Business Improvement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Improvement - Essay Example But, the era of globalisation and liberalization has resulted in fierce competition amongst the multinational companies has come to the rescue of the consumer. Now, MNCs emphasis is less on profit margins and more on sustainable growth. This resulted in making the independent sustainability of individual businesses little difficult. The era of network competition (Dechow, 2003) resulted into MNCs looking for local support, while individual businesses found an opportunity to sustain their business venture by working as supply chains for Multi-national enterprises. With growing emphasis on innovative marketing techniques in the network economy, competing as stand-alone entities becomes much more difficult for individual businesses. Functioning as supply chains to one or more MNEs, helps in better profit margins and long term survival of an individual business. This has led to a situation where the competition is not amongst individual firms, but as supply chains to larger business enti ties (Hammer, 2001 qtd by Dechow). In the IT era supply chain has acquired newer dimensions. Outsourcing is the new buzzword in the industry. While the debate is still on about the benefits or losses of outsourcing, the industry seems to have taken it in a big way. More and more banks, IT companies, PSUs and a range of industrial units from places like UK, USA, Germany etc are flocking towards Asian region with their requirement for software development, IT enabled services and call centre workforce. The outsourcing firms do not have a formidable identity of their own, but they are very crucial for an organization like, HSBC, Microsoft, IBM, Standard Chartered etc. While the MNEs are able to save millions of dollars through this arrangement, the supply chain companies too are earning good revenues within their own areas of operations. Such an arrangement proves to be a sound business strategy for long term survival. Quoting Thomas Koulopoulos, Burnell (2007) says; "Companies whose instincts have gone stale are like p atients with local anesthesia let free to wander the world. They are rational, coherent and aware of their predicament, yet numb. They can no longer sense the world around them." In order to leverage the economies of scale and remain competitive, companies are relying on the increasing role of supply chains. Therefore, companies are now supposed to adapt their supply chains efficiently in order to remain agile and competitive (Tolone, 2000). This helps in building strong relationships with customers and suppliers. With the growing trend towards leaner and meaner organisations, companies are now more focused towards their core competencies, while preferring to outsource all other activities. Swaminathan (2003) underlines the need for strategic management of the supply chain partners with increasing role of core competencies, elimination of geographical boundaries with ICT revolution and volatile nature of economies. For creating strategic advantages in the competitive landscape coordinated supply chains have now become an integral part of the business strategy. Companies are now coming out with solutions for managing the supply chain, for example IBM provides SCM solutions for its partners so that they can gain a window into inventory. This allows promoting, cross-selling, up-selling, replenishing, and closing out, the inventories on short notices1. Such solutions also help in sharp forecasting,

Week1 Knowledge paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week1 Knowledge paper - Essay Example In addition to the need for goods and services, there was a high demand for housing. This demand spawned the creation of the subdivision. With the proliferation of the automobile, better highways, and television people began to move west as they left the rust belt for the sun belt. While women had been instrumental in working in the wartime factories, after the war women left the factory jobs and became more domestic. This period transformed America into the single wage family headed by a male that became the middle class. The shift in demographics created even more desire and need for products in the marketplace. The economy was growing due to the increase in employment opportunities, more leisure time, and the advertisers ability to reach the public through the new medium of television. The information that I have about the economy during this era comes from older family members who have related their stories to me. In addition, I have picked up images and impressions from television and the Internet. I have always been interested in culture and like to watch some of the old post war movies or 1950s sitcoms. Though I know they are only stories, you can sometimes glean some facts from good fiction. The relationship between the US and the USSR had always been somewhat tense due to the claims of communist infiltration in the US that went back to the 1930s. However, the war against Germany had necessitated that they become allied in their goal of defeating Hitler. Russia endured a heavy burden and paid a great cost during the war. As such, Stalin felt that they were owed the spoils that go to the victor in war. The US, though cautious, was willing to accommodate the Soviets by giving them control of the countries on their western border that would serve as a buffer against Germany and would become their satellite states. After the defeat of Japan, Truman once again