Critically evaluate the role of marketing in developing strong fashion Essay

Critically evaluate the role of marketing in developing strong fashion brands in the 21st century' - Essay Example â€Å"The most effecting marketing plans are those that are simple yet effective and easy to implement† (Daud, 2008). Creation of an effective marketing plan is extremely important for a company because it helps the company create the entire business plan for carrying out the business activities (Perez, 2010). 1.1. Benefits of a Well-Structured Marketing Plan Fashion products manufacturing companies face a lot of challenges if their marketing strategies are not capable of attracting and retaining the customers. For this purpose, companies need to implement appropriate marketing plans because they put positive impact on the future of the brands. Fashion companies also use monitoring methods to determine the success of the marketing plan. Clow (2009, p.484) asserts, â€Å"Evaluation or testing of advertising communications can occur at any stage of the development process†. Some of the most effective monitoring methods include emotional reaction tests, concept testing, an d persuasion analysis. An effective marketing plan brings a lot of benefits to the companies. Traffanstedt (2010) asserts, â€Å"The benefits of a marketing strategy are great if you do it right†. ... Marketing not only helps the companies achieve higher levels of profits but also helps them establish their brands in any international market. Marketing plays a vital role in making a fashion brand popular and successful. It is due to effective marketing plans that most of the new fashion brands get recognized all over the world in a very short span of time. Capon (2008, p.185) found that marketing plays a critical role in developing a product. We can take examples of some of the most popular fashion brands such as Polo, Givenchy, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lacoste. These fashion brands are extremely popular among the public due to the effective marketing campaigns carried out by their manufacturing companies. Marketers first identify the target market and then implement the plan. Dahl (2007, p.23) states, â€Å"By identifying your primary target market, you can do a better job of narrowing your media buys†. This is the 21st century and the world has become a global village. Every f ashion company is aware of the importance of effective marketing strategies because effective and well-structured marketing strategies play a great role in the success of a fashion brand. Saarte (n.d.) states, â€Å"The functions of marketing add value to the product†. Marketing plays a vital role not only in creating the awareness about the newly manufactured fashion products in the pubic but also results in increasing the productivity and profitability of the companies. A fashion brand needs publicity and exposure in order to be successful and marketing is a tool, which companies use to give exposure to their products. Fashion companies make use of different types of marketing methods in order to advertise their brands. Manohar (n.d.) found

Environmental Analysis and Long-term objectives Essay Example for Free

Environmental Analysis and Long-term objectives Essay The organization selected for this paper to discuss the environmental analysis and long-term objectives is Dunkin Donuts. The main focus will be on the forces and trends operating in the environment which have a considerable effect on the running of the organization. The paper will first discuss these forces and trends in detail and then provide an insight to how these forces effect the organization and align themselves with the vision and values of the organization. The trends selected are: 1. Social responsibility 2. Environment 3. Fuel Social Responsibility One of the environmental trends is social responsibility which adds to the credibility of an organization. Social responsibility basically refers to the responsibility or the duties of an organization, government or even an individual towards the society in which it functions. Every organization has a responsibility to keep their actions and practices in the best interests of the people living in the society so that it does not endanger them in any way. Instead organizations should work to provide comfort and help to the society as a whole. This is a part of their corporate social responsibility. The company can also be involved in eradication of unethical practices and behavior taking place in the society so that the lives of the people could be made easier. For example, some companies take initiative in planting trees or constructing gardens in an area which serve a place for community people to come together and meet each other (Kotler and Lee, 2004). Social responsibility at Dunkin Donuts has actually helped the organization in a considerable manner. The restaurant holds a respectable position in the society due to its charity and community involvement programs. The company as well as their employees contributes for the community service organization in order to make the lives of the people better. Moreover, they are extremely committed to the environmental responsibility. The restaurant follows the environment regulations and promotes cleanliness. The restaurant itself is very clean and tidy with a proper system to discard the garbage. The company supports charitable programs and takes initiatives for supporting and participating in the welfare of the community people. They even sponsor educational programs in local community schools and provide funds for different events like Special Olympics, AYSO soccer teams etc. Recently Dunkin’ Donuts has entered into a relationship with a non-profit organization ‘Coffee Kids’ for supporting families in the coffee-producing regions of Mexico and Central America. On 22 May, 2008, the company went ‘green’ by initiating its first LEED (Leadership in energy and environmental design) restaurant which is a part of their corporate social responsibility commitment. This way the company hopes to improve the quality of life of the community people by making the area clean and green (Kotler and Lee, 2004). The trend operating in the environment must be aligned with the mission, vision and values of the organization for it to work in the best possible way. At Dunkin’ Donuts, there are seven core values and one of them is responsibility towards the environment and the community in which they are functioning. They are committed for improving the people’s quality of live. The first LEED being built up by the company is an effort towards promoting a healthy life for the people and improving their quality of life. The social responsibility practices of the company reinforce their mission, vision and values which are focused on making the ‘world a better place live and work’ (David, 2006). Environment The second force the paper talks about is the physical environment in which the organization is functioning. The trends in the environment have a much larger impact on the organization; here we are discussing the physical environment. Changes happen in the physical environment without any notice which might result in shock or disaster or even opportunities. Organizations need to have a contingency plan to deal with such contingencies resulting from the physical environment (Shaffer, 2000). In the physical environment outside the Dunkin’ Donuts Company and restaurant, variable changes can take place which can sometimes help the organization or hinder its processes at some other instances. The environment can provide opportunities as well as threats to the company. Since Dunkin’ Donuts has now essentially become a beverages company so it can specialize in different kinds of beverages and become a market leader. Moreover, the increasing number of suppliers in the industry can also result in new opportunities. Threat comes mainly from the substitutes and the new entrants. The company faces tough competition from Starbucks and their success becomes a threat for the company plus the industry doesn’t offers high barriers for the new entrants so more beverages company can be set up thus giving rise to the competition. Apart from this, the physical environment also includes the threat from natural disasters which can cause huge losses to the company so the company needs to have contingency plans for dealing with them. Thus, the physical environment can both help and hinder Dunkin’ Donuts depending on the situation (Reeve, 2002). The organization strives to accommodate any changes emerging in the physical environment in its strategy. The company was essentially based on donuts first but now it has developed into a beverages company. This was because it saw greater opportunities for itself in serving the beverages market. It saw the changing taste of people towards coffee and decided to establish a strategy based on a coffee company. Today Dunkin’ Donuts is known as the no. 1 retailer in hot and ice regular coffee. Thus, this shows the organization’s strategic adaptability towards the changing forces resulting in the environment (David, 2006). Rising Fuel Costs The burning issue facing the organizations today in their environment is the rising fuel prices. Companies have to face rising costs due to this shooting up in fuel prices which have almost doubled this year. As the costs are increasing so the companies have to raise the prices of their products and services which decreases their sales. This way many companies are facing problems due rising fuel costs which in turn decreases their average sales. Therefore, the third issue is of fuel which this paper will examine (Reeve, 2002). The rising cost of fuel is a trend in the environment which hinders the company by raising the costs of doing business and thus, decreasing the sales and profits. Since electricity is produced through fuel so increase in fuel costs also increases the electricity cost. At Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants, the food including the donuts and beverages is prepared to sophisticated machines which run on electricity. They have to pay higher for electricity which increases the cost of inputs and simultaneously, the cost of doing business. The company has raised the prices of its products worldwide recently but that has caused the sales to decrease and thus, it earns lower profits. This way fuel is actually a hindrance towards high profits for the company and simultaneously, its long-term objectives. Since rising fuel costs are hindering the company’s sales and profits, Dunkin’ Donuts is trying to find out ways of producing the products efficiently so that they involve low costs and the profits of the company could be increased. The company tries to specialize in certain beverages which can be produced with hands so that machine use could be limited thus, saving up the electricity. The company tried to adjust for these rising costs so that it can acquire an increasing number of customers to boost up its sales as well as profits (Shaffer, 2000). Conclusion The paper has discussed in detail the environmental analysis pertaining to social responsibility, environment and fuel. It first discussed what these forces actually mean and then identified their relevance with the organization and how organization adapts to these forces operating in the environment. Social responsibility at Dunkin’ Donuts is aimed at winning the hearts of the masses through charity and community involvement activities. The mission of the company is to improve the quality of life and this is effectively done through their social involvement programs. The company also takes immediate action to the changing environment which may involve rising incomes or changing tastes of the people and tries to accommodate the change in its strategy as it did from shifting to beverages industry from donuts industry. Finally, the company is also trying to cope up with the rising costs of fuel through cost efficient methods and increasing the prices since the income of a common man has also increased. All these forces or trends help or hinder the organization and its strategy in their own way. Thus, it can be said the Dunkin’ Donuts is a very capable organization who has effectively dealt with difficult times and has become the no. 1 retailer in coffee throughout United States (David, 2006). References David, F. R. (2006). Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases. Prentice Hall. Kotler, P. , Lee, N. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause . Wiley. Reeve, R. N. (2002). Introduction to Environmental Analysis. Wiley. Shaffer, J. (2000). The Leadership Solution. New York: McGraw-Hill

Leadership Perspectives and Theories

Leadership Perspectives and Theories Discussion about two fundamentally different perspectives toward leadership development ‘Leaders are born and ‘Leadership skills can be developed. Leadership is seen as an important component of any organisations structure because at all levels in an organisation there tend to be positions of authority. In every organisation there will be people under the control of people with higher job titles and status, for example, employees under the power of team leader, i.e., precisely stating â€Å"subordinates under the control of super ordinates (Finchman, R. et al, 2003).† Though there is a wide range of definitions of leadership, it can be generally be defined as the ability to motivate and influence other people to perform tasks and achieve objectives which otherwise they wouldnt be willing to do. Moreover, leadership depends upon the context in which it occurs along with an understanding of the needs and opinions of its followers. But, still there has been a lot of argument and debate concerning the difference between management and leadership. It is true that differences between the two terms can be put neatly on paper, but still it is suggested that the distinctions between the two are vague, with the two qualities usually overlapping each other in business context. This is because it is believed that every manager is bound to possess leadership qualities to be able to work effectively towards the success of an organisation. As literature states, there have been different perspectives relating to leadership development. They basically are the Trait Approaches, Behavioural Approaches, Contingency theories and the Transformational theories of leadership. The trait theory believes that leaders are born and possess certain personality traits beforehand which ultimately lead them to take on a powerful dominant position. Behavioural approaches look for certain ideal behavioural patterns in the leaders and contingency theories state that there is no one idealistic leadership quality and that leaders should modify their qualities and skills according to the situational demands as well as relating to the cultural and organisational context of the organisation. Finally, the transformational theories introduce the emergence of the new leader with qualities such as being visionary, inspirational and participative along with encouraging change. According to theories and researches conducted, it is pointed out that a good leader would be the one who understands himself, his fellow and group members with whom he interacts and the company along with the broader social environment in which he works to be able to choose wisely his skills. Also, he is able to behave appropriately in times of perceptions that are very importantly relevant to his behaviour, i.e., to be able to direct when called for direction and to be able to provide freedom when there is requirement of participative freedom. They are believed to establish direction and are expected to encourage people to come into their strategies and plans. Also, there are some leadership skills which are considered indispensable. These generally include an ability to have an intuition and judgement, the intelligence factor, motivation, assertiveness, risk- taking ability, smart enough to analyse situations and take actions, relevant knowledge and many more. Now, here we are concerned with the two fundamentally different perspectives of whether ‘Leaders are born or ‘Leadership skills can be developed towards the development of leadership qualities and their respective implications on the development of management in an organisation. However, choosing one perspective can sometimes be difficult. This is due to fact that leadership being such a subjective topic, it is impossible to believe in a single perspective. Both the perspectives are right to an extent of their own. It is indeed a true fact that there are born Leaders. Moreover, the old age saying that ‘Leaders are born and not made even gets stronger by looking at all the examples of great and historic leaders, like Hitler, Mother Teresa, etc. These leaders gained their status and respect because of their strong personalities or some in-born attributes which are difficult to come through training and development. It is an elusive charisma in some people which ultimately makes them World leaders and the followers look up to them. And these certain qualities looked in a leader are generally the ones that are the in-grown traits of ones personality, for instance the ability to have an intuition and vision, motivation factor and the natural intelligence. These are all characteristics which differ from person to person. Also, by birth certain kind of talent is already embedded in a few people because of which they stand apart and go on to the path of becoming a leader. For example: A person wh o is an average basketball player will never be able to achieve the skills which Michael Jordan excels at in spite of getting the best training, putting in all his efforts and practising to the fullest. Though, his skills would improve but never to that extent. And hence, we see that the concept of born leaders is existent. But then to what extent can this be seen to be true? Should we believe that the skills by birth are just the skills to be possessed to become leaders, i.e., there can be no self-development for a person lacking the so called necessary skills to become a leader. Here comes a noteworthy point that, by just being born with talent, it isnt necessary that one becomes a leader. Unless and until one works on the pursuit of perfection and improvement, he/she will not be able to able to become a Leader. In fact, all the great leaders who reached their status today did so due to their hard work and maybe went through some sort of learning process. It was necessary for them also to hone and develop their skills and learn from their predecessors. For example : It was seen that President John.F.Kennedy though made a great leader, maybe for some people, due to his charm persona but the fact was that he also had some learning from London School of Economics and he also undertook a Leadership training program in the military services during World War II. Moreover, there is a problem associated with identifying what kinds of leadership skills are apt. When it comes to choosing Leadership positions in organisations, the organisations generally look out for expertise, work experience and the respective seniority levels. They look for people with strong or charismatic personalities, who are commanding and can manage other people well by mesmerizing them with their stage presence. However, these are usually wrong indicators of choosing great leaders. This is seen from the fact that even the extraordinary organisations having the most intelligent, experiences and insightful board of directors have made the errors of choosing the wrong leaders. In California, when there was a rapid-change in the technology sector due to the growth of internet IPOs, HP realised that they needed a leadership change with a leader with a freshly new business perspective to help control its languishing stock prices and stalling growth. For this they hired a lead er who had won quite a lot of business titles and had had an impressing background. But, in the hands of the new leader, the company suffered its first loss, lost many jobs and saw a decrease in their stock prices. But, contrastingly, in the hands of the former down-to-earth CEO, HPs annual sales increased. This showed that leadership plays an important role in the success or failure of an organisation, yet still many companies do not have effective Leadership Development programmes in place and they indulge and invest in it only in terms of emergencies. A research conducted by the Institute of Leadership Management showed that a significant proportion of business leaders today must owe the credit to the gaining of their leadership skills from experiences learnt outside the school, as 12 percent left school before the age of 16 and only one-third of them (31 percent) had a University degree on leaving full time education. These statistics, therefore, state that in order to achieve success, academic qualifications might not be a pre-requisite and leadership skills can be developed through coaching and formal training also with an effective development programme in place. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, showed traits of becoming a future leader from childhood. But since he didnt have an academic degree he was not seen to be fit for the description of a classic leader. When he joined JC Penny as a management trainee, he always worked hard but then his paperwork wasnt up to the mark because of which his boss always told him that he wasn t fit for retail industry. At last, he resigned, not to sit back but to open his own firm which gave competition to JC Penny and surpassed it in retail dominance. This example suggests that in spite of not having academic qualification, Sam Walton would have been a great leader for JC Penny, if it had an effective system to tap the leadership potential in him. Hence, the above points suggest that leadership skills can definitely be developed not only through leadership training development programmes but also from real-life learning experiences arising on the job front. Hence, the perspective ‘Leadership skills can be developed holds more importance than the perspective ‘Leaders were born. However, no amount of teaching can ever fully help a person to know about leadership. Leadership is a phenomenon which can always be learnt through practical application. Leadership skills can be developed by watching other leaders, i.e., role models and emulating their behaviour. Leaders also enhance their skills by realising the fact that one can never get stuck in a situation. Even if one fails in a task, one needs to use that lesson to enhance his performance in future. This shows that the only failure they see is the failure to not learn from a mistake. They also improve by using the feedback from their supervisors, peers and junior colleagues to get better results. Moreover they learn by trying out new things and then review their performance critically. The best thing about the development of leadership skills and not assuming the notion of born leaders is that, leadership training helps to bring out certain behavioural aspects like character, passion and vision in people not having them and builds them to develop skills which can be used in future for becoming effective leaders. Furthermore, according to an article written by James Brava, teaching leadership skills to front-line managers through the support of the organisation as well as senior leaders can help lead to an improvement in an organisations flexibility to change and productivity. This is due to the fact that if front-line managers become leaders they can make decisions, can then use their own judgement and implement improvement. These techniques will assist in increasing employee engagement and employee motivation and thereby have a positive impact on management development in terms of an organisations performance level. A contrary point to note here is that, certain leadership skills even though believed to be associated with a persons character only, can still be developed among people to a great extent and affect the development of management of an organisation in a worth notable point. This means that if a person does not have skills to lead, he should not fall for the development of non-leadership aspects as there are a number of places to demonstrate ones leadership abilities. There are a lot many number of qualities looked in a person to become a leader which have already been mentioned relating to ability, motivation and sociability. But, the recent developments in the field of leadership show that it is not the just the old-age qualities of authority and intelligence that are enough to become a leader. No doubt, Intelligence is needed but rather than IQ and relevant knowledge, emotional intelligence is the pre-requisite to become a great leader. Emotional intelligence is the key factor which distinguishes star-leaders form the average leaders. Here we see a number of leadership skills that can be developed and how it might affect the development and learning of skills by managers for their own good as well as for their organisations. Emotional intelligence, a quality associated with leadership can definitely be learned, but it requires time and commitment. Hence, it is not believed that a person should have this trait by birth. Although, sometimes genetics do not play an important part in this as our parents qualities of empathy can be imbibed into us by birth. Self awareness is an aspect of emotional intelligence which tends to work for the organisation resulting in increasing its and its employees performance by being aware of the fact that how their feelings will affect themselves as well as of their colleagues. Also, motivation is an indispensable virtual quality of leadership which aims at achieving for the sake of achieving and not for external rewards. Even though, this can be seen as a personality trait to be associated with the concept of ‘born leaders, still it can be developed with course while learning in an organisation when one introspects about his passion for work, doesnt get disappointed with failures and has an urge for commitment towards his organisation. Therefore, it isnt difficult to see the outcomes of motivation for organisational management development. This can be seen from the fact that people with such qualities can always lead to the building of a team with managers sharing the same qualities. Also, as one sets a high performance bar for oneself, so will he for his employing organisation leading to the latters success. ‘Born or classic leaders are often seen as the ones having fiery temperaments because their outbursts are often associated with their respective style marks of charisma and power. And hence self-regulation is generally not seen as a good trait of leaders. But self-regulation is a quality which is necessary to be developed among leaders because it leads to the creation of a fair and trusted environment reducing politics and infighting and hence an increase in productivity. More so, it has a positive effect on managing development as employees want to be level-headed instead of hot-heads considering their leaders being calm and less moody. As a consequence, talent flocks to the organisation. In terms of environment changes, management development needs arise which can be taken care of effectively if managers are in control of their emotions. This is because in such a scenario they do not panic and tend to accept the challenges in a positive way. Empathy is another quality which is rarely seen to exist in the concept of ‘leaders are born. This is because according to this concept, they usually have attributes which are seen as being autocratic and exploitive. And hence, the perspective regarding born leaders might seem to fail here. Empathy or consideration skill is strongly recommended as a component of leadership due to it being effective while dealing with teams, diversification in organisations and for retaining talent in todays competitive market-world. It is usually developed while working in a team where there can be a mismatch and misunderstanding among the viewpoints of the members. This helps leaders develop their skills of understanding and recognising the emotional makeup of the team leading to collaboration among employees which can ultimately lead to higher job market for the organisation. Also, in order to keep good talent within their organisation coaching and mentoring is necessary for which empathy ski lls are needed. Therefore, a leader having these skills will effectively provide good coaching which leads to an increase in job performance along with job satisfaction and less attrition rate. Another fact which proves that Leadership skills can be developed can be seen during situations when a persons leadership skills might come under a test. This can seem to happen in terms of a crisis as was in the case of Intel Israel. During the First Gulf War when Iraq was resorting to its Scub missile attacks, the operation of the Intels firm unit in Israel was at stake because the civil defence directive had ordered organisational units to close down ensuring safety. But Dov Frohman continued the normal operations as he was concerned about the companys survival and success as he considered that a core aspect of leadership. Also, according to his belief during such situations there are three major points a leader should develop focus on the survival of the organisation in the long-term giving it the highest priority, going against what everyone says and expects to do and finally trusting ones instinct. As a result of following these qualities, commitments to Intel were met for the future of Israels high tech economy as well as for Intel Israel, because of which it today is â€Å"the headquarters for the companys global RD and product development in wireless technology as well as a major centre for chip fabrication (Harvard Business Review, December 2006)†. Also, following these three rules not only help deal with the situation aptly but also thinks about the organisations success which is the basic rule of leadership and management development. Moreover, this can be seen as a time for managers to be able to learn and develop skills not only for their own good but even for their organisation. In all organisations it is seen that management generally means conducting, controlling, directing and linking. But an article by Henry Mintzberg who has studied a lot of managers and management in a symphony orchestra, states that Covert Leadership, an aspect which can seem to develop might be better than overtly display of leadership. This is because in todays world knowledge and trained workers respond to inspiration and not supervision because they know what to do. According to him, management in a symphony orchestra can be seen as a good deal of what managing in todays world is all about. The article throws light on the fact that though the conductor manages all its musicians, but he does so in a covert way be it controlling, directing or developing culture. It showed that what is generally seen as conventional leading is seen as operations doing in the context of an orchestra because the conductor got involved directly and personally in all the tasks getting done. Also it was s een that extreme supervision isnt necessary today and that the coordination can occur independently, but however certain amount of power is necessary. Lastly it is noted that though the conductor managed all the inside operations, he was also concerned with the external networking for his orchestra. Hence, a positive outcome of covert leadership on management development is that it not only satisfies employees but in the end it also tends to give a feeling of satisfaction to the leader. And if managers accept this trait of leadership and follow all the six qualities of internal controlling, leading and doing along with external communication, linking and dealing, they can raise the organisation to a high level. Furthermore, it is evident that in todays modern world every manager or leader is faced with the dilemma of being torn between which leadership style to use and when democratic or authoritative. According to the earlier times, leaders were just seen as ones possessing the required intelligence, vision and the ability to empower others. But todays scenario sees the fact that leadership skills tend to be developed and be used according to the demand of the situation. A continuum developed by Tannenbaum and Schmidt concerning the authoritative versus democratic choice of leadership style, shows that any one of these extremes (either emphasis on manager or on the subordinate centred behaviour) isnt apt and that there are a range of behaviours which are best to use when necessary. The decision of what leadership style to use is highly influenced by factors which concern managers behaviour, non-managers or subordinates behaviours and the situational aspects. If a manager understands his p ersonality traits effectively, he is likely to know clearly which style to use. The situational factors such as organisation type (might approve certain behaviours and not others), group effectiveness (how well people coordinate together to resolve issues), nature of problem (depends on whether subordinates have relevant knowledge about the problem) and time constraints (depends upon the criticalness of the situation) also affect the way a manager thinks in decision-making situation). Similarly, a clear understanding about the employees behaviour and their expectations or demands from him, can help him decide to be permissive or coercive. This can ultimately lead to the development of good and flexible communicative relationships among organisation members leading to the creation of good work teams, i.e. the development of management which ultimately can affect an organisations success rate. Therefore, whatever is the case, the implications would always be in the favour of the organ isation with the manager being flexible and insightful so as not to face the issue of leadership dilemma. Finally, in the end wed like to discuss two main important points. Firstly, how companies can create leadership development programmes in order to tap the talent of people showing the capabilities of becoming future leaders. In regard to this, companies ought to create a development profile needed for identifying strong leader including qualities they think should be suitable for their particular company or the industry. On completion of the creation of profile, the company can use a number of effective assessment tools like psychometric tests, employee surveys, feedback reviews etc. to identify these characteristics in their employees. Secondly, we need to discuss critically as to what we need whether it is the image of a heroic leader with a vision, inspiration and charisma or the image of a manager who can organise, plan and control issues in an organisation. In the beginning, it was mentioned that there are differences between management and leadership but they usually overlap. However, arguably it is seen that now there has been a widening gap between managers and leaders. According to studies in the twenty-first century, it was seen that a new perspective of transformational leaders came into being. These transformational super leaders had all the characteristics which were suitable during a hostile and a rapidly changing environment. This new leader had the ability to create visions of what can happen in future and was able to communicate them. These traits indicated the difference between management and leadership according to some writers. But a more recent study of leadership trends stated that such views could be dangerous and that what is more importantly required is the capabilities of change management. According to a lot of writers the concept of visionary leaders is not good as they can destabilize the organisation. For instance, in the opinion of Jim Collins, leaders who are seen to be world class are generally not effective, and it is the senior ordinary managers or executive which actually handle work well by combining both humility and persistence. Moreover, it is believed that the efforts of these middle managers should be appreciated because in spite of them not being top managers they still are implemental in starting and aiming change. Finally these repercussions against the concept of new leaders, leads back to the argument between the distinction of management and leadership suggesting that now leadership destabilises while management drives change. To sum it all, it can be said that though leadership skills are developed but still in-born traits are sometimes necessary and that in reality organisational change occurs due to the help of competent managers and not because of the concept of leaders possessing charismatic visionaries and personalities. (3898 words excluding references) Works Cited Brava, J., (n.d.) Are Frontline Leadership Skills Instinctive or Learnt?. Available: http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Frontline-Leadership-Skills-Instinctive-Or-Learnt?id=3231942. Last accessed January, 2010. Britains Bosses Learn to Lead at an Early Age. (n.d.). Available: http://www.i-l-m.com/research-and-comment/1449.aspx. Last accessed January, 2010. Buchanan, D., Huczynski, A. (2004). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text, 5th Edition, London: FT Prentice Hall. Donaldson, D., (n.d.) Can Leadership Training Make Great Leaders?. Available: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Can-Leadership-Training-Make-Great-Leaders-/509240. Last accessed January, 2010. Finchman, R., Rhodes, P. (2003). Principles of Organizational Behaviour, 3rd Edition, Oxford: University Press. Frohman, D. (2006). Leadership Under Fire, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 84, No. 12, pp. 124-131. Goleman, D. (1998). What makes a leader?, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 93-102. Hurst, R. (September 10th, 2007). Is a leader born or made?. Available: http://leadershiptrainingdevelopment.com/is-a-leader-born-or-made. Last accessed January, 2010. Leadership Development Are Leaders Born or Made?. (n.d.). Available: http://www.impactfactory.com/gate/registered/leadership_skills_training_development/registeredgate_1619-9103-73572.html. Last accessed January, 2010. MacDoanld, D. (December 8th, 2009), Why is it so hard for companies to find great leaders?. Available: http://learnthis.ca/2009/12/the-problem-with-leadership/. Last accessed January, 2010. Mintzberg, H. (1998). Covert Leadership: Notes on Managing Professionals, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 140-147. Tannenbaum, R. and Schmidt, W. (1973). How to Choose a Leadership Pattern, Harvard Business Review , 51(3), 162-180.

The Use Of The Internet In Mar :: essays research papers

Computing (IT)- essay by matthew foote Will the internet keep the U.K competitive in a world market, in terms of industry? Recently there has been emphasis for electronic business. Judging by IBM's recent advertising campaign you would be forgiven for thinking that launching a company website leads to instant profits. IBM 's portrayal of a grandmother taking her olive oil business from rural Greece into global markets neatly demonstrates the potential of the internet for huge exposure and trade without the barriers of geography and at a lower cost. Unlocking this potential for any business in the U.K and elsewhere is no easy matter. Although several large firms in the U.K are now making real impact through e-commerce, although examples of profit's being made in small and medium (SME) sized business's are few and far between. Even though the effects of the internet on U.K's industry can only be predicted at this early stage, there have been incentives (rewards) offered to several SMEs generating business with their websites by the government. Firms with no more then 250 employees where asked to show how they had used e-commerce to increase efficiency or to boost their sales. The average investment that created a profit among the ten regional winners was around 20000 pounds with the cheapest being 10000 pounds, all the companies testified to the need for expert help. Such expense results from the need to have an aesthetically pleasing website which offers in depth analysis whilst maintaining a user friendly aspect. The site must encourage people to explore and revisit and its presence on the internet needs to be developed, which generally requires the advice of a specialist. At present time in the U.K the internet is used mainly for business to business activity with less emphasis on customer intervention. One of the main reasons for this is the transport costs, a business will normally order batch which would make it worth while were as customers only demand 1 or 2 goods. The idea of supplying customers with intangible goods, such as music, computer games/ programmes, software upgrades etc. is becoming increasingly more popular. A telephone poll carried out across Britain based on 4000 calls found that while 39% of internet users have bought clothes by mail, only 13% would be willing to buy clothes on-line and only 2% have actually done so. 70% had never bought anything on-line - many assumptions can be drawn from these statistics i.

Le Morte dArthur Essay -- essays research papers

The Chivalric Code in Le Morte d?Arthur   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An act of chivalry is described as the qualifications or character of the ideal knight. Knights were expected to uphold this code of conduct. In the English literature Le Morte d?Arthur, French for ?The Death of Arthur?, by Sir Thomas Malory, the characters display acts of chivalry from beginning to end. Though the code of chivalry contains many qualities or acts, nevertheless bravery, loyalty, and courtly love are demonstrated more throughout this literature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bravery is the mental or moral strength to venture and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Fear is what one feels when fighting, knowing that he or she could die. For example, when Sir Mordred and King Arthur were to fight, Arthur was told that if he fought Mordred, Arthur would die. Regardless, Arthur fought Mordred. Though not stated in the text, one would assume that Arthur had fear of himself dying running through his brain, and that would explain how his adrenaline got pumped up enough to kill Mordred. Difficulty is going against someone who is more skilled. When the young Sir Gryfflette challenged King Pellinore to a joust to avenge a knight?s death, Gryfflette lost, but because he went up against a more experienced person, he was demonstrating an act of bravery. The danger of the two is that one can always die in matters such as those.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bravery and loyalty can go hand-in-hand with o...

Patriotism Essay -- essays research papers

The recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have caused confusion on the topic of patriotism. The best way to start understanding patriotism is to simply define it. Patriotism is a person’s level of loyalty toward their country. Displays of true patriotism are prominent in times of despair, such as wars and terrorist attacks. However, many people have discrepancies on what displays of patriotism really are. Some people believe that showing patriotism can be accomplished by waving the flag and singing the national anthem. Others believe that a person must be much more involved in a cause to show patriotism. It is true that waving a flag doesn’t accomplish much. Although this action displays good intentions, it can be done with little effort or thought. Patriotism is much more than waving the flag and singing the national anthem. Admittedly, waving the flag and singing the national anthem are not wrong things to do. These actions promote unity and raise moral. However, love for the country can be focused in ways that are much more productive. "Patriotism can no longer be defined by whether you think this is the greatest country in the world" (Gesford, 1). An act of patriotism must accomplish something. Making a personal sacrifice is an example. Donating money or joining the army would certainly benefit the country more than waving a flag. Furthermore, many people have failed to realize how blind their actions are. Patrick Henry's speech t...

Case Study: of Nike Company Ltd: Question 1

Question 1 a) In the late 1990s Nike found itself in a serious situation with its manufacturing approach in Asia. -Select and apply one of Porter’s models of strategy to explain why Nike were manufacturing in Asia? Michael Porter, leading author on company strategy and competitive advantage, has developed several generic strategies which, according to Porter, are the driving force behind any given company’s success. These strategies comprise of Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus. It is Porter’s view that any company that positions itself in at least one of these categories or striving to achieve one of these strategies should be able to attain and maintain competitive advantage, ceteris paribus. Nike Inc. has enjoyed a great deal of success in the Global Sports and Clothing Industry. One may even go as far to say it is the â€Å"cream of the crop† or â€Å"a cut above the rest†. One may also wonder if any of Porter’s strategies can be applied to explain or justify Nike’s competitive advantage. The Strategy of Cost Leadership is most applicable to Nike. It is also safe to say that this strategy was the deciding factor behind its’ manufacturing operations in Asia. Nike has no factories. It does not tie up cash in buildings and machinery. The evolving design and style of its products does not warrant this type of investment. Instead, it outsources labour. Nike has manufactured wherever it can produce high quality products at the lowest possible price. This makes a very lean organization and paves the way for the achievement of ultimate cost effectiveness. If prices rise, and products can be made elsewhere at a cheaper rate, to the same or better specification, Nike will move production. Porter’s cost leadership strategy concentrates on aiming to become the lowest cost producer in the industry through economies of scale. The cost leader aims to drive costs down while it targets a broad market, so sufficient sales can cover costs. Figure 1. is a representation of Porter’s matrix which has been applied to the Nike Inc. By manufacturing in Asia, Nike was able to capitalize, not only on the availability of cheap labor, but also the availability of a wide range of materials required for production. The abundance of raw materials would mean large quantities of high quality purchased at wholesale prices. This enabled Nike to have tremendous purchasing power in Asia due to the high value of the US dollar. Nike also benefited from the relatively low tariffs associated with leather olded footwear. Nike would have never enjoyed these luxuries if its manufacturing was conducted in its homeland Another factor to consider is the size of the labor force. Nike, through contracts, indirectly employed thousands around the world. This would ultimately result in the manufacturing of massive quantities in quick time. The higher the product turnover, the higher the returns. All these ingredients are paramount and will inevitably yield a cost leader, a. k. a. , Nike Inc.