國際商務管理dissertation：謝拉夫集團的價值和目標

謝拉夫集團：價值和目標
 

1976年，謝拉夫集團在阿聯酋的迪拜成立，創始人是阿聯酋兩個積極進取的好兄弟，在謝拉夫集團是阿聯酋在不同領域的商業機構涵蓋企業之一。該沙拉夫集團涉足的第一個業務是航運及其他相關活動。本集團建立了一個基礎設施，同時啟動和多元化發展其他業務，例如時裝零售，電子零售，貨運，物流，金融服務，房地產，倉儲物流及旅游與旅游業等。

橫跨各大洲的2600多名面向目標的和確定的人力資源，增加了企業的成功。
 

使命是來描述一個公司的職能、市場優勢和競爭優勢;您的業務目標和理念僅有很短的書面聲明。 一個任務語句定義了一個組織，它為什么存在以及它存在的理由。

謝拉夫集團的使命和愿景是提供給我們的客戶需要的產品和服務

 

Sharaf Group: Values And Objectives

 

SHARAF GROUP was established in 1976 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by two enterprising brothers of U.A.E origin, The Sharaf Group is one of the Business Houses in the U.A.E encompassing businesses in diverse fields. The first business that The Sharaf Group ventured into was shipping and other related activities. The Group built an infrastructure to launch and diversify into other businesses like Retail Fashion, Retail Electronics, Cargo, Logistics, Financial Services, Real Estate, Warehousing and Logistics and Travel and Tourism to name a few.

 

Goal-Oriented and Determined Human Resources from across the Continents numbering over 2,600, add to the success of the Business.

 

Mission is a statement describing a company’s function, markets and competitive advantages; a short written statement of your business goals and philosophies. .A mission statement defines what an organization is, why it exists, and its reason for being.

 

Mission and vision of Sharaf Group is to provide the product and services that our customers need at Right time

Right place

Right price with care & exceed expectations of all of our stakeholders - our customers, partners, principals, vendors and employees at all times.

 

Provide Automated Solutions to the Customer's Transport, Travel and Retail Logistics needs.

 

values

 

In general, important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. Values exert major influence on the behavior of an individual and serve as broad guidelines in all situations.

 

Values of Sharaf group are;

 

Leadership is in action, not in position

 #p#分頁標題#e#

The most reliable way of predicting the future is to invent it

 

In the race for excellence to perform, there is no finish line

 

Deliver on our promises

 

Honor our commitments

 

Maintain full honesty, integrity and transparency in all our business dealings

 

Employ the best resources for value addition in the future

 

key objectives

 

In general, an objective is broader in scope than a goal, and may comprise of several different goals. Objectives are the most basic planning tools, underlying all planning and strategic activities. They serve as the basis for policy and performance appraisal, and act as glue that binds the entire organization together.

 

Key objectives of Sharaf group is to

 

Increase the number of stores in Middle East.

 

Provide more latest innovative products to its customers.

 

Decrease the prices of mobiles in the market by 4%.

 

assess the influence of stakeholders

 

Influence is the power which stakeholders have over a project - to control what decisions are made, facilitate its implementation, or exert influence which affects the project negatively. Influence is perhaps best understood as the extent to which people, groups or organizations (i.e. stakeholders) are able to persuade or coerce others into making decisions, and following certain courses of action. Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have some claim on the company. They can be divided into internal claimants and external claimants. Internal claimants are stockholders and employees including executive officers and board member while external claimants are all other individuals and groups affected by the company's actions. Typically, they comprise of customers, suppliers, governments, unions, competitors, local communities and the general public.

 

Stakeholders can influence the organizations because all stakeholders can justifiably expect that the company will attempt to satisfy their particular demands. Besides, stakeholders provide the enterprise with capital and in exchange expect an appropriate return on their investment. Employees provide labor and skills and in exchange expect commensurate income and job satisfaction. All stakeholders have power over a company's decisions; however, the level of power a stakeholder has varies hugely, depending on why someone is a stakeholder in the first place. In general a major shareholder has far more power over a company than one of the lowest level employees, but they are still both stakeholders in the company by definition.

 

1.2 objectives of three stakeholders achieved by the organisation#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The three main stakeholders in the organization are; Customers, Employees and Shareholders.

 

From the customers point of view the organization helps in achieving the following objectives.

 

Increase customer satisfaction, improving customer service and making it more personalized and effective.

 

Improve quality of information in the systems in order to facilitate call management and the attainment of excellence in the Call Centre.

 

Improve the Company's brand image through direct contact with customers in the Cont acts Manager as a way of achieving this.

 

From the employees point of view the organization helps in achieving the following objectives.

 

Increase employee satisfaction and motivating them for efficient work.

 

Providing employee discounts so that they feel that they are well recognized.

 

Rewarding good performance with either of the tools; One-off bonus payments, A pay increase

 

From the shareholders point of view the organization helps in achieving the following objectives.

 

Maximizing the profits of the company.

 

Satisfying the needs and wants of the shareholder.

 

Proving more voting rights and making them part of the decision making.

 

1.3 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ORGANISATION AND STRATEGIES EMPLOYED TO MEET THEM.

 

The management board of directors is responsible for ensuring the organization carries out its aims and remains within the powers given to it by the constitution. Members must understand their powers, duties and responsibilities.

 

The board is responsible for ensuring the business is run properly, that it is acting according to the law or other regulations. The directors can delegate responsibility for some of its roles and responsibilities to ad hoc committees or working groups only if it has the power in its Articles of Association.

 

Responsibilities of Sharaf group towards the customers are to:

 

providing good value for money;

 

the safety and durability of products/services;

 

standard of after-sale service;

 

Long-term satisfaction – serviceability, adequate supply of products/services, and spare parts and replacement parts.

 

Fair standards of advertising and trading; and

 

Full and unambiguous information to potential consumers.

 

Responsibilities of Sharaf group towards their employees are to:#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Ensure that all complaints of discrimination, harassment or victimization are dealt with promptly, seriously.

 

Sharaf group makes an extensive range of opportunities for development available to its employees, who can choose from a number of integrated types of training which complement and reinforce each other.

 

Sharf group works very closely with the employee organisations, holding monthly talks with the worker council and its committees.

 

The success behind the Sharaf group is because it measures the level of satisfaction and involvement of its staff.

 

TASK 2

 

2.1 ALLOCATION AND EFFECTIVE USE OF RESOURCES

 

“Economics is the study of how people and society choose to employ scarce resources that could have alternative uses in order to produce various commodities that satisfy their wants and to distribute them for consumption among various persons and groups in society.”

 

Analysis of how scarce resources ('factors of production') are distributed among producers, and how scarce goods and services are apportioned among consumers. This analysis takes into consideration the accounting cost, economic cost, opportunity cost, and other costs of resources and goods and services. Allocation of resources is a central theme in economics (which is essentially a study of how resources are allocated) and is associated with economic efficiency and maximization of utility.

 

Factors of production

 

The term factors of production relates to the key factors that go into making goods. It is common practice to break these down under a number of headings:

 

Land

 

Refers to physical land and other natural resources, e.g. the land that a building is constructed on, oil that is extracted from under the sea, under the land, forests, and fish reserves. Providers of land receive rent.

 

Labour

 

Refers to physical and mental effort - e.g. stacking shelves in a supermarket, or calculating the final accounts of a company. Providers of labour receive wages.

 

Capital

 

Exists at two levels. First of all we have financial capital. But more importantly, this is used to purchase physical capital that goes into making other things. Physical capital consists of machinery, equipment, tools, etc. Providers of capital receive interest.

 

Opportunity cost is one of the most important and fundamental concepts in the whole of economics. Given that we have said that economics could be described as a science of choice, we have to look at what sacrifices we make when we have to make a choice. That is what opportunity cost is all about.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The definition of opportunity cost is: The cost expressed in terms of the next best alternative foregone or sacrificed.

 

2.2 social welfare and industrial policies

 

Total well being of the entire society. Social welfare is not measurable because it involves both objective and value judgments. It is not the same as standard of living but is more like quality of life that includes factors such as the quality of the environment (air, soil, water), level of crime, extent of drug abuse, availability of essential social services, as well as religious and spiritual aspects of life.

 

Industrial policy, government-sponsored economic program in which the public and private sectors coordinate their efforts to develop new technologies and industries. Government provides the financial support and capital to the private sector by direct subsidies, tax credits, or government-run developmental banks. Industrial policy emphasizes cooperation between government, banks, private enterprise, and employees to strengthen the national economy.

 

2.3 Influence of the global economy on the UK based organisation and stakeholders

 

It is difficult to find a clear definition of the term 'globalization' but it is clear that it is associated with particular characteristics.

 

The following is a list of some of those characteristics:

 

Growth in technology

 

Capitalist or market economic systems

 

Corporate expansion

 

Trade issues

 

Poverty and inequality

 

Impact on the environment

 

Brand expansion and recognition

 

Globalization has made a real difference to the quality of life of working people in the UK and in all the parts of the world, but there are advantages as well as disadvantages. Too many British workers are losing their jobs when companies move to different parts of the world or fail to compete. Cheap DVD players and clothes are scant compensation if you are being downgraded to cheap quality, insecure or low-paid work.

 

The UK government should balance the costs and benefits of globalization if they prioritized:

 

increasing skills to raise productivity

 

developing a modern industrial strategy for the global market

 

securing UK energy supply and investing in environmental technology

 

improving transport links in growth areas of the country

 

promoting lifelong health to increase employment chances for older workers#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Task 3

 

3.1 Explain how market structures in practice deviate from the model of perfect competition

 

Market structure

 

Why are some industries dominated worldwide by a handful of firms? Why is the size distribution of firms within most industries highly skewed? Questions of this kind have attracted continued interest among economists for over half a century. One reason for this continuing interest in ‘market structure’ is that this is one of the few areas in economics where we encounter strong and sharp empirical regularities arising over a wide cross-section of industries.

 

The main determinates of market structure are:

 

Freedom of entry and exit

 

Nature of the product – homogenous (identical), differentiated?

 

Control over supply/output

 

Control over price

 

Barriers to entry

 

Importances of the market structure are:

 

Degree of competition affects the consumer – will it benefit the consumer or not?

 

Impacts on the performance and behaviour of the company/companies involved

 

Perfect competition

 

Perfect competition is a theoretical market structure. in which the market consists of a very large number of firms producing a homogeneous product. It is primarily used as a benchmark against which other market structures are compared. The industry that best reflects perfect competition in real life is the agricultural industry.

 

Characteristics of perfect competition:

 

Free entry and exit to industry

 

Homogenous product – identical so no consumer preference

 

Large number of buyers and sellers – no individual seller can influence price

 

Sellers are price takers – have to accept the market price

 

MONOPOLISTIC competition, is also known as imperfect competitive, where there are a large number of independent firms/sellers which have a very small proportion of the market share.

 

Characteristics:

 

Large number of firms in the industry

 

May have some element of control over price due to the fact that they are able to differentiate their product in some way from their rivals – products are therefore close, but not perfect, substitutes

 

Entry and exit from the industry is relatively easy – few barriers to entry and exit#p#分頁標題#e#

 

OLIGOPOLY is in which a market is dominated by a small number of firms which own more than 40% of the market share. Competition may be between a large numbers of firms in the industry but the industry is dominated by a small number of very large producers.

 

For example MUSIC sales:

 

Features of an oligopolistic market structure:

 

Price may be relatively stable across the industry – kinked demand curve?

 

Goods could be homogenous or highly differentiated

 

Branding and brand loyalty may be a potent source of competitive advantage

 

Non-price competition may be prevalent

 

High barriers to entry

 

DUOPOLY:

 

Market structure where the industry is dominated by two large producers

 

Collusion may be a possible feature

 

Price leadership by the larger of the two firms may exist – the smaller firm follows the price lead of the larger one

 

Highly interdependent

 

High barriers to entry

 

MONOPOLY

 

Pure monopoly means when there is only one producer in the market. Monopoly exists therefore where one firm dominates the market. Firms may be investigated for examples of monopoly power when market share exceeds 25%.

 

Monopoly power – refers to cases where firms influence the market in some way through their behaviour – determined by the degree of concentration in the industry

 

Influencing prices

 

Influencing output

 

Erecting barriers to entry

 

Pricing strategies to prevent or stifle competition

 

May not pursue profit maximisation – encourages unwanted entrants to the market

 

Sometimes seen as a case of market failure

 

3.2 Using a range of example to illustrate the relationship between market forces and organisational responses

 

market forces

 

Forces of demand and supply representing the aggregate influence of self-interested buyers and sellers on price and quantity of the goods and services offered in a market. In general, excess-demand causes prices and quantity of supply to rise, and excess supply causes them to fall.

 

Porter's Five Forces Model

 

demand and supply

 

Demand curve#p#分頁標題#e#

 

The demand curve represents a simple relationship. It tries to demonstrate how many items of a product or service a consumer would like to purchase at different prices. There are two major assumptions made with this simple model.

 

Consumers are not only willing but ABLE to buy the item - this is called 'effective demand.'

 

It is an expression of preferences and includes a whole range of judgments about 'value'.

 

Price elasticity of demand is a very important concept in both economics and business studies. Elasticity measures the responsiveness of one variable to changes in another. Price elasticity of demand is measured by dividing the price change in quantity demanded by the percentage change in price.

 

Supply curve

 

In producing goods and services costs are going to be incurred and the price received by sellers will reflect those costs plus an element of profit. The price they receive therefore can be split up into these four elements - wages, rent, interest and profit, so called factor incomes.

 

Price elasticity of supply is the percentage change in quantity supplied due to a one per cent change in the market price of the good.

 

3.3 Explains the behaviour and competitive strategies employed by an organisation and discuss the role of the competition commission and regulatory bodies.

 

Porter's Generic Competitive Strategies (ways of competing)

 

A firm's relative position within its industry determines whether a firm's profitability is above or below the industry average. The fundamental basis of above average profitability in the long run is sustainable competitive advantage. There are two basic types of competitive advantage a firm can possess: low cost or differentiation. The two basic types of competitive advantage combined with the scope of activities for which a firm seeks to achieve them, lead to three generic strategies for achieving above average performance in an industry: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. The focus strategy has two variants, cost focus and differentiation focus.

 

1. Cost Leadership

 

In cost leadership, a firm sets out to become the low cost producer in its industry. The sources of cost advantage are varied and depend on the structure of the industry. They may include the pursuit of economies of scale, proprietary technology, preferential access to raw materials and other factors. A low cost producer must find and exploit all sources of cost advantage. if a firm can achieve and sustain overall cost leadership, then it will be an above average performer in its industry, provided it can command prices at or near the industry average.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

2. Differentiation

 

In a differentiation strategy a firm seeks to be unique in its industry along some dimensions that are widely valued by buyers. It selects one or more attributes that many buyers in an industry perceive as important, and uniquely positions itself to meet those needs. It is rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price.

 

3. Focus

 

The generic strategy of focus rests on the choice of a narrow competitive scope within an industry. The focuser selects a segment or group of segments in the industry and tailors its strategy to serving them to the exclusion of others.

 

The focus strategy has two variants.

 

(a) In cost focus a firm seeks a cost advantage in its target segment, while in (b) differentiation focus a firm seeks differentiation in its target segment. Both variants of the focus strategy rest on differences between a focuser's target segment and other segments in the industry. The target segments must either have buyers with unusual needs or else the production and delivery system that best serves the target segment must differ from that of other industry segments. Cost focus exploits differences in cost behavior in some segments, while differentiation focus exploits the special needs of buyers in certain segments.

 

Role of the CC

 

The Competition Commission (CC) is one of the independent public bodies which help ensure healthy competition between companies in the UK for the benefit of companies, customers and the economy.

 

We investigate and address issues of concern in three areas:

 

? In mergers - when larger companies will gain more than 25% market share and where a merger appears likely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition in one or more markets in the UK.

 

? In markets - when it appears that competition may be being prevented, distorted or restricted in a particular market.

 

? In regulated sectors where aspects of the regulatory system may not be operating effectively or to address certain categories of dispute between regulators and regulated companies.

 

Our investigations are thorough and open. If our investigations conclude that the situation significantly damages or restricts competition in the UK, then we work to determine and implement appropriate remedies. A wide range of remedies is available to the CC both in merger and market investigations. For example, in a merger investigation, the CC can stop a merger from going ahead, require a firm to sell off part of its business, or require them to behave in a way that safeguards competition. If the CC decides that remedies are required, we will consult with relevant parties on the choice and form of these measures and then set out our decision on remedies in our final report. Following publication of the final report we will work with relevant parties to prepare undertakings or orders that give effect to our requirement. We are required to consult the public on undertakings and orders before these are implemented.#p#分頁標題#e#

 

Our inquiries are always initiated following a concern referred to us by another authority: usually the Office of Fair Trading. We also investigate issues referred to us by the sector regulators for communications, gas and electricity, water, rail, airports, postal services, or by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. Click here for further detail on sources of our investigations; we cannot investigate companies or markets without a referral from one of these bodies.

 

Task 4

 

4.1 importance of international trade, economic integration and global market to the UK business organisation

 

International trade

 

International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries. This type of trade gives rise to a world economy, in which prices, or supply and demand, affect and are affected by global events.

 

Economic integration

 

Economic integration refers to trade unification between different states by the partial or full abolishing of customs tariffs on trade taking place within the borders of each state. This is meant in turn to lead to lower prices for distributors and consumers and the goal is to increase trade.