Business in South Africa Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Business in South Africa - Coursework Example With the aid of the SWOT and PEST analytical models, it was determined that the South African e-commerce sector is indeed a lucrative one, despite the ongoing global financial crisis, which started way back in 2007. Therefore, it is recommended that Google penetrates the South African market by creating an online community portal only, while maintaining its main operations in the United States. Module 1: IDENTIFYING GLOBAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Business Idea As one of the world-renowned providers of information through search engine services, Google is trying to expand its coverage not only in the Asian subcontinent, but into the African territory as well. That is why, the current paper will study the various points for consideration, particularly the strategic implications of such a move on the company’s operations and financial conditions. The service will not just include providing Internet for the community per se, but it will also include providing the community with a p lace for socialization online, complete with business advertising, contacts, community information and the like (Modise, 2011). Such type of service would be a novel package for Google because the pioneer for such business venture is ITEC with its Portal de Ciudad website package in Spain (â€Å"Interview with†, 2010). Utilizing the simplest, yet one of the most valuable analytical tools, such as SWOT analysis, PEST analysis and Porter’s Five Forces model, the different key merits of conducting such a market penetration strategy would be identified and later incorporated into a strategic implementation process, which would also be outlined in the current paper. Potential Markets Google has a large variety of products and... Determining and analyzing Google’s opportunities in the South African market would require the utilization of two analytical methods, namely SWOT and PEST. Analyzing the immediate environment using the SWOT model would allow for a better understanding of the company’s strengths, opportunities and threats, all of which are vital for the success of our business venture in an entirely new locale of operations.The current paper discusses various political, economic, socio-cultural and technological conditions that have an impact on Google’s international strategy, particularly in maintaining its spot as a well-known search engine service provider all over the globe, while endeavoring to penetrate the booming South African e-commerce market. With the aid of the SWOT and PEST analytical models, it was determined that the South African e-commerce sector is indeed a lucrative one, despite the ongoing global financial crisis, which started way back in 2007. Google network ing system in South Africa will be a vital factor in the development of this country. As a result everything will be improved. From the finding of cheaper products will enhance the profits of our harbors because of the lower outside influences on countries to trade within our harbor, thus creating a larger market of opportunity. The adaptation of Google falls into a demand whereas not to many family have access to the internet. The solution in this case will be a decision whereas charity will grow for the potential use of schools in almost every region of South Africa.

Indian Premier League Essay Example for Free

Indian Premier League Essay Cricket is a very fast-paced, high-energy sport but it’s also big business. Professional teams that belong to the Indian Premier League pay each of their players, the estimated value that could range from INR 20 lakh (INR 2 million) to INR 2 crore (INR 20 million) per year depending on his experience and stature. For that amount of money, member teams expect a great deal and are constantly on the watch for ways of improving their performance. During a 59-game season, every nuance a coach can pick up about a weakness in an opponent’s offense or the shots of one of his own players will translate into more runs on the scoreboard, more wins, and ultimately more money for the team. Traditional cricket game statistics failed to capture all of the details associated with every play and was not easily related to videotapes of games. As a result, decisions about changes in tactics or how to take advantage of opponents’ weaknesses were based primarily on hunches and gut instincts. Coaches could not easily answer questions such as â€Å"Which types of plays are hurting us? † Now professional cricket coaches and managers are taking their cues from other businesses and learning how to make decisions based on hard data. The software available with the Indian Team was very generic and did not produce any analytical information. For the same reason, John Wright wanted to have quite a few reports to help him make decisions based on the statistical data. A company called Sports Mechanics has found a way to collect and organize fine-grained statistical data and relate the data to associated video clips. Sports Mechanics employs just 5 people to match up video of each play with statistical information about every ball bowled within the match. For example, who bowled it, who is the batsman, who is the non-striker, where did the ball pitch, what did the ball do, where was the ball hit, how many runs were scored off it, who fielded it, how did he field it, which end did he throw, what was the outcome of the ball, etc. Once the tagging is done, when the query is done according to the tag, then the relevant video plays. Queries can be done by multiple layers of filters by bowler, by batsman, by type of ball, etc. Each game is dissected and tagged, play by play, using hundreds of descriptive categories and these data are linked to high-resolution video. Coaches then use an index to locate the exact video clip in which they are interested and access the video at a protected Web site. Within seconds they are able to watch streaming video on the protected site or they can download it to laptops, iPods, play stations, etc. For example, if the Kolkata Knightriders have just lost to the Rajasthan Royals and gave up too many runs, Knightriders coach can use Sports Mechanics’ service to see video clips of every Rajasthan Royals’ batting performance in the game. He can also view every Kolkata Knightriders transitional situation for the entire season to see how that game compared with others. According to Kolkata Knightriders owner Shahrukh Khan, â€Å"the system allows us to look at every play, in every way, and tie it back to stats. So we can watch how we played every ball, track our success rate, and see how other teams are doing it. The service helps coaches analyze the strengths and weaknesses of individual players. For example, Sports Mechanics’ system has recorded every offensive step of the Kolkata Knightriders’ Shoaib Akhtar since he joined IPL. The system can show how successfully he is blowing in either home or away games, with the ability to break games and player performance into increasingly finer-grained categories. If a user clicks on any statistic, that person will find video clips from any of the games of any season of IPL that show Shoaib’s particular bowling move. Mr. S. Ramakrishnan, the Indian Cricket Team Analyst and the founder of Sports Mechanics has since 2003 helped over 5,000 cricketers and provided analysis and soft ware to ICC and 21 countries. About 7 teams in the IPL; all except Royal Challengers have already signed up for the Sports Mechanics’ service, and are using it to help them scout for promising national and international players. Although nothing will ever replace the need to scout players in person, the service has reduced IPL teams’ skyrocketing travel costs. Sources: Sports Mechanics; Base 1 USD = 50 INR as of 11, January, 2009 The challenges facing IPL teams show why information systems are so essential today. Like other businesses, professional cricket faces pressure from high costs, especially for team member salaries and travel to search for new talent. Teams are trying to increase revenue by improving employee performance, especially the performance of cricket team members. The chapter-opening diagram calls attention to important points raised by this case and this chapter. Management was unable to make good decisions about how to improve the performance of teams and of individual players because it lacked precise data about plays. It had to rely on â€Å"best guesses† based on videotapes of games. Management found a new information system to provide better information. The information system is based on a service provided by Sports Mechanics. Sports Mechanics’ staff members break down each game into a series of plays and then categorize each play by players, type of play, and the outcome. These data are tagged to the videos they describe to make the videos easy to search. IPL coaches and management can analyze the data to see which offensive and defensive moves are the most effective for each team player. Team members themselves can use laptops, play stations, iPods, etc to download the videos to help them prepare for games. This innovative solution makes it possible for basketball management to use objective statistical data about players, plays and outcomes to improve their decision making about what players should or shouldn’t do to most effectively counter their opponents.

Comparison of Poems by William Blake and Christina Rossetti

Comparison of Poems by William Blake and Christina Rossetti Compare and contrast William blakesâ€Å"the marriage between heaven and hell†, â€Å"The Garden of Love†, and Christina Rosettisâ€Å"promises like crust†. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is among the prophetic books of William Blake. These have been written by imitating biblical books of prophecy however they express the personal romantic and revolutionary beliefs of the poet. This book describes the visit of the poet to hell, a device that had been adopted from Paradise Lost of Milton and Dantes Divine Comedy by Blake. However as compared to Milton or Dante, the conception of Hell of Blake does not start as a place of punishment. Instead it is a source of unrepressed energy, as compared to the regulated and authoritarian perception of heaven. The purpose of Blake is to create, what he mentions as a memorable fancy so that the repressive nature of conventional morality as well as the institutional religion can be revealed. In this regard, Blake writes that, the ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, na tions and whatever their enlarged and numerous senses could perceive. And particularly they studied the genius of the city and country, placing it under its mental deity† (Kaplan,2000). In this way, the theory of contraries propounded by Blake was not his belief in opposites but instead it was the belief according to which the contrary nature of God is reflected by each person. It was also believed that moderation in life cannot be achieved without contraries. In the same way, Blake also explored the contrary nature of energy and reason. In this regard, he believed that there are two types of persons, the rational organizers and the energetic creators of what he calls as the angels and devils in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. In this way, Blake believes that both these types of people are necessary for life. This text of Blake has been interpreted in several different ways. â€Å"The Garden of Love† is a romantic poem written by William Blake. The poem has been written with a view to express the belief of Blake regarding the neutrality of sexuality and also the way in which they organized religion, especially Orthodox Christian Church during the times of Blake, have resulted in repressing the natural desires of human beings with their rules and preaching. At this point, it needs to be noted that for those times, it was really a great statement to be made (Griffin, 1994). The reason was that by advocating the natural desires of human beings, Blake had made a direct attack on the orthodox Anglican Church. He had even mentioned priests and Chapel. The indignation of Blake can also be seen in the second line when he talks about seeing â€Å"what I had never seen†. Therefore it is interesting to note that Blake claims to have never seen it when he had literally spent all his life knowing the attitude of the church towards sexuality. Perhaps it means that Blake was speaking from the point of view of innocence that has only entered the world of experience and as a result, suffers a shock to see that the freedoms enjoyed by it in the past have been curtailed by the Church (Cronin, 2000). In the same way, a clear dislike can also be seen in the point regarding the changes that have taken place in the Garden of Love. At this point, Blake is referring to the church and also expressing its dislike. In these lines, there is a clear critique of the church and also the practices of the Church related with religious beliefs. Moreover, the poet has also made an accusation that the Church is not allowing them to be happy and instead it is putting pressure on the lyrical. Seen in the context of realities present in the 18th century England, in view of the practices and doctrines that have been adopted by the Church of England, these lines also express the feelings of the persons who did not follow the Church of England at the time and also did not agree with the interpretation of the Bible by the Church. In this way, although the poem is provocative but at the same time, it also reflects comedies some of the realities present in the 18th century (Bentley, Jr., 2004). In this way, it has been expressed in the point that while walking in the ‘Garden of Love’ a lot of changes have been made in the garden. While earlier, there were flowers in the garden but all that has changed and instead there is a Chapel in the garden. Moreover, it is also seen that now the Garden of Love has tombstones, graves and priests. As a result, these changes have resulted in fading the beauty of the ‘Garden of Love’. As a result, the feelings of anger and dismay have been expressed in the point regarding the changes that have been made in the Garden of Love. The author is dismayed because as a result of these changes, the desires and wishes will not be fulfilled. As a result, the priests and the Chapel are considered as being responsible for the unfulfilled desires (Griffin, 1994). On the other hand, in case of â€Å"Promises like Piecrust† the focus is mainly on the fact that in reality, it is easy to break promises, perhaps they are so flaky that they have been compared to a pie crust. However, an attempt has not been made by Rossetti to emphasize that it is a negative thing but on the other hand, according to her, she accepts it as a fact of life which cannot be escaped however, it does change the quality of relationships that a person has with others. In this poem, the focus is on to friends or lovers who do not make any promises to each other so that they may be â€Å"free to come as free to go†. It would have been very illegal for a woman to suggest this notion during the Victorian era. However it appears that Rossetti believes that one of the main reasons behind the tension in most of the relationships is that there are too many unrealistic ideas and constraints present in a relationship. These relationships have been called by Rossetti as Promises like Piecrust and these are the relationships in which no promises regarding future commitments are made and in the same way, the past lovers are not discussed (Kaplan, 2000). As a result, in this type of relationships, the possibility that any partner may be hurt as a result of broken comments is completely eliminated in such a case. Similarly, the partners are not worried that a promise may be broken by the other partner. In this way, the poem suggests that promises are like unrealistic constraints. Essentially, restrictive barriers are imposed by these promises regarding dedication and commitment due to the reason that such promises can be broken easily and at the same time, not only these promises resulting obligation and pressure of the partners, they also have to make significant efforts for keeping such promises (Packer, 1963). This view regarding love has been explored by Christina Rossetti in this poem which is related with the negative perspective that the poet has towards the promises made by lovers. She believes that promises can be broken easily, and at the same time they do not provide liberty to the partners in a relationship and similarly, promises also blind towards the future (Hassett,2005). In this regard, the speaker had denied promises as a result of the distrust she has in promises. Rossetti had also shown are general belief in the beginning of the poem according to which, the meta phor of a pie crust has been used to describe the promises made by lovers. As is the case with pie crusts, which can be broken easily, the poet illustrate the promises made by lovers in a relationship can also be broken easily (Fairchild, 1939). As a result, the poet states that promises are like pie crust and it had been used by hard to describe her belief that promises can be broken easily. Generally, in almost all cases, pie crust is the part of the pie that can be broken off easily and it is made in such a way so that it may be broken for protecting the more important ingredients of the pie (Harrison, 2004). In this way, Rossetti had used the metaphor of pie crust for referring to the promises made by lovers in a relationship because according to him, promises cannot stand forever. She believes that at one point or the other, a promise made by lovers will lose its validity. In this way, in the opinion of the poet, a never-ending validity of a promise cannot be guaranteed by the type of promise as is the case with a pie crust that breaks regardless of th e kind of pie. Therefore, the short durability of the promises made by lovers has been illustrated by Rossette with the use of pie crust as both tend to break easily and also to show the fact that the promises made by lovers cannot be considered as trustworthy. Therefore in the end, a comparison of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Garden of Love and the poem Promises like Pie Crust reveals that different issues related with love have been raised by the authors in these works. While Blake has discussed that moderation in life cannot be achieved without contraries. Therefore the devils and angels mentioned by him are in fact two types of people, one are the energetic creators and the others are the rationale organizers. On the other hand, in The Garden of Love, William Blake has discussed the restrictions that have been imposed by the Orthodox Church on Love. He believes that too many restrictions have been imposed by the Church and at the same time, the conditions in the Garden of Love have been changed by it. In her poem, Promises like Pie Crust, Rossette had discussed the fragile nature of promises that are made by the lovers in a relationship. As promises can be broken easily and they do not have a long validity, Rossetti believes tha t persons who are in a relationship should not be bound by promises. However a perusal of all these the works reveal that when it comes to love, all these three works have presented very radical ideas for their time. References Antony H. Harrison (2004) The Letters of Christina Rossetti Volume 4, 1887–1894 University of Virginia Press Bentley, Jr, G. E.2004, Blake Records. Second edition. New Haven and London: YaleUniversity Press Cronin, Richard. 2000, The Politics of Romantic Poetry: In Search of the Pure Commonwealth.London: Macmillan, Fairchild, Hoxie Neale (1939) Religious trends in English poetry, Volume 4 Columbia university press Griffin, Dustin H.1994, Satire: A Critical Introduction. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press Hassett, Constance W. (2005) Christina Rossetti: the patience of style University of Virginia Press p15 Kaplan, Carter. 2000, Critical Synoptics: Menippean Satire and the Analysis of IntellectualMythology. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson Press Packer, LonaMosk (1963) Christina Rossetti University of California Press pp13-17

Exploring Autism Essay example -- Health Disorders Research Essays Pap

Exploring Autism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Autism is a developmental disability of the brain, much like dyslexia, mental retardation, or attention deficit disorder. Autism is not a form of mental retardation, and though many autistic people appear to function as retarded, they are frequently quite intelligent. Approximately 15 of every 10,000 individuals and nearly 400,000 people in the United States today have some form of autism (Dowdy).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The word autism may actually refer to several similar disabilities, including Autistic Disorder, Aspergers Syndrome, and "Atypical" Autism. Atypical Autism is a type of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified. Though there are some differences between these conditions, they are quite similar, and those who have them experience many of the same difficulties in life (All).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The symptoms of autism can vary widely from one individual to the next. Autism is referred to as a spectrum disorder because it ranges in severity across a wide range of conditions, like the colors of a rainbow. In addition, some people may be affected more by one symptom, while others may be affected more strongly by a different symptom. Also, some of the symptoms may have variable manifestations (Twachtman).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Autistic people tend to have unusual sensory experiences. These experiences may involve a sense being too sensitive, less sensitive than normal, and/or difficulty interpreting a sense. These experiences do not involve hallucinations; autistic people have sensory experience based on real experiences, like normal people, but the experience may feel or sound different. Sometimes, the autistic person may have difficulty interpreting the experience. No two autistic people appear to have the exact same pattern of sensory problems. It is not uncommon, for example, for an autistic person to avoid being touched. This is usually because of a heightened sense of touch. A gentle touch to most people may hurt or shock some autistic people. Others may experience confusion, due to difficulty interpreting the sensation or insufficient sensation reaching the brain to interpret (Dowdy). Another, not uncommon pattern is to have the strength of the sensation inverse from that of the stimulation, so that a gentle touch may feel like an electric shock, but firm contact may not be a problem. On the other hand, some autistic people may be insensit... ...e. Some autistic people are "savants," but most are not. Other autistic people are "gifted," however, and have high "general" intelligence. Many autistic people have normal intelligence, and some may be retarded (Twachtman). Autism is not an emotional problem. Autism is a neurological condition which people are usually born with. Psychological trauma doesn't cause it. Autism is not a psychosis or lack of reality contact. People do not choose to be autistic. Autism is not "a fate worse than death." Autistic people have some disadvantages, but some live very happy and rewarding lives. Many autistic people wouldn't want to be "cured," as this would be like erasing them and replacing them with different people. Works Cited 1.) Dowdy, Carol, et al. Teaching students with Exceptional Needs in Inclusive Settings Fourth Edition. United States: Pearson Education   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inc., 2004. 2.) Twachtman, Diane. A Passion to Believe: Autism and the Facilitated Communication Phenomenon. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997. 3.) Tustin, Frances. Autism and Childhood Psychosis. London: Karnac   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Books, 1999. 4.) "All About Autism." Autism Info. Autism Society of America. 25 Mar.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2005.

Skywest

Case: SkyWest, Inc. and the Regional Airline Industry in 2009 Assignment Questions: What are the general economic conditions of the U. S. regional airline industry macroenvrionment? What is the relationship of the industry to the national and global airline industries? The U. S regional airline industry has been suffered and experienced declining of their profit. This case can be explained by the component of macro-environment. Focuses on the global forces and technology, the businesses nowadays have been changed dramatically to global business.What I meant by that is, not only do the business in domestically, but also with different nationality partners. It could lead them to think then, if the business has been changed to globally, more people will fly with the airline industry. However, the technology improved day by day tremendously that people who are doing the business do not required to fly. They can do the business by telecommunication, email, live meeting with visual, or etc . This improved technology could be the one reason that decline the passengers typically in categorized in business travelers.Another factor is General economic conditions. Lately, the world economy is experiencing a long recession which affect almost all the businesses not only just the airline industry. Many countries have difficulties with managing their financial status. The relationship between national and global airline industries seems does not too much different. Both U. S national airline industry and global airline industry are suffering from rising fuel cost, global recession, improved technology, safety issues, and etc. The world is connected as big one nation these day.If one failed, all the other parts will be falling apart as well. It’s just a matter of time when it would happen. What does a Five Forces analysis of the industry tell you about competition in the regional airline industry? Which forces tend to be the strongest? The weakest? The five forces analy ses of the airline industries show that it has normally a intense competition which means their profit margin have been thin. Normally, overall impact of the five competitive forces is moderate to weak is good place to expect good profit and a nice return on investment.The strongest forces: The weakest forces: What factors are causing change in the regional airline industry? What is the individual and collective impact of these changes on the regional airline carriers? There are several factors that caused dramatic changes in the regional airline industry. Rising fuel cost is the one factor. Rising fuel cost is not the only issue for the airline industry, but for almost every business on earth. The amount of fuel that we could utilize is limited, but there is no alternative energy source for fuel yet for commonly used.Day by day, the cost of fuel rising, and typically airline industry are suffering from that. The cost of fuel takes parts almost 45% of the whole expense. Therefore, m any airline companies are trying to lower the expense from somewhere other such as give pressure to lower or smaller airline company to reduce their cost or number of departure. The other factor can be the safety matter. After 9-11 tragedy, safety rises above the surface and became one of the main factors for the people who want to fly with airplane.The 9-11 terror affected to the people that stop using the airplane along with the new created government regulations which would cost airline companies to cost even more money. What are the key factors that determine success for companies in the regional airline industry? Make sure that the regional airline industry has enough partnerships with many different major airlines. The more partnership that regional airline have with major airlines, they will be guaranteed with stable income balance. Also, the customer satisfaction is the key factors for the success.Find the way to work with the major airlines that no immediate schedule change , accurate luggage system along with the departure/ arrival time, and safety. What is SkyWest, Inc. ’s strategy? What kind of competitive advantage is it trying to achieve? SkyWest Inc. is well-known airline company with its high customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction factors. Their strategy is keeping the strong factors and be more competitive with acquire more routines by partnership with major airlines other than United and Delta. By getting more partnership with other major airlines, the SkyWest Inc. an gain more routes and connection flight to the major cities which will increase their revenues. What are SkyWest’s competitively important resources and capabilities? What are its resource weaknesses and competitive deficiencies? Its market opportunities? Its external threats? Their important resources are their customer and employee satisfaction with the airline. The potential threat could be the sister companies’ culture. The SkyWest Inc. is nonunio nized airline, but ASA is unionized airline company. If the SkyWest Inc. mployees are unionized, there will be some decline in productivity and cost more money for airlines for each flight. What does an analysis of SkyWest, Inc. ’s financial statements reveal about the company’s performance? The SkyWest Inc. was suffered from 2004 through 2008 with decreased net profit caused by multiple factors such as rising fuel cost, decline on customer satisfaction, and etc. However, the financial statements for 2009 shows hope for the company that it can start pick back up their revenues. The airline is doing its best trying to increase their profit by acquisition and getting more partnership with major airlines.What recommendations would you make to the management of SkyWest, Inc. to strengthen the company’s competitive position and improve its financial performance? In the Service-Provide industry, customer should always be the main focus for the firm. No matter how good their product or cheap their product is, if the customer experienced or had bad impression from the firm, the chances for customers to come back would be very low. Fortunately, SkyWest Inc. is already well known for the good customer satisfaction with good safety standards and the quality of service during the flight.Therefore, the airline should put effort in to maintain what already they are strong and complement the weak points as well. The weak point that the SkyWest Inc. is their dependency to the major airlines. To increase their dependencies, the airline would need more contract with major airlines other than just Delta and United. Also, they need to start thinking in expanding their business internationally. China, Brazil, and other nation’s growth in airlines increase rapidly. Therefore, they need to look more into the international business not limited only for the U. S region.

Banking Industry in Nigeria

Against the backdrop of the role of banks as financial intermediaries and their function as the engine of growth of the economy, this paper examines the extent to which the banking industry has helped to stimulate economic activities in Nigeria and what the prognosis looks like in the post-consolidation era.The paper notes that the banking industry in Nigeria witnessed a remarkable growth in terms of deposit base, number of branches, total asset and volume of loans and advances, especially since the de-regulation of the financial services sector in the last quarter of 1986. However, given the potentials of the market, banks need to do more, particularly in financing the real sector of the economy.It is argued that the consolidation programme is expected to have a positive effect on employment in the long-run, and that has drastically altered and redefined the nature of competition in the banking industry. Furthermore, it argues that mere size would no longer be a critical factor in t he customers’ choice of which bank to patronize. Rather, emphasis would shift to the ability to deliver superior value to customers. THE BANKING INDUSTRY AND THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY POST-CONSOLIDATION By DR. B.B. EBONG GROUP MANAGING DIRECTOR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC 1. 0 INTRODUCTION Banks facilitate economic growth in a variety of ways. In the first instance, they act as financial intermediaries between the surplus generating units and the deficit spending ones. This is a two-fold function involving the mobilisation of savings from the former group which are then channelled to the latter to support productive economic activities. This intermediary role is important in two respects.First, by pooling together savings that would have otherwise been fragmented, banks are able to achieve economies of scale with potential benefits for the users of such funds. Secondly, in the absence of banks, each person or business seeking credit facility would have had to individ ually look for those with such funds and negotiate with them directly. This is a cumbersome and timeconsuming process of double coincidence of wants. By matching the preferences of savers with those of borrowers therefore, banks help in overcoming such difficulties.It is pertinent to note that it is from this intermediation function that banks normally not only earn the bulk of their income by way of interest margin but also pay out returns to savers, compensating them for the opportunity cost of their money. It is important to bear this point in mind because, as we shall see later, if any bank is unable to recover the funds it lends out, its own existence as a going concern would be undermined rapidly and ultimately. This is to the extent that its ability to meet the withdrawal needs of depositors would be impaired.It is for this reason that the officials of any bank cannot afford to toy with the management of its risk assets. Towards ensuring that the funds they lend out are recov ered, banks have found it expedient to provide business advisory services to their customers. The essence of availing their clients these services is to assure themselves that the beneficiaries adopt modern management policies and practices in running the affairs of their respective companies which benefit from borrowed funds. The ultimate goal is to guarantee that these customers are in a position o service their loan obligations as and when due. This, in turn, would enable banks meet their obligations to depositors while also earning a narrow margin to ensure business continuity and corporate growth. Banks also play a pivotal role in an economy by providing a mechanism for producers/buyers and consumers/sellers to settle transactions between themselves. They do this not only within a country but also across national boundaries through a highly efficient and technologically enabled payments systems.In the process, banks encourage specialisation and division of labour, a major advan tage of which is the enhanced production and economic growth of the country. Furthermore, banks act as a conduit for the transmission of monetary policy. They provide a veritable platform when it comes to the implementation of monetary, credit, foreign exchange, and other financial sector policies of the government. Among other things, monetary policy is designed to influence the cost and availability of loanable funds with a view to promoting non-inflationary growth.The instruments available to the Central Bank to achieve this include open market operations (OMO), the cash reserve ratio (CRR), liquidity ratio (LR) and of course, moral suasion. The capacity of the banking industry to perform these functions effectively is, to a large extent, determined by the financial health of the individual institutions themselves and soundness and viability of the industry as a whole. For instance, where the majority of banks are adjudged to be weak and unhealthy, that will impair the ability of the industry to lubricate economic growth and vice versa.Against this background, the objective of this presentation is to examine the extent to which the banking industry has helped to stimulate economic activities in Nigeria and what the prognosis looks like in the post-consolidation era, come January 2006. To achieve its objective, this paper is organised into five parts. Following this introduction, we review the performance of the Nigerian banking industry between 2000 and 2004 in section II. The challenges facing the banking industry, which the current reform programme was designed to address, are highlighted in section III.In section IV, we present the prognosis and outlook during the post-consolidation era while section V contains the concluding remarks. 2. 0 THE PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGERIAN BANKING INDUSTRY IN 1990 – 2004 PERIOD. The banking industry in Nigeria has witnessed a remarkable growth, especially since the de-regulation of the financial services sector in t he last quarter of 1986. In terms of headcount for instance, the number of banks increased by about 154. 8% from 42 in 1986 to 107 in 1990. It further increased by about 12% to120 in 1992.By 2004, however, the number had reduced to 89. This was because, some banks had to be liquidated on account of their dwindling fortunes. The number of bank branches also rose from 1,394 in 1986 to 2,013 in 1990, 2,391 in1992 and by 2004 in spite of the reduction in number of banks, it had reached 3,100. This translates to an inter-temporal increases of 44%, 18. 8% and 29. 7%, respectively. Given this scenario, the pertinent question agitating the critical mind is the extent to which the expansion in the number of banks and their branch network had impacted on the economy.Another way to evaluate the performance of banks is to carefully examine the credits they granted, both in terms of volume, distribution by sectors, and the maturity profile. The data on banks’ credit to the economy are sho wn in table 2 below. Table 2: Banks’ Credits to the Economy, 1990 – 2004 Year Aggregate banks’ credit (Net) (N billion) 42. 58 49. 41 59. 25 125. 75 162. 83 194. 05 266. 44 Growth rate (%) Net Domestic Credit Target (%) 13. 5 10. 6 13. 2 17. 5 9. 4 11. 3 12. 0 Actual (%) 17. 1 45. 3 69. 1 91. 4 29. 2 7. -23. 4 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 16 19. 9 112. 2 29. 5 19. 2 37. 3 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 302. 31 378. 08 608. 44 807. 01 1,033. 64 1,302. 2 1,591. 2 2,078. 1 13. 5 25. 1 60. 1 32. 6 28. 1 26. 0 22. 2 30. 6 24. 8 24. 5 18. 3 27. 8 15. 8 57. 9 25. 7 24. 5 -2. 8 46. 8 30. 0 -25. 3 79. 9 64. 6 29. 1 12. 0 Source: Central Bank of Nigeria, Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, (various years) As the figures show, the rate of growth of aggregate bank credit (net) to the domestic economy ranged from 13. % in 1997 to 112. 2% in 1993. However, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, in its 2004 Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, an ana lysis of the sectoral allocation of these credits revealed that the less productive sectors of the economy continued to be favoured. For instance, in 2003, those sectors comprising agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing got only 40. 2% of the credits. The situation worsened in 2004 as this figure further declined to 37. 0%.The corollary of this is that, on average, it was more attractive for banks to lend to such sectors as distributive trade, especially import financing, because the risks associated with such lending were relatively lower. The turn around time was equally shorter. Furthermore, as shown in the last column of table 2, actual domestic credit (net) consistently deviated from target for most of the years for which data was shown. If we take the targets to be representative of societal preference, what this means is that the flow of credit for each of those years was far from what was socially desirable.The quality of these risk assets has worsened progressively s ince 2002 as the statistics in table 3 demonstrate graphically. Table 3: Asset Quality of Nigerian Banks, 1990 – 2004 Year Ratio of non-Performing Credit to total Credit (%) Ratio of non-Performing Credit to Shareholders’ Funds (%) 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 44. 10 39. 00 45. 00 41. 00 43. 00 32. 90 33. 90 25. 81 19. 35 21. 5 16. 9 21. 3 21. 6 23. 08 344. 00 222. 00 299. 00 380. 86 567. 70 496. 00 419. 80 253. 09 89. 20 92. 2 77. 1 85. 9 89. 105. 3 Source: Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Annual Report & Statement of Accounts, Various Issues The data in table 3 reveal that the ratio of non-performing credit to total credit declined from 45% in 1992 to 23. 08% in 2004. This means that of every N100. 00 lent out during these years, banks lost an average of N30. 60. These losses contributed in no small way to the erosion of shareholders’ funds as shown in the table. These bad accounts represented 567. 7%, 419. 8 % and 105. 3% of shareholders’ funds in 1994, 1996 and 2004, respectively.In deed, in the years 1990 to 1997, the shareholders’ funds had been impaired by non-performing risk assets in several multiples. The factors responsible for the poor quality of risk assets range from inadequate appraisal of credit proposals, unfavourable environmental factors that adversely affected the cash flow of the clients’ businesses to sheer unwillingness to repay credit facilities on the part of borrowers and the corresponding ineffectiveness of the rule of law to catch up with pathological loan defaulted some of whom moved round and ravaged one bank after the other.The deterioration in the quality of banks’ risk assets took its toll on the health of the industry as the outcome of the rating of all licensed banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria using the CAMEL parameters has shown. The result of that exercise, which is reproduced in table 4 below, has shown glaringly that th e performance of banks in the country has deteriorated since 2001. Table 4: Rating of Banks Using the CAMEL Parameters, 2001 – 2004 2001 No. of % of Banks Total Sound 10 11. 1 Satisfactory 63 70. Marginal 8 8. 9 Unsound 9 10. 0 Total 90 100. 0 Category 2002 No. of Banks 13 54 13 10 90 2003 No. of Banks 11 53 14 9 87 2004 No. of % of Banks Total 10 11. 5 51 58. 6 16 18. 4 10 11. 5 87 100. 0 % of Total 14. 4 60. 1 14. 4 11. 1 100. 0 % of Total 12. 6 60. 9 16. 1 10. 4 100. 0 Source: Central Bank of Nigeria, Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, 2004 From the table above, it can be seen that the banks adjudged to be sound was consistently less than 15% of the total number for the four-year period.In addition, those whose performance was considered satisfactory represented as high as 70% of the total in 2001. By 2004, however, this group represented only 58. 6% of the total number of banks covered by the exercise. Apart from poor quality assets, other factors responsible for th is state of affairs include under-capitalisation, weak corporate governance practices, and the challenges of ethics and professionalism. It is these factors that the on-going reform agenda seeks to address with a view to totally overhauling the system.These issues are examined in more details in the next section. 3. 0 CHALLENGES FACING THE BANKING INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA The current banking sector reform in Nigeria was designed to promote the viability, soundness and stability of the system to enable it adequately meet the aspirations of the economy in terms of accelerated economic growth and development. The reform agenda was motivated by the need to proactively put the Nigerian banking industry on the path of global competitiveness to enable it effectively respond to the challenges of globalisation.The overall objective is to guarantee that the economy and Nigerians do not remain fringe players in the context of a globalizing world. The major challenges that the reform was targeted at include inter alia, the following: Weak capital base. Most banks in Nigeria had a capital base that was less than US$10 million while the largest bank in the country had a capital base of about US$240 million. This compared unfavourably with the situation in Malaysia where the smallest bank had a capital base of US$526 million.The small size of most local banks, coupled with their high overheads and operating expenses, has negative implications for the cost of intermediation. It also meant that they could not effectively participate in big-ticket deals, especially within framework of the single obligor limit. The challenge of ethics and professionalism. In a bid to survive the stiff competition in the market, a number of operators had resorted to unethical and unprofessional practices. Strictly speaking, some even went into some businesses that could not be classified as banking.In appreciation of the enormity of the problems caused by the failure to adhere to professional and ethi cal standards, the Bankers’ Committee set up a sub-committee on â€Å"ethics and professionalism† to handle complaints and disputes arising from unwholesome and sharp practices. Poor corporate governance practices. There were several instances where Board members and management staff failed to uphold and promote the basic pillars of sound corporate governance because they were preoccupied with the attainment of narrowly defined interests. The symptoms of this included high turn over in the Board and management staff, inaccurate reporting and on-compliance with regulatory requirements. Gross insider abuses. One area where this was pronounced was the credit function. As a result, there were several cases of huge non-performing insider-related credits. Insolvency. The magnitude of non-performing risk assets was such that it had eroded the shareholders’ funds of a number of banks. For instance, according to the 2004 NDIC Annual Report, the ratio of non-performing cr edit to shareholders’ funds deteriorated from 90% in 2003 to 105% in 2004. This meant that the shareholders’ funds had been completely wiped out industry-wide by the non-performing credit portfolio.Over-reliance on public sector deposits. These deposits accounted for over 20% of total deposits in the system. In some institutions, such public sector funds represented more than 50% of total deposits. This was not a healthy situation from the viewpoint of effective planning and plan implementation, given the volatile nature of these deposits. On account of the huge reliance on public sector funds, a number of players did not pay adequate attention to small savers who normally constitute a major source of stable funds which should be channelled to finance the real sectors.Instead, they concentrated on a few high networth individuals, government parastatals and blue chip companies. It was in response to this situation coupled with the need to accord the small and medium ent erprises sub-sector the priority it deserves that the Bankers’ Committee came up with the Small and Medium Enterprises Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) with a view to redirecting credit flows to the sub-sector Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the foregoing captures the situation in the banking industry at the time the reform agenda for the sector was conceptualised and introduced.One has taken time to highlight the challenges that the industry was grappling with to enable us better appreciate the rationale for the reform in terms of what it is intended to achieve. Even though the consolidation programme has thirteen basic elements, it is those relating to the minimum capital base for banks and mergers and acquisitions that have received the most attention in the ensuing public discourse on the subject. In the light of this, it might be useful to enumerate these elements, more so that they are at the centre of this discussion.These planks of the reform programme are: Incre ase in the minimum capital base of banks from N2 billion to N25 billion with December 31, 2005 as deadline for compliance; Consolidation of banks through mergers and acquisitions; Phased withdrawal of public sector funds from banks, beginning from July, 2004; Adoption of a risk-focused and rule-based regulatory framework for the industry; Adoption of zero tolerance in the regulatory framework particularly in the area of information rendition/reporting. All returns by any bank must now be signed by the Managing Director;The automation of the process for rendition of returns by banks and other financial institutions through the electronic Financial Analysis and Surveillance System (e-FASS); Establishment of a hotline and confidential internet address to enable Nigerians wishing to share confidential information with the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to do so; Strict enforcement of the contingency planning framework for systemic banking distress; The establishment of an Asset s Management Company as an important element of distress resolution;Promotion of the enforcement of dormant laws, especially those relating to the issuance of dud cheques and the law relating to the vicarious liabilities of the Board members of banks in cases of bank failure; Revision and updating of relevant laws, and drafting of new ones relating to the effective operations of the banking system; Closer collaboration with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the establishment of the Financial Intelligence Unit and the enforcement of the antimoney laundering and other economic crimes measures; andRehabilitation and effective management of the Mint to meet the security printing needs of Nigeria, including the banking system which constitutes over 90% of the Mint’s business. The likely impact of these measures on the banking industry and the economy are examined in the next section. 4. 0 ANTICIPATED IMPACT OF THE CONSOLIDATION PROGRAMME ON THE BANKING INDUSTRY AND T HE NIGERIAN ECONOMY In this section, we will attempt to paint a scenario regarding the probable impact of the consolidation programme on the banking industry and, hence, the economy.In doing so, it is important to reiterate that even though the reform agenda is targeted at the banking industry, its ultimate focus is the Nigerian economy. In view of this, and in order to put the discussion in proper perspective, we would like to begin this section with a brief review of the performance of the economy between 2000 and 2004 which data are presented in table 5 hereunder: Table 5: Nigeria, Selected Macroeconomic Indicators, 2000 – 2004 Indicator Real GDP Growth Rate (%) Oil Sector Non-Oil Sector Manufacturing Capacity Utilisation (%) Gross National Savings (% of GDP) Gross Fixed CapitalFormation (% of GDP) Inflation Rate (%) External Reserves (US $ million) 2000 5. 4 2001 4. 6 2002 3. 5 2003 10. 2 2004 6. 1 11. 3 2. 9 5. 2 4. 3 -5. 7 7. 9 23. 9 4. 5 3. 3 7. 5 36. 1 39. 6 44. 3 45. 6 45. 0 NA 11. 3 15. 6 13. 6 15. 3 7. 3 7. 2 9. 1 12. 0 16. 2 6. 9 9,910. 4 18. 9 10,415. 6 12. 9 7,681. 1 14. 0 7,467. 8 15. 0 16,955. 0 Source: Central Bank of Nigeria, Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, 2004 The data in table 5 reveal that, in real terms, the rate of growth of domestic output ranged from 3. 5% to 10. 2% between year 2000 and 2004. The average annual growth rate for the period was 5. 6%, which falls far short of the 10% minimum that is required for the country to meet the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Furthermore, the service sector and wholesale & retail trade still account for a disproportionate share of total output, considering our stage of economic development. On the other hand, the real productive sectors like agriculture and manufacturing are yet to assume their pride of place in the economy. As can be seen from the statistics, capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector was consistently below 50% throughout the five ye ars.Among other things, this is a reflection of the undue competition that local manufacturers have had to face from their relatively more mature and efficient overseas counterparts. These are not healthy developments from the viewpoint of a developing country that is desirous of achieving sustained economic growth. Given the low level of domestic output, coupled with the rising demand, it is not surprising that the authorities were not able to keep the inflation rate below double digit as intended.It is this parlous state of the economy that the banking sector reform was designed to address at the end of the day. The expectation is that the reform programme will impact positively on the banking industry and thus put the economy on the path of sustainable growth. While most analysts have expressed serious concerns regarding the adverse impact of the consolidation programme on the level of employment, the authorities at the Central Bank of Nigeria have allayed such fears.While acknow ledging that employment opportunities in the industry would shrink, at least in the short run, the management of the Bank is optimistic that the long-term positive effects of the reform programme on the labour market will be more far- reaching. The thrust of the argument is that at the end of the day, the consolidation programme will lead to a stronger and more robust banking industry that will adequately support the expansion of economic activities, especially in the real sectors of the economy. In this process of rejuvenating the economy, more job opportunities will be created.The consolidation programme will drastically alter and redefine the nature of competition in the banking industry. By significantly increasing the minimum capital base for banks, the policy has not only raised the barriers for new entrants, it has also reduced the number of banks in the system through the mergers and acquisitions. It will be recalled that hitherto, competition in the industry was essentially between those players that one may safely refer to as the â€Å"industry giants† on the one hand, and those popularly referred to as the new generation banks, on the other.Going forward, however, what we will witness is a battle for survival among the ensuing mega banks, all with extensive branch network. In the new dispensation, stability of individual institutions and, hence, safety of depositors’ funds is not likely to remain a major consideration in customers’ choice of which bank to patronise. Rather, emphasis will shift to the ability to deliver superior value to clients and stakeholders generally as well as the prices for bank products and services. As pointed out earlier, many banks in Nigeria had relied heavily on the public sector as a source of funds.Consequently, they did not aggressively explore available potentials in other market segments. This situation will, however, change with the withdrawal of public sector funds from the vaults of banks as part of the policy shift. We therefore expect that banks will focus more on those sectors that were hitherto underserved like the real, informal sectors, including the consumer market. They need to devise creative ways of effectively tapping into the opportunities in these market segments, both in terms of deposit mobilisation and the provision of credit facilities.Going forward therefore, banks are more likely to provide better support for sustained economic growth in Nigeria. The pressure to aggressively explore those market segments that were hitherto underserved will be reinforced by the desire on the part of the management of each bank to continue to generate attractive returns to shareholders. Currently, the average return on invested capital (ROIC) in the Nigerian banking industry is estimated at 38%. With the substantial increase in shareholders’ funds, however, each bank will need to generate a minimum of N9. billion in profit before tax in order to maintain the same rate of return. This is a daunting challenge that calls for creativity. To meet the challenge, banks will need to radically redefine their business models and strategies. The status of corporate governance in the banking industry is expected to improve remarkably following the change in ownership structure. This is because, even though poor governance practices cut across the industry, they were more pronounced in the privately owned institutions.Given the dilution of ownership in the new dispensation, the situation where individuals and their cronies had overbearing influence in the running and management of banks will become a thing of the past. Moreover, as public companies, each bank will now be subjected to a higher standard of governance in terms of information disclosure. 5. 0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION In this paper, we have examined the probable impact of the on-going banking sector reform on the Nigerian economy.In the process, we drew attention to the challenges facing opera tors in the banking industry that need to be addressed for the industry to make desired contributions to the orderly growth of the economy. These challenges encompass those of unethical and unprofessional behaviour, poor corporate governance practices, weak capital base, and over-dependence on public sector deposits. From the analysis, it is clear that the consolidation programme will impact positively on the economy for a number of reasons.First, the development is expected to have long-term beneficial effects on the level of employment considering that it will facilitate enhanced production in diverse sectors of the economy. The reform programme will also redefine the nature of competition in the banking industry such that each institution will have no choice but to assign priority to its capacity to deliver superior value to its clients, since this is what will ultimately make the difference between losers and winners. By denying anks access to public sector deposits, the reform will make it imperative for them to shift focus to those market segments that were largely unbanked and untapped hitherto. Furthermore, it is envisaged that the consolidation programme will have salutary effects on corporate governance practices in the industry. In concluding this discussion, it is important to reiterate that the realisation of these outcomes would depend on the effective implementation of the programme. In particular, it would depend on how the banks that have embraced mergers and acquisition handle the post integration challenges that will face them.Where these issues are nor properly handled, the anticipated synergy may become elusive.BIBLIOGRAPHY Central Bank of Nigeria, Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, (various issues. ) Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Annual Report and Accounts, (various issued) Statement of Mckinnon, R. I. (1973), Money and Capital in Economic Development Washington, D. C. : The Brookings Institution. Oboh, G. A. T. (2005), Sel ected Essays On Contemporary Issues In The Nigerian Banking System. Ibadan: University Press Plc.

Organisational Culture of Aldi Essays

Organisational Culture of Aldi Essays Organisational Culture of Aldi Paper Organisational Culture of Aldi Paper which operate separately from each other within specific market boundaries. These individual groups were owned and managed by the two brothers. Their mother however maintained a small grocery store close to their home to make ends meet. Karl and Theo attended middle school and then went on to do training with Karl doing a training at the delicatessen and Theo at his mother’s grocery store. After returning from army duty after the second world war in 1945, they took over their mother’s store and in the post war years the brothers expanded the business rapidly. In 1948, soon after the German currency reform, the Albrechts’ incorporated their business as the Albrecht Discount store (Aldi). The two brothers however split in 1960 over a dispute on whether to sell cigarettes at the Till or not. Aldi expanded internationally in the 1970’s , specifically expanding into the UK in 1989 with a total of 421 outlets in the UK. Introduction As the economic or business environment is increasingly changing and getting more dynamic, it is very essential for organisations and companies to change their organisational culture to adapt to this changing environment and therefore achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors. Culture can be defined as a set of shared values, shared beliefs and customary ways of thinking doing things, which shape and guides the ways of organisational members. Culture is therefore very crucial as it has the ability to influence the processes or the activities of employees and the functioning of the organisation without necessarily imposing measures and control. All Organisations posses a distinct form of culture with some having more than a single culture. This culture is usually very difficult to measure, change and most especially change. This report is going to present the current culture of Aldi, critically examining its current culture and possible proposal for a change in culture. It identifies the current organisational culture, its strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations necessary for an organisational culture change. A descriptive methodology will be used to determine the current culture of the Organisation, through research and survey from the Organisation’s website and from current employees. This is going to give us a general picture of the current culture and also analysed to determine how effective the current culture is. Having given a brief summary of what this report is going to contain, I will now discuss the detail of Aldi ‘s current culture and a possible culture change of the Organisation in the main part of the report below. ALDI’s CURRENT CULTURE AND FINDINGS Edgar Schein’s (2004) model of culture which is widely accepted, considers Organisational culture in three different levels , each distinguished by its visibility and accessibility by individuals. These levels are artefacts and creation, values and beliefs and basic assumptions. However, Charles Handy( 1978), suggested Organisations could be classified into a broad range of four cultures. This formation of culture will depend u[on a whole host of factors including company history, ownership , organisation structure environments and others. One of the cultures he suggested was the â€Å"Power Culture† which he suggested reflects the concentration of power of a family-owned business, either extremely large or small. Aldi’s organisational culture has been highly influenced by its founders. The cultural values and rules of Aldi clearly reflect the Organisation’s philosophy , guiding principles and strategy. Dieter Brandes a former Managing Director of Aldi described the culture as one of ‘simplicity’. The Aldi model which is based on a simple concept of which is the provision of highly quality products at low prices, is clearly understood by managers, employees and customers. The managers at all levels and the employees pay particular attention to economic efficiency and are very cost conscious. Waste or defects is not tolerable in the organisation at any point, therefore the staffs have a culture of striving to avoid the possibility of waste. This culture originally instigated by the founders of cost efficiency could be demonstrated, for Theo Albrecht is said to have personally switched off the lights in offices when there was enough daylight from outside. This concept of ‘cost watching’ extends into all areas of the value chain , including the development of new techniques for the warehouse management or for the transportation of goods. This is very obvious in the Aldi stores as they have a buy your own bag policy where the customers have to purchase their bags or bring along their bags for shopping. The aim is to find small improvements in all areas and to develop pleasure in achieving small successes. This culture of continuous improvement, is accompanied by the strong focus on the development and implementation of solutions. According to Brandes, the people of Aldi can be described as practitioners, new ideas and solutions are tried, rather than being exposed to detailed analysis, if they prove to be successful then they are implemented quickly. In addition to its focus on continuous improvement and economic efficiency, the organisational culture is also characterised by determination and persistence. As outlined above, there have been very few changes in Aldi’s business approach since its foundation. Aldi has consequently pursued its business concept and has resisted temptations such as expanding its number of products, diversifying into other areas and changing its cost leadership strategy. This is an important trait of its culture namely continue doing what they do best. This Organisational culture is reinforced by Aldi’s recruitment and selection approach. Aldi tend to select, promote and train managerial talents from inside the organisation. Important qualities for potential managers are a focus on economic efficiency, fairness towards others , including suppliers modesty and reservation towards the public and the press. These behavioural characteristics are reinforced by job descriptions outlining clear goals and competencies. Aldi managers have usually been employed from different sections of the organisation, both from the stores and warehouse with these employees having a broad knowledge and experience on how the organisation operates and have digested and accepted the organisational culture. For example the area managers will have to undergo a one year training program in which they learn about the structural and procedural elements of retail management, including store operations, administration and logistics and property management. An important part of this training includes Aldi’s management system, including its focus on economic efficiency. The first part of the training takes place in the store where future area managers takes over the responsibilities of the store managers for a certain period of time. This â€Å"hands-on† approach used by Aldi aims at acquainting them with the organisation’s operations and also its business philosophy and core values. During the second part of this training, the area managers will then work alongside the experienced colleagues , this will therefore help them learn their roles and responsibilities. This includes the tasks of planning, recruitment and organisation of the stores. The Aldi culture has been effective and has been the push for the organisation to be in the position and enable them to obtain the profits they have earned so far. Aldi has also grown internationally over the years, with the most recent globalisation in Poland in 2008 with a total number of 54 outlets at present. Aldi which originally had a reputation and being ridiculed as cheap selling low quality products, with their customers branded as poor and could not shop anywhere else, this did not however dent Aldi’s profits and gradually the German consumers discovered that this poor reputation of Aldi’s products was either undeserved or economically justifiable. Therefore Aldi was definitely able and is still able to strive for continuity and a going concern of the organisation with its current culture. However they are several criticisms of Aldi ‘s current culture mainly due to the changes in the economic environment and the constant changes in consumers’ behaviours. These criticisms are classified below as; NEED FOR CHANGE * Given the recent forces and changes in the economic environment and a constant increase in competition, it is absolutely necessary for Aldi to change and improve on certain cultural norm such as the culture which tolerates recent ideas being tried rather than being exposed to detailed analysis is outdated and ineffective. For example new products are not subjected to elaborate market research but are rather tested in three stores and if they achieve a fast moving pre-determined minimum turn over, then they are introduced in all other shops. However this is not an effective strategy because the shops chosen for the exposure might be situated in a strategic area, where particular customers are targeted and therefore a high turnover. This will definitely mislead the decision to accept this products which might lead to its introduction to other stores which might not produce the same turnover. * Aldi has also resisted the temptation of introducing and expanding its number of products and also diversifying into other areas, for example services such as banking services and other products such as mobile phones. The growth of the market recently is very rapid, with increasing demands and innovation and therefore organisations need to grow proportionately to be able to meet to the consumers demands and this can be achieved by expanding, with organisation’s constantly changing their strategies. * Another aspect of the Aldi culture which can be criticised refers to the culture of customers being obliged to buy their bags or bring their bags for shopping. Despite this being a cost effective method for Aldi and also a very efficient way of encouraging recycling, it is however very inconveniencing for some customers who will prefer to shop somewhere else, in a case where they forgot to bring along a shopping bag and therefore leading to a loss in income from these group of customers. * Aldi’s culture is also reinforced by its selection and recruitment process or method. Aldi has a culture of internally selecting, recruiting and training of managers. This is cost efficient for the organisation and also enables them maintain their culture, but however this discourages innovations, idea and therefore promotes stereotypes and discourages initiatives and ideas. * The Aldi culture also is extremely focused on cost efficiency and ignores all the external and internal opportunities for growth and developments. The above points indicates that there is an important need for change in the culture of the organisation. Therefore, the above driving forces which can be classified under the main headings of external forces that is from customer needs and the external environment and also internal forces such as the need for organisational growth and restructuring. However these forces for change will be met by the driving forces against change. These forces can be distinguished into individual resistance and organisational resistance. Aldi Culture change. Richard Whittington and Michael Mayer (2002) argued that the reorganisation or the ability to redesign the organisation’s structure frequently is now vital to Organisations. This therefore supports the fact that a change of culture is very critical to Organisations in order to improve their performance. Changing a culture generally means changing some of the organisation’s beliefs, values and the customary ways of doing things. This is usually often disruptive as change is usually met with resistance. They are several underlying reasons why individuals resist change and they include: * Loss of Power base: It is very obvious that an introduction to a change in the current Aldi culture will be met with resistance most probably by the management as they will find it hard to cope with the fact that they might loss power or control of the situation. Dislike of Uncertainty and ambiguity: A change in the Aldi culture will mean the employees will be unsure of the future and this is definitely going to motivate a resistance. * Fear of unknown: An attempt at the culture change might lead to the need of employing new staffs externally, which will lead to pressure on the current Aldi employees as their current culture means recruitment of managers is often done internally. Effectively they will be a resistance to change due to the fear of what might happen. Perceived lack of new skills and loss of old: A change of Aldi culture could also be met with fierce resistance by individuals because they are not sure of how the new ways of doing things will be or if they will be skilled enough to cope with the new culture. They might also be some insecurities and fear of losing their old skills. Individuals therefore have different reasons as to why they resist change and therefore their reactions will be different. This reaction could either be positive, such as enthusiasm, excitement, fulfilment, survival and others. However some individuals may have a negative reaction to change such as anger, stress, confusion, conflicts, fear and depression. Change does not however affect just the employees or members of the organisation, it does affect all the stakeholders of that organisation, either positively or negatively. Therefore the Aldi culture change will also affect its customers, suppliers, shareholders and the society as a whole. Culture change therefore, needs to be done in a very systematic, dynamic and slow way as a rapid change will definitely lead to disaster as people might resist to change and sometimes even become aggressive. They are several theories which were put in place in order to assist Organisations in the change process. Some of these theories include; * Lewin’s Force Field model of change: Lewin stated that an organisational change will occur when the forces for change strengthen and the restraining forces lessen or if both forces occur simultaneously. This is effective in the case of Aldi employees who are likely to resist to a change in culture. The management should therefore focus on lessening the resistance to change by training communicating the benefits of the change to the staffs and the other stakeholders of Aldi. Information will be very crucial in attempts at lessening the resistance. However this theory might not be very effective as there is no stated fact hat, by communicating the benefits of change, they will be a corresponding decrease in the resistance as some individuals might just be adamant and reluctant to change. * Strebel’s possible change paths : According to Strebel, the Management of Aldi, should divide the employees according to different levels of change, that is those individuals who are closed to change, those who are open to change and the third level will be those who can be opened to change. By so doing, the management can therefore use three different options depending on the level. These options could either be proactive, reactive or rapid. This theory is can be used in different parts of the organisation and therefore it is flexible and also it is advantageous because it gives detailed strategies to be used. However this theory could be complicated, and is also based on the assumption that the individuals in Aldi are grouped in the different levels. The Beer et al’s six steps could also be used by the management of Aldi to implement the cultural change. This is a fairly easy model to use in an Organisation where it is easy to change and it is also very detailed and involves the employees and therefore mobilises commitment. Therefore if the individuals or employees in Aldi are open to change, the Beer et al model could be implemented effectively to minimise the resistance and successively change the culture. However if Aldi is a very anti -change organisation, then it will be difficult to deal with the resistance using this model * Kotter and Schlesinger (2008): This model states possible ways to deal with resistance to change and I will therefore recommend the management of Aldi to use this model to reduce the resistance to change because it involves; a) Education and communication; The management should begin by communicating and educating the current stakeholders of Aldi, the reasons for change, the benefits for a ulture change and also the way or method by which the change is going to occur. This will therefore increase commitment and reconcile opposing views. b) Participation and involvement: Aldi’s management should also involve the employees in the planning process of change as well as the implementation as this is going to reduce fear and opposition from the stakeholders. ) Facilitation and support: The management should be able to encourage and support those involved in t his change, by developing individual awareness of the need for change, as well as self awareness of feelings towards change. d) Manipulation and Co-optation: The top management could also use a method of bringing forward proposals that appeal to the specific interests of Aldi’s stakeholders. ) Explicit and implicit coercion: This is another method, which could be used where there is profound disagreement between those concerned with the change, and a very little probability of anyone shifting their ground. This method will resort to threat and force but no violence. f) Negotiation and agreement: Powerful individuals and groups may resist changes that may damage their intersests, as such the top management could overcome this resistance by compromising and negotiating to meet their concerns. However useful this model is to overcome the resistance, it has got some short falls and it could also be generally viewed as a vague model. It will be very time consuming for the top management to use educative measures, participative and involvement methods to overcome this resistance especially in instances where there is an urgent need for change. Also negotiation can encourage the individuals to strike deals and future problems may arise from those who feel they were manipulated into accepting the change. In the explicit and implicit coercion, the person implementing the change must be powerful for this method to be effective. It is therefore very likely that the top management of Aldi is going to be met with resistance if they are to change their culture, however should be ready to overcome this resistance from the individuals and groups by taking into consideration some of these models mentioned above. Recommendations Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, opined that some of the riskiest work we do has to do with altering the Organisation’s culture. Emotions run high and almost everyone feels threatened. However this is absolutely necessary because if Organisations do not have strong notions of themselves as it is reflected in their values, myths, stories and legends, people’s only security comes from where they live in the organisation. If this is threatened and in the absence of some grander corporate purpose, then the closest thing they have to meaning in their business lives has been threatened. I strongly agree with this as the employees and other stakeholders of Aldi, have become very comfortable with the current culture that they do not see the need for change despite the increasing change in the business and economic environment . f these changes becomes very threatening, then the entire Organisation will be threatened. The following recommendations could benefit Aldi ‘s new culture. i. Aldi could take a major step of diversifying its product range and trying other products depending on the market and environment. Aldi could do a survey and research on the needs and requirements of customers in different area and also carry out some benchmarking with its competitors to identify and implement new products. An example of this could be illustrated by Tesco, who diversified their product range, introducing products like tesco mobile which is successful and generating more profits for its shareholders. ii. Secondly , Aldi’s top management should also endeavour to take actions on their recruitment process, by recruiting from out of the Organisation, therefore bringing into their organisation, new skills, knowledge and initiatives which could help to enhance their innovative strategies and create some competitive advantages. ii. Aldi could also focus less on their cost efficiency technics and focus more on customers satisfaction. By exceeding customers expectations, it is more likely to create customer value for money and also create loyalty. If loyalty is created, then the customers could be willing to buy at any increased prices due to a reputation already perceived. Aldi can also provide customer satisfaction by trivial things such providing shopping bags to their customers. iv. Aldi could also become more customer focused by introducing loyalty cards and systems such as the points collection system done by competitors such as Sainsburys’ nectar cards, and the Tescos’ club card which was first introduced by Tesco and is one of the main reason why Tesco became top retail groceries stores in the UK. Above are a few recommendations which Aldi could adopt as a new culture to be able to become unique and gain some competitive priorities. Conclusion Ann Cunlife (2008) stated that Organisational culture is important for four reasons; it shapes the image that the society has for an organisation, it influences organisational performance, it provides direction for the company, and it helps attract and retain motivated staff. This is very important in the growth of organisations and the culture of an organisation will determine and influence their performance and the achievement of their goals. This implies that organisations at some point need to ensure that their current culture is good enough to enable them achieve their goals , improve their performance and maintain growth. This might often lead to change which will not be an easy task but is a necessary task. Aldi will not take a single day to change its culture as the culture did not occur in a day’s time. It is therefore very important for the top management to understand that a change in culture should not be done rapidly as this is going to lead to a disaster and disorder. However time should be taken and this change and ideas should be discussed and communicated properly to the various stakeholders before a gradual adoption of the new culture is carried out. A radical change of culture could never be effective as it could be illustrated in the Barclays/’ Lehman case study which led to several staffs departure during the merger. References Mullins L, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 9th Edition, Pearson Education. Buchhannan D, Huczynski A,(2003), Organisational behaviour: Emerging Realities for the workplace Revolution, 2nd Edition. Johnson, G. , Scholes, K. , Whittington, R. (2006). Exploring Corporate Strategy. Essex: Pearson Education. Robbins, S. .. , Judge, T. A. (2007). Organisational Behaviour. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Buelens, M. , Broeck, H. V. , Vanderyden, K. , Kreitner, R. , Kinicki, A. (2006). Organisation Behaviour. Berkshire: McGraw Hill Education. Anon. (2009). Edgar H. Scheins Model of Organizational Culture . Retrieved September 3rd, 2011, from Business mate. org: businessmate. org/Article. php? ArtikelId=36 Anon. (2010). Frederick herzberg motivational theory. Retrieved September 3rd, 2011, from Businessballs: businessballs. com/herzberg. htm Anon. (2003, October Thursday 09). Critical succss Factor for Change. Retrieved September 3rd, 2011, from AMEinfo. com: ameinfo. com/29295. html Area manager’, http://uk. aldi. com/recruitment/recruitment_2. html (accessed 12. 09. 11). www. aldi. co. uk accessed on 04/09/2011

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The Discovery of Biotech Rice essays U.S. Researchers said that they have engineered a rice plant that can stand drought, cold and salty water without destroying the plant itself. The experimental rice plant has been re-engineered with a natural sugar to yield a more productive plant. And you can be sure that it is edible. Biologists at Cornell University in New York who invented and examined the re-engineered plant over six years are positive that it could help farmers working in coastlines. The transgenic rice utilizes the advantages of trehalose. Trehalose is a sugar that occurs naturally in bacteria, yeast and fungi. It also helps retain the individual cell structure and function during intense environmental pressure that would destroy plants. The Cornell researchers combined two different trehalose that will create E-coli genes to produce a gene they place in the genome of Indian rice varieties. They capped it off with promoter sequences that prepared the plant to increase trehalose production in unfavorable conditions. For example, if the temperature is below average. The outcome was a plant that could survive temperatures as low as 10 degrees Celsius, endure for up to five days without water and thrive in a very salty water. Even in unstressful conditions, the transgenic plant can be more efficient at photosynthesis. It can even enhance its production or crop. They also said that with this strategy, it can also work on other crops such as corn, millet, wheat, soybeans, and sugarcane. With this invention, I think it would be very helpful to us especially to the farmers. With extreme environmental conditions, it could destroy plants. But with this discovery, it can resist extreme heat and cold. We know that we have shortage on food production but with the help of this, we can actually solve our problem. But we do not know yet if it has side effects once we eat this ...

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