Johnson & Johnson. In order to get employees motivated and to create positive image for the company many companies try creating common values and ideas for all employees in form of guidelines, this is then widely promoted internally and externally. In most cases such common values are interconnected with the type of the business. For instance, for over two thousand Facebook employees such an idea is sharing and openness in the workplace due to the fact that the nature of the business is connected with its customers sharing their personal information on that social networking website. Another example is Apple Corporation, where innovation in any form is celebrated and employees are encouraged to experiment with new ideas and innovate. Moreover, the company has made a cliché for itself to be one of the most innovative companies in marketplace and its promoted company culture helps it tremendously. However, not many companies succeed in creating a common set of such guidelines for employees and getting them adhering to it. Johnson & Johnson is one of the companies which have succeeded in that aspect. For Johnson & Johnson such a guideline is the official Company Credo. It includes the main principles of the company and it has featured in numerous business case studies because of its efficiency and its ability to create competitive edge for Johnson & Johnson in the marketplace. Analysis of the case The case is official Johnson & Johnson company credo available on company web-site. The following are analysis of rationale behind each part of the Credo together with comparison of officially announced Johnson & Johnson company credo to the actual facts on the basis of published materials. “We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.…
Differences between inter-industry and intra-industry trade. International trade is one of the key factors of macroeconomic prosperity for any country. Today with the increasing force of globalisation international trade has become very complex with multi-billion transactions taking place every year. Yet, some of the aspects of international trade are still not fully researched and even existing theories related to the international trade need to be submitted to critical analysis taking into account ever-changing global economic environment. Difference between Inter-industry and Intra-industry trade Although their wording is very similar the terms ‘inter-industry’ and intra-industry’ trade have a very different meanings. Inter-industry trade is a trade of products that belong to different industries. For instance, the trade of agricultural products produced in one country with technological equipment produced in another country can be classified to be an inter-industry trade. Countries usually engage in inter-industry trade according to their competitive advantages. Intra-industry trade, on the other hand, is a trade of products that belong to the same industry. As it has been noted, “intra-industry trade (IIT), that is trade of similar products, has been a key factor in trade growth in recent decades. These trends have mostly been attributed to the fragmentation of production (outsourcing and offshoring) as a result of globalisation and new technologies” (Handjiski et al, 2010, p.15). Explanation of Intra-Industry Trade by Economic Theory It first sight it may seem strange that countries do engage in importing and exporting same type of products with their international partners. However, there are a range of benefits intra-industry trade offers businesses and countries engaging in it in general. The benefits of intra-industry trade have been explained by various business researchers, and all of these benefits can be summarised into three points that which is illustrated by Johnson and Taylor (2009) in…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: International Business
Today there is a fierce competition in every industry in the marketplace. Therefore companies are striving to gain competitive edge whenever and wherever it is possible, by increasing productivity, improving service, and ensuring that the company can adapt to ever-changing business conditions. And in almost all cases the ultimate successes of the company in many fronts depend on company employees. HRM plays a crucial role in maintaining the competitive workforce in the company by being involved at the strategy, policy and decision making processes. The HRM team achieves these objectives by recruiting and selecting the right and qualified staff to ensure the goals and objectives of the organization are achieved. Human resource managers form a clear understanding of the talent pool the company possesses or whether they need to recruit from outside. New challenges businesses are facing in the 21st century require new approaches from business leaders. And solutions for these challenges are found by the workforce though increasing their qualifications and knowledge, sharing the knowledge and by developing and implementing new ideas. All of these indicate that the role HRM will be ever increasing in the 21st century. However, company HRM should function on a new level in order to respond to the challenges of the 21st century and to use the new business environment to the benefit of the company, to increase the marketshare. The following recommendations are aimed at making company’s human resources to function in a cost effective and value added manner. 1. The status of HRM should be increased in senior management view. Unless senior management consider HRM function of the company to be an important and integral part of the company overall operations by financing it accordingly and acknowledging its contribution, the true potential of HRM to create competitive advantage for the company would…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: HRM
Outline the main principles of human resource planning. Human Resource Planning also called Manpower planning deals with the identifying the needs of the company for skills, knowledge and labour, and initiating programs and actions to satisfy those needs. It is the process of planning and implementing the movement of employees into, within or out of the company in order to achieve the correct number of workers with relevant skills needed for the company to achieve its objectives. In other words, the human resources planning has to ensure that the required amount of employees with required skills are available whenever needed by the company. The objectives of Human Resource Planning are the following: • Deciding Goals: Human Resource Planning helps to achieve individual and organizational goals • Evaluating future organizational structure and human resource requirements • Auditing Human Resources on a constant basis in order to prevent overstaffing and understaffing • Undertaking Job Analysis through analysing the descriptions and responsibilities of specific jobs in order to hire the most suitable candidate for the position The Human Resource Planning is essential for a company for following reasons: • To use the human resources of the company in a most efficient manner to gain maximum benefits. This task would be easier if information regarding the various aspects of human resources are collected and arranged in an organised manner by HR • To forecast future requirements for human resources numbers and skills. This is especially important for companies that are planning expansion of operations. • To help the companies to better adjust to changes in political, economic, social, and technological environment, where HR plays an important part in mergers, relocation of plants, downsizing, closing of some operations, etc. • To determine the levels and standards of recruitment and induction. • To devise training and…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: HRM
Introduction Tourism has been one of the biggest and the most profitable industries in 20th century and this industry is moving towards the new level in 21st century with new variations and services included. Ecotourism is one of the variations of tourism that has been attracted mixed opinions from business academics and practitioners alike. Ecotourism can be defined as “travel to enjoy the world’s amazing diversity of natural life and human culture without causing damage to either” (Tickell, 1994, p.ix) On one hand, there are authors who argue that ecotourism is beneficial to tourists and local society in many levels pointing to learning opportunity for tourists and economic benefits to ecotourism destinations along with a range of other perceived benefits. On the other hand, there are others who point to the occasions were people were misplaced, local nature damaged, as well as socio-economic inequalities as the negative effects of ecotourism. Wearing and Neal (2009, p.6) mention two main facets of inequality as travelling to unspoilt natural environments and experiencing natural environment as the purpose of the travel. Emerging around 1980’s, ecotourism is believed to be related to nature-based, environmental education and sustainable development. However, there are some people who are highly sceptical about the benefits of ecotourism, and claim that it produces socio-economic inequalities. The Benefits of Ecotourism Development Ecotourism offers range positive impacts for tourists, host destinations, and the science and environment in general. The impact of ecotourism on the designated areas where ecotourism has been promoted is not only a marginal activity to finance the protection of the environment, but is also a major industry of the national economy. Tuohino and Hynonen (1991) mention the fact that due to rapid growth of the ecotourism in areas like Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nepal, the local communities are also benefiting…
What is the objective of any corporation or firm in business world? The obvious answer is that the objective of any business is to maximize its revenues and to make money for its shareholders. It is a very important objective and if a business corporation fails to achieve that objective of making money for shareholders its share prices will go down, it will have a bad reputation and unless radical changes are implemented in order to improve things the business corporation will not be around any more- it will go bankrupt. Corporate Social Responsibility- what is it? As Wikipedia.org defines it “Corporate social responsibility is an expression used to describe what some see as a company’s obligation to be sensitive to the needs of all of the stakeholders in its business operations”. Company’s stakeholders are its employees, customers, suppliers, community organizations, subsidiaries and affiliates, joint venture partners, local neighborhoods, investors, and shareholders (or a sole owner if the case is). “A business that accepts Corporate Responsibility will be prepared to be responsible for and willing to justify its actions. It will also consider the impact of its actions on a variety of individuals and groups, both inside and outside of the organization”. (Hall, Jones, Raffe p.789) A more simplified definition of CSR in this report is how businesses manage their operations to produce positive impact on society. Today, in a highly competitive business world it is extremely important for companies, especially big corporations to build up reputation of a company which cares about nature, problems of society in present day, environmental issues and which deals fairly with its customers, suppliers and employees. For example, a mobile phone business will try to provide as wide coverage as possible for its customers. However, in order to do so, it is likely…
I have benefited immensely from the in many aspects, including developing my personal skills. The skills that I acquired during the course which I appreciate the most include communication skills, cultural awareness, teamwork, and time management. McKenna (2004, p.664) relates the management skills to the behaviours and identifies them to be sets of actions performed by an individual that lead to a certain objectives Before starting my degree I did not consider communication skills to be as much of importance as I consider it now. My communications skills have improved during the course due to two reasons. First, on academic level, through cases studies and other materials I was pointed to the importance of communication skills for a person in social, family, and especially work settings. Second, I was taught about the importance of communication skills in a practical way. I can illustrate my statement in the following way. There were some lecturers whom I used to see regularly within and around the college but was not impressed by them in any way to put it mildly. However, once they started teaching us my opinions about them changed dramatically in a positive way due to their teaching styles and mainly, communication skills, and I know that it was not only me who has experienced that. Today I know about the importance of communication skills and also I know that once I return to the full-time work life my carrier would benefit due to my communication skills. Another personal skill which I developed during the course and consider to be important for my future career is my cross-cultural skills. Before starting the course I did not think much about the influence of culture on people’s behaviour and mentality. During the course through interacting with representatives of different cultural backgrounds and learning…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Personal reflection & development
Efficient special events are those that leave long lasting positive memories in audience and achieve their objectives as an event for organizers and other stakeholders. The actual event may last only few hours, but in order to organize them sometimes preparations need to be undertaken starting from months, or even years in advance, considerable amount of funds, and effort from many people are required to ensure the efficiency of the event. And the success of events largely depends on how competently they were managed. Special events have some fascinating elements incorporated in them that you can remember them during the whole remaining period of your life. Many of us can remember witnessing such an event, be it a festival, sport competition, celebration of a national holiday, or other, that we remember them with warm feelings and nostalgia, and look forward to experience it again. “The British Conference Market Trends Survey 2001 estimates that conferences and meetings are worth £7.3 billion annually. Exhibitions and trade fairs are calculated to be worth £2.04 billion annually, excluding the value of business transacted on them. This means that exhibitions are the fifth largest market medium, attracting 11 per cent of media expenditure in the UK (British Tourist Authority, 2006)” (Raj et al, 2008, p.4) For an event to be memorable and entertaining for the audience and to achieve its objectives, it has to be efficiently managed by competent managers. Event management differs in many aspects from managing a business unit in many other industries in a way that it requires from the manager a high degree of creativity, preparedness to deal with many unforeseen circumstances, and a high level of enthusiasm. Definitions There are many authors who have contributed to the subject of special events and there are many definitions proposed by…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Industry Analysis
Product placement is a marketing strategy that has accidentally evolved a few decades ago. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the product placement has been spotted by professionals and since then various companies engage in product placement activities in various levels with varying efficiency. One of the main differences of product placement from other marketing strategies is the significance of factors contributing to it, such as context and environment within which the product is displayed or used. Implementing an efficient marketing strategy is one of the essential conditions for a product to be successful in the marketplace. Companies may choose different marketing strategies including advertising, channel marketing, internet marketing, promotion, public relations, product placement and others. Each of one of these marketing tools has its advantages and disadvantages and the rationale behind the choice among these tools relates to the type of the product, type of the market and the marketing strategy of the company. Product placement among them is one of the marketing strategies which have evolved recently. In product placement a product is placed in a movie or television show in exchange for payment of money or other promotional consideration by the marketer (Gupta & Gould, 1997). According to Cowley& Barron (2008, p.91), as taken from Parrish, auto industry has been among the very first industries to use product placement as a marketing strategy. One of the automobile companies which use product placement strategy heavily to promote its cars is Aston Martin – a British manufacturer of luxury cars. There have been many researches on the subject of product placement undertaken by different authors at different points of time. The use of product placement as an effective marketing strategy has intensified mainly during the last three decades. According to DeLorme& Reid(1999), until recently studies on product placement have been generally…
There are no arguments among business researchers and practitioners about the importance of providing excellent customer service to customers. Because of high level of competition in almost every industry, the customer bargaining power has increased significantly, and customers can easily turn to the competitors of the business if they are not satisfied with the level of customer service, as well as, any other aspect of the business. Today business are totally aware of the importance of the customer service, therefore try to create competitive edge for the company by providing excellent customer service and make considerable investments for these purpose by employing competent people to deal with their customers and training them on a regular basis. People who are customers of businesses also deal with various public organisations and agencies for a varied range of purposes being members of society. Because people are used to the high level of customer service as a result of dealing with many businesses regularly, they also expect the same level of customer service from public sector organisations as well (Agness, 2010) The principles operations of public sector organisations are based upon are different from the principles of business entities on the fundamental level. And primarily, this difference comes from the objectives of these two kinds organisations. While the main objective of any business entity is profit maximisation and they know that this objective can only be achieved when customers are satisfied with the level of the service they are receiving, the objectives of public sector organisations are to perform some functions within society mechanism, which is often not related to profit maximisation. Public Sector Customer Expectations The issue of increasing customer expectations became only urgent with after the level of competition intensified in many industries due to technological advancement, globalisation, internet and other…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Customer Services