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Dissertation Chapter 4 Research Methodology Sample

Chapter 4: Research Methodologies   Chapter Overview    This particular research methodology chapter will be dealing and integrating relevant and valid instances to incur the process of putting research and its methodological paradigm into actual flow of evidence proving and be able to recognize as well as support whatever research outcomes the study is deemed and expected to contribute from its ideal design and framework of research in motion. There can be integration of research tools and materials within such instrument validation as well as measurement use to come up with reliable research results pointing towards certain variables involved in the study focusing on major posits of core competence and sustainability in business that will be supporting the automotive as well as power generation industries in both UK and Nigeria respectively. Thus, considering research material inputs can be ideal also for this chapter as it guides the research study to be organized in such research design flow and pattern as vital for achieving coherent understanding of what methods are used, how methods are linked as well as how approaches to research are supported by such primary and secondary data resources from such issues of competence and sustainability and how it affects the operation level and performance of the industries focused.   Research Design   Accordingly, Creswell (1994) stated that the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. The emphasis is on describing rather than on judging or interpreting. The aim of descriptive research is to verify formulated hypotheses that refer to the present situation in order to elucidate it. For this study, the descriptive research method was employed in order to identify impact of competence and sustainability in automotive and power generation business within UK and Nigeria. The researcher opted to use this research method considering the objective to obtain first hand data from the respondents. The descriptive method is advantageous to the researcher because of flexibility providing the researcher greater options in selecting the instrument for data-gathering (Cited from, Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). The quantitative data collection methods are centred on the determination of the weighted mean of the given statements. When these methods are used, the researcher is usually detached from the study and the final output is context free.   The study use survey questionnaires to gather pertinent data. Moreover, the researcher also uses previous studies related to the current situation of Music industries in the market and compares it to its existing data in order to provide conclusions and competent recommendations. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire is employed by the researcher so as to save time and effort in the organization of the answers that will be gained. The questionnaire was distributed to the general public.  The questionnaire was structured in such a way that respondents will be able to answer it easily. Thus, the set of questionnaire was structured using the Likert format with a five-point response scale. A Likert Scale is a rating scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or disagreement to a statement. In this type of questionnaire, the respondents were given five response choices. These options served as the quantification of the participants’ agreement or disagreement on each question item.   Henceforth, measurement, numerical data and statistics are the main substance of quantitative instruments (Cited from, Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). With these instruments, an explicit description of data collection and analysis of procedures are necessary. The quantitative approach is more on the detailed description of a phenomenon. It basically gives generalization of the gathered data with tentative synthesized interpretations. Quantitative approach is useful as it helps the researcher to prevent bias in gathering and presenting research data. Quantitative data collection procedures create epistemological postulations that reality is objective which can only be realized by means of transcending individual perspective. This phenomenon in turn should be discussed or explained by means of data analysis gathered through objective forms of measurement. The quantitative data gathering methods are useful especially when a study needs to measure the perception of the respondents regarding the topic. The purpose of the quantitative approach is to avoid subjectivity by means of collecting and exploring information which describes the experience being studied (Cited from, Gall, Gall and Borg, 2003). The measures used in this study are being developed through an extensive literature review followed by iterative review.   Furthermore, the measures had been used in prior studies and were found to demonstrate adequate reliability and validity. The questionnaires containing the measures were also pilot-tested before the main survey. The variables covered in this study were measured as perceptual items on five-point Likert scales. In order to secure their assistance in completing the survey questionnaire, perceptual rather than objective measures were used. According to Dess and Robinson (Cited from, 1984), subjective measures can be appropriate surrogates for organizational performance. Several lists of questionnaire items have been developed from Rogers’ (Cited from, 1995) five attributes of innovation. The indices of innovative attributes were generally arrived at by combining the responses of the items conceptually associated with the variable being measured. This usually involved simple summation except with those items whose contributions were logically opposite to the set of the scale, respondents were asked to indicate their perception of the overall satisfaction with sustainable process within competency substance from the perspective of the business industries investigated.   The methodology employed by this research study implies a qualitative nature and more quantitative approach to this research may develop however, the purpose of this research project was to ascertain possible impact of competence and sustainability as used for any possible framework development. This research project will be seen by such committee who will be responsible for giving initial and subsequent direction to the research. The methodology thus used was developed in order to satisfy the key stages of the project. Before any framework could be developed for the industries in question, it was first appropriate to perform a desk-top research exercise in order to see what models of competence already exist, both within the sector and across sectors. The initial views of industry, as canvassed at the first conference, were used to develop the main features of a possible framework for recognizing competence for the five industries in question.             Research Questions     1.      What is the positive/negative impact of competence and sustainability in automotive industry in UK? 2.      What is the positive/negative impact of competence and sustainability in automotive industry in Nigeria? 3.      What is the positive/negative impact of competence and sustainability in power generation industry in UK? 4.      What is the positive/negative impact of competence and sustainability in power generation industry in Nigeria? Thus, considering research hypothesis inputs can be ideal also for this chapter as it guides the research study to be organized in such research design flow and pattern as vital for achieving coherent understanding of what methods are used, how methods are linked as well as how approaches to research are supported by such primary and secondary data resources from competence as well as sustainability approaches to business industry adoption within the UK and Nigeria context.                 Research Hypothesis   H1: Competence of automotive industry has a positive impact on the value of business sustainability in UK H2: Sustainability of automotive industry has a positive impact on the value of business competence in UK H3: Competence of power generation industry has a positive impact on the value of business competence in Nigeria H4: Sustainability of power generation industry has a positive impact on the value of business competence in Nigeria   Research Population   The population of the research caters on 4 automotive and power generation industries operating in UK and Nigeria irrespective of whether they are using electronic commerce applications or not.   Research Sampling   Questionnaires are then distributed to the industries as the researcher made sure that the quality of the collected data will be at its best. Data was then coded and then analyzed using the SPSS software. In this chapter, there will be discussion of choices and substantial discussions concerning the research methods covered and such type of analysis strategy applied which are duly selected for the realization of this chapter and the study in general. Ideally, qualitative and quantitative research approach are being used in the study as the approach depends on the investigated information as such comprehensive discussions on core competence is desirable and appropriate within the study implying such qualitative research emphasizing unstructured as well as exploratory tool that can be based on such samples from UK and Nigeria industries that in manner does provide useful insights and understanding of such research issues as being supported by direct observation and with attempt to avoid commitment to such complicated nature to such research framework used. The qualitative approach has been selected as there can be enough awareness and consideration of competence and sustainability in UK and Nigeria’s industries as a part of the research study. Aside, quantitative approach was also applied in the study as it serves as an imperative material to assess and recognize precisely numeric values and figures as relevant and significant in determining such ideal impact as well as business performance adoption from views and perspectives of people involved within the automotive and power generation industries. Specifically, there can be a total of 10 industries as randomly selected to make up the sample. Selected participants answered a survey questionnaire structure in Likert format. Data gathered from this research instrument were then computed for interpretation. Along with primary data, the researcher also made use of secondary resources in the form of published articles and literatures to support the survey outcome. The questionnaire was structured in such a way that respondents will be able to answer it easily. Thus, the set of questionnaire was structured using the Likert format with a five-point response scale. A Likert Scale is a rating scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or disagreement to a statement. In this type of questionnaire, the respondents were given five response choices. These options served as the quantification of the participants’ agreement or disagreement on each question item.   Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire   Several techniques were used to assess the reliability Cronbach’s coefficient and to assess face, construct and convergent validity. In order to ascertain face validity, an initial questionnaire are to be passed through the routine editing and will be given to the panel of academic committee and that the participants of the study will be asked to respond to the questionnaire and based upon their comments; questionnaire will be reworded to enhance the clarity. In general, validity refers to the degree to which instrument truly measure the constructs that are intended to measure. Thus, Campbell and Fiske proposed two types of validity: convergent and discriminating validity. Convergent validity is measured by average variance extracted for each construct during the reliability analysis that should be 0.5 or 50 percent better. Then, to further analyze for convergent and discriminating validity of certain constructs, principal component method with such rotation are to be utilized in order to assess the variables in the study as such research outcomes can possibly show that variables incorporated are to be verified in the process respectively.   Questionnaire Guideline Questions  The discussion groups will be asked to discuss the issues in question to guide the conversation as there can be composed of several questions: (See Appendix for the questionnaire)   <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="square"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> What are the main drivers for competency and sustainability framework in the company you are part of?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> How such impact like in, automotive industry performance into the framework might be achieved within your area of interest?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Taking into account the drivers and issues of competence which model, if there is one could be used as basis for any sustainable development within the industries?</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%; text-autospace: none"> Do you support the business operation values for adopting such framework?</li> </ul>               Ethical Considerations   In keeping with the appropriate procedures and in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the research, the researcher had made every effort to ensure that the ethical guidelines for conducting a study were strictly followed. Thus, prior to commencing with the research, permission was obtained from each customer, who participated in the study.  All data collected from the respondents were kept in a secure location. The names of the respondents were secured. The objective, purpose and the significance of the study were all relayed to the participants before initiating the research process. As stated, the research underwent stages. In the research design, the researcher collected secondary data and formulated and developed the self-administered questionnaire. In this stage, these instruments were subjected to approval and validation. During the information collection, the researcher collated and summarized the data obtained from the self-administered questionnaire and survey. The researcher then analyzed this information and from these, the researcher came up with findings and recommendations that shall be presented in the next chapters.

Dissertation Chapter 4 Research Methodology Sample

Chapter 4: Research Methodologies Chapter Overview This particular research methodology chapter will be dealing and integrat...

Multinational Companies in the Context of Globalization

CHAPTER 1: Introduction   Multinational Companies in the Context of Globalization               The proliferation of multinational companies is attributed to the process of globalization. Globalization is an evolving, continuous and multi-faceted process covering political, economic and socio-cultural changes driven by technology (, 1983). In international relations, the United Nations established in 1945, embodies the cooperation of states towards a standard for political and economic development (2001). The establishment of venues for cooperation resulted to the conduct of political and economic activities of states and other entities in the context of international relations ( 1998). In international economics, production and trade is no longer limited to a country. International political cooperation led to agreements for the opening up of economies to accommodate the international flow of goods and investment from other economies. ( 1999) The General Agreement on Tariff and Trade 1947 is an agreement that facilitates free trade among the signatory countries under the capitalist system. (2005) Countries engaging in trade related agreements are considered as contracting parties with the freedom to stipulate the provisions of the agreement subject only to the limitations of the laws of the contracting states and international law. In international relations, businesses conducting international operations or multinational companies are accorded legal personality to contract with other companies or states.              Globalization translates in economic terms as capitalism, liberalization, and privatization. Capitalism is an economic system where most, if not all, resources are privately owned and where prices and the mode of production is determined by the free market. Liberalization refers to the process of relaxing state restrictions or regulation in certain activities. Privatization covers the transfer of the control and management of resources from the government of the private sector. (2003) Globalization means that the private sector control and direct economic activities. These activities are not only limited to the state but to other countries. Multinational companies emerged segmenting production in different parts of the world where production resources are competitive making production more profitable. This situation led to the competition of states for international investments, especially countries with underdeveloped economies that depend on foreign investment to sustain the economy. (1998)               Developing countries, that are not industrialized and overflowing with human resource, compete to provide investment opportunities to companies who want to engage or expand into other economies.  States who have resources but unable of efficiently manage their endowments become dependent on foreign investment as a source of revenue for the government and a source of finances for private businesses. This situation melts the economic restrictions and barriers in economic relations because the basis of dependence is need. While developing countries are dependent on large companies for investment, the large companies are in turn dependent on these countries for more profitable conditions for production. The private characteristic of the parties in the relationship of dependence excludes the control of the government over private transactions. The government exercise restrictions only to the extent of the limitations of laws but then again laws are changeable. (2002)   Multinational Companies in the Global Market   It is in the context of globalization that multinational companies developed and persisted and it is also in the context of capitalism, liberalization and privatization that the strategies of multinational companies are based. Multinational companies are business firms that controls and managers manufacturing processes in two or more countries. Multinational companies are multiplant firms operating in more than one state. (1996) Multinational companies are large firms operating in two or more countries through subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are companies controlled by a larger corporation. Control and ownership of the company may be shared with other companies. If the larger corporation fully owns and controls the subsidiary then the latter is a wholly owned company. (2001)   There are different categories of multinational corporations. One type is the horizontally integrated multinational corporation involved in the production activities located in more than one country for the manufacture of similar products. Another is the vertically integrated multinational corporation engaged in the production or manufacture of products in one country to be used in another production activity in another state. In the second category, the company produces or manufactures raw or processed materials in one country to be used in the production of a final product produced in another country. Still another category is the diversified multinational corporation involved in the management of production firms in different countries that are related neither horizontally nor vertically. (2003)               Multinational companies developed into competitive forces in the world economy. The focus of the operations of multinational corporations is on the coordination of the allocation of resources in its international operations in order to minimize production cost and maximize revenue. However, before companies can operate as multinational businesses, these firms also have to develop market-entry strategies to become competitive forces in a foreign economy. There are different strategies that multinational corporations may utilize to enter into a foreign market. The common strategies used in market entry are either marketing or operational. Marketing entry strategies include exporting and licensing where the company does not have to establish a physical base in the new market. Operational entry strategies include franchising, joint venture and foreign direct investment. After all these considerations, the multinational company can now concern itself with building a business structure, actual production, direct marketing as well as financial planning. Globalizing or Internationalizing a Business               The endeavor of entering and developing a foreign market is not easy because at the start of the process, the company is like starting a business and there are no sales or marketing structure in place and there is limited knowledge of the market. There is also a difference between domestic and international operations due to the difference in the operating environment and the strategic requirements for success. Although there is no actual difference between domestic and international operations in relation to marketing and operations theories, there are factors in global operations that affect management decisions. ( 1996)             Penetrating an international market involves a process with zero-base because the business does not have an existing business in the market, there is limited knowledge on the market and lack of managerial competence to operate in the new market. This situation implies that the business introduced in a foreign market is likely to experience a greater rate of change than the change in the business environment because there are many internal adjustments to be made by the business organization. The company has several options to address the situation. One option is entering into partnerships with local firms for the distribution of products. Another option is speeding up the process of changing the marketing strategy through a new product or expanding distribution or changing the marketing organization by acquiring sole distribution of products. (1996)   Globalizing a business involves the development of a multi-market network because of the influence of its previous experience in its businesses in other countries. The more international businesses that a company has, the more that operations will be done in an aggregate level. In terms of price, the company may apply a uniform price for its products with minimum influence by the domestic market or it may also vary price in the different markets especially in cases where one business is incurring increased sales and another suffering losses. International operation influences decision-making in different way than in domestic operations. (2003)   International business operations involve rapid changes in marketing strategy as the company grows or fails. Decision-making on strategies is affected by market factors as well as organizational development. Thus, in studying the strategies applied by existing multinational companies, market factors and organizational characteristics are the two major points to be considered. These two factors co-exist in the process of entering and developing an international market. In determining the strategies that contributed to the success of international businesses, the common experiences of these businesses are important to learn the evolution of marketing and organizational strategies from the initial entry until the successful introduction of the company. (2002) Justifications for Global Business Operations                         There are several justifications that support the strategy of some companies to enter the global market. First is to find cost-effective sources of raw materials that support the increasing production needs of the company. The domestic economy may not be able to provide the requirements of the company for raw materials and labor or the cost of raw materials and labor is too high making it not rational for the company to depend on the domestic economy for its raw material needs. When cost-effective sources of raw material and labor are available in other economies, companies expand into other economies to take advantage of cheaper raw materials and labor. One of the first companies to operate as multinational companies are those engaged in oil exploration such as British Petroleum and Exxon. (, 2003)               Second is to find new markets for their products. There are companies that experience decrease sales due to market saturation. Market saturation refers to the extent that a particular product is diffused or distributed into the market. The extent of distribution determines the remaining portion of the market for business expansion. Market saturation depends upon the following market factors: 1) the purchasing power of consumers; 2) competition; 3) prices; and technology. In the case of television, almost all of the households in industrialized countries such as the United States and Britain own television resulting to a very high diffusion rate. Companies manufacturing televisions are forced to compete based on innovations to attract households to purchase new television sets. Most companies selling televisions are multinational companies offering their products to new markets in developing countries. (, 2003)               Third is to rationalize the firms operating cost. Business firms with seeking to achieve cost-efficient production are attracted to expand their operations to other countries not only to lessen the cost of raw materials and labor but also to minimize cost required in production such as taxes and policy restrictions. In minimizing cost, the business firm is able to remain as cost competitive. Multinational corporations consider cost minimization in terms of its internal operations as well as the external factors that affect production. High business taxes and strict industry standards or restrictions are the most salient business environment features that repel business firms. Less tax and less stringent policy restrictions are the factors that multinational companies look for in choosing a country to expand its operations. Business firms that primarily became multinational companies to minimize operating cost are Texas Instruments, Intel and Seagate Technology. (, 2003)   Objectives of Global Business Operations               The justifications of business firms in internationalizing their operations are related to their objectives for growth and expansion. The most common manner of market entry is commenced through product distribution through local businesses or partners to gain entry in a short period. After introducing the product to the market, the business firm takes a more involved action by producing and marketing the product through a subsidiary. This is applied because it enables products to gain easy entry into the market even before the company has established its operations in the market. This also involves minimum risk since the company is given time to assess the acceptance of the market to its products. The reasons for market entry and development are to gain access to cost-effective sources of raw materials and labor, create demand or market for products and services and minimize cost.               These justifications are related to the objectives of investment decisions. First objective is to learn in lead markets (, 2001). There are business firms who incur cost in market entry primarily to learn from market conditions and secondarily to earn profit. Koc a Turkish conglomerate sought to enter Germany, considered as the leading global market for refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers and washing machines in terms of product specification and consumer sophistication. At the start of the endeavor, the company recognized that its brand is unknown in the market and great effort is needed to penetrate the market. However, the company also recognized that if its market entry strategies work it would gain great insight into the marketing situation in Germany and global market entry as well. The lead market differs in different countries. Software is the lead market in the United States, electronics and telecommunications in Japan and fashion in France and Italy.             Second objective is to pursue a competitive attack or competitive defense ( 1994). The investment decision to penetrate a market is a response to the earlier move of a competitor to enter a new market. The business firm takes the position of a follower. This is done when the company that previously entered a market is a major competitor and the entry is deemed as giving the competitor a great advantage. Apart from the great advantage that the competitor is expected to experience in terms of revenue, the company also perceives that leaving the company to operate alone in the new market will eventually lead to inequality in status to the disadvantage of the business firm. Another scenario that influences the decision to enter a new market is a defensive stance against the move of a major global competitor to enter the domestic market where the business firms are based. The business firm enters the domestic market of the competitor to force the competitor to incur increased cost in an intensified competition in the same way that it incurred cost in responding to the earlier move of the competitor.                Third objective is to take advantage of opportunities offered by a new marketing environment through incentives from domestic and foreign countries.  There are countries that encourage businesses to export by providing different kinds of support making it easier for business firms to expand into the global market. There are also countries that give incentives for foreign investments paving the way for the smooth entry of business firms into the market. (, 2000) CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE   Entry Strategies in the Global Market               Entering another economy requires the transfer of financial resources, management skills and technology to another market. There are several ways of gaining market entry for multinational firms, which are exporting, franchising, licensing, joint venture and foreign direct investment. Foreign direct investment provides greatest control of production by the foreign company but requires the greatest use of resources. Franchising and joint venture involves moderate degree of control as well as a moderate infusion of resources. Licensing offers the least level of control because it also involves the least utilization of resources. The entry strategy of a multinational corporation depends upon its business objective and the availability of resources.               Exporting refers to the process of marketing and distributing products to a foreign market. This activity involves the interaction between the exporter, importer, transport provider and the government of the foreign country. The goods distributed are not produced in the foreign market so that there is no need to establish a physical structure in the new market. Costs involved covers marketing activities of the company. This market entry strategy is ideal for business firms with limited knowledge and experience on international operations. ( 2003)             Piggybacking is an exporting arrangement that involves taking advantage of the channels of distribution in the global market instead of targeting a particular market. A company that successfully used this strategy is F&P Gruppo, an Italian rice firm that owns the Gallo brand. The company entered the Poland through its subsidiary in Argentina because the Argentinean air force was sending empty air freighters to Poland that comes back with imports. Food companies took advantage of the cheaper way of exporting products.  Another manner of piggybacking is the joining of two companies to take advantage of a channel of distribution. This is applied by IBM and Minolta with the latter taking advantage of the established distribution channels of IBM and the former welcoming a firm to share the cost of distribution. (2003)               Franchising is a market entry strategy as well as a hybrid manner of organizing the business by establishing a relationship of agency with the franchisees ( 1988). Franchising involves the convergence of a parent company and several small businesses. The parent company sells to the smaller businesses the right to distribute its products or use its trade name and processes. The agency relationship established between the parent company and the franchisee is governed by a contract ( 1992). The franchise contract defines the conditions of the agency and the duration of the relationship. ( 2004).               McDonalds celebrated its 50th anniversary in April 15, 2005 and remained true to the statement "As far as I can tell, the only place you can't get a Big Mac is in outer space." ( 1990, ) The company operates as a global business through franchising. In 2004, the company reported to have established 30,000 local restaurants located in 115 countries across five continents. It is the biggest fast food retailer conquering markets worldwide. In almost every country in the world, there is a McDonalds restaurant and in a single state or region, there are several branches. The company has spread so widely that the term “mcdonaldization” ( 1998,) was coined to describe the organization and culture of the company. The term has evolved to refer to the general business strategy of expansion.               Licensing is the process of permitting a local company to use the property of the licensor in exchange for a fee. The property refers to intangible things such as patents, trademarks as well as production techniques. This arrangement involves the infusion of little resources enabling the licensor to obtain a high return on investment. However, there is a risk of revenue loss because the licensee produces and markets products and collects revenue. ( 1999)   Licensing also refers to the market entry of business firms with a distinct legally protected asset that constitutes their distinction in the market. Distinct protected assets covers brand name, technology, product design and manufacturing or service process. Licensing is not an exclusive strategy in global marketing. (  2004) Disney is a company renowned for licensing cartoon characters to manufacturing and other firms within and outside the United States. The central activity of Disney is its media productions while marketing is done by the business firms permitted to use Disney cartoon characters. In department stores cartoon characters are found in children’s clothing, shoes, bags, pens and toys  while in supermarkets Disney characters are used in shampoos, soap, diapers, milk, cereals and a wide array of other products.               Joint venture refers to the management arrangement that involves the partnership of a foreign company and a local company based on the sharing of capital, technological resources and other benefits. The foreign company benefits from the relationship by gaining entry into the market and taking advantage of the expertise of the local company on the political and economic environment while the local company benefits from enjoying the infusion of capital and technological innovations into its operations. The extent of control of the foreign and local firms in the joint venture depends upon the agreement and the legal limitations. ( 1999)                The New Corporation by its strategic joint ventures became a multinational company. Its corporate projects started out as a drive to expand its reach to other countries apart from Australia. It ventured into the UK purchasing newspapers both national and local and then it set foot in the United States to introduce his company as a potent competitor to existing companies. The most recent venture is developing its business in Asia particularly in China and Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and the Philippines which catered not only to the English speaking locals but also accommodated and aired the local events and locally produced movies and television programs. In countries where there are established broadcasting companies the strategy of The News Corporation is to gain control of the channels of distributing televised news by gaining controlling interest in  influential cable companies through joint ventures. When satellite television was introduced, it also acquired interests in satellite corporations. After being assured of the means of showing its programs, the company had the freedom to create and develop its shows. The company is known for hit movies Titanic and Independence Day and the kids channel Fox Kids. ( 2006)                         Foreign direct investment (FDI) is “a category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident in one economy (the direct investor) obtaining a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy (the direct investment enterprise)” ( 2003). Foreign direct investment implies the development of a lasting interest in the establishment of a continuing relationship of the direct investor with the enterprise including influencing the management of the firm to a certain degree (1996). Foreign direct investment allows the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise to experience certain economic benefits from the relationship. On one hand, the direct investor is able to engage in new ventures or expand into other economies by sharing capital, management expertise and technology to the direct investment enterprise (2003). On the other hand, the direct investment enterprise benefits from capital infusion, technological transfer and management skill acquisition necessary for growth. (1998) International business firms that fared well through foreign direct investment include General Motors that established a plant in the Philippines as well as Coca-cola and Pepsi with processing plants in every geographical region for cost-efficiency.   Operational and Marketing Strategies of Multinational Corporations               The success of the marketing strategy of multinational corporations depends upon the manner that the company takes advantage of the different opportunities and tools to improve its gain a place relative to its competitors and the market. Marketing efficiency means creating a market in the local economy by introducing and promoting products with the objective of extending product life cycle or introducing products that reached high levels of saturation in other markets. Strategy in global marketing considers the first mover advantage of the company. The multinational company may also take advantage of the higher price that people expect from new products. Risk as a strategy consideration refers to the benefits that the multinational company gets by spreading the operational and macroeconomic risks in different economies. Learning is a benefit achieved by the multinational company because management is able to expand its experience by operating in different economies and markets. Reputation is the benefit experienced by the company in increasing its brand equity in the global market through the influence of crossover customers. ( 1998)               Operating in the global market requires strategies based on accurate information about the marketing environment worldwide. The company can utilize marketing and operations theories but it should apply these in the context of the local environment. Operating strategies revolve around diversity. The company needs to consider and integrate three sources of information: firm-specific knowledge or information on the local market environment, country specific knowledge or information on the political and economic characteristics of the local environment, and knowledge of global environment to determine trends that affects decisions on business operations.  (, 1999)               Marketing strategy should focus on mass-marketing competence and establishing marketing channels. Mass-marketing competence is an important because this is the strategy demanded by the emerging market and it is the best way of fulfilling the objective of the business firm to develop a market for its products. Companies seeking entry into new markets initially price their products higher than local counterparts in order to maintain global price consistency and to prevent parallel importing threats. This results to their products accessible only to the elite segment of the market. In the long run the company does not obtain projected sales and it also allows local companies time to develop their products and brands. Establishing marketing channels is an important factor in market penetration because this strategy links the offer of the company to the demands of the customer. ( 2001)                         Kellogg, a cereal firm in the United States had trouble in marketing its products because it failed to consider the distinct marketing demand in India. The company wanted to increase its profit through the potential of developing a global market for its breakfast products. In 1995, Kellogg introduced its cereal products by exporting to India and selling it at its standard global price. After three years of marketing the product, the company was still unable to reach its projected sales. Kellogg has gained a measly $10 million in sales after three years. The company later found out that the low sales was attributed to the higher price of its products compared to other alternative breakfast and the market did not relate to the convenient breakfast advertising claim because people prefer to buy biscuits and tea in roadside stalls. In the next years, the company introduced varieties of biscuits in convenient packaging at an affordable price in roadside stalls. Kellogg’s is still in the Indian market and it has entered other markets through both exporting and foreign direct investment. ( 2003)               Unilever is a multinational company that succeeded in market development through mass-marketing and marketing channel competencies. When Unilever unveiled its new global brand in 2004 in South Africa, the company stressed that its objective is to stay relevant to consumers. Thus, the company launched a campaign to illicit funds for its HIV/AIDS advocacy based on the rationale that healthy and economically empowered people constitute a vibrant market. The advocacy program includes livelihood program for the community. The company also utilized mass distribution channels such as supermarkets and department stores. Unilever is present in almost every region in the world. Consumers belonging to different income groups buy its products. ( 2004)               Globalizing business firms may also consider transferring their brands to the local market or acquiring local sources of advantage. The decision is based on the objective of the company to compete either with other foreign companies or with local business firms or both. Transferring company assets into the market is done by marketing a brand in different markets or using the company name in the different physical structures. ( 2003) Coca-cola and Pepsi transfer company assets to different markets by introducing uniform brands and products worldwide.   Localization is the process of taking advantage of marketing opportunities in local markets. This is done by either taking an international brand or product and fitting these into the demands of the local market or acquiring local brands or products and integrating this into their brand and product portfolio. (, 2003)  The first strategy was used by Kellogg’s in India, when it introduced biscuits but marketed the products in smaller packages at a lower price in roadside stalls to become a significant breakfast supplier in the market. The second strategy was implemented by Coca-cola in Japan by acquiring the local brand Georgia iced tea to meet the demands of the local market. Heineken also utilized the second aspect of localization through the strategy of selling a combination of local brands and international brands, but maintaining Heineken as the flagship brand. Heineken also achieves broader positions and remain in the top or secondary positions in any market of local beer. ( 2005)   Another aspect of localization is taking advantage of distribution assets in the local market. Procter & Gamble earns $50 billion dollars a year in global sales. When the distribution channels of Eastern Europe collapsed during the transformation from communism to democracy, P&G developed local channels of distribution by funding several distributor businesses by providing vans, training and information technology capabilities. (, 2003) Palm, Inc. is a global computing company that succeeds in market entry through the acquisition of local computing companies and their products and merging these into a strong business firm so that the company takes advantage of the channels of distribution of these local companies. The firm is also engaged in innovations and product development to differentiate its products in the global market. ( 2003)   CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY   This study will be conducted to determine the success factors of most multinational companies and organizations in internationalizing their business operations in other countries/continents. In this study, the interview method of data gathering will be utilized, with a combined total of 50 employees from both Palm, Inc. and Heineken as participants. The research plan will proceed guided by the following conceptual framework:                                               Research Methods       The research will utilize the descriptive method in learning the strategies and techniques utilized by Palm, Inc. and Heineken in their international operations. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena (, 1994). The researcher opted to use this kind of research to obtain first hand data from the respondents as basis for formulating rational and sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.   To come up with pertinent findings and provide credible recommendations, this study will utilize two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data will be obtained through the questionnaire survey and in-depth interview. Secondary research data will be obtained from books, journals and studies on the same topic. Secondary data include raw data and published summaries, as well as both quantitative and qualitative data (2003). Research Design In order to come up with the most suitable research approach and plan for the study, the “onion” research process will be utilized. According to (2003), in order to come to the central issue of how to collect the data needed to answer one’s research questions, there are important layers of the onion that need to be peeled away: the first layer raises the question of the research philosophy to adopt, the second considers the subject of research approach that flows from the research philosophy, the third examines the research strategy most applicable, the fourth layer refers to the time horizon a researcher applies to his research, and the fifth layer is the data collection methods to be used.             Figure 1 shows how the researcher conceptualized the ‘onion’ research approach to be applied in this study. The first layer involves the application of the research philosophy of positivism where the researcher works in an actual observable environment (1998) and acts as an objective and independent analyst ( 2003) using a highly structured methodology (1997) to arrive at valid generalizations. Meanwhile, the second layer involves the deductive approach that has five sequential stages: deducing a hypothesis; expressing the hypothesis in operational terms; testing this operational hypothesis; examining the specific outcome of the inquiry to either confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification; and finally, modifying the theory in the light of the findings whenever necessary (1993). Instruments to be used A self-administered questionnaire, or the type of questionnaire that is usually completed by respondents (2003), was constructed by the researcher to gather data. A survey questionnaire using the Likert Scale was prepared asking respondents to rate given statements according to their level of satisfaction.             Range                                                Interpretation                          3.50 – 4.00                                       Very Satisfied             2.50 – 3.49                                        Quite Satisfied             1.50 – 2.49                                        Quite Dissatisfied                               0.00 – 1.49                                        Very Dissatisfied             The survey-questionnaires contain open-ended questions to be used in a semi-structured interview. Interviews will take one and two hours. The questions that will be used in the interview are based on the research questions that have been reviewed, refined and approved by the project supervisor. Validation and Administration of the Instrument For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the initial survey will be conducted to the 50 respondents.  After the questions are answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument.  Afterwards, the researcher again will examine the content of the interview questions to find out the reliability of the instrument. The researchers then will exclude irrelevant questions and change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, to much simpler terms. The researcher will also tally, score and tabulate all the responses in the provided interview questions.             Apparently, there have been issues on the validation on using self-assessment as against an observer rating. The use of either one will significantly change the result of the findings. This study will opt to use both. While there are strengths of the approach, scholars have also presented future impediments and limitations of using this type of methodology.             Furthermore, the researcher will adopt the three-stage process devised by (2003). The first stage is assessing the overall suitability of data to research questions and objectives. In this stage, the researcher will pay particular attention to measurement validity (measuring / estimating whether the secondary data will result to a valid answer to the research questions and objectives) and coverage (this includes ensuring whether or not the data is wanted and can be included, as well as making sure that sufficient data remain for analyses to be undertaken once unwanted data have been excluded). The second stage is evaluating precisely the suitability of data for analyses needed to answer and meet the research questions and objectives. In this stage, the researcher will ensure the validity and reliability of the secondary data by assessing how it was previously gathered, who are its sources, and the likes. In addition, the researcher will be cautious not to commit measurement bias (which can occur due to deliberate distortion of data or changes in the way data are collected). Finally, the researcher will judge whether to use data based on an assessment of costs and benefits in comparison with alternative sources. Data Representative and Reliability             To ensure the reliability of interview results, test-retest will be conducted, or the administration of the same test to the same set of interviewees on two different occasions will be conducted.  This approach assumes that there is no substantial change in the construct being measured between the two occasions.  Thus, two tests will also be conducted: a pretest or a pilot test shall be done and a post-test.  Interviewees will be questioned twice. Furthermore, the proposed approaches, structured interview and telephone questionnaire will be interview-administered.  This part will encourage credibility and accuracy in the interviews. Ethical Considerations             In keeping with the procedures and in the interest of maintaining the integrity of the proposed research, the researcher will make every effort to ensure that the ethical guidelines in research will be strictly followed.  All data collected from the respondents will be kept in confidence. The names of the respondents and their answers will not be revealed. The appropriate measures of the data will be obtained with the selected statistical instruments, and all results of the study will be open to the respondents and the public.

Multinational Companies in the Context of Globalization

CHAPTER 1: Introduction Multinational Companies in the Context of Globalization The proliferation of multinationa...

To identify the motivation factors for job satisfaction among salesperson, middle-level managers and top-managers in Parsons Music Store.

Topic: To identify the motivation factors for job satisfaction among salesperson, middle-level managers and top-managers in Parsons Music Store.   1.    Introduction   Parsons Music store gets its main profit by passing its products or service through to its customers. This process requires selling and the effort of salesperson team such as junior and senior salespersons, middle-level managers and top-managers team. In view the emergence of human- related quality and productivity problems. It is believed those salespersons are no longer content with job that provides income and little bones. Top management of Parsons Music store is interesting in exploring the job and achieving its quality and productivity goals. The main purpose of this project is to explore the factor influencing work motivation and job satisfaction for getting better performance and high productivity. The essence of that approach is to create basic conditions regarding changing job characteristics that promote high performance motivation, high satisfaction at work and match the job with the individual salespersons.   Parsons Music store in HK is dedicated to bringing the benefits of music to the HK community as started its first retail shop in Hong Kong, and today have some outlets across the neighboring countries such as in China, and that being the exclusive representative of many of the world-famous names in musical instruments.   Thus, at Parsons Music incurs knowledgeable and customer-oriented work teams that are well-known by its complete coverage and recognized by clients for its professionalism.   It can be good expectations and if one of situation, such as Parsons Music salesperson in his natural selling style must be desirable towards the customer’s natural buying style of music instruments thus, promoting successful outcome for outstanding business sales. Therefore, the salesperson within the company must be duly motivated along with better work environment in order to keep the business on track and thus, such truth will truly boost their skills such as in showing their special skills towards driving abundant sales performance at Parsons Music and how they are experts in approaching viable sales potentials.   The research is about Parsons Music, this is the company in focus of the study because it has operations in Hong Kong and that it is popularly known in Hong Kong as one of leading industry in terms of providing high quality musical instruments as there can be quite competitive in Hong Kong. Parsons Music store because there is a need to look beyond their sales aspect and determining the role of the salesperson within the company. Thus, to amicably relate such theory from such HR functions of the company mostly, in lieu to motivation theories particularly assessing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s two factor theory that should be in appropriate integration to the sales people at Parsons Music store   The cause of satisfaction factors are identify in four areas: satisfaction with job, satisfaction with work group, satisfaction with organization such as promotion and growth development and satisfaction with leader such as support, policy fair, opportunity. A fairly mixed range of references to opinions and theories have been used to situate Parson’s achievements in a larger context of modern corporate leadership.   In the methodology part, it approaches to method coving deduction and induction. In deduction part, it explains important analysis of causal relationships and explanation. This parts used of quantitative data. It used questionnaires methods.    In induction part, it explains of subjective meaning systems and understanding, it generation and used of qualitative data. It allow minimize reactivity among the subject of research. It used interview methods.        1.1    Company Introduction Founded in 1986, Parsons Music Limited (Parsons) is now one of the largest music stores in Hong Kong selling musical instruments and offering music education. The company has 21 outlets throughout the territory as well as branches in Mainland China. The sale employees have 3000 for customer’s service in Hong Kong brands. The company has established by Mr. Ng lam wing. His two daughters is being the senior brand managers. Year after year, the company established promotion on salespeople by senior manager. The talent sale force employees can promotion to the middle level manager position. The company has not established promotion at the top-manager position for the sales peoples. (Parsons Music Limited, 2007).       2.    Objective The study focuses on understand the important reasons why employees retain or leave in the company and how motivation theories have emerged in attract talent employees. First, it assesses all levels of salesperson job satisfaction and to draw forth major area of salesperson dissatisfaction. Secondly, how Parson Music Store can attract potential new staff comes? Third, the emphasis will stress on the implication of the worker’s job satisfaction and dissatisfaction to their direct service such as motivation to work, their team operation and the quality of service. It also concern for salesperson’s job satisfaction affecting their self-motivation.  Finally, it measures effective of a system of these two motivation theory which are Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory to see the job satisfaction factor. It also concern for salesperson’s job satisfaction affecting their self-motivation.          3.      Literature Review   Job satisfaction is widely studies in different countries and different job nature. There is a unique definition of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction also plays a central role in the study of behavior at work. Rozonowski and Hulin claim that “Once an individual joins an organization, a vector of scores on a well-constructed, validated set of job satisfaction scales becomes the most informative data an organization manager can have”. The effects of satisfaction are on productivity, turnover, absenteeism, goal setting.   It found out that job satisfaction including work itself, coworkers, pay, working conditions, company policies and procedures, and opportunities for promotion.   Job satisfaction Lofguist and Dawis (1969) noted that satisfaction is “a function of the correspondence between the reinforce system of the worker environment and the individual’s needs Locke (1976) stated that job satisfaction can be viewed as “a pleasurable or position emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (p.1300).   The benefit of study job satisfaction in parson music store Getting changes are usually introduced in the hope that improvements in satisfaction will inturn affest broader eares of employee satisfaction and improve behavior and reduce costs, job enrichment may lead to reduced turnover and substantial cost savings.  “Abraham Maslow is one of the psychologist who had developed the theory of human motivation and that Maslow believe that humans have five sets of needs that are arranged in a hierarchy, beginning with the most basic and compelling needs” (Cited from, Johns and Saks, 2005, p. 139). However, Maslow has become embodied in his known hierarchy of needs as represented by triangle (Cited from, Johns and Saks, 2005; McShane, 2004; Robbins and Langton, 2003).   A much deeper analysis is needed of the factors which affect employee’s performance, retain and attract and how effective of these two motivation theory which are Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory, it can or can not work in the company while it practice at work and suitable to give job satisfaction to employees. firstly, a analysis the motivation. Motivation means to move (Villere and Hartman, 1990). Robbins(1991) who identify motivation as the willingness of salesperson to use high levels of efforts to reach company goals.   Motivation is the initiation, direction (I am motivated our classmate to go to read rather than to go shopping), intensity and persistence of behavior (Geen, 1995). Schuler and MacMillan (1984) viewed motivation is a strategic standpoints. They stated that organizations can retain the best qualified salesperson and to motivate them to perform at high level of gain influence.   For business marketing, the hierarchy of needs were being used to define certain customer needs (Cited from, Ritson, 2004) as well as segmenting the process based on the needs of the staff for this, it can be dealing to the sales persons at Parsons Music store (Cited from, Pincus, 2004), it can be also to allow such mechanics of motivation to take place that can be visible among the business CEO, their senior management and several board of directors of the company and it can be that, the management of Parsons Music store is one of them (Cited from, Senter, 2004). The hierarchy of needs as theorized by Maslow, (as illustrated below) have been used also in order to support views on ethical and moral development (Cited from, Huang, 2004) as advocated by some sales consultants, for the facilitation of the motivation of employees from such present generation of workers the so-called, Gen Y workers (Cited from, HR Focus, 2004).   Source: Maslow, A.H. (1943), "A theory of human motivation", Psychological Review, Vol. 50 pp.370-96             The most popular theory is related to an individual’s need fulfillments in job. Maslow’s (1954) theory proposed that a need hierarchy with needs divided into lower order and higher order. The lower order a need is safety and security need while the high orders are self-esteem and self-actualization. Maslow (1954) believed that people would tend to fulfill their lower level need first and then their higher level needs. Needs fulfillment was considered as a continuous process, once a level of need was fulfilled, one would seek a way to fulfill a higher one. Although Maslow’s theory was not directly related to determination of job satisfaction, it contributed to understanding of job satisfaction.   Herzberg (1966) further developed Maslow’s theories into a well-known two-factor theory. Herzberg divided the factors involving job satisfaction into two factor theory. Herzbery divided the factors into two categories. The first was “motivators”. Motivators referred to those factors which if present in a working situation, would lead to one’s job satisfaction. But, if motivators were absent in a working situation, it would not lead to and job dissatisfaction. The factor included achievement, recognition, and the intrinsic interest of the work itself. Second category of factor was named “hygiene factors”. It referred to those factors which absence in a working situation would lead to job dissatisfaction. However, when those factors were enough, it would not lead to job satisfaction. Hygiene factor are including pay, security and physical conditions.   The important of Herzberg’s theory is that hygiene factors such as pay and other working condition are context factors which have little effect in deriving satisfaction from job(Johns, G., Saks, A. (2005). They are necessary conditions for producing job satisfaction but not the determining variables. The absence of motivators in the job will not prevent our individual to fulfill their lower level of needs such as security and physiological needs.   Vroom (1964) argued that the storytelling critical incident method, in which the interviewee recounted satisfying and dissatisfying job event, used by Herzbery to identify the associations of the factor to interviewee’s satisfaction to job.    For the literature, it can be ideal that motivation involve such process that will produce certain goal-directed behavior within groups of individuals being employees such as the salespersons working at Parsons Music store, such as desired behavior being directed towards the attainment of business goals catering to the side of marketing. Thus, the effectiveness of sales force within the company play such crucial role in success and growth of HK music industry as essential that Parsons music’s sales people is greatly motivated within the work environment. Furthermore, motivation in sales function refers to the quantity of effort Tom Lee’s salesperson is willing to expend within his selling job of such instruments.       3.2   The role of Human Resources Manger for employee motivation   In the company, the Human resource managers have helped to raise employee’s self-esteem. The three objectives for human resource managers, are:   . Accumulating: getting the right people to start with. . Linking: building relationships that encourage individual development . Bonding: trying to connect individuals’ activities and beliefs to the core vision of the      organization.( Maslow, A.H. 1943)   Human Resources Manger is at the root of all improve sales performance, retain. It imparts methodical and sustained retaining workers on in-house relations between the management and the employees, and takes their help to define its overall business priorities. The ideas that senior employees come up with in the course of their education further defines the basic direction of an organization’s Human Resources policies. These are mainly recognize and support employees as whole people by openly acknowledging and even celebrating the fact that they have roles outside the office, and continually experiment with the way work is done, in order to minimize monotony (Robbins, S.P., Langton, N. 2003)   Managers and potential leaders must be trained to learn the emerging trends in the industry, behavioral patterns of customers, their changing demographics and values, and finally, the external environmental effects. Managers must also be taught to perceive problems and accomplishments from the customers’ points of view, and thereby determine client-interest (Maslow, A.H. 1954)   The importance of a suitable induction program in sound Human Resources management cannot be overstated. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2006) has recently pointed out that without an effective induction program, employees never really understand the organization itself or their role in it. As a result, morale, productivity and achievement suffer. In a Retention and Turnover Survey of 2006 conducted by the Institute, 45% of the respondents claimed that the greatest source of motivation for them was increased earning and development opportunities, while 49% workers felt that an improved induction process in companies was the best motivational aid. The scope and importance of the induction program widens in the case of the marketing and frontline staff that is to be entrusted with ensuring satisfactory client-relations. It is at this stage that companies can also invite their agencies and public stakeholders to be a part of the internal process, as valuable introductions and inputs can be resourced from these groups. As Knox, has observed that it is important to ensure newcomers do not feel their first job should be to re-pitch everything. Organizations need to focus on communicating the “emotional content of work” to its fresh employees, while at the same time, reassuring them that skills can be learnt on the job and in training.   In Parson music limited now have faced new challenges in creating and maintaining satisfactory employee profiles, upholding motivation and translating the business goals into local languages and beliefs. There are many other competitors (Tom Lee) to recruit talent sales employees, how Parsons approached to the ways of motivating them and retaining the talent employee among them are examined.             In this section, individual’s needs are a critical determinant of what people want from the environment, at work and firms.   One of the major theories of motivation was developed by Maslow. He proposed a theory that explained human behavior in terms of a hierarchy of the general needs. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy of importance. The needs, listed from basic (lowest, earliest) to most complex (highest, latest) are as follows: Lower-order needs i) Physiological needs are the basic needs of person for their lives. They include the needs for food and drink. People try to satisfy these needs before others. ii) Safety and security needs include the needs for protection and stability of their job. Higher-order needs iii) Social needs are the needs for friendship, belongings. iv) Self esteem can be internal and external. Internal factors such as self-respect. v) Self-actualization needs are the level of develop individual’s capable. Employee need to have their growth, self-fulfillment.   This age-old, philosophic focus on our true nature has been a way to successfully engage and inspire both our students and our pedagogy. In the spirit of Maslow, the meaning of self-actualization is explored, and the understanding and managing of motivation is embedded into the larger context of leadership, for example, quality, spirituality, ethics, self-awareness, and personal growth. (Dennis O’Connor 2007). Maslow speak directly to the topics in current leadership writing and pedagogy: knowing oneself, personal mastery, and emotional intelligence (Bennis, 1989; Boyatzis, 1994; Drucker, 1999;Dupree, 1990; Goleman, 1997; Senge, 1990); values, meaning, spirituality, and ethics (Bolman & Deal, 2001; Daniels, Franz, & Wong, 2000; Similar to the way that the overarching process of self-actualization reshapes and guides the meeting of lower order needs, the leadership helps us better understand motivation and use the tools of management.   Application of the Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory   This theory is state that the individual satisfy the low level need before the next level is coming. Thus, for managing talent salesperson in this theory are clear, the managers can determine in the need hierarchy best fits for their talent salespeople and use the well appropriate motivation strategy.   The concerns are what an employee does at work. Factors required to do the job, the significance of the tasks, and the type of feedback receives as a consequence of performing the job, all have a role to play in motivation.   Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory is one of the most controversial theories in the history of management research (Behling, Labovitz, & Kosmo, 1968, p. 99; Pinder, 1998, p. 26). Herzberg challenged basic assumptions about what satisfies and motivates employees by claiming that pay contributes little to job satisfaction, all employees need to grow psychologically, and interpersonal relations are more likely to lead to dissatisfaction than satisfaction. (Herzberg, 1966; 1982; 1991; Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959)   Consistent with the motivation-hygiene theory, positive psychologists are showing that happiness is more than the absence of unhappiness (Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Motivator factors are essential to intrinsic motivation (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Deci, 1971; Deci and Ryan, 1985). Hygiene factors contribute more to life dissatisfaction than to life satisfaction, and money cannot buy happiness (Kahneman, Diener, & Schwarz, 1999; Kasser, 2002; Myers & Diener, 1996). Both are interested in enhancing skills, increasing interest, elevating satisfaction, encouraging ethical behavior, improving performance, and fostering creativity. (Herzberg, 1966; 1982; 1991; Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959)   Application of the Frederick Herzberg theory The motivation-hygiene theory is still useful for Parson music limited and can serve as a framework on happiness, intrinsic motivation, and materialism. This theory can help to evaluate satisfaction and productivity programs in the company. Take Greek hotel for example, its employees are more that 50% are not professionals in the hotel industry. It is because of lack of other employment opportunities or to earn extra money to supplement the income from another job (Robbins, S.P., Langton, N. 2003), The existing level of job security is very low and the rate of the labor turnover is very high (Robbins, S.P., Langton, N. 2003   The situation need to be present to help with the intrinsic motivation of a person, making the workers is experienced meaningfulness in the job, experienced responsibility for the job that they perform. A person must feel that their work is worthwhile in order for them to commit much effort into the job, and the job must fit into the system of values that they hold. In addition, they must also feel some sense of personal responsibility for the work, for example, they can help customers or managers. Finally, a person must be able to get regular feedback about the work they do in order to be able to determine whether the outcomes of the work are worthy of the effort put forth in the job (Maslow, A.H. 1943)   Truly, if Parson music limited establish a well job intrinsic motivation programmed, their salespeople must know their meaningful of the job. They will experience their responsibility on their job. Feeling happy to sale or service everyone in a daily. The outcome will be decrease the turnover rates and retain the talent employees in their company.                    The “People-environment interaction in Motivation The final set of the motivational process is concerned with the nature of the organizational, or work, environment. This factor is about the response of the environment in behavior of individual.   Vroom’s expectancy theory       Expectancy theory is in the 1930S originated. Jones, Mahoney were the frist to apply the theory in a work environment. There are five parts of the theory: job outcomes, valence, instrumentality, expectancy and force. Each part is described briefly as follows: Job outcomes—it is the end product of a particular behavior that an organization can provide for the individual. Valence—it is the individual’s feelings about the outcomes provided it can be positive or negative. Instrumentality—is defended as the perceived degree of relationship between performance and outcome attainment, the degree is conditional the individual’s performance on the job. Expectancy—is the perceived relationship between effort and performance. It is the strength of belief that work-related effort will result in the task. Therefore, in this research, it does not include to discuss this theory.       4.    Methodology   A focus on study the motivating factors of salespeople, methodology including of 4 steps will be used, namely: research procedures, literature review, measuring instruments: interviews with manager of firms and use questionnaires.       4.1    Research Procedures  The procedures for data collections were basically as follows: 1) Ask with the sale department and staff members were provided to be responsible for the administration of questionnaires. 2) The questionnaires were distributed to 150 staff in group of 5 to 10 people from sale department during lunch hours. 3) The way and purpose to answer the questionnaire were explained to the respondents. They were told not to talk or compare the answer. They were told to protect their answer and encourage honest of the responses. 4) The staff members remained in the room to answer any question they had while completing the questionnaires 5) It took 10 to 20 minutes to complete a session.   For methodology, there can be utilization of such questionnaires asking the salesperson at Parson Music store how they are motivated professionally within their work milieu, asking them if they are given such performance assessments in forms of such employee satisfaction surveys and that if they are receiving fair amount of salaries and performance incentives. The questions can be in a form of such agree to disagree statements that can be interpreted and measured by means of a five point Likert scale and that such interviews of top management in sales at Parsons Music store can geared towards how they execute and impose such motivation techniques towards their sales team and ask them of such possible activities and programs they apply to the salesperson in boosting and increasing motivation for a better sales performance of Parsons music industry.  Thus, knowing if there is regular monitoring and review of sales force activities in order to ensure that such business and sales activities are being aligned to the sales plan of Parson Music store.         4.2.   Interviews   In this part of the study, after getting an idea of staff motivation factor, different sales and marketing managers of marketing lines will be interviewed with leading questions to verify the findings and understand what the actual situation inside their company is. All data came from primary source, i.e. the respondents were chosen randomly (random numbers’ method) and interviewed individually at the work place, most of them during a break and the rest while on the job. The companies will chose for interview is based on two criteria sector: natural of company and size of the company.   (i)     Natural of company:       The sales force marketing line and educational sales force management department have different areas will be interviews. For example, Johanna wrong for the former of marketing sale force, Mr. Joe for the latter area of education promotion sale force.   (ii)     Size of Firm:  Firms have a large sales team is better sales management system and the motivation factors are expected to be different from small firms. Large firms are means that firms with more than 10 salespeople in marketing line and education promotion line. If a smaller firms, it is with less than 10 salespeople.   4.4   Questionnaires   In this part of the study, getting an idea of basic concept of sales will be make 50 questions to examine. A questionnaire asked them to indicate their level of satisfaction and the concomitant level of importance of certain job factors. Among these, were examined hygiene factors and motivators closely related to the company. The set of questions of hygiene factors included: salary, payment for overtime work, physical job demands, and physical working conditions, system of supervision, job security and leadership style.   The set of motivation questions included: merit bonuses, advancement, initiative, content of the work itself. Merit bonuses were included as a motivator rather than a hygiene factor.           4) Data presentation             In addition, while some salespersons are self motivated, there are others who need to be motivated to do better performance and that such sales managers can motivate the team by following theories of motivation in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory as well as Herzberg’s two-factor theory which are the, goal setting theory and or expectancy theory as well as job design theories. First, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory classifies the needs of the individual into categories such as physiological, security, social, self-esteem and self-actualization type of needs to be applied for the sales person At Parson music store.             Then, there is also Herzberg’s two-factor theory states that the job environment of an individual is characterized by two types of factors, hygiene factors and motivational factors. The goal-setting theory presumes that people have specific needs and aspirations to fulfill for which they set certain goals for themselves. Aside, there go about achieving such goals by taking purposeful action as the setting of higher goals produces higher output. The expectancy theory states that an individual is motivated by the perceived consequences of his or her actions. According to the theory, motivation includes the function of employee expectation towards the company along with such instrumentality of the function being imposed. Thus, job design theories assume that all individuals have the same needs, and that ensuring certain job characteristics can satisfy these needs. Thus, within Parsons Music store, the salesperson’s motivation play crucial role in influencing his performance and thereby his productivity. Salespersons having high level of motivation tend to perform well in the selling job and have high productivity.             On the other hand, Parson Music salespersons that lacks enough motivation will tend to be pitiable sales performers and will fail to achieve desirable sales targets of the company and possibly true that, Parson music salespersons will incur such low self esteem and confidence due to weak sales productivity. Then, the sales managers can take employ such measures to motivate the sales force and boost the level of their performance in the work group. Furthermore, such data in presentation mostly being indicated in the methodology can help the salesperson at Parson Music to gain ample awareness of the motivation they receive within the company and how such theory is effective in helping them become more sales and business centered employees that always looks at the positive side of the situation as the business may experience ups and downs in their marketing sales as well as profitability.          5) Data analysis             The questionnaire will be structured in such way that respondents will be able to answer it easily using the Likert format with five-point response scale. A Likert Scale is rating scale that requires the subject to indicate his or her degree of agreement or disagreement to statement. In type of questionnaire, the respondents will be given five response choices and the options served as the quantification of the participants’ agreement or disagreement on each question item. Below are the designated quantifications to be used for the questionnaire:   5 Strongly Agree 4 Agree 3 Uncertain 2 Disagree 1 Strongly Disagree                 In order to analyze the data gathered from the survey, the weighted mean for each question item was computed. Weighted mean is the average wherein every quantity to be averaged have corresponding weight. These weights represent the significance of each quantity to the average. To compute for the weighted mean, each value must be multiplied by its weight. Products should then be added to obtain the total value. The total weight should also be computed by adding all the weights. The total value is then divided by the total weight. The range and interpretation of the five-point scale are shown below.     The Five-point Likert Scale Scale Range Interpretation 1 4.50 – 5.00 Strongly Disagree 2 3.50 – 4.49 Disagree 3 2.50 – 3.49 Uncertain 4 1.50 – 2.49 Agree 5 0.00-1.49 Strongly Agree                 The weighted mean measure the general response of samples, whether they agree to given statement or not and results of the survey are to be tables. Thus, relevant literatures to support the findings are also included. The Likert scale will use to interpret items in the questionnaire. These responses will base on respondents’ assessment of the current process model and will be asked to rate the effectiveness of implementing the phases in process. The statistical analysis for the information from questionnaire can be conducted by means of using the Likert scaling interpretation through spreadsheet wherein such outcomes of the data have to be tabulated and evaluated in whole context.        6) Conclusions             The emergence of highly competitive industries due to the effect of information technology, particularly the internet has undoubtedly changed the business environment in which the music industries around the world operate. It has been stated that the Internet has altered industry structure by reducing the costs of coordination in the music industry chain. The challenge now for Tom Lee music is to ensure that the balance of incentives created by HR team for motivating sales people will continue to apply in HK marketplace by preserving incentives and providing rewards to those Parsons Music sales persons who are responsible for spreading good sales conditions around creative efforts in marketing promotions of such products and services at hand as sales incentives and rewards must remain intact and must encourage sales force to take advantage of useful promise of the music industry within HK and must merged in different marketing communication tactics so that  Parsons Music store can utilize their musical products and services legally.             It can be that, one of the key components of Parsons Music store strategy is how to achieve and at the same time maintain certain competitive advantage within the HK market. Thus, determining the role and importance of the company’s salesperson in such marketing channel and the salesperson access to the customer as means of achieving competitive advantage as the salespeople serve as the core players within the company, in terms of selling products thus, helping the customers to attempt in buying those music instruments.  Therefore, genuinely self-motivated salesperson understands the importance of frequently setting up ideal rewards on such ongoing basis.        7) Recommendations and action plan             For this research, it becomes apparent that motivating employees particularly, their sales team will amiably create a strong value for Parson music store to engage into a better marketing strategy for their products to be sold within the HK market and will be vital source among such related music business industry to succeed and meet the goal of having satisfied customers and loyal buyers. For the recommendation, several important points will need to be recommended for Parson music store to adopt precisely.             In order for Parson music store to stay in control of their sales, they should establish a strong ground for always developing their human resource management to form such employee structure in ensuring that they provide enough amount of motivation towards their staff mostly, to their sales personnel’s and keep a creative work setting towards them so that Parson Music store can make sure the team is working on the positive side due to ideal work standards and benefits given to them, increasing their professional aura to always find the best options for Parsons Music business to stay on top of the global market. Thus, Parsons Music business must keep in mind to provide their HK buyers quality products that would meet the demands of patronizing diverse music instruments as their craft along with great offers with affordable cost. Then, Parsons Music’s sales team must have the capability of prioritizing potential customers who can be buyers of their musical products as providing enough room for certain sales avenue to grow and keep motivated along the way.             For the action plan, as a means of keeping and maintaining highly motivated salesperson at Parsons Music store, it can be better to have adaptation of certain marketing channel that serves as a good motivation tool in determining the effectiveness of Parsons Music store salesperson in increasing sales growth and encouraging more potential buyers to the music instruments produced by Parsons Music and that the channel will provide Parsons Music businesses with competitive advantage over others and making the service available to the end users. Designing an appropriate marketing channel is crucial to the success of Parsons Music business. The channel design has to be planned taking into consideration the channel functions and other strategic business objectives. In the process, the marketing channel witness basic types of flows. These are flow of possession, ownership, promotion, negotiation, financial, risk, ordering and payment and necessary that marketing channels be designed to eliminate redundancy of flows and increase empowerment stance of every salesperson at Parsons Music store.   A list of Reference HR Focus (2004), "How to get ‘buy-in’ from the newest generation of employees", HR Focus, Vol. 81 No.11, pp.5 Huang, J. (2004), "The science of good and evil", The Humanist, Vol. 64 No.6, pp.38. Johns, G., Saks, A. (2005), Organizational Behavior, 6th ed., Pearson, Toronto McShane, S. (2004), Canadian Organizational Behavior, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Toronto Maslow, A.H. (1943), "A theory of human motivation", Psychological Review, Vol. 50 pp.370-96 Maslow, A.H. (1954), Motivation and Personality, Harper & Row, New York, NY Pincus, J. (2004), "The consequences of unmet needs: the evolving role of motivation in consumer research", Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. 3 No.4, pp.375. Ritson, M. (2004), "Why are brand positioning made so complex?", Marketing, pp.21 Robbins, S.P., Langton, N. (2003), Organization Behavior: Concepts, Controversies, Applications, 3rd Canadian ed., Prentice-Hall, Toronto Senter, A. (2004), "An embarrassment of riches", Director, Vol. 58 No.4, pp.96

To identify the motivation factors for job satisfaction among salesperson, middle-level managers and top-managers in Parsons Music Store.

Topic: To identify the motivation factors for job satisfaction among salesperson, middle-level managers and top-managers in Parsons Music...