The most popular time management principles include prioritisation, goal setting, planning, making to-do lists, concentration and focus, keeping a time log, delegating, and remaining organised. Prioritisation Prioritisation can be explained as “ranking responsibilities and tasks in their order of importance” (Seaward and Seaward, 2011, p.331). Tracy (2007) and Becker and Mustric (2008) highlight prioritisation to be the most basic time management principle. Downs (2008) asserts that without prioritisation it is easy for professionals to find themselves in an inefficiency trap that involves being busy the whole day, but achieving very little at the end of the day. In other words, the author convincingly argues that if an individual is not engaged in prioritising the tasks he or she needs to accomplish during the day, the individual may be tempted to do easier and/or more enjoyable tasks first, although such task may not be important in terms of achieving personal and organisational objectives. Yager (2008) links prioritisation practice to Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle, also known as 80/20 rule, is a term coined by M. Juran is named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto for his observations in 1906 that 80 per cent of the wealth in Italy was controlled by 20 per cent of population (Boone and Kurtz, 2010). The idea has been developed to cover the viewpoint that 80 per cent of results came from 20 per cent of overall efforts. Authors note that “while the ratio is not always 80:20, this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently as to be the norm in many areas” (Rivera, 2007, p.42). Accordingly, the advocates of Pareto Principle that include Mancini (2007), Rivera (2007), Dodd and Sundheim (2011) and others who recommend managers to identify the type of their activities that yield the most results, and give priority…
The paradigm of marketing mix can be defined as “a unique blend of product, place, promotion, and pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market” (Lamb et al, 2011, p.47). The product element of the marketing mix relates to decisions about product design, name of the brand, packaging, warranties etc. The pricing element, on the other hand, relates to decision-making about the pricing strategy and the calculation of total costs of products and services to customers. Promotion includes, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and any other activities that are aimed to advertise brand and its products and services. Place element of the marketing mix mainly involves the location where products and services are sold. Nargundkar (2008) convincingly argues that the main benefit of marketing mix paradigm relates to its assistance in selecting competitive edge for the business. In other words, marketing mix paradigm communicates the idea that it is not possible for businesses to have competitive edge for all four aspects of the business – product, place, promotion, and price, and adopting one element of marketing mix as a source of competitive edge would mean compromising other elements. For instance, UK clothing retailer Primark has adopted price element as the source of competitive edge for the business, and thus the brand has to compromise on some of the other elements of the marketing mix. Specifically, if Primark management decide to increase the quality of products and promotion this would result in the prices of its products to be increased, thus its current competitive advantage of low prices would be compromised. There have been many additional Ps added by business researchers over the course of the last several decades, however as Baker and Hart (2007) inform, the most acknowledged additional Ps apart from the original…
Among innovative forms of marketing viral marketing is attracting increased level of attention from both, business researchers and practitioners. The definition of viral marketing can be worded as “the use of marketing strategies to propagate a product or service awareness through the use of existing social networks” (Allen, 2008, p.61). Alternatively, viral marketing or viral advertising is defined as “a strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exposure and influence” (Wilson, 2005). First of all the term marketing is defined as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements responsibly” (Shaw, 2007, p.1). Marketing strategy, as Baker and Hart (2007) inform, is the selection of overall strategy and tools and methods businesses choose to employ in order to deal with the marketing aspect of the business in a highly successful manner. Viral marketing, on the other hand, is defined by Allen (2008) as the principle according to which members of a social network influence on the purchasing decisions of each-other. The Role and Importance of Marketing Strategy A range of viewpoints have been formulated by secondary data authors about the role and purposes of marketing strategy for a business entity. A widely accepted purpose of marketing strategy by secondary data authors is that “marketing strategy integrates the activities involved in marketing, sales, advertising, public relations, and networking” (Pinson, L, 2008, p.44). Similar ideas have been offered by Avasarikar and Chordiya (2007), Baker and Hart (2007), and Kitchen (2010). The changing role of marketing due to the influence of increasing forces of globalisation, technological advancements and a set of related reasons are summarised by Doyle (2008) into the following table: Past Today Objective of marketing Create customer value Create shareholder value Marketing strategy Increase market share Develop and…
Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005). This article presents is a critical analysis of the article “Strategy as Revolution” published by Gary Hamel (1996) in Harvard Business Review. The article clarifies the position of the article within the wider debate about the processes of strategy and highlights the main strengths and weaknesses associated with the article. The Placement “Strategy as Revolution” within Processes of Strategy Debates The traditional strategic planning process as informed by NetMBA (2011, online) occurs from top to down and consists of mission, objectives, situation analysis, strategy formulation, implementation and control. However, Hamel’s (1996) “Strategy as Revolution” challenges this viewpoint by stating that strategies have to reflect the viewpoints of employees at all levels in general, and employees from tactical and operational levels in particular. Azar and Brock (2010) specify change to be an integral part of effective strategic management. In other words, authors argue that effective strategic management has to introduce necessary changes into various aspects of the business that would contribute to the firm’s competitive edge. This viewpoint is further developed by Floyd et al (2011), who stress the importance of new ideas in terms of introducing necessary changes into the current business strategy. “Strategy as Revolution”, on the other hand, confirms the both viewpoints formulated above, at the same time when specifying that changes to the business practices need to be dramatic, and the new ideas have to be derived mainly from employees other than those holding formal leadership positions. The importance of strategic thinking for managers is stressed by Jarzabkowski…
The role of entrepreneurship for business managers has dramatically increased due to the rapidly intensifying level of competition fuelled by the forces of globalisation, technological advancement and other factors. Moreover, it has to be stated that “entrepreneurship is important because it is the economic mechanism through which inefficiencies in economies are identified and mitigated” (Baum et al, 2007, p.5). The term of entrepreneur is a widely used within business literature within different contexts. At the same time, it is important to note that there is a great level of ambiguity is associated with the definition of the term. Specifically, American, Austrian, German, French and British schools have offered their own versions of definitions that differ from each other. Regarding this issue it has been stated that “although no single definition of entrepreneurship exists and no one profile can represent today’s entrepreneur, research is beginning to provide an increasingly sharper focus on the subject” (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2008, p.4). This article represents a critical analysis of skills and competencies of the author in terms of being an entrepreneur. The article analyses three major points of strengths of the author as an entrepreneur, providing evidences from relevant experiences, as well as identifies three major areas that need to be further developed. Personal Strengths and Competencies The author possesses a set of strengths and competencies and believes that these traits have a positive contribution on performance of the author as an entrepreneur. Chakraborty (2006) divides entrepreneurial competencies into the following three categories: behavioural, enterprise launching and enterprise management competencies. The author believes that own personal strengths and competencies to each of the above category and they include, but not limited to willingness to take risk and responsibility, advanced level of communication skills, and having great amount of passion towards work. …
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Personal reflection & development
It has been stressed that “developing and committing to personal goals (selection) provides the constraints that are essential for development” (Mroczek and Little, 2006, p.367). The goals of the author of this article directly relate to business management in telecommunications sector. The author acknowledges that a set of personal skills and competencies need to be developed in order to achieve this goal. However, above all the goals need to be formulated in a clear and specific manner. Marr (2009) mentions SMART requirement for goals the abbreviation standing for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Accordingly, the author of this article has formulated specific goals can be summarised in the following points: To become a successful business manager in mobile telecommunications sector in charge of 1 million GBP budget within three years after completing the studies. To be acknowledged as an effective leader and to be successfully leading a team of at least 10 people within a year after becoming a full-time employee. To be acknowledged as an effective, efficient and motivational communicator by colleagues and tutors by the end of studies. Strategic learner The process of meaningful learning is presented by Kolb (1984) as a series of events that integrate the functions of feeling, perceiving, thinking, and acting. Kolb’s learning cycle consists of four phases: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation. The theoretical framework of Kolb’s learning cycle has been further developed by Honey and Mumford (1982), who identified four learning styles as activist, reflector, theorist and pragmatic. After taking a relevant test the author’s learning style has been identified to be a theorist. As Fee (2011) informs, individuals with theorist learning style tend to classify their observations into specific patterns and consequently generate relevant theories. Accordingly, it has been established that the best learning environment…
By John Dudovskiy
Category: Personal reflection & development
SWOT analysis is one of the most effective tools for critically assessing a range of internal and external factors in order to assist the decision-making (Callen, 2009). SWOT abbreviation stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with a business. Strengths First of all, Guest-Tek as a brand possesses a set of advantages that have been used as sources of competitive advantage by the company and thus leadership position has been obtained by the company in Northern American market. These business advantages include the high profit margin of 35-45% generated by the business, increasingly high customer retention rate of 99% due to effective value offer appreciated by customers, attractive prices of the services of the business, as well as, preferred vendor status of Guest-Tek with well-known hotels such as Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott. Moreover, the fact that the company employs young, energetic and entrepreneurial leaders can be highlighted as additional strengths of the brand. Furthermore, there are competitive points associated with GlobalSuite offer of the company that also can be considered as Guest-Tek strengths that maximise the chances of its success in the Russian marketplace. These points include the possibility of contacting support desk and communicate in a wide rage of languages, no need to change the laptop settings in order to connect to the internet, and the fact that network equipment is obtained from high-call technology manufacturers. Moreover conveniences provided to hotel managers to set the price of the internet or offer free-of-charge services, as well as, short payback period of the GlobalSuite installation further contribute to the attractiveness of this specific offer in Russian marketplace. Weaknesses A set of weaknesses are associated with Guest-Tek business strategy in general, and its GlobalSuite installation offer that need to be eliminated in order to succeed in Russian marketplace. First…
Porter’s Five Forces is a strategic analytical tool used to analyse the business environment in an industry level. Five forces are comprised of intensity of rivalry among the established firms, bargaining power of buyers, threats of substitutes, bargaining power of suppliers, and the risk of entry by potential competitors (Porter, 2004). The essence of the model is that “the stronger each of these forces is, the more limited is the ability of established companies to raise prices and earn greater profits” (Hill and Jones, 2009, p.43). Source: Tom Spencer (online) Intensity of rivalry among the established firms is high in Russian marketplace with a range of local companies such as Moscow City Telephone (MGTS), and VolgaTelecom, as well as multinational companies operating in Russia that include VimpelCom, Golden Telecom and others. Bargaining power of buyers is significant in the Russian marketplace due to the increased level of offers for private and commercial broadband services. In other words, potential and current customers of broadband companies have a wide range of companies to choose from; therefore they possess significant bargaining power in commercial interactions with broadband suppliers. Threats of substitute products and services are low for broadband companies. This is because the convenience hotels offer to their customers that involve providing access to the internet in an effective manner are difficult to substitute with alternative products and services. Bargaining power of suppliers is considered to be moderate for Guest-Tek operations in Russia. Guest-Tek suppliers mainly include global technology manufacturers like IBM MicroElectronics, Sony, PMC Consumer Electronics and others. The bargaining power of such companies is not significant due to the fact that the level of competition in technology manufacturing industry is highly intensifying and Guest-Tek can change its suppliers with minimum or no inconveniences if such necessity arises. Risk of…
PESTEL stands for political, economical, social, technological, ecological and legal factors affecting a business and it is used for the purposes of analysing external factors affecting the business. PESTEL analysis for Guest-Tek entry into the Russian marketplace is summarised into the following table: Political Level of political stability in RussiaLevel of bribery in RussiaLevel of risk of military conflicts involving Russia Levels of corporate and consumer taxation in Russia Consumer protection practices in Russia Pressure groups lobbying the interests of local businesses Economical Level of economic growth in RussiaFluctuations in oil prices that affect Russian economyThe level of inflation rate in Russia Special tariffs related to the broadband services Fluctuations in exchange rate between Canadian Dollar and Russian Rouble Minimum wage in Russia Social Severe demographic issues in RussiaVast cultural differences between North American and Russian consumersChanging lifestyle patterns Consumer buying patterns in Russia Technological The level of broadband infrastructure in RussiaThe uses and costs of energyLife-cycle of the relevant technology Potential for innovation in Russian marketplace Environmental Ecological and environmental regulationLevel of influence of various environmental groupsEnvironmental impact of Guest-Tek business activities in Russia Legal Russian employment lawsLevel of competitive regulationBroadband industry specific rules and regulations in Russia
Communication has been defined as “the transmission of information and meaning from one individual or group to another” (Guffey and Almonte, 2010, p.6). The definition of communication technology has been proposed as “electronic systems used for communication between individuals or groups” (QFinance, 2011, online). The main purpose of communication technology is to facilitate effective communication between individuals or group that are physically distant from each other. The success of a business entity largely depends on the level of communication with the various stakeholders of the business, the choice of tools selected to conduct the communication, the content of the message being communicated, as well as, the manner in which the communication is conducted. It has been stressed that “managers spend about 80 percent of their time – 6 hours and 24 minutes if every eight-hour day – in direct communication with others, whether on the phone, in meetings, via e-mal, or in individual conversations” (Boone and Kurtz, 2010, p.296). Moreover, business managers rely on a wide range of communication technologies in order to perform their duties. The traditional communication means and technologies for businesses has mainly included telephone, television, newspapers and magazines. However, the rapid technological developments during the least several decades has also concerned communications technology, and this has resulted in the evolution of new forms of communication technologies enabled by the advent of internet such as e-mails, video-conferencing, communicating through social networking websites etc. The extent at which businesses successfully integrate new forms of communication technology within their practices directly affects their long-term growth prospects, with businesses that adopt new forms of communication technology with grater level of enthusiasm being better positioned to achieve long-term growth. The uses of communication technology by business Nowadays, communication technology in its various forms is being used by businesses for a…