SWOT analysis can be used to illustrate the current position of Skanska in UK construction market and factors affecting the business, the abbreviation standing for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the business. The following table illustrates Skanska SWOT analysis for UK. Strengths Large portfolio of construction services Positive brand image contributed by ‘green’ initiatives Presence of some iconic projects in portfolio (e.g. London’s The Gherkin) Weaknesses Occasional cashflow issues High operational costs Overall higher costs of services Opportunities Development of separate division for lower-budget projects Entering the marketplace of emerging economies e.g. China and India Development of new niche markets Threats Delay of expected recovery of UK construction industry New competitors with access to cheaper resources entering the market Legislative changes in UK with possible negative impacts
Ryanair Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. Porter’s Five Forces analytical tool assists in analysing competitive environment for Ryanair Bargaining power of suppliers Boeing has been traditionally Ryanair’s main supplier, however, there are reports that “Ryanir is interested in Comac’s planned C919 aircraft, which is being developed to rival the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320, the dominant players in the commercial aircraft market” (Milmo, 2011, online). Comac, Chinese jet manufacturer, is attracting Ryanair’s interest due to grater amounts of seats within its planes, as well as increased level of efficiency associated with energy consumption (Cliff et al, 2011). This fact signals about Ryanair’s increasing bargaining power towards its main supplier, Boeing. However, the supplier switching costs for Ryanair is extremely high due significant amount of expenses involved associated with pilot retraining needs. Moreover, “airline pilots have a strong bargaining power in the airline industry” (Pelapu et al, 2007, p.48), because there is no abundant supply of highly qualified and experienced pilots. Nevertheless, Ryanair enjoys rapidly increasing power towards a different category of its suppliers. Specifically, as Walsh (2011) confirms, highly intensified level of competition among airports has significantly increased the bargaining power of airline companies in their business relationships with the local airports. Bargaining power of customers Bargaining power of customers can be explained as “an advantage that comes from gathering together to put collective pressure on producers to lower prices or improve quality” (Business Dictionary, 2012, online). Ryanair customers enjoy high bargaining power because switching to another airline is simple and not associated with additional expenses. However, it has to be mentioned that only for Ryanair, but for airline industry in general “the bargaining power of buyers is relatively high and increasing, since most airline companies are forced to cut costs by aggressive competitors” (Szymanski, 2011, p.7) Increased level of…
There are no universal learning and training principles that relate to all work situations and environmental settings in the same manner. In other words, there is a wide range of economical, cultural, political, legal, environmental and other factors that affect the formation and utilisation of learning and training principles within individual work situations and environmental settings. This paper is mainly concerned with the provision of learning and training in Chinese organisations in particular, taking into account a wide range of specific characteristics and circumstances associated with China and various forms of organisations operating in that country. The following table represents the key characteristics of HR training and development in various forms of ownership in China and a range of factors that have contributed to the formation of these characteristics are discussed further below. Government and civil service organisations State-owned enterprises Private enterprises Joint ventures and large multinational companies Training and development is provided at relatively high levels with increased focus on political studies Training and development is provided mainly to managerial, professional and technical staff The lowest level of formal training and development opportunities for employees compared to other forms of ownership High level of training and development opportunities provided to employees Table 1: Key characteristics of HR training and development in various forms of ownership in China Source: Storey (2011) The Economy of China and its Impact on Learning and Training Today China is seen by many as an emerging economic superpower with GDP growth of 10.45 per cent in 2010 and forecasts for growth of 10-12 per cent yearly for the next several years to reach 9,982.08 billion USD in 2015 (Economywatch, 2012, online). The main drivers behind dramatic economic developments in China are perceived to be important economic reforms that have enabled the utilisation of advantages…
The demand for highly competent and skilled employees is greater than ever before because of highly intensive level of competition in the marketplace. This demand also increases the level of importance of learning and training for the members of workforce so that they would be able to deal with increasing number of organisational challenges in an effective manner. Specific advantages of promoting and facilitating learning and training in the workplace include increased level of productivity and team spirit, improvements in organisational culture and climate, improvements in the image of the company and its overall performance, as well as consequent positive implications on profitability levels of private entities. Banfield and Kay (2008) use the notion of six ‘Es’ of training in their explanation of why organisations do train employees. Namely, according to authors six ‘Es’ consist of engaging, educating, enhancing, empowering, energising, and enlightening employees. At the same time, it is important to clarify differences between learning and training. Schuler and Jackson (2007) convincingly argue that the differences between learning and training have to be drawn according to the purposes of each. Specifically, training is organised in order to impart knowledge and skills directly related to specific tasks or job, whereas learning is concerned with improving future behaviour and performances in general. Moreover, Erasmus and Schenk (2009) draw clear distinctions between the terms of ‘training’, ‘education’ and ‘development’. Specifically, training is specified as a job-related learning, whereas education is the preparation of an employee for a different job. Employee development, on the other hand, is a broad terms that comprises education, training, as well as, various forms of learning. An alternative definition of training has been proposed as “the process whereby people acquire capabilities to perform jobs” (Mathis and Jackson, 2010, p.250), whereas specific form of training which is the focus…
The People’s Republic of China has an area of 9.6 million square kilometres which comprises over 1.35 billion population (China country profile, BBC, 2011). Rapidly deviating from the centrally-planned economy the country had adhered to for several decades, and embracing the elements of free market economy, China is seen by many as an emerging superpower able to compete with highly developed countries in the global marketplace (Lou and Wang, 2009). Interestingly, the current dynamic of employment relationships in China somehow resemble the second industrial revolution in Europe that has commenced at the second half of the 19th century. Specifically, the common features include harsh working conditions, impaired employee rights, underdeveloped employment laws, migrant labour, high employee turnover etc. However, while the second industrial revolution in Europe has been caused by the introduction and perfection of mass production and production line, in the case of China the current dynamic of employment relationships is caused by the increasing forces of globalisation in general, and China’s accession in WTO in particular. Employment relations can be defined as “a contractual relation in the framework of which one party (the employee) undertakes to perform dependent work personally for wages for the other party (the employer)” (Barancova and Olsovska, 2011, p.73). The most common legal characteristics of employment relationship include: a) the type of personal obligation; b) the subordination of employee in personal and economic levels; c) payment of wages; and social character. The Impact of Globalisation on Employment Relations in China Generally, the major impacts of globalisation on employment relationships in China include the introduction of labour contract system, employee wage system changes, marketisation of social security, changes in labour rights, changes in corporate culture in China, and changes in labour union legislation. The Introduction of Labour Contract System The introduction of labour…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: International Business
The process of globalisation has had significant impacts on personal and professional aspects of lives of people across the globe. Moreover defined as “information, capital, and innovation flow all over the world at top speed, enabled by technology and fuelled by consumers’ desires for access to the best and least expensive products” (Ohmae, 1995, in Murray, 2006, p.13), globalisation has resulted in substantial implications on employment relation practices and legislations for many countries worldwide. Globalisation supporters advocate “the elimination of trade barriers such as tariffs so that developing countries can compete in the global market, thereby reducing dependency on developed ones” (Weightman, 2011, p.21). At the same time, globalisation also has its critics who point to increased chances of economic disruptions taking country affecting other countries, greater chances of various diseases being transported to other countries in unintentional manner, violations of employee rights and the abuse of their labour in undeveloped and developing countries etc. References Murray, W.E. (2006) “Geographies of globalisation” Routledge Weightman, B.A. (2011) “Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia” John Wiley & Sons
By John Dudovskiy
Category: International Business
Consumer decision making process comprises five stages: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and post-purchase behaviour. Marketing managers attempt to influence consumer behaviour during each of these stages as it has been discussed below in a greater detail. Need Recognition Need recognition is the first stage of consumer decision making process and it can be explained as “result of an imbalance between actual and desired needs” (Lamb et al, 2011, p.190). Interestingly, need recognition may relate to actual need of a perspective customer to a specific product or service, as well as, ‘perceived’ customer need imposed by businesses through effective marketing communication strategies. Specifically, the emergence of the latter form of customer need plays an integral role in customer impulse shopping, and accordingly retailers attempt to create a ‘need’ in customer’s mind for the products and services they are offering. For instance, ‘imposed’ needs in retail environment may include ‘need’ to be refreshed and energised by consuming a range of soft drinks and energy drinks sold by retailers, as well as, ‘need’ to follow fashion trends by purchasing specific items sold by retailers. Information Search The second stage of consumer decision making process relates to information search. Once a need is recognised by a perspective customer, he would seek for information about the available ways to satisfy the need. It is important to stress that “the extent to which the consumer needs to search for information depends on his current information levels and the perceived value of the additional information” (Pradhan, 2009, p.123). Customers are greatly influenced by marketing strategies of retailers during this stage of the decision – making process as well. Namely, retailers communicate information about the brand through various communication channels that might include any combination of advertising, direct marketing, public relations and…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Consumer Behaviour
The concept of e-commerce relates to the practice of buying and selling products over the internet (Lee, 2008) and it has a significant impact on consumer consumer behaviour. Pozzi (2009) divides online retailers in two following categories: First, retailers that sell online, as well as, maintaining traditional physical offline stores. Retailers belonging to this category have commenced their businesses in traditional offline stores and they adopted online sales channel as well during the last decade in order not to miss convenient opportunity of increasing their revenues. Major retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Next, Debenhams and many others belong to this category. Retailers employing both, online and offline sales channels have wide range of marketing tools available for them to be used in affecting consumer behaviour (Callen, 2009). Online customers of these businesses usually represent individuals and organisations that have formed their brand loyalty prior to the adoption of online sales channel by the retailer. Second, retailers that rely only on online sales channel and do not have any offline stores. Global retailers such as Amazon, EBuyer, very.co.uk do not trade through offline physical stores and they rely only on online sales channel in order to conduct their business operations. While adopting such a strategy may offer substantial benefits in terms of cost savings, because no stores need to be maintained and accordingly, fewer numbers of employees are sufficient to be employed, nevertheless this strategy limits the opportunities for retailers in terms of impacting consumer behaviour. Specifically, online-only retailers are in a disadvantaged position compared to their offline competitors in terms of affecting consumer behaviour through enhancing the quality of store atmosphere and effective positioning of products within the stores. Moreover, unlike offline retailers, online-only retailers lack the opportunities of impacting consumer behaviour through providing ‘warm’ customer service experiences…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: E-Commerce
The study of decision making models plays an integral role in analysing the level of rationality of customer decision making. Namely, the concept of four modes of consumer decision making proposed by O’Guinn et al (2011). The concept divides consumer decision – making into four different modes according to the level of their involvement, as well as, the level of their personal experiences with the brand. High Involvement Low Involvement Low Experience Extended problem solving Limited problem solving High Experience Brand loyalty Habit or variety seeking Extended problem solving Extended problem solving customer decision – making mode relates to a situation where customers lack experience in a specific consumption setting, nevertheless, the setting is perceived by them as a highly involving. The products are usually of a high value and they also contribute to an individual’s social status, however, their purchase is often associated with significant amount of risk in terms of making improper purchase decision. Purchasing the first car or the first house can be mentioned as instances for extended problem solving. Limited problem solving Customer decision – making mode of limited problem solving, relates to a situation where both, customer experience, as well as, the level of their involvement are low. Considered to be the most common mode of decision – making, it lacks systematic approach in terms of decision – making. Examples for this mode of decision – making might include searching for and purchasing products and services associated with pest control within private properties. In other words, as Perrey and Spillecke (2011) confirm, limited problem – solving customer decision – making mode relate to situations where customers are attempting to find appropriate solutions to their unpleasant issues. Retailers often attempt to attract such type of customers by employing a range of marketing…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour can be defined as “the totality of consumers’ decisions with respect to the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of goods, services, time, and ideas by human decision – making units” (Hoyer and Macinnis, 2008, p.3) and it is an important point extensively explored by marketers. In other words, consumer behaviour is the study of decision – making process and all activities that relate to acquiring evaluating, using and disposing associated with products and services. Moreover, the study of consumer behaviour involves learning customer perception about the company’s products and products of its competitors, the pattern of usage of the product by customers, customer attitude towards brand and product advertisements etc. There are wide ranges of factors that impact upon consumer behaviour in direct and indirect ways. Specifically, these factors include marketing initiatives engaged by businesses, culture, values and group norms associated with customers, demographic characteristics of consumers, as well as, their social status, customer motives to making a purchase, the nature of their personalities, etc. At the same time, “values, shared beliefs or group norms internalised by individuals, are developed through the process of socialisation and acculturation” (Saxena, 2009, p.163). Accordingly, recognising this fact, retailers attempt to formulate their integrated marketing communication strategies addressing and accommodating values, shared beliefs, and cultural differences associated with their target customer segment. References Hoyer, W.D. & Macinnis, D.J. (2008) “Consumer Behaviour”, 5th edition, Cengage Learning Saxena, R. (2009) “Marketing Management” 4th edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Education
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Consumer Behaviour