...Running Head: BUSINESS POLICIES 1. Business policies and Strategies Industry: McDonald’s Fast-food Leonora McClelland-Sandridge Colorado University Online MGMT455-1304A-04 Professor: Dominika Falsey Date: 10/26/2013 BUSINESS POLICIES AND STRATEGIES: 2. McDonald’s Issues McDonald's is the largest hamburger fast food chain in the world, serving over 60 million customers every day in over 120 counties. McDonald’s was started by Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940, and then was purchase by Ray Kroc; the restaurant chain offers a variety of items today, as compared to their early days; hamburgers were the only option. The menu today includes burgers, chicken, shakes, desserts, French fries and breakfast food (McDonald’s, 2013). McDonald's locations are franchised by, affiliated with or owned by the McDonald's Corporation. Some of the major strategic issues that McDonald faces are; increase in competition, employment turn-overs, health concerns, and lack of response to the needs of franchises and customers (McDonald’s, 2013). If an organization does not use strategic planning or poor strategic planning, then, the business would definitely fail. In order for McDonald’s to grow and profit, the organization must focus on future profits and determine what strategies to utilize to be successful...
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...Page 1 of 27 Page 2 of 27 1. Executive Summary When Amazon.com started its business operations on 16-07-1995, with a few employees packing & shipping boxes of books from a two-car garage in Bellevue, Wash. The company's founder and CEO, Mr. Jeff Bezos used some of his time on the road to write the company's business plan when he was leaving N.Y. City for the Pacific Northwest. On its 15th-anniversary in 2010, Amazon is truly proud to be one of the world largest online retailers, selling everything from musical instruments and sports equipment to household appliances and apparels (Kayla, W. 2010). In our coursework group assignment, we are tasked to study and analyse the strategic management issues of Amazon.com. The case study will base on fourth quarter of 2007 as a current year. We will be evaluating the company's external and internal environments, how the company emerge into the industry by means of its strategies management in dealing with economic, technology & distribution issues and competition. We will also look at the company's vision & mission and it relate to the expansion of its product lines and reach, to increase its revenue and market share, and to understand and consider their possible near-term and long-term objectives that the organization could pursue. Lastly but not least, to out up recommendation for Amazon and conclude it with our learning experiences on BPS module. Page 3 of 27 2. Company Overview Amazon was founded by Mr. Jeff Bezos in 1994...
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...Student Name : Student ID No. : Course No. : MGT 195 Course Name : Business Policy and Strategy Title of the Assignment : Strategic Planning at The Chronicle Gazette Date of submission : March 5, 2012 Strategic Planning at -The Chronicle Gazette Content 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3 2. State of the newspaper publishing industry today………………………………………………4 2.1 Data on declining circulation and revenue…………………………..………………………………6 2.1.1 Circulation in the last decade…………………………………………………………………………6 2.1.2 Top 20 Newspaper print circulation declining rate…………………………………………7 2.1.3 Advertising Revenue…………………………………………………..…………………………………8 2.1.4 Top 10 Newspaper print circulation…………………………….…………………………………9 3. Why newspapers are facing declining circulations and revenue? ………………………10 3.1 External Assessment………………………………………………………….………………………………10 3.1.1 Rise of the Web and Internet………………………………….……………………………………10 3.1.2 Economic downturn put company into the red……………………………………………11 4. Internal Assessment of The Chronicle Gazette…………………………..………………………12 4.1 Strengths……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……12 4.2 Weaknesses………………………………………………………………………………………………………12 5. How other publishers are reacting to the challenges? ………………………………………12 5.1 Differentiation…………………………………………………………………………………..………………12 5.2 New Product Development………………………………………….……………………………………13 5.3 Customer Insight…………………………………………………………...
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...Nathan Dunlap DU5416177 MGT195 Business Policy and Strategy Strategic Planning at The Chronicle Gazette Strategic Planning at The Chronicle Gazette 1. Introduction The Chronicle Gazette is a leading newspaper in the United States with a circulation of 225,000 customers. Over the past few years, it has been facing a decline in its customer base and revenues. This is mainly due to the increasing dominance of the Internet as a means of disseminating information and news. Susan Feinman, the publisher of The Chronicle Gazette, noted the criticalness of the problem and worried this will become the 21st century equivalent of buggy whip manufacturers. The company is not looking for band-aid solutions but an insight of all the challenges and to work out an effective business strategy. As The Chronicle Gazette has been a steady decline in subscriptions and revenues, this report will present the strategic vision of where the newspaper publishing industry stands today and where it is headed over the next decade. 2. State of the newspaper publishing industry today The U.S. newspaper industry is in the midst of a historic restructuring, buffeted by a deep recession that is battering crucial advertising revenues, long-term structural challenges as readership to free news and entertainment on the Internet, and heavy debt burdens weighing down some major media companies. As the distress mounts – seven U.S. newspaper companies have filed for bankruptcy in the past years...
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...119 countries. McDonalds works with the strategy of “Plan to win”. The product positioning map of McDonalds is in line with its Corporate Strategy. Since winning in the food industry means gaining large market shares, McDonalds is doing well in attracting customers and is a sustainable growth company. The company is better than its competitors in terms of speed of service, price and taste. However, the company is required to improve and do better than the past in the areas of quality and customer service in order to sustain in the competitive environment. Product positioning Map: The map represents the position or standing of the products and services in the market. The map consists of 2 lines (x and y axis). The products are positioned for various criteria like price, status, quality, and reliability. The below product positioning map shows McDonalds and Burger King’s product position is based on providing high quality products to its customers at low price. High Price Low Quality High Quality Low Price The concentration of Burger King is on narrow product positioning. As per the taste test research, the grilled taste of the beef and condiments were the most the preferred by the customers. While McDonalds continue with its generalist advertising approach, Burger King has opted for aggressive tactical strategy. EPS/ EBIT Analysis EPS (Earnings per...
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...Business Policy and Strategy – Study Guide: Unit 1 Material from McGraw Hill website – Chapters 1 & 2 Chapter 1 What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important? Learning Objectives - After studying this chapter, you should be able to: LO 1. | Understand why every company needs a sound strategy to compete successfully, manage the conduct of its business, and strengthen its prospects for long-term success. | LO 2. | Develop an awareness of the four most dependable strategic approaches for setting a company apart from rivals and winning a sustainable competitive advantage. | LO 3. | Understand that a company's strategy tends to evolve over time because of changing circumstances and ongoing management efforts to improve the company's strategy. | LO 4. | Learn why it is important for a company to have a viable business model that outlines the company's customer value proposition and its profit formula. | LO 5. | Learn the three tests of a winning strategy. | Key Points: The tasks of crafting and executing company strategies are the heart and soul of managing a business enterprise and winning in the marketplace. The key points to take away from this chapter include the following: 1. A company's strategy is the game plan management is using to stake out a market position, conduct its operations, attract and please customers, compete successfully, and achieve the desired performance targets. 2. The central thrust of a company's strategy is undertaking moves...
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...What is the relationship between business policy and business strategy? Organisations, institutions and government have to make decisions and actions (or inaction) which will result in a desired outcome. Before organisations, institutions and government can make those decisions they need to establish policies. Companies use policy to make sure that employees take actions that support the corporation’s goals, mission and strategy. The Encarta dictionary defines policy as a program of actions adopted by a person, group, or government, or the set of principles on which they are based. A policy is a broad guideline for decision-making that links the formulation of strategy with the implementation. Certain procedures are normally implemented to support each policy explaining how to apply the policy to the business’s customers, employees and products, and the instructions necessary to follow the policy. Business policies are broad guidelines for managers, supervisors, and other employees in their action (activities) for the achievement of objectives. Policies indicate how resources are to be allocated, and how task assigned to the organisation might be accomplished so that functional level managers execute the strategy properly. Business policy has general management orientation and tends primarily to look inward with its concern for properly integrating the corporation’s many functional activities. Business policy also deals with acquisition of resources with which organizational...
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...BUSINESS POLICY EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS POLICY Evolution of Business Policy Course by SREE RAMA RAO on NOVEMBER 2, 2010 Business policy as a distinct field of study was introduced at Harvard Business School way back in 1911. The course aimed at improving the general management capabilities of students. It was intended to tie together and give proper focus to the first year courses by showing how the functions of business both internally and as between businesses, were closely interrelated in practice and how a chief executive had to recognize and deal with those relationships. The course, however received widespread acceptance only after the publication of two reports in 1959. The Gordon and Howell report, sponsored by the Ford Foundation predicted that a course on business policy would give students an opportunity to put together what they have learned in the separate business fields and utilize this knowledge in the analysis of complex business problems! The Pierson report, sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation also recommended the introduction of the course strongly. Following these reports the business policy course was made mandatory in all business schools in the US for the purpose of recognition. In the course of time the course gained popularity in business schools in other parts of the world as well. It is being increasingly viewed as an integrative course offered to students after completing as set of functional area courses in Finance, Marketing, and Accounting...
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...different reward strategies are in connection with general Human Resource strategy and policies In way to have a more clear concept about the connection among the all elements, it is important starting the analysis giving a definition of strategy and of the other elements to have an idea about what human resource strategy, policies and reward strategies are. A strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which ideally matches its resources to its changing environment. It is the direction in which the organization is going in relation to its environment and it must have a strategic objectives and a plan of action. HR strategies sets out what the organization intends to do about the different aspects of its human resource management policies and practices in integration with the business strategy. The purpose is to guide the HRM (human resource management) development, it provides vision for the future actions required and how the vision should be realized: especially what need to be done and what needs to be changed. Human Resource strategies are vertically integrated with the business strategy contributing to business process, and it should plan with people in mind, taking into account the needs and aspirations of all members of the organization; it involves the formulation and the implementation of specific strategies in each area of HRM. Generally there are two basic types of human resource strategies: the overarching strategies, so how ...
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...CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. Background of Case Study Selection Differentiated strategy is the strategy pursued by the company to produce products that are different or unique compared to competitors' products. Researchers are interested in doing research on the company because researcher wanted to learn more about controls for differentiated strategies, both theoretical and practical. Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Corporation (3M) is one of the companies that have successfully implemented differentiated product strategy that gives priority to innovation as a competitive advantage offered. This company believes that innovation to be the cornerstone of 3M’s future success. Current management has continued to embrace and expand these policies and philosophies. That is why researchers interested in evaluating policies and 3 M that philosophy is based on the innovation in the implementation of the strategy of differentiation 2. Motivation Motivation researchers conducted a study of control for differentiated strategies in Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Corporation (3M) because the researchers wanted to know more about the factors that influenced the design of the system and also the policies and philosophy rooted in the innovations made by 3M Corporation. By studying and examining the existing policy and philosophy that is rooted in innovation from the company, researchers can get a clearer picture of how to do a proper evaluation and what steps...
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...Critically discuss how human resource policies are designed in order to assist organization achieve their strategy Introduction Human resource polices are used to identify outstanding employees for enterprises, not only to find good employees, more important is to train the employees. Until every employee can contribute to the corporate development and then they can further assist the company achieve the corporate strategies in the most suitable positions in the company. Meanwhile, the human resource polices are also should conducive to create positive, united and dedicated working environment and improve efficiency in all aspects. Nevertheless, the human resource policies also differ with different corporate cultures in different organizations. Such situation also poses competitive challenge to the human resource policies. There is no fixed pattern for the human resource policies in the organization. In different organizations, different social circumstances human resource policies also in different patterns. The role of human resource policies should be give full play in the corporate development process. Human resource managers need to bring the initiative into play in order to enable enterprises face a high growth stable development trend in the future. Therefore this essay argues that the human resource policies are designed to assist organization achieve corporate strategy. This essay aims to explore and discuss how the human resources policies are designed in order to assist...
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...business Definition of Business PolicyBusiness Policy defines the scope or spheres within which decisions can be taken by the subordinates in an organization. It permits the lower level management to deal with the problems and issues without consulting top level management every time for decisions. Business policies are the guidelines developed by an organization to govern its actions. They define the limits within which decisions must be made. Business policy also deals with acquisition of resources with which organizational goals can be achieved. Business policy is the study of the roles and responsibilities of top level management, the significant issues affecting organizational success and the decisions affecting organization in long-run.Features of Business PolicyAn effective business policy must have following features- | | 1. Specific- Policy should be specific/definite. If it is uncertain, then the implementation will become difficult. 2. Clear- Policy must be unambiguous. It should avoid use of jargons and connotations. There should be no misunderstandings in following the policy. 3. Reliable/Uniform- Policy must be uniform enough so that it can be efficiently followed by the subordinates. 4. Appropriate- Policy should be appropriate to the present organizational goal. 5. Simple- A policy should be simple and easily understood by all in the organization. 6. Inclusive/Comprehensive- In order to have a wide scope, a policy must be comprehensive...
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...HRM on organisational performance Anastasia A. Katou University of Macedonia (GREECE) akatou@uom.gr Received September 2008 Accepted December 2008 Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of HRM on organisational performance in the context of Greece. Data were collected from 178 organisations using a questionnaire survey in the Greek manufacturing sector, and analysed using the ‘structural equation modelling’ methodology. The results indicated that the relationship between HRM policies (resourcing and development, compensation and incentives, involvement and job design) and organisational performance is partially mediated through HRM outcomes (skills, attitudes, behaviour), and it is influenced by business strategies (cost, quality, innovation). Thus, the contribution of this study for academics and practitioners is that HRM policies associated with business strategies will affect organisational performance through HRM outcomes. Keywords: HRM policies, organisational performance, Greece 1 Introduction Over the last ten years significant steps forward have been made in identifying the HRM – performance relationship. However, serious gaps in our understanding still remain with respect to the causal ordering of the variables involved in the HRM – performance relationship (Purcell, Kinnie, Hutchinson, Rayton, & Swart, 2003; Wright, Gardner, Moyniham, & Allen, 2005). Specifically, in analysing the impact of HRM on organisational performance, each...
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...BS2232 Business Policy Session 1 – Introduction to Business Policy and Strategic Management Dr. Carola Wolf Term 1, 2012/2013 Business Policy and Strategic Management Business policy is the study of the roles and responsibilities of managers at all levels of the organization (top, middle, lower level management), the significant issues affecting organizational success and the decisions affecting organization in long-run. Business Policy demands a broadened understanding of how competition, world economies, politics, and social trends effect organizational effectiveness. Strategic Management includes a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. Including activities of internal and external environment scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and evaluation and control The Relation Between Business Policy & Strategic Management Issues of Business Policy provide a frame for strategic decision making and strategy implementation, guiding managers and employees in their daily actions to act in the interest of the strategy defined by an organization and help organizing organizations in a way to support the strategy (e.g. choice of organizational structure, issues of corporate governance, organization of human resources, leadership etc.) In our course, we integrate both aspects – Business Policy and Strategic Management – to gain a better understanding of how both areas complement each...
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... RE: Proposal to do a research paper on the strategies and policies used by street hawker are helping the corruption to grow more faster. Introduction; I propose to find the unbelievable but realistic truth about the unfair business policies and strategies of street hawkers which are effecting the growth of corruption badly. Street hawkers may looks like a very poor and decent people but for their business they are following many such strategies that are very unethical. Moreover as a result of those policies some honest people in the same profession can not make this business profitable. Understanding the bad effects of those policies I intend my paper to be a background report for audiences and hope that my research will help readers to concern about this problem and take adequate actions to solve it. Areas to be studied: At this point in my research I have identified the following four questions to investigate: 1) What are the main strategies and policies of street hawkers which are unethical? 2) What are the main reasons to follow these unfair business strategies and policies? 3) What are the advantages and disadvantages to follow these strategies and policies? 4) How these strategies and policies will affect the growth rate of corruption? I plan to divide the body of my paper into four...
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