Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Organizational Effectiveness Essay Small scaled businesses are very important for developing countries and as well as developed countries. In a country like the China a small business can become success and it will play an important role in the economy of the country. Small businesses are growing in importance in the China; hundreds of small businesses are opened every month in the country, by people who have found themselves squeezed out of a corporation due to downsizing or who voluntarily leave the corporate world so that they can seek a slower pace and healthier balance between world and family life. Small businesses are mostly opened by women and minorities in the China. As the smallest businesses become increasingly complicated due to globalization, government regulations and customer demands for better quality at lower prices, managerial dexterity is very complex and it is very hard to become a success. (Szarka, 1990) Managers in small businesses tend to emphasize roles different from those managers in large companies. Managers in small companies often see their most important role as a spokesperson, because they need to promote the small, growing company to the outside world. The entrepreneur role in the small business is very important, because the managers must be very creative and help their company to develop new ideas so that they can be competitive with other companies. Small business managers tend to rate lower on the leader role and on information processing roles compared with counterparts in large companies. As the world of small organizations become increasingly complex, managers should carefully incorporate the 3 categories for roles. They must simultaneously mange by information; manage through people, and mange through action to keep their organizations healthy. (Szarka, 1990) Managing a Small Growing Business Once a business is set up and running, how does the owner manage it? Often the traits of self-confidence, creativity and internal locus of control lead to financial and personal grief as the company grows. A hands-on to the entrepreneur who gave birth to the small business or company, loves perfecting every ting detail of the company. But after the start-up, continued growth requires a shift in the management style. Those who fail to adjust to a growing business can be the cause of the problems rather than the solution for the company. A small business goes through distinct stages of growth; with each of the stage the company requires different management styles and skills. Intrapreneurship in a Small Business Intrapreneurship can be defined as a process which recognizes the need for innovation within the company, plus it helps with managing the company. The following rules help to develop the necessary environment which is required in the company, they are as follows: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The employees should be encourages 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The management should use informal meeting whenever possible 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The company should learn to tolerate failure and learn from it 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The employees should be rewarded for their innovative ideas 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Teams should be formed Human Resource Practices The human resource practices in a small and medium business differ from large organizations. Planning In the early stage of existence, formal planning tends to be nonexistence except for the business plan. The business plan can be defined as a document which specifies the business detail of the company by the entrepreneur. The primary goal is to remain alive within the industry. As the company grows, formal kind of planning is not usually instituted until the company does not reach its success stage in the growth stages of the company. For example, records selling company in the China has defined a goal by carving out a niche in the volatile record industry by focusing only on roots music, which is an electric mix of soulful and down home sounds with country edge. This company is only one of the few surviving profitable companies in the country.   (Cameron Miller, 2008) Organizing In the 2 stages of company’s growth, the company’s organization structure is very informal, where all the employees are reporting to the owner of the company. By the third stage the functional managers are hired to take over the duties from the owner. A functional organization will be created and there will be changes in all the departments of the company. In this stage the managers will be able to learn how to delegate responsibilities to others. But these days most small companies in the China are limiting creating ways so that they can stay small but still grow. For example, Woodspirits, it a company that produces and distributes 300,000 soaps to its customers annually. It just employs 3 that work for the company. The company doesn’t want to lose its edge and flexibility; therefore the companies are willing to stay small. Leading Leading is considered to be the driving force in the development of the company, and it is one of the ways to manage a company. The vision along with the leader’s personality actually shapes the small company. With the help of leadership, it is able to point out cultural values, efficiency and ethics of the company. Leadership is also considered important because a great deal of small businesses usually have a hard time of employing qualified workers. There is always a labor shortage for a small company, and these shortages usually damage the company a great deal. Controlling It is also important that there is a financial control in the company. In the company’s starting days control was exercised by simple accounting records and through personal supervision. The control techniques usually become more sophisticated during the resource maturity of the company. For example, the Sock Shop was originally a hit in the US, but it failed due to a lack of control within the company. (Fullmer, 1983) Compensation Compensation of employees in a SME is mostly based on the jobs and its evaluations.   With job analysis information as a part of the department’s HR information system, compensation analysts have the minimum information needed to evaluate the work activities of their employees. Job evaluations are steps and procedures that help to identify the relative worth of jobs or work activities. There are different kinds of approaches to the evaluation of a job; these approaches consider the responsibility of the employee, skills that are needed for the job, efforts done by the employee and the working conditions related to the job. Without job evaluation the HR department would not be able to create a rational approach to pay. The most common methods for job evaluation that helps with a compensation plan are job ranking, job grading system where as in large organizations it is done through factor compensation and the point system.   But the best way the HR can compensate the employ ees is through job grading, why, because, it is the simplest way to classify a job and the companies don’t have to spend a great deal of money on it. (Werther Davis, 1996)

Problems Faced By Easyjet

Problems Faced By Easyjet A comment on problems being faced by EasyJet and evaluation of strategies adopted by EasyJet Introduction EasyJet, a British airline company which has been fund in 1995 by Stelios Haji-Ioannou with 2 Boeing airplanes and 2 routs, has now expand to European market with 189 airplanes and more then 400 routes (Suit 101, 2009). Nowadays, EasyJet along with its well known low cost strategy is consisting on capturing larger market share. However, there has generated two main conflicts inside the firm. First, Stelios as the biggest shareholder against managers future growth plan of purchasing more aircrafts. Second, Stelios insist that shareholder of EasyJet should be paid by dividend. In order to examine the current issues of EasyJet, this report will analysis issues relate to EasyJet in aspect of economics and finance. In the economics section, this report will first discuss business objectives of EasyJet while focus on growth as its main objective. After that, the report will look into the separation theory of ownership and control issues and apply it into the discussion of current problems exist between shareholders and managers. Thirdly, this report will describe the market structure of British airline industry and discuss whether the low cost strategy could fit the market. In the finance section, this report will first examine the reflection of strategy adopted by EasyJet on the accounts using ratio analysis and trend inspecting. Then it will move on to a comparison among EasyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair, and explore the investment risk of EasyJet. Finally, this report will make a conclusion as well as recommendations that may probably solve the problems exist in Ea syJet. Part A. Economics A.1 Business Objectives According to Neild and Carysforth (2004, p.47), Business objectives are targets which must be achieved for an aim to be met. Strategies or plans adopted by firms are often based on targets such as profit, sales and growth. A.1.1 Growth Growth as the major objective of EasyJet, it is relatively easy to achieve during recession as well as recovery period. Growth of a company is regarded as expand size and enlarge sales. It is based on the scarification of short-term profit in favor of long-term profit. For example, EasyJet use retained earnings to push fleet growth. As a result, shareholders are not satisfied without dividends. In order to balance interests of both sides, managers have to increase the short profit through enlarge sales. Moreover, as managers are controllers of the company, they are free to choose growth as objective to fulfill their interests such as bonuses and share options based on acquiring a large volume of business (Stokes, 2010, p.477). A.1.1.1 Growth Strategy EasyJet adopts several strategies such as advertising and diversification to stimulate growth and enlarge market. Based on EasyJets dramatic investment programmes such as increase fleet size, EasyJet experienced a high rate growth of revenue even during the recession periods from  £264 million to  £2667 million. It increased nearly 10 times respectively and from 2000 to 2009 (EasyJet, 2009). However, certain growth strategies may result in rising expenditure and reducing price. Increase promotional expenditure While EasyJet already has a total number of 189 airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft in 2010, it is respected to acquire another 59 planes in the next 4 years in favor of adapting increasing number of passengers and various destinations (Flightglobal, 2010). However, in order to get good revenue performance,  £86 million is spent on fuel costs in 2009 which partly lead to a reduction in profit margin (EasyJet, 2009). Decrease price In order to share larger market and promote growth, EasyJet carries out a strategy to make their travel fees as well as cost base lower than other established carriers. Since 1999, EasyJet has been voted as the Best Low Cost Airline by Business traveler Magazine and recognized as the first European carrier that won the award for Best Low Cost Carrier at OAG Airline Industry Awards in 2008 (EasyJet). A.1.2 Other Business Objectives Sales Revenue Maximising Sales revenue maximizing is achieved by increasing products and reducing price. Higher sales could efficiently help to expand and compete for the market. In addition, aim to maximize sale revenue could also benefit managers by enhancing their credibility as well as wages (Jain Khanna, 2009, p.22). EasyJet purchase more airplanes, provide various domestic and international flights and adopts low cost strategy to attract more passengers. According to EasyJet (2009), total revenue per seat has increased 10.9% with total revenue increased 12% from 2008 to 2009. Profit Maximizing Profit is considered as the strongest motivation of the company. Maximizing profit sometimes means maximizing the value of shareholders wealth when net cash flows back to the company in the long run. However, fixed cost may increase in a short term to promote output (Dransfield, 2004, p. 215). In future development, the objective that EasyJet might follow is profit maximizing. Nowadays profit margins are spend on aircraft purchase to meet the needs of passenger and capture larger market share, these will return to positive cash generation beyond the period of higher than normal capital expenditure (EasyJet, 2009). Managerial Utility Maximizing It is known that managerial utility could maximize when there is a higher level of output. The case indicates that EasyJet has ordered more airplanes to serve more passengers and explore new market. By increasing sales and profit, managers could provide enough money to make shareholders happy. Meanwhile, extra money could be used to promote salary, bonuses and many other perks as well as develop discretionary projects (Stoke, 2010, p.470). A.2 Ownership and Control Issues A.2.1 Ownership of EasyJet EasyJet is owned by shareholders who invest money for future dividends and for the potential increased value of their shares. Shareholders have been seen as the monitor of the operation and management of a company. Due to their interests on investment returns, they may indirectly influence company to increase share value or maximize profit (Turner, n.d.). On the other hand, shareholders could sale their stocks to express their dissatisfaction on the operation of the company. However, this conduct may lead to a reduction on share price and increase the risk of take-over bid by raider (Stokes, 2010, p. 478). Stelios Hajiloannous owns 38% stocks of the company, followed by Standard Life, who is the second large shareholder, owns 9.45% stocks (London Night Standard, 2010). Due to the family of Sir Stelios is the biggest shareholder, he could possible exercise an effective influence on the company, and directs the decisions made by directors and managers correspond to shareholders interests. A.2.2 Ownership Issues The biggest shareholder as well as Non-Executive Director, Stelios has been strongly opposed to EasyJets rapid expansion strategy and management strategy. Shareholders are more concern profit maximizing rather than sale revenue maximizing. Stelios claims that the capital cost and profit is no longer balanced and the expenditure for new airlines are from the expense of profit margins. Stelios insists that approximately 190 aircrafts is enough to operation and other excess ones should be sold to conserve cash (Flightglobal, 2010). The fleet growth strategy is not suitable for recession period as there are poor economic returns and market changes. Sometimes non executive director has insufficient influence on the Board. As a result, Stelios tries to persuade other shareholders to reject the growth strategy. However, Stelios failed to gain enough support to exert power on managers. Standard Life, who is the second large shareholder, expressed his satisfaction with management team (London Night Standard, 2010). Shareholders have the right to benefit from the company. According to the case (2010), Stelios argues that the firm is a mature company that the share price do not has the capacity to increase. Thus Stelios claims that shareholders should receive reward from dividend payments instead of the share price of the stocks they hold. Huge capital expenditure should be limited while cash should be conserved. Stelios quitted the Board to against growth strategy. There generates another disputation about the brand license. The Easy brand belongs to Stelios Easy Group and was licensed to EasyJet. However, he now is concerns to reclaim the brand and license to another airline (Daily Mail, 2010). A.2.3 Control by Managers EasyJet is controlled by managers. Although shareholders own the company, they left the operation and governance power to the Boards and management. There are two kinds of executive in the board: non-executive director who purely give advice and executive director who really exert power to make decision. The decision made by executive director and managers should be based on the interests of stakeholders to a certain degree. Thus, managers can be viewed as the agents of shareholders (Stocks, 2010, p. 477). On the other hand, managers have their responsibilities be loyal to the company while exercise judgment to operate the company. Managers should be informed the business environment to make decision that benefits the company. Rewards such as bonus are the motivations of managers. However, it may also be the stimulation of risky policy making (Bevans, 2007, p. 220). It is known that appropriate corporate governance is the guidance to achieve success operation of the company. It requires greater administration managers. However, it is difficult to balance different interests between shareholders and managers, thus lead to several problems (Rees Sheikh, 1995, p.145). A.2.4 Control Issues With the aim of growth, EasyJet sets the goal to maintain a growth of 7.5% and increase its European market share from about 7% to 10%. EasyJet believes that its growth plan on fleet size could contribute to occupy larger short-haul European market (Flightglobal, 2010). EasyJet indicates that they earned a profit of  £ 4 million and performed well in the recession period, the expansion plan is under control instead of taking huge risky (London Evening Standard, 2010). Andy Harrisons chief executive position was taken place by McCall due to the disagreement with Sir Stelios (New Statesman, 2010). Although there is a 5% drop of share price due to the long battle between shareholders and managers, EasyJet claims that overall there was a 34% rise of the share price in 10 years which shown a remarkable potential among European airline carriers as well as a sufficient reward to shareholders (Independent, 2010). A.3 Market Structure A.3.1 Market Structure of British Airline Industry According to Moschandreas (2000, p.10), market structure is the characteristics of the market that could have impact on the mode of competition. Those characteristics include product diversification, barriers of entry the market, number of suppliers and the level of price control. The market structure of British airline industry is oligopoly. Oligopoly is an imperfect market with standardized or differentiated products and a high degree of interdependence which dominated by a few companies (Chauhan, 2009, p.65). A.3.1.1 The Characteristics of Oligopoly Few Sellers: The market is dominated by few companies. Figure 1 shows the market share in the UK main airport London Heathrow. British Airways, BMI and Virgin Atlantic have relative higher market shares than others. Figure 1. Top Airlines market share at London Heathrow. AnnaAero. (2008). [One line] Available from: http://www.anna.aero/2008/12/05/flybe-heading-for-no-1-in-uk-domestic-market/ [Accessed 05th December 2008] Product diversification Many companies in oligopoly market established brands and offer various products (Jain Khanna, 2009, p.115). For example, British Airways with the slogan The worlds Best Airline serves more than 300 destinations by 238 aircrafts (British Airways, 2009); BMI with the slogan Better for Business serves various destinations by 43 aircrafts (BMI, 2010). Entry Barriers There are several barriers that protect incumbents from new firms. First, due to diversification of the products, established companies could consolidate market by branding and promotion. As a result, new firms have to spend more money on advertising and branding to conquer customer loyalty to incumbent companies and attract passengers. Second, financial requirements or vital resource also restrict new entrants, such as difficulty in accessing available landing airports and huge cost of purchasing aircraft (Tucker, 2008, p.178) A.3.1.2 Common Strategies of Oligopoly There are several price strategies or non-price strategies which could be used in oligopoly market. A.3.1.2.1 Price Strategy (Stokes, 2010, p.148) Prestige pricing. If one firm increases the price of the product, it may still attractive to customers. This may because of the promotion of quality and service or conspicuous consumption behavior. Price discrimination. Charging different price in different market could help to increase revenue. There are three degree of price discrimination (Dwivedi, 2008, p.328): First degree discrimination exits when sellers charge the highest price of the product that customer willing to buy. For example, BA offer free drinks and snacks, they could charge a higher price compare to EasyJet, who do not offer free airline catering. Second degree price discrimination exits when sellers charge different prices for the different quantities of purchase or different category of consumers (p.328). Such as first-class and economy class charge differently in airline industry as economy class is frequent required by passengers. Third degree price discrimination occurs when different price are charged refer to different submarket. For example, airline companies may offer discounts according to the time that customers book ticket in advance. Limit pricing. Limit pricing occurs when firms pricing products lower but still can get profit. Such strategy could help to deter competitors or new entrants. Price elasticity of demand. When demand is inelastic, increase price could result in revenue increase. On the other hand, when demand is elastic, decrease price could also result in revenue increase. A.3.1.2.2 Non-Price Strategy Non-Price Strategies in oligopolistic markets could help to increase demand and develop loyalty among consumers (Riley, 2005, p.83) Expanding into new markets Develop new markets could help to enlarge network and strengthen market power as well as increase sales. For example, recently EasyJet has lunched new route from Edinburgh to Dortmund, which is expected to carry more than 55000 passengers during the first year (EasyJet, 2010). Diversification of the product A company could be benefit from the diversity of its product against rivals. The more distinct products they sale, the smaller their rivals could occupy the market (Mukherjee, p.460). For example, EasyJet offer 422 flight routes among 27 countries and 114 airports (EasyJet, 2009). Advertising and Branding Advertising and Branding are essential especially for the new entrant. Advertising could establish brand images to customers. For example, EasyJet use orange as its main colors and permitted ITV operating a reality show named Airline that present EasyJet plane in the air to increasing its popularity (Fastcompany, 2002). EasyJet used to advertise its low price flight and claims that people could fly to Scotland for the price of a pair of jeans (Fastcompany, 2002) A.3.2 Low Cost Carriers Strategy of EasyJet EasyJet adopts a low-cost model to attract passengers and seize larger market share (Dunmore Gleave, 2003) Offer cheap fares: EasyJet sale tickets through internet or phone in order to avoid commissions. By the end of 2005, 98% of tickets were sold online (EasyJet, 2005). Customers could book in advance for cheap seats and transform flight for different time schedule without extra charge. Do not offer airline catering. Uniform airplane types: Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Have higher aircraft utilisation: EasyJet aircrafts operate 11 hours a day which more than 3 hours than BA. Use high seating density airplane and increase load factors to reduce cost base: By the end of June 2010, the load factor has increased to 87.2%, thus reduces per seat costs by 16% compared to BMI (EasyJet, 2010) Use smaller airports to reduce charges: Such as London Luton and Liverpool A.3.3 Low Cost Strategy in Oligopoly Market In the UK oligopolistic market, as oligopolists are interdependent among others, firms are sensitive to competitors actions. A rational company may try to speculate reactions of competitors using game theory before they adopt various strategies such as price changes. However, even one company reduce its price, it is unlikely lead to a price war or significant profit changes. According to the theory, when companies change prices, their competitors will adjust strategies such as advertising to avoid loss (Stokes, 2010, p.152-156). As a result, low cost strategy which aims to enlarge market by reducing price is not typical in oligopoly market. However, due to the conception of price elasticity of demand, reduce price may lead to the increase of demand. Lower price strategy combined with higher frequencies could attract more business passengers who account for a remarkable proportion of passengers for EasyJet. Although such strategy could make overall cost considerably lower, it still enjoys an average growth of 4.4% while 10.5% in some major routs when fist became a low cost carrier. Apparently the successful low cost airlines are more profitable than established carriers, thus easy to survive in the market (EasyJet, 2009). In the first part, this report has discussed the features of growth strategy and low cost strategy adopted by EasyJet. The next part of the report will examine these features by analysing the financial accounts of EasyJet. Part B. Finance B.1 Strategies reflect on EasyJets Accounts B.1.1 Growth B.1.1.1 A Growth Company From Figure B1, it can be seen that sales revenue has shown a consistently upward trend and nearly doubled from  £1341.4 million to  £2666.8 million during the 5 years. Hence, according to product life cycle, EasyJet still being in the period of introduce to the market instead of maturity. Figure B1* Figure B2 shows a significant increase in trade creditors and debtors. However, it can be seen in Figure B2 that EasyJet could pay suppliers more slowly while receive debtor quicker than before. As a result, working capital as well as financial environment may probably get better, which could benefit for its growth strategies. It can be seen from Figure B3 that the market value per share has increased from 2005 to 2007 before it reduce sharply in 2008. However, it has recovering in 2009 after the recession period. The overall trend shows a growth in shareholders wealth as well as the company itself. P: E ratio is the indicator of investors wishes for long term profit. It reduced from 2005 to 2007 followed by an increase since 2008. The upward trend could reveal a huge potential growth in the future. B 1.1.2 Growth Strategies Increase promotional expenditure Figure B5 illustrates a growth of current assets and current liabilities. Current ratio of EasyJet reflects that the growth rate of current assets is slowly than current liabilities, which could reflect EasyJets fast growth of borrowings for increase promotional expenditure, as current ratio shows a downward trend. Nevertheless, the ratio is fluctuating above 1, which means that current assets always more than current liabilities and EasyJet has the ability to pay future bills. However, the more the ratio near 1, the less cash or cash assets could be contributed to short term debt. A large amount of cash of EasyJet is used to pay for aircraft order for future long term profit. Interest cover ratio could reveal whether EasyJet pay interest borrowings by generating enough profits. However, from Figure B5, EasyJet experienced a dramatic decline on interest cover ratio and lower than 1.5 in 2009. Due to the sacrifice on short term profit and large amount of borrowing for airline purchase, EasyJet may burdened by interest of debt. Gearing ratio could be used to describe the proportion of long term liabilities in capital employed. The higher a gearing ratio is, the more debt a company loaned and the more risk a company may take. From Figure B6 one could know that overall the gearing ratio has increased with a peak in 2007. Due to the huge cost of aircrafts, EasyJet is now in serious financial problem. Decrease in short term profit Gross profit and net profit margin ratio is helpful to know the percentage of profit generated from total revenue. Profit margin of EasyJet has shown an upward trend until 2007, both gross profit and net profit margin ratio decreased about 10% by the end of 2009. Such reduction indicates a increase in cost of sales and may not be satisfied by shareholders. However, despite of the rising in tax rate, this trend could reflect EasyJets strategies to explore new market, increase net work as well as route length which lead to a rise of fuel costs, airport charging and advertising costs. Capital employed includes shareholders funds and long term liabilities. Figure B8 indicates that EasyJets capital is rising, which indicates an expansion of EasyJets size. Although the investment of EasyJet has been increasing, profit has been used for further expansion. Hence, large short term profit may not be generated from capital. The situation is reflected on the reduction on ROCE. It also can be seen from Figure B8, return on equity has shown the same trend as that of profit. They both have increased till 2007 and then decreased sharply. Although the reduction of return on equity may due to the tax policy released in 2009 and increasing costs, which lead to a reduction on earnings after tax, it also partly result in the expansion of shareholders funds (EasyJet, 2009). However, overall it shows a lack of ability to return profit for owners investment. Figure B9 shows that after 2005, assets turnover decreased and has been fluctuating around 1, which reflects a poor utilization of assets and less profit return on assets. However, this primarily because of the large bulk of airplane purchase plan during the next few years. As a result, the long term benefits may not be reflected in more than one year. B.1.2 Low Cost strategy Figure B10 shows increase both in sales revenue and number of employee, which indicates the expansion of companys size and growth of finance performance. This may probably base on the low cost strategy. According to low cost strategy, EasyJet offer more frequencies on flight and larger capacities than other companies, thus lead to an increase in passenger flown as well as efficiency in airplane utilities. Aiming to enlarge its market, EasyJet has lunched more airports and increase its route length to various European destinations which result in a raise in cost, especially fuel cost. As a result, it can be seen from Figure B11 that a sharp rise of cost per passenger has increased since 2007. B.2 Compare EasyJet with Jet2 and Ryanair In order to discuss investment risky of EasyJet, this part of the report will compare EasyJet with Jet2 and Ryanair, both of which also adopt low cost strategy as EasyJet. B.2.1 Differences and Similarities in Balance Sheets Apparently from Appendix 1, Appendix 2 ad Appendix 3, EasyJet shows a significant higher increase rate of total assets, liabilities and capital employed, which indicate a rapid expansion of companys size. Ryanair also shows a slightly development of the company. By contrast, although Jet2 experienced an increase in total assets, the total liabilities has reduced, mainly due to the decline of non-current assets. Although the current assets of Jet2 raised sharply from 2008 to 2009, according to Figure 15, unlike Ryanair and EasyJet, the current assets of Jet2 is much lower than current liabilities. Thus Jet2 may not have the ability to pay bills or have enough cash to develop business. By comparing the proportion of total liabilities and shareholders fund in total assets, it can be seen that all three companies liabilities is higher than shareholders funds. Thus, EasyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair are mainly financed by debt. As Ryanair has the largest number of assets while Jet2 has the lowest, one may presume that Ryanair has the largest size of company while Jet2 has the relatively smallest. While the major liabilities of both EasyJet and Ryanair is long term borrowings, Jet2 takes trade payable as major total liabilities and deferred tax as major non-current liabilities. This situation may probably indicate that the working capital of Jet2 could be influenced negatively due to a poor ability of paying debt. B.2.2 Investment B.2.2.1 Comparison among EasyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair By comparing current ratio in Figure 12, it can be see that Jet2 current liabilities is more than current assets, thus Jet2 may have difficulty to pay bills immediately. On the other hand, Ryanairs current ratio has increased to 1.84 in 2009, as current assets in much higher than current liabilities. The figure may indicate a poor utilization of resource. Compared to Jet2 and Ryanair, EasyJet has a better management on assets and liabilities. It can be seen that EasyJet has the highest rate of gearing ratio, as the operation of company is largely depend on borrowings. Meanwhile, according to Figure 12, EasyJet has the relative lower interest cover ratio, which indicates that EasyJet may have more difficulty to pay interest expense than other company. As a result, an investment in EasyJet is more risky than invest in Ryanair and Jet2. Earning per share has been widely used as measurement for the growth of a firm as well as the indicator of the amount of profit could return to each share. Although the EPS of Jet2 rose remarkably, the PE ratio also declined dramatically. On the other hand, it can be seen that the PE ratio of EasyJet as well as Ryanair has increased sharply. It indicates potential capabilities of future growth of the two companies which could give confidence to investors. From Figure B16, it can be seen that Jet2 has the longest time to pay creditors, thus has a longer time to utilities liabilities. However, it also needs the longest time to collect receivables. On the other hand, although Ryanair has to pay creditors quicker compared to the time in 2008, the period is still longer than EasyJet. Moreover, Ryanair could receive debt much quicker than EasyJet. Thus Ryanair may have the best efficiency cash flows which could contribute to company operating. Obviously from Figure B13, Ryanair has much higher figure of return on capital employed, which means that Ryanair could profitably operation the company by using investment. As a result, investor could receive more interests in the short run from Ryanair rather than EasyJet, which has the lowest ROCE ratio among others. B.2.2.2 Brief Evaluation Based on the ratio discussed above, it can be seen that overall Ryanair is the best choice for investors compared to EasyJet and Jet2 despite its lower efficiency on the utilization of assets. It has the highest PE ratio and return on capital employed rate. Moreover, the working capital of cash flows is also considered as the best one among others. Investment on Ryanair could have less risky than EasyJet. Jet2 relatively has a poor condition of capital. It seems that Jet2 may easier fall into the dilemma of debt difficulty. Although EasyJet has a large amount of borrowings, and the lowest return on capital, a more flexible cash flow as well as a proper utilization of capital could be compensations. In addition, higher PE ratio implies a potential power of growth. Thus, investment on EasyJet could have less risky than Jet2 and may probably get better profit in the future. Conclusion To sum up, EasyJet as a growth company has adopt several strategies to compete in oligopoly market. EasyJet utilise low cost strategy to increase it efficiency in business operation will use growth strategy to seize larger market share and expand the size of the company. However, scarification of short term profit may leads to unsatisfactions of shareholders. Moreover, by looking at the accounts of EasyJet, it can be seen that its growth plan of aircraft purchasing lead to a heavy burden on debt. EasyJet has potential risky due to the large proportion of liabilities. In recommendation, EasyJet could reduce its growth plan while pay dividend to shareholder in order to alleviate the conflicts. As a result, the reputation of EasyJet could be maintained and attract more funds invest in the capital. Hence, EasyJet may not need to largely depend on liabilities and the risk of investment could reduce. References AnnaAero. (2008). Flybe Heading for #1 in UK Domestic Market; Overall Demand Down Around 4% in 2008. [One line] Available from: http://www.anna.aero/2008/12/05/flybe-heading-for-no-1-in-uk-domestic-market/ [Accessed 05th December 2008] Bevans, N. R. (2007). Business Organizations and Corporate Law. New York: Thomson Delmar Learning. Chauhan, S. P. S. (2009). Microeconomics: Theory and Applications. New Delhi: Learning Private Limited. Daily Mail. (2010). Stelios Warns He May Reclaim EasyJet Name. [On line] Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1287205/Stelios-warns-reclaim-easyJet-name.html [Accessed 16th June 2010] Dransfield, R. (2004). Business for Foundation Degrees and Higher Awards. Oxford: Heinemann Dwivedi, D. N. (2008). Microeconomics: Theory and Applications. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley Ltd. EasyJet. (2009). Annual Report and Accounts 2009. [On line] Available from: http://2009annualreport.easyjet.com/files/pdf/easyJet_AR09.pdf EasyJet. (2010). EasyJet to Launch Two NEW Routes: Edinburgh to Dortmund and Dortmund to Thessaloniki. [On line] Available from: http://www.easyjet.com/en/news/new_routes_dortmund_edinburgh_thessaloniki.html EasyJet. (n. d.) EasyJet Awards and Tributes. [On line] Available from: http://www.easyjet.com/EN/About/Information/infopack_awards.html Fast Company. (2002). Stelios Makes Growth Look Easy. [On line] Available from: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/64/ioannou.html [Accessed 31st October 2002] Flight Global. (2010). Haji-loannou Bids to Overturn EasyJet Expansion Strategy. [On line] Available from: http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/05/14/342001/haji-ioannou-bids-to-overturn-easyjet-expansion-strategy.html [Accessed 14th May 2010] Jet2. (2009). Annual Report 2009. [On line] Available from: http://www.dartgroup.co.uk/pdf/DartReport09.pdf Kothari, J. E, Barone. (2006). Financial Accounting. An International Approach. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. London Evening Standard. (2010). Standard Life Backs EasyJet after Stelios Quits. [On li

The Most Significant Aspect of Roosevelt’s Presidency and New Deal up t

The Most Significant Aspect of Roosevelt’s Presidency and New Deal up to 1941 In this essay I am going to be assessing which was the most significant aspect of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidency, by looking at four different aspects of it, and then applying tests to each aspect. I will be looking into Roosevelt’s Economic Policies, Economic Ideas, Role of the Presidency and the Electoral performance of the Democratic party – and then, applying the following tests to them: Firstly, the ‘Amount of change,’ then the ‘Immediate effects,’ then the ‘Long term effects,’ and finally the ‘Effect of one aspect on another.’ Roosevelt’s economic ideas were clearly different to those of the Republicans and also the Electoral Position of the Democratic Party also changed a lot from the 1920’s. However it was the modifications to the role of the President and Roosevelt’s new economic policies that produced the biggest changes from the Republicans presidency in the 20s. Before Roosevelt became President, the rules of the constitution were followed very strictly: The Legislature role (congress) was to make the laws, the Executive’s (the president) was to carry those laws out and the Judiciary (Supreme Court Judges) to judge the laws. Each having their own authority and weaknesses to form a ‘balance’, ensuring that power and control was split equally between the three branches. When Roosevelt became President in 1933, he made three major changes to the role of the Presidency. Firstly, he changed the relationship between the Presidency and congress. While it was still the responsibility of the Congress to make laws, Roosevel... ... I found that only really the Role of the Presidency had a major long term effect after Roosevelt, there are aspects of Roosevelt’s presidency that are still largely apparent in the United States of America today – because the USA has such a polar economy, there is a big divide between the rich and poor, and although there are still a lot of poor people in America, who receive limited aid, there is a larger majority that are extremely wealthy and the USA is the richest country in the world today. And Roosevelt does have some part to play in this; because of everything he did (long and short term) he managed to succeed in largely curing the depression and getting America back on its feet. Without this, we don’t know where America would be today and so this is what I believe to be the best way of measuring significance. The Most Significant Aspect of Roosevelt’s Presidency and New Deal up t The Most Significant Aspect of Roosevelt’s Presidency and New Deal up to 1941 In this essay I am going to be assessing which was the most significant aspect of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidency, by looking at four different aspects of it, and then applying tests to each aspect. I will be looking into Roosevelt’s Economic Policies, Economic Ideas, Role of the Presidency and the Electoral performance of the Democratic party – and then, applying the following tests to them: Firstly, the ‘Amount of change,’ then the ‘Immediate effects,’ then the ‘Long term effects,’ and finally the ‘Effect of one aspect on another.’ Roosevelt’s economic ideas were clearly different to those of the Republicans and also the Electoral Position of the Democratic Party also changed a lot from the 1920’s. However it was the modifications to the role of the President and Roosevelt’s new economic policies that produced the biggest changes from the Republicans presidency in the 20s. Before Roosevelt became President, the rules of the constitution were followed very strictly: The Legislature role (congress) was to make the laws, the Executive’s (the president) was to carry those laws out and the Judiciary (Supreme Court Judges) to judge the laws. Each having their own authority and weaknesses to form a ‘balance’, ensuring that power and control was split equally between the three branches. When Roosevelt became President in 1933, he made three major changes to the role of the Presidency. Firstly, he changed the relationship between the Presidency and congress. While it was still the responsibility of the Congress to make laws, Roosevel... ... I found that only really the Role of the Presidency had a major long term effect after Roosevelt, there are aspects of Roosevelt’s presidency that are still largely apparent in the United States of America today – because the USA has such a polar economy, there is a big divide between the rich and poor, and although there are still a lot of poor people in America, who receive limited aid, there is a larger majority that are extremely wealthy and the USA is the richest country in the world today. And Roosevelt does have some part to play in this; because of everything he did (long and short term) he managed to succeed in largely curing the depression and getting America back on its feet. Without this, we don’t know where America would be today and so this is what I believe to be the best way of measuring significance.

Gratitude for Brown vs. Board of Education :: Race Segregation

What is it to ME I was born in 1985 and I grew up with two younger brothers. Now when I look back on my life I realize that I have taken many things for granted. These things are the simple things that most people take for granted such as growing up in a good neighborhood, and not having to worry about gangs, violence, and drugs. Like most kids growing up in good areas I went to a good school that helped springboard my life. These blessing are what allowed me to get into this University. Every once in awhile I view or think of something that reminds me of how lucky I am. At this University I had one of these moments and it happened at an art museum. This museum had an exhibit on Brown v. The Board of Education. This exhibit is where I really came to appreciate what I was blessed with because of others before my time and what they have allowed me to do with it. The Brown v. Board of Education exhibit size was decent from my view but I have not been to an art exhibit for exceptionally long time. The thing that caught my eye the most was a video playing on a wall. This video had the screen split down the middle with two separate videos playing. On one side of the screen there was what seemed to be old video footage of a white family and then on the other side old video footage of a black family. These videos seemed to try to show that black and white life was the same during this time. The footage seemed to be taken in the sixties or seventies, based on the clothing worn in the footage, and this puzzled me due to the fact that black and white life was not equal at this time. It showed both families going to Disney World and their family get-togethers. The black family did seem to have more people over for the family together and much more food which just reminded me of my own family get-togethers, which I have to say are a blast. The whole film gave off an aura that the film had been contrived.

The Great Patient Race :: essays research papers

When Gordon Gould was a graduate student at Columbia University in 1957, he sketched out the concept of a concentrated beam of light amplified in a gas-filled chamber and coined the term "laser" to describe it. But Gould waited to seek a patent on his discovery, believing incorrectly that a working prototype was necessary. Eventually, two other researchers were awarded the basic patents instead. After a decades-long legal tussle, Gould finally reveled in victory when a federal court ruled that the patent application it had approved did not anticipate the common uses of lasers. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office then granted Gould lucrative rights to the invention, in part because as a graduate student he had his original research notebooks date-stamped and notarized. The legal standard that was applied awards patents to the person who invented a concept first, and it has long been a unique feature of the U.S. patent system. This year, however, Congress is about to consider a controversial proposal from Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, that would grant a patent to the first person to submit the paperwork --a standard that's common outside the United States. The legislation suddenly has become a flash point about everything that's right with the U.S. patent system--and everything that's wrong with it. Technology companies fighting expensive patent cases are hoping the bill will reduce litigation, while open-source advocates say it will do nothing to hinder the rising tide of software patents being issued. Many people feel that the measure will make only modest improvements, if any, to the quality of patents being awarded. Smith's bill, called the Patent Reform Act of 2005, also has drawn the ire of independent inventors, who have said it will unfairly hurt anyone without a battalion of patent lawyers who can race to the Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. The rule probably would have kept Gould from being awarded the laser patents he eventually got. "We really feel that there's a litigation lottery. People roll the die and hope that their number comes up big." --David Kaefer director of intellectual-property licensing, Microsoft Smith declined, through a representative, to comment on the bill before a hearing set for Thursday. The issue has taken on additional urgency because of Smith's ambitious plan to navigate his bill quickly through the House by year's end. Next week's hearing will take place shortly after politicians have returned from their summer break. Meanwhile, a similar measure is being readied in the Senate by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch. The Great Patient Race :: essays research papers When Gordon Gould was a graduate student at Columbia University in 1957, he sketched out the concept of a concentrated beam of light amplified in a gas-filled chamber and coined the term "laser" to describe it. But Gould waited to seek a patent on his discovery, believing incorrectly that a working prototype was necessary. Eventually, two other researchers were awarded the basic patents instead. After a decades-long legal tussle, Gould finally reveled in victory when a federal court ruled that the patent application it had approved did not anticipate the common uses of lasers. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office then granted Gould lucrative rights to the invention, in part because as a graduate student he had his original research notebooks date-stamped and notarized. The legal standard that was applied awards patents to the person who invented a concept first, and it has long been a unique feature of the U.S. patent system. This year, however, Congress is about to consider a controversial proposal from Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, that would grant a patent to the first person to submit the paperwork --a standard that's common outside the United States. The legislation suddenly has become a flash point about everything that's right with the U.S. patent system--and everything that's wrong with it. Technology companies fighting expensive patent cases are hoping the bill will reduce litigation, while open-source advocates say it will do nothing to hinder the rising tide of software patents being issued. Many people feel that the measure will make only modest improvements, if any, to the quality of patents being awarded. Smith's bill, called the Patent Reform Act of 2005, also has drawn the ire of independent inventors, who have said it will unfairly hurt anyone without a battalion of patent lawyers who can race to the Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. The rule probably would have kept Gould from being awarded the laser patents he eventually got. "We really feel that there's a litigation lottery. People roll the die and hope that their number comes up big." --David Kaefer director of intellectual-property licensing, Microsoft Smith declined, through a representative, to comment on the bill before a hearing set for Thursday. The issue has taken on additional urgency because of Smith's ambitious plan to navigate his bill quickly through the House by year's end. Next week's hearing will take place shortly after politicians have returned from their summer break. Meanwhile, a similar measure is being readied in the Senate by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch.

Analysis of Strategy Formation Essay

Strategy is difficult to define. There are many popular and debated definitions available. One idea is that strategy is top management’s plan to attain outcomes consistent with the organization’s mission and goals (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, & Lambel, 1998). Another definition is that strategy is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions designed to exploit core competencies and gain a competitive advantage (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson 2013). Some argue that strategy cannot be defined at all because many professionals including researchers, practitioners, and theorists all have different thoughts on what strategy is, how it is formulated, and how it is implemented (Dewit & Meyer, 2010). However, all of these ideas have something in common: a strategy is a roadmap for getting from here to there. It is important to understand that strategy is not a single concept, but rather a process made up of many pieces. For this paper, I will define strategy as a roadmap or blueprint for obtaining a competitive advantage. In this analysis of strategy formation I will examine the most important issues involved in strategy formation and explain why they are important, define how corporate-level strategies relate to business-level strategies and functional-area tactics and how these pieces support each other, and finally, I will outline the primary inputs to strategy formulation in a firm. But, before we answer these questions it is important to share a brief history of strategy. The word strategy originated from the Greek work strategos. Strategos was coined when Kleisthenis developed a fresh set of organizational structure in ancient Greece in order to promote a better army. The direct definition of the singular stratos means to lead (DeWit &Meyer, 2010). Essentially the concept is derived directly from a need for a higher organizational structure, change and leadership development. Warfare was pas the point of simply winning a battle but instead was focused upon the coordination of units and tactical approaches to battle (DeWit & Meyer, 2010). When we look at how strategy is formed today we also see a parallel in that firms must coordinate corporate-level, business-level and functional-level tactical issues in order to successful formulate a strategy. By coordinating the approach a strategy helps to gain a competitive advantage for firms just as it does for armies on the battlefield. Now that we understand the history behind strategy formation we will discuss the most important points of strategy formation and discuss what makes them important. Strategy formation can be arduous because planners love to plan out every single details of a plan and press everything into an orderly, mechanistic process (DeWit & Meyer, 2010). It is critical for strategies to follow a mechanistic process with vision and end goal in mind while having a big picture mentality that takes change management and flexibility into account as the unknowns’ surface. Without a proper plan to learn and address needed adjustments the plan can become easily outdated and ineffective. Strategy formation is described as being a new way to understand old problems, however, strategic planning and formation can lead to analysis paralysis if overly complex and planned out (DeWit & Meyer, 2010). Flexibility is an important piece of strategy formation and as strategists we must avoid being married to a specific set of ideas, but rather be open to learning, experimentation, balancing risks and rewards while working towards to vision that creates a competitive advantage. This pattern in a stream of decisions works to get a company to its strategic goal and vision (Dewit & Meyer, 2010). A good approach to this is letting the strategies emerge in the process, rather than focusing on the strategy formation in the beginning. Outside of recognizing the importance of change and emergence there are many other important variables in strategy formation. For example, many organizations develop strategies based on rigid changes like their core competencies, resources, demographics, and market demand. But, there are also many other softer pieces can be equally important when formulating a strategy. According to DeWit and Meyer the most cited key issues in strategy formation are: 1) overall organization structure of its basic management style; 2) relationships with the government or other external interest groups; 3) acquisition, divestiture, or divisional control practices; 4) international posture and relationships; 5) innovative capabilities or personnel motivations as affected by growth; 6) worker and professional relationships reflecting changed social expectations and values nd 7) past or anticipated technological environments (DeWit and Meyer, 2010). These key components help give us a good framework for the most important parts of strategy formation, but they don’t make up everything. Many managers are comfortable with the planning piece of strategy formation, but lag when it comes to actually putting the plan into action (Hrebiniak, 2005). For many organizations putting the strategy in place is the easy part and creating a winning strategy doesn’t actually get you from here to there. A solid planned, documented and even inspiring plan of action doesn’t gain a competitive advantage in and of itself. It is the execution of that strategy that makes all the difference in the company achieving that completive advantage. Here are some key challenges that corporations face when executing on a strategy: 1) the culture of the organization and how it was not appropriate for the challenges ahead; 2) incentives and how people have been rewarded for seniority or â€Å"getting older† and not for performance or competitive achievement (the sacred cows); 3) the need to overcome problems with traditional functional â€Å"silos† in the organizational structure and 4) the challenges inherent in managing change as the division adapted to new competitive conditions (Hrebiniak, 2005). Actually getting the strategy to produce the desired results can clearly be more difficult that forming it in the first place. Execution is not the last important point of strategy formation to discuss; the stakeholders also play a fundamental role in the formation of a strategy. A stakeholder is any individuals, groups or organizations that can affect the firm’s vision and mission, are affected by the strategic outcomes achieved, and have enforceable claims on the firm’s performance (Hitt, Ireland, & Hosskisson, 2010). These stakeholders can be divided into categories. Capital Market Stakeholders are the banking partner and suppliers of capital. Product Market Stakeholders are customers, suppliers, host communities, and union groups. Lastly, are the Organizations Stakeholders, which are comprised of employees, manager, and non-managers. These categories are divided from top to bottom in order of importance, which means that Capital Market Stakeholders have the highest level of influence and the Organizational stakeholders have the least. All takeholders are not created equal. The more critical and valued a stakeholder’s participation, the greater the firm’s dependency on it; greater dependence, in turn, gives the stakeholder more potential influence over a firm’s commitments, decisions, and actions (Ireland, Hoskisson and Hitt, 2008). A shift to more emergent characteristics in the strategy making process combining stakeholder considerations and strategic conversations during s trategy formation with select stakeholders is what makes the difference in a balanced strategy (Booth and Segon, 2008). The key point is the degree to which the stakeholder’s goals align with each other, and how those aligned elements are being addressed by the strategists in the organization. Strategic leaders are responsible and accountable for realizing the expectations of each of the many stakeholders. This accountability to the stakeholders plays an important part in developing the strategy. It can also impact the expectations of each of the stakeholders. For example, the vision and mission of the strategic leaders is shared with all of the stakeholders and their confidence or lack of confidence is a direct result of those strategic leaders. The expectations and composition of our stakeholders has a significant and direct affect in our organizations strategic formation. Of course, without security and surprise, a solid plan, execution strategy, flexibility, clear objectives, concentration, and coordinated and committed leadership, a strategy can still fail. Surprise strategy must make use of speed, secrecy and intelligence to attack unprepared opponents at unexpected time, while forcing the opponent to react to your company and not the other way around (Concept Paper #1). Security addresses keeping the core competencies, operations points and resource safe from the competition. For example, if our strategy is based on the talent of our human capital, we must work to keep the working conditions safe and happy so the competition doesn’t work to recruit our talent for their own strategy. We have outlined the most important points of strategy formation and discussed what makes them important, so now it is now time to define how corporate-level strategies relate to business-level strategies and functional-area tactics, and how these pieces support each other. Functional-area tactics are short-term activities each functional area within the firm undertakes to implement the grand strategy (Pierce & Robinson, 2012). Pierce offers three characteristics that differentiate functional area tactics from business-level and corporate-level tactics: 1) time horizon, focus on immediate activities; 2) specificity, business strategies provide general direction, functional area tactics specify activities and how they are expected to be achieved and 3) participants, general managers are responsible for business strategies, operating managers establish short-term objectives and functional tactics that lead to business-level success (Pierce & Robinson, 2012). These activities are put in place as a means of achieving a business-level strategy and so their relationship is one of vision versus direct action to achieve that vision. . A business level strategy is a carefully designed methodology that aids companies in implementing and carrying through with actions designed to meet the financial and other goals set by that business (wiseGEEK, 2013). Whether a firm has a competitive advantage or not, depends on the business system or business-level strategy that is has developed to relate itself to its business environment and if the configuration of resources (inputs), activities (throughput) and product/service offerings (output) intended to create value for its customers – it is the way a firm conducts its business (Dewit & Meyer, 2010). Business strategy can be further understood as the decisions a firm makes about its alternatives when competing in a specific market and how those alternatives works to bring their core competencies to the surface through cost leadership, differentiation, focused cost leadership, focused differentiation, and integrated leadership/differentiation. According to Hitt et. l, the risks associated with cost leadership are 1) loss of competitive advantage to new technology; 2) failure to detect changing customer needs; 3) the ability of competitors to imitate the cost leader’s competitive advantage through their own distinct strategic actions (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson 2013). As also pointed out by Hitt et. al. , there are also differentiation strategy risks such as 1) a customer group’s decision that the differences between the differentiated product and the cost leader’s goods or services are no longer worth a premium price, 2) the inability of a differentiated product to reate the type of value for which customers are willing to pay a premium price, 3) the ability of competitors to provide customers with products that have features similar to those of the differentiated product, but at a lower cost, and 4) the threat of counterfeiting, whereby firms produce a cheap imitation of a differentiated good or service (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). Previously, we have identified how business-level strategy impacts functional tactical strategy and now I will address corporate-level strategy and how it, respectively, relates to these levels. A corporate strategy is what makes the corporate whole add up to more than the sum of its parts and typically comprises four concepts: portfolio management, restructuring, transferring skills, and sharing activities (Porter, 2008). Portfolio management and diversification are central strategies for any medium or large business. Market analysis demonstrates that many organizations that are medium sized and larger are made up of multiple businesses and offer several product lines that can cross industries and regions. Organizations can have very different financial characteristics and face different strategic options depending on how they are placed in terms of growth and relative competitive position (Dewit and Meyer, 2010). A portfolio strategy requires firms to grow through investment in existing businesses, acquiring new businesses and withdrawing from failing ones. As porter points out another form of corporate strategy is philanthropic involvement. When it comes to philanthropy, executives increasingly see themselves as caught between critics demanding over higher levels of â€Å"corporate social responsibility† and investors applying pressure to maximize short-term profits (Porter, & Kramer, 2002). It doesn’t end there though, another piece to corporate-level strategy is corporate governance. Corporate governance is concerned with identifying ways to ensure that decisions (especially strategic decisions) are made effectively and that they facilitate a firm’s efforts to achieve strategic competitiveness by maintaining a harmony between the top-level managers and the shareholder’s interests (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2013). We must also point out that mergers and acquisitions play a significant role in corporate-level strategy. Corporate-level strategy is made up of many pieces, but overall it shares the same goals as the other levels, to increase value by creating a competitive advantage. We have discussed the various elements to corporate-level strategy and now we will discuss how it related to business and functional/tactical-level strategy. Since corporate-level strategy is the highest level of decision-making and encompasses the end objective of the organization, allocation of resources, stakeholder’s goals and acquisitions is it always value-oriented, whereas, business-level and functional-level strategy is more relevant to each individual business entity. Corporate strategy is not the sum total of business strategies of the corporation but it deals with different subject matter; while the corporation is concerned with and has impact on business strategy, the former is concerned with the shape and balancing of growth and renewal rather than in market execution (Bhasin, 2010). Although there are different levels to organizational strategy they all relate and impact one another from the top down. Now that we understand the various levels of decision-making we will now turn to the various inputs to strategy formation for a firm. Before we conclude this analysis, it is important to review the different schools on strategy and those schools perceive strategy formation. There are 7 main school of strategy starting with the Design School. In short, the design school looks to create a fit between capabilities and opportunities or possibilities; it resulted in the famous SWOT analysis. Second, the Planning School also uses a SWOT like the design school to take into account internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Although the design school doesn’t delineate the steps like the planning school does. It is this dividing into delineating steps that sets the planning school apart. The three phases of this school are: Objective Setting, Strategy Evaluating, and the Operationalization phase (Concept Paper #4). Third, in the Positioning School we see that the strategy formation is really driven by analyzing the market and deliberately implemented by those analytics. Forth, The entrepreneurial school is more of a singular vision of strategy from 1 person, namely the entrepreneur, rather than a collective approach as we have learned about in previous schools. Fifth, the Learning School of thought approaches strategy formulation in two separate models: 1) the grassroots model approaches strategy as emergent; 2) whereas, the hothouse model formulates strategy deliberately. Sixth, the Cognitive School states that in order to understand how strategies emerge from under other ircumstances we must look into the mind of the actual strategists. And finally, the last school is the Configuration School, as pointed out in Concept Paper #11, different dimensions of an organization cluster together under particular circumstances and conditions to define â€Å"states†, â€Å"models† or â€Å"ideal types†. It was important to review these various schools because when we look at the big picture of strategy formation and analyze how it is made up and why it is important we can glean important points from each of the seven school. Yes, the overall goal of each school is the same as the goal of strategy formation as a whole, to gain competitive advantage and overall value for the corporation, but it is not always as easy as following one school of thought. For example, what might work in one situation won’t necessarily work in another so as strategists we must be able to take pieces from each school and put them in place where appropriate to achieve our desired outcome for that particular problem. Now that we have some big picture understanding of the different perspectives we will now discuss the primary inputs of strategy. As we discuss the inputs it is first important to point out that there is a difference between emergent and intended strategy. Organizations always have an intended strategy but sometimes the inputs move them towards a more emergent strategy. While strategy formulation is the process by which an intended strategy is created, emergent strategies often come out of following a specific pattern in decision making. (DeWit & Meyer, 2010). The primary inputs are identifying, diagnosing, conceiving, and realizing; of course within this specific framework, there are more specific activities (DeWit & Meyer, 2010). The first input of identifying is outlining a mission and agenda, this could also include a vision statement. Diagnosing is the internal an external assessments, such as the SWOT analysis. Next, conceiving is the brainstorming process by which the participants envision where there are trying to go and how they will get there. This is the key component an input of strategy formation, and for most groups it can be the most difficult because it requires creative out-of-the-box thinking. Lastly, but not least, is realizing and this is where the rubber meets the road. It is here where specific activities must be undertaken to achieve the strategic plan. We have identified the most important issues involved in strategy formation and defined why they are important, differentiated between corporate/business/functional-level strategies and how they impact one another, discussed the various schools of thought on strategy formation, and finally outlined the primary inputs to strategy formation in a firm. Now it is time to dig in a little deeper and attempt to bring it all together and analyze what it means as a whole. From a big picture mentality strategy formation must encompass the important items we outlined, while also taking into account the potential for change. Having a change management protocol for the organization as a whole, as well as, for each of the subsidiary organizations is critical in today’s global market economy. Outside of change, as strategists, we must also clearly understand our competitors, threats and regions. Things like technology can play a significant part in the ability to execute on strategy. Surprise and security are also equally important to strategy formation. What this all tells us is what we discussed early on: strategy is very difficult to define as an individual concept. Rather than a singular concept see that strategy is more of a way of big picture thinking that is critical to achieving success in virtually any endeavor, not just business. Yes, you can get lucky and find success without strategy, but we could also win the lottery it doesn’t mean it is going to happen. A strategic way of thinking is also not just thinking it is an executable and traceable tool that can adjust and emerge as needed. As a metaphor we can use going to the gym for physical fitness. Our strategic vision is losing weight, increasing heart health and gaining strength. But, how will we get from here (fat, high cholesterol and weak) to there (strong, heart healthy and thin)? We start by developing an action plan, outlining the inputs and potential threats (bad eating, etc), and we follow our plan daily and adjust as needed based on what emerges from the data we gather. This methodology can be applied to any goal, and large corporate business is no different. Unless we execute by actually going to the gym, following and adjusting our strategy for maximum performance we will never achieve our goals, even if we are lucky. You cannot win heart health in a contest. The same goes for business you can’t accidentally win customers and keep them for extended periods of time with successfully executing on your strategy. As we continue and find success in the gym, we may choose to diversify and bring our success to our friend and family or co-workers. This portfolio diversification also applies to large organizations. Additionally, our goals in the gym have stakeholders like our friends, family, employers, insurance companies, communities and any organizations to which we belong, not the mention, the world as a whole that benefits from our staying healthy. This philosophy our strategic way of thinking can be with us every second of everyday, and by thinking strategically in our lives and our roles in business we not only gain competitive advantage but maintain that advantage overtime. In closing, from the origins of the word strategy, and earlier, human beings have been strategizing. We strategized how to hunt and now we still strategize how to hunt only we are not hunting mammoths, but we are hunted mammoth size endeavors that require mammoth sized strategies. As we create and execute a plan for how to get from here to there towards achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage, as strategists, we are constantly analyzing how to optimize our approach while limiting risks. Strategy as a way of thinking can also be approved upon and as humans we have the power and control to accomplish truly amazing things for our corporations and our world.

Judicial Study Guide

Name: Period: Date: AP Government Unit 2 (Judicial Branch) Study Guide Directions: Using your notes and Chapter 16 reading, answer the following questions. 16. 2 Outline the structure of the federal court system and the major responsibilities of each component How is the federal judicial system organized? What role does the federal judicial system play in contemporary American government? What limits are there on the interpretation of the law and the Constitution by federal judges? What powers do judges have to ensure that their rulings are enforced? 16. 3 Explain the process by which judges and justices are nominated and confirmed Do politics play a role in judicial appointments? How are federal judges selected? Should senatorial courtesy be abandoned—why, or why not? 16. 5 Outline the judicial process at the Supreme Court level and assess the major factors influencing decisions and their implementation Do dissenting opinions matter? Why is the doctrine of stare decisis important in our judicial system? How do court justices evaluate cases based on original intent of the Founders? 16. 6 Trace the Supreme Court’s use of judicial review in major policy battles in various eras of American history Explain the development of judicial review. 16. 7 Assess the role of unelected courts and the scope of judicial power in American democracy How well does the Supreme Court conform to the criteria for democracy? What changes would need to be made to make the Court more democratic? Would these changes have any impact on the effectiveness of the Court? DIRECTIONS: Look at the Chapter Test on pg. 498-499 of the textbook. Circle your choice for the correct answer on the questions listed below. 1. a b c d e2. a b c d e 3. True False5. a b c d e 6. a b c d e7. True False 9. a b c d e11. a b c d e 12. True False14. a b c d e 15. True False16. True False 19. a b c d e20. True False