Management Policy and Strategy

Unit 1 Learning Journal Kaplan University MT460: Management Policy and Strategy Professor Wendy Finlay November 12, 2012 Strategic management gives a business the opportunity to produce the best strategy to be more proactive in creating its future by influencing activities to control the direction of the company. The benefits of strategic management is that it helps provide a framework for the organization because the business is able form better strategies in areas of research, development, marketing, sales and financial aspects. Businesses are able to ensure that these practices are strategically managed to mprove both productivity and revenues in the company so that the company is successful. Due to this process, business can benefit from improvements in sales, profits, and productivity. Other benefits of strategic management include awareness of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for opportunity of improvement were necessary. In addition, the company benefits becaus e they are able to develop advancement in understanding strategies of the competitor, reduce resistance to change and enhance in problem prevention capabilities. Overall, the most important enefit of strategic management is to assist the company to form better strategies by utilizing a process that has a more systematic and logical approach to strategic choices. There are many risk associated with strategic management due to the unforeseen circumstances that can occur when processes and procedures are implemented in the company. Managing strategically in business can be both difficult and messy; in addition it can require a considerable amount of work. It also can place a new set of demands on employees that they were not expecting o oversee in their daily activities this can impact their daily responsibilities. Due to these aspects, some of the risks in strategic management are that it can be very expensive and time consuming to plan. Strategic management is also risky because it c an expose conflicts within the company in the areas of decision making and can cause current operational issues because long term planning decisions. Strategic management has many risks as well as the fear of failure, once a completed plan is established by the company it can limit both the choices and activities of the business in the future.

American intervention in and post WWII Essay

Every society, religion and ethnicity always has within it capability for extreme violence. This is often manifested in the culture to consider other fractions of the society as inferior and go ahead with acts to exterminate or kill them.   This scenario is accelerated to greater heights when the faction considered remain silent even when their rights are violated. Benito Mussolini, the II Duce, was an avid writer and later became a journalist with the Milan socialist paper ‘Avanti’ He was famous amongst the supporters of a socialist idea and then began promoting his views on the support of war against Germany in World War I. After joining politics for sometime,  Ã‚   Mussolini went back to journalism as a career on which he spearheaded and promoted his ideas against Germany. This led to the birth of fascist party on March 23rd 1919 immediately after the end of World War I. The destruction and loss of lives led to the popularity of the National Fascist Party since many were disenchanted the leadership following the after effects of the war. Mussolini stood on time and seemed to offer solutions to the Italy’s ailing economy and bring back the lost glory after the World War I. The Roman Salute and the Black Shirt Militia which were later copied by Hitler were his creation. He was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies on March 15th, 1921. This provided more confidence and boost to his political ambitions. Several factors worked on Mussolini‘s favor in his rise to power. In August 1922, the ruling Leftist Party called for a nationwide strike. Mussolini saw this as an act that would destabilize the state and ordered the leftists to call off the strike or his Fascist Party would. King Vittorio Emmanuelle III saw the capability of Mussolini in handling the affairs of the nation and invited him to travel to Rome and form the government. Mussolini did not accept the invitation and instead insisted on a telegraph and soon it was wired. The desire by France to take control of mineral rich Ruhr Valley saw it take sides with Italy on the Conference of Ambassadors and this bolstered Italy’s position since most of its endorsements were accepted.   The government of Greek had nothing else to do and sensing defeat gave in to Italy’s demands thereby adding more confidence to Mussolini. The thirst for more power and expansionist ideas led Mussolini to annex the city of Fiume from Yugoslavia, a successful operation that earned him a British Knight of the Bath. He was unsatisfied with the treatment Italy was accorded for giving the necessary assistance in defeating the Germans in the World War I. His thirst for power never ended and he dreamt of the day the Mediterranean Sea would be under his control. Italy then invaded Ethiopia under Mussolini‘s commands as a revenge against their shameful defeat at the battle of Adwa in 1896. Such expansionist ideas led to Italy’s blacklisting by the League of Nations and as such forged a new close relationship with the Nazi Germany that harbored the same ideas. The League of Nations lacked the political mandate to reign on rogue nations such as Italy and Germany and Mussolini realizing this, continued with his expansionist ideas .Mussolini invaded Albania in 1939 and fully strengthened its alliance with Germany by forming the Pact of Steel.   His exploits in war were always unsuccessful and due to lack of organized military techniques, lost many of the regions it had annexed earlier. By 1943 Italy’s role in the war had seriously deteriorated and Mussolini was headed to a big loss in the war. Mussolini developed the culture of dismissing the king commands and made him a ceremonial leader. In July 1943, Mussolini met his end onto the hold on power. He was arrested and deposed by elements within the ranks of his own Fascist National Party and the King appointed Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio as the New Prime Minister. He was arrested but saved by Hitler who still regarded him as strong ally in the war. He made many unsuccessful attempts to return to power by forming the Italian Socialist Republic in regions that were under German control, imposing himself as the leader. Mussolini was finally arrested by on April 28, 1945 with his mistress Clara Petacci, this time by Italian forces near Lake Como. He remained under Italian custody but realizing that he was going to be killed ordered that he be shot immediately. His long time friend, Walter Audisio eventually shot him in his chest on Mussolini’s request.   American Intervention in and Post World War II The overall American intervention in World War II was as a result of the surprise   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  attack of Pearl Harbor the Japanese army and the Franklin D Roosevelt fear of an imminent attack of North America by the Germans. The allied forces continuously bombed the allied strongholds and military bases including the German and Japanese cities of Dresden and Tokyo respectively (Jackson and Gleave, pp 87-103). This was based on the belief that killing and destroying civilian areas would discourage more civilians in supporting the war and also put more pressure on their governments to bring an end to the war. While this idea was geared towards ending the war faster, it in turn brought about the opposite. Civilian support for their leaders and the war increased and the war took longer than was previously thought causing many deaths and further destruction of property. Another intention of America on intervening in World War II was done in the name of freedom and democracy to the oppressed.   It is true that freedom and democracy form fundamentals of human rights but these interventions have left behind more sufferings manifested in the loss of lives and the destruction of property. This is because it is always difficult to make a distinction between rebels or armed groups and civilians. Italy was the first of the axis to experience the nature of America’s military intervention when President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and the combined Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to make the first island of Sicily their first target. According to the U.S. Army Center for Military History (para. 2), the allied forces conquered Messina, the capital Sicily on 17 August 1943, a feat that propelled the Allied forces to push forward with their agenda of freeing Europe of Nazi and fascist idea. The support in terms of humanitarian and relief services from the United States did not begin after the war but in fact began long before the war. This demanded full control of organizations and relief services. During the war, relief services to the Axis –countries was not permitted as in the case of world war I. President Franklin D. Roosevelt saw this as providing further support to German and its allies .This condition continued for long even after the entry of the United States into the war in support of the allied forces. 1939 Neutrality Legislation demanded whole openness and full background details regarding relief agencies as some organizations could be sympathetic to the warring factions. In 1941, Joseph E Davis took over as the head of war relief agencies and brought in much needed reforms that included reducing the number of licensed relief organization from 300 to only 67 by the end of the war immediately after the war the relief control board formally known as the war relief agencies took over the advisory role on voluntary foreign aid. The relief services provided by the American government in World War I had many differences with that of world II, these included regulations regarding the provision of relief services to the prisoners of war and the additional statute on the Geneva Convention regarding the role of the Red Cross. All countries that took part in World War II with exception of Japan and the Soviet Union, were signatory to the 1929 Geneva Convention regarding the overall treatment of prisoners of war. Relief suppliers that included clothing toiletries and medicine were taken to prisoners in the prisons. Continuous inspections by the international Red Cross made sure that term of the Geneva Convention were fully complied with and all prisoners of war receive humane and fair treatment. Due to the different standards for treatments of war prisoners, the Geneva Convention strived to achieve an even state of treatment. Prisoners of war from countries that were not signatories to the Geneva Convention were badly treated by the Geneva Authorities. The overall performance of the Italians in World War II has had different opinions on whether it was a success or a failure.   The general idea that the  Ã‚   Italians military gave a poor show of there strength and surrendered early is not very true.   There are standing examples in very successful war exploits that Italian military achieved Italian military poor ratings from the world war11 seemed too have cropped up due to failed annexing of Greek Island and the unsuccessful take over of North Africa. Describing Italian soldiers as numerous were other factors that definitely contributed to such military mistakes.   Lack of modern weapon, poor leadership and division amongst the rank of Mussolini’s senior advisors that led to lack of will in the objective to accomplish his major war exploits. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and took control of it; Italy at this point was not in a military position to launch and offensive. Hitler and Mussolini both wanted a redrawing of Europe’s map and in harboring this kind of vision; Mussolini ignored the state of Italy’s military strength and the inability of its war industrial complex to produce modern weapons that were capable of  Ã‚   sustaining a full scale war. Other neighboring nation such as Britain, Germany and France had put a lot in the development and   production of military weapons and had supplicated tanks, guns ammunition and trucks at there disposal(Evan, pp 743-756). In fact at the time of joining the Second World War, Italy’s position in terms of equipment was only at the same level with the First World War.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Its war artillery included the remnants from the First World War that were in ineffective and outdated. It lacked industrial capacity to produce new military equipment and those that were made were always out numbered by the demand. Beretta Pistols and automatic rifles were considered very efficient war machines but were always short in supply while the dreaded machine and sub standard qualities. The shipyard at their disposal was properly designed but lacked the strength in armor and lacked radar. This made it difficult for the Italy military to perform effective in comparison to other nations. Mussolini invented the art of propaganda and as such projected an image of effective air power but was in reality non existent. The whole military had only a few thousands of air crafts, most of which were bi-plane. The modern creations were of no match to those in the possession of the Allied forces. The command of Italy at the beginning of World War II was considered the poorest of all the nations that took active military exploits. Mussolini depended on loyalty as the main basis of selecting officers in various military ranks at the expense of experience. In fact Italy had the least number of experienced generals by the time of joining the war. The commanders and generals who had taken part in World War I were considered as sympathetic to the King and as such were taken to Africa and specifically in Somalia to do away with opposition in homeland. Other tactics involved the demotion of officers who were loyal to the King to lower ranks and replacing them with those that were considered loyal to the II duce. Mussolini asserted full control of the media and all organs of the state and those who criticized him were exiled in the wastelands of Italy such as Somalia. The remainder was composed of loyal military commanders and generals who were loyal to Mussolini and acted as his own stooges. This consisted of a class in the military that lacked the experience to handle a full scale war. Italy’s navy had very limited number of ships that were capable of defending its territorial waters (Gregory, pp 86-99). Poor leadership in the military and the lack of will to fully implement Mussolini’s objectives were main contributors to Italy’s unsuccessful conquests. Italy could not come out the war victorious. The Italian command sensing loss after the Axis evacuated their strongholds in Italy such as the Island of Sicily and the loss of Messina (Atkinson, pp 201-220). The high army command then opened secret negotiations with the Allied forces behind Mussolini’s back with the full support of the King who felt betrayed by Mussolini and undermined his position. He in fact blamed Mussolini on political problems that befell Italy. This almost marked the end of Italy’s active military involvement in the war. The unrelenting Germans disarmed Italian soldiers and rushed in to take up their positions upon realizing that they were about to surrender to the Allied forces.   Conclusion In conclusion, it is obvious that Italian military under the command of Mussolini was headed to a big failure in the war as they got involved into a war the least prepared for and lack of political will to fight Mussolini’s personal war. The whole military at that time lacked both the material and human resource and everything was undertaken to please Mussolini’s desire to gain a greater control of Europe. Questions as to why Mussolini’s would drive an ill equipped army into a full scale war remain baffling to date. The terming of Italian soldiers as cowards was utterly baseless as they fought so well under the experienced guidance of German soldiers led to defeat in Greece and the continuous successful offensive along the Russian borders. It was therefore a multiple number of factors that led to Italy’s early surrender but not cowardice. Mussolini’s inability to learn and change tactics was the major contributor to the progressive loss of war. Lastly it can be said that Italy bravely fought and lost.

Mcdonalds Case Study

McDonald’s case study For at least 30 years McDonald’s had the lead consumer base in the fast food market. They seemed to have the market monopolized, however in time it’s consumer base drifted away. It would appear that Mcdonalds had become comfortable in the position it was in and put little to no emphases on product variety or quality and simply focused on the speed and convinience as the customer draw. Mcdonalds was suffering from low growth and market base as well as decreasing profits. The factors which affected this low growth and lack of profit was not only its competitors but also public opinion of the quality and variety of the food not being up to the same standards of the competition such as Wendy’s or Burger king. Public opinion on Mcdonalds was that the food it sold was of poor quality with little to no variety and people would sacrifice the convinience and speed of their order for taste and variety. To solve this problem Mcdonalds needs to bring back the once reliable customers that it lost to the competition. This can be done a few different ways. – Introduce new aspects to the existing menu, maybe different choices for existing products, possible rebrand and remarket some of these products with a possible price break. – Possibly improve the flavour of its beef as to improve the taste in all its burgers. -Introduce new items on the menu similar to products of the competition ie. Burger King and Wendy’s. – New slogan, new product apperance on the cups and containers. This is to represent the â€Å"new† Mcdonalds. The previous list of ideas can be implemented the easiest by a complete marketing blitz of the new product line and image for the company. The size of the company allows it to have the resources to do this type of campaign with very little financial risk, basically the company has nothing to loose but more customers. Mcdonalds Case Study McDonald’s case study For at least 30 years McDonald’s had the lead consumer base in the fast food market. They seemed to have the market monopolized, however in time it’s consumer base drifted away. It would appear that Mcdonalds had become comfortable in the position it was in and put little to no emphases on product variety or quality and simply focused on the speed and convinience as the customer draw. Mcdonalds was suffering from low growth and market base as well as decreasing profits. The factors which affected this low growth and lack of profit was not only its competitors but also public opinion of the quality and variety of the food not being up to the same standards of the competition such as Wendy’s or Burger king. Public opinion on Mcdonalds was that the food it sold was of poor quality with little to no variety and people would sacrifice the convinience and speed of their order for taste and variety. To solve this problem Mcdonalds needs to bring back the once reliable customers that it lost to the competition. This can be done a few different ways. – Introduce new aspects to the existing menu, maybe different choices for existing products, possible rebrand and remarket some of these products with a possible price break. – Possibly improve the flavour of its beef as to improve the taste in all its burgers. -Introduce new items on the menu similar to products of the competition ie. Burger King and Wendy’s. – New slogan, new product apperance on the cups and containers. This is to represent the â€Å"new† Mcdonalds. The previous list of ideas can be implemented the easiest by a complete marketing blitz of the new product line and image for the company. The size of the company allows it to have the resources to do this type of campaign with very little financial risk, basically the company has nothing to loose but more customers.

Barbie Goes To China

The impact of the recent global financial crisis is vividly seen in the reaction that consumer brands and retail stores are having with regard to their survival. In Europe, the reaction has been drastic, with automobile manufacturers offering huge discounts and trade ins just to boost their sales. In the United States, manufacturers have slashed their prices and offered massive discounts. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with reducing profit margins to increase or improve earnings, this could be a problem in the long run because it can result in a deterioration of the brand image.The conundrum that exists now is the decision that companies must make regarding improving expenses in the short term and brand image in the long run. The article entitled, Barbie Goes to China, provides and interesting take on this puzzle that companies are now facing. Using the example of Barbie, the authors cite the struggles that Mattel has had in the American market. It shows that there has be en a decline in Barbie sales because of the image that has been attached to the brand. There is no room for Barbie to change the way that she is perceived.This in turn affects the marketability of Barbie, especially in the United States market. Instead, what the article suggests is that the focus should be on maintaining the brand image. Citing the moves that other companies have done, the emphasis falls on being able to choose between sacrificing brand image and maintaining a profit. Several companies have decided to do a mix and offer discount sales for certain items while keeping other items full priced. In relation to Barbie and Mattel, there is a unique opportunity for the company to capitalize on the growing Chinese market and create a new brand image for itself.From a marketing standpoint, there are two important lessons that can be gleaned here. The first is that there is nothing wrong with trying to survive, particularly when the economic crisis has promised to be deep and widespread. In an effort to prevent a total loss, companies have capitalized on the public’s perception and reduced their prices while presumably offering the same quality goods they have always provided. In the same vein, they have tried to protect the image by putting less emphasis on the profit margins and more emphasis on their products.It is also in this part where the brand image that has been created is crucial because it could be detrimental to the brand in the long run. The second lesson to be learnt here is that there are other options. There are several layers of customers and the top tier and loyal customers are not averse to supporting their favorite brands. Top brands such as Mattel need to understand that during uncertain times the one thing that you can count on are the loyal customers. They are willing to overlook the overpriced goods as long as they get what they want. This is what brands need to take advantage of.While there is certain merit in these assert ions, it is wise not to forget the economic fundamentals that are applicable. It can be said that the loyal clientele will always be there but this is not always the case. The reaction is so much more different when one examines an inelastic good and one examines an elastic good. Demand can be inflexible to changes in income if the good is inelastic but it can flexible when it comes to elastic goods. When people need to decide between Barbies and Guccis and buying food or paying their mortgage payments, it is a whole different dynamic and the lessons embodied in this article may no longer hold.

Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Logistics - Essay Example Today, 49% of the equity of the company is owned by Nigerians and Nigerian organizations, while the remaining 51% is owned by Unilever Plc of UK. The company prides itself as being in virtually almost all sectors of the economy which includes nutrition, hygiene, personal care etc. and its products are of world class standards. The popular ones in the market include Omo detergent, Persil, Lux soap, Lipton Tea label, Blue band margarine, Close Up toothpaste and many more. With an employee strength of over 10,000, turnover of N44 bn, profit before tax of over N5 bn, shareholders funds of N8 bn, indeed Unilever Plc is a company the exemplifies a giant productive entity, hence the decision to adopt it as a case study for this paper. Vision and Mission Every organization has its raison d’etre in other words, its reason for existence. This is stated in its mission and vision statements. Drucker (1974) classifies these to include what is our business? What will it be? And what should it be? For Unilever Plc, its vision statement is inspiring billions of people to take small everyday actions that add up to a big difference. The mission statement is to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Future of the company The company has four pillars which directs the long term direction and ensures that it knows where it wants to go and how it’s going there and this is inline with its vision and mission statements. These are: to create a better future everyday; to help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others; to inspire people to take everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world; and to develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of the company while reducing the environmental impact. These four pillars which serve as the guiding and driving pr inciple of Unilever are achieve through its key two strengths. First, its strong roots in local markets and firsthand knowledge of the local culture, and secondly, world class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere. These key two strengths has over the years ensured consistent growth, increase return on investment (ROI) and maintained a relative high share price in the stock exchange market. Internal, External and Temporal Environment According to Kazmi (2002) the environment in which an organization exists could be broadly divided into two parts: the external and the internal environment. Environment literally means the surroundings, external objects, influences or circumstances under which someone or something exists. The environment of any organization is â€Å"the aggregate of all conditions, events, and influences that surround and affect it† (Davis, 1982). The internal environment of Unilever from the above description involves all that goes on with in the company. Unilever like most production companies that wishes to make optimum use of available resources runs three shifts, Monday to Saturday. While Sundays are basically for the maintenance of production machineries, Administrative and

Human Resources Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resources - Research Paper Example One of the core roles of HR is to support workplace safety teaching and upholding rules for workplace injury and casualty reporting. Moreover, HR safety and risk experts often work closely with HR to manage compensation issues for the workers. Compliance with work and employment regulations is a key HR function. Failure to comply result in employee’s and general dissatisfaction with working settings that affect output and eventually, profitability. HR team must be alert of national and government employment rules and many other rules and regulations (Lussier, & Hendon, 2013).All personnel people participate in research activities. HR conduct research to get evidences and information about employees details in order to come up with and maintain a program that works. Through a well-designed research for instance survey, worker’s views can be collected on salaries, welfare services among others. It is therefore the sole duty of the HR to collect wholesome and current employee records are essential for most personnel functions. â€Å"Human resource managers must also create, administer and improve your compensation and benefit structures. Retaining excellent associates depends on many factors. Outstanding pay and benefits are two critical factors that will ultimately determine how well your employees feel about your organization and the likelihood that they will remain with your company in the future† Mondy & Gowan (2005). Constructing an effective compensation system and determining the best benefits package for all of your employees are skills that are mandatory for your HR manage It is very expensive to recruit employees. It is also a significant component of business and doing it properly counts. Choosing the right employee for a particular job, training them well and appropriately treating them, motivate these employees to produce good results and want to stay longer in the organization. In such situations, the organization’s original and

Organizational Change and Innovation Research Paper

Organizational Change and Innovation - Research Paper Example It is an undisputed fact that organizations must innovate in order to benefit from new technologies and resources to stay ahead of their competitors. Innovation, therefore, is viewed as both an ends and a means of securing competitive advantage. Organizational innovation has, therefore, been defined as the process whereby organizations engage in new product development or new uses of products and services that already exist. Before attempting to analyze the challenges of innovation as a change management process, it is necessary to understand the various types of change. Radical innovation defines the introduction of a completely new product or technology that takes the place of an existing one (Griffin, 2013). Incremental innovation, on the other hand, is modifying an existing product/technology with a newer one (Griffin, 2013). Technical innovation deals with changes in the performance, appearance or other aspects of the product or of the processes through which it is passed (Griff in, 2013). Management innovation refers to changes in organizational structure or managerial processes (Griffin, 2013). Finally, product innovation deals with changes in the product as opposed to process innovation that deals with alterations in the distribution, manufacturing or creation of processes (Griffin, 2013). ... However, various companies have failed to innovate owing to various reasons. Like any other change, innovation too can be met with resistance from within the organization. Furthermore, the lack of a supporting culture and the lack of â€Å"fit† with the external environment often render innovation useless. It is worth noting the cases of companies that failed to innovate successfully because they were unable to adapt themselves to the external environment. Sony is one such company which failed with its â€Å"e-books† reader which lost its battle against Amazon (Viardot, 2011) . It was unable to find solutions to the challenges imposed by the economic and legal environment with respect to the publishers and authors. The company failed to offer a solution to managing and protecting digital rights and was unable to design an effective online store. This is contrary to the success that Amazon had in the succeeding years with its e-book service â€Å"Kindle† which par adoxically was bulkier, larger and had a smaller screen compared to Sony’s Reader. Furthermore, Kindle had limited capabilities in that it was able to source content only from Amazon. Despite these shortcomings, Kindle prospered because Amazon based its value proposition on alignment with the ecosystem. The company, instead of forcing publishers to succumb to the platform, gave them incentives to make them ‘want to’ become a part of a revolutionary milestone (Sadowski, 2013). Compared to Sony, Amazon focused on the bigger picture and even sacrificed its profits to generate volumes. Furthermore, the success of innovations by companies such as Apple have highlighted just how important it is to achieve flexibility with respect to the external environment. The company’s innovation iPod succeeded