A Multi-National and a Mid Size Local Business - Research Paper Example

 A Multi-National and a Mid Size Local Business Introduction The rapid changes occurring across economic, social and political sectors of the world have made the task of managers even more difficult as their set of responsibilities is continuously expanding. Being a business leader means much more than simply taking care of the business and its activities. Managerial success depends upon constant changes in the fundamental policies of business and implementing them to the desirable extent. The policies undergo changes according to the changing scenario in the surroundings and the availability of resources. Goals are set accordingly and then strategies formulated to achieve the goals. Management styles differ from one business to another. It is the primary task of a firm to select the approach, which is most appropriate to it. The risk of making a wrong decision always remains because there is no straight solution to this problem. Hence all the components of management should be brought in sync. The choice of management styles depend a lot of the size and spread of a firm. For instance, the style of management followed by a multinational organization with worldwide presence will have a strategy best suited to achieve its objectives. On the other hand the style of management will be very different in case of a medium sized local organization. Situations have changed a lot from those days when industrialists could take their individual decisions and adapt fast to the changes around them without having to devote much efforts and formalities in the process. Now if a company wants to diversify the resources into another field of production, the manager cannot decide alone. He cannot ignore the shareholders who already posses stocks of the company. (Management in a Changing World, July 1982, p.16) Therefore these investors or stockholders would refer to have the managers define sets of policies and structure for the proper functioning of the organization. There is one set of firms who are adventurous and manage to take the risk. Such firms manage to achieve success and material gains. On the other hand those firms who refer to adhere to the traditional or old approach and do not want to take any risk and wait for the events to occur. The managers of the nonexpanding firms are therefore risking the investments of stakeholders. Again in sociopolitical terms keeping good associations with employees is one strategy, which needs to be achieved by the managers. Categorization of business Large organizational frameworks demand a connection between the usual functions of business like investment, selling, R&D, manufacture. The structure to be chosen and the policy adopted depend on the firm size as well as the proportional investment in foreign and domestic operations. Factors like the nature of the market where the firm operates are also considered. Four basic structures include International Division, Global Area, Global Product Division and Matrix. The need for new method of governance emerged form the late twenties when there was an inclination towards diversification of the firm’s actions along with a continuous call for adjustment to the changing surroundings in every business. In this context, the international divisional structure was implemented. The key idea now was to bring about a “centralized coordination and the control of decentralized administration activity.” (Business Insight, 2010). The production segment needs some autonomy terms of operations in and the function of management and leaders is to develop strategies, carrying out research, framing of policies related to financial and investment areas. The international Division Structure incorporates strategies for conducting business abroad. The objective is to manage offices in places, which are geographically distant. The response to changes is faster in this case. It facilitates a faster and closer association between the clients and the companies. The problems are related to relationship between the employees at different levels of hierarchy. For an organizational structure to function efficiently the associations between different components of a business needs to be smooth and the efficiency of functions should improve. As a business grows and spreads wider, it is natural for the management chain to lengthen and the scope of control widens. Again when an organization grows in age, the structure and operations become less flexible while the scope of innovation decreases. The model of organizational framework needs to be altered then. Often the entire set up is changed from time to time. The strategy of management automatically would vary in case of medium sized enterprises. However the definition and categorization of businesses differ from one nation to another. For instance the European Union defines medium sized businesses as those with below 250 employees. America defines the same in terms of 500 employees or less. (Andadari, 2008, p.20) Medium sized firms are often better suited to adjust with the changes in the market owing to their slick structure. Alongside the firms tend to have a more developed flexibility, customer orientation and motivating environment. Their resources and ability to invest is also restricted. The owner of the firm is often closely connected with the business and his decision has an important role in the firms’ operations and expansion related aspects. The characteristics of such companies undergo changes from time to time depending upon the stages of development they belong to. The major disadvantage for such medium size businesses is lack in economies of scale owing to limited resources. Management styles Management styles and approaches might be distinguished from one another by their mode of functioning and the involvement and role of the managers. Going by this criterion there are mainly two extreme styles of management and one combination of the extreme styles. Autocratic style of management involves the direct and strict control of the managers and their constant intervention at all levels of decision-making. This often brings out resentment among the workers especially considering the current psychological set-up of employees. As firms began to install technologically upgraded systems the importance of manpower shifted towards soft-skills and handling of technology. Managers’ role shifted mainly to policymaking and implementation of the strategies formulated. Another extreme case is the permissive style of management where people are allowed to work as they want and take decisions for themselves. Such a management style entails a lot of risk. Without the managers’ close monitoring anything could go wrong. Participative style of management includes the employees and has thee components – directive (goal setting, control and strategies decided by manager), permissive (everything is done and decided by the employees) and democratic (manager and employees jointly set goals but employees do the rest) style of management. In this approach, normally freedom is given to teams while the managers overlook their activities and know when to pull the string and to what extent. This style is parallel to the hands-on approach while autocratic style is connected with hands-in approach, which is synonymous to micro level management. In such style of management communication is important and time-to-time meetings often help in decision-making during which both the managers and their subordinates take part. (Rashid, 183, pp. 250-251) The difference in styles can be successfully brought out with the help of two instances – a multi-national firm called Zara and a medium sized London based organization called the Strand Palace Hotel (around 200 employees) (Key Statistics about Strand Palace Hotel,n.d.). Management styles of Strand Palace Hotel (a medium size local business) Strand Palace Hotel is a medium sized business situated at the center of the West End of London. It is characterized by non-substitutable location combined with excellence in terms of décor and luxury. The hotel has an interesting history, which traces back to 1907 when permission was sought for its construction. After two years the hotel began to make business. The adjacent Haxell’s Hotel was taken over in order to expand the size. The Hotel went through extensive renovation in order to modernize it. The hotel implemented Art Deco features in the building in order to give it a modern look. Unlike Zara this is a mid size business where Strand Palace Hotel has only a single branch and that is in London. In case of autocratic style of management the manager exercises total control and supervision over the staffs and operations of the hotel. A hotel business like Stand Palace Hotel is usually a localized one and the focus is to attract the customers who either live around or come to visit any nearby location. In this context, the managers need to monitor the activities closely besides taking decisions and ensuring its implementation. In a style of management where the manager has total control on a day’s operations, resentments might build up among the employees or the subordinates. For Strand Palace Hotel where communication system is technologically sound with the help of IT implementation and computerization of the entire hotel, the management technique has gradually shifted to participative styles. Autocratic styles works well in case of the low-skilled workers. However the essence of the present management style is participative in nature. At times team directed assignments work well to cater exclusively to the customers. The hotel has a long history and with time the management approach has undergone large-scale changes. For instance, it could have been a autocratic style of management during the twenties and sixties when the hotel underwent changes in terms of its infrastructure and modern amenities. The implementation of electronic cash registers and oil-fired boilers was done in order to make operations smoother and ensure that the demand for hot water is adequately met respectively. Such improvements signify an autocratic style of management where the management had taken the final decision and implemented it. This is because such provisions often were meant to shed low-skilled manpower, which could be against the interest of the workers, and hence participative style of management where the employees are invited to participate and discuss about the decision-making is not applicable in this case. The member of the boiler house team retired after having to give up their coalscuttle. With improvement in communication and operation techniques, the management style has shifted to participative kind essentially based on team assignments. The staffs are now skilled ones with more orientation towards attending customers both online and offline. Their website provides sufficient information regarding their functions and facilities apart from an online email and chat option which helps in instant communication and online reservations by customers all over the world. In a team based approach the members have some freedom to do something outside routine and thus shine amongst others. Such a management style works best for hotels like Strand Palace, which aims at providing the best possible service to the customers, and cater to their needs. (The Strand Palace Hotel, 2010) The corporate houses find excellent conference rooms and even they can place an enquiry or find the list of events online. The management is open to feedbacks given by the customers and implement changes accordingly. The information system has undergone large-scale refinement. Hence hands-on approach of management is effectively carried out. This is in sync with the participative style of management and team based work where communication is the basis. More specifically the style at work here is the democratic approach. In hands-on approach managers do exercise their control but they know when to do it. If a staff mal performs or does something out of the routine, which had a negative impact on the customer, then the manager intervenes to bring back order. However any staff has the advantage of showing extra hospitality towards the customers and earns their trust and loyalty towards the hotel. Managing conflicts among employees or between the staff and customers in an unbiased fashion is also an important task. (The Strand Palace Hotel, 2010) Hands-on style of management is becoming popular as it promotes creativity and embeds faith amongst the workers. The sales team works independently but keeps in constant communication with the management. Partly independent but finally accountable, the management structure of Strand Palace Hotel shows administrative efficiency. Their addition of modern amenities couples with their historical excellence prove that the shift in management style has been done in a timely fashion enabled the excellence in terms of performance. The excellent strategies developed to attract customers with the help of an attractive websites and offers for rewards and discounts based on the booking schedules show the inclination towards strategic management style. Strategic management is the process where the organizations gain knowledge by analyzing their internal and external environments. The managers decide and implement strategies to work in favor of their stakeholders. Strategic management process is a crucial component of both large and smaller companies. Strand Palace introduces its Strand Palace Rewards program for the customers to acknowledge their loyalty. Benefits are given for advance booking. Travel cards facility is provided to the customers for sight seeing trips. Some seasonal discount offers are provided. Security is at work 24 hours a day with properly installed Close Circuit Television cameras in the rooms. Room rates and provisions are given online in order to bring in transparency in the process of communication with customers. The modern designs, Wi-Fi Internet access, 24 hours service to the rooms, club facilities etc all add up to their marketing design. (DialExpotel, 2010) Cancellation option within 48 hours before lodging time is allowed without any cost being imposed. If these are implemented well and functions without discontinuity then it reduces dependence and workload of the staffs because marketing itself becomes easier with the amenities to speak for themselves. In an industry with fierce competition, strategic management approach is essential and in fact the crux of business process as in case of Strand Palace Hotel. To identify the basis of their strategy the Ansoff’s Matrix might be presented as follows: Source: Botten & McManus,1999, p.79 The Ansoff’s Matrix depicts the strategies of the companies in the case of the products and the markets. The columns of the matrix depict the products – existing and new while the rows picture the markets – existing and new. The firms strategize according to the portfolio. Strand Palace Hotel is a mid size localized business and hence its strategies mainly deal with product development and market penetration. The focus is on “Stay local, eat local, buy local, see local” with the notion of encouraging the values and traditions of UK and especially that of London. (The Strand Palace Hotel, 2010) This also comes as a part of their environment management policy. This is accompanied with the campaigns for waste management and encouragement towards recyclable products. Many firms have adopted corporate social responsibility as a part of their management routine. Mid size businesses like the Strand Palace Hotel is also capable of efficiently introducing this management style in its localized structure. It is often easier for such firms to maintain a social responsibility and emphasize upon the local culture and traditions compared to the multi-nationals which need to adopt a wide range of cultures depending upon the geographical location of their offices. The focus of the business is on product and services development. Introduction of offers, services and dishes is the core of the strategy formulation. The idea is to make things as smooth and convenient as possible for the clients. The strategy is client based and the management style has therefore come a long way from the traditional autocratic style to hands-on participative style (democratic and directive) coupled with strategic management implementation. Management styles of Zara (a multi-national firm): Zara led by the parent company Grupo Inditex follows an extensive expansion strategy and over the period of the last five years the company has showed a tremendous annual growth of 26 percent. (D’Andrea, and Arnold, 2002). The expansion policy adopted by the company is exclusively design driven and the company successfully introduces about eleven thousand styles per year. (Fraiman, Singh, 2005). In the year 2005 the company became the market leader in the industry by removing Hennes & Mauritz from the top position. (Tiplady, 2006). With the advent of globalization a fast and effective marketing strategy is what counts for a company who wants to survive in the market. (Douglas, Wind, 1987). Following the concentrated marketing strategy Zara alone contribute to about seventy percent of the total sales in the Inditex group. (Mcafer, Dessain, Sioman, 2007). Strategic Direction: The most important strategic dimension that Zara showed in the past three years is its ability to adapt to the market fluctuations and its intensive lean inventory system. Previously also the company showed it competitors in the manufacturing industry that market flexibility along with intelligent inventory management system is sometimes more effective than cheap labor as far as the profitability and growth of the company is concerned. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). The company also has successfully implemented an effective supply chain management by which it has increased its speed and accuracy and reaches out to different markets of the world. In brief they have almost revolutionized the traditional way of accomplishing business. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). Using the Ansoff’s matrix produced in the earlier section, one might analyze Zara’s strategy. The first step of the above-mentioned revolution is definitely its market penetration strategy. Zara with its speed of delivery and concentrated brand management program has encouraged the current customers to buy more of its products. (“Using Ansoff matrix analyze ZARA”, 2008). The company actually focuses on market penetration after noticing certain level of weaknesses among its competitors. When compared to its close competitor Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz, Zara moves fast in its supply chain and for that reason their speed of new product introduction is also very fast. In the fashion clothing industry time is a very crucial factor and Zara utilizes it optimally. The company also follows the strategy of market development where it introduces the existing products in new markets. In its market development strategy the company at first identifies potential user groups in its current sales areas. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). Secondly, Zara also focuses on exploring new locations and new markets and this is a continuous process that they follow. This focused strategy can also be regarded as an advantage in favor of the company as sometimes, rapid expansion of market causes several level of problems due to the different social and cultural background of the different countries. (Bradley, 2005) But as Zara expands only in Europe this problem can be avoided to some extent. Also with rapid expansion the company gets exposed to the political and administrative risks, which in times affect the business. (Rugman, Hodgetts, 2003). In its market development strategy Zara mainly focuses on developed fashion markets or developed economies of the world. The company has twenty retail outlets in Belgium, forty-eight in Portugal, ninety-eight in France. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). Again, in developing economies like China and Thailand, Zara has only seven and three retail outlets respectively. The company as focuses on its store design to attract the target customers. This factor is closely linked with effective customer communication. (Lea-Greenwood, 2002) In their product development strategy Zara focuses on new product development and its time lag from concept to point of sale is very less. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). The average time taken by Zara is only around four weeks. Zara positions its product as “affordable fashion” and it clearly denotes that they do not want to label their brand as luxury products. That enables the company to target a huge number of customers at once. The target customer base of Zara is fashion conscious as well as price sensitive in nature. Diversification is also important as a strategy for Zara because the company needs to cater to the widely different tastes of people coming from different ethnic backdrops. For instance the Mexicans prefer bright colored summer dresses while Swedish people like pink and pastel shades for summer. Feedbacks of the customers are recorded on hand-held computers at the stores, which Zara refers as fashion laboratories. These records of tastes and preferences are sent to the headquarters and orders placed accordingly. Thus we can see that Zara as a company utilizes its strength of lean inventory system backed with a flexible supply chain management system to introduce new products in lesser time to the different parts of the world. The company has almost eighty percent of its stores in Europe and this cautious approach adapted by the company reveals its concentrated strategy of market exploration. The company does not want expand its network in a random manner and definitely does not want to dilute the degree of control that it has over its business operations. According to Philip Kotler the main secret of Zara’s success is the level of control that the company executes over all the aspects of the supply chain. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). However this does not mean that the control is too rigid –“Instead, its flexibility comes from the use of a highly integrated, fast and efficient form of communication between its global network of outlets and the central hub of operations in Spain, combined with possibly one of the more sophisticated just-in-time (JIT) operations in the world” (“Zara: a dedicated follower of fashion”, 2007). The style of management followed is participative in nature and this is essential to maintain the global status. Permissive style is not followed in this case as the control is centralized. The different branches are integrated through well-knit communication system. One may also infer that a hands-on approach to management is followed in case of Zara. Pursuing strategy: methods and means Starting from the designing of the products to the distribution network Zara as a company monitors each and every parameter. Another important aspect that differentiates Zara from its competitors is that the company produces forty percent of its own fabrics and almost fifty percent of their own clothes in-house, rather than relying on suppliers who tends to be slow moving. The introduction of new style of cloth and fabrics takes shape in its own design centers. These design centers are supported by real time sales data. Then the new design thus introduced is fed into the manufacturing center of the company, which is then in turn shipped directly to four hundred and fifty stores in thirty countries all over the world. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). This is the process by which the company saves times by eliminating the need of warehouses and also at the same times keeps the inventory level low. The vertical integration strategy pursued by the company enables it to maintain its pace in the industry and also at the same time makes the business operation more flexible in nature. Though the company spends almost fifteen percent more in terms of labor cost than its competitor the company compensates it by not advertising, reducing the inventory costs and also adjusting to the fashion trends more quickly than the others. (“Zara Clothing Retail Model Based on lean inventories and market flexibility could change the future of marketing”, 2001). This partial vertical integration along with its own manufacturing center has allowed Zara to pursue such differentiated strategy. The company intelligently enough couples the market data with its production decision, which enables it to be one step ahead of the competitors. (Fraiman and Singh, 2005). The central distribution channel of the company enables it ship all newly introduced products to all the stores. The company neutralizes the manufacturing cost (as the labor cost are higher in Europe) by producing in small batch and that also creates essential demand for the products. This strategy is of course backed by its rapid inventory turnover strategy as the created customer demand is met within a short span of time. (Fraiman and Singh, 2005). The store locations are uniform in nature and all the upscale stores are located on premium shopping streets. Pricing as mentioned earlier is always market based as the company tries to position itself as a more affordable product in the market. Though the company does not rely of huge advertisement spending, it has a strong worth of mouth support from its huge customer base. This kind of promotion is estimated to contribute to about three to four percent of the total sales revenue. (Fraiman and Singh, 2005). The growth pattern observed in Spain and all over Europe is organic in nature. The centralized distribution system of the company uniquely helped in other factors also. The companies with global network and presence often faces problem as the distribution strategies in the different countries and regions differ vastly and more often than not the companies fail to adapt to the change. (Keegan and Green, 2003). The vertical integrated strategy adapted by the company is completely suitable to the business model they work on. Also the ever-increasing sales figures prove that fact. The in-house production policy of creates a rapid production turnover and thus the inventories are strictly controlled. Now as the company deals with low inventory and side-by-side creates more demand among the customers this strategy of high-speed supply chain cycle along with the low price of the products increases the acceptability of their low inventory strategy. If we consider the manufacturing setting Zara’s product development teams successfully translate the latest design trends into their product. It takes a lot of market research throughout the season and company has specialized teams who are in charge of capturing the latest design trends. (Craig, Jones and Nieto, 2004). These specialized teams help the company to adapt a quick response communication strategy, which keeps the firm, always updated. Though sourcing the products abroad raises subsequent amount of risk, which are often called the Iceberg theory, but the company is well aware of the advantage it enjoys as it maintains a low level of inventory. (Jackson and Shaw, 2001). Comparison Before drawing a final conclusion we may point out the basic difference between the two companies. Strand Palace Hotel is a localized enterprise and is doing its best to suit the customers who visit London. Zara on the other hand has to be responsible for a large number of nations. Their operation system also works likewise. While Zara’s strategy comprises of market penetration, development, diversification and product development, the strategy of Strand Palace Hotel is mainly that of market penetration and product development. The market is constant because of the localization of business. On the other hand in case of Zara the markets change along with its expansion plans. Their market strategies include almost all the components of the Ansoff’s matrix. The first similarity one finds in their management styles is that both the businesses follow a participative style of management within their scope and limitations. Communication system is the core of the management framework for both. In case of the mid size business we find a shift to participative style of management according to the increase in demand and the time. Permissive type of management where the manager stays aloof from the operations and allows the workers to do what they please is not the ideal type for either firm. Directive style of management can never work for a global business or a multi-national like Zara. Both the firms (Zara and Strand Palace Hotel) follow hands-on management approach and strategic management is a core component, which helps in marketing. Zara’s vertical integration and especially the maintenance of logistic help it to deliver products in a timely fashion. No such vertical integration is necessary for the local Hotel business of London. However it is important or local businesses to abide by the local law. The Strand Palace Hotel is a non-smoking hotel keeping in line with the regulation of London, which bans public smoking and calls in illegal. Keeping in tune with local traditions, customs and laws are important for such a medium size business. The hotel business is usually likely to produce a lot of waste and hence managing this waste is important for its reputation. This is not always true for a multi-national firm like Zara, which is yet to work a lot to keep parity with the environmental and social policies of the Inditex Group. Recently Javier Chercoles, the director of Corporate Social Responsibility of Inditex group visited Bangladesh where the factory was old and working conditions extremely poor. The owner Mesbah Uddin Khan was given a final warning to either improve the conditions or to close the factory. (Bayley, January 2010) Working in the factory involved hard and long duration of work along with low pay. It is difficult for a multi-national to keep in touch with the multiple ethnicities prevalent in the different regions where the branches of Zara lie. Conclusion The study of the two companies thus emphasize upon the basic differences in management styles and other related aspects between a multi-national and a local mid size business. From the above discussion it is evident that management styles depend upon the nature of business and essentially on the size and spread. Being a global business Zara’s management strategies are relatively more complex than Strand Palace Hotel. This obviously goes with their widespread accountability. Zara caters to the different tastes of the customers while Strand Palace Hotel is more focused on highlighting the indigenous culture and tradition of London. The strategy of marketing their products and services is also different. It is important for a local mid size business to abide by the law and ethics. This leads the Strand Palace Hotel to implement the corporate social responsibility components and the no smoking rule in their hotel. 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