Economic proposal Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Economic - Research Proposal Example However, factors affecting SMEs are yet to gain much attention as in most cases big companies have been subject of research (Ghosh and Kwan, 1996; Kauranen, 1996 and Pelham, 2000). The Unlike large companies which have advantages of scope, scale, resources, and opportunities, SMEs experience a number of problems. SMEs face a lot of uncertainty when there are environmental changes. They have limited resources for acquiring information concerning the market and altering the enterprise’s course. Their response to environmental changes is much different from that in their large counterparts. Large companies can do away with a non-performing business area in their portfolio, but often this is not possible in a single-business organization. The alternatives for responding are constrained by the strategic choices and resources of the firm, and the opportunities available in the industry and business place. Moreover, these challenges may vary between the stages of development of the organization. SMEs form a crucial portion of the economy: the European Economic Area has 20 million SMEs. The Department of Trade as well as Industry (DTI) approximates that there existed 3.8 million SMEs within the UK at the start of 2002, creating jobs for 22.7 million people, with an approximated yearly turnover of  £2200 billion, one of the world’s highest records (DTI, 2003). In the food industry of UK, 99.8% of the restaurant and hotel sector are SMEs. Around 87.7% of business within this sector in micro-businesses creating jobs for less than 10 people (DTI, 2003). The UK population has well embraced fast food culture. According to Brown (2005, p. 3) the UK fast food industry has a yearly turnover of  £7.2 billion, made by serving 1.5 billion meals annually in 20000 outlets, offering employment to almost 200000 people. Humphries (2010) reports that the UK fast food market is double Germany’s size, and

Reflecetion paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reflecetion paper - Essay Example This memo will address strengths and weaknesses, as well as the risks and opportunities of the expansion. Opportunities 1) Market expansion through economies of scope and scale. Understandably, by expanding to Italy, we are already growing our market share without the high costs of starting a new company in Italy. Its existing revenues and market share will be added to ours. At the same time, from Italy, we can expand further in Europe too. 2) Trend of merger and acquisitions (M&A) in the tourism industry. M&A is the trend in the global tourism industry, including hotels. The articles from Warwick Clifton, â€Å"The Global Hotel Industry: Big, Beautiful and Branded? Part One and Part Two,† highlight that M&A is becoming more prevalent across regional and national markets. International hotel chains are gobbling up local independent hotel chains, in order to rapidly expand across the world. We have to take advantage of M&A and purchase potentially lucrative chains to purchase. Threats 1) Weak Euro. An article from Wharton shows that a weak Euro is bad for hotel business because of dampened consumer confidence. When they cut back in spending, they do so for luxury goods and services, and that includes hotel services. Furthermore, a weaker euro means lower spending power. We can see potential increases in the prices of goods and services that we need in operating these Italian hotels. 2) Damp economic climate in Europe, in general, and Italy, in specific. The economic crisis is hitting several countries in Europe hard, including Italy. This can affect business in Italy for the next couple of years or more. 3) Mixed success in hotel business. The article â€Å"Market Conditions Tighten for Italian Hotel Industry† indicates uneven success in the Italian hotel industry. It says â€Å"Declines for the Padua, Genoa and Bologna markets highlight the difficult market conditions,† while â€Å"the seasonal market of Taormina & Messina in Sicily report ed double-digit RevPAR growth (+18.4 percent) YTD† (â€Å"Market Conditions†). We cannot expect immediate high return for our acquisition because of mixed business revenues due to the slack in the business climate. Strengths 1) Full control of how the chain should be managed. The top management can exert transformational changes that are required to raise the standards of the Italian chain. The home country management will have the power and authority to enact necessary changes to improve the quality of services in the chain. 2) Lower costs in terms of acquiring local knowledge and familiarity. Local managers and employees already know the cultural, operational, and budgetary idiosyncrasies of the host country. It is assumed that the existing human resources are familiar with the market characteristics enough to no longer need a costly comprehensive market research. 3) Empowered organizational culture can be used to enhance quality standards. We can enhance the standard s of the hotel enough to warrant higher hotel rates. We can use the empowered approach of the Italians to let them manage and own organizational changes that will benefit them as employees. 4) Acquisition expands HRM knowledge and skills for multinational operations. If we want to be a multinational hotel business, we must not be afraid of learning from different cultural environments. This acquisition will help our home HRM gain

Financial Implications of an e-Commerce Solution

Financial Implications of an e-Commerce Solution Financial Implications of an e-Commerce solution  associated to Computer Bits Ltd Designing a website When looking to develop an e-Commerce project, the primary focus is on developing an aesthetically pleasing and interactive for the consumer. Developing a website can be considered one of the main upfront costs that you will need to consider as part of the project. Other costs may not necessarily need to be paid upfront and can be considered as on going. There are various options when it comes to developing themes for your website. You have the option of a pre-made one or a custom developed one. Benefits can be mentioned for both options: Pre-developed templates- For a business that is on a tight budget, this will be the way to go as it is considered for cost effective. Usually, the maximum one would pay for this would be around  £100. Furthermore, if time is of the essence, then this option will allow you to get online quickly and start selling faster. Custom- This is considered costlier as the graphics needs to be developed and designed from scratch. Also, it can take longer to develop as more work is needed to be done. However, benefits include being able to add new features and it can be more tailored for your business and visually more appealing and interactive. Furthermore, it will allow you to create your own brand. This can be difficult when you have the same theme as lots of other businesses. The costs incurred from both options will now be discussed for you to analyze. Shopify, a hosted platform, sells off the shelf pre-made themes for approximately  £100- £120. An agency could set up the store on your behalf, this would typically cost approximately  £1000 for a full store setup. For a more tailored and bespoke theme, you can expect to pay around  £3000. Magneto, a self-hosted platform, would also be able to cater for such a project, however, costs would soar to between  £10,000 to in excess of  £50,000 for complex sites. There are benefits to both and it all really depends on your personal circumstances. In my opinion, I would suggest the off-the-shelf them and a hosted platform. Financial transactions You will also need to factor in the costs of transactions via this medium. There are various gateways that facilitate financial transactions over an e-Commerce platform, but more often they will charge a small percentage of the total order value. Paypal will usually charge a fee of around 1.8%. Hosting and Security This, like the financial transactions costs, can be considered as a recurring cost. Typically, you can expect to pay a monthly fee and the proves vary from host to host. In many cases, security is included as part of the package. Shopify packages range between  £10- £115 and you can expect to get between 1GB-unlimited storage. 34SP provide between 15GB to 82GB of storage space and you can expect to pay from  £15 to  £60. If you opt for an agency to provide this facility and support, then you can be expected to be around  £300 per month and this can rise drastically to around  £2500 a month for complex sites like Magneto. Marketing Without a strong marketing campaign and strategy, it will be difficult to make a success of the e-Commerce solution. In order to increase sales, you need people to visit your website. You will need generate traffic only via a successful marketing campaign. One method of marketing is to use Search Engine Optimization- Google AdWords and these will appear when someone searches for computer related words on Google search. You will only pay per click and you can normally expect to pay around  £370 per month. It is a fantastic way of generating traffic and a highly recommended one. Advertising on social media is also a must, if you are to have a successful e-Commerce journey. Technically this is free, however, in most cases you will need to employ someone who can do this competently. The only other option would be to do it yourself or get a family member to do it on your behalf such as your son or daughter. If you opt to outsource this task to an agency, expect to pay between  £1100- £2500 per month for Twitter and between  £1400- £3000 for Facebook. Another way you can promote your business is via Affiliate marketing. This method works by allowing other companies advertise your products and in return you give them a small percentage of the sales that you get as a result of their marketing for you. Logistics Upon implementation of the e-Commerce solution, you will start to generate sales from consumers who live nationally and internationally. Be able to fulfil these sales will mean that you shop around various parcel delivery companies and means you will have to start paying large amounts of postage fees. The fees will depend on the location, size and weight of the parcel. Cost of re-training staff Staff will need to be re-trained as to how to process orders via the website, via 3rd party sites such as Amazon and Ebay. In addition, you will need to train them to be able to deal will queries via e-mail and on line support. Staff will need to know of the new process and the restructuring could cost time and money. Cost of a mobile app There is also an option of developing a mobile app for Computer Bits Ltd. Selling via this medium can be beneficial, however, I feel as the cost of this would range between  £15,000- £40,000, it is best not to pursue this for the time being. Conclusion In concluding, I feel there e-Commerce will bring for Computer Bits Ltd. With an increase in exposure, the company will see and increase in custom and sales. This will mean that there is more profit and consequently more market share. Your business will be able to source cheaper stock, better products, trade on a platform that looks to be the future of shopping, open 24 hours for trading, and be able trade globally via an array of platforms. The costs mentioned in this report simply outline the things that need to be considered, but in no means, should deter you from pushing ahead with a e-Commerce solution. e-Commerce solution for Computer Bits Ltd Report by Umar Usman Arif Written for Mr Lukas e-Commerce solution for Computer Bits Ltd Objective The objective of the e-Commerce solution is to increase sales, profit and market share of Computer Bits Ltd. The primary focus of the solution would be from a business to consumer market and the domain name that the website can be accessed on will be www.computer-bits.co.uk Market Research All of the research conducted is secondary in nature, as conducting primary will be baseless, expensive and time consuming. All of the competition will be online based and Computer Bits will need to compete against national and international companies. Target Market The market segment for Computer Bits Ltd is to target the average consumer and sell them computer components and peripherals. The products will be sourced from manufacturers and we will aim to resell these at discounted prices. Our competition will be other resellers who have an online presence. We plan to target everyday PC users and small business that fix and upgrade systems. Computer Bits market share will be less than 1% as the worldwide industry is huge and just the PC gaming hardware market was worth more an  £30 billion, let alone the total worth of the components industry. Key Processes In order to maintain a successful e-Commerce solution, Computer Bits Ltd will need at least 3 different decent spec computer systems that will allow your employees to update stock, view orders, order more stock and send out correspondence to customers, suppliers and hosts. The systems will need to have good processors, 8gb RAM, SSD so the systems are fast and have a cloud account where you can save all your data and information. Anti-virus, spyware and malware software will be required to keep the systems secure from viruses and theft. Stock from manufacturers and suppliers will need to be kept up to date and distribution of orders can be done via Royal Mail, Hermes and DHL for international orders. The website and Ebay channel will need to maintained by staff. e-Commerce and Security The website will be hosted by Shopify and will used one of the off-the-shelf templates. I think it will be waste of money if we were to develop a custom one as this not really our aim. Our aim is to sell online, not to create a brand. Branding is more suited to companies that actually produce and manufacture their own products as opposed to resellers like Computer Bits Ltd. Payments from customers will be made via PayPal and Shopify, both debit and credit cards will be accepted methods of payment. 34SP will host the website and provide security as their packages offer better value for money in my opinion. They provide the website and our systems with security software that prevent hackers, viruses and allows payments to be taken via secure HTTPS. Only the website will be start-up costs, the rest will be working so capital to fund the system will be taken from the company accounts. Marketing will be done via Search Engine Optimisation and social media channels such as Twitter and Face book. Furthermore, we will reach out to Affiliate partners such as Amazon, CostcCo and BestBuy. Legislation The company will need to get trained on and adhere to many legislations that relate to distance selling. Customers data will need to kept secure and confidential and Computer Bits will need to be aware of Data Protection Act 1998. The Consumer Credit Act 1974 and Trading Standards mean that consumers have a right to returns and refunds if they are not satisfied with their products. Also, all content on the website will need to adhere to copyright laws and all staff will need to be retrained.

The Life Of Edgar Allen Poe :: essays research papers

The Life of Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe, the greatest American teller of mystery and suspense tales in the 19th century was a tormented artist. He struggled to become the accomplished author he is known as today. Poe is now acclaimed as one of America's greatest writers, but in his own unhappy lifetime, he struggled to make ends meet. When he was 17, Poe entered the University of Virginia. Allan, his step father, gave Poe only a small allowance, and the young man soon began owing money. He gambled and ran into greater debt. By the end of the year he owed 2,500 dollars. He was nervous and unstable, and he began to drink. Despite his frequenting liquor, he could never hold it well. He would easily become ill from the alcohol. Allan angrily withdrew Poe from school, and a few months later Poe left home. For the next four years Poe struggled to earn a living as a writer. He returned to Mrs. Clemm's home and submitted stories to magazines. His first success came in 1833, when he entered a short-story contest and won a prize of 50 dollars for the story "MS. Found in a Bottle." By 1835 he was the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. He married his cousin Virginia, who was only 13, and Mrs. Clemm stayed with the couple. The Poes had no children. This success would not last. Poe's stories, poems, and criticism in the magazine, The Southern Literary Messenger soon attracted attention, and he looked for wider opportunities, not a good choice. From 1837 to 1839 he tried free-lance writing in New York City and Philadelphia but earned very little. Again he tried editing. His work was praised, but he was still paid little. His efforts to organize his own magazine were unsuccessful. For the next two years he turned again to free-lance writing.

Limit television watching and computer time Essay

Sedentary lifestyles promote obesity, so it is important to limit hours spent sitting idly in front of the television or computer. When a child is allowed to spend more time in front of the television or playing computer games they are more likely to stay there than engage in physical activities like playing and running. It is also of note that the child who spends time in front of the television or the computer is more likely to consume junk food while watching television and playing computer games, especially if the adult permits such. Set aside specific times to spend outdoors It is also of note that it might be wise to actually plan times to spend outdoors, one weekend or a day to spend outside in the park. Family activities to be spend outside of the house like the park or backyard playing backyard basketball or football or simple activities like playing tag or swimming can be utilized in order to promote outdoor activity. Do not allow television inside the children’s room Research indicates that about 77% of children have television sets in their rooms (Kaiser Family Foundation report, 1999). This promotes laziness in the child, lying in bed while watching television that may also include munching on junk foods and chocolate. Adapt an active lifestyle Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Or if the school is near, walking to school might also be a good idea. It might be of note that parents who are more active enables their children to be more active as well. Forget the no pain, no gain theory Children should be taught to enjoy physical activities not an activity to be afraid of. It is a lifelong theory but one must surmise that a child may not be susceptible to such and they might not be adaptable to any activity that might require them to feel pain so this theory should be junked and that physical activity should be considered as fun and enjoyable to the child rather than hard labor, so it is imperative that physical activity interventions should be aimed at being enjoyable and fun for a child lest risk the child not doing the activity at all. Plan for a variety of Activities This is so to avoid monotony and boredom, especially in children who are more often than not easily distracted and easily bored by repetitive activities. It is important that the child not become bored with the activity so it is imperative that a child has a variety of activities that will help avoid monotony and help increase interest. One may note that a child, even an adult can become easily bored when they are subjected to repetitive activities. Enhancing the intervention program to be varied and fun will help the child stay into the program rather than feel that it is a boring tasked to be endured and not to be enjoyed. One may realize that in order for any program to derive successful outcomes, it is recommended that family members participate in programs patterned for the obese child, it can be noted that parents and sibling that serve as role models for these children often feel loved and therefore can provide better success of the programs (CDC 1997). Riding bicycles, Outdoor walks or swimming activities can be fun activities that also make children feel good and may not be construed as a chore they need to do to lose weight; it can just be construed as a family activity when parents and siblings are involved, rather than a taxing responsibility they must endure in order to please the parent and become more healthy. The Centers for Disease Control recommends schools set up policies that encourage enjoyable, lifelong physical activity among young adults. (CDC, 1997). Their guidelines state, â€Å"Physical education should emphasize skills for lifetime physical activities (e. g. , dance, strength training, and jogging. Swimming, bicycling, cross-country skiing, walking, and hiking) rather than those for competitive sports. † (CDC, 1997) These experts also advocate that activities to enhance fitness and adaptation of a more healthy behavior become an important aspect of the family’s lifestyle. Developing an After school Wellness Program As the child’s school tends to be the second home of most children, with them spending half of their lifetimes in school and good deal of their days there, it can be considered as a good avenue to start a wellness program for children, not necessarily the obese ones, in order to help prevent and cure the worsening case of obesity in children. This increasing occurrence of obesity in children may be attributed in part to increased sedentary behavior, such as watching television, which leads to less energy expended in physical activity. It has been theorized that by middle school, many children lack the physical skills or self-confidence to participate in competitive physical activities and involvement in various activities in school It is believed that an increased physical activity relative to the customary physical activities at home. The aim of the afterschool program should be, information dissemination and education, activities that enhance physical movements like dance exercises and sports activities, and other outdoor activities like games that promote physical activities, gardening and adventure education plus development of good eating habits by healthy cook outs and development of new healthy recipes by the children themselves, this can and will encourage children’s eating habits.

HRM in Marks and Spencer Essay

Introduction and Background Marks and Spencer, established 1894 in Leeds,UK and as one of the most recognized brands in the UK and worldwide, had been hugely successful in terms of both profit and market share until the late 1990s. However, after that it suffered a reversal in its fortunes. Correspondingly, its organizational structure and culture also underwent certain transformation. The set of dramatic changes include changing top executive and their managerial philosophies. Now, it seems to be on the road to recovery after these radical changes. This article focuses on human resource management in M&S, analysis ranges from its traditional paternalism culture to new HRM practices. Paternalism & Unitarist Characteristics Under paternalism, employers and employees view the company as a family. It’s different from traditional manufacturing culture. The separation between the shop floor and management and feelings of ‘them and us’ are what might be expected within a traditional manufacturing culture, where the employment is full-time, long-term and relatively stable and the typical workplace is a large firm or store. The corporation is a stable sovereign organization with a clear division of labors and everyone abides by the social contract. Similarly, Unitarist deems the business organization as a team united by shared interests and values with senior management as the sole source of authority and focus of loyalty, conflict is seen as irrational and unnecessary. Historically, Marks and Spencer fits into an anatomy of paternalism with characteristic features of hereditary family ownership, personal relations between employer and worker, a sense of UK religious mission and a commitment to social welfare and public service. The ideal type paternalist workforce matches these, with family employment through large kinship networks and is embedded in a surrounding occupational community. Moreover, there was a feeling of camaraderie and close-knit family atmosphere within the stores and they employed staffs who are most suitable and can readily become part of this family. In addition, every M&S store is identical and the store managers followed central direction. The highly centralized authority also means that there exists little disagreement with policies sent down from the top. Also, there had never been a CEO of M&S who had not been a member of the founder’s family or a lifetime employee. The first exception is Vandervelde who had been appointed to the position of chairman at M&S in 2000 from outside the organization. Therefore, this kind of HRM is a typical form of paternalism, which totally breaks with trade unions and has highly centralized authority and represents the characteristic of unitarist as well. Organization’s success is depended not only on reducing costs but also on improving the performance of the workforce. The organization’s objective or their currently expect of their employees may be completely different from what they expected in the past due to the changing external environment such as new competitors or new technologies, internal strategy such as focusing on reducing costs and cutting the full-time sales assistants in store. Some of the external environment and the individual factors driving psychological contract research are illustrated in following figure. Old Contract (Greenbury) New Contract Change environment Stable, short-term focus Continuous change Culture Paternalism, time-served, exchange security for commitment Those who perform get rewarded and have contract developed Rewards Paid on level, position and status Paid on contributions or performance-based Promotion basis Expected, based on time served in store and competence Less opportunity, new criteria, for those who deserve it Personal development The organization’s responsibility Individual’s responsibility to improve employability Consequently, employee’s job descriptions might be broadened and their psychological contract will shift correspondingly. Evidence suggests that these changes represented a threat to the reciprocal nature of the psychological contract with consequences for both employees and employers. Meanwhile, the strength of the psychological contract is dependent on how fair the individual believes the organization is in fulfilling its perceived obligations that the organization treats them fairly, respects their efforts and rewards them justly, it’s based on mutual obligation. In addition to the summarized old contract characters, evidence also shows that Greenbury only used sales figures and visitors to stores as the basis to make judgments on how M&S was operating, whereas lost touch with what their employees’ opinions or wants. It makes employees feel their roles are unimportant; also it weakens their morale and motivation. ‘The Thrill of the Purchase’ article states this famous paternalistic culture of M&S. They offered cradle-to-grave benefits for employees but rigidly governed the way that managers operated. Moreover, every aspect of the company was rule-driven. Most of employees feel rule-bound and they are not encouraged to use their personal discretion as well. Nevertheless, they gradually realized their culture are fall-out-of-step and with the implementation of new HR strategic, M&S becomes open and receptive, moving from a culture of paternalism to a more sophisticated culture of choice. Matching employee behaviors and HRM activities to competitive strategies Michael Porter’s generic ‘low-cost’ or ‘differentiation’ strategy can be adopted in the Marks&Spencer case. Namely, each Porterian competitive strategy involves a unique set of responses from workers or ‘needed role behaviours’ and a particular HRM strategy that might generate and reinforce a unique pattern of behaviour (Schuler and Jackson, 2002). Therefore, any inconsistency in internal HRM practices will likely lead to ‘role conflict or ambiguity that can interfere with individual performance and organizational effectiveness’. In the Devanna et al. model, human resource management strategy and structure follow and feed upon one another and are influenced by environmental forces. This basic model constituted the bare bones of a theory on SHRM. (Linda Maund, 2001:73) Porter’s model comprised three components: 1. Low-cost leadership or cost reduction strategy Using this strategy, organization will gain competitive advantage by being the lowest cost producer. Managers are attempting to increase the organization’s market share by emphasizing low cost compared to that of its competitors, they try to emphasize that their goods or services are cheaper. It’s an aggressive and tightly cost-controlled strategy that emphasizes overhead minimization. Meanwhile, it pursuits the economies of scale and primarily focus on increasing productivity through reducing output cost per person and reducing wage levels by all means. This approach takes effect by means of mass-producing, mass-selling to save the costs, whereby gain the price superiority. Moreover, it keeps manufacturing process simple and repetitive in order to save the costs of raw materials, whereas basically there are no improvements or expansion of their products. Greenbury, the former chief executive of Marks and Spencer, had decided that to control costs by means of cutting full-time sales assistants in stores, at the same time, bring in full-time, part-time and Saturday staffs to work in stores. Further, their approach is also rely on and highly trust the quality of British suppliers and M&S play as a bulk buyer who even buy up all the stock of specific suppliers, whereby conducting mass-selling to earn profits. In addition, as the Channel 4 programme stated at 25th Feb,2001 that operations of the organization within M&S is focused on short-term strategy rather than long-term one and they were firmly placed in the ‘middle ground’, emphasize getting generalized view of the market instead of trying to target various segments market. The overall strategy is risk-aversive and traditional. Hence, they are adapting typical cost-reduction strategy, meanwhile, with somewhat emphasis on quality aspect. In general, cost reduction pursued through increasingly using of part-time employees, subcontractors, work simplification, measurement procedures, automation, work rule changes, job assignment flexibility. Therefore, according to this competitive strategy, the expected employees behaviors should be followed the key cost-reduction strategy characteristics illustrate as follow: Low-cost leadership strategy (Greenbury) Needed Employees Behaviors Human Resource Practices Relatively repetitive and predictable behaviors Relatively fixed and explicit job descriptions A rather short-term focus Narrowly designed jobs Primarily autonomous or individual activity Narrowly defined career path, unitarism Modest concern for quality Externally, reliable suppliers; internally, QC function High concern for quantity of output Lean production, JIT system, fully participation Primary concern for results Minimal levels of employee training and development Low risk-taking activity Short-term, result oriented performance appraisals Relatively high degree of comfort with stability Close monitoring of market pay level 2. Differentiation or quality enhancement strategy This strategic emphasizes on enhancing products or services quality and offering products or services that different from those of its competitors. There are numerous ways to implement this strategy, the most common ones are advertising, offering distinctive product or service features, providing exceptional service, or relying on new technology. The organization is trying to make a unique product or provide a unique service with high quality to attract target customers and earn profits. Due to the risk-aversive and traditional managerial methodologies, actually Greenbury laid less emphasis on quality enhancement or on delivering products with unique quality. Therefore, by April 1999, in order to overcome the difficulties M&S had been facing, Salsbury, the successor of Greenbury, had devised a large-scale promotional campaign to try to restore its images as an innovative retailer offering unique quality products. He started to segment the market and offer different category products to its target customers with strong emphasis on its unique quality. Also, by moving away from its original bureaucratic culture and hierarchical environment, modest amount of cooperation was formed to enhance products quality. At the end of March 2001, for the future development of M&S, Vandervelde, the new chief executive of M&S, started to focus on its core 300 domestic stores by cutting or withdrawing its stores worldwide, and started moving business closer to the customer and selling customized products within the UK. For customized products, quality is a key success factor. Therefore, obviously, at this stage, M&S strategy focuses mostly on differentiation character. The matching HRM practices of this competitive strategy for M&S are summarized as following table: Quality enhancement strategy (Salsbury and Vandervelde) Needed Employees Behaviors Human Resource Practices Relatively repetitive and predictable behaviors Relatively fixed and explicit job descriptions More long-term or intermediate focus Giving employees more discretion Modest amount of cooperative, interdependent behaviors Mix of individual and group criteria for performance appraisal High concern for quality Extensive and continuous training and development of employees, QC function, TQM practices Modest concern for quantity of output High level of employee participation High concern for process Training and development of employees, TQM practices Low risk-taking activity Relatively egalitarian treatment of employees Commitment to the goals of the organization Applying Balance scorecard 3. Focus or innovation strategy However, they also try to design a new range of clothes for M&S through hiring famous innovators and conducting in-depth research to understand customers’ shopping habits and their demographics. This strategy emphasizes some of the innovative character, whereby gain advantaged of its competitors. It’s different from the previous two strategies. Meanwhile, the organization concentrates on a specific geographical area, specific group of customers. Overall, for firms pursuing a competitive strategy of innovation, the employees are encouraging to offer suggestions for new and improved ways of doing their job or manufacturing products. Eventually, this strategy will result in feeling of enhanced personal control and morale, greater commitment to self and profession. In addtition, selecting highly skilled individuals or training employees could be costly once adopting this strategy. Focus or innovation strategy (Vandervelde) Needed Employees Behaviors Human Resource Practices High degree of creative behaviors Selecting highly skilled individuals Long-term focus Appraising performance for its long-run implication Relatively high level of cooperative, teamworking, knowledge sharing and interdependent behaviors Using minimal controls Moderate degree of concern for both quality and quantity TQM practices, making a greater investment in human resources Equal degree of concern for process and results Providing more resources for experimentation Greater degree of risk taking Allowing and even rewarding occasional failure Uncertainty, unpredictability and constant change Compensation, incentives, giving employees more discretion Comparatively speaking, Low-cost leadership is effective but difficult to do in a high-cost organization. Differentiation can be profitable if target customers are not particularly concerned with price but it’s costly to implement, such as research and development, advertising costs. Focus strategy can gain quick returns but takes time to identify area or group and the cost could be even higher since it focuses on innovative aspect of products. Analyze Matching model and other HRM strategies From the above comparison, we can see that effectiveness will increase by melding HR practices with competitive strategy. The advantages of this model are obviously and are summarized as following table: Component Advantages Disadvantages Low-cost leadership Effective Difficult to do in a high-cost organization Differentiation Can be profitable if target customers are not particularly concerned with price Costly to implement, e.g. research and development, advertising costs Focus Quick returns Takes time to identify area or group (Linda Maund, 2001:55 ‘Adantages and disadvantages of Porter’s competitive strategies’) However, besides the disadvantages illustrated above, the practice of this matching model could also be problematic since achieving the goal of ‘close fit’ of business and HRM strategy can contradict the core ‘soft’ HRM goals of commitment, flexibility and quality. Work organization as M&S may adopt a ‘soft’ version of HRM for managerial staffs, which is consistent with its current strategy, whereas simultaneously pursuing a ‘hard’ version of HRM for low-level worker, which might undermine the commitment of the latter. Hence, the matching model is essentially unitary and it tends to assume that workers are unproblematic and will comply with managements’ perception of the ‘needed role behaviors’. Meanwhile, we also cannot ignore the fact that workers and their unions, especially for M&S’s famous British working union, might influence strategic planning. In addition, ‘excessive fit’ can be disadvantageous to gaining competitive advantage since it can make a company inflexible and incapable of adapting quickly to the external environment. Recalled that when Greenbury insisted on its cost-reduction strategy and its quality criteria, the environment of the whole market has gradually changed. Competitors targeted at niche market and adopted differentiation strategy to attract and gain credibility among numerous consumers, whereas M&S still keep its traditional or risk-aversive way to do business. Recommendation Other HR strategies suggestions for M&S: At individual level, employees’ motivation can be stimulated through appropriate job design and rewards. Also, emphasizing employees’ participation or empowerment, and it could be reinforced through encouraging front-line staff to solve customer problems on the spot, without constant recourse to management approval. At organizational level: Development through changing the paternalism structure and corresponding traditional culture to a culture of the individual and of teams. The organization should focus on building its growth valued (such as brand revitalized by Vandervelde) and rewards excellence. Meanwhile, strategy-focused organizations like M&S can apply the balanced scorecard to align their employees to their strategy. This strategy can be implemented through communication and education, personal and team objectives, and incentive and reward systems. They should extensively use self-managed teams and decentralization. Also, paying attention to reducing status differentials and encouraging willingness to share information. Finally, when individuals understand how their pay is linked to achieving strategic objectives, and set personal objectives to met and help to achieve the strategic objectives, organization’s effectiveness will expect to be achieved. Â   References and Bibliographies: Linda,M.(2001) ‘An Introduction to Human Resource Management: theory and practice’, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Publishers Ltd Schuler,R.S and Jackson,S.E (2002, 7th edn) ‘Managing Human Resources: A Partnership Perspective’: Journal of Personnel Review,31(1),114-121 Tyson,S. and York,A. (2000,4th edn) ‘Essentials of HRM’, Houston: Butterworth Heinemann Torrington,D. and Hall,L. (1998, 4th edn) ‘Human Resource Management’, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc Maund,L. (1999) ‘Understanding People and Organisations: An Introduction to Organisational Behaviour’, Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes Schuler,R.S and Jackson,S.E (2000) ‘Strategic Human Resource Management’, Journal:Personnel Review,29(6),816-821 James,A. and McGoldrick,A.E. 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