Business Management Essays | MBA Projects

For an organisation to remain competitive, flexible in changing market conditions and at the forefront of their particular market segment, change has become an essential part of the management process. Change does not necessarily have to form part of the day-to-day operations once a particular activity has been agreed. However, to prevent as little disruption to normal business practices as is completely necessary the resultant effect of the change must form part of the organisations longer term, three to five year, strategy. Snap-on Incorporated is a global leader and developer of automotive diagnostic solutions and, over the last several years, has been faced with stiffening competition and the threat of new entrants from diverse markets. Snap-on Incorporated has throughout this time been reorganising its facilities in order to sustain these challenging times and prepare itself for long term growth. It is now time to review how the recent change activities have aligned Snap-on Incorporated to ensure long-term success.

Management Theory Essay – Conflict is a state of mind. It has to be perceived by the parties involved. If two or more parties are not aware of a conflict, then no conflict exists. This broad definition encompasses conflicts at different levels within an organisation. Conflicts are based upon differences in interest and values, when the interests of one party come up against the different interest of another. Parties may include shareholders, managers, departments, professionals and groups; while conflict issues can include dividends, control and wage levels.

There are a number of management theories that have emerged and evolved over the years. The importance of management theories didn’t materialise until the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. The growth of large organisations with high concentrations of people and resources in one area created a need for co-ordination and organisation which highlighted the need for management

Management Theory Essay – Organisational theories develop from different backgrounds, experiences, and way of life and through unique set of frameworks, which in retrospect offer new perspectives to old conceptions and theoretical frameworks. Organisation theory can be defined as the study of the structure, functioning and performance of organisations; and the behaviour of groups and individuals within them.

Change is an organizational reality. External forces for change include the marketplace, government laws and regulations, technology, labour markets, and economic changes. Internal forces of change include organizational strategy, equipment, the workforce, and employee attitudes. Changes within an organization need a catalyst. Managers can serve as change agents by becoming the catalyst for change in their units and by managing the change process. People who act as catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing the change process are called change agents. Any manager can be a change agent. A no manager can also be a change agent. Internal managers who act as change agents may be more thoughtful and possibly more cautious. As change agents, managers initiate change because they are concerned with improving their organization’s effectiveness.

Demand chain management can be seen as a further development to the existing supply chain management theory. Demand chain is essentially a concept that focuses more on the market need than on the efficiency of supplying the product. This concept is becoming more relevant as manufacturers strive to be more competitive by adopting mass customization approach.

There are major obstacles to the management of knowledge. The most important one is the people in the organisation. Knowledge is in people s heads and therefore, without them there would be no flow of knowledge. People can be obstacles to knowledge management if they do not seek advice and learn from others; this could be because of psychological reasons such as pride or maybe because the environment is not the one that encourages a flow of the knowledge.

Diversity within the workplace has certainly increased over the last decade, being a key issue among organizations of today. This paper will identify and discuss some of the important issues when managing diversity within the workplace. The paper will also document numerous key challenges that managers face regarding workplace diversity. Key strategies to overcome such challenges will be employed. Finally, some important opportunities and benefits that arise as a result of workplace diversity will be examined.

Managing Relationships and Multicultural Negotiations – The reform and open door policies initiated by the Chinese Government through its Ten Year Programme for Social and Economic Development in 1978 has led the country to unprecedented economic growth. The key strategy that was adopted by the Chinese in order to accelerate these reforms was to attract foreign investment frequently in the form of joint ventures.

These joint ventures are often complex processes and should not be underestimated by foreign executives. Specific consideration must be given to the negotiation process at which time difficulties such as language, cultural differences and political barriers will develop.

MBA Strategic Management A Strategic Appraisal of Vodafone – The aim of this report is to appraise Vodafone s current strategic direction and choices with a view to making relevant recommendations on options for future direction. Vodafone appears to be at crossroads strategically, it has reached what may be termed a mature stage as a company and investors are applying increasing pressure due to what they see as under performance by the company. Includes PEST, SWOT, BCG Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and KSF analysis.

Vodafone has strategic agreements with the mobile phone manufacturers like Apple, Black Berry, Samsung, and Nokia that enables it to partner with them to offer better mobile packages. These partnerships and strategic agreements allow Vodafone to increase its revenue base. These mobile phone manufacturers thus play a significant role in the Vodafone’s value chain. For instance, Vodafone offered iPhone 4S to its customers prior to any other mobile operator through pre-orders, thus enhancing its customer base for contract users.

The purpose of this report is to determine whether the Channel tunnel project was a success or a failure as a project management exercise. Based on the supporting documents and investigation into the project the following report will identify key aspects of project management, fundamental to any project succeeding, and if these have been applied. Necessary recommendations at the end of this report will support any findings. Initial reports would support the decision that this project was a failure due to the fact of it costing twice the original planned budget, the final product being delivered several years late, loss of life during the project life cycle and numerous well documented failures of rolling stock and significant lapses in security arrangements. Conversely and not so well documented are the successes of the project, for example high customer satisfaction, high volumes of passenger and freight traffic being moved efficiently, speed of service to the continent, an alternative means of travel and various awards of achievement the overall project has received. The report concludes that the Channel tunnel project was a success as it delivered in accordance with the main aim and that was to provide a direct transportation link between the United Kingdom and main land Europe.

While air travel was once a luxury only the rich could afford, the entry of more airlines serving the busiest and most profitable routes has caused airfares to plummet. Some of the airlines that will be analysed are Buzz, Go, Ryan Air, and EasyJet. These are well known low cost airlines

Hackman’s model identifies a causal link between group effectiveness and factors related to the task, group composition, managerial support and processes of the group. The implication is that when these factors are favourable, the result will be a greater level of group effectiveness, determined by such outcomes as the acceptability of the output, meeting of team members’ needs and the continuity of the group. The model asserts that challenge, complexity and interdependence are requisite task characteristics for maximum group effectiveness (for the sake of efficiency and succinctness, it will be assumed henceforth that this is the ultimate objective and justification for recommendations proposed). The rationale is that these characteristics necessarily promote a sense of cohesion and trust within the group due to the fact that tasks of this nature are more effectively accomplished as a group than as individuals

Previously, organisations had a very personalised relationship with customers that can be referred to as ‘one-to-one’ relationships. It was argued that companies were able to do this -at the time -due to their refined customer base, where they were able to customize products to suit individual needs and tastes. As a consequence, customers remained satisfied and loyal. In the mid 20th century, however, product availability increased substantially and so changed the way organisations have relationships with customers. Evidently, companies lost the uniqueness of this relationship and the ability to track customers’ ever changing needs and wants. Presently, however, organisations are very much looking to regain this one- to-one exchange, to establish loyalty in a very competitive market place. Subsequently, a new phenomenon of customer relationship management (CRM) has been introduced. This includes the management’s guidelines that are needed to develop the long-term relationship between organisations and customers, which they crave (wikipedia.org). The initiation of this management issue has sparked criticism however, where its application has been described as ‘just another buzzword’. Yet other theorists have contradicted this idea and denoted it as ‘the holy grail’

All people who work within an organisation need to maintain a level of motivation for a company to exist. Organisations are required to be financially viable, and the staff they employ are needed to ensure that this occurs – if these members of staff carry no motivation, then the company for which they work will incur major problems. What I intend to do, is to analyse proposed theories on this subject, in order to establish what it is that provides worker motivation, and which providing factors need to be considered

Sainsbury’s main objective is to increase sales to retain their number one spot in the supermarket industry within the UK. Sainsbury’s goal to achieve their objective is by delivering an improved quality shopping experience for its customers with high quality products for low prices. Sainsbury’s are trying to gain back the customers that they have lost in the past years. Today Sainsbury’s are competing against the major leaders of the supermarket industry. These include Tesco who happens to be the market leader in the UK, ASDA which Wal-Mart took over and also happens to be the market leader in the world, and Morrison’s which is also a well-established supermarket retailer

This MBA essay discusses about the organisational culture of India and than compare its culture with cultures of UK and Japan. It will be done with the help of different models. Like human civilisation, where they have a set of values, beliefs, traditions and behaviours, which define the way the people live on day to day basis, every organisation have its own culture, which defines the ‘way the things are done here’. These cultures are mainly influenced by the society or country, these organisations are operating in. India is an emerging market in the global market, therefore most of the management researchers are trying to figure out the kind of management and leadership styles that are used in India and which can be useful for foreign corporations to be used in India. These researchers have found that the westernised management styles can not be used in India because of its history and family oriented business

This project focuses on the Ford Motor Company and its take on advertising. The project aim is to analyse competitive advertising in the car manufacturing industry. In 2005 Ford came third in the world ranking of car makers behind General Motors and Toyota. Ford has exited for over 100 years and has managed to penetrate global markets on a large scale and is thus recognized worldwide as a leading brand. Nonetheless, Ford itself, aside from its sister brands, is not positioned in the premium market. In fact, the main advert that we have selected portrays Ford’s Fiesta Zetec Climate, which is priced from £8,995. Similarly, prices for Ford cars in the UK range from just over £7,000 for 3-door hatchbacks up to £20,000 for 7-seaters with vehicle (mainly vans) prices ranging from £10,000 to £23,000, which clearly positions Ford in the affordable prices market

Before the liberalization of the Indian economy, only a few companies like Kelvinator, Godrej, Allwyn, and Voltas were the major players in the consumer durables market, accounting for no less than 90% of the market. Then, after the liberalization, foreign players like LG, Sony, Samsung, Whirlpool, Daewoo, and Aiwa came into the picture. Today, these players control the major share of the consumer durables market. Consumer durables market is expected to grow at 10-15% in 2007-2008. It is growing very fast because of rise in living standards, easy access to consumer finance, and wide range of choice, as many foreign players are entering in the market

The retailing sector of India can be split into two major segments. They are the informal and the formal retailing sector. The informal retailing sector is comprised of small retailers. For this sector, it is very difficult to implement the tax laws. There is widespread tax evasion. It is also cumbersome to regulate the labour laws in this sector. As far as the formal retailing sector is concerned, it is comprised of large retailers. Stringent tax and labour laws are implemented in this sector. If the retail industry is divided on the basis of retail formats then it can be split into the modern format retailers and the traditional format retailers. The modern format retailers comprise of the supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Departmental Stores, Specialty Chains and company owned and operated retail stores. The traditional format retailers comprise of Kiranas, Kiosks, Street Markets and the multiple brand outlets. The retail industry can also be subdivided into the organized and the unorganized sector. The organized retail sector occupies about 3% of the aggregate retail industry in India

IT project has deliverables: a delivery date and a budget, and each stage of the project lifecycle carry its own risks. Since IT projects are often difficult to estimate and manage, the project should not be allowed to go from one phase into the next until a formal Risk Assessment has been performed, in order to achieve deliverables and expectations and to meet with user’s satisfaction. Risk assessment can take place at any stage and during any time of the project lifecycle, though the sooner the better. In this paper risk management and assessment in the early stages of IT projects will be discussed, along with methodologies on project management that will help ensure that a project start off with a reasonable chance of being successful. Emphasis will be on the TenStep methodology

There is a common understanding that entrepreneurs in general can be stereotyped, however all entrepreneurs are different, and subsequently the reasons for why they initially start their businesses is unique to each of these individuals. Due to this it does not exist any valid general agreement on what the definition of what an entrepreneur is. Likewise, there exists multiple differences within social entrepreneurs. What is clear, however, is that social entrepreneurs differ from other entrepreneurs in their mission of creating superior social value for their clients. In today’s society, the common consensus of improving the world through social responsibility and environmental accountability seem to attain growing importance. We are increasingly becoming more educated in terms of the augmented social needs in our integrated world, and therefore social entrepreneurship is attracting an increased amount of talent, money and attention from multiple sectors.

The chosen leaders of our team are Donald Trump and Sir Richard Branson, each possessing extraordinary leadership skills, allowing them to soar high in their respective enterprises and succeed. They are among the most prolific brand builders in the world, irrepressible businessmen whose corporate empires are created in the image of their oversized personalities. Donald Trump and Richard Branson continue to extend the reach of their personal brands to remote corners of consumerism which is fuelled in part by their showmanship. They are a study in contrast: Donald Trump, the boastful, button-downed, grim Yankee deal maker who has ridden the real estate boom and his personal myth making to phenomenal business success; Sir Richard, the toothy British adventurer who sprouts new businesses as quickly as the hairs of his bushy goatee.

Technology is moving forward with contactless products. Contactless products allow the consumer to purchase without a human intervention while using electronic technology to make purchases or payments. The most valued part of this new technology is that the consumer is apt to use this type of ‘card’ more often, thereby increasing the credit card company’s revenues. “Issuers hope contactless technology will help them convert the mostly cash payments at such locations into card transactions. The magnetic strip will remain on the cards for now for larger purchases.

Today Six Sigma as a business strategy has been proved to be successful in reducing costs of poor quality, improving cycle times of various processes, eliminating errors or defects from processes, enhancing customer satisfaction and so on. So what is Six Sigma?

Knowledge of the environment in which a firm operates is vital for it to work at full efficiency and achieve its goals. The BBC was the first national broadcasting organisation and was founded on 18 October 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company Ltd; it was subsequently granted a Royal Charter and was made a publicly funded corporation in 1927. The corporation produces programmes and information services, broadcasting globally on television, radio, and the Internet. The stated mission of the BBC is “to inform, educate and entertain” (as laid down by Parliament in the BBC Charter); its motto is “Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation”. In this paper, I will analyze issues facing the BBC using Porter’s 5 forces (Porter, 1979).

Question 2: Discuss and provide the evidence of Lidl’ main operation performance objectives to remain competitive in retail industry? Question 3: Apply Slack, Chambers and Johnston’s adaptation or Parasuman’s SERVQUAL Model to discuss how quality gaps can be diagnosed; and evaluate how Lidl’s quality planning and control can be improved by understanding any gaps evident from your examination of customers/operation domains

In this report it is my aim to critically evaluate a B2B organisation in order to gain a sound knowledge of the business, the area it operates in and also to be able to make recommendations in how the organisation can improve. Typically B2B organisations tend to be out of the spotlight of customers, as it is there nature to operate business to business. Examples of these kinds of organisations include IBM, EMAP and obviously more well known Microsoft. They operate on a grand scale within the B2B sector and are obvious choices when discussing B2B organisations. However within the current e-climate, which sees more online B2B organisations arise I decided to evaluate a less obvious choice. On the Internet, B2B also known as e-biz, is the exchange of products, services, or information between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. There are many B2B websites such as Company Web sites, Brokering sites, Information sites and portals. The organisation that I have chosen to critically evaluate is Yahoo! which is a search engine that is not often seen as a B2B

DELL. Over the years many businesses and corporations has been changing PC’s to Mac because they found that Mac was much easier to use and user friendly and smooth in just about every way, and due to lack of services provided by the Dell customer care services, if they had a problem they would call it a nightmare because it would just take almost forever for them to get something done, unlike Apple services which is known to be excellent and fast. Apple Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries design, manufacture, and market personal computers, portable digital music players, and mobile communication devices, and sell various related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions. Dell Inc, was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and support of computer systems and services worldwide

For the past ten years a serious changes have been occurring in the banking industry. Significant transformations can be noticed in the financial sector market structure due to the mergers and acquisitions. Decrease in credit institutions operating in the Western Europe and noticeable increase in concentration and competition. Additionally the total value of assets increased in all examined countries. Western Europe market as a whole saw an increase of almost 100% in the asset value. The total number of operating banks declined to around 7000 institutions, a decline of 30% during the time period. The concentration ratio increased in majority of the countries with Estonia and Netherlands holding the biggest CR5 ratios. The number of micro and macro environmental factors contributed to the changes in the industry. The most influential and therefore important were political factors, including changes in regulations and policies regarding consolidation in the banking sector. Economic, Social and Technological factors were less affective with economic growth being the most influential force. Micro economic analysis proved that consumers and competitors were the most crucial factors that helped to bring the cross-border restructuring