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Business Management

Cross-Cultural Management Assignment

Cross-Cultural Management at McDonald’s Assignment

Cross-Cultural Management Assignment – McDonald’s is the largest single-brand chain of restaurants globally. Since its establishment, it has offered various products such as soft drinks, cheeseburgers, hamburgers and potato chips in its menu with various additions and phasing out over time. McDonald’s has overtime spread across the world and overcome significant cultural differences between its home country, the United States and its new markets.

However, its expansion into India is likely to face more significant challenges due to the magnitude of cultural differences between the United States and India. Through the application of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the most significant differences include power distance, indulgence and individualism. The high acceptance of inequality between people, the restrained culture and collectivism of the Indian society are some of the challenges that McDonald’s is likely to face.

Further, through the application of Trompenaar’s culture dimension concept, the significant challenges include particularism and diffuse Indian culture which does not have clear boundaries on private and public places. However, the recommendations are that through adverse selection marketing, concentration on innovation, improvement of products quality, and staff satisfaction, the challenges can be overcome.

One of the largest restaurant franchises currently in the globe is McDonald’s. Having been started in California as a drinks and food stand in 1937 by Patrick McDonald, it has expanded to approximately 122 countries across the world (Grant, 2010). The McDonald’s Restaurant has mastered the art of franchising and is presently the largest restaurant chain with a single-brand and furthermore, the largest global restaurant operator. In the early years of operation, McDonald’s focused on selling hamburgers, apple pies, potato chips, coffee, cheeseburgers, and soft drinks. However, today several menu items have been phased out over time with several others brought on board.

According to Grant (2010), McDonald’s has also beaten all odds and ventures into nations with an entirely different culture with the United States which is the home country. However, there are other countries that the restaurant has yet to establish franchises. One of the countries that McDonald’s therefore ought to open the business in India. Although there is a significant difference in culture such as leadership, communication, staff handling, marketing and ethics, India has a substantial market that McDonald’s can exploit (Ferraro and Briody, 2013).

Cross-Cultural Management Findings

For McDonald’s Restaurant to take on the Indian Restaurant market, it has to overcome the challenges that are brought on board by the significant differences in culture between the home country, United States and India, the new and prospective market (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 2011). Through the application of theories and concepts of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture and the Trompenaar’s dimensions of culture, the challenges that may emerge due to differences of culture can be analysed (Deresky, 2017).

Migliore (2011) states that the most significant cultural dimensions that McDonald’s restaurant franchise is likely to face in the process of opening the business and adapting in India are the differences in power distance, individualism and indulgence (See Appendix). One of the culture dimensions with the most significant difference is power distance. It elaborates the extent to which the less commanding members of the society in organisations and institutions in a nation, such as India, agree and expect that power is unequally spread.

The power distance score for India and the United States is 77 and 40 respectively and therefore; there is a difference of 37. This implies that McDonald’s is likely to have a difficult time in marketing their products and services in India based on the fact that the inequalities of the society are endorsed by the populace as much as the leaders of India do (Sriramesh, 2013).

The other significant cultural dimension difference that McDonald’s is likely to face is Individualism (See Appendix). According to Tu, Lin and Chang (2011), individualism is higher in the United States as compared to India. Individualism is the interdependence degree society can maintain among its members. The United States and India scores are 91 and 48 respectively. There is a difference of 43 between the two countries.

The United States is an individualistic society, and most people only take care of themselves and their direct families hence it is easy for the McDonald’s restaurant to influence individual families. This is primarily because individualism means that the standards of ethics are established by individual families and not the society (Tu, Li and Chang, 2011). However, the Indian society is a highly collectivist society. Most ethics and related-decisions are made on a society level. This culture is likely to create a challenge for McDonald’s restaurant as it is easier to influence a family as opposed to an entire society.

Another Hofstede’s cultural dimension of significant difference between the United States and India is the indulgence. According to Pandey and Devasagayam (2015), indulgence is the degree to which individuals attempt to control their impulses and desires based on the manner in which they were born. The score for indulgence in the United States and India is 68 and 21 respectively as below.

Cross-Cultural Management Assignment
Cross-Cultural Management Assignment

A significant difference of 47 exists between the two countries. In the United States, children, adolescents and adults are highly indulgent hence communication and negotiation with various stakeholders is a readily achievable objective. However, Indians have a restrained culture, especially in food consumption. For instance, it will be a considerable challenge for McDonald’s to have Indians populace indulge in the consumption of beef.

This is because individuals have been brought up to respect cows as members of the family. Cows in Hindu are seen as animals that are motherly giving. All products with beef related products would mount a massive challenge in convincing Indians to be stakeholders, let alone communicating or negotiation with them.

On the other hand, the Trompenaar’s cultural dimensions that can be applied in analysing the difficulties McDonald’s may face in setting up business in India includes Universalism versus Particularism and Specific Versus Diffuse Cultures (Dickson et al. 2012). In the United States, leadership decisions are taken without situational context regard.

Therefore, McDonald’s managerial decisions are easily made in the United States as the concentration is on the legal contracts. That is universalism. However, India focuses on particularism which means that the concentration is more on personal relations. Leadership decisions are highly likely to be difficult in the making in India due to the focus on personal relations as opposed to legal contracts.

Furthermore, according to Katan (2014), the specific versus diffuse culture dimension is significant between the United States and India. Staff handling by the McDonald’s restaurant in the United States is easy as borders, distinctions, and private and public spaces are separated. For instance, the relationship between subordinates and their bosses are prohibited. Therefore, there are specific cultures in the United States that makes the staff handling easier for McDonald’s.

On the other hand, staff handling in India is most likely to be a challenge as the culture is diffuse. This means that private and public spaces do not have a clear border or distinction. More so, work relationships are allowed to extend beyond that to personal relationships. Employees and their superiors are most likely to be in each other’s life aspects beyond McDonald’s. This is most likely to make it challenging to handle staff as connections between the subordinates and bosses may lie beyond the working relationship.

Conclusion Cross-Cultural Management

McDonald’s expansion into India is most likely to face challenges due to a significant difference in culture. Cultures are very different between McDonald’s home country, the United States and India. Through the application of Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, indulgence, individualism and power distance are the most significantly different between the two countries (See Appendix). McDonald’s face the challenge of indulgence in India as Hindus are brought up believing beef should not be taken. Hence, all products related to beef are less likely to be served in India. More so, India is more of a collectivist nation than an individualistic one.

Most decisions on ethics, therefore, depend on society viewpoints. Thus, as opposed to the United States, McDonald’s is less likely to influence the people whose ethics rely on the society as opposed to an individual family. Further, power distance which elaborates on the inequality of people in the society is high in India, which makes it difficult in convincing people to Purchase McDonald’s products and services through marketing.

On the other hand, Trompenaar’s dimensions of culture which could have significant challenges on McDonald’s expanding into India includes specific versus diffuse cultures and universalism and particularism. Unlike the United States, India does not have clear borders on private and public spaces, and therefore, handling of staff would be difficult for McDonald’s as work relationships extend to personal relationships.

More so, leadership decisions would also face challenges as unlike in the United States, India focuses on personal relations as opposed to legal contracts in performing operations and making judgments. Indulgence, power distance and individualism are possible to influence over time. However, particularism and diffuse cultures would need more than just McDonald’s willingness to transform the dimensions as they border on government-based responsibilities.

Recommendations

For McDonald’s to overcome the challenges it is likely to face in setting up business in India; the following recommendations have to be carefully followed. According to Lian, Ferris and Brown (2012), one of the ways of reducing power distance in India by McDonald’s is ensuring that there is a reduction in errors, quality of services and products is improved, and there is a satisfaction of safety and staff members. More so, draconian and autocratic relationships should be eliminated and more premiums placed on collaboration between the employees and their supervisors. This will allow evenly distributed power and a comparatively lesser emotional distance between supervisors and employees.

For McDonald’s to excel in India, Individualism has to be promoted as opposed to collectivism. The culture of collectivism can be transformed through promoting innovation and high individual responsibility level. According to Zhang, Liang and Sun (2013), either technological or food innovation can dismantle the idea of collectivism as people are drawn towards personal needs rather than collective wants. Individualism will allow some competition degree amongst people hence decisions and ethical standards being decided individually rather than by the society. This would allow McDonald’s to penetrate the Indian market easily and to have a higher degree of influence.

Furthermore, indulgence can be heightened through constant adverse selection marketing. According to Er-li (2010), this kind of marketing allows the seller and the buyer to have information on the product which is not matching. With time, people in India may find themselves taking all kinds of products in the McDonald’s restaurant.

References

Deresky, H. (2017). International management: Managing across borders and cultures. (9th ed.) London. Pearson.

Dickson, M. W., Castaño, N., Magomaeva, A., & Den Hartog, D. N. (2012). Conceptualizing leadership across cultures. Journal of world business, 47(4), 483-492.

Er-li, C. A. O. (2010). Channel partners selection and drive based on adverse marketing [J]. Science-Technology and Management, 2, 019.

Ferraro, G. P., & Briody, E. K. (2013). The cultural dimension of global business. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.

Grant, E. (2010). Might makes mcright: McDonald’s corporation’s trademark strategy. J. Contemp. Legal Issues, 19, 227.

Katan, D. (2014). Translating cultures: An introduction for translators, interpreters and mediators. Routledge.

Lian, H., Ferris, D. L., & Brown, D. J. (2012). Does power distance exacerbate or mitigate the effects of abusive supervision? It depends on the outcome. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(1), 107.

Migliore, L. A. (2011). The relation between big five personality traits and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions: Samples from the USA and India. Cross-Cultural Management: An International Journal, 18(1), 38-54.

Pandey, S., & Devasagayam, R. (2015). The effect of deals and moods on compulsive buying in young adults: A comparison of an indulgence culture and a restraint culture. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 14(3), 257-270.

Sriramesh, K. (2013). Power distance and public relations: An ethnographic study of Southern Indian organisations. In International Public Relations (pp. 181-200). Routledge.

Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (2011). Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Nicholas Brealey International.

Tu, Y. T., Lin, S. Y., & Chang, Y. Y. (2011). A cross-cultural management comparison by individualism/collectivism among Brazil, Russia, India and China. International Business Research, 4(2), 175.

Zhang, X., Liang, X., & Sun, H. (2013). Individualism-collectivism, private benefits of control, and earnings management: A cross-culture comparison. Journal of business ethics, 114(4), 655-664.

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Disruptive Innovation Project

Disruptive Innovation

Over the past decade, the business world has been positively and negatively affected by several disruptive innovations. Disruptive innovation occurs when a new or underrated company initially at the bottom of an industry’s market moves up and eventually displaces the existing competitors. It alters the industry’s competition strategies by introducing completely new approaches. The term disruptive innovation was first coined in the book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. In the 1997 best-seller, a Harvard Business School professor wrote about “why some innovations that were radical in nature reinforced the incumbent’s position in a certain industry, contrary to what previous models would predict.”

New business adopts new layouts that cannot be mimicked by competitors making it the lead in that specific industry. This subsequently affects the entire market network and processes. For that reason, businesses have been striving to shift their means of operation to keep up with this competition.

Disruptive innovation has led to business shifts from traditional approaches to modern technological approaches. Technology is continuously experiencing a revolution. Technical changes or digital innovations lead to a technology disruption (Rachinger, Korajman, Vorbach & Guggenberger, 2019). An excellent example of how companies have shifted due to the internet and digital innovation is in the competition techniques.

Companies have adapted to a digital transformation strategy in which they integrate various digital technologies in all the main business operation areas. Offering customers an exemplary digital experience at a low operation cost demands new technological business applications. In the end, the market concedes these innovations. They speed up operations and convey businesses’ outcomes more effectively.

Digital transformation means a change in a business’s culture as well as a change in thought. This transformation has created a need for organizations to change their dynamics to swiftly cater to the industry’s changing needs. Today’s management teams are working hand in hand with IT experts to meet the industry’s competition by speeding up the company’s activities, lowering operational costs, and generally improving the whole business process.

Disruptive Innovation
Disruptive Innovation

The digital transformation process positions the customer at the center of the business model (Kotarba, 2018). Businesses are taking advantage of technology to reach their customers more effectively and efficiently through mass media and advertisements. This new model shapes and changes the entire working and operations of a business. Technology has also made it easier to adapt to the changing demands of the market.

However, these technological disruptions have not been advantageous for all businesses. They are a great challenge for companies that have not been able to cope with the sudden changes followed by high paces. This has seen the disintegration of past business models and the closure of big businesses.

Disruptive Innovation and Technological change

Technological change has influenced and pushed businesses beyond the traditional business models from the strategy to the operations. The Australian government is committed to delivering a stable, safe, and inclusive digital economy. It has seized all chances and opportunities brought about by the digital transformation. Most businesses have adapted to innovations such as remote sensors, blockchain, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, robots, and autonomous techniques into their processes, and the results are improved outputs.

More industries have been created for the production of more products and services. Endorsement of digital transformation has brought about more employment opportunities, improved life quality, better-paying jobs, and an improved ministry of industry.

Australia has laid out all the future opportunities and challenges brought about by technological changes. This has enabled businesses to maximize and augment the available opportunities. According to research, Australia’s digital technology innovations contributed to approximately 58 percent of the country’s economy in 2014, and the estimated improvement over the next ten years could be around 315 billion dollars (Fleischmann, Daniel & Welters, 2017). To ensure that all its citizens survive in the technological disruption and that no one is left behind, the government points out all work that is ongoing and analyzes more recommended efforts.

Australia’s digital future is fixated on four primary areas, which include the people, digital tools, digital services, and the regulatory system. The government focuses on people by ensuring that citizens have the right digital skills to operate on new technological innovations. It also ensures that digital tools are integrated by providing adequate infrastructure.

Regulatory systems are maintained by the government, providing an enabling environment that ensures cybersecurity. The government also focuses on better ways to deliver digital services to all citizens equally. Digital technologies have delivered benefits across the economy sectors, such as agriculture, services, health, mining, manufacturing, education, transport, tourism, and emergency services.

However, despite a significant increment in the employment rates, some jobs have definitely been lost. An example is the truck drivers in mine areas who have been taken over by automatic trucks that do not require personnel operation and are safer. The CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia) has envisioned that of all the jobs that would be lost, 40 percent would be attributed to replacement by automation (Healy, Nicholson & Gahan, 2017). The benefit brought by disruption, however, oversee the disadvantages as more employment rates have been recorded since the technological advancements began.

References

Fleischmann, K., Daniel, R., & Welters, R. (2017). Developing a regional economy through creative industries: disruptive innovation capacity in a regional Australian city. Creative Industries Journal, 10(2), 119-138.

Healy, J., Nicholson, D., & Gahan, P. (2017). The Future of Work in Australia: Anticipating how new technologies will reshape labor markets, occupations, and skill requirements. Department of Education.

Kotarba, M. (2018). Digital transformation of business models. Foundations of Management, 10(1), 123-142.

Rachinger, M., Korajman, I., Vorbach, S., & Guggenberger, T. (2019, June). The Influence of Technological Disruptions in Business Ecosystems on Elements of Companies’ Business Models. In R&D Management Conference 2019.

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Supply Chain Mapping MBA Project

Supply Chain Mapping is crucial to any organisation regardless of its size, specialization or region.  A typical supply chain system is composed of resources, activities that facilitate the movement of products from the supplier to the client and vice versa, i.e., upstream and downstream (Kozlenkova et al., 2015). However, the keeping track of all these supply chain activities, i.e., delivery and supply of necessary materials, information and other elements is getting complicated day by day.

Henceforth, it’s essential for organizations to manage these activities through visualizations which can help in identifying supply risk factors for necessary actions to be taken (Ho et al., 2015). And this is where supply chain mapping comes in handy. Supply chain mapping refers to the use of visual maps in monitoring the activities linking suppliers and customers.  The supply chain map shows how all partners and actions are connected such as supply, transport, warehousing, retailing and so on.

Moreover, a supply chain map takes into account the transactions and information exchanged by all parties, both upstream and downstream (Jayaratane et al., 2018).  Breaking down the composition of the supply chain mapping reveals interesting factors such as how it’s mapped, parts that are included in the map and criteria used to select. This paper thus discusses these elements of supply chain mapping in addition to the implications of various types of integration in the supply chain management.

Supply Chain Mapping Deployment

Mapping is meant to reveal opportunities and obstacles so that an organization can be able to formulate a winning strategy. To do so, a supply chain map has to indicate two crucial components; the supply chain flow and supply chain entity (Dujak, 2017). This can be achieved by following these steps.

Mapping the Physical Structure

An existing supply chain model already has physical locations that contribute to its value stream. These include the warehouses, factories and retail stores that support the movement of products and services upstream. However, the networks that support that these facilities can be at times complex, even for established organizations. For instance, it may be hard determining who supplies to the organization’s suppliers.

Which facilities or methods do suppliers or producers use to ensure that the raw materials are produced legally and ethically? This requires an organization to step up its involvement by in its analysis of supply chain structure.  Nuss et al., (2016) claims that identifying the relevant physical structures during mapping helps in determining the degree centrality of the supply chain.

Degree centrality is used to determine the level of physical sites that a particular organization owns. This, in turn, determines how the level of control they have on the supply chain and associated risks.

Networking Environment and Context Analysis

The environment that a company operates comes in handy in understanding the supply network system that they can tap into.  Rodriguez (2016) claims that this stage of supply chain mapping entails determining four different types of ties: similarities, relations, interactions and flows. These elements affect how a company is perceived by the society that it operates in.

For companies to successfully succeed in this state, they should take into consideration factors such as;

  • Cultural and ethnic differences,
  • The geography covered,
  • Politics and legal systems within the target markets,
  • Expectations of the end users.
  • The environmental protection laws.

A company that understands these factors will experience more success since it will be able to determine the trends, the drivers and conditions that affect the flow of goods and service both upstream and downstream.

An organization should consider any unique factors which present in the supply chain to determine if they are risks, threats or opportunities. This affects how the organization responds (Rodriquez, 2016). For instance, an organization can critically analyze:

  • Whether to standardize or customize the products:
  • The complexity of the products
  • Customer tastes and preferences
  • Bureaucracy and complexity within the organization
  • Cost of switching for customers
  • The degree of Competition in the market.

All of these factors affect the type of supply chain an organization selects. The more complex and customized the products are, the more complex the supply chain will be.

Supply Chain Mapping
Supply Chain Mapping

Considering the Buying Process:

This organization must consider how many hands the raw material or finished product pass through before reaching them or their target client respectively.  For instance, the company should determine if it buys the products directly from the producers, or from brokers and third-party companies.  To do so, a chart is created, showing how the current transactions and exchange of products are carried out in the supply chain. From this, the organization can determine which parties that they can away with to loosen up the supply chain model.

Dujak (2017) claims this part of the analysis can be classified under the extended value supply map. Brokers and re-suppliers can at times be adding no value to the whole production process, especially if the main producers of raw materials are within reach. In addition to hoarding products and inflating prices, brokers may also become unreliable parties when transacting with them. For instance, if products are not delivered on time despite being paid for, should you hold the broker or the producer accountable?

Can you eliminate the broker and purchase directly from the producer or supply directly to the final clients? Analyzing these elements will help determine how to approach non-value adding-component of the supply chain such as bypassing them.

Supply Chain Mapping – Accounting for Transparency of Information 

Mapping a successful supply chain model entails ensuring that the information being passed across the various parties is consistent and credible. For this reason, a company has to define the types of reports that it expects from all the actors in the supply chain. The expectations will be based on the type of contract that an organization has with these parties.

The suppliers should provide information on their production process and their transport mechanisms (Gardner et al., 2015).  Passing information on sample products or services ensures that expected standards have been met before the commercial production start. In this case, the information being passed down or up the stream covers concepts such as order status, product testing and such. There two ways of ensuring consistency information flow, i.e., manually or electronically.

Moreover, each actor should be provided on information about their expected roles and limitations (Gardner et al., 2015). When all these factors are considered, the supply chain mapping will be based on the transparent information. This implies that each of the party will be accountable and responsible for any issues that they are expected to handle. This stage is usually called the current state map.

Should the map include connected firms or primary firms?

The supply chain map mandates that every activity within the supply model must be accounted for. In doing so, the visualization of how the raw materials are produced to how they reach the final customer must be accounted. Henceforth, this takes into account all the primary and secondary activities that facilitates this process. For this reason, it’s essential to include the connected firm in the supply chain map

Means of determining who should be part of the supply chain map

Heat mapping:

This method entails identifying the main company priority regarding the products that it produces. Each activity of the firm is assigned a grade/ colour/size in the order of its overall importance to a company. In doing so, the company can be able to trace the main parties behind such activity. The parties that become part of the supply chain are those whose roles are found to be invaluable to the company, i.e. those whose grades are much higher (Bryan, 2015).  Regarding this, the supplier of a company has a high priority since the raw materials that they provide; facilitate normal running activities within the firm.

The degree of Risk:

Oliveira et al., (2017) claim the supply chain activities are proliferated with operational threats due to uncertainty in business environments. Such threats can lead to immense losses for a firm. For instance, Boeing suffered a loss of $2.25 Billion, while Cisco lost $2.25 Billion due to supply chain problems (Oliveira et al., 2017). Henceforth, when considering who to include in the supply chain, the main question should be if the party selected is ready to partake in the losses due to risks?

Secondly, how can the party help in mitigating risk? How accountable is the party in the organisational objectives? If a party feels the wrath of consequences related to risks and threats, then they should be included in the supply chain map.

Florian et al., (2015) break down this concept by assigning each risk category with the composition of risks that may proliferate it. All of these activities have a domino effect on the whole supply chain, any parties supplying these activities must be included in the supply chain map.

Supplying Risks: Poor quality good, non-delivery of agreed products, inflated prices, delayed delivery schedule.

Transporting Risk: Loss and damage to good when in transit

Warehousing Risks: Spoiling and damage to goods; changes in storage costs and taxes being levied on them.

Marketing Risks: Wrong promotional strategies, excessive, demand volatility.

Production Risk: Equipment failure, overproduction, poor quality outputs (Florian et al., 2015).

From the above, it’s evident that these are high-risk issues that may face an organization. Henceforth, an organization should monitor all activities carried out by these parties to ensure everything goes as planned. Moreover, when an issue arises, it can be easy for the organization to track through the use of an already established supply chain map. Henceforth, under this criteria, the supplier, the transporters, warehousing companies and marketing agencies must be included in the supply chain map.

Benchmarking

If a company wants to have a successful supply chain, it must study its competitors or other companies who have established a successful supply chain model. This is where benchmarking comes in handy where a company studies the processes, performances and products from the best practices (Routroy et al., 2015).  This strategy helps a company select the right partners for its supply chain model, who are more likely to help it achieve its objectives fast.

Hettiarachchi (2016) claims that Apple Inc. has probably the most successful supply chain strategy due to how it has mastered mapping and visualization technologies in monitoring the movement of all products, both upstream and downstream. Once the company has benchmarked other companies supply chain maps, it then decides on how it can visualize its map for maximum benefits. The bigger the firm and the more complex its activities, it might find itself integrating even the secondary parties to the map, just like Apple Inc does (Hettiarachchi, 2016). On the other hand, if the company activities are just simple and use basic raw materials, its supply chain map should include the basic parties, i.e. supplier, warehouses, the firm, and the retailers.

The Importer-Exporter Criteria

The Importer (Buyer):  This is a connected firm who supplies to the organization supplier. The importer is usually the source of goods within that region if he got them from the foreign nations. The importer negotiates purchase terms with the main supplier, which affects the final price of the raw materials when the reach a firm.  This party offloads and inspects the shipment to ensure that all the products that had been ordered are in place. This importer is categorized as a source to pay (S2P) within the supply chain map.

Supplier (Exporter):  Usually categorized as an Order-to-Cash Component in the Supply chain map.  The exporter receives the purchase order from company clients and validates their credentials.  After confirming the order, they fulfill their services by shipping the goods to the clients. He then collects the payment from the clients and reconciles them for analysis. The reason the exporter is accounted for in the Supply chain map is that he can help a company determine the level of demand from customers. The exporter is a connected firm within the supply chain model.

Exporter (Supplier):  This type of exporter falls under the connected firm category and is a Fulfill-to service component.  This supplier is in charge of fulfilling the order of all the raw materials scheduled for production. The exporter procures materials from their direct sources and delivers them to the company for processing. This type of exporter is placed in the Fulfill-to-service component.

Implications of a Good Supply Chain Management Practice

Vertical Structure:

More Control: Under this arrangement, the company control major activities within its supply chain, e.g. Apple Inc.  As a result, the company can make amendments or any changes in the supply chain with minimal tussles (McCandless et al., 2015). For instance, when a manufacturer acquires its product retailers, he can be able to dictate the prices of all the products, just like he would if he were to acquire the supplier. As a result, they may have more bargaining company than the customers’ especially if there are no alternatives.

Differentiation:  Having more control over the distribution channels, retails outlets, production materials inputs can enable a company to distinguish itself from competitors. Consumers may be able to notice these differences which can be leveraged upon further by clever marketing tactics.

Higher Profit and Revenue margins: Upstream and Downstream markets such as selling products to the customers or accessing raw materials directly from the source may become new sources of revenues.  For instance, a company can also supply raw materials or provide transport and warehouse facilities to other companies on a fees basis. Moreover, having access to these elements eliminates middlemen and intermediaries who usually hike the prices by the time the products are reaching the company or end users. Henceforth, eliminating these intermediaries implies all these profits they were enjoying will be redirected to the firm.

Higher Level of Certainty: Florian et al., (2015) claimed that the more the parties involved in the supply chain, the higher the risks due to reduced control the company may have in overseeing all the activities. With vertical integration, all the acquired companies are acting as subsidiaries to the main company; hence it may be easy to standardize products and regulate their quality. This implies that a company is guaranteed of quality raw materials, quality freight and transport, warehousing and even retailing of goods.

Supply Chain Mapping Horizontal Integration

Market Expansion: Horizontal integration refers to the process of acquiring business activities that are at the same level. For instance, a fast-food company can try to gain a footing in another country by merging with another fast-food company in that nation. This enables a company to have a larger market share, which in turn leads to more revenues and profits for a company.  The supply chain model also becomes flexible and loosens up, since they can experiment with different supplier simultaneously to determine the best one.

Industry Control: the merging of two similar businesses implies that their bargaining power also increases. As a result, they can use this power to set the market prices for their products, set standards for customers as well as dictate the quality they expect from their suppliers and prices.

This is an immense power which may lead to more third-party vendors focusing more on such companies due to being assured of continuous contracts and high demand for their goods.

Economies of Scale: An integrated company will be able to order quantity raw materials, engage in more productive activities at a much lower cost than if it were ordering low quantity products.  This may in turn, lead to bigger profit margins and optimal use of all the facilities within the company.

Increased Differentiation: if the company continues acquiring and merging with businesses along with all lines it operates in, it can have more control over the features of its products.  For instance, the products may be either cheaper, high quality, long lasting in a way that other companies which have not integrated themselves cannot replicate.

Focal Company:

Better relations with consumers: Under this structure, the company has a direct contract with the end users (Wang et al., 2016). This may help the company gain more trust and loyalty, leading to repeat sales from customers.

Better insight for better marketing and product strategies: The company taps to first-hand information from clients from matters about complains, suggestions that they may have on the type of services provided. The company may use this information to re-align and strategize itself so that it meets their demand or needs adequately.

Increased Accountability of suppliers and distributors: Since the company has contact with the end user, it may also provide guidelines that their vendors should follow to provide the best quality services and products for their customers. This may lead to the company monitoring the activities within the supply chain more closely than with other forms of integration (Wang et al., 2016). This may lead to a domino effect where the suppliers and other service providers to the company are also more keen, leading to quality products in the end.

In conclusion, it’s evident that supply chain mapping is very crucial for companies. It supports information distribution, shows channel dynamics and enhances strategic planning process for an organization. This enables the company can track all activities.  It helps companies get more insight on all activities that are crucial to its functioning, be it upstream or downstream.

How can a supply chain mapping be successful? Well, the answer lies in who is the parties that are included in the map, criteria used to select them and their contribution to overall organizational goals It’s also worth noting that the supply chain map will be dependent on the type of integration that a company uses in its acquisition and delivery of goods/services, both upstream and downstream.

References

Dujak, D. (2017, January). Mapping of natural gas supply chains: Literature Review. In 17th International Scientific Conference Business Logistics in Modern Management 2017.

Florian, G. L., & Constangioara, A. (2014). The impact of risks in supply chain on organizational performances: evidence from Romania. Series Economy Management, 17(2), 265-275.

Gardner, T. A., Benzie, M., Börner, J., Dawkins, E., Fick, S., Garrett, R., … & Mardas, N. (2018). Transparency and sustainability in global commodity supply chains. World Development.

Hettiarachchi, H. (2016). Apple’s Supply Chain Strategy. 10.13140/RG.2.2.32075.49448.

Ho, W., Zheng, T., Yildiz, H., & Talluri, S. (2015). Supply chain risk management: a literature review. International Journal of Production Research, 53(16), 5031-5069.

Jayaratne, P., Styger, L., & Perera, N. (2018). Role Of Supply Chain Mapping In Sustainable Supply Chain Management. 2nd International Conference on Management Proceeding.

Kozlenkova, I., Hult, T., Lund, D., Mena, J.,  & Kekec, P. (2015). The Role of Marketing Channels in Supply Chain Management. Journal of Retailing. 91. 10.1016/j.jretai.2015.03.003.

Bryan, C. (2015). Handbook of Research on Global Supply Chain Management. IGI Global. ISBN-10: 1466696397

Mccandless, E., Abitbol, E., & Donais, T. (2015). Vertical integration: A dynamic practice promoting transformative peacebuilding. Journal of Peacebuilidng and Development. 10(1).

Nuss, P., Graedel, T. E., Alonso, E., & Carroll, A. (2016). Mapping supply chain risk by network analysis of product platforms. Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 10, 14-22.

Oliveira, U.R., Espindolar, L.S & Marims, S.F (2017). Analysis of supply chain risk management researches.

Rodríguez, R. R. (2016). Social network analysis and supply chain management. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering (IJPME), 4(1), 35-40.

Routroy, S., & Shankar, A. (2015). A benchmarking approach for supply chain risk management. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 20(3), 338-357.

Supply Chain Mapping Protocol. (2017).  Supply Chain Sustainability. Version 1.

Wang, X. & Wood, L.C. (2016). The Influence of Supply Chain Sustainability Practices of Suppliers.

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Insider Trading University Essay

Insider Trading Ethical or Not?

Insider trading is malpractice that involves buying and selling stocks using information that is not available to the public. The practice gives some traders an unfair advantage over others, and it is a punishable crime. Insider trading is commonly found among the corporate officers or people who receive the non-public information. Traders are always tempted to carry out this malpractice to make more profits than others or avoid losses. This act is illegal, and the Securities and Exchange Commission usually investigates and prosecutes it. However, insider trading can be legal if the trading is done based on information that is available for public use. This papers aim is to discuss why insider trading is considered unethical and finding out if allowing insider trading would hinder the operation of the stock market in raising capital for new and existing companies.

Is Insider Trading Ethical?

Insider trading is unethical because it involves exploiting the knowledge that is only known to a few people. The insiders are usually given an unfair advantage that allows them to benefit from information of the stock market before the general public. These people get to exploit the opportunity before the rest making accumulative profits and avoid risks. Generally, insiders ought to maintain a fiduciary relationship with their companies and shareholders so when they try to benefit from the inside information puts their interest above the people they serve. The practice is unethical since the insiders are supposed to protect the interests of the entities they serve rather than using it to their advantage.

There are other times the people on the inside divulge the information to the people on the outside (Alldredge, 2015). The process involves a tipper and a whistle-blower, with the tipper being the person who divulges the information to the outsider and the tepee the receiver of the data. The whistle-blower then utilizes the information obtained to seek profits or avoid financial losses in the stock market. As much as the tippler may not benefit directly, it is still unethical since it makes some people gain unfair advantages over others.

In most cases, insiders are after personal gains at the expense of the investors and the company at large which is unethical. On moral grounds such as actions are unjust and are termed as a fraud. The investors feel unsafe and insecure to invest since they lose trust that they hold to the insiders.

Any interests in a stock market must look after the interests of all shareholders and not just favoring a few (Skaife, 2013). Generally, insider trading betrays investors’ trust; insiders act on data that is not available to shareholders for monetary gains, officers of a company are acting to satisfy their interests. The insider trading is an unethical practice and should be checked on and brought to a stop.

However, there some people who argue that insider trading is not a bad practice. Such people insinuate that insider trading allows for all the relevant data to be reflected in the shares’ price. The process makes the security it easy for investors to understand the costs before purchasing the shares (Alldredge, 2015).

In such situations, potential investors and current shareholders are able to make informed decisions on purchase and sale respectively.  Another argument is that barring the practice delays something that will eventually take place. Blocking investors from accessing the information on the price changes can subject them to buying or selling shares at losses which could have been avoided if the information had been available.

Insider Trading University Essay
Insider Trading University Essay

Insider trading hinders the operation of the stock market in raising capital for the new and existing forms. Instances when a few people benefit from the stock’s information, investors lose trust in the company hindering them from participating in the activities of the stock market. The process leaves the stock markets with nowhere to gets funds consequently affecting the market’s ability to carry out its operations. Without the services then it becomes difficult for the stock markets to finance new or existing companies (Skaife, 2013).

Additionally, when insiders reveal security’s information to some people before the sales take place, the stock markets become integrated affecting the stocks prices. The stock market fails to exploit the pricing advantage since buyers already know what to expect. The process may cause the market to suffer losses making it difficult for the market to raise cash for other firms. Generally, insider trading is allowed to continue, and it can lead to many investors being driven away and avoiding the practice.

Insider trading affects general business management and decision making. Managers may make wrong on a particular situation using the inside information which is not reliable all the time. On top of that, insider information influences investor decisions impacting the stock’s market price or valuation. For example, when the investors are aware that the price of shares is going to drop they sell their shares in advance to avoid losses consequently impacting a firm’s stock valuation.

Conclusively, insider practice is an unethical practice since it favors some people over others. The people on the side get to exploit nonpublic information for their benefits at the expense of the investors. The investors lose trust in the whole process of stock exchange and with time they get driven away. The method may leave the stock exchange market with funds that are needed to finance upcoming and existing companies. Insider trading is unfair and unethical since it involves lying to the investors and should be stopped to avoid negatively affecting the economy.

References

Alldredge, D. M., & Cicero, D. C. (2015). Attentive insider trading. Journal of Financial Economics, 115(1), 84-101.

Skaife, H. A., Veenman, D., & Wangerin, D. (2013). Internal control over financial reporting and managerial rent extraction: Evidence from the profitability of insider trading. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 55(1), 91-110.

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Coca-Cola Principles of Management

Coca-Cola is a multinational company which has been in the market for a long period of time. For it to survive, the company has adopted proper planning and strategies to its market and customer base. The main theme has been to make Coca-Cola products a refreshing beverage to all people. This theme has been maintained because the company has more than three thousand beverage products that market and customer. t are consumed by its portfolio. In order for this drink to be available to every part of the globe, Coca-Cola has so many companies that help in product distribution (Jones and Comfort, 2018). To have such a range of the beverage products selling well globally require proper strategic plans and marketing strategies. This is because the product has to penetrate through to customers of different cultures, tastes and preferences. Moreover, a strategy which works in one country might not work in another country. For instance, there have been campaign logos like a ‘delightful winter or summer drink’ which have been growing on the media. This advert logo was indicative that Coca-Cola products can be consumed at all times, all year round.

Coca-Cola Strategy, Vision and Mission

The second theme concerns the strategy, vision and mission of this company which are always progressive to make Coca-Cola beverages the first drink of choice by the customers on all occasions any time. The vision, mission and strategy for this company combined at the moment focused on vision 2020. While in 1989 F. David had developed nine components of the mission namely: technology, products, customers, philosophy, location, self-concepts, survival, public image concerns, and employees concerns. Currently, these components have changed and reduced to five, namely: people, portfolio, planet, profits and productivity. Out of these, the company has placed more emphasis on the component of people.

In this case Coca-Cola provides a good working environment through inspiration, and by supporting customers through supporting sustainable community projects. There are links between the former and the current these because some of them have been merged to reduce them from nine to five, while maintaining the final aim. At that time (1989), the mission and vision of the Coca-Cola Company was to sustain the business, improve the public image and meet the concerns of its employees. Once the component of people is properly handled, then customer and employee loyalty increases and hence more sales and profits. Coca-Cola engages in corporate social responsibility, then customer and employee loyalty increases and hence more sales and profits. 

A priority task to provide self-interest as well as care to the people and environment (Smarandescu and Shimp, 2015). Thus, the company has been producing disposable bottles annually. Based on the strategy of making positive contributions to all stakeholders, Coca-Cola USA has partnered with the government to encourage recycling of wastes materials.

Coca-Cola Management Dissertation
Coca-Cola Management Dissertation

Coca-Cola Mission Statement

The major role of the mission statement for a large organization like Coca-Cola is to make the customers, employees and other stakeholders aware about details of what the company is all about as well as the goals of the company (Gertner and Rifkin, 2018). The three mission statements of Coca-Cola are: to refresh the world, inspire moments and happiness, and to create value and make difference. By inspiring moments and happiness, Coca-Cola offers to its customers the beverages of high quality which refreshes their world and creates inspiration via the identity of their brand. The company creates value to stakeholders by participating in sustainability practices which benefits all stakeholders.

An example is the sponsoring of community based activities that have a common good. However, there some contradiction with regards to this mission due to increased solid waste, until the company gets to a point where they can reduce a large portion of the generated wastes. To refresh the world, Coca-Cola has engaged in innovative practices to produce so many beverage brands for its customers globally. From the perspective of Coca-Cola Company, the three points of mission statement have made the company the leading beverage company for so many years.

In the 1980s, most companies were aligned to continued improvement so that a business could survive for a number of years. However, Coca-Cola aligns to the portfolio aspect vaguely, although these companies have been in the process of increasing quality of the products for the consumers through continued improvement.

Reflection

I have come to clearly understand the significance of strategy and planning in a business organization. Without plans that are geared towards the customers, a business is bound to fail. This is because the interest of the customers is the most important.

Considering a company like Pepsi, their vision statement has lid more emphasis on financial performance. However, by concentration on meeting customer expectations and creating a loyal brand, sales and profits follows suit. However, this company also has statements similar to those of Coca-Cola such as corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices.

Coca-Cola has gone a step further to involve its staff in supporting various actions, more so the charity organizations, such as the Wings and Wishes. This is because, in some instances, poor or lack of philanthropic image can damage the long term plans of an organization. This is takes especially when the customers fail to appreciate the efforts of the corporate organizations.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages associated with teamwork. For instance it increases productivity because a task is distributed based on the teams’ individual abilities. This division of tasks in teams also avoids task duplication and saves time (Costa et al., 2014). It also increases motivation where every team member feels as part of the team. However, teamwork could be associated with some disadvantages too. For example, there might be unnecessary wastage of time, especially when making decisions. This is because each team member has their own opinions and this might take a long time before the final decision is arrived at.

In assignment, since I was not in a group, I found challenges in completing the assignment. While it was easy for me to make decisions on the materials to use for the assignment, I took a long time to compile the important materials and come up with the final output. However, I have learned to make rational decisions and to utilize time properly especially when tasked with a complex issue to solve. Moreover, since I was not in a group I have learned innovative methods when handling complex and challenging tasks so as to come up with a fine output based on the requirements.

References

Jones, P. and Comfort, D., 2018. The Coca-Cola Brand and Sustainability. Indonesian Journal of Applied Business and Economic Research, 1(1).

Smarandescu, L. and Shimp, T.A., 2015. Drink coca-cola, eat popcorn, and choose powerade: testing the limits of subliminal persuasion. Marketing Letters, 26(4), pp.715-726.

Gertner, D. and Rifkin, L., 2018. Coca‐Cola and the Fight against the Global Obesity Epidemic. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(2), pp.161-173.

Costa, P.L., Passos, A.M. and Bakker, A.B., 2014. Team work engagement: A model of emergence. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 87(2), pp.414-436.

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