Reverse Marketing by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

The traditional view of marketing is that supplier firms will actively seek the requirements of customers and attempt to meet those needs better than the competition. This model places the initiative with the supplier. Purchasers could assume a passive dimension, relying on their supplier's sensitivity to their needs and technological capabilities to provide them with solutions to their problem. However, this trusting relationship is at odds with the new corporate purchasing situation that developed during the 1980s and is gaining  momentum. Purchasing is taking on a more productive, aggressive stance in acquiring the products and services needed to compete. This process whereby the buyer attempts to persuade the supplier to provide exactly what the organization want is called reverse marketing.

The essence of reverse marketing is that the purchaser takes the initiative in approaching new or existing suppliers and persuading them to meet their supply requirements. The implications of reverse marketing are that it may pose serious threats to uncooperative in-suppliers but major opportunities to responsive in-suppliers and out-suppliers. The growth of reverse marketing presents two key benefits to suppliers who are willing to listen to the buyer's proposition and carefully consider its merits. First, it provided the opportunity to develop a stronger and longer lasting relationship with the customer. Second, it could be a source of new product opportunities that may be developed to a broader customer base later on.

Although buyers have a purchasing power to initiate commercial transactions, it is traditionally the case within organizational buying situations that sellers tend to visit buyers. This is sometimes termed transactional marketing, where the emphasis is likely to be upon a single sale and the time horizon is usually short term. Quality is generally seen to be concern of production and there tend to be on  supplier emphasis on product features and price.

To re-emphasize what was said earlier, the concept of reverse marketing occurs where buyers generally take the initiative and they source suppliers (sellers) . This scenario is particularly applicable in retailing and in JIT manufacturing situations. JIT manufacturing has proved to be so economical and efficient that it will form an increasing trend in production line manufacturing situations where a relatively standardized product is being produced on a continuous basis. In this situation, buyers seek to source supplier whom they will retain for a long period of time. The main criteria being sought from suppliers rest upon the quality of their goods and reliability of their supplies as and when they are demanded. In JIT situations down-time on the production line resulting from faulty components or late delivery can prove very expensive. This view is supported by Deans and Rajagopal who says that the cheapest component procured by driving hard bargains with multiple choices is not necessarily the least expensive in the long run. Once the cost of poor quality is factored in- down time on the production line , rework, scrap , warranty work, legal fees- the cheapest may well prove to be the most costly.

Leenders and Blenhorn state that many companies take a minimum of two years to achieve acceptable quality standards from suppliers in the situation just described. To discuss contracts for six months or one year is meaningless. Purchasing development costs must be recovered and this has to be done over a longer period of time. Suppliers and buyers form a long term "co-marketing" agreement where both parties derive mutual benefits.

Kearney conducted a wide ranging study which concluded that the next wave of business improvement will not be obtained by looking at business in isolation, but by looking at the supply chain as a whole to find new opportunities to improve overall effectiveness. Additional areas of duplication and waste become evident and offer new sources of cost reduction. Service to the end of customer can be driven to even a higher standards by focusing the whole supply chain towards the goal, rather than diluting the efforts of individual companies through conflicting objectives. This broader vision is termed supply chain integration.

Kearney concludes that closer relationship between suppliers and customers will become competitive necessity. He does, however, caution that a naïve belief in an ill-defined concept of partnership as a universal panacea will be counterproductive. A level of realism is required in SCI to take account of the practical difficulties of integration, the level of sophistication of the participants and the nature of competitive advantage and power within the supply chain. Each company has a different mix (or portfolio) of supply chain relationships operating at different levels and the key is to select the right one for the right supply chain.

The trend towards reverse marketing will gather momentum. Buyers as a group are becoming more professional and indeed such professionalism is needed in JIT purchasing situations. So how does a seller cope with buyer needs once the company is an "in" supplier and a long relationship is anticipated? This bring us back to the notion of relationship marketing. Gronroos argues that implementing the traditional view of marketing is unsatisfactory. He quotes the limitations of the four Ps and claims the other Ps, such as planning, have to be added in an attempt to cover new marketing perspectives. He agrees with the concept of a company basing its activities on customer needs and wants in target markets, but argues that this still smacks of production orientation since these ideas stem from the firm and not from the marketplace. His redefinition of marketing perhaps sums up the concept of reverse marketing and the resultant cognition of relationship marketing when he states: " Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance long term customer relationships at a profit so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by a mutual exchange of promises.


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The Basics of Human Right:

1.       Introduction

There is a considerable disagreement about the precise meaning of rights. Thinkers and different groups have variations in the meaning of the words some thinkers says that the meaning of this principle is controversial as there are some normative differences that go beyond with the definition. A way to understand the definition of the word “right” is

“

A right to life, a right to choose; a right to vote, to work, to strike; a right to one phone call, to dissolve parliament, to operate a forklift, to asylum, to equal treatment before the law, to feel proud of what one has done; a right to exist, to sentence an offender to death, to launch a nuclear first strike, to carry a concealed weapon, to a distinct genetic identity; a right to believe one's own eyes, to pronounce the couple husband and wife, to be left alone, to go to hell in one's own way Wikepedia, 2011)[1]

”

There are likewise diverse possible ways to categorize rights, such as:

“

Who is alleged to have the right: Children's rights, animal rights, workers' rights, states' rights, the rights of peoples. What actions or states or objects the asserted right pertains to: Rights of free expression, to pass judgment; rights of privacy, to remain silent; property rights, bodily rights. Why the right holder (allegedly) has the right: Moral rights spring from moral reasons, legal rights derive from the laws of the society, customary rights are aspects of local customs. How the asserted right can be affected by the right holder's actions: The inalienable right to life, the forfeitable right to liberty, and the waivable right that a promise be kept(Wikepaedai, 2011)[1

”

A considerable debate about the term especially in the academe that allowed to define the terms such as in the field of philosophy, law, logic and religion.

According to annual reports compiled by the U.S. State Department, most Arab nations are ruled by the hierarchy that which has the basic freedom of expression, speech and press and due process specifically in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Hierarchy has given its people freedom, civil liberties, political rights and independence of media. Women in Bahrain are accorded the legal rights and are equal with men within the context of   traditional social norms.

 The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF; is a United Nations Program that is being headquartered in the city of  New York provides  humanitarian development assistance in a long-term to children and mothers in the developing countries

UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors and UNICEF's total income for 2013 was $13,372,540,239.  Two thirds of its resources are being contributed by the governments and private sectors with 90 million are coming from the individual and by the National Committees. The revenue is distributed to UNICEF’s program services to develop community led services and promote the well being of the children.

There are 190 countries staffs all over the world to carry out the mission with many regional offices that provide assistance technically to country offices as needed. The overall management is in New York and supply division is located in Copenhagen which serves as the distribution point of the most important items such as vaccines, antiviral medicines for parents and children with HIV supplements. Also it provides shelter for children, reunification of the family educational supplies and many others.

Many charitable institutions in affiliation with UNICEF have its aims to alleviate poverty and social exclusion.

The stated aims are the following:

·         To raise awareness to what are the causes, extent, impact and nature of poverty the eradication and prevention.

·         A change of positive policy to bring into the alleviation of poverty among families and children.

·         Enable those eligible for income maintenance to have access to their full entitlement.

B. Theses Statement: What are Human Rights?

We define human rights as the protection against every people and their recognition to protect them in terms of person’s dignity. People come from in terms of religion, age, culture, income, the scope as seen as the protection of individual rights to live freely in a society without prejudice and inhuman and barbaric act.

Human rights are defined according to the value the societies they live into. These values are regardless of an individual religion, culture, age and philosophies in life. The heart of these values is within the concepts of human dignity and justice. If a person has its legal rights he, may be able to defend it in court and that is an individual privileged.

 Another value depends upon the rights to live morally which are just and fair without any biases and prejudices. An individual has both the civil and political rights in conjunction with the freedom of speech and freedom form torture. These are also sets down by an international law and agreements which are also often written down on the domestic level of the country.

11. Human Rights in Arab Countries

Children's rights are the right of the children with particular attention with to the special protection rights and care to the minors. The right to associate with both of the parents as well as their identity and the right to provide them with basic necessity such as food, shelter, education, and the criminal laws for the children development according to their age with the children to be protected equally as stated in the civil rights and free from the being discriminated according to their gender, sexual orientation origin, religion, color and ethnicity and disability. The children’s right is interpreted that allows children to be free from abuse both physically, emotionally the children has the right to be nurtured. 

"A child is any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law applicable to the child. The term "child" often, but does not necessarily, mean minor, but can include adult children as well as adult nondependent children^. There are no definitions of other terms used to describe young people such as "adolescence", "teenagers," or "youth" in internal law but the children's rights movement.

Physical rights

1.       Corporal Punishment to the children violates human rights

2.       Every Child must have an opportunity for the protection of physical integrity of children and children’s right.

3.       A binding resolution to take into action to promote the physical integrity of children.

Gender Inequality

The process of assessing the gender inequality is to assess the process of implication with the corresponding aim. This is done to address by means of explicit and addressing systematically the specific different needs and concern of both women and men. The policies and strategies should be evaluated and monitored in the mainstream activity. Through a targeted intervention one sex especially women has been of disadvantage in terms of socially, politically and economically. This gender equality is done through mainstreaming according to the gender that assessed the impact of men and women in all level of area. It is design to implement and monitor all the programs and policies in terms of economic, political and societal spheres in order that women and men can benefit equally and that inequality is not allowed. Thus, the important goal of mainstreaming is to produce gender equality.

Gender equality also is present in the activities in the office of the organization. There are entrepreneurial program that target groups specifically designed to overcome gender biases and prejudice with the barriers in the labor market. The nondiscrimination in the work activities can provide a capacity building on the workplace practices

Strength Danger:

 Strength danger is a positive force, deriving its strength from our sense of common spiritual values. There is a dynamic expression which is faith and inspired by a moral conception and guarded by law and freedom.

There is the best legal course to address the child labor. Labor of children below 18 years old is wrong since it results to children become illiterate, inhumane to work with the lower human capital investment. These will also leads to a poor standard of labor for adults, reduced wages thereby producing poor quality of products and cheap exports. Therefore there are moral and economic reasons that justify this situation.

Child labor is being witnessed at work in the factories and that is the only way to survive. Today we overlook the fact that death from starvation and exposure was a common fate before the Industrial Revolution, for the pre capitalist economy was barely able to support the population. Yes, children were working. Formerly they would have starved. It was only as goods were produced in greater abundance at lower cost that men could support their families without sending their children to work. It was not the reformer or the politician that ended the grim necessity for child labor; it was capitalism.

Child abuse on the other hand results to the adverse physical effects which has an impact in psychological issues such as ill health, risk of health behavior and shortening of life span. Children that are maltreated have the risk of psychiatric problems, developmental problems, disorganized attachment, anxiety and depression.

These maltreated children will exhibit a psycho-social difficulty and suffer a posttraumatic stress disorder. It has a consequence of a social emotional development and needs a social intervention by the parents. Some victims of childhood abuse have reportedly diagnosed some type of chronic head, muscular pain with no particular reason. The study shows between 36% and 76% of women mental health patients have been abused as had 58% of women and 23% of men has schizophrenic diseases.

 On the other hand, there are some children who are raised in child abuse, but who manage to do unexpectedly well later in life regarding the preconditions. Such children have been termed dandelion children, as inspired from the way that dandelions and seems to prosper irrespective of soil, sun, drought, or rain^.  Such children (or currently grown-ups) are of high interest in finding factors that mitigate the effects of child abuse.

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. It knows no social, economic or national boundaries. Worldwide, an estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime. Gender-based violence undermines the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims, yet it remains shrouded in a culture of silence. Victims of violence can suffer sexual and reproductive health consequences, including forced and unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, traumatic fistula, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and even death. UNFPA is one of the UN's lead agencies working to further gender equality and women’s empowerment, and to address the physical and emotional consequences of gender-based violence. UNFPA’s program offer psychosocial assistance, medical treatment and rape kits to survivors, and promote the right of all women and girls to live free of violence and abuse. - See more at: http://www.unfpa.org/gender-based-violence#sthash.

Any country that has been terrorized by the means of brutality is logic of modernity. There are pivotal moments that equality, justice, freedom and democratic process has shaped the human rights activities. That person who fought for freedom has seen an external and international support. Several countries has fall into a trapped of isolation, economic terrorism and extreme oppression that delineates into an arena of political miscalculations.

In conclusion, Human rights has been endowed by every people, every country to support for those that are oppressed and less privilege to be cowed towards their rights. Everyone has the right of its own to live freely in an atmosphere of free society and democratic principles of human rights, defend to any cruelty that will technically harm them.

In each country, there is a human rights legal rule of law where one person can freely move and act at the same way, socialized without any but if there is injustice, prejudice and inequality will prevails.

The government should take part in curbing human rights abuses, They will  punished and the punishment must be of strong enough that they will  not in danger to mankind. Also, the government has duties and responsibilities to the community, individual  to protect its citizens to such abuses.

 

 






 

The GA Business and Management Consultancy: The Analysis by Dr. Jolito Ortizo Padilla

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Executive Summary:

GA Consultancy  is one of the most prestigious and a well known consulting company in Asia with 20 branches all over the world. It services is diverse in the field of engineering, architectural, mining, construction and environments. The structure consists of two matrix streams  namely, the knowledge  which is for training and developing employees resulting to productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency among employees and the business streams which involved in the growth of the business, acquiring contract from the business sectors, managing projects and delivering these projects to the satisfaction of the clients.

Although the company is successful in consultancy business sector, there are situational problems that cause the company to prevent its growth sustainability in the marketplace. During the management audit the following are the operational drawbacks of GCC:

·         A mismatch between the present market growth potential over the current employee specialization.

·         Lack of planning and outdated operational strategy

·         Lack of motivations among employee

·         Outdated knowledge streams that are relevant to the technologically market sphere

·         Mission , Vision  goals and objectives are not emphasized and practice among employees

·         Employee engagement and commitment are lacking

The above mentioned weaknesses pre-suppose the GA Consultancy weaknesses that hinders the process of growth and expansion of the company.

  Introduction:

The effects of increased economic pressures and demands for greater competitiveness have drawn attention to the structural variables. The movement towards tighter and leaner organizations has emphasized the importance of alternative forms of structure and the demand of flexibility. According to Eden, M, 2004, “ It is important to design at least part of the organization so that it can recognize early  the direction in which uncertain situations will unfold, and so respond to change and uncertainty in an opportunistic, flexible and effective manner”.

GA Business and Management Consultancies and Management Today carried out a survey of 1,200 managers, from all types of organization, in order to understand their attitudes to their employers and how they are likely to change in the future. The survey draws attention to the changing relationship between organizations and individuals and that ties to the workplace will increasingly cease to be a hindrance.

There are four interconnected forces that have brought about the changing environment:

·         Changes in the shape of organizations themselves with outsourcing leading to a range of previously in house processes and functions fulfilled elsewhere.

·         Changing pattern of people’s working days with constant reference to flexibility. More than two thirds of respondents spent a significant amount of time working outside the organization.

·         The pattern of people’s working lives taking a very different shape with the ending of jobs for life and the active pursuit of career changes. Individuals increasingly choose employment that allows them to work from home or provide the latest technology;

·         The impact of new technology enabling greater workforce mobility. However, although technology is usually an enabler, it cans also disabling. For example, e-mail is the most important activity in helping people get their job done but it is also a burden.

2. Description of Management Function

Managers and employees of GA Consultancy throughout an organization should participate early and directly in strategic implementation decisions. Their role in strategy implementation should build upon prior involvement in strategy formulation activities. GA Consultancy personnel commitment to implementation is a necessary and powerful motivational force for managers and employees. The rationale for objectives and strategies should be understood clearly communicated throughout an organization. Major competitors” accomplishments, products, plans, actions and performance should be apparent to all organizational members. Major external opportunities and threats should be clear and managers’ and employees’ question should be answered. Top down flow of communication is essential for developing bottom up support.

GA Consultancy needs to develop a competitor focus at all hierarchical levels by gathering and widely distributing competitive intelligence; every employee of GA Consultancy should be able to benchmark her or his effort against best in class competitors so that the challenge becomes personal.

GA Consultancy Management Issues Central to Corporate Strategies is:

1.      Establish annual objectives

2.      Devise policies

3.      Alter existing organizational structure

4.      Restructure and Engineer

5.      Revise reward and incentives plan

6.      Match managers with strategy

7.      Develop a strategy-supportive culture

8.      Develop an effective human resources function

9.      Link performance and pay to strategies

Annual Objectives

Establishing objectives is decentralized activity that directly involves all managers in an organization. GA Consultancy personnel should actively participate in establishing annual objectives which can lead to acceptance and commitment. Annual objectives are essential to GA Consultancy because they 1) serve as a basis for allocating human resources 2) evaluate managers in their performance appraisal are  3) as the main instrument to monitor progress of the employee in achieving a long term objectives  4) establish organizational, divisional and departmental priorities. It is always a procedure that the objective are to be approved, revised or be rejected. The purpose of annual objectives can be summarized as follows Padilla, J, 2010

 “Annual objectives serve as guidelines for action, directing and channeling efforts and activities of organization members. They provide a source of legitimacy in an enterprise by justifying activities to stakeholders. They serve as standards of performance. They serve as an important source of employee motivation. They provide a basis for organizational designs”.

Annual objectives should be consistent, measurable, consistent, clear, challenging and be communicated throughout the organization that are the characteristics by appropriate time dimension and with rewards and punishment, reasonable, challenging, clear, communicated throughout the organization, characterized by an appropriate time dimension with rewards sanctions. Too often, objectives are stated in generalities, with little operational usefulness. To improve GAC communications and performance are to be specific , clear and  measurable.  Objectives should state quantity, quality, cost and time –and also be verifiable. Terms and phrases such as maximize, minimize, as soon as possible, and adequate should be avoided.

Policies

Changes in GA Consultancy strategic direction do not occur automatically. On a day to day basis, polices are needed to make strategy works. Policies facilitate solving recurring problems and guide the strategic action. Broadly defined, policy refers to specific guidelines, methods, procedures, rules, forms and administrative practices established to support and encourage work towards stated goals. Policies are boundaries, constraints, and limits on the kinds of administrative actions that can be taken to reward and sanctions behavior of GAC personnel; they clarify what can and cannot be done in pursuit of GAC objectives.

Policies let both employees and managers know what is expected of them, thereby increasing the likelihood that strategies will be implemented successfully. They provide a basis for GA Consultancy management control, allow coordination across organizational units, and reduce the amount of time managers spend making decisions. Policies also clarify what work is to be done and by whom. They promote delegation of decision making to appropriate managerial levels where various problems usually raise, Wall Street Journal, (2001).

The Strategic Business Units

As the number, size and diversity of divisions in an organization increase, controlling and evaluating divisional operations becomes increasingly difficult for GA Consultancy managers. Increases in sales often are not accompanied by similar increases in profitability. The span of control SBUs accords to certain common characteristics, such as competing in the same industry, being located in the same area, or having the same customers.

Two disadvantages of an SBU structure are that it requires an additional layer of management, which increases salary expense. Also, the role group vice president is often ambiguous. However, these limitations often do not outweigh the advantages of improved coordination and accountability. Another advantage of the SBU structure is that it makes the tasks of planning and control by the corporate office more manageable.

Restructuring and Reengineering

Restructuring and reengineering are becoming commonplace in the corporate landscape across the United States, Europe, Asia and GCC countries. Restructuring also called downsizing, rightsizing, de-layering, involves reducing size of the firm in terms of number of employees , number of divisions or units, and number of hierarchical levels in the GA Consultancy organizational structure, S. Ghostal and C.A Bartlett, (2005) . This reduction in size is intended to improve both efficiency and effectiveness in KTG. Restructuring is concerned primarily with shareholder well-being rather than employee well being. Recessionary economic conditions forced company to downsize, lying off managers and employees.

In contrast reengineering is concerned more with employee and customer well being than shareholder well being. Reengineering also called process management, process innovation, or process redesign-involves reconfiguring or redesigning work, jobs and process for the purpose of improving cost, quality, service and speed. Reengineering does not usually affect the organizational structure or chart, nor does it imply job loss or employee layoffs. Whereas restructuring is concerned with eliminating or establishing, shrinking or enlarging and moving organizational departments and divisions, the focus of reengineering is changing the way work is actually carried out.

GAC can employ restructuring when various ratios appear out of line with competitors as determined through benchmarking. Benchmarking involves comparing a firm against the best firm in the industry on a wide variety of performance related criteria. GA Consultancy will benchmark ratios such as head count to sales volume, corporate staff to operating employees, or span of control figures.

GA Consultancy primary benefit is from restructuring cost reduction. It can rescue the firm from global competition and demise. But the downside of this strategy can reduced employee commitment, creativity, and innovation accompanies by uncertainty and trauma associated with pending and actual employee layoffs, Sue Shellenbarger, 2010.

GA Consultancy  manage more people spread over different locations, travel more, manage diverse functions, and are changed agents even when they have nothing to do with the creation of the plan or disagree with its approach. GAC must look for people who can do things, not for people who make other people do things. GAC managers need to be counselors, motivators, financial advisors and psychologists. They also run the risk of becoming technologically behind in their expertise.

GA Consultancy present set up has led managers’ and employees’ mind set being defined by their particular functions rather than by overall customer service, service quality, or corporate performance  which are GA Consultancy weaknesses , Suzanne Vranica, (2010). The logic is that GAC tend to bureaucratize over time. As routines became entrenched, turf becomes delineated and defended, and politics takes precedence over performance. Walls that exist in the physical workplace can be reflections of “mental” walls.

In reengineering, GA Consultancy should use technology to break down functional barriers and create a work system based on processes, services, or outputs rather than on functions or inputs. Cornerstone of reengineering is decentralization, reciprocal interdependence, and information sharing. The Wall Street Journal, 2011 noted that reengineering today must go beyond knocking down the external walls that prohibit or discourage cooperation with other firms-even rival firms.

GA Consultancy benefits of reengineering are that it offers employees to see more clearly how their particular jobs affect the final services being marketed by the firm. However, reengineering can also raise manager and employee anxiety, which, unless calmed, can lead to corporate trauma.

3. The Environment in GA Consultancy

GA Consultancy should strive to preserve, emphasize and build upon aspects of an existing culture that support proposed new strategies. Aspects of an existing culture that are antagonistic to a proposed strategy should be identified and changed. Substantial research indicates that new strategies are often market driven and dictated by competitive forces. For this reason, changing GA Consultancy culture to fit a new strategy is usually more effective than changing a strategy to fit an existing culture. There are numerous techniques that are available to alter an organization’s culture, including recruitment, training, transfer, promotion, and restructure of an organization’s design, role modeling, positive reinforcement, and mentoring.

Schein, L, 2004 indicated that the following elements are most useful in linking culture to strategy:

·         Formal statements of organizational philosophy, charters, creeds, material used for recruitment and selection, and socialization

·         Designing of physical space, facades, buildings

·         Deliberate role modeling, teaching, and coaching of leaders

·         Explicit reward and status system. Promotion criteria

In the personal and religious side of life, the impact of loss and change is easy to see. Memories of loss and change often haunt individuals and organization for years. Ibsen, N 2005 wrote “Rob the average man of his life illusion and you rob him of his happiness at the same stroke”. When attachments to a culture are severed in an organization’s attempt to change direction, employees and managers often experience deep feelings of grief. This phenomenon commonly occurs when external conditions dictate the need for a new strategy. Managers and employees struggle to find meaning in a situation that changed many years before. Some people find comfort in memories; others find solace in the present. Weak linkages between GA Consultancy management

Human Resource Concern when implementing strategies

The job of human resource manager is changing rapidly as GA Consultancy continues to downsize and reorganize. Strategic responsibilities of the human resource manager include assessing the staffing needs and costs for alternative strategies proposed during the strategic planning and developing a staffing plan for effectively implementing strategies. This plan must consider how best to manage spiraling health care insurance care. Employer’s health coverage expenses consume an average 26% of firm’s net profit, even though most companies now require employees to pay part of their health insurance premiums.

The human resource department must develop performance incentives that clearly link performance and pay to strategies. The process of empowering managers and employees through involvement in strategic management activities yields the greatest benefits when all GAC members understand clearly how they will benefit personally if the firm does well. Linking company and personal benefits is a major new strategic responsibility of human resource managers. Other new responsibilities for human resource may include establishing and administering an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), instituting an effective child care policy, and providing leadership for managers and employees in the way that allows them to balance work and family.

 

GAC fails in three Human Resource Causes

1.      Disruption of social and political structures

2.      Failure to match individual’s aptitudes with implementation tasks

3.      Inadequate top management support for implementation activities.

Strategic implementation poses a threat to many managers and employees in GA Consultancy. New power and status relationships are anticipated and realized. New formal and informal groups’ values, beliefs, and priorities may be largely unknown. Managers and employees may become engaged in resistance behavior as their roles, prerogatives, and power in the firm change. Disruption of social and political structures that accompany strategy execution must be anticipated and considered during strategy formulation and managed during strategy implementation.

A concern in matching managers with strategy is that jobs have specific and relatively static responsibilities, although people are dynamic in their personal development. Commonly used methods that match managers with strategies to be implemented include transferring managers, developing leadership workshops, offering career development activities, promotions, job enlargement , and job enrichment , Dale McConkey, (2001) .

A number of other guidelines can help ensure that human relationships facilitate rather than disrupt strategy implementation efforts. Specifically managers should do a lot of chatting and informal questioning to stay abreast of how things are progressing and to know when to intervene. Managers of GAC can build support by giving few orders, announcing few decisions, depending heavily on informal questioning and seeking to probe and clarify until consensus emerges. Key thrusts that succeed should be rewarded generously and visibly.

Inadequate support from GAC management often undermines organizational success. Chief executives must be committed to strategy implementation and express this commitment in highly visible ways. It must be consistent with actual rewards given for activities completed and objectives reached.  GAC must involve as many managers and employees as possible in the process. Although time consuming, this approach builds understanding, trust, confidence, commitment, and ownership and reduces hostility and resentment.

Motivation:

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)

An ESOP is a tax qualified, defined contribution, employee benefit plan whereby employees purchase stock of the company through borrowed money or cash contribution. ESOPs empower employees to work as owners; this is a primary reason why the number of ESOPs has grown dramatically to more than 12,000 firm covering 17Million employees (Chan, M, 2012).

Beside reducing worker alienation and stimulating productivity, ESOPs allow firms other benefits, such as substantial tax savings. Banks lend money to ESOPs at interest rates below prime. This money can be repaid in pretax, lowering the debt service as 30 percent in some cases.

4.      Communication

GA Consultancy failure to recognize and understand relationship among functional areas of business can be detrimental to the firm, and the number of those relationships that must be managed increases dramatically with the firm’s size, diversity, geographic dispersion, and the number of services offered.  

Communication, perhaps play a most important word in management, is a major component of motivation. An organization’s system of communication determines whether strategies can be implemented successfully. Good two way communication is vital for gaining support for departmental and divisional objectives and policies. The strategic management process becomes a lot easier when subordinates encouraged to discuss their concerns, reveal their problems, and provide recommendations and suggestions.

Recommendation and Conclusion

Motivation explains why some people work hard to accomplish specific objectives. Objectives, strategies, and policies have little chance of succeeding if employees and managers are not motivated to implement strategies once they are formulated. The motivating function of management includes at least four components: leadership, group dynamics, and communications and organizational, Dale McConkey, (2002).

When managers and employees of GA Consultancy strive to achieve high levels of productivity, this indicates that the firm’s strategists are good leaders. Good leaders establish rapport with subordinates, empathize with their needs and concern, set a good example, and are trustworthy and fair. Leadership includes developing a vision of the firm’s future and inspiring people to work hard to achieve that vision. Kirkpatrick and Locke, 2005, reported that certain traits also characterize effective leaders: knowledge of the business, cognitive ability, self confidence, honesty, integrity, and drive.

Research suggests that democratic behavior on the part of the leaders result in more attitudes toward change and higher productivity than autocratic behavior. Drucker , 2004 said

“Leadership is not a magnetic personality. That can just as well be demagoguery. It is not “making friends and influencing people”. That is flattery. Leadership is lifting of a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a person’s personality beyond its normal limitations”.

Group dynamics play a major role in employee morale and satisfaction. Informal groups or coalitions form in every organization. The norms of coalitions can range from being positive to negative toward management. It is important therefore, that GAC management identifies the composition and nature of informal groups to facilitate corporate strategy.  

Reference:

Chan, M. 2010, Organizational Behavior, 1^st edition, Prentice Hall, pp98-100

Dale McConkey. “Planning in A Changing Environment” Business Horizons, September- October 2002)

Drucker, P.F (1980) P.F. Managing for Results, Heinemann Professional (1989)

Eden, M, 2004, Outsider CEO: Inspiring Change with Force and Grace”, USA Today (July 19, 2004):3B pp26-27

S. Ghostal and C.A Bartlett, : Changing the Role of Management: Beyond Structure to Processes”, Harvard Business Review  73 ,1 2005; p 14

Want To Be A Manager? Many People Say No, Calling Job Miserable . Wall Street Journal , April 4, 2001, 1 pp45

E, Schien , The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture, “ Organizational Dynamics (Summer 2001), pp 13-28

H. Ibsen , The Paradox of Corporate Culture, California Management Review 28, no. 2 (1998) pp 37- 40

Padilla, J. 2010, Strategic Management, 2^nd edition, pp124-136, Prentice Hill

Sue Shellenbarger, “Employers Often Ignore Office Affairs, Leaving Co- workers in Difficult Spot, “Wall Street Journal , November 29, 2010 B7, pp 15-18

Suzanne Vranica, Ad Firms Heed Diversity.” Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2010, B7 pp34-36

 

The Kingdom of Bahrain Economic Outlook for 2015 by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

The Kingdom of Bahrain 2015 Economic Forecast

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 Bahrain economy will continuously have a robust expansion in 2015. Growth will overshoot as forecasted to between 3.5 percent to  3.8 percent with expectedly high government spending, low inflation rate of 2.5 percent and related monetary tightening due to reduce oil prices.

Update to the annual economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2014, Padilla, J forecasted a growth in Bahrain’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 3.5 percent to  3.8 percent compared to 3.0 percent in the previous year of 2014.

“Bahrain’s consumption and investment for 2015 will remain strong as exports will be recovered by non-oil sectors due to government’s focus to industrialization”, said Padilla. The government is gearing to accelerate infrastructure projects, undertakes a measurement to strengthen competition and increase access to financial activities which can give rise to growth and reduce unemployment.

An initiative to strengthen competition is being launched by the government, enhancement of the framework that regulates the public-private partnership, developing the capital markets that can increase financial activities. These initiatives by the government can raise the competitiveness of Bahrain, supporting the development of the small and medium enterprise, increase the investment in outlaying areas especially in Seef and economic zones thereby fostering economic integration, Padilla, J, (2014).

The slightly lower growth is due to political instability brought about by conflicts in some issues, foreign intervention to the country’s domestic affairs and the last quarter slump in the price of oil. The economy grew by 0.9 percent in the first half of 2014 as compared to 0.4 in the same period in 2013. The election of the Parliament last November of  2013 will produce growth that encourages investors and speculators to invest in the country, but also a cautionary reflection among the  government agencies about the misuse of fund.  The outlook assumes steps and mechanisms in order to address the administrative bottlenecks that accelerate fiscal disbursement from the late 2014, Padilla, J, (2014).

Private construction, while moderating a fast pace at present year, is forecasted to expand through the year 2015 by 12.3 percent. Building permits increased 10.5 percent on a year to year basis in the third quarter in both the non-residential and residential increased in approvals.

There is a consistency in the export of oil, although there is the reduction of oil prices slump to $48 per barrel. Goods exported specifically in the textile and aluminum industry has reversed in the second half of 2014 to a projected turnaround of 9.5 percent in volume. The importation of goods and services will continuously rebound at the higher rate of 11.8 percent in 2015.

Foreign direct investment, however low as compared to other GCC countries jumped by 65 percent in the second half of 2014 to $4.5 Billion( Bahrain Economic Board, GDN,  December, 2014) The GA  Consultancy Surveys shows that the business sentiment is generally positive.

 The Fiscal Policy is more receptive and supportive as expected in the economic growth of 2015. The Government’s proposed budget of 2015 increased the public spending by 13.5 percent over 2015 as proposed in the Government Action Plan (GAP). The increase will trickle down for infrastructure, social services and welfare, investment on tourism, agriculture and manufacturing.

Despite of the fact, that Bahrain’s growth is on a moderate pace since 2013, the generation of job is insufficient. Underemployment remains 6.8 percent in the year 2014 although substantially reduced as compared to 2013’s 8.9 percent. This is due to the frictional employment among Bahrainis and a structural employment among expatriates. A stronger financial and manufacturing sectors- which presently provides  10 percent   of its total employment with the further tourism expansion and other service industries, would generates job creation and better jobs. GA Consultancy forecasted an average inflation rate of 2.8 for 2015 lower than expected.

References:

Bahrain Economic and Development Board, Daily Gulf News, November 18, 2014 issue

Ministry of Labor Data, Daily Gulf News, October, 7, 2014 issue

GA Consultancy, Asian Development Board, 2014, volume 213, pp 24, 25

Jolito Ortizo Padilla , GA Consultancy, Asian Development Board, 2014, volume 197, p18

 

 

 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Economic Outlook- 2015

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Economic Strategy for 2015… An Economic Outlook….

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The change of leadership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to be not associated with the control of command but of the team concept and creating an inspirational vision. Leaders have to focus on moving forward through cooperation, coordination and collaboration with other countries to improve the state of the economy of the country. The job of the leader is encourage and challenge the bureaucracy that create an environment to develop the skills though transparency and openness for the welfare of the people as well as with the development of human resources and financial aspects. With the advent of Knowledge Economy, the country will be gearing to enhance their intelligence and capacity to develop their talents and potential which can improve greatly in the economic affairs of the country.

The new leadership can inspire their people and will recognize their leadership potential both collectively and personal which is the factor of deciding at what it does to achieve greatness. A leader’s behavior can be influenced by their personality, knowledge, experience and background. These are the driving force to move the economy to the highest. A leader must possess the value system, inclinations to be a good leader, confidence, and a secured feeling in time of uncertain situation.

The increase of oil brings a surprise all over the world. The year 2014, the Brent crude was around $115 per barrel but has fallen to $49 per barrel as of January 23, 2015. For more than a decade, prices soar high to $100 per barrel due to increase consumption of China because industrialization and the conflict in Iraq.

The economic shifts rapidly. US and Canada started drilling for difficult to extract crude in North Dakota and Alberta followed by the weakening of economy in Asia, Europe and US, thereby provides them a productive efficiency. By late 2014, supply is greater than demand causing the prices to falls sharply.

On the other hand, Saudi refused to cut down their oil production to maintain their market share. Saudi needs a high price in order to balance their budget, Saudi therefore will have an inevitably will result to budget deficit due to the following pressures:

1.       Sixty percent of their employees are working in the government thereby drained the budget.

2.       The government has to sustain their government spending to stimulate the economy.

3.       Ninety percent of the revenue originates from oil.

4.       There are unfinished infrastructures that are needed to be finished like railways and causeway services and the sustained social welfare.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must have a combination of monetary policy and fiscal policy. Firstly, there will be a sound monetary policy to manipulate the economic variable with the instrument of macro-economic policy such as a stable price, low unemployment, a balance of payment equilibrium and economic growth.  A budget deficit will create a vacuum of increased interest rates which in turn reduces the aggregate demand for the reason that consumer may spend less due to increase in price. Budget deficit will also give rise to exchange rates which most likely to provide for export less price competitive and import are highly priced.

 Also, the change of interest rates will have an impact on wealth and change the price of stocks and shares. The increased interest rates due to budgetary constraints only fixed the money market called the repo rate which has based in commercial banks. On the longer run affects loans to the customers. If it wants the interest to fall, it can increase the supply of money and buy out bills or government assets it owns. Through this, the Saudi Central Bank can issue government bonds and other forms of government debts. The amount of money supplied is therefore reduced. This is known as the open market operations. But if the central bank wanted to increase the supply of money in the market, they can buy back part of its debt.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has to borrow money in order to fill the gap caused by budget deficit due to the slump of oil. This method is called public sector net cash requirement, the PSNCR. There are two methods in how to raise money. The first is to borrow money from the general public which is called non-bank sector. This method does not affect the money supply but it also affects the rate of interest. If the government wanted that the amount should be increased, it will be able to compete for the funding with firms and consumers. This triggers the price to increase thereby the rate of interest rises.

The second way is through financing the PSNCR. The government will choose to print the money. This is done by selling the debt of the government to the public sector. To understand fully is when the central bank sells $100 million of the debt of government to the banks. They pay for this and in turn the government uses this instrument to finance its spending. Since approximately 65% of Saudis are working in the government sectors it might use it to pay the wages of the government employees. In fact, the bank itself will have a deposit inflow that match the loan they have done to the government by buying its debt.

The central bank that sells its debt to the banking sector causes the money supply to increase which a method of money printing. Conversely, when the central bank sells its debt to non-banking sector, it withdraws money in their account for the payment of the debt purchase. The spending by the government results to the money coming back in the form of deposits. Both the withdrawals and the new deposits cause the cancellation of each other out resulting to the no money supply increases. This instrument results to no increase of the rate of interest rates because once the money supply increased; there will be a fall in interest rate.

Therefore, monetary policy is being used by controlling the real variables such as unemployment, economic growth, and inflation. The KSA Central Bank must have specific targets to achieve this target like 2 percent inflation rate. There are many instruments the central bank has to use in order to reach its objectives, to summarize the use of interest rates and supply of money.