Book enters and laughs. Viewers are then shown just how out-of-place Book is in her community, evident when we see him in her dead husband’s Amish clothes that are far too small for him (a symbol that he cannot fit into Rachel’s world, and in particular, as her husband). The camera reveals his embarrassment as it tilts to his bare ankles and then we see and hear Rachel laughing, but trying not to in empathy for Book. When Book asks for his gun, the laughter on her face vanishes.. The composition of this frame shows John looking ridiculous in clothes that are far too small for him, in contrast to the juxtaposition of Rachel looking very comfortable and laughing at how he looks. This is split right down the middle by a doorframe, which also show John’s conflict with the Amish community. Next John asks for his gun because he needs it to go to the town. Her facial statement goes absolutely dead serious and she gets it from the cupboard. She picks up the gun by the handle with her index finger and thumb with the rest of the gun dangling below. Once she handed the gun to him, he asks for the bullets that Rachel has forgotten, which she gets out of the flower jar that she has kept them in. Her change in facial statement shows her conflict to guns and the use of  guns. Her intriguing way of holding the gun displays that she thinks of them as dirty and forgetting the bullets shows her lack of knowledge about guns. Altogether this is a very uncomfortable scene toped off by leaving the bullets in the flower, flower being a symbol of life and bullets being a symbol of death. When McFee comes to get John it is very clear that he is in contrast with his surroundings through script, sound effects, character costume and cinematography. Narcotics agent McFee tries to cut off John Book by going around the back of the barn and as he does this, he steps right into a pile of dung. His curses are in sharp contrast to the Pacifist ways of the Amish. McFee is wearing a very smart suit, carefully picked to contrast to the Amish’s simple clothes. This difference is exaggerated when he steps in the dung showing just how out of place he is.

Royal Wedding Media Coverage

Example of a great media coverage The Royal wedding in 2011 Many PR specialists define the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and prince William as the PR event of the year. It is a proof that a well- managed event can resonate for months or even years. It has set the beginning of the reputation building of this new family. As Pagefield's founder and senior partner Mark Gallagher argues, the event not only promoted the young couple, but also gave the monarchy, London and the UK a boost. Before the event, there was an estimated number of 8500 journalists expected to arrive in London from abroad.More than 36 broadcasters, such as BBC, Sky News, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al-Jazeera etc. ; were housed in a special structure, built close to the Westminster Abbey, where the wedding took place. Apart from nearly 2000 guests, 40 broadcast cameras, 12 photographers and 28 reporters from national, international and regional media were expected. More than 100 overseas broadcasting organizations were transmit ting the event. BBC had the biggest broadcasting presence with around 550 people staff at a cost of ? 2 million. The US networks have begun their coverage at 3 a. m. n the west coast. 64% of Americans said that they believe that the event has received too much attention in the media, however 28% of US citizens have admitted that they have followed the wedding very closely. The wedding’s audience has reached 2 billion people worldwide. According to Google, there are over 162 million web pages mentioning the wedding. It was estimated to bring ? 630 million into the economy. All these facts are a proof that the event has received great, or even excessive media ; editorial coverage worldwide and has reached a huge number of people.This has probably turned it into the TV (PR) event of the century. An example of the number of articles that only CNN has concerning the Royal wedding: http://edition. cnn. com/SPECIALS/2011/royal. wedding/ . —————â₠¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€œ [ 1 ]. http://www. prweek. com/uk/features/1124547/the-power-books-top-5-pr-campaigns-2011/ [ 2 ]. http://www. guardian. co. uk/uk/2011/apr/28/royal-wedding-media-tv-audience [ 3 ]. http://www. guardian. co. uk/news/datablog/2011/apr/29/royal-wedding-numbers-figures