Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Marketing Analysis Marketing Brands Essay - 987 Words

Marketing Brands As I’m driving down veterans Blvd in my small hometown, all I see are billboards to my right and left covered in ads. The windows to businesses are covered with ads in large print. While listening to the radio I hear advertising. When I walk in to the local grocery store there are salesmen with brochures who greet you and want a brief moment of your time. Ads are in my email. Businesses are constantly finding new ways to advertise their brand. Even marketers are advertising at the neurological level. Advertising persuades consumers to purchase their products. The product is labeled with a brand. We live in a world where consumers fall prey to buying a brand and not the product. A brand is a logo that represents a product. Companies use brands to make their business known and successful. According to Naomi Klein, â€Å"The astronomical growth in the wealth and cultural influence of multinational corporations over the last fifteen ears can arguably b e traced back to a single, seemingly innocuous idea developed by management theorists in the mid-1990’s: that successful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products.† (pg. 777) Once you get to know a brand you will notice other products that are marked with the same brand. For example, I like drinking Sprite. When I walked into the store to grab a sprite in the fridge there was an ad on the glass door. It said that only Coca-Cola products were on special. As I was looking to seeShow MoreRelatedMarketing Analysis : Brand And Brand992 Words   |  4 Pagesknows the brand value and familiar with the unique associations of the brand then that customer holds the position of resonance with the brand in terms of brand loyalty (keller, 2016). Brand Salience There are certain questions to be imposed in order to build and identify brand salience. These questions are used for the development of the brand by depicting the brands value and identity. The manager or the negotiator will be able to identify the brand and ensure that the particular brand meets theRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Product And Brand Strategy1316 Words   |  6 Pages Using marketing analysis tools this paper aims to give a view into a product and brand strategy. With the use of marketing tools we gain insight into what a product is, and what a brand’s position and strengths are. Which directly and indirectly shapes and offers a view into product and brand strategies likely to be successful moving forward. We aim to give an introductory look at product and brand strategy through the lens of a specific product class in terms of the product, key brand characteristicsRead MoreMarketing Analysis : 3m Brand1058 Words   |  5 Pagesquality, relevance and constant i mprovement within their products and segments. The 3M brand promises â€Å"practical and ingenious solutions that help customers succeed.† Through their brand identity system, 3M has been able to and continues to strive to dominate global industries. 3M’s brand identity objectives include the management of 3M globally, increasing familiarity through consistent reinforcement of brand experience, and lastly the provision of consistent and efficient service. 3M executesRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Brand Community1487 Words   |  6 Pagesparticular brand or product is termed as brand community. In the past people were categorised by their occupation, religion, language and ethnic backgrounds, whereas at present people are distinguished by what they buy and what they are capable of buying. The market must be analysed to strategic brand management due to the dynamics of consumption, individualization as well satisfy collective identity of brand community. Ethnography no longer differentiates people who have a predilection for a brand in commonRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Brand Equity1893 Words   |  8 Pageswhat is meant by brand equity and discuss what a company can do to maintain brand equity According to Kotler and Keller â€Å"brand equity† is defined as the additional worth enriched on items and administrations. It might be reflected in the way customers think, feel, and act as for the brand, and in addition in the costs, piece of the overall industry, and benefit the brand charges (Kotler Keller, 2012, p. 243, para. 5). Essentially â€Å"brand equity† is the strength of a brand which evolves fromRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Brand Community1488 Words   |  6 Pagesparticular brand or product is termed as brand community. In the past people were categorised by their occupation, religion, language and ethnic backgrounds, whereas at present people are distinguished by what they buy and what they are capable of buying. The market must be analysed to strategic brand management due to the dynamics of consumption, individualization as well satisfy collective identity of brand community. Ethnography no longer differentiates people who have a predilectio n for a brand in commonRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Brand Loyalty1718 Words   |  7 PagesBrand loyalty is one of the hottest subjects in marketing today. Customer’s brand loyalty play an significant role in company’s development. There are a range of definitions of this term, but in this essay ‘brand loyalty’ refers to people being willing to buy products from the same manufacturer repeatedly rather than from other suppliers. More and more companies are tried to investing in optimizing the benefits of their brand externally and internally. Various researchers (Ballester and Aleman, 1999)Read MoreMarketing Analysis : Yum ! Brands Inc.3538 Words   |  15 Pagesand Industry/Strategy Analysis Introduction Yum! Brands Inc. is the world’s largest restaurant company. From the worldwide it is has more than 37,000 restaurant units in 110 countries and regions based in Louisville, Kentucky. â€Å"In 2009, the company pulled in almost $11 billion in revenue. The brands owned by Yum! Brands Inc. are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.† These four brands are global leaders in the categories of chicken, pizza, and Mexican-style food. â€Å"Also Yum! Brands have three divisions:Read MoreMarketing Analysis : Starbucks Brand Equity1427 Words   |  6 Pagescold and hot beverages it presents to its patrons; though, the product is accessible and valuable to practically all, it is essential to construct the exploration on a specific bracket of individuals while attempting to quantify the corporation’s brand equity. The soundest target population will be the male and females ages alternating from 25 to 44 years since it encompasses the larger amount of the target market. These peopl e are distinguished by moderately elevated earnings, professional occupationsRead MoreMarketing Analysis : Price And Brand Image1572 Words   |  7 PagesIn these modern days, consumers are bombarded with brands and advertising from different companies and they have a lot more options when it comes to purchasing a product. They usually rely on both intrinsic and extrinsic cues to solve their problem regarding to the quality of products. Consumers have to make their purchasing decision under various uncertainties and circumstances regarding to the product itself and its attributes as Cox (1962, p. 413) stated that ‘consumer s task in evaluating a

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Consequences Of Imperialism During The 19th Century

Consequences of Imperialism In the late 1800’s and early 19th century, strong countries like Britain, France, and Germany became imperialist powers in the world. Most of these countries were industrialized and hungry to grow their economies and territory so they looked upon weaker and smaller countries with great resources they could take advantage of. Although colonizing these countries was tremendously beneficial to the imperialist powers, there were many consequences to the people of the countries that were colonized during this time period. Powers such as Great Britain, had much affect upon the countries that they colonized such as India and parts of West Africa. Their colonization of these countries changed the world in which these people lived in and affected these colonies negatively, by obstructing culture, opposing ways to live upon people, and creating racial oppression, and exploitation of resources and labor; all for personal gain. It was very common for the culture of a country to be obstruc ted and change to be like the ruling imperialist country, often times creating half breeds of people feeling a lack of identity and purpose. This is a process called westernization. The culture obstruction and westernization was put in motion so that the Imperialist powers could spread ideas about living life the way they deemed correct. Westernization was an idea of culture simply coming from the western European powers that carried no tradition or past existence.Show MoreRelatedCompare and Contrast the Influence and Consequence of European Imperialism on Africa and China During the 19th Century.748 Words   |  3 Pagesinfluence and consequence of European Imperialism on Africa and China during the 19th century. Imperialism is when one country dominates the cultural, economic, and political life of a nation weaker than itself. In the 19th century, Europe was the nation that was dominating both China and Africa. There were quite a few similarities in the way that European imperialism was changing these nations. One important similarity was that both the nations had resisted against British imperialism at one pointRead MoreThe 19th And 20th Century Imperialism1297 Words   |  6 PagesThe 19th and 20th century imperialism was substantially about the exploitation of the empires colonies and thus was not a necessarily an ‘civilizing mission’. During the 19th and 20th century European powers tried to justify their actions, by claiming that they were trying to re-educate the native population through education, this included Christian missionaries which were placed throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America. However, it became apparent that these powers gained significant wealth byRe ad MoreWestern Imperialism and Modern East Asia Essay example1188 Words   |  5 PagesWestern imperialism in East Asia caused many tribulations for China, Japan, and Korea but also helped them to become contemporary nations. The East Asian countries were tremendously affected by unequal treaties, extraterritoriality, and above all, technology. Great Britain encroached upon China their greed for open trade with the Chinese empire resulting in the deterioration of the Chinese culture, which led to the emergence of a modernized civilization. Japan was co-subjugated by Russia and theRead MoreImperialism: the White Mans Burden890 Words   |  4 PagesImperialism: The White Mans Burden and the The Real White Mans Burden Well in order to show how imperialism was used in the nature of those two poems, I have to define it. Imperialism is the extension of sovereignty or control by one people or state over another. The objective is the exploitation of the controlled people or state. Imperialism has four major components: economic, military (strategic), political, and humanitarian. Imperialist powers are not bound to follow the laws, internationalRead MoreThe Scramble for Africa in Late 19th Century to Early 20th Century.798 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the late 19th century and the early 20th century, European countries began their scramble for Africa which caused African to suffer from violence like wars, slavery and unfairness, but there was also a positive, peaceful and diplomatic consequences and events in Africa like fair trade system, new technology and the security given to Africans under European rule. An additional document written by an African commoner would help to further assess the African actions and reactions by telling whatRead MoreThe Satire of H.G Wells1560 Words   |  7 Pagesadvancements in human history have made more impact on our modern world than the industrial revolution. Coupled with this leap in industry, imperialism defined the economic political and social structure across the globe. Essentially the industrial revolution defined the means, while imperialism dictated who would have eventual control. H.G Wells explores both imperialism and the industrial revolution by taking them to extremes, and through his satire reflects the specific flaws of both processes as theyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Three I s Of 19th Century East Asia Essay1525 Words   |  7 Pages3, 2016 / EALC-E100-3069/70 Imperialism, Isolationism, and Industrialization; The Three I’s of 19th Century East Asia When Japan and China enacted isolationist policies in the 16th century, Japan and China were among the most advanced countries in the world. Both nations felt that they did not need to nor desired to interact with the rest of the world, or intervene in disputes between â€Å"barbarians† (Aizawa 348.) As a consequence, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, neither country advanced muchRead MoreImperialism in the 19th century1746 Words   |  7 Pagesgreat deal of Imperialism in the 19th century, led by mostly westerners from Europe. Imperialism is the act in which one nation extends its rule over another. Imperialism had a substantial effect on the 19th century throughout the entire world by bringing upon changes to many different countries, for better and for worse, especially to Africa. Prior to the nineteenth century, westerners did interfere with many of the affairs of nations outside of their boarders, so signs of imperialism are shown manyRead MoreEssay on Africa vs European Imperialism841 Words   |  4 PagesDBQ: Imperialism In AfricaAzra Azvar Period 3 2/21/10 Whites vs Blacks In the late 19th and early 20th centuries European imperialism caused its countries to divide up the rest of the world, each country claiming bits as its own. Due to its large amounts of resources, Africa was one of the main areas European nations invaded in the cause if imperialism. In Africa, there were positive and negative effects towards the Africans and the invaders. Some positive effects on Africans were thatRead MoreBritish Imperialism1497 Words   |  6 Pagesand rule of British imperialism. What were some of the key ideas and visualizations that geographers portrayed to their empires, to understand and perceive the world and places in a more complete sense? Firstly, I am looking to go over the history of British imperialism and what constituted their great success. Secondly, I will be referring to the support and importance that the Royal Geographic Society served to the empire and how they attempted to conceptualize imperialism and rule over nations

Monday, December 9, 2019

Essential Theories of Organizational Behaviour

Question: Discuss about the Essential Theories of Organizational Behaviour. Answer: Introduction: This assignment defines the scenarios that are possible once the announcement happens about shuffling the IT outsourcing of OG Company of Malaysia into an in sourcing. The in sourcing branch is set to be in Bangalore. OG is an oil and gas company based in Malaysia. It is one of the top OG companies globally and comes at the fifth position in terms of revenues. It houses more than 2,000 staffs and comes at the second spot only after Manila in groups OG Business. Service centre is the resource of providing general business support with services to OG operations. It also provides solution to other business activities such as HR services, contracting procurement, downstream customer service centre and communications production. With the sudden announcement about the transition of the Company from outsourcing to in sourcing in Bangalore, a sense of fear had started taking its root into its employees. Loyal employees of the organization who served this organization for as long as 15 years have all started shattering for the unwanted facts. This essay consist the case study followed by a literature review on the issue supported by various theories such as Kurt Lewins theory, John Kotters model and Abraham Maslows theory. Moreover, analysis of the issue comes after the literature review. Based on the reviews, some recommendation for the OG, Malaysia is also made. The OG, which has its own IT hub as an outsource is scheduled to give it a complete makeover to an in source IT hub in Bangalore with approximately 2,000 employees. It is set to be a giant hub offering various operational supports and services to OG. The planning behind the set up is to maintain the optimization of various IT staff footprint such as suppliers, staffs, locations, reduce costs and reposition project delivery (Oilandgasinsight.com, 2016). The company is opening its IT in sourcing in Bangalore on destroying the pre-existing outsourcing in Malaysia. Moreover, this is going to affect almost 1,500 staffs and contractors and make them redundant. Many employees have worked for this organization for even more than 15 years with their utmost dedication. At some point of time, they had thought of getting their resignation in the organization itself but the shifting of the IT resourcing to Bangalore has left them with no clue whatsoever (Gu and Wang 2015). It has affected the morale of the employees and they are struggling to accept the change. They are taking this transition as a personal as a proper communication missed at the time of the announcement in themed of the year. Nonetheless, the employees are psychologically affected (Oilandgasinsight.com, 2016). Literature Review Change is defined as external factors that are more situational (Robbins and Judge 2012). Moreover, a change in the organization never happens for any personal reason rather it happens for the betterment of the organization. A transitional process, the other side, is completely different to the change process. Transition is an internal process, which is taken into consideration to maintain the healthy competition among the competitors (Wagner III and Hollenbeck 2014). In such process, employees those who are older in the organization fail to understand the process and are find themselves clueless about what has prompted the organization to go with the decision (Robbins and Judge 2012). It then becomes the responsibility of the organization to help its existing employees with all the required communication during the transition process to bring it efficiently (Kramer 2014). The figure depicted below differentiates the change from the transition very efficiently. Kurt Lewin proposed a model to define the change transition process, which is known as the Lewins model. This model is still very helpful and practiced widely today. It is a very easy model to understand and implement the changes required for the transition of the company. It follows the concept of an ice cube, which on melting becomes a liquid. It is subjected to a change on a certain parameter. Moreover, it again resolidifies and refreezes back into a cone of ice under given circumstances. An organization, which understands the three stages involved in Kurt Lewins Model, can very well manage its transition process (Langton, Robbins and Judge 2013). The organization can start by preparing the ground for unfreezing stage by letting their employees realized about the importance of transition (McShane and Von Glinow 2015). Employees are first required to be motivated towards the change that is bound to happen because of the circumstances, which the competition market had created. Proper and fair communication is very important and holds its own place while making such a big decision. An organization can turn things into their favour by only communicating with its employees properly (Rashid, Nordin and Salleh 2014). A proper communication along with the necessity of the change prepares the ground for the change. Moreover, it resembles the Unfreeze stage of the Lewins model based on a cone of ice. Once the ground has been set for the change, employees are required to encoura ge on their support and services to the organization. Moreover, this gives a space for the change and prepares the final platform. Once the final platform is achieved, a transitional change becomes very handy. Moreover, the final stage resembles with the Refreeze stage of the Lewins model (Wagner III and Hollenbeck 2014). The worldwide reputed John Kotter for its expertise and skills in business change process had addressed the 8-steps change process to define the change process in organizations. Kotters 8-steps model defines the importance of ground preparation for the change to occur. Moreover, the model emphasises on winning the hearts of employees before bringing any change in the organization by properly communicating with employees. Kotters 8 steps model clearly reveals facts that most predominantly resembles the Lewins change stage. First four phases of Kotters model resembles the Lewins unfreezing stage. It support the facts of preparing ground for the change. The next three stages of the kotters model resembles with the change state of the Lewins model. Moreover, the final and the eighth step of Kotts model validate the refreezing stage of Lewins model. It supports the importance of resolidifying of the organization with the proposed change. Nonetheless, it retains the pre-acquired reputation of the organization. Motivation Innovative minds always keep space for a change that is needed for an organization to take a big decision such as a transitional process (Nahavandi et al. 2013). Maslows motivational theory signifies the importance of innovation in an organization and effectively carves way for an organization on how to achieve the required changes (Pinder 2014). According to Maslow, motivating an employee involves five important factors that are the main highlights of the theory itself. Imparting physiological needs with security and safety are the two most important and an integral aspect of any organization, which encourages employee to have motivational thoughts into them (Miner 2015). Physiological needs may contain the announcement of certain rewards such as salaries given for those months that have no work at all. Moreover, during the transition period, there is hardly any job for the existing employees and salary given for those periods is not less than any reward for them for their entire support and services to the organization (Mansor 2013). Moreover, the additional benefits motivate employees for their bright future and compel them in favour of the decision made (Miner 2015). As per Maslows theory, once the physiological needs are achieved, focus is required to shift on the safety of employees. As per the theory, the safe and secu re environment keeps employee motivated until their last day in the organization. Employees faith and love towards its organization make things easier for the organization to make any unwanted decision by the Company. Moreover, employees need love and caring from the organization, they are serving for years. Moreover, providing love and affection to employees keep them motivated throughout the transitional change in the organization (Romle, Talib and Isa 2016). In the final stage, as per the hierarchy, a realization of self-esteem and actualization imparted to the employees hold its own importance. Until and unless an employee is not aware of the fact that the one is worth for the organization, it does not encourage them for the motivation (Miner 2015). It then becomes necessity for an organization to impart the feeling of self-esteem into their employees. Moreover, self-esteem and self-actualization keeps an employee motivated until the end of the transition process (Miner 2015). Change Management As per the case study, the transformational team understand the importance of a proper communication with their employees (McShane and Von Glinow 2015). Moreover, they are prioritizing motivational thoughts in their employee. It is evident that a proper communication is very much required in bringing the transition process and in spite of that the OG Company still went ahead to announce the change in the middle of the year 2015 itself (Rashid, Nordin and Salleh 2014). The sudden announcement has created a sense of fear into the employees and left them with no clues at all. Moreover, it created the sense of redundancy into them initially but the management then realized the mistake and made an improved communication later this year that has sorted things out (Robbins and Judge 2012). As per Lewins model, the unfrozen stage in the OG Company has created the sense of fear into its employees but a proper and continuous communication by the transformational team has bettered the situation (Romle, Talib and Isa 2016). The transformational team forgot to prepare the ground for the proposed change and incautiously went on to announce the decision without having any measure of that. Appreciably, the management had realised the mistake and came up with the solution until the end of the year 2015 (Ahmad, De Brito and Tavasszy 2015). A better communication then made its employees bit aware of the reason for the changes. The management team took different initiatives then to boost the morale of their employees by keeping them motivated as per the Maslows motivational theory. These steps have created the change stage for the OG Company of Malaysia resembling to the Lewins model. As per Lewins Refreezing stage, the OG Company is assuring every possible bit to stop their employees going back again to their past (Saad, Mohamed Udin and Hasnan 2014). Moreover, keeping the past into mind never allows any space for the required change. Transition of the IT hub of the OG Company of Malaysia to Bangalore depends more on its employees. It needs its employee support to the fullest to go through with the process and the management team are doing just accordingly. They have realized their mistake and have improved their communication with its employees. Distribution of salaries for three consecutive non-working months to come is nothing but just specify the rectification that the management team has made to make communication better among employees (Mansor et al. 2013). Motivation To ensure the transitional process with its utmost success, the OG Company brought its focus back on to the Abraham Maslows theory and started fulfilling the need of their employees at different levels (Rui et al. 2016). As per the theory, employees are required to satisfy in their basic physiological needs. Understanding the importance of this in favour the Companys decision, the management team announced about giving salaries for the three months consecutively without demanding any job from them for the same period whatsoever. Assurance is made to employees regarding the payment of salary for the three consecutive non-working months as a reward (Nordin, Vassekaran and Grover 2014). To eliminate the sense of fear out of the employees mind, the OG Company continually focussing on rewarding the individuals for their achievements. Assurance of distributing three months salary for non-working months into the employees of the OG Company is helping in keeping them motivated until the full process of transition. After meeting with the physiological needs, the management team is bringing its focus on the next level of the Maslows theory. This level defines the importance of security and safety provided to the employees within the organization. Environments are keeping employee friendly with their proper physical safety until the process gets end. Moreover, efforts are given to keep employees motivated throughout the entire transition process. Speeches from the Companys expert are helping in motivating employees by the narration of their own experiences through such a circumstances as that of now in the Company (Chudzicka 2013). Regular sessions conducting various social activities such as team buildings, lunch and learn sessions and board games are keeping employees engaged within the Company. Moreover, it is providing the belongings of their relations with the organization throughout the entire transition process (Ahmad and Rezaei 2013). Imparting love and affection to the employees forms the next level of the Maslows theory and the management of the OG Company is very well managing that. Moreover, employees are being encouraged for their support and services to the company, which in return keeping employees motivated. To generate the self-realization towards the change with the sustenance of self-respect are the key highlights of the Companys management team (Bairi, Murali Manohar and Kundu 2013). They are continuously maintaining the self-felicitation process for the irrespective of the ac hievements the employees have garnered. After achieving all these levels, self-respect comes at the next level of the theory. The Company maintains transparency in their approach with all the organizational values displayed to uplift the importance of self-respect to its employees. The last level that comes in the theory is self-actualization. The Company maintains the self-actualization into its employees by continuously arranging training for the employees to nourish employees, which can open up various new options for them outside of the Company. Conclusion Change is an inevitable process that has no stoppages in todays scenario of continuous business change. To stay in the business competition, shuffling with the ever-changing business requirement is of utmost requirement. It sometime involves decisions that are hard to accept for the masses. Riding on the same concept the OG Company of Malaysia realizes the significance of the shifting of the outsource centre into the in source in Bangalore. The sudden announcement of the concept brought havoc in between the employees. Those who were older in the organization and had served the organization for fifteen long years started developing a sense of fear into them. The OG Company should put efforts on making the communication transparent with their employees. All of a sudden, they made the announcement in the middle of the year without making any prior communication within their employees. The OG Company should encourage the feeling for a new job once the shifting takes place. Employees should be given proper training on technical expertise that would be required for a new job. Incepting the knowledge skill is very much required for those who search for a new job. Some motivational speech from the management team is required to impart the significance their presence in the organization. The OG, Malaysia should encourage their employee for a better future ahead by citing examples of their services, which they have produced for the Company. Reference list: Ahmad, W.N.K.W. and Rezaei, J., 2013, June. Influence of external forces on supply chain sustainability goals and decisions in the oil and gas industry. InEngineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE) IEEE International Technology Management Conference, 2013 International Conference on(pp. 1-9). IEEE. Ahmad, W.N.K.W., De Brito, M.P. and Tavasszy, L.A., 2015. THE IMPLICATIONS OF ENERGY TRANSITION ON SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY.Journal of Technology Management and Business,2(1). Bairi, J., Murali Manohar, B. and Kundu, G.K., 2013. Knowledge acquisition by outsourced service providers from aging workforce of oil and gas industry: A study.VINE,43(1), pp.39-56. Chanana, P., Soni, T.M. and Bhakne, U., 2016, March. Emerging Technologies and Workflows in Digital Oil Field. InOffshore Technology Conference Asia. Offshore Technology Conference. Chudzicka, J., 2013. Insourcing as a New Trend in Global Business.Foundations of Management,5(2), pp.7-24. Gu, M. and Wang, L., 2015. Assessment of oil and gas geopolitical influence.Journal of Geographical Sciences,25(3), pp.369-384. Kramer, M.W., 2014.Managing uncertainty in organizational communication. Routledge. Langton, N., Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T.A., 2013.Fundamentals of organizational behaviour. Pearson Education Canada. Mansor, N., Ismail, A.H., Alwi, M.A.M. and Anwar, N., 2013. Relationship between Spiritual Leadership and Organizational Commitment in Malaysians' Oil and Gas Industry.Asian Social Science,9(7), p.179. McShane, S.L. and Von Glinow, M.A., 2015. Organizational Behavior 7/e. Miner, J.B., 2015.Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge. Nahavandi, A., Denhardt, R.B., Denhardt, J.V. and Aristigueta, M.P., 2013.Organizational behavior. SAGE Publications. Nordin, S.M., Vassekaran, S. and Grover, G.S., 2014. Intercultural Negotiations: Issues and Challenges in the Oil and Gas Industry from Malaysian Perspective.International Review of Management and Business Research,3(3), p.1385. Oilandgasinsight.com. (2016). Oil and Gas Insight. [online] Available at: https://www.oilandgasinsight.com/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2016]. Pinder, C.C., 2014.Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press. Rashid, R.A., Nordin, S.M. and Salleh, R., 2014. Impact of Safety Communication on Safety Commitment with Leader-Member Exchange Quality as a Moderating Factor: A Conceptual Framework.Global Business and Management Research,6(4), p.277. Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T., 2012.Essentials of organizational behavior. Boston: Pearson. Romle, A.R., Talib, N.F.M. and Isa, N.H.M., 2016. The relationship between motivation and commitment on job performance among employees from students perspective: the case in public university. Rui, Z., Peng, F., Ling, K., Chang, H., Chen, G. and Zhou, X., 2016. Investigation into the performance of oil and gas projects.Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering. Saad, S., Mohamed Udin, Z. and Hasnan, N., 2014. Dynamic Supply Chain Capabilities: A Case Study in Oil and Gas Industry.International Journal of Supply Chain Management,3(2). Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014.Organizational behavior: Securing competitive advantage. Routledge.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Sony and Ericsson

Introduction Organizations develop mechanisms of enhancing their competitive advantage through various ways. One of such ways is to form mergers and joint ventures in the effort to gain economies of scale. A good example of such an effort is provided by Ericsson, a Swedish phone maker, and Sony Corporation, which is a Japanese phone maker, which pulled together its resources to form Sony Ericsson communications (SEMC) in October 2001 in the form of a joint venture.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Sony and Ericsson specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, 10 years down the line, Ericsson and Sony announced their intentions to split. This paper discusses the motivations behind the formation of SEMC, the problems encountered in the joint venture, the strategies used by both organization to address the problems, and the factors, which led to the decision to split SEMC. Motivation for the formation of a joint ve nture between Sony and Ericsson The alliance of Sony and Ericsson was formed by organizations that were established in different nations. Thus, SEMC was an international joint venture. Scholarly research identifies different motives for the formation of international joint ventures. For instance, Hill argues that firms engage in joint ventures internationally to gain competiveness in the global market, enhance technological sharing, share operational risks, and to develop the capacity to fund strategic mechanisms of success, which are beyond the financial capability of a single firm (27). SEMC reflects this motivation. According to Harris, strategic factors led to the formation of SEMC alliance (1). For Sony, such factors included the need to gain market excellence to overcome the competitive force of Nokia Corp through increasing the market share for the two organizations. This goal was to be realized through the development of a knowledge base for wireless technology expertise in the telecommunication industry deployed by Ericsson. Ericsson shared a similar aim. It wanted to enhance its capacity to produce consumer-oriented electronics that would pose a mega threat to the market leader-Nokia Corp (Harris 3). This shared motivation meant that SEMC would be able to develop products, which were technologically innovative, hence enabling the joint venture to become more competitive in the market. Sony held only a quarter of the market share that was possessed by Ericsson. However, the presence of Sony in the European markets implied that Erickson would gain new markets in other regions apart from Japan. Sony would also acquire market in Japan that was essentially closed by dominance of Ericsson in the Japanese mobile market together with entertainment technology that was in-built within the Ericsson’s products (Dunn 12).Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Le arn More Ericson wanted to have access to the production process deployed by Sony together with video and audio entertainment technology, which led to the production of mobile handsets with the capacity to revolutionalize the mobile entertainment industry innovatively. This would make it possible for the joint venture to penetrate a new market, which was not yet explored. From the above discussion, it is inferable that both Sony and Ericsson had common interests while indulging in an international business partnership in the form of international joint venture. The two firms sought to gain synergy effects, which produced significant complementary effects (Harris 3). This meant that engaging in alliance would make each of the organization leap benefits from the other, thus translating into increased sale volume through opening virgin markets. Apart from developing the capacity to cover up the weakness of either of the organizations, SEMC was motivated by the need to overcome and wi thstand both international and local competition from rivals. Although SEMC was this incredibly beneficial, various problems were experienced. Problems of the joint venture International joint ventures present a variety of problems ranging from management structure to the process of arriving at common agreeable strategic initiatives for success. This makes international joint ventures have a high failure rate (Hill 17). Consistent with this argument, Ericsson and Sony required high levels of integration together with cooperation, hence increasing the number of problems to which the alliance was exposed. Since the establishment of SEMC, some of the problems that SE was subjected to included the loss of market share, rising costs of operation, and negative effects of various economic factors. Even after the formation of SEMC, the two organizations continued to make losses due to the loss of market share. This loss was attributable to a myriad of problematic aspects inherent in the com mon joint venture strategy for conducting business. One of such problems was that the products portfolio was limited. It focused on expensive phones while negating the importance of cheap phones to boost sale volumes. Lester supports this assertion by adding that the joint venture only produced music products in the high end of prices such as phones with cameras and music enhancements (24). This strategic focus of the venture posed a mega problem since the demand of handset consumption was shifting towards cheap and less advanced phone models. The repercussion was a decrease in the growth of the venture as anticipated while increasing rivals’ competition especially from apple whose products were more superior in meeting the demand requirements such as iphones (Lester 24).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Sony and Ericsson specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Consequently, the efforts of SEMC to gain compe titive advantage in the market through the development of a brand that was considered lucrative and expensive by consumers became problematic. This challenge was particularly severe in the Indian market where cheap and simple phones took up the largest market share. Motorola and Nokia were able to respond to this demand, thus securing the biggest Indian market share. For a joint venture to succeed, it is necessary for coordination and integration of the core decision-making processes to be enhanced. Unfortunately, for the Sony Ericsson’s joint venture, these facets became problematic. Lack of adequate integration and coordination between the operations of the two organizations hindered the exchanged of information. This had the overall impact of making it impossible for SEMC to read the requirements of markets precisely, accurately, and at a higher pace in comparison with competitors. Hence, market growth of SEMC was massively impaired. Economic down turns influenced the join t venture’s capacity of success. The credit crunch resulted in the decline of demand together with credit availability. This challenge posed immense problems to SEMC especially in the realm of increasing operation costs. Choosing to engage in an international joint venture implies rising the costs of organizations’ operations (Hill 47). For the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson (SE), it also implied increasing the costs associated with the identification of profitable and viable markets. SEMC also operated in an environment that was characterized by competitors who were using low-cost manufacturing technologies such as Nokia. The models manufactured by rivals were also of a low cost. Hence, SEMC was forced to reduce the selling price of its products to compete with the low-cost brands. This had a direct impact on the profitability of SEMC. Strategies deployed to address the problems Problems faced by SEMC made it clear that the joint venture would collapse at som e point. As Harris argues, the companies forming the SEMC had different organizational culture. In fact, many scholars lamented that complex integration and collaborations were required for the alliance to remain intact for a long time (2). Hill argues that differences in organizational culture have the possibility of creating inefficient management and work conflicts (107). Nevertheless, Sony deployed transaction analysis approaches to prove that the joint venture with Ericsson was vital for reasons previously discussed in the section on motivation for the formation of SEMC. To deal with the problems of diminishing market share and sales level for optimal profitability, the two organizations had franchising, OEM (original equipment manufacturing), and licensing as viable options instead of going through the problems experienced in an international joint venture.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Through franchising, Sony and Ericsson would have given independent operators the authority to distribute products in the European market. A careful selection of the franchises would have provided Sony and Ericsson with an opportunity to tap into local technological knowhow together with the development of the capacity to gain links with various local network operators in the new market. Unfortunately, the franchising model works well when an organization has a significant market share (Hill 129). Sony had only 1percent global market share (Dunn 13). Hence, it would not be able to compete in an aggressive way with market leaders such as Nokia Corp. Although licensing would have made it possible for Sony to gain the advantages it intended to get by forming SEMC, it was problematic. For instance, it could have encountered the challenge of internalizing Ericsson’s tacit technological knowhow. This would have created low and slowed capabilities of learning. Considering the speed of advertisement and change of technology in the technological industry, licensing was not a viable option. There was also the fear of one organization engaging in learning processes, which are opportunistic. In the case of Ericsson, OEM’s contract strategy also proved problematic. Despite the fact that Ericsson could have developed the capability to enter the Japanese market (Sullivan 19), Sony could have utilized this opportunity optimally to learn and then directly compete with Ericsson. Factors influencing the decision to split Joint ventures possess high probabilities of failure. For Sony and Ericsson, failure occurred after10 years of its formation. The joint venture was ideal considering that the two companies would contribute what the other was lacking to gain competitive advantage in the mobile phone market. Sony was to contribute expertise in the marketing of consumer electronics while Ericsson was to contribute cellular technological expertise (Kantrow 17). However , the joint venture underwent intense challenges related to cultural deviation, logistical issues, market saturation, and brand portfolio, which prompted the decision to split. When a joint venture such as SE is formed, organizations forming it wish to gain certain earning levels, which are otherwise impossible to gain while operating solely in the global market. Due to the above factors, SE went through a period of reduced profits, often operating at losses. When organizations forming a joint venture fail to achieve their goal, they often consider splitting as an alternative to saving the companies from collapsing (Sullivan 178). Therefore, for SE, the decision to split was unavoidable. In 2002 and 2008, the CEOs for Sony and Ericsson clearly stated that they would end the joint venture in case it was unable to attain the preset earnings. With the decision to split coming head on in 2011, the single most important contributing factor for both organizations to arrive at the decision was akin to poor earning due to the unexpected problems in SEMC. Works Cited Dunn, Douglas. â€Å"Sony may take Ericsson’s call- Nokia’s success points to consolidation.† EBN 1.1(2001): 12-13. Print. Harris, Ellison. â€Å"Sony, Ericsson Mix Technology, Marketing Savvy — New Mobile-Phone Brand Aims to Topple Nokia; Just the Logo Is Ready.† The Wall Street Journal 1.1(2001): 1-3. Print. Hill, Charles. International Business (6th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. Print. Kantrow, Benson. â€Å"The Bottom Line: Sony Ericsson Fails To Live Up To Hopes.† Dow Jones International News 1.1(2003): 17-18. Print. Lester, Robert. Case Studies on Failures of International Joint Ventures. London: London University Press, 2008. Print. Sullivan, Daniels. International Business: Environments and Operations. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. 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