Supply Chain Management and its Component

This blog by the team of assignmenthelpexperts.com would explain our reader about supply chain management and its various components. In the current business scenario, supply chain requires great consideration as it can increase value of whole production process of an organization. Supply chain is basically the whole process starting from the raw material from the suppliers to manufacturing to packaging to warehouse to distribution to final reach of the product or service to its intended consumers. So there is lot of components in a supply chain of a large company.

To analyze components of supply chain, Wal-Mart is taken that is global leader in retail industry and also the largest corporation in the world (Walmart 2011). Wal-Mart is continuously developing its business by developing its services and product portfolio. The supply chain of Wal-Mart is also effective to enhance its effectiveness within the industry (Hoppenstedt & Rathkolb 2005). This paper will discuss about supply chain components and problems and approaches to solve the problem.

Components of Supply chain Management

Supply chain is a network that is used in business concern to sustain the exact flow of information in the organization (Jespersen & Larsen 2011). Following are the six key components of the Wal-Mart’s supply chain:

Production

Production is an important element of the supply chain of Wal-Mart. Strategic decisions of Wal-Mart regarding production focuses on customer needs, demand from market, capacity, quality and volume of goods (Wal-Mart 2011). There are some problems that may occur in the production of Wal-Mart such as changes in tastes & preferences of customers, new technology, and low quality of raw material. To approach this problem for supply chain component, Wal-Mart should conduct surveys and get continuous feedback from customers in timely intervals as it would be effective to continue with the production as per their changing needs and requirements (Jespersen & Larsen 2011).

Supply:

Supply is an outsourcing process as through this an organization obtains required material and inputs for production of its products & services. It is one of the major components of the supply chain of Wal-Mart (Wisner, Tan & Leong 2008). Wal-Mart focuses on the quality of product, flexibility in prices, developing velocity to determine supply of inputs that helps to maintain its low cost strategy continue (Wal-Mart 2011). The price consideration in selecting the supplier for raw material may create problem for Wal-Mart as it would affect its supply chain management. To reduce this problem, management of Wal-Mart should consider developing velocity, flexibility and quality in selecting suppliers as it would be effective to reduce cost and to maintain lower cost level (Hoppenstedt & Rathkolb 2005).

Inventory:

Inventory is also an important element of supply chain management as it is essential for management to determine appropriate level of inventory within the business to increase competitiveness. For effective management of inventory, Wal-Mart focuses on day to day stock bases through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. It is a technology that is basically used to track remaining goods within organization (Wal-Mart 2011). By this technology company can identify product availability through bar codes that are printed on them. The more traffic in network may create problem in effective utilization of this technique and may interpret wrong information that may affect the organizational effectiveness (Hugos 2006). Increase in server database, continuous improvement in technology will be effective to minimize impact of this technique over supply chain management.

Location:

Location is also an important part of business as it determines success of the business (Lambert 2008). Wal-Mart emphasizes on customer demands and determination of customer’s satisfaction in determining places for its stores. Identification of customer demand helps to determine the locations for store and production facilities close to the consumers (Wal-Mart 2011). The selection of inappropriate locations in other region without considering income level and living standard of the customers may create problem for Wal-Mart in location selection. The analysis of macro and micro environment before selecting location would be effective to increase the supply chain management of the organization (Lambert 2008).

Transportation:

Transportation is intimately related to inventory decisions and also with the customer requirements (Bolstorff & Rosenbaum 2007). Wal-Mart uses stores to offer its products to the customers and by its own trucks for delivery (Wal-Mart 2011). The use of store and its own truck for transportation may create problem as strike by the employees may affect the delivery of its goods to the customers that would affect its market share and customer base. To eliminate this problem, management of Wal-Mart could make arrangement with external transportation companies that will be used in the situation of strike (Bolstorff & Rosenbaum 2007).

Information:

Information is an important component of the supply chain of an organization as it includes collection of information from end-users and to link them with resources (Li 2007). Wal-Mart is using linked computers through the internet to execute information globally. All the stores globally are connected with each other that help to get customer feedback and information and to implement them within the business (Wal-Mart 2011). The information sharing with global stores through the internet may create problem of misuse of data and theft of data. To manage this problem, organization should use proper security and password protection for using information.

I hope that this post makes your better understand about Supply Chain Management and its Component but If you need any further help about supply chain management assignments or homework or you need assignments help with any other topic, please do send us an email to info@assignmenthelpexperts.com

References
Bolstorff, P. & Rosenbaum, R. G. (2007) Supply chain excellence: a handbook for dramatic improvement using the SCOR model. 2nd ed. USA: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Hoppenstedt, W. & Rathkolb, O. (2005) Global Management. Germany: LIT Verlag Münster.
Hugos, M. H. (2006) Essentials of supply chain management. 2nd ed. USA: John Wiley and Sons.
Jespersen, B. D. & Larsen, T. S. (2005) Supply chain management: in theory and practice. USA : Copenhagen Business School Press DK.
Lambert, D. M. (2008) Supply chain management: processes, partnerships, performance. 3rd ed. USA: Supply Chain Management Inst.
Li, L. (2007) Supply chain management: concepts, techniques and practices enhancing the value through collaboration. Singapore: World Scientific.
Walmart. (2011) [Online]. Available at: http://www.walmart.com/ [Accessed: 27 May 2011].
Wisner, J. D., Tan, KC & Leong, G. K. (2008) Principles of Supply Chain Management,(2nded.). Cengage Learning.

Herzberg’s Theory of Motivation

This blogpost by the team of assignmenthelpexperts.com would help our readers understand about Herzberg’s two factors theory of motivation. What motivates and provide job satisfaction to employees has always been an important question in the management world. There are many theories on employee motivation like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s theory of motivation, Equity theory of motivation, Alderfer’s ERG Theory etc.

Herzberg provided a two factor theory of motivation explaining what motivates employees in the workplace. According to him, there are two factors, hygiene factors and motivators that influence job satisfaction. He defined motivators’ factor as those factors by which employees of an organization are satisfied and achieve a physiological growth. There are different motivators’ factors such as recognition, responsibility, achievement, advancement and work (Duening and Ivancevich 2003). On the other hand, hygiene factors are those factors that result in dissatisfaction of employees. There are also different hygiene factors such as salary, working condition, policies and administration of companies and interpersonal relation (Duening and Ivancevich 2003).

Herzberg differentiated between physiological and psychological needs of employees and mentioned that once the physiological needs of the employees are satisfied, psychological needs like sense of achievement and growth becomes very important for them. So while designing human resource policies of the company, it is very important for the companies to consider both physiological and psychological needs.

Herzberg does not ignore the importance of good salary for employee motivation. Herzberg’s two-factor theory develops a relationship between money and motivation. It is because as salary is a hygiene factor that result in dissatisfaction of employees and for this it is necessary that salary should be effective in order to satisfy employees (Hodgetts, Luthans and Doh 2005). Along with salary, jobs should be such designed that they offer sufficient challenge to employees and give the maximum responsibility and accountability.

Herzberg’s theory have lot of implications on management of employees and forced a change in the management world how employees should be motivated in the workplace. As per this theory, a more holistic and personalised approach is required to manage employees.

If need more explanation about theory’s of motivation of employees or you need assignment services or homework help, please do send us an email to info@assignemnthelpexperts.com or call us at 001-877-839-9989

References:
Mathis, R.L. and Jackson, J.H. (2008) Human Resource Management, 12th Edition. USA: Cengage Learning.
Griffin, R.W. and Moorhead, G. (2009) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, 8th Edition. Canada: Cengage Learning.

Learning Organisations

This blogpost by assignmenthelpexperts.com would help our student learn about the basics of ‘Learning Organisation’. Learning organization can be defined as the organizations that are constantly engaged towards continuous learning to survive in this competitive environment. Learning organizations helps to create a culture that supports continuous employee development within the organization. In other words, one can say that learning organizations are the place where an employee keeps on learning making mistakes and generate new ideas through experience and experiments (Chawla & Renesch, 2006). Learning organizations further help to promote a specific workforce in the organization through effective exchange of ideas and information.

Learning in the organization is not just an individual learning instead it is learning process of whole of organization that arises through the interaction between the groups. Following are some of the characteristics of learning organizations that makes it different from other organization:

Learning culture: The learning culture is most important characteristics of a learning organization that determines the sustainability of these organizations in the market. The free flow of information and ideas is the function of these organizations (Atak & Erturgut, 2010). At the same time, these organizations also have openness and commitment of employees towards constant learning.

Process: Learning organizations also have effective internal processes to support its learning attitude. Knowledge management, competitor analysis, and performance measurement are some of the internal processes that support constant learning in the organization (Dealtry, 2008). These processes provide organization with the necessary information needed for its continuous learning.

Tools and techniques: Learning organizations also have different tools and techniques that it uses to support its learning process. In learning organization, the different tools like communication, listening, observation, challenge handling etc plays an important role determine its effectiveness to sustain in the market.

Supportive environment: The learning organizations also have supportive work environment that helps organization in constant learning. The supportive work environment will encourage the juniors to consult with the seniors consistently for constant learning (Atak & Erturgut, 2010). At the same time, the supportive work environment can provide boost to the learning process through effectively solving out the problems of the conflict between the individuals.

Skill and motivation: The learning organizations also have a feature of skills and motivation to derive learning throughout the organization. The motivational factor is an important element in the learning organization that determines the effectiveness of these organizations (Barr & Saraceno, 2009).

In addition to this, the learning attitude in these organizations also provides certain benefit to the organization. In today’s competitive world, the concept of learning organization is very popular among organizations because of following reason:

Superior performance and competitive advantage: It is important to implement the concept of learning organization because it provides organization with superior performance in compare to its competitors (London & Sessa, 2006). At the same time, it also provides competitive advantage to the organization to sustain in this competitive world.

Manage change and risk effectively: The learning attitude in the organizations also helps to manage risk and change effectively. With the changing environment and technology, there emerged a lot of change and risk in the organization. The learning attitude helps to determine these factors effectively (Chawla & Renesch, 2006).

Assist for Customer Satisfaction: Today customer wants advanced and innovated products from organizations. The learning attitude helps to provide much satisfaction to customers through innovated products and services. If you need any homework help or assignment help with regarding to learning organizations or any other subject, please do email us to info@assignmenthelpexperts.com

References

Atak, M. & Erturgut, R. (2010). An empirical analysis on the relation between learning organization and organizational commitment. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2 (2), 3472-3476.
Barr, J. & Saraceno, F. (2009). Organization, learning and cooperation. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 70 (1), 39-53.
Chawla, S. & Renesch, J. (2006). Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow's Workplace. USA: Productivity Press.
Dealtry, R. (2008). The corporate university's role in managing an epoch in learning organization innovation. UK: Intellectual Partnerships.
London, M. & Sessa, V. (2006). Continuous learning in organizations: individual, group, and organizational perspectives. USA: Routledge.

Employee Remuneration and Motivation

This blogpost by the experts of assignmenthelpexperts.com would discuss about different concepts related to employee remuneration and their motivations.

Zugner and Ullrich (2007) defined remuneration as a tool that influences people to work hard. An organization can use different methods of remunerating to an employee. For example, some organizations provide fixed level of wages and salaries to employees that are according to the skills and position of the employees. Hartill (2009) said that managers provide higher remuneration to motivate the employees to improve their performance. Heneman and Werner (2005) described that most of managers use both monetary and non-monetary incentives to reward employees. Robbins (2009) and Heneman and Werner (2005) managers generally uses different types of monetary incentives such as basic pay that is directly to their work and other financial incentives such as pensions, clothing allowance, travel allowance, baby care allowance, transport and meal allowance in order to provide remuneration to employees.

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According to Wan (2008) current business managers are moving towards flexible salary and remuneration systems from traditional view that was fixed. The main emphasis of flexible remuneration system is achievement of goals, performance based pay and also there remains less emphasis on incrementing basic pay (Estay, Lakshman, and Pesme 2011). For example, most of UK organizations provide bonuses to employees that are based on accomplishment of a particular task and level of efficiency (Wan 2008). It also motivates employees to enhance their efficiency. It has been discussed by Perry, Mesch and Paarlberg (2006) that global trends of remuneration can be divided into three parts such as benefits, cash compensation and incentives.

In current scenario, organizations also develop a board level remuneration committee with the involvement of non-executives in order to build best remuneration practices. This committee has an effective control on organizations remuneration policies that helps in maintain remuneration practices (Australian Institute of Company Directors 2004). To create an effective remuneration process, many managers use a process that includes different parts such as analysis of current wage and incentives in a particular industry for same performance level of an employee, consideration of several laws and regulations related with remuneration policy and employee expectations (Armstrong, Murlis and Hay 2007). On the basis of this process, an organization can create an effective remuneration practice in which it adopts a flexible remuneration policy in order to manage different environmental changes.
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If you are looking for human resource management assignment help, please do email us to info@assignmenthelpexperts.com or you need assignment help or homework help, please send us an email now.

Chinese Bank Opens in Karachi

China's banking giant,the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)has opened its branches in Karachi and Islamabad, Xinhua reported.

Recently ICBC has opened five new branches in major European capitals - in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Madrid and Milan. The banking giant already has branches in Moscow, London, Frankfurt and Luxembourg

Addressing the inaugural ceremony in Islamabad on Friday, Pakistan's Pres. Zardari said that the ICBC initiative to open branches in the country would begin a new era of cooperation in the banking sector of the two countries.

“The opening of ICBC branches, which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China, will take the economic relations between the two countries to new heights,” Zardari said.

The president hoped the ICBC’s investment in the country would prove to be profitable and that the bank would play a prominent role in channeling bilateral investments.

Different Leadership Theories

This blog post by the team of assignmenthelpexperts.com would help our students and readers learn about different leadership theories. Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing the behavior of others to work eagerly and passionately for achieving the predetermined goals. Some specific theories of leadership are as follows:


Great Man Theories: This theory is based on the term of military leadership, because at the time, leadership primarily thought about male quality. It is one of the first attempts to explain the leadership. This concept also refers to belief that great leaders are not made but born with unique characteristics (Schyns and Meindl 2005).

Trait Theories: It shows the characteristics and leadership quality of both successful and unsuccessful leader. It is a logical pleasant theory. Trait theory creates awareness among managers about their weaknesses and strengths. Additionally it also helps the leaders to understand quality of a good leader (Winkler 2009). This theory of leadership also explores that some an individual born with some traits but few leadership traits are developed by his efforts. It identifies the intelligence and knowledge level of a manger related to the particular task. It also shows the level of energy and confidence of leader.

Contingency Theories: This theory of leadership is basically focuses on individual variables as per the environment. It suggests leaders that which traits are adopted as per the environment or task. Additionally, in this, style leader always identifies favorable and unfavorable situations (Wart 2007). This also maintains and describes the relationship between leaders and subordinates. Contingency leadership theory explains leadership in term of individual and as well as response of group.

Situational Theories: This theory refers to those leaders, which are flexible for each situation and implements best course of action as per environmental changes. This theory is also known as life cycle leadership theory. The situational leadership theory refers to most effective leadership style the level of maturity (Bryman 2011), for example, Richard Benson, who manages his leadership behavior as per different situations.

Behavioral Theories: This theory is based on the belief that great leaders are not born and they are made. This theory is not assumed the mental quality and internal status of leaders but only focus on the actions of the leaders (Wart 2007).

Participative Theories: This theory is suggested the ideal leadership style that takes the input of subordinates and followers. Formal authority is in hands of leaders but he always takes suggestion and ideas from followers to manage situation as well. In participative theory leaders treats to subordinates as equal and encourage them to work with zeal and enthusiasm (Kusluvan 2003).

Management Theories: This theory is also called as transactional theory. It concretes on the supervision of organization and all managerial activities. Management theory is also based the system of giving punishments and rewards. When the employees are successful, the management gives rewards and vice versa. This theory also emphasizes the procedures and efficiency of organization, and as well as rules and contracts (Schyns and Meindl 2005).

Relationship Theories: This theory is also known as transformational theory. It explores the relationship between the leaders and followers. In this theory leaders focuses on performance of each group member (Bryman 2011).

Thus, different leadership theories focus on different characteristics and ideas of leaders to motivate subordinates. If you would like to know more about leadership theories or if you need assignment help, please email us to info@assignmenthelpexperts.com




References
Bryman, A. (2011) The SAGE Handbook of Leadership. Singapur: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Kusluvan, S. (2003) Managing Employee Attitudes and Behaviors in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry.USA: Nova Publishers.

Schyns, B. and Meindl, J. R. (2005) Implicit Leadership Theories: Essays and Explorations. USA: IAP.

Wart, M.V. (2007) Leadership in Public Organizations: an Introduction. USA: M.E. Sharpe.

Winkler, I. (2009) Contemporary Leadership Theories: Enhancing the Understanding of the Complexity, Subjectivity and Dynamic of Leadership. NEW YORK: Springer.

Market Positioning Strategy and How a Company Selects a Positioning

This blogpost by the experts of Assignmenthelpexperts.com would explain about what is market positioning and how a company select a particular positioning for its product.

Marketing positioning refers to a process through which marketers try to establish an image or identity in the minds of their target market in regard to their product, brand or company. It is an act of designing a firm’s product and image to attain a significant place in the minds of its target market (Cant, Strydom & Jooste, 2009). The aim of this positioning is to locate a specific brand in the minds of consumers so that potential benefits for firm can be maximized. An effective positioning helps a firm in its marketing strategy by elucidating the brand’s access, how its helps consumers in attaining specific goals and by explaining that how it will do so in a distinctive manner (Darling, 2001).

How a company selects a particular positioning for its product

Marketing positioning is a firm’s use of its own marketing strategy to establish and maintain a specific image in the minds of its target market consumers. Subsequent to the identification of a target market, marketers try to affect that how consumers see their product or brand and how that company is perceived in comparison to the existing competition (Darling, 2001). All marketers are aware with the fact that consumers formulate mental positions for specific products that are based on a single characteristic or imperfect experience.

In this regard, marketers carry out research to understand that how its consumers develop positions and what are the positions of their offerings among consumers. To develop a positioning, marketer of a product normally makes use of a three-step process. Initially, marketer selects a positioning concept that assist in finding out what is significant to consumers (Kurtz, MacKenzie & Snow, 2009). Like Domino’s Pizza company knows that for its consumer’s delivery, speed and good quality is important so its positioning concept is “A good, hot pizza delivered to your door within 30 minutes of ordering (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008).

Subsequent to the selection of a positioning statement, marketers design the dimension or attributes that can significantly express the position to the target market consumers. A product position can be expressed with the help of different product elements like its appearance, brand name, slogan and the place where it is sold and as well as in several other ways. Like Benson & Hedges position its cigarettes in regard to taste and lightness whereas While Edgars is recognized for its high quality garments (Cant, Strydom & Jooste, 2009).

All these attributes and elements need to be adjusted or changed for developing a positioning strategy in accordance to changing consumer needs and competition. In addition to above discussed elements, a marketer can also position its product in regard to several alternatives (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). One key alternative used in present is to position a product directly against the competition. For instance, Southwest Airlines has significantly positioned itself as the low-cost alternative in comparison to the major airlines (Peter & Donnelly, 2002).

Subsequent to positioning a product on specific attributes and aspects, it is essential to distinguish specific product or brand and create differential advantage that can be done on the basis of its price and quality (Hassan & Craft, 2005). Nowadays most of the hotel chains distinguish themselves from their competitors on the basis of price and quality offered. In present some dry cleaning stores promote their offerings on the basis of their use of environment friendly cleaning agents that depict that how a marketer can position its product.

If you have further query regarding market positioning or how a company can position its product or you need assignment help with your assignments, please email us to info@assignmenthelpexperts.com or call us at 001-877-839-9989

References
Cant, M.C., Strydom, J.W. & Jooste, C.J. (2009). Marketing Management (5th ed.). Juta and Company Ltd.
Darling, J.R. (2001). Successful competitive positioning: the key for entry into the European consumer market. European Business Review, 13 (4), p. 209-220.
Hassan, S.S. & Craft, S.H. (2005). Linking global market segmentation decisions with strategic positioning options. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 22 (2), p. 81-89.
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2008). Principles of Marketing (12th ed). Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Kurtz, D.L., MacKenzie, H.F. & Snow, K. (2009). Contemporary Marketing (2nd ed.). Cengage Learning.
Peter, J. P. & Donnelly, J. H. (2002). A Preface to Marketing Management (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Professional.