Research Korner: Business Innovation Samples

How the characteristics of Digital Media have supported eBay's growth

eBay: Digital Media               eBay is an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. It is managed by ebay Inc., an American Internet company. Millions of people are brought together by eBay everyday on a local, national and international basis using an array of websites that focus on commerce, payments and communications. According to  (2000) from eBay’s origin as a home business founderd by  (“o-mid-ee-yar”), the company has become the world's leading auction market and one of a handful of major dotcom companies to actually turn a profit (). They further stressed that eBay is just one of many important players in an expanding e-commerce industry (p.6). eBay participates in the demand-based or dynamic pricing segment of online commerce. There, transaction prices are determined entirely by buyers. This is fundamentally different from what most of us are accustomed to. Usually, vendors make the pricing decisions, and we either accept their prices or look elsewhere for a better deal. In demand based pricing, buyers make these critical decisions. The auction is the most familiar form of demand-based pricing. Auction forums have been around since ancient times, and everything from foodstuffs, minerals, timber, animals, securities, and human beings have been bought and sold through them (  2000, pp.8-9). The beauty of eBay's vision is that it has eliminated many of the inefficiencies of traditional person-to-person commerce. It provides a place where buyers and sellers can conveniently meet, exchange information about goods and prices, and transact sales at minimum costs. And it has made collecting and bargain hunting fun.  The Role of Digital Media and Internet:             Digital media particularly the Internet or the World Wide Web is the key to success of online auction sites such as eBay. eBay introduced several crucial innovations tailor-made for the internet. One was the model of online auctions bringing together buyers and sellers to establish prices for goods and services that had never been marketed before (2002). The online auction model developed by eBay marks an important extension of e-commerce, offering millions of individuals a low-cost opportunity to engage in a new type of economic activity which until now they had no chance of realizing. It has been reported that through the World Wide Web, eBay built an online person-to-person trading community in the Internet (2001). eBay users can browse through listed items in a fully automated way. The sellers are allowed to list items that they want to sell while the buyers bid on items of interest. The items on eBay’s site are arranged by topics and each type of auction has its own category. Person-to-person trading was both streamlined and globalized by the company. Using eBay’s web interface, the buyers can easily explore the site and the buyers can immediately list an item for sale within minutes of registering. The internet is a powerful tool in bringing together the buyers and sellers. Because of Digital Media and the Internet Ebay continues to grow.             Bringing the auction online was an important innovation, and is one of the greatest uses of Internet technology. The Internet has facilitated a variety of commercial activities. Many are lifted directly from offline models and provide no greater value or convenience for customers. Ordering a pair of gloves from an e-retail site is a prime example. From the customer's perspective, this is neither cheaper nor more convenient than buying the same gloves from the retailer's catalog using an 800 number. Online auctions, in contrast, have created something very new. It has been reported that the computer revolution ushered in totally new types of businesses based on the Internet (2000). If the Internet has introduced a revolution in the pace and the manner in which we do business, the leaders of that revolution are people who introduce new business designs and make them work. And the most successful of these have good heads for business, or work closely with people who do. This combination of a powerful business design tailored to the Internet economy, a philosophy of openness and community, and business savvy came together in the company the world now knows as eBay. Computing power is what makes an Internet auction effective. The combination of the digital media and eBay’s strategic business concept makes it possible for a few hundred people to handle transactions worth over 7 million dollars everyday of the year. Initially, eBay had developed proprietary software capable of supporting a robust, scalable user interface and transaction-processing system. Today, that system can handle all aspects of the auction process. It sends e-mails when users register for the service, when they place a successful bid, and when they are outbid, and it communicates the outcome of auctions in which they participate. The same system sends daily status updates to active sellers and bidders and maintains user registration information, account information, current auctions, and historical listings. All of this information is archived to a data warehouse. Working around the clock (with weekly scheduled downtime for maintenance), the eBay system keeps track of every listing and every seller-selected enhancement option. When an auction successfully closes, the system automatically calculates the fee, bills the seller's billing account, and sends a monthly invoice via e-mail. Most invoices are billed directly to seller credit-card accounts. Other parts of the eBay information infrastructure support eBay customer service and the various community bulletin boards and chat rooms that undergird the online user community. The entire system includes company-owned and -operated equipment and other equipment provided by outside service providers. eBay's share of the total system consists of Sun database servers running Oracle relational database management systems and a suite of Internet servers that operate on Microsoft's Windows NT. Loadbalancing systems and redundant servers provide for fault tolerance. System hardware is hosted in close proximity to the company's San Jose headquarters at the facilities of Exodus Communications and at AboveNet, where redundant communications lines and emergency power backup are maintained. Ebay is an online auction site that facilitates the process of listing and displaying goods, bidding, and payment. The Internet is the key element on eBay’s success. Over the Internet, participants bid for products and services. Sellers and bidders can participate wherever they are as long as they have an Internet connection. The Internet makes eBay more accessible to the bidders and sellers. The large number of bidders and sellers makes the system bigger and the auction site successful. Key Strategic Decisions:             Several aspects of eBay have been specifically designed to support an almost freestanding economy (2000; 2003). eBay built a free market. As a facilitator, users are allowed to decide what they want to sell, encouraging continuous growth. The users or citizens are the ones who control the direction of the site. eBay created a legal system that promotes self-governance. The auction site devised a feedback forum to let users rate one another to discourage fraud. The users are constantly educated; eBay teaches people how to use the site. eBay also has its own banking system. eBay has been bounded by two things: a clear mission to be the world's largest person-to-person online auction company, and a focused strategy with five key elements expanding the user base, strengthening the eBay brand, broadening the trading platform by increasing product categories and promoting new ones, Fostering community affinity and enhancing site features and functionality.             The arrival of Meg Whitman ( President and CEO of eBay since 1998) marked a watershed in the effort to build brand recognition at eBay. The company's early growth relied strictly on word of mouth. But as an old hand at consumer product marketing, Whitman made branding one of her first initiatives. In a series of meetings with the senior management team, she broke the problem into two parts. The first was clarifying what eBay stood for. In their judgment, it was a personal trading community where users could buy and sell almost anything. This definition set it apart from most existing auction competitors and the several that eventually followed. All market communications now reflect this unequivocal definition. Part two of Whitman's branding exercise came directly from Marketing 101: market segmentation. The user community was analyzed in terms of user segments. Serious collectors and small dealers were identified as the heaviest site users. These individuals and the people who sold to them accounted for 80 percent of total eBay revenues even though they represented only 20 percent of registered users. Based on this knowledge, the company decided to concentrate its marketing and brand-building resources on them ( 2000). eBay's boldest and most costly effort of gaining greater name recognition began in August 1998, when it entered into a three-year marketing deal with America Online (AOL). Under the terms of this relationship, AOL would feature eBay as its preferred provider of person-to-person trading services in its classifieds and interest areas. In addition, an eBay link would appear on the AOL home page, a portal for some 64 million subscribers. This threeyear deal was priced at $12 million (2000). The company has incrementally attacked the barriers to auction trading over the years, spending $4.6 million and $23.7 million in 1998 and 1999, respectively, on product developments aimed at site enhancement and valueadding features. The various SafeHarbor features such as the Feedback Forum, the Mister Lister bulk-listing tool, help boards, and My eBay, which allows a user to track multiple auctions simultaneously, fall into this category. Generally, the most important chore-reducing features have been added through arrangements with partner firms or third-party suppliers such as iEscrow, iShip, Mailbox Etc., and Wells Fargo's Billpoint credit-card arrangement ( 2000). Another strategic decision of eBay was top scale up the website. The number of users is growing at a breath-taking rate. The number of auction listings and transactions is creating a major challenge for the company management. Increasing traffic volume on the eBay Web site requires constant expansion and upgrading of technology, transaction-processing systems, network infrastructure, and the engineering staff required to maintain it. Meg Whitman's first taste of the scaling-up problem occurred within a month of joining the firm, when the site went down and stayed down for eight hours. An online auction has unique and difficult requirements that other systems do not face: constant processing and reprocessing of incoming bids. These place greater stresses on the site and reduce its stability. One solution to the stability problem was to build substantial excess capacity, something that the company previously avoided. Overcapacity is costly, but Whitman viewed this cost as small relative to the cost of outages and poor Web-site performance. She translated that insight into a corporate goal of gradually building the system's infrastructure to 10 times needed capacity. Whitman's strategy of building excess capacity, however, seems to be paying off. During the highly visible denialof-service attack against it and other major e-commerce sites in February 2000, eBay's problems were very limited. And by the spring of 2000, it appeared that the frequency and severity of past service outages was unlikely to repeat itself. Lessons from eBay: Growth Strategy             eBay's success in its chosen market niche suggests a number of important lessons for any firm that aims for success in person-to-person online commerce: 1. Control the lion's share of transactions. Buyers and sellers gravitate to the site with the greatest volume of participants—the network effect.  2. Provide a large and interesting selection of goods. Product depth and variety attract buyers, which in turn will attract more sellers. 3. Achieve system reliability. Outages are costly and undermine user loyalty. 4. Provide high-quality customer service. Users need to have their questions answered and their problems resolved, otherwise they will stop trading or go elsewhere. 5. Assure the reliability of user deliveries and payments. These are absolute requirements for site credibility. 6. Enhance brand recognition. With millions of net users coming onstream in the years ahead, brand recognition is the surest single mechanism for increasing new site users and increasing transaction volume. 7. Increase Web site convenience and accessibility. If a site is easy to access and navigate, more people will log on, stay longer, and make more transactions. 8. Develop high-quality search tools. People will not buy what they cannot locate quickly on the site (2000).

How the characteristics of Digital Media have supported eBay's growth

eBay: Digital Media eBay is an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and serv...

Organizational Learning and Development

Organizational Learning and Development Introduction             The dawn of the twenty-first century has been characterized by a world that is in a constant state of change. No organization or business can escape the effects of operating in an ongoing, dynamic and evolving landscape. Indeed, the forces of change are so great that the very success and the survival of organizations rely on how these organizations respond to the continual changes around them and how they can stay ahead of change.             According to  (2002), it is widely accepted that change exerts continuous pressure on all organizations regardless of their size and type. These changes vary from forces such as globalization, inexorable technological developments and advances, exceptional competition, political upheaval and the opening of new markets. Consequently, these organizations are beginning to change their gears and respond to the evolving advancements in the world.             In addition, businesses have also adopted a more strategic human resource development in response to the changes in the business environment. This paper will be covering the topic of human resource development. The processes of learning and development will be closely examined as to the extent of their contributions to businesses which remain open to continuous self-organization in order to adapt and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century business environment. In addition, there will also be a discussion of the problematic issues that may arise in implementing the learning and development processes in the organization, as well as suggestions as to how these issues may be overcome by the organization. Human Resource Development             Human Resource Development is defined by  (1989) as “organized learning activities arranged within an organization in order to improve performance and/or personal growth for the purpose of improving the job, the individual and/or the organization” (p. 5). According to  (1996), it includes the areas of training and development, career development and organizational development. The Human Resource Development is actually associated to the Human Resource Management, a field that constitutes areas such as human resource research and information systems, union and labor relations, employee assistance, compensation and benefits, selection and staffing, performance management systems, human resource planning and organization or job design ( 1989).             As stated earlier, the world has indeed been characterizes by constant change. These changes are based on the global economy, on evolving technology, on the organization’s changing work force, on cultural and demographic changes, as well as on the changing nature of the work itself. It must be noted that these changes are permanent; they are here to stay which will likely affect our work and the way our lives our structured.             Consequently, organizations need to adapt to these changes. Organizations need to learn new skills and develop new abilities in response to these changes of the world. Nevertheless, organizations need to deal with these changes constructively by using change for the organization’s competitive advantage. The goal of the Human Resource Development is to enhance the performance of the organization by taking full advantage of the efficiency and performance of the organization’s members through developing their knowledge, skills, actions, motivation, attitudes, as well as the organization’s standards, incentives and work environment ( 1996).             Human Resource Development plays a very important role in organizations as it maximizes the main objectives of the organization which is f\dome through means that enable the organization with the emergent changes in business strategies (1995).  (1995) point out that the core of Human Resource Development is to provide the organization’s employees with up to date expertise. In addition, Human Resource Development and the employee expertise that is provides has taken a major step in combining other key determinants of business strategy. The recent successes of successful organizations now support the rising influence of the Human Resource Development.             Examples of companies that depend on employee expertise to capitalize on business opportunities are as follows. It must be noted that these companies use the Human Resource Development in achieving employee expertise.             The first company is L. M. Ericsson Corporation – a Swedish telecommunications equipment manufacturer that reconfigured its extensive international operations to reorganize its design and product development functions ( 1994). It may appear that the company is under a major company restructuring; however, it is actually a fundamental preconception of how work was achieved basing on expanding the breadth and depth of the expertise of their employees across prior unbreakable divisional and functional boundaries.             As employees of the company from diverse disciplines considered the value added at key points along the product development cycle, they also reconfigured their individual contributions to production into wider, cross-functional processes. Employees also redesigned principal business processes and generated a matrix system for sharing information and production technologies among the forty laboratories of this research-intensive company as the company draw on newly acquired expertise supported by the Human Resource Development in systems thinking, business process analysis and other key technical skills. It must be noted that the company has heavily depended on the multidisciplinary collaboration and these newly gained skills. Since the 1990s, employees of L. M. Ericsson Corporation have been able to design telecommunications equipment and set up manufacturing and service networks simultaneously.              (1995) point out that what used to be a company that performed like seven different companies and was slow in introducing new products to an innovation-conscious market is currently a leader in lightweight, digital mobile phones and asynchronous switching and even surpassed a $10 billion annual sales.             The second company is Home Depot, which has become a dominant force in the home improvement industry in part by making a conscious effort in trying to learn every aspect of its business ( 1994). Is has continually strived to attain a phenomenal annual growth rate within the industry by devoting its human resources, policies and practices to enhance expertise and learning through every dimension of its business.             The company openly pursues objectives in order to make sure that the company obtains long-term competitive advantage through the processes supported by the firm’s Human Resource Development to shift experience systematically into learning opportunities as well as maintaining employee expertise at state-of-the-art levels. The company’s interactions and relationships with employees, customers, vendors, suppliers and competitors are continually examined to obtain value-added lessons from a diversity of business experiences as to whether they engage in a sales transaction, a delivery, a management meeting or an unhappy or dissatisfied customer or employee. On one hand, Home Depot invests in developing employees at all levels of the organization (1995). Their entry level employees undergo nearly four week training as well as participate in periodic conferences and training sessions at the store and company-wide levels. On the other hand, the company also values learning from customers in any way they can as it allows building contractors to utilize its makeshift classrooms in each store to share their needs and expertise with employees and other customers ( 1995). In addition, Home Depot has added contractor check-out areas and new products for first time buyers in response to the suggestions both from employees and customers as well. It must be very well noted that Home Depot illustrates a recent and convincing example of growth that can be accomplished as organizations make a conscious effort to learn and develop new expertise from every aspect of the business. In a similar way, companies such as Ford Motor Company and DuPont have also considerably made recent improvement in business performance as their managers have applied the systems thinking and process knowledge to the very heart of the business processes ( 1994). Obstacles for Learning and Development Practitioners              (2004) observes that human behavior and relations more often than not contribute to the construction of organizational processes that become hindrances to learning and development. Let us now examine one by one the obstacles that learning and development practitioners may face as they implement the learning and development processes in the Human Resource Development.             The first obstacle is lack of motivation. This may be in part of managers and or employees to take on new learning tasks or to engage actively in learning processes. In a research done by . (2002), it is not clear as to what might cause such a lack of motivation.  (2002) state that maybe managers and the employees of the company are still used to a different way of working and wouldn’t want to give up the conventional way. Another possible explanation could be the lack of faith in the concept of the learning organization or in training in general.             In a study done by (1989), they found out that managers in companies that used to have a fragmented method of training sometimes do not see the traditional courses as valuable and important learning experiences. Also, they do perceive training as a cost and not an investment for the future. Yes, it takes time to change a pattern of expectations once it exists, especially as managers and employees still unreservedly see “learning” and “training” to be similar.  (2002) state that employees and managers may still be waiting to see the positive results of this new approach. However, other factors like shortage of time on the manager’s part, the lack of rewards that employees receive or the little confidence when it comes to learning, could also play a role. Even though the cause of low motivation or low sense of responsibility is not yet known and might actually be different from company to company or even different managers and employees, it is quite apparent that if it occurs, it proves to be a hindrance or an obstacle in the implementation of the learning and development processes.             According to  (2002), low motivation of actively participating in learning and development processes may be associated to another possible problems that might occur which is the lack of clarity on the role of the human Resource Development or the lack of clarity on the need of learning. This may be due to the company’s Human Resource Development’s difficulty in establishing their own role very distinctly or it may be due to their difficulty in communicating this role in a clear and convincing manner to the managers and the employees of the company. It must also be noted that it is actually not impossible that managers and employees are sometimes not motivated to carry on their new roles because of the ambiguity of what is expected from them, the reasons as to why learning is important and what support Human Resource Development professional swill provide.             Another type of obstacle that learning and development practitioners may face is the lack of learning culture within the organization. Apparently, it is very difficult to generate a learning culture when a culture does not already exist, at least partially. As this issue was raised in organizations, organizations put the blame on insufficient learning culture in general whereas others narrow it down to inadequate knowledge sharing.  (2002) noted that this result implies that it is very difficult to motivate employees to share knowledge or engage in learning processes especially if they are not used to this or maybe even reveal a reluctance to do so.              Another problem encountered during the implementation of learning and development processes is the lack of time for learning on the employees’ part. Accordingly, work pressure for the employees is so high that they have a difficulty in finding time for learning. Naturally, this compounds to the problem of lack of motivation and lack of a learning culture. The very core of this problem is that is produces a closed cycle. This means that when people are incessantly working very hard to keep up with new developments and changes, but are too busy trying to learn and reflect on existing practices, this makes it difficult on their part to find and provide solutions which might decrease the work load.             Some of the other more problems that learning and development practitioners may face concerns their own role; they have scarce resources, too little time to develop new Human Resource Development initiatives, inadequate time to update materials or, in general, insufficient Human Resource Development professionals. Indeed, the lack of time is more often than not linked with the scarcity of resources. If more financial resources, i.e. money was, was available, extra human resources could be hired.             Interestingly enough, there seems to be no clear relationship between the organizations that mention a lack of Human Resource Development professionals or the lack of time and the size of the Human Resource Development departments. Some of the organizations that have mentioned this specific problem employ only two Human Resource Development professionals; however, it must be noted that their Human Resource Development department actually has a staff of seventy people.             Thus, it seems as if the cause of this problem can be attributed more to the fact that recognizing the new role of the Human Resource Development is very time consuming because at the outset, it means more tasks for the Human Resource Development professionals. Possibly, more room will be created only when managers and employees have actually taken over some of the tasks of the Human Resource Development.             With regards to the realistic problems that practitioners of learning and development may face in their implementation of the learning processes, it is interesting to reflect on a possible relationship with the outsourcing policy that many companies adopted during the advent of the 1990s.  (2002) noted that it is not yet positive as to whether these problems may apply to many organizations; however, the last few years have been characterized by companies who have cut back on their training budgets and have opted to buy or hire the training rather than develop it within the company itself. In addition, Horst et al. (2002) proposes that it may be that some of the companies who are currently experiencing the lack of specialist practitioners have been through such an outsourcing process.     The Case of Hyder plc             In Hyder plc, there were several organizational barriers to strategic learning and development which provided some clues to the methods the establishment was created and sustained within the company (2004). They are outlined as follows ( 2004): ·        The individual orientation in Hyder’s Human Resource Development strategy and the expectations on individuals to put learning into actual practice; ·        Limited and self-limited concepts of reflection; ·        Fears about involving with the relationship between politics and emotion in the organization, especially conflicts between subsystems and the effects of this on authority and leadership in practice. It is assumed in Hyder’s Human Resource Development strategy that individual learning will improve personal performance and supply to the development of new ideas and forms of practice, in addition to their implementation (2004). Hyder had a highly competent and developed level of learning and development processes which were available to individuals, gathered under the general notion of a “learning journey” which included personal opportunities for formal and informal training and development associated to individual evaluation and supported though mentoring (1998). New skills, knowledge and perceptions were acquired through this process and individuals were enthusiastic as a result of their learning. However, (2004) notes that the individual learning actually had very little impact on the processes of organizing, strategic decision-making, existing power relations or entrenched political positions. As a matter of fact, regardless of the enthusiasm that their employees felt on personal learning, there was a universal feeling amongst the staff that the learning initiatives had little effect on the organization as a whole. Furthermore, there were also difficulties in the reflection and development process in Hyder that were experienced by individuals as well as in association to collective attempts at participation and involvement. Managers of the company have experienced constant pressure to carry on and develop logical performance. In addition, because of this pressure of their tasks, they were “happy to accept the first logical explanation that comes into an individual’s mind” ( 2004). Reflection was understood by the company as an individual responsibility, something that one does when one actually has the time to do it. The limited practice of reflection in the company means that reflection served very little purpose, contributing little to an understanding of how establishment was being created and sustained. In addition, there were powerful emotions associated to organizational politics fundamental to both an individual perspective on learning and a restrictive practice of reflection. Organizational members actually felt fear and anxiety in involving in conflicts or differences across hierarchical lines of accountability or across the political intricacies gathered together by competition, envy or ambivalence between the various organizational subsystems. The members of the organization would likely ignore or avoid such conflicts. The effects of this decision (which is significantly unconscious) had considerable impact on the practice in the field of leadership and authority in the company. This competition between different subsystems reduced partnership and understanding across organizational boundaries, in addition to discouragement of risk. It must be noted that an environment which lacks risks actually has a greater tendency towards control. Concerns on issues of either losing or retaining control contributed to restrained managers who are afraid of change, failure and conflict. Through these organizing processes, a culture of leadership was created at Hyder that, in spite of being consensual or collegial in intention, was in practice cautious, controlling and reactive ( 2004). These comments on the relationship of learning and organizing in the case of Hyder plc actually mean that despite significant investments of time and money in the learning and development processes for individual managers, efforts towards learning seems to have made very little impact on established ways of organizing. As the organizational processes are added together, Hyder can be understood as a firm with very little orientation towards strategic learning and development despite its very creative and learning and development processes. Hence, as  (2004) points out, this raises questions as to what can be done in organizations like Hyder to facilitate the development of strategic associations between learning and organizing, as well as a broader issue in terms of organizational learning. “The fact is - we don't know a lot about organizational learning. Sure we know how to improve the learning of an individual or a small team, but we don't know how to systematically intervene in the culture to create transformational learning across the organization … One of the greatest business challenges is to find some models for how a whole organization can learn” (2002). Suggestions/Recommendations             When one comes to think more about the problems associated with the implementation of learning and development, it must be noted that majority of the problems seems to be linked with communication. Therefore, suggestions as to how these problems may be overcome will involve a number of recommendations on how to improve the organization’s communication strategies, as well as other strategies that will be feasible to the given problem as understanding and information seems to be a very relevant aspect for managers and employees to be motivated in order for learning and development practitioners be able to implement the changes and to bring a fruitful partnership between Human Resource Development professionals, managers and employees.             The following section will provide a list of strategies to overcome the issues concerning the implementation of learning and development processes.             The researcher recommends that communication must be directed at changing the perceptions on the need for learning. In example, according to  (2002), in French organizations, they specifically value sharing knowledge and improving communication to let employees know why certain changes must occur, why learning plays an essential role in the change process of the organization and that learning occurs not only by following courses but by also learning from each other. As this communication strategy changes the employees’ and the managers’ attitudes towards learning, they might also serve to raise motivation for learning, as well as enhance creation of the learning culture and promote knowledge sharing.             Second, the researcher also recommends that there must be initiatives taken that will increase communication as well as cooperation with the employees and the managers that will be able to direct the initiatives of the Human Resource Development more closely to their needs. In example, . (2002) observes that the Italian software company, Data logic, has adopted a direct horizontal communication with line management as one of its strategies for addressing issues of the learning and development processes. The Human Resource Development must adopt a very flexible approach and a listening attitude that lead to teamwork between the managers and the professionals of the Human Resource Development field. (2002) noted that this may overcome the traditional distinction between line management and staff, as well as create goodwill and motivation. In addition,  (2002) also observed that the Dutch building company KIBC realized that improving communication and information flows are both very functional and practical in resistance and increasing motivation for learning.             Also, companies must provide information on the position, roles, and responsibilities of the department of the Human Resource Development, as well as learning needs, and learning possibilities. This may provide a solution to the problem of lack of information and may also lead to the increasing motivation for learning and for participating actively in the Human Resource Development function.             Next, it is also recommended that there must also be initiatives as to the lessening of the workload of Human Resource Development professionals and hence. Tackle the issue of the lack of resource by recruiting new Human Resource Development professionals, entrusting responsibilities to line managers and offering training programs to the line managers and increasing effectiveness of Human Resource Development work methods in order to have a more clear definition of the roles of the Human Resource Development and their tasks as well.             Furthermore, the company must also develop initiatives to emphasize the professional approach of their Human Resource Development professionals, and to ensure that the organization has the positive approach to the Human Resource and Development function. This might actually increase the motivation of the company’s employees and managers to adopt new Human Resource Development practices. This can be done though showing an added value to the department of the human Resource Development, carefully planning the activities and policies of the Human Resource Development and critically evaluating the effects of the Human Resource Development             In addition, the researcher would also like to recommend that the company must have specific efforts as to make sure that the lack of learning possibilities will not hinder the change process through continuously updating the supply of Human Resource Development measures or increasing the possibilities for knowledge sharing and informal learning.             Moreover, the company must also develop strategies that are meant to increase motivation for learning in the work force through introducing new staff and ensuring that they are motivated for learning, as well as applying new selection criteria in recruitment and redeploying some of their employees.             Finally, the researcher recommends that the company must have activities that will serve to offer the professional of the Human Resource Development with a “sounding board” and with new ideas for learning and development plans such as networking with other firms that are implementing the learning organization concept as well.      Conclusion             Indeed, the aspect of Human Resource Development has facilitated organizations to adapt and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century business environment, specifically the processes of learning and development within the Human Resource Development. This paper has covered the concerns that may arise from the implementation of the learning and development processes. These problems are one by one tackled in the earlier sections of this paper, as well as proposed some initiatives as to how these problems may be overcome.       Bibliography

Organizational Learning and Development

Organizational Learning and Development Introduction The dawn of the twenty-first century has been characterized by a wor...

Types of Web-Based Systems

Types of Web-Based Systems   Abstract             This paper discusses different types of web-based systems in its importance to business improvement.  The impact of using web-based systems on businesses is also mentioned in supporting the types of web-based systems for a particular business.    Introduction             The worldwide use of the internet for business has created opportunities for Operations, Finance and IT Directors to deliver significant added value to their companies in many aspect of their business.  There could be a gain in margin improvement with the adoption of web-based stock system however; this would require a significant change in business processes in adopting new technology solutions.  According to Mansfield (2005), the advantages of a web-based system on businesses are significant; bringing improvement in flexibility, data communications, updates, maintenance (both hardware and software) lower running and support costs.  Being web-based the software is modular and can be drip fed through the organization according to the priorities of the business with the minimum.  In business, communication is very important since recent studies show that poor communication between companies is the root cause of risk in the design and construction process which would result in cost, schedule, scope and quality problems.  Web-based Systems come in great impact in responding to these potential concerns.  With Web-based systems, communications are standardized, documents can be exchanged instantaneously, documentation is standardized and centralized, everyone is completely accountable, and company and geographic borders are eliminated.  Another advantages that Web-based Systems will bring is the centralization of contents, the lesser need for user support (i.e. through upgrades), the ease of use, and the pervasive nature of Web browsers.    Web-Based Systems   Content Management System (CMS) Content management is the process of collecting, storing, delivering and monitoring information vital to the organization.  In web site terms, this includes uploading, storing and serving the information to those who need it, but only to those authorized to see it.  According to  (2001), a content management system is a concept and not a product.  It may include Web Facilitation, Format management, Revision tracking, Indexing, searching and retrieval, and Access management. For instance, Content Management System has been implemented by Northwoods Software Development which empowers non-technical personnel in creating and maintaining Web sites ( 2004).  Additionally, content management system is used as a technical term that refers to the “paperless office” (2005).             The content management system was developed by content publishing organizations which at first allowed sites to create templates of the presentation of their content on the web.  In 1998 a new system was developed which allowed Java developers to write applications that would be tied with content and target the content output to different channels.  Unfortunately, the product failed but the concepts that were introduced by it made their way and adopted by most modern systems. This is a computer software system for the purpose of organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content.  This type of web-based system is frequently a web application used for managing websites and web content.  However, in many cases, these content management systems may require special client software for editing and constructing articles.  Types of content management systems: ·         Wikis – a web content management systems that assist in automating various aspects of web publishing ·         Transactional content management systems (T-CMS) that assist in managing e-commerce transactions. ·         Integrated content management systems (I-CMS) that assist in managing enterprise documents and content. ·         Publications management systems (P-CMS) that assist in managing the publications (manuals, books, help, guidelines, references) content life cycle. ·         Learning management systems (L-CMS) that assist in managing the web-based learning content life cycle. ·         Document imaging systems are also generally considered under the family of general content management. ·         Enterprise content management systems (E-CMS) vary in their functionality.  Some support both the web and publications content life cycle, while others support the web content life cycle and either transactional content or customer relationship management content.  The definition of Association for Information and Image Management or AIIM for ECM includes methods for “capture, manage, store, preserve and deliver” content across an enterprise.  “Manage” contains components like document management, collaboration, business process management, records management, email management, workflow and web content management.  The ECM concept is not restricted to web based technologies but includes client/server and hosted/On-demand solutions.             A few years ago, when the Internet popularity began to grow rapidly, many companies were in need to establish online presence through setting up their information portals on the World Wide Web. However, they soon found out that to change manually the content on the information portal is very time consuming.  In that situation the companies needed a tool that would allow them to quickly modify information, manage articles, links and file archives, retrieve a specific article using search functions, etc. Some solution providers in the market were offering similar service.  The drawback for the customers was that these solutions were very expensive.  Thus, there was a demand in the market for an affordable and easy to use solution.  The customer saw a brilliant business opportunity to cover that need by finding a company that would cooperate in developing a quality tool at a reasonable cost. Solution             To respond to the business need, Klopotek and Novosoft jointly developed the Web CMS (content management system)c-BiZZ: flexible up-to-date solution that allows managing all existing content on the information portal automatically. This system is very cost effective and solely relies on open technologies compared to other market offerings.  What is very important, the solution could be easily customized for any industry.  Furthermore, the tools and technologies chosen by Novosoft for developing the solution ensured that the final product could operate not only on Windows platform, but also on most other platforms, e.g. Macintosh.  That increased the sales potential of the product even further (). Tools and Technologies – Resin+JSP+Oracle, Web Sphere+JSP+Oracle Benefits To the customers: ·         The Novosoft technology opened up new sales channels for the customer. ·         The sales opportunities, as well as the revenue growth, are huge. To final users: ·         Effective up-to-date technology allows users to easily manage any information portal content. ·         Novosoft solution is very cost effective, which enabled many companies to establish their online presence. Anypay.com online payment system             Paying by check has some disadvantages – payment processing is slow, a check can get lost on the way, and it is cumbersome for a person to write many checks if payments are due to many payees.  The company decided to take advantage of the Internet technologies and to offer online banking services.  A solution had to insure highest security and reliability criteria.  This in line with the fact that electronic check is the most popular form of noncash payment with its volumes exceeds that of credit, debit, point-of-sale, and card transactions by three to four times (1995).             This online payment system , was designed by Novosoft with a wide array of payment services.  Any person or company can send, request, and receive money to and from anyone with e-mail address. The system has the following advantages. First, there is no need to write checks manually. Second, payment processing is much faster.  Actually, the Novosoft solution ensured that it takes microseconds to send a payment.  Third, the solution is a find for those who have to make many payments, for instance payments in affiliate programs or refunds.  Finally, it is much easier to control the distribution of funds - there is more control over the cash flow.  Most importantly, the system is reliable and secure. Indeed, security is the main factor attracting customers to this particular online payment system (www.novosoft-usa.com). Benefits Benefits for the customer In addition to standard payment services, the solution offers a number of unique features.  Considering the cost of the system, the customer received a first class product at a very attractive price. The system has attracted a flow of new clients increasing the customer's position in the market. Benefits for final users Final users enjoy convenience, speed, and security of the system.  Most services are free or inexpensive. Medical Presentation Tool             Healthcare organizations experience the need to have a simple and effective presentation tool to demonstrate various types of medical information to doctors and patients. Traditional presentation tools, such as PowerPoint, are not quite effective in presenting specific medical information.  In most cases they are designed for universal use, therefore they are too general.  As a result, they have a number of excessive features, which are not required for the medical practitioners.  Working with such tools usually slows down the work process.  Another shortcoming is that practically all of the available presentation tools are designed for use either in Macintosh platform or Windows, but not both.  Therefore, it creates extra problems for the organizations widely using both types of platforms. In this business situation, the medical organizations needed a simple presentation tool, solving the above problems. Solution             Novosoft offered a desktop application - "Medical Presentation Tool" -specifically designed for medical specialists.  User-friendly interface and optimal set of features made this product extremely easy to adopt by end users.  Also, the solution is Java-based, thus doctors can create and view the presentations on computers with either Mac or Windows OS. Benefits             Novosoft solution allowed doctors to easily create and conduct doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-patient presentations.  This helpful tool makes doctor-to-doctor discussions more efficient, and facilitates the decision making process, hence each individual patient receives the best possible treatment in shortest possible time.  As a simple tool in doctor-to-patient presentations, it helps to clearly explain to a patient his specific situation, and visually illustrate how the doctor's recommendations would affect patient's condition, thus considerably improving the level of customer service. Charter Flights Management System             A charter flights company, that operates in Europe and overseas, decided to automate its difficult-to-control manual charter flight processing and move it to the company Intranet.  Charter flights have been claimed to cause both overcrowding at destinations and dependency on price cutting as a form of competition (Josephides, 1994).  For this reason, Charter Flights Management System offers a perfect solution. The company was looking for solution that will help reduce costs, to provide clerks with ready-to-use document templates, and hasten flight order turnaround.  To achieve more effective control - and to cut administrative costs, a large percentage of document flow had to be transferred from paper to the Intranet. Solution             Novosoft delivered back-office Intranet application allowing the client to quickly automate its flight handling process, from requisition to staffing and scheduling.  Moreover, the solution supports airport, aircraft and equipment databases, human resources, standard and additional expenses accounting (such as hotel reservation for pilots), etc. Application allows clerks to create document template database on the fly, including forms, menus and documents.  Novosoft put its best effort into designing easy-to-use interface, so even the inexperienced user could make a meta description of a desired database, structure database with menus, create document templates and forms etc.  Additionally, the solution is integrated with the company legacy accounting system - CIEL, and allows exporting the flight expenses into CIEL. Keeping in mind that our client operates in many European countries, Novosoft has embedded multilingual support into the system.  Novosoft developed intelligent self-expanded editable database of translated sentences/words, and integrated it with online translator service Tools and Technologies             ColdFusion, ASP, HTML, JavaScript, ADO, IIS, MS SQL, Platforms: WinNT The solution supports distributed architecture; the data is automatically synchronized between several locations using MS SQL standard methods. Interface with CIEL is written in ColdFusion. Benefits ·         Significantly reduced operation costs ·         Reduced order processing cycle time ·         Faster order turnaround

Types of Web-Based Systems

Types of Web-Based Systems Abstract This paper discusses different types of web-based systems in its importance to bus...

Strategic Planning and Implementation of Sony Ericsson

Part 1 Sony Ericsson, its resources and its competencies   In 2000 Ericsson and Sony established a London-based joint venture, Sony Ericsson, to exploit the opportunities of third generation mobile systems, whose implementation had begun in Japan. Ericsson's strategies were broadly emulated by its major competitors in the world telecom industry, including Nokia, the Canadian firm Nortel, the US firms Lucent, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, and Germany's Siemens, all of whom had telecom equipment sales in excess of $22 billion in 2000. These firms all moved, although at varying rates, to outsource production to contract manufacturers. They also progressively outsourced innovation to cheaper locations (Wallach 2005).   Resources Sony Ericsson’s resources come from reliable suppliers and manufacturers.  The materials used in creating the products have to agree with the company’s greenheart process wherein most part of the product should be recyclable or harmless to the environment.   Financial The funds can either come from the parent company or from other sources like investors. The budget will be used to pay for the different expenses of the firm. The budget will be used to pay for the rent expenses, the payment for all the employees, the cost of supplies used in creating the products, the cost of electricity, the cost of office materials and other costs or expenses.   Human In providing excellent service to the clients, a company needs to have a dedicated staff that performs well and knows that the service they give to the client can help the company have a positive or negative image. The staff of the company is well trained to ensure that the best service can be given to the clients. The company makes sure that it hires promising individuals that can assist in the company’s task of reaching their goals.   Skill The personnel of the Sony Ericsson are well skilled in creating and selling their products.  The company makes sure that they hire individuals who are skilled in management, manufacturing or selling.  The company also looks for various activities that will help them improve their skill.   Competencies Core Capabilities   Sony Ericsson’s core competences include its highly advanced product, competitive products and concept of sustainability. Sony Ericsson makes use of its competences to achieve continuous growth and development   Distinct Capabilities Sony Ericsson’s distinct capabilities include its ability to create products that costs lesser than other cell phone.  The company’s product cost less but it is durable like the other company’s products.   Scope Capabilities Sony Ericsson’s capabilities include its use of sophisticated technologies to create the best product. Sony Ericsson has commendable personnel that were well trained to create the best product and provide efficient service.   5m’s Money Sony Ericsson is well funded. The funds of the company come from its profits, capital and from investors. The company makes sure that its finances are well budgeted and will go directly to the division that needs it the most.   Minutes Time is important for the Sony Ericsson. The company gives importance to time just like it gives importance to finances and human resources. The company has organized schedules that will ensure that products can be made at an appropriate time. The company makes sure that every member of the organization has a balance of work and rest.   Materials Sony Ericsson’s materials come from reliable suppliers. The company keeps the materials in reliable storage areas. The company makes sure that its materials will not harm the environment and can still be recycled.   Manpower Sony Ericsson makes sure that it hires the best personnel that have an idea on the cell phones and its related products. The company engages in online recruitment, personal recruitment and the use of third party to recruit and choose the personnel that fit their needs.   The company trains the personnel in accordance with their tasks and role. The company allows their personnel to attend seminars that will increase their knowledge on their forte. The company makes sure that the personnel are given an appropriate compensation based from their role and contribution to the firm. The company makes sure that all social benefits are received by the personnel.   Machines The company makes use of the best machinery to create the products. The company has a research division that searches for the latest technology that will help them achieve efficiency and effectiveness in creating their products.  The machines are well maintained by a special group of personnel. The company makes sure that the machines are regularly checked for problems.   Implications on Management The use of 5m’s makes it easier for the management to operate the firm. The use of 5m helps Sony Ericsson and its management to focus on strategizing and determining what acts will provide benefits to the company.  Through the 5m the management receives assistance in attaining the goals of the firm.   Current strategies of the company The company is focused on the use of sustainable products. Sustainability is said to be the act of maintaining supplies for future generations.  Supplies do have its own limitation; it will run out of stock eventually. Through the use of sustainability companies can make sure that there can be supplies for the present and the future.  Sustainability goes with the need to have green supplies. The company makes sure that it uses sustainable supplies. The company makes sure that its supply will not run out.  The makes sure that the materials they use are recyclable and will not cause damage to the environment. To maintain the sustainability of supplies the firm makes sure that parts can be recycled.   Stakeholders Internal stakeholders The internal stakeholders of Sony Ericsson include the management of the company, employees and creditors. The Stakeholders’ impact on the governance of the firm is it affects the way the company is managed. It makes sure that the company performs well according to the stake holder’s standards.  The management of the firm is a stakeholder because the company’s success or failure is conjoined with the management’s success or failure.  The employees of the firm are stakeholders because the success or failure of the firm will impact their salary and its increase or decrease. The creditors are stakeholders because they contributed a certain amount that contributes to the financial resources of the company.   External stakeholders The government, clients and potential investors are those groups that are external stakeholders to the company. The government is a stakeholder for the firm because they are the ones that checks if the company follows regulations and laws.  The government also observes for any negative effect for the company’s products. The clients are stakeholders because they are the ones that are affected by any changes initiated by the company.  The clients are the end destination for the product, thus they need to know what stages a product goes through before it reaches them. The potential investors are stakeholders because they observe the financial status of the company and use this as a basis for any transactions that they will do with the company.   Stakeholder’s strategy             The stakeholders provide assistance in running the firm. They give a little feedback on how the firm should operate. The stakeholders give their opinion on the company and the condition it faces.   Future strategy for stakeholders The future strategy for the stakeholder will focus on improving their relationship with the company. This can be done through the use of communication systems that will create a greater bond between the firm and the stakeholders. The communication strategy can be in the form of internet or other online system.   Governance Chain Corporate governance is concerned with holding to account the modern corporation, whether it is a large or small holding company and subsidiaries, listed, private, government or non-profit entity. One influential interpretation of corporate governance is to find a way to maximize wealth creation in a manner that does not impose inappropriate costs on third parities or on society as a whole. Corporate governance application requires a system of checks and balances designed to define appropriately the parameters of authority through accountability (Kakabadse 2001). The following presents the governance chain for the company. The key players include the stakeholders, board of directors and the employees. The stakeholders, board of directors and employees are the ones that will be affected by any change in management strategy.  Any changes in management strategy can affect the service given to the stakeholders. Any changes in the management strategy can alter the position and responsibility of the management team and the personnel. The beneficiaries of any change in the management strategy include the clients and the government. The clients are beneficiaries because any change in the management strategy can lead to better service to them and it can lead to the emergence of better products.  The government is a beneficiary of the change in the management strategy because they can now make business dealings with Sony Ericsson. The government can ask the company to make products that fits with their communication needs. This in turn can help the government provide better service to their constituents and deal better with outside forces.   Principal- Agent Theory The management and the employees have a principal – agent relationship wherein the managers give fair treatment of the personnel. The managers make sure that the personnel acts as agents of providing service to clients.   Employee Unions Worker Unions are vital because it gives personnel the chance to express his/her concern to other workers. The union can be used for one personnel to have better benefits and compensation from the firm. The management allows for unions and other groups that intend to unite the ideas and concerns of the personnel. The management makes sure that they respect any union that the employee has formed or joined.   Sony Ericsson ethics and Social Responsibility Corporate responsibility is a pact for the mutual benefit between society that needs business for economic and social development, and business that needs a supportive business environment. It is also a pact between capital and management in modern companies, which has been as shaken up by some recent scandals where management disregarded the bond of transparency with shareholders (Dunning 2003).   a. within Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson has and believes in corporate responsibility. The company makes sure that it follows all laws and regulations in every country they operate in. It has procedures and processes that make sure that corporate responsibility is implemented not only in internal environment but within its suppliers and trading partners. Sony Ericsson gives much importance to their personnel; the company makes sure that the welfare of the personnel is given appropriate attention.    b. what can still be improved Sony Ericsson can improve its social responsibility by engaging in charitable works such as donation to charity or other non government institutions. They can even create a charity that will focus on a certain market. Sony Ericsson can improve its ethical standards by reviewing its current scandals and adjusting it towards the current situation.  c. alternatives philosophy Aside from the use of corporate responsibility and ethics, Sony Ericsson can make use of the fair competition philosophy wherein the company will make use of strategies that will be just and fair. The company will refrain from committing acts that are demeaning to fairness in the telecommunication industry. The company will refrain from engaging in unwanted acts against other cellular phone companies.   d. Freedmanism Freedmanism is the belief in ideas such as Deontology, Utilitarianism, Teleology, Egoism and Ethical relativism. Deontology is the philosophy that focuses on the rightness or wrongness of intentions or motives behind action such as respect for rights, duties, or principles. Utilitarianism is the belief that the worth of an action is determined by its contribution to overall use of that action. Teleology is the belief that things are designed for or directed toward a final result.  Egoism is the idea that people should do that they think satisfies their self interest. Ethical Relativism is the belief that ethical ideas do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths. All the ideas under Freedmanism relates to different characteristics of the personnel. The limitation of Freedmanism revolves on the contrasting characteristic of each belief under it. Deontology, Utilitarianism, Teleology, Egoism and Ethical relativism each have a characteristic that contrasts the other, the use of it under one philosophy can create confusion and does not help in making one productive and efficient.   The management strategy that will be changed Expanding into additional segments, after reaching an acceptable market share position in the primary market is a prudent option. The common strategy is to penetrate with either line extensions or technology applications. It is an acceptable and logical move for a market leader particularly in a flat market. It's only advisable though if sufficient resources are available to penetrate the new segment and, providing sufficient management attention and resources are available to vigorously protect the primary segment (Paley 2006). The target market of the company involves almost all sectors of the society. The company aims to provide mobile products to young or old, boy or girl. The company as much as possible aims to reach all walks of life. This target market is a good source of income. The company has different strategies that can cater to the taste and appeal of such markets.  The change in management strategy will focus on increasing the market of the company. In increasing the market the company will need to make sure that the stores where its products are located will be in the most profitable places. The distribution stores for the products should be in places where clients can easily see the store and they can be encouraged to visit the store and buy products.  The distribution store should make sure that competition in the location they want to put up the branch will not be too heavy. The market of the company can still be expanded to accommodate the elder people market. The company can consider such clients as a different segment that should receive a different kind of product. They should also provide a different kind of mobile products for such market.   Part 2 Tradeoffs The change in strategy would help the firm gain more clients and increase its income. The change in strategy would help the firm improve its status in its industry. The potential problem with changing the strategy is a situation wherein the firm would lose control over its current markets. The new market would keep the company busy and may cause it to neglect the older markets.   Nature of People   Purpose Ambitions and objectives are formulated at three levels. For the long term, guiding objectives are important. For the short and medium term, a system of measurable objectives must be created. Finally, the actual missions are the concrete translation of those objectives to the social players involved (Keijzers 2004).  Communication is a key element of establishing focus, because employees usually perform better and accomplish more when they understand their role and how it relates to the bigger picture (Zwell 2000).   In setting the objective a clear picture of the internal and external environment was used by the firm. The environment showed the firm its weak points or problem areas. Through knowing its weak points the company was able to plan for future possibilities and future plan of actions. After the company knew its weak points it was able to create the objectives by determining the weak points or problem areas that should be given top concern and priority.  The company engaged in constant communication to determine what will be their objectives. To further identify the nature of the objective of the firm the lynch polygon will be used. Lynch’s Polygon of purpose Timing Sony Ericsson’s plan for change should begin as soon as it has enough funds and resources to introduce the change. The company cannot wait for too long before it introduces the change because the new strategy might not fight the future situation.   Innovation Sony Ericsson is one company that has proven its innovativeness through combining cell phones with walkman functionality.  The company can use such innovativeness to create more products that will be accepted by the market. Value Added The innovative nature of Sony Ericsson adds value to their products. If the company wants to show that they have value then they need to prove it by creating more innovative products and services.   Survival Survival in the telecommunication industry can be achieved by innovation and the use of appropriate strategies. Sony Ericsson is already innovative, it just needs to make sure that it will use appropriate strategies or make new strategies to continue to survive in a competitive cell phone industry.   Growth One goal of Sony Ericsson is continuous growth. The company has already risen from its humble beginnings but it still wants to reach better heights. To do that the company needs to focus on the new strategy and defend itself against competitive traps.   Brand Apart from each other Sony and Ericsson has created a name for themselves in their respective industries. Together they have become one of the biggest cellular phone companies. With proper use of marketing strategies and the use of unique packaging, the company can still create a more unique brand that can create a huge impact on the cell phone industry.   Leadership Sony Ericsson has good leaders that have guided them from their birth up to this day. The current and former leaders have helped the company make a name for itself in its field.  The leaders of the firm are one reason for its success and they are the ones that can truly guide the company to its objectives.   Stakeholders The stakeholders are a vital group that contributes to the success of Sony Ericsson. Their guidance and assistance have helped the firm achieve its current status. Without the stakeholders the firm will lose its focus and will do things unnecessary for its survival.   Value and Lifestyle The company has achieved its current status because it was able to maintain its value at the same time it introduced new trends that increased its value. The company has achieved a household status and is becoming a need rather than a want.   Knowledge Sony Ericsson values the gathering and use of knowledge.  The company makes sure that through its research and development division it gathers the data that it needs to survive its environment. The company uses knowledge to innovate its products and services. Time Time is of the essence. All planned actions of Sony Ericsson should be implemented so that the company can reap its benefits and initiate changes if there is such a need for it.  The company cannot afford to delay the implementation of the new strategy since the new strategy was only made for the current situation of the firm.   Company Mission   Evaluation An innovative organization must be led by a leader who develops and aligns the organization with the mission and vision, develops and maintains trust, ensures that coordinating and communicating occur, and encourages creativity and learning (Oden 1997).At the heart of the innovative culture lies the vision of the leader. This vision includes the broader sense of who the company is, why the company is doing this work, why it's important, the promises they have made to customers, and the code of conduct (Cook Jr. 2000). The mission and vision should definitely be consistent and supportive, but they will not be exactly alike since they serve two different purposes (Kanji 2002). Sony Ericsson’s mission statement concentrate on making sure that the company will produce the most attractive products.  This mission statement fits well with what the company is doing and showing to the public.  This mission statement can still be used to achieve the company’s overall goals.  Sony Ericsson has partly achieved its mission because it has created a wide array of eye catching products that are globally competitive and full of innovation.   Evaluation of mission statement against the five elements   Innovation   The mission statement of the firm has innovation as its core. The company innovates to achieve its mission. In every aspect of the firm, innovation is the concept deemed as most vital.   Brand The company has made sure that it is known all over the world. The company has established itself on various parts of the world. This coincides with the firm’s mission of having a global identity.   Growth The firm already has fully developed and grown it can be seen through its global brand. Sony Ericsson’s worldwide fame proves that the firm has achieved some basic goals and it has matured from its initial identity.   Stakeholders The company works with the stakeholders in achieving growth and development. The stakeholders boost the company for it to achieve its goals and compete well in its industry.   Value and Lifestyle Sony Ericsson wants to be attractive. They have achieved this mission through producing unique products that catches one’s attention.   References Cook Jr., WJ 2000, The art and science of holistic strategy, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.   Dunning, J 2003, Making globalization good: The moral challenges of global capitalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.   Jones, G 2005, Multinationals and global capitalism: From the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, Oxford University Press, Oxford.   Kakabadse, A 2001, The Geopolitics of governance: The impact of contrasting philosophies, Palgrave, New York.   Kanji, GK 2002, Measuring business excellence, Routledge, London.   Keijzers, G 2004, Government and sustainable development, Routledge, New York.   Nielsen, RP 1996, The politics of ethics: Methods for acting, learning, and sometimes fighting with others in addressing ethics problems in organizational life, Oxford University Press, New York.   Oden, HW 1997, Managing corporate culture, innovation and intrapreneurship, Westport, CT, Quorum Books.   Paley, N 2006, The manager's guide to competitive marketing strategies, Thorogood, London.   Wallach, B 2005, Understanding the cultural landscape, Guilford Press, New York.   Zwell, M 2000, Creating a culture of competence, Wiley, New York.

Strategic Planning and Implementation of Sony Ericsson

Part 1 Sony Ericsson, its resources and its competencies In 2000 Ericsson and Sony established a London-based joint venture, Sony ...