Research Korner: Analysis Examples

The Married Woman

Writing 098 Professor. Assignment #4 The Life of the Married Women INTRODUCTION As a person with understanding of the critical essay “The Married Woman” by , the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding feminism and at times fail to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it. By delving into this project paper, the author intends to have better insights into how feminism as incorporated in the essay “The Married Woman” is thought up, formulated and then imparted down into the readers. The author hopes to have an in-depth understanding as to how the culture of feminism has enabled women to compete effectively and profitably in this era of internationalization where competition is extremely intense. In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focussed upon, i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regard to “The Married Woman” where it was renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity came under strategic thinking and formation as the author considered the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in order to better understand the wisdom behind the essay. OVERVIEW Will a married woman’s dreams disappear? In the essay “The Married Women,”  describes the status of housewives: The housework leads to the woman’s dreams not coming true, and to dependency on her family. The married woman spends most of her time preparing food, and cleaning the house. If she receives warm approval from her family, she becomes happy, which shows that her life is only about her family. Even though she works hard, she does not create anything, and does not impact society significantly, as her husband who works outside the home does. Even though a married woman enjoys doing housework for her family, it becomes undesirable and hopeless when the works is repetitive.  over exaggerates the married women’s life as having no hope or desire. However, the author’s strong word choice makes readers disagree with her argument. ANALYSIS At the beginning of the essay, brings up the idea that housework is tiresome by comparing housework to Sisyphus. Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time, she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present. She never senses conquest of a positive Good, but rather indefinite struggle against negative  Sisyphus is a character in a Greek myth. He was a Greek god who was forced to roll a stone up a steep hill, and each time he reached the top it tumbled back down. Then the whole process starts again, lasting all eternity. Woman’s housework is compared to the torture of Sisyphus because a woman works for her family over and over again. The phrase that says, “torture [and] indefinite struggle against negative  , shows how the author describes housework in a pessimistic way. The words torture, struggle, negative, and evil are very powerful. In addition, her repetition words that end with ~ing “eating,” “sleeping,” “cleaning,” “washing,” “ironing,” “sweeping,” “ferreting”, reveal to the reader how dreary the married woman’s job is. As states in the following quotations, the author reveals her disdain for the housework of married women as a “never ending struggle against the evil principles,” and “her war against dust, stains, mud, and dirt” .  The author uses extreme words to persuade the reader that chores are repugnant and distasteful. The married woman repeats the same housework, like washing, cleaning and ironing everyday, and she cannot find hope in any of these works. The author believes that these tasks are some sort of torture, and therefore ineffective for women’s lives. The following quotation reveals the author’s bias:     But woman is not called upon to build a better world: her domain is fixed and she has only to keep up the never ending struggle against the evil principles that creep into it; in her war against dust, stains, mud and dirt she is fighting sin, wrestling with Satan (). In the beginning of this paragraph, the author shows that the housework is the job that does not move forward to make a better world. Their main work is unchanging and is fixed up for cleaning and cooking. The author’s metaphorical expression of the housework by comparing housework as “never ending struggle against the evil principles” and “wrestling with Satan” gives extreme image how repetitive, harsh and appalling the housework is. In the Christian religion, Satan is the devil, a powerful evil being who is the chief opponent of God. As every Christian has to fight for Satan, the housewife also has to fight for the dust, stains, mud and dirt everyday. The words, “dust, stains, mud and dirt” contain the same meaning but the author repeats these words together to emphasize boredom of the housework. After they fight against Satan, the light shines through the window after the housekeeper cleans them out.    The author mentions that women do not have to take responsibility for developing the world society, and that their lives are only dependent on the family. The following paragraph expresses  idea: The worst of it all is that this labor does not even tend toward the creation of anything durable. Woman is tempted-and the more so the greater pains she takes – to regard her work as an end in itself. She sighs as she contemplates the perfect cake just out of the oven: “it’s a shame to eat it!” It is really too bad to have husband and children tramping with their muddy feet all over her waxed hardwood floors!              The housework does not produce anything worth, does not get paid, and does not challenge woman to show their hidden ability. The author describes the housework with extreme expression that it carries the greater pains. The married woman’s mood is varying under the outcome of the cake. Author chose cake to explain woman’s mood because cake is one of the representative food that gives enjoyment with sweetness and it reminds readers of happiness that is related to the birthday. Making cake also gives a typical housekeeper’s image. The well-made cake gives women a delight of the life. If other members of family make a mess after she cleans the house, she should start over again her repetitive work.     In “The Married Woman”,  criticizes woman’s routine and ineffective work by describing it with many tremendous words: “struggle against negative Evil”, “never ending struggle against the evil principles,” and “her war against dust, stains, mud, and dirt”. Even though she mentions the positive side of the housework, she focuses on the negative side of the housework with exaggeration and metaphor. Using metaphors to pertain to the housework with religious-related words make readers oppose to convince de  deliberation.             CONCLUSION   The results of the analysis carried out on the essay “The Married Woman” by  indicated very significant effects for the establishment of feminism, even amidst the threats of unrest. Therefore, we could conclude that the growth of feminist movement could still be expected to improve faster than average. The review of a married woman’s capabilities and resources revealed very little inconsistencies regarding her strategies. This is coherent with her traditional inside-out approach. However, the need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in approaches becomes imperative now for the married woman mentioned in the essay. The analysis of the married woman’s environment as well as the capabilities people involved revealed certain gaps, most of which are biased towards the environment. However, these gaps paved the way towards determining a number of recommended options to secure the married woman’s stability. Also, the married woman has to find a balance between adherence to internal forces within the management and to the changing forces of the environment in order to implement such strategic options.

The Married Woman

Writing 098 Professor. Assignment #4 The Life of the Married Women INTRODUCTION As a person with understanding of the critical e...

Strategic Analysis and Choice of Palm Inc.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS AND CHOICE   Abstract   Palm Inc was once at the top of the PDA industry’s food chain. It was even among the first-entrants in the said industry. However, recent accounts on the company’s performance have monoliths like Microsoft taking over the market. One major element that could have made this happen is the strategic choices held by Palm Inc. Specifically, this might be attributed to the inability of the company to recognise the paradox of compliance and choice that existed in their industry and how to balance it to their advantage. The following discussion will analyse the circumstances surrounding the issue by using marketing concepts and organisational theories initially espoused by theorists like Michael Porter and many other who have pointed out the importance of industry dynamics and competitive advantage in gaining leadership in any market.     Table of Contents Abstract.. 2 Table of Contents.. 3 Introduction.. 4 Literature Review... 5 Background of the Company.. 10 Discussion and Findings.. 12 Palm Inc and its Value Chain and Competitive Advantage. 12 Palm Inc and the Level of Rigidity of its Industry. 13 Paradox of Compliance and Choice in Palm Inc. 15 Conclusion.. 16 Reference.. 17     Introduction Greater market share, stronger competitive advantage, wider market range, these are among the most common elements required of an organisation seeking continued survival and even excellence in their respective fields. There are tools accessible for these organisations in addressing the demands of their respective environments. Strategies are among those in organisations’ arsenal that could help them brace up with the rigors that they encounter in their operations. Numerous organisational studies have indicated the importance of strategy and in the operations of the company. This has come to the point where companies could find it troublesome to find the single most effective way of strategy formulation and implementation. This paper intends to take a closer look in this area seeking to understand the dynamics of a strategy and the consideration of the conditions surrounding the company. The study will look on the case of Palm Inc, a company among those on top of the market of handheld hardware. Specifically, the study intends to analyse the following questions: ·         How does Palm Inc treat its value chain and competitive advantage? ·         How does Palm Inc address the level of rigidity of its industry? ·         How does the paradox of compliance and choice appear in the case of Palm Inc? ·         How does the Palm Inc strategy help in its performance in the market? Literature Review Organisational studies and theories on strategy formulation have pointed out numerous conflicting ideas that tend to be rather confusing for the modern organisation. Nonetheless, there are still elements in classical organisational studies that appear to be rather practicable generally for firms. For instance, the models forwarded by the renowned theorist Michael Porter have been immensely helpful for organisations. Concepts like the value chain and competitive advantage increases the firms’ awareness on their environment and how they could deal with the issues that it bestows them. In the context of competitive advantage, companies have to realise the “logic of overall leadership and differentiation” in order to maximise the results. ( 1980, 1999) However, recent studies have indicated that immediate reaction to the minor changes in the market spells the capability of a firm to acquire its competitive advantage. (1999)  On the other hand, the concept of a value chain refers to an approach which  (1985, 1992) indicated as a means to acquire competitive advantage. In the context of the modern organisation, this approach sees “human resource management as a support activity that along with technology development and procurement, serves to sustain higher priority primary activities.” (1992) However, there is an increasing regard on the incompatible nature of the value chain model in the current environment of modern companies. Basically, the incompatibility lies on the paradox provided by the model regarding competition and collaboration among firms. (2001) The paradox lies on the perspective used by an organisation whether they will adhere to firm compliance or strategic choice. (1998) Another model provided by Porter that proved to be valuable for organisations in terms of strategy formulation is his five forces model. Basically, this model presents the rigidity of the industry and the overall environment on which a company operates. One element that this model presents is the underlying conditions inherent in the industry which points out the key success indicators for an organisation. ( 1999) For some industries, the economies of scale are important. For others, the integration of the processes involved is seen as an imperative. In any case, these underlying factors establish what is known as the inherent power structures in the industry. Based on the five forces model, elements like the power of buyers, suppliers, new entrants, and substitute products or service are presented. (2006) Upon knowing these, organisations now possess the information they require to formulate courses of action relating to what could be their individual strategies. Studies have been made regarding the possible regard of the company based on their views of the risks and their consequent dislike or neutrality on the matter. This aversion or neutrality thus indicates the kinds of activities an organisation would undertake to address their status in the market. Risk-averse organisations could take on firm compliant measures which doesn’t compromise or place a significant amount of risk on the company. (2001) On the other hand, risk neutral or risk-taking companies would be taking strategic choices ranging from basic expansion or development to bold, revolutionary initiatives that will shake the industry. (2001) In establishing the individual strategies and courses of action on each company in the industry, they inevitably create some sort of unwritten set of rules. These set of rules tend to be further moulded into norms and to some extent cultural principles with regards to the conduct of business and operations. This is what is collectively known as industry norms. In the study made by (1999 29) they called these norms as industry recipes which “result from industry participation and contribute to making firms within an industry more similar to each other than to firms outside the industry.” This is supported by  (1996) they described these industry norms as an “appropriate coherent way of looking at its world (a paradigm), which was validated by practice in that world.” It is in these types of norms and accepted principles that decision making of those in position is influenced. To some extent, organisations have to deal with such issues on the context of the standards held by their peers, those who operate within their market, such that they are ensured that business will continue.  On the other hand, aside from the industry norms provided by the industry recipes, influence on the strategic decision making of a company could be seen from other forces.  (2002) noted that these institutional pressures come not from other businesses but from the other elements of society, specifically the stakeholders of the company. These may include the government, the public, and even civil society.     Going back to the issue of competitive advantage, the firm thus have the choice to comply with the industry standards or to take on the direct opposite of these norms. In any case both means still seeks to continue as players in the industry. A distinction between the two poles is that in the context of firm compliance, the company meet the terms of the standards indicated in both the industry recipe and institutional pressures to attain a level of “alignment” among the competitive players in a particular industry. On the other hand, the perspective of strategic choice takes a hands-on and practical means to acquire an advantage over the rest of the players even if it means breaking the established norms in the industry. Studies thus point to the key regards of a particular priorities of companies in the paradox. For companies covering firm compliance, the priority is to cover the industry dynamics and not the attainment of industry leadership. This is the converse in companies seeking strategic choice. At a certain point, organisations must recognise that in dealing with such a paradox, placing themselves in a particular extreme would be close to commercial suicide. One could not constantly be adapting to the environment without even considering the possibility of development. In the same manner, one could not constantly take on strategic options that assault the very norms that have established the industry. Companies have to constantly be aware of their boundaries particularly in their operations. Compliance to both the industry recipe as well as the institutional pressures is incontrovertible as they have to take on transactions with these institutions and organisations eventually. However, constantly submitting to the demands for compliance would be rather foolish especially if the end result would be detrimental on the welfare of the firm. In the context of employing a strategic choice, the firm should recognise that there are still norms and rules that should be taken into consideration before deeming a strategy fully operational. A reasonable strategic plan does not run the risk of compromising the welfare of the company. Thus, seeing the discussions in this review, the paradox of compliance and choice does provide modern companies with the alternative as to the strategic perspective that they require based on their specific goals. However, it similarly presents the reality that industries are not static that only a particular perspective, be it firm compliant or strategic, would work all the time. In the same manner, cognition of the established norms would give the organisation the ability to maximise their capabilities without breaking any rules or offending any part of society. In addition, any firm could similarly use a good strategy that would essentially place them in a competitive position, not just merely to align themselves with the standard level of performance with the other players in the industry. The message of the theory manifests the need for flexibility and compromise on the part of the individual organisation. Recognition of the level of demand as well as the degree to which an organisation could take risks is imperative. More so is the fact that every step or strategy made by the firm should be calculated and measured such that any loss or misstep could be remedied with minimal effort.   Background of the Company Palm Inc is the company synonymous with handheld devices, particularly personal digital assistants (PDAs). Basically, this company is one of the forerunners in developing the hardware and the software for PDAs with its inception in 1992 by cofounders and . The initial strategy that the company took is based on the assumption that PDAs are next in the evolution of the computer technologies with reference to the progression of PCs to laptops to notebooks. In the initial stages of the company, they were the only players in the newly created industry yet they could still not appeal for the public on acquiring their products as they are far from offering convenience with their bulky and rather complex operating system. Though there are considerable parts of the market which are more inclined to take on these products, the public still opts to use the substitute products as opposed to PDAs. This makes the dynamics of the industry rather complex especially as competitors and other manufactures of hardware for PCs set out to engage Palm as they enter the PDA fray. With its operating system (OS), being the standard in the PDA market, Palm was kept in the top position. However, with the presence of its direct competitors with companies like Handspring and Microsoft, the fate of Palm appears to be rather grim. This vision is further realized upon the connections made by the other competitors with other handheld gadgets like mobile phones. For instance, a direct competitor of Palm, Psion, forged an agreement (Symbian) with phone companies like Nokia, Eriksson, and Motorola to employ their operating system called EPOC in their mobile products. Thus, this provides modern mobile phones with PDA-like features essentially called smart phones.            Eventually, Palm went on to address the demands of the environment by installing a three-pronged strategy. The first is to create a new company, Palm Source, to “spin off” Palm’s operating system. Palm Source was also seen as the one responsible for the developments in the OS of the company to keep its hold on the top position in the market. The second part of the strategy seeks to address the behaviour of the buyers in the industry. Basically, it will be responsible for knowing what the PDA user needs and wants in his/her handheld device. In the same manner, this part of the strategy allows the company to take into consideration the possible collaboration with other mobile phone companies or push the envelope further by creating wireless communication possible for handheld PDAs. The third part of the strategy is to establish a new target market for the company. Traditionally, the company survives in catering for the tech savvy, business-driven, young professionals. At some point, Palm recognised the possibility of tapping other markets like home-makers and housewives. Essentially, Palm is bent on widening its market by creating a buzz with the untapped part of the market. The problem in this context is that there are accounts indicating that this course of action taken by Palm may have been a little too late. For some reason, there are reasons to believe that this assumption is possible. The inability of the company to establish what is required of them by its environment strategically may have been the key to Palm’s struggles in the industry.   Discussion and Findings The analysis of the strategic choices of Palm Inc will be analysed using the framework presented in the literature review earlier. Specifically, the analysis will be covering the consideration of the company on its value chain and competitive advantage; how it addressed the rigidity of the industry; and existence of the compliance and competition paradox in Palm Inc.     Palm Inc and its Value Chain and Competitive Advantage The competitive advantage of Palm Inc lies on its consideration of the value chain that existed in the company. Specifically, how the company treated its primary and support activities greatly influenced how Palm Inc fared in the industry that they have created. In the context of their primary activities, it is seen that the creation and delivery of the products is held highly in the industry. In the case of Palm Inc, the products ranged from the hardware to the operating systems used in such handheld technologies. The constant changes seen in the product from being considered as “bricks” to its sleek and savvy visage of today’s handheld PDAs manifest the recognition of the company regarding the needs of its consumer. This indicates the responsiveness of Palm on the every need of its end user, nevertheless, there seemed to be a rather limited effort from the company is its marketing responsibilities. Though the product did quite a buzz on the market and among the tech savvy consumers, the lack of an aggressive marketing scheme have failed the Palm Inc in acquiring potential users from different segments of society. At some point, new entrants in the market created by Palm Inc have realised this and thus created a foundation on the market by tapping these elements overlooked by Palm for its potential. In the context of the secondary activities of the company, increased effectiveness and efficiency fell short on the part of Palm Inc as they have failed to protect their position as the primary holder of the OS of PDAs in the market. Their OS were seen as less friendly when compared to that made by the Microsoft produced PDAs. In the end, the most recent models of Palm Inc are now made to be compatible with this Microsoft-developed OS, which essentially establishes the one produced by Palm as inferior to the one developed by Microsoft, at least as the consumers demand it.     Palm Inc and the Level of Rigidity of its Industry Another element that requires scrutiny on the part of Palm Inc is on the consideration of the rigidity of the industry. Basically, Palm Inc was not able to discern the level of effort required of them as seen in their rather rigid industry. At first, one must consider the underlying conditions of the industry. First, it is seen that the industry has rather fragmented buyers. Seeing the current state of the PDA market and the products they offer, every single individual could now take advantage of the features of the PDA. The problem for the case of the Palm Inc is that they treated the buyers as if they were concentrated. This is the basis of the claim on the case study. If the company have realised the potential regarding the behaviour of consumers even before it started its operations, then it would have still dominated the market. Another underlying condition is that given their operations in the tech industry, they are bound to encounter trade battles with monoliths like Apple and Microsoft. For some reason, Palm Inc has not taken advantage of their position in the market being among the forerunners in the PDA industry. Based on the case study, Palm Inc has taken their operations up to a higher level when Microsoft entered the PDA fray.    In the context of power structures, the case study has established that the buyers do have high considerably high influence in the industry. They have freedom to choose as to whether to go for the PDAs or their equally powerful substitutes. As seen in the case study, the substitutes for the PDA is extremes to say the very least. There are the PCs, notebooks, and mobile phones on the one part, which is considerably more powerful and offers more technological features than the PDA. In the other end of the pole, PDAs have to contend with the much cheaper and less complex pen and paper medium which includes the classic leather-bound planners. At some point, the management of Palm Inc should recognise the timely need for their company to make an actual demand for their product and not to wait for consumers to recognise the need for PDAs for themselves. To some extent, this may be attributable to the level of averseness of Palm Inc on taking risks. Essentially, as seen in the case study, their decisions in taking actual courses of marketing action tend to be rather belated. One could only assume that this lapse in time could only mean that the company is reviewing their decisions rather intensely thus calling for a protracted period of time. Unfortunately, this averseness to risk has given its competitors as well as its substitute products ample time to exploit a particular segment of the market and even maximise its returns.     Paradox of Compliance and Choice in Palm Inc The issue pertaining to the leadership of the industry or consider the dynamics of the industry tends to apply, though in a considerably complicated manner, on the part of Palm Inc. Basically, the rather complicated nature is that Palm Inc was initially competing for industry leadership where they were the sole player. They went head-to-head with the players in the high-tech substitutes like PCs and notebooks. They overlooked the potential of being a first-entrant in the industry. At this point, they should have recognised that being the industry leader would not have been relevant if they are not aware of the actual dynamics of the market. Thus, in the initial stages, Palm should have taken advantage on being the only provider of handheld PDAs. Though this has been their achievement in the OS sector, their development was close to being stagnant which resulted to Microsoft overtaking them on the OS market. Seeing this occurrence, Palm could not even jive its operations with the dynamics of the market. Unless Palm Inc could address its problems and deal with the dynamics of the industry, then its eventual demise could be imminent.   Conclusion Strategies and heir direction frequently indicates as to whether a company will be able to achieve its organisational goals or not. In the same regard, the choices of made by companies regarding their take on strategies engaging in strategic choice or compliance shows how they are well versed in the dynamics of their individual environment. In the case of Palm Inc, they have taken strides that inherently compliment their respective environments. However, the question lies on the timing and immediacy of their decision as to implement specific strategies. Based on their history, Palm Inc has encountered different changes in leadership and ownership which essentially reflects the direction on which the company views the paradox of compliance and competition. Initial stages of the organisation have manifested a great cognition of competition taking on large established technologies such as PCs and notebooks. They did this without realising that they have been competing with the wrong element. This shows that early on the company has some issues on the direction on which industry they intend to take on. To some degree, this may be understandable in their situation given that they made a new environment on which they have no other company to pattern to. This makes the choice of compliance over competition rather complicated. However, this does not justify the meagre performance of the company as they have the responsibility to closely monitor the subtle changes in their environment. This alone could determine whether they are to take on strategies that will make them industry leaders or mere players in the PDA industry.

Strategic Analysis and Choice of Palm Inc.

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS AND CHOICE Abstract Palm Inc was once at the top of the PDA industry’s food chain. It was even among the f...

Strategic Business Analysis: IBM

Strategic Business Analysis: IBM   Table of Contents  TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Internal and External Factors Affecting IBM.. PAGEREF _Toc29163772 \h 2 SWOT Analysis. PAGEREF _Toc29163773 \h 3 Strengths. PAGEREF _Toc29163774 \h 4 Weaknesses. PAGEREF _Toc29163775 \h 5 Opportunities. PAGEREF _Toc29163776 \h 6 Threats. PAGEREF _Toc29163777 \h 7 Strategic Choices of IBM.. PAGEREF _Toc29163778 \h 8 Openness. PAGEREF _Toc29163779 \h 8 Reduction of the Cost of Service. PAGEREF _Toc29163780 \h 10 Justification of Strategic Resources. PAGEREF _Toc29163781 \h 11 Openness. PAGEREF _Toc29163782 \h 11 Reduction of the Cost of Service. PAGEREF _Toc29163783 \h 12 References. PAGEREF _Toc29163784 \h 13 Appendices. PAGEREF _Toc29163785 \h 14 Appendix A: IBM: Background Information.. PAGEREF _Toc29163786 \h 14 Table of Figures  TOC \h \z \c "Figure" Figure 1 SWOT Analysis of IBM.. PAGEREF _Toc217382641 \h 4 Figure 2 Openness Strategy. PAGEREF _Toc217382642 \h 9 Figure 3 Reduction of the Cost of Service. PAGEREF _Toc217382643 \h 10     Introduction             As of now, there are different internal and external factors that are affecting the performance of each and every individual in an organization and the overall performance itself. In addition, it can be seen that those companies that are operating in the global market are the one that are directly affected due to the different changes. The said change is driven by transformation of local and international market such as the financial and economic situation of the world, trends in the local and international market as well as the changing tastes, preferences and behaviors of the customers. All of the said factors are considered as connected with each other, thus creating changes that are important in order to sustain the position of a company in the global market.             As a result, more and more companies are focusing on the process of evaluation of their current position in the local and global market which focuses on analyzing their internal strengths and weaknesses as well as the different external environment factors that can cause threats and opportunities for the company. All of the said factors can be used in the process of decision-making in different activities and plans that are needed to be done in order to ensure competitive advantage and position in the market.   Internal and External Factors Affecting IBM             International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), also known as the Big Blue is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation that is located in Armonk, New York, USA. IBM is considered as one of the few Information Technology (IT) companies with a continuous history that dates back to the19th century. The company sells computer hardware and software and offers different infrastructure services, hosting services as well as consulting services in different IT areas from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. Aside from that, IBM is considered as the world’s largest computer history and considered as the largest IT employer in the world with 355,000 employees (Loyola Institute of Technology & Management n.d.) (see Appendix A).   SWOT Analysis             SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that is use n order to evaluate the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are involved in a project, business venture or in any other situation that requires a decision. Thus, the process of sizing up the internal strengths and weaknesses as well as the external opportunities and threats helps to provide a quick overview of the strategic situation of an organization (Spalding & Case 2007, p. 110).      Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1 SWOT Analysis of IBM                                                           Figure 1 shows the SWOT analysis of IBM, showing the current strengths, weaknesses, together with the opportunities that can be exploited and the threats that must be prevented. Strengths             The most important advantage of IBM is its image or brand. This is due to the fact that IBM was the first important player in the industry or in the field. The said aspect gives the company their competitive advantage due to the fact that they have already established a name as well as relationship with their customers. In 2003, IBM topped the study regarding the brand perception of IT services. Buyers of different IT services perceive IBM as the top brand in all vital aspects of the market. The result of the study had showed that most of the 197 respondents and consumers of IT services that were surveyed by Gartner put Big Blue as the top company in the business and IT consulting, systems development and integration, as well as IT outsourcing (Sharma 2003).             Another advantage is the strong global presence of the company. The IBM Business Continuity and Resiliency Services has a worldwide presence across four important geographies and provide consulting services as well as recovery support for the large systems, midrange and even distributed environment customers. In addition IBM brings their customers the convenience of doing business in their customer’s own language and culture because it can help to reduce efforts, time and cost of traveling, that enables an easy access to a business environment where in their customers will be comfortable (IBM).             In connection to the long history of the company, it enables them to get hold of different valuable intellectual property, software, patents as well as ideas due to the fact that they have established and gathered group of people with wide knowledge and skills regarding computers and application of IT. This enables the company to have a vast research and development aspect. Weaknesses             The most important weakness of the company is that it is starting to show a declining share in the market, due to the growing competition in the national as well as global business industry. In 2007, the market share of the company had decline, making HP its leading competitor to gain the previous number one place of IBM in the worldwide market share. HP narrowly beat IBM in terms of worldwide market share, showing a 29.6% points, compare to the 28.9% points to IBM. It is important to consider that HP’s gain over the year was IBM’s loss, which shows that the companies are switching places. However, both of the manufacturers had been able to report positive revenue growth per year (Harushka 2008).             It was mentioned in the strength of the company, that its human resource of work force is considered as the primary factors that drive the success of the company, however, it is always important to consider that too much of everything is bad. Thus, in the case of IBM, it has a huge employee population, and they are all highly paid. The said aspect can affect  the entire operation of the company in terms of the production cost. Aside from that, it can also affect the communication process and management activities inside the company because of the huge population. Opportunities             Currently, there are so many opportunities that can be exploited by the company in order to maintain their competitive advantage and eventually helps to continue the growth of the company in terms of size, sales and market share. One of the most important factors is the aspect of globalization. This can be done by market development, where in the company will focus on looking for new possible market. In addition, innovation is a very important aspect, thus it can be done by have a collaborative or partnership with other IT-related company in order to produce new products that will support the ever-changing needs of the clients. With connection to that said aspect, it will be important for the company to focus on the growing demand of the public and other organizations towards open source software. This is due to the fact that some of the competitors of the company and other players in the software and IT-services industries are offering products and services that are too high that cannot be afford by the clients, primarily those small businesses, but IT is considered as a must in most of the businesses.             Another opportunity of the company is the growing demand for IT and Information Systems. This is due to the fact that most of organizations, companies and businesses in the world are becoming more aware regarding the importance of application of technology, particularly IT in their processes.   Threats             The major threat that must be analyzed by the company is the current changes in the global economic and financial status. This is important because it will affect not only IBM, but also other businesses in the world. As a result, it will affect the individual performance of each and every client of IBM that will affect their buying behavior. The company will be hurt by the slowdown in the Systems and Technology business (Kanaracus 2008).             Another important aspect is the increasing competition. Due to the fact that computer is already considered as one of the basic needs of most of the individual, there are many IT companies that are entering the industry. And although the major competitor of IBM is Hewlett-Packard, it is also competing in some of small players or competitors such as Dell and Accenture.   Strategic Choices of IBM             Based on the said internal capabilities, the strategic choice of IBM must focus on two important aspects: the openness; and the reduction of cost of services. Openness   Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 2 Openness Strategy                                                       It is important to consider the vitality of the current strength of the company and how it can be used in order to exploit the opportunities that can be found in the external environment. In the case of IBM, the primary strengths focus on the different technologies as well as knowledge that are available for the employees in order to start doing their innovation. In addition, the company also holds a strong team that focuses on research and development of the company.             On the other hand, the primary opportunity focuses on the fact that there is a growing demand for open-source products and services, in addition to that standards in the economic expansion. The said aspect is important due to the fact that customers from different part of the globe are looking for an integrated solution in order to solve their application development needs (Novell 2006).             The said action will be done by different partnership with different IT-related companies that are engaged in developing different open-source software and application. Open source is a human-readable source code that was made available under a copyright license that meets the Open Source Definition, where in it permits the users to use, change as well as improve the software, and then redistributes it. More often, than not, it is developed publicly and collaboratively. The reason behind the growth of demand for open source software is that it enables the customers to save up to $60 billion every year (Rothwell 2008; The Standish Group 2008).             The said strategy will help IBM to focus on the greater demand of the customers, thus, making the company more aware regarding the behavior of the customers. It is also important to consider that the said strategy will help to boost the image of the company towards their customers, due to the fact that the company is helping their clients to save money and effort. Reduction of the Cost of Service   Figure  SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 3 Reduction of the Cost of Service                                           Figure 3 shows the reduction of cost and services strategy of IBM. The main weakness of the company focuses on the huge population with very high salary or pay. There is nothing bad about offering high salary or payment for the service or effort of the employees due to the fact that it is considered as one of the major driver of motivation inside an organization. As a result, it can help to improve the performance of each and every individual, and then later on reflect on the overall performance of the company. However, due to the different changes that are happening inside and outside the environment of the company, particularly during the time of global economic and financial crisis, it is important to focus on the negative impact of huge population and high salaried employees of the company, even though, they are considered as very talented and skilled employees. The company must focus on the fact that the human resource cost can affect the entire pricing strategy towards the products and services that the company is offering, as a result, the company will not be able to compete in terms of price.              On the other hand, the company can also take advantage of the low labor cost in China. This can be done by establishing production sites and headquarters in China. The per-hour cost for an employee in an American or European plant is between $15 and $30 or evens more, and this is mainly dependent on the decision of the workers’ union in the plant, the location and degree of welfare the plant provides. On the other hand, in China, the average per-hour cost for a worker in a Chinese plant is below 1 dollar, showing a dozen times lower compare to the two first mentioned nations (People’s Daily Online 2004).   Justification of Strategic Resources Openness   The said strategy will help the company to lessen their labor cost that will later on reflect in their production cost. In addition, it can help the company to focus on the competitive advantage that will focus on price differentiation. This is due to the fact that more and more people, especially those from developing countries that are looking for computers and IT-services that are affordable. By doing this, the company will be able to hit two birds in one stone, where in first it will help to lessen their production cost that will help to focus on the pricing strategy of the company; at the same time, focuses on the changing demands and behavior of the customers regarding their products and services.   Reduction of the Cost of Service             The reduction of the cost of services, particularly the outsourcing can help the company to save money or cost in terms of human resource, especially today that the world is facing financial problems. In order to prevent the said future problem regarding the financial negative impact of having huge human resource, it will be important for the company to lessen the number of employees. On the other hand, outsourcing can be applied in order to save time, money and effort. Outsourcing is considered as a contracting activity with another company or person in order to do jobs function. As of now, most of the company is outsourcing in some and different ways. More often than not, the functions that are being outsourced are considered as a non-core activity to the business (Sourcingmag.com 2008). The said strategy will help the company to save money due to the fact that the outsourcing company will be directly responsible in the process of selection, hiring and positioning employees to a given project.     References   Harushka, J 2008, HP Passess IBM in Server Market Share as Segment Booms, Ars Technica, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://arstechnica.com/news .ars/post/20080523-hp-passes-ibm-in-server-market-share-as-segment-bo oms.html>   IBM, Worldwide Presence, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/bcrs/html/worldwide.html>   Kanaracus, C 2008, IBM Q3 Rises, But Signs of Downturn Loom, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.techworld.com.au/article/264158/ibm_q3 _revenue_rises_signs_downturn_loom>   Loyola Institute of Technology & Management, IBM, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.litam.ac.in/companies/ibm.html>   Novell, IBM and Novell Join Forces to Support Growing Demand for Open Source, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.novell.com/news/press/i bm-and-novell-join-forces-to-support-growing-demand-for-open-source/>   People’s Daily Online 2004, China’s Advantage in Low Labor Cost will Remain in Coming Decade, Report, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://engli sh.peopledaily.com.cn/200409/07/eng20040907_156220.html>   Rothwell, R 2008, Creating Wealth With Free Software, Free Software Magazine, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/com munity_posts/creating_wealth_free_software>   Sharma, D 2006, IBM Top of IT Services Brand Perception Study, Silicon.com, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://management.silicon.com/itdire ctor/0,39024673,10006300,00.htm?r=2>   Spalding, G & Case, G 2007, Continual Service Improvement: Continual Service Improvement, The Stationery Office   Sourcingmag.com 2008, Outsourcing – What is Outsourcing? Viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.sourcingmag.com/content/what_is_outs ourcing.asp>   The Standish Group 2008, Free Open Source Software is Costing Vendor $60 Billion, viewed 18 December 2008, <http://www.standishgroup.com/news room/open_source.php>         Appendices   Appendix A: IBM: Background Information

Strategic Business Analysis: IBM

Strategic Business Analysis: IBM Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Internal and External Factors Affecting IBM ...

Broad review and analysis of the field of leadership with application to business and other organizations

Power is the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance and to get people to do things they would not other wise do. It is the ability or official capacity to exercise control or authority over a person, group, or nation. (1997) Power exists on all levels of life from the household to the government of a country. In some way we all have someone who can influence our behavior or our decisions. Power is vested in us by the dependence of others by how much they need what we control and by how few alternatives there are. Leading people effectively is a tremendous challenge, a rest opportunity, and a serious responsibility. For our organizations to be effective and for our society to function successfully, we must be able to select the right leaders and help them succeed. Because the processes of leading others to achieve organizational goals are applicable in any institutional setting, this book presents a broad review and analysis of the field of leadership with application to business and other organizations. (Nahavandi 2003)   1. The sources of power that the CEO must have at her disposal The power to reward- A reward is not purely financial. While the absence of money is indeed a problem its presence is not necessarily a motivator. Nonetheless, reward of both financial and non-financial benefits is one of the keys to power and leadership. The Power to Punish- Punishment or providing penalties, is one of the most tangible and feared positions of leadership power. However, this power base is best used with a soft glove if the end objective is to help people to become more productive and to respect their leadership. The power to punish is best used lightly, tangentially, and infrequently. The power of position- Hierarchical position has traditionally been the most important source of power and is increasingly becoming the least important, although it is still not to be ignored. It comes with title or position such as a police officer, teacher or CEO. Authority is given to an individual by an organization to influence the department or persons that the direct authority must govern. People have been socialized to accept the power system of boss and subordinate. The power that is inherent in any position is power vested by the majority. The power of expertise- A person has expert power when he or she has special information or expertise that the organization values. This type of power can come from extensive background and education or an area where an individual displays extremely proficient skills. Expert power can be very beneficial to a manager. Of all the bases of power, expertise is most consistently associated with subordinate effectiveness. Referent Power- Exists when the power holder is well liked by others. In this sense, charismatic leaders will have referent power. This type power is interesting in the way that the followers are easily influenced due to the genuine respect they hold for their leader. The leader who is popular and well liked is more apt to gain favorable response without the use of power or coercion. Networking in the workplace can be extremely beneficial for this type of individual, since he or she can form a basis for calling in favors in time of need. 2. Such powers above can be use to avoid certain operational, administrative and ethical problems if it is followed thoroughly without any negative connotations and biases. There should be an ample time in achieving these powers and it should be exercise effectively. A needed assessment as well as appraisals of such matter is vividly important in order to see changes in such context only if needed. These sources of power must be considered at all times to attain peace and unity in a certain workplace. It should be open to clarifications in case employees will ask some delicate matters involving such effectiveness of the sources being specified.   Three specific business problems that can be addressed through the use of “influence tactics”       Financial Turn Around It is essential that any company experiencing any financial stress acts quickly to stop such financial bleeding and plans to improve such internal efficiency and such ability to generate revenue. The influence tactic behind this problem is the overlapping of such expenses within the limited context and variations of such. The source of power of this kind would be the power of position because such financial problems could be in question directed to those authorities in higher position or level.       Unhealthy Competition Competition in industries that deal with scarce resources can stimulate unethical behavior. In highly competitive industries, there is a temptation to engage in price fixing. Also, in industries with no competition there could be temptation to engage in unethical behavior. Such influence tactic of this could be the rapid event of favoritism between the employees involved. The source of power could be the power to reward as well as the power to punish misleading actions and undesirable behavior.       Work Conflicts and Miscommunication This could be a major problem in business organizations because the occurrence of such truth could greatly affect the effectiveness of a particular worker in terms of his performance and level of accuracy during working hours. Spreading of rumors and gossips could be a valid tactic that accounts this type of problems at hand. The source of power could be the referent power. Moreover, such tactics will definitely address the problem of the above data because it is a part of the real scenario in every business structure and has been a visible pattern within. Contrasting these specific ethical dilemmas in business, there are also common themes that run through the ethical issues which managers face. An interview survey conducted on a diverse group of managers discovered seven themes that define their moral standards for decision making. They are:       Honest communication       Fair treatment        Special consideration       Fair competition       Responsibility to organization       Corporate social responsibility       Respect for law   References: Nahavandi A (2003) “The Art Science and Leadership”, Upper Saddle River New Jersey Prentice Hall Green N (1997) “Creating an Ethical Workplace" Employment Relations Today vol. 24 pp. 33-44. Krohe James Jr. (May 1997) "The Big Business of Business Ethics" Across the Board v. 34 p. 23. Weiss, A “New Leadership for the New Millennium”.

Broad review and analysis of the field of leadership with application to business and other organizations

Power is the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance and to get people to do thin...