Importance of external factors Essay

In an organisation there are several factors influence the growth and performance of the organisation. There are some factors which are influence the organization can be controlled by the management but some factors are beyond the organisation management control. The factors which are controlled by the organisation known as internal factors and factors which are beyond the management control known as external factors such as Political, economical, social and technical factors. Political Factors: For BA political factors are very important for business growth. As this company is operating around the world and involved in air transport, country’s political tension can hamper its normal operation as well as the revenue income. Economical: economical factor is another important factor for such company. As still air travel is expensive, people’s ability to travel and economic conditions should be considered when planning for BA. As an example BA faced a huge loss when the European recession started. Technological: Total business related to BA is based on the technology. As the air transport sector is too competitive, all companies are always ready to grab the new technology as a gift for their potential customers. So, as leading company BA always has to consider the technological factors within its business. Expectations of a stakeholders Stakeholders include those individuals, groups, and other organizations who have an interest in the actions of an organization and who have the ability to influence it. The stakeholder approach systematically integrates executives’ concerns about organizational strategy with the organization’s interests in marketing, human resource management, public relations, organizational politics, and social responsibility. This integrative perspective assumes that an effective organization strategy requires  consensus from a plurality of key stakeholders about what it should be doing and how these things should be done. The level of stakeholders expectations are depends on the various factors and types of stakeholders in a company. Considering all afcts BA’s stakeholders expectations are stated below: o Risk management of the company, o Technological change within the company, o Financial and economical performance of the company, o Environmental and ethical engagement, o Contibution to social, cultural and economical, o Policy for the future external and internal factors, o Program to address any negative impact, o Future development and goals. Major changes in the external environment As a company in airline sector BA is operating and has many offices around the world. So the socio-economic factors regardless of geographic areas can be a good factor fro its strategic planning process. For example, BA had closed their all operation and office from most of south Asian countries due to the continuous loss. The main reason for that loss was economic bad conditions in that area. Like this many socio-economic factors can be the major issues for BA’s strategy making. During the political tension in middle-east many people ignored to travel with BA, which caused a huge loss for its yearly revenue. Another important change that could affect BA’s strategy is legal issues. BA faced various legal obligations in different countries that played a huge impact on their future staretgy. Many countries has different rules for their airline sector and BA has to follow those rules to operate its fleet in those countries. A SWOT analysis of BA can be included here to evaluate its possible major changes in external environment. Strength:​ 1. Merger and Acquisition ​ ​ 2. Opensky agreement, ​ ​ 3. Strong brand image ​ ​ 4. Expansion of fleet Weakness: ​ 1. Cost of management, ​ ​ 2. Decline profitability ​ ​ 3. Labour strike Opportunities: 1. Emergence of new market, ​ 2. Increased travel business in europe, ​ 3. Economic restoration, Threats: ​ 1. Raising fuel cost, ​ 2. Changing of consumers’ behaviour, ​ 3. Unstable political issues worldwide. PESTEL Analysis In order to measure success in airline industry, en external environmental analysis is very important. This PESTEL analysis will explain the BA’s position in the market, particularly in terms of competitors and how it assessing to meet its current and future challenges. Factor Key Points Implications for BA Political 1. Heavy regulations, 2. Increased security due to past attacks. 1. Compliance is essential, 2. Sufficient security measures should be in place. Economic 1. Global Economic Crisis, 2. Oil price is not stable, 3. UK consumer saw largest decline in spending. 1. Possible reduction of business travel. 2. Directly affecting the BA’s cost base. Social Technological 1. UK has an aging population, 2. Increasing unemployment. 1. Online user normally use comparison site. 2. Online booking and reservation becoming more popular. 1. Potential opportunity for growth as older person will spend more time in holiday. 2. Increased bargaining power for new employees. 1. Increased bargain power for both parties. 2. Must ensure that BA’s remain up to date. Ethical 1. Noise pollution control 2. Cancellations of flight and baggage loss. 1. New legislation, 2. Such ethical issues could have a detrimental effect on reputation if left unresolved. Legal 1. Collusion and price fixing. 2. Open skies agreement. 1. Restriction on mergers will have an impact on BA’s proposed alliance with American Airlines. 2. Opportunity for BA and its competitors to freely transport aircraft between the EU and US. Task 2 Analyse the effects of current business plan Any organisation has to have a detailed plan for their business. This plan determines the mission and vision of that organisation. The strategic planning team develop this business plan for the organisation. By assesing this plan any stakeholder or other external entities can get idea about the type and area of business. There are many tools for analysing the effects of such plan over the organisation. These analysis tools includes: SWOT Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, Porter’s Five Forces Analysis etc. To consider the effects of business plan on BA, author will use Porter’s Five forces tool here. British Airways- market position, by Porter’s Five forces: Force Strength 1. Competitive Rivalry: b. BA caters for other flights, c. There are very small diffrentiation between BA and other competitors in terms of pricing, d. Short Haul market is more fragmented by small players. 2. Power of Supplier: a. Only two suppliers for aircrafts, b. BA restricted by sole supplier of fuel to the airport. 3. Power of Buyer: a. For long haul, customers has no choice most of the time, b. Availability of flight and seats are not enough c. Price normally changes according to demand. 4. Threats to new Entrants: a. Competitive Environment, b. High regulatory requirements, c. High cost requirements. 5. Threats to substitutes: a. Very few direct closed substitutes, b. Short Haul flight: Euro Star or Ferry, c. Long Haul flights: No notable substitutes. High High Medium High Low Current Market poistion of BA In startegic manageemtn various tools are used to analyse the current market position of any organisation. These tools are proven technical analysis tools in management sector. The analysis tools that mostly used for the market position analysis are: BCG Matrix, GAP Analysis, Life Cycle Analysis, Market Share Analysis etc. In order to undertake the BA’s current market share analysis as asked in the course work, author here used two tools. These are below, BCG matrix Figure 1: BCG Matrix (Source: Emerald Insight 2012) British Airways had a great market share and low growth in last few years. It is evident that, they did not make any big investment either in their fleet or increasing the destination, which could make them cash cow. In recent, they changed their staretgies and concentrating on increasing fleet as well as expanding the geographical market. BA’s another big strategic decesion was merger with Liberia which finally done on the end of 2010. This merger will help to increase BA’s revenue as a one of the top in the avaiation inductry. By doing so, BA will not only generate the large amounts of money they will also consume large amount of money per year. Therefore the cash in every direction approximately nets out. This kind of activities proves that British Airways is becoming a Star but in slow process. Product/Service life cycle Introduction Stage By the 1920’s Britain had a lot of airline companies but due to strong competition many private British air carriers were forced out of business. In 1923 all these companies merged to form a single british international air carrier called the Imperial Air transport. Meanwhile, the british airways, had begun to impose a big threat and competition to imperial air transport which resulted in the formation of the British Overseas Airways Cooperation was formed (BOAC) that later combined with the BEA and 2 smaller companies formed the British Airways (BA) Growth Stage The growth can be easily marked by the introduction of the concorde into the BA. In 1985 British Airways was made a public limited company. In February 1987 the privatization was finally consummated when 720.2 million shares of British Airways stock were sold to the public for one billion pounds. Expansion of fleet and routes were even more noticeable after mergers with other carriers like Bcal (British Caledonian). Due to the expansion of BA, another carrier Laker Airways were also forced out of business. This marked how dominant BA was turning out to be in the air carrier sector. Maturity Stage The BA mergers assured the dominance of the carrier in the home market secure for the time being. During this stage alliances and mergers made/attempted by BA with other carriers in different markets were numerous: Aliiance with Aeroflot in Russia to create Air Russia. Attempted merger with KLM royal dutch airways. Broke down due to valuation of the two firms. Purchased 25% of Qantas airlines in Australia. Gained 49.9% of the French, TAT European Airlines. Started a german carrier called Deutsche BA with 49% ownership. Evaluate the competitive strength and weakness According to Jhonson (2008), a value chain analysis is undertaken when a authentic approach to develop competitive advantage has made. In here, in order to analyse the British Airways competitive advantages, value chain analysis has done. Figure 2: Value Chain Analysis (Source: Emerald Insight 2008) Value Chain Analysis: Primary activities within value-chain analysis are the ones that directly affect the business within short period of time and their affect is easy to monitor. They are inbound logistics, operations, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and post-sales services. Inbound logistics. Goods received from company suppliers are referred to as inbound logistics. Competitive advantage is achieved in inbound logistics stage of the business by BA through establishing on-going relationships with suppliers, sophisticated system for stock control and professional training that has been accredited by UK City and Guilds (BA Press Office, 2008) Operations. Generally, operations stage of the business involves preparing goods and services to be sold to customers. BA has a range of competitive advantages in operations part of the business through offering its customers increased security for their luggage, offering quick check-in services and also offering some services such as ticket bookings and booking of other services online. Marketing and sales are considered to be one of the main grounds for gaining competitive advantage and usually is utilised by many companies fully. Competitive edge gained in marketing and sales by BA involve  marketing activities not only to customers, but also to all stakeholders of the company. Also, BA senior management large amount of budget for marketing and sales initiatives for the company. Task 3 Strategic options for British Airways In order to develop strategic options for an organization using modeling tools, author here used Ansoff matrix. Here is the discussion with this tool. The Ansoff implies business growth either by marketing new or existing products in existing or new markets (Shaw 2011, 83). Market Penetration Although BA already has presence in the existing market it is facing stiff competition. For example, in the short haul market, rapidly saturating with budget airlines, BA lost  £1 billion in revenues by end of 2009/2010 financial year. The major options currently are 1) Improving on people processes including bag handling 2) Further investment on information technology especially on internet bookings (British Airways 2010, 58) Market development Market development strategy focuses on non-buying clients in already currently targeted segments and focuses on new customers in new segments (Angwin, Cummings , Smith 2011, 73). BA is trying to regain some business class customers from Virgin airlines and other competitors. Product development Product development entails the process used to bring new products into the market. For example, BA introduced a new in-flight entertainment system in the Boeing 777-300 ERs in 2010 and the First Cabin, a sophisticated ne cabin that offers customers the chance to work, recreate, eat and sleep (British Airways 2010, 67). Diversification Diversification is a business strategy that attempts to increase profitability by introducing new products in new markets. Formation of alliances is a relatively new trend in new markets, for instance; by collaborating with India’s Kingfisher airlines, BA will increase destination connections and improve flight schedules (British Airways 2010, 76). Selection of the most viable strategic options The best way of doing this is by eliminating the least viable options to remain with the most viable options.   Renovation of brand image: British Airways already possesses the advantage of having a globally recognised brand name (Buckingham 2011, 13). Introduction of complimentary services: essentially requires the diversion of capital funds to implement. Currently, it does not significantly enhance Product development (Ansoff) (Punzel 2011, 32). Diversifying into other transport markets- Diversification is currently not a priority relative to other more beneficial strategies (Punzel 2011, 32). Supply chain migration: As part of diversification (Ansoff), this is also not a viable strategy at this time (Belobaba, Odoni, Barnhart 2009, 67). Options for future organisational strategy Through market segmentation , companies divide large heterogeneous markets into smaller segments that can be reached more efficiently with products and services that match their unique needs.(kotler, 2009) British Airways has divided it market segmentation into different variables. There are number of variables involved in consumer market segmentation, alone and in combination. These variables are: †¢Geographic variables †¢Demographic variables †¢Psychographic variables †¢Behavioral variables Occupation- British Airways give extra benefit for High Class .Some of the benefits like Club Card. Income- People who are into business class can travel in British airways as airfare are very high. Nationality – In british airway all different kind of nationality travel.

Politics & The English Language-By George Orwell Essay

1: Orwell’s thesis is somewhat stated, but also implied. His thesis is that any effect can become a cause, such that something that starts as an aid for a different ailment may eventually become detrimental. 2: Orwell’s analogy of the cause and effect of alcohol abuse to the demise of lanuage in paragraph two is very effective. It shows a chain reaction, where the person starts drinking alcohol to combat a problem in their live, but then the alcohol eventually leads to more difficult problems. 3: In Paragraph 4, Orwell uses a simile to compare â€Å"phrases tacked together† to â€Å"sections of a prefabricated henhouse†. That shows how prose consists of words that aren’t necessarily chosen for their meaning, but instead just because it’s easy. In Paragraph 12, Orwell uses a similie to compare someone â€Å"choking† to â€Å"tea leaves blocking a sink†, which shows how the author knows what he wants to say, but sometimes he has too many â€Å"stale phrases† in his head. In paragraph 15, Orwell uses a similie to compare â€Å"a mass of Latin words fall upon the facts† to â€Å"soft snow†, which blurs the outlines, and covers up the details. In paragraph 16, Orwell compares â€Å"his words† to â€Å"cavalry horses answering the bugle†, which create an analogy that is effective because both words and cavalry horses are powerful. 4: Removing the extensive uses of examples in paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 weakens Orwell’s argument, and makes the passage less interesting and boring to read. The examples also aid Orwell’s credibility as a writer. 5: The additional information in the footnotes in paragraphs 7 and 8 serve to clarify and expand on his ideas. I believe that he made them footnotes, as opposed to putting the additional information right in the body of the essay, because putting the information in the body of the text would take away focus from what he was writing and the points he was trying to make. 6: Orwell may not have any doctoral qualifications to speak on language, but he establishes his ethos, his ethical appeal; by using an immense amount of examples. He should not of been more direct, he proved his point quite well in the way he already wrote the essay. 7: Orwell’s essay is organized quite exquisitely. He starts the essay with a few introductory paragraphs, then he lists 5 passages where what he just states applies, which is very good at proving his point. Then he speaks on four different sections: Dying Metaphors, Operators or Verbal False Limbs, Pretentious Diction, and Meaningless Words. He uses a ridiculous amount of examples throughout his essay. 8: Orwell’s purpose in writing the essay was to show how much language and wording can affect someone’s writing. His Post-WWII knowledge could aid the essay, because during WWII both sides (Axis & Allied) used propaganda to stress their point, and their propaganda used wording effects quite frequently to get their points across. 9: Orwell’s tone varies across the passage, but he is always trying to accomplish the same goal of the wording effect on language and writing.

Moon as a character Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Moon as a character - Essay Example The centrifugal elements of the story have served to also deliver a sense of shock value to those who hear it. These main elements are Salome herself, so beautiful and enchanting that her own stepfather Herod the king, is smitten by her. This is an incestual element which is certainly edgy enough to gain attention. Secondly, a man of God who claims to be a prophet, is so hated that he is murdered in a brutal way in order to please a beautiful woman. These elements are just the surface of a thicket of metaphorical allegory. The moon is of course something of a constant. Certainly, we assume that in any story taking place on this planet, the moon is automatically thought to be lurking overhead in the night. This however, is not the only place for the moon in this particular tale. Salome uses numerous references to ‘white’ which is thought to in essence, represent the moon. Additionally, the story has two human voyeurs, the page and the Syrian. It is the page who is smitten or hypnotized by the moon but really, the moon is serving as a metaphor for princess Salome. This gives a circular quality to the story and reminds the reader that on one layer, there are these people of royalty who are in fact subject to voyeurs. Princess Salome is the object of her stepfather Herod’s voyeurism as well as the voyeurism of the page and the Syrian. Beyond this layer, the voyeurs are subject to the moon itself as it looms overhead as a distant but present voyeur. The moon in fact, is the voyeur watch ing this entire story unfold. Getting back to the nature of the story’s conflicts, it is both an incestual situation materializing which leads to the brutal murder and sadistic handling of a man of God. The piece is entirely fashioned around an emphasis on the dark side of human beings with the additional almost cautionary sense that someone is always watching. This is perhaps the heaviest and most impressive metaphor used in the piece between the moon and

Search and Seizures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Search and Seizures - Essay Example In Mapp V Ohio,2 the court held that this constitutional duty applies against both the state and the Federal government. It does this by prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures from being conducted by federal and state law enforcement agencies. A search is an infringement of the right to privacy while seizures interfere with the possessory rights of the individuals, including right to property ownership. The Fourth Amendment permits reasonable searches and seizures. For a search to be legally carried out, it is subject to the proviso that a search warrant has to be issued by a judge. An application for search warrant has to be supported by an oath or affirmation, and to specifically state the place to be searched or the things or persons to be seized. For the judge to issue a search warrant, he must satisfy himself that there is a probable cause, that is, reasonable cause to believe that the law enforcement agencies can find evidence of commission of a crime. Nevertheless, suc h a search has to be individualized, targeting individuals and not generalized. There are exemptions for the warrant requirements as far as entry into private residences by police is concerned. To begin with, if the owner of the residence consents, such entry shall not be illegal under the fourth amendment because of absence of a warrant. However, such warrant must be given voluntarily, and be unequivocal and specific. Consequently, consent obtained by duress or coercion fails this criterion. The person who gives the consent has to be the owner of the residence. Similarly, a third party can give the consent for the law enforcement agencies to search a house or premises subject to the proviso that they own or lawfully occupy such premises. In Georgia v. Randolph,3 the court held that where the residents are two and both are present, if one of them objects to consent while the other consents, the objection by one of them shall override the consent. To add, an officer can enter a priva te house or residence without warrant, in times of emergency. The search however shall be subject to the existence of exigent circumstances and the law enforcers must have a probable cause. Such a circumstance shall exist where a law enforcement agent needs to take a compelling action but lacks the required time to acquire a warrant. In Mincey V Arizona,4 the court stated that, â€Å"we hold a reasonable, and warrantless search of the scene of a homicide, or of a serious personal injury with likelihood of death where there is reason to suspect foul play-does not violate the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution where the law enforcement officers were illegally on the premises in the first instance†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Nevertheless, for such a search to be reasonable within the Fourth Amendment it has to be limited to the purpose of only determining the circumstances of death and the scope must never exceed what is necessary to fulfill that purpose. In addition, it must commen ce within reasonable period following the time when the officials learn of the murder. Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendm

Corporate Governance and Company Performance Coursework

Corporate Governance and Company Performance - Coursework Example Whether corporate governance is good for a company is a question that needs critical considerations. This question is often answered by the situations in the marketplace in terms of the results of the companies that strictly follow corporate governance. Sometimes corporate governance can be injurious to the organization. Sometimes the company may miss opportunities because of some aspects of corporate governance leading to costly liabilities. For this reason, as good as corporate governance is, sometimes it is good to leave the directors at liberty to decide on some issues away from the stringent corporate governance requirements. When such decisions are made, the directors should be given an opportunity for explaining the rationality of their decisions and justify the outcomes of such decisions. Due care is for this reason of the essence taking into consideration the probable impact of certain decisions not consistent with corporate governance on the shareholders. Such decisions cou ld lead to resentment from the shareholders making them flee in case of undesirable outcomes of decisions inconsistent with corporate governance. However, when such decisions lead to satisfaction within the company stockholders, they would be for the betterment of the organization and value for stockholder's investments.Highlights of Corporate Governance Benefits against Company PerformanceCrook says that significant implications for the growth and development of an organization are attributable to corporate governance.

The Women in the Gospel of Luke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Women in the Gospel of Luke - Essay Example The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are actually two halves of one work written by one author, separated in the New Testament for purpose of orderliness. The first half, the Gospel of Luke deals with the story of Jesus up to the resurrection, most probably based on the eye-witness accounts of Mark. The second half, the Act of the Apostles, provides a historical account of church history up to the time of the apostle Paul's journey to Jerusalem. 2 There are many themes to be found in the gospel of Luke. Among them is what is termed "The Gospel of Women" in which Luke shows the importance of women in the story of Jesus which is peculiar to this gospel. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the attitude of Jesus attributed in the Gospel of Luke towards women and whether this was a reflection of the change in attitude towards women as a result of the teachings of Jesus. Women during the time of Jesus lived extremely restricted lives, in accordance with Jewish law and custom. They were little better than slaves, having little or no freedom and were completely subject to the authority of their men folk, first their fathers and later on their husbands. They were prohibited from talking to strangers or to go out in public unless they were double-veiled. They were not allowed to learn Hebrew scripture nor where they allowed to testify in court trials. Their husbands could divorce them at will but this option was not allowed them. 3 In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was portrayed as the savior of all men, not only Jews, as he illustrates in the parable of the Good Samaritan. He shows Jesus as openly accepting of gentiles, whom orthodox Jews considered unclean, praising even a Roman centurion for unflinching faith. Luke further shows Jesus befriending the poor, tax collectors, outcasts and sinners.4 In other words, Luke portrayed Jesus as a man who treated all equally, giving special emphasis to marginalized groups, which in Israel at the time women were particularly marginalized in their community. In more ways than one, Jesus advocated the overthrowing of numerous Jewish traditions and customs, and Luke exemplifies more than the other gospels the radical (at the time) idea that women were equal to men in the eyes of Jesus. The following section will discuss in detail the passages in the Gospel according to Luke which illustrates this attitude. Passages pertaining to women in the Gospel of Luke Hebrew laws forbid the teaching of women in worship, yet Luke (10:38-42) tells the tale of sisters Mary and Martha, whom welcomed Jesus into their house, and Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to hear his teachings. When Martha reprimanded Mary for neglecting her womanly duties, Jesus takes Mary's part and allows her to stay. 5 This is an unusual situation at that time, when Jesus not only allowed, but encouraged Mary to learn his teachings and thus become a disciple. Moreover, Mary's forthrightness in seeking to learn was not how Jewish women were taught to behave, knowing only enough of the Torah to find their place in the community. This explains Martha's distress at what Mary did, but Jesus rebuked her and praised Mary. However, Mary was not the only one to be

The Budget Deficit in Oman Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

The Budget Deficit in Oman - Research Paper Example Overall vote of thanks goes to all people and Oman citizens who have had both directly and indirectly contributed in accomplishment and delivery of this research both real field research and report preparation. Financing team and field directors are not left out due to their special contribution in data collection for actual study. Submission of heartfelt appreciation is to all and sundry. Chapter One: Introduction Aim The goal is to establish the factors that make the budget deficit in Oman and formulation of ways of reducing budget deficit in the country. The research establishes ways of reducing the impact of the factors contributing to large government expenditure which results to large government expenditure. In order to accomplish the research objective, there are various research methodologies used for data collection and analysis. Objectives 1. To establish the causes of the current budget deficit in Oman based on various economic factors such as government spending. 2. To establish the contribution of corruption in oil management to current budget deficit in Oman by questioning many managers and citizens working in the oil firms. 3. To establish long term solutions to the current budget deficit in Oman. The views of different economists about the high budget deficit in Oman are obtained alongside their opinions on ways of resolving the issue on a long term ba sis. 4. To establish ways through which the Oman government can reduce government expenditures in order to reduce occurrences of budget deficits in future. This is achieved by reviewing various government expenditures and formulating mechanisms of reducing such expenditures. 5. To establish the different income-generating avenues in Oman so as to reduce government’s over reliance on the oil market projections. This goal is geared towards establishing other ways through which the Oman government can obtain revenues in order to minimise the governments dependency on