U.S. free trade diplomacy with Australia and Singapore

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American Politics & Foreign Policy
COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT
This assignment asks you to employ a basic method of analysis common to the study of politics: the comparative case study. The comparative case study allows an analyst to compare two or more cases using standard questions and criteria. The paper will therefore require you to present an argument sustained across two different cases.
This basic analytical approach is a common and useful tool in many professional and academic research contexts, such as business, law, NGO work, government, and across the social sciences. It can be a valuable tool in your academic and professional career.
Topic: Explain U.S. foreign policy in two “cases.”
Task: Sustain an argument (thesis statement) using two cases of U.S. foreign policy decisions or behavior. You must develop a causal explanation based on what you are learning in the unit, and your own thoughts and insights. Some suggested approaches are:
Presidents are meaningfully constrained by public opinion in foreign policy decisions due to…..?In reality, Congress has been unable to check or balance Presidential foreign policy decisions since
1965 because….?Special interests such as economic actors or ethnic influence groups can dominate U.S. foreign
policy on issues important when….
Some possible pairs of cases are: U.S. relations with Indonesia under Suharto and under Yudhoyono; U.S. use of force in the Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts; U.S. relations with Canada and Australia; U.S. free trade diplomacy with Australia and Singapore; U.S. policy towards Africa under G.W. Bush and Obama…
Description: The essay should utilise following general format (or something similar):
. i) introduction and thesis statement ?
. ii) introduction of the cases chosen and rationale for their selection/utility ?
. iii) detailed examination of the cases based around the thesis statement; ?
. iv) discussion and synthesis of the results of the analysis for both cases; ?
. v) conclusion. ?
It is advisable to choose cases (that is, specific decisions or events in U.S. foreign relations) which and have clear relevance to the concept you choose. It is not necessary to include all aspects or details of a given case in your paper. Rather, you should focus on providing a “structured, focused comparison”1 of the two cases to examine one clear-cut proposition/argument. This means asking the same question (argument), using basically the same analytical approach (same kinds of evidence), across both cases.
1 Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett. 2005. Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

You should limit your cases to a reasonable time period to make the analysis manageable. Narrow and precise cases are usually best.
Conclusion. You must state your conclusion clearly and concisely at the end of the paper, introducing no new information.
Formatting: 1.5 spacing, 11 or 12 point font. ?Word count: 2,500 words (excluding reference list). Papers outside the grace period of 10% over
or under this word count will attract a penalty of 5% per 100 words.
Writing and Referencing: Grammar, spelling, and correct citation format are all important aspects of writing a good paper and will be considered in the final grade. You may use in-text (such as Harvard) or footnote referencing style, but whichever one you choose must be used correctly and consistently.
Your essay will be assessed on its focus around a defensible thesis argument, appropriate scope, justification of cases, analytical rigour, clarity of expression, ability to keep to the word limit, evidence of research skills, evidence of reading, critical analysis, and correct citation of all sources and quotations.

It is actually due in 4 days time so if it were completed any sooner that would be greatly appreciated ! Cheers.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Comparative Case Study: U.S. free trade diplomacy with Australia and Singapore

An essential function of the American government is basically to carry out relations with over 180 other countries globally. Foreign policy determines the way the United States will conduct relations with other nations. U.S foreign policy is how the country interacts with other countries and creates standards of interaction for its corporations, organizations, as well as individual citizens. It is aimed at furthering particular goals (Pickering, 2011). In this comparative case study, standard questions and criteria are used in comparing two cases. An argument is presented with the use of 2 cases of U.S. foreign policy behaviour. In particular, the cases which are compared in this comparative case study are United States free trade diplomacy with Singapore and Australia. Thesis statement: the specifics of the United States free trade agreement with Australia is more or less the same as that of the agreement between the United States and Singapore since the United States in both Agreements seeks to further certain goals. America seeks to ensure greater access of American products into the Australian and Singaporean/Southeast Asian markets and allow American products to be more price-competitive within these markets when competing with local suppliers or suppliers from other countries.

U.S free trade diplomacy with Singapore and Australia

These cases were chosen since they are aimed at increasing trade between America and Singapore and between America and Australia. In essence, increased trade results in the creation of more jobs in America and it provides more opportunities for American companies. The United States shares a lot of strategic and fiscal interests with both Australia and Singapore. Just like with Australia, the United States has a longstanding relationship as well as essential investment and trade relationship with Singapore (Evans & Welch, 2015). The United States recognizes that competitive and open markets are important drivers of wealth creation, innovation and economic efficiency. America also recognizes the significance of liberalization of trade in services and goods at the multilateral level and understands the increasing significance of investment and trade for the economies of Australia, Singapore and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Maynes, 2010). As such, these cases were selected also because examining and analyzing them will help to shed more light on how America’s Free Trade Agreement with Australia contrasts or differs with the FTA agreement it has with Singapore. Moreover, examining these cases would provide important insight and expand knowledge on how the United States benefits from these agreements and how it advances America’s foreign policy.

Examination of the cases

S free trade diplomacy with Australia

America has implemented fourteen free trade agreements with twenty nations around the globe. Free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between Australia and the United States were finalized in the year 2004. Given that the FTA went into force in 2005 January, the FTA between Australia and America has resulted in a 104 percent rise in the United States trade surplus with Australia (Naoi & Urata, 2013). The FTA between America and Australia not only ensures greater access of Australian products into the American market, but it also improves the prospects for Australian investment and trade, as well as services. It also enhances the investment and regulatory environment between America and Australia, and fosters increased business mobility (Desker, 2010).

It is worth mentioning that America imported goods worth $9 billion from Australia and exported products worth $26 billion in the year 2013 (U.S. Department of State, 2015). Under the US-Australia FTA, the majority of Australian products get into America duty free and also free of merchandise processing fee, and almost all Australian goods would be exported to America free by the time the FTA is totally implemented by 1^st January, 2022 (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 2015).

Through the elimination of duty, the Australia-U.S Free Trade Agreement allows apparel and textile exporters from the United States to be more price-competitive within the Australian market when they compete with local suppliers as well as with suppliers from third world countries who have no duty benefits. By eliminating various non-tariff barriers, the Free Trade Agreement further opens the Australian market to goods from the United States (Aggarwal, 2013). It is notable that the Free Trade Agreement presents considerable benefits in an extensive variety of service sectors. It also serves to facilitate American investments through a stable business environment and predictable access. American companies, for the very first time in a number of sectors, would be permitted to compete for Australian government’s purchases on a fair, unbiased basis (Evans & Welch, 2015). American vendors can bid on contracts to supply to the territory, state and commonwealth government entities. The Commonwealth Government of Australia would get rid of its industry development programs, which stipulated that suppliers satisfy various prerequisites as conditions of their contracts (Aggarwal, 2013).

Under this Free Trade Agreement, duties on qualifying American apparel and textile goods that are exported to Australia have been removed or would be removed through gradual decreases over a set time period, on or before 1^st January 2015. Every qualifying travel product is duty-free and all qualifying Australian footwear are free of duty with the exception of seventeen particular fabric/rubber and protective/plastic footwear items (Naoi & Urata, 2013). The Free Trade Agreement between America and Australia is a mutual tariff elimination accord. This means that qualifying travel goods, footwear, apparel and textile products imported into America from Australia are subject to similar duty rates as those for qualifying American exports to Australia. In order to make the most of the elimination or reduction of duty, goods have to qualify as originating products under the Agreement terms. Generally, the goods should have adequate Australian or American processing or content in order to meet the criteria (Aggarwal, 2013). Rules of Origin for Apparel and Textile Goods: the products should contain only Australian or American inputs. Even so, products that contain inputs from other nations may also qualify if they satisfy certain conditions specified in the FTA rules of origin. The rules for apparel and textile goods are commonly termed as yarn forward, which demands that the production of the yarn and every other operation forward take place either in America or Australia, although the fibre might come from another country. There are also Rules of Origin of Footwear and Non-textile travel products. For qualifying products where the Free Trade Agreement tariff benefits are requested, the importing company has to make a claim of reference. The importer has to state in writing that the product being imported actually qualifies as originating (Harris & Robertson, 2011).

The FTA between Australia and America has measures for ensuring that the originating products are not subject to fraud, for instance transhipment. Claims for preferential treatment under the Agreement are considered a declaration whose honesty and truth might be audited or confirmed by American and Australian custom officials. In case a preference has been claimed and the customs officials find out that the products do not qualify, the duty benefit would be lost and fine may be imposed (Harris & Robertson, 2011).

S free trade diplomacy with Singapore

The FTA between Singapore and America was signed in May 2003 in Washington, DC. It entered into force in the year 2004. Since then, the United States trade surplus with Singapore has increased by over 800% to $12.7 billion. The export of American goods to Singapore was worth $30.6 billion whereas imports from Singapore were worth $17.8 billion in 2013 (U.S. Department of State, 2015). The FTA between Singapore and America has allowed exporters from both countries to benefit from tariff concessions. It has also helped both countries to attract investors and increase in competitiveness. It is worth mentioning that this FTA describes the obligations and duties of the Unites States and Singapore regarding a number of areas including customs procedures, services and goods, the environment, movement of people, as well as protection of intellectual property. Furthermore, it outlines the guidelines that can be used to settle disputes (Parinduri & Thangavelu, 2013).

The main aim of the United States-Singapore FTA is essentially to facilitate trade between these 2 nations through the elimination or reduction of tariffs. Exporters from either party could benefit from cost-savings in the following sectors: textiles, processed foods, information technology and electronics, chemicals and petrochemicals as well as precision instruments (Singapore Government, 2015). The Agreement also allows Singaporean suppliers to take part in many tenders of services and goods conducted by the government of the United States. Likewise, American suppliers can participate in tenders conducted by the government of Singapore. Singaporean suppliers are allowed to take part in procurement activities of nearly 100 federal entities in 37 states across America.

In the FTA, both the United States and Singapore also reached an agreement that each of them would take steps to execute Phases 1 and 2 of the APEC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment as regards the other country. In the Asian region, Singapore was the first nation to operate an MRA on telecommunication equipment certification with America (Singapore Government, 2015). It is worth mentioning that the Mutual Recognition Arrangement facilitates direct entry of telecommunication equipment into the market of either party without requiring extra testing and certification. Examples of these telecommunications equipment include Asymmetric Digital Subscriber modems, Wireless Broadband Access equipment, radio pagers and telephones (Singapore Government, 2015).

This FTA offers 100 percent coverage of Singaporean domestic exports to America and the elimination of tariffs. Under this Agreement, the United States and Singapore would each gradually remove its custom duties on the other party’s originating goods according to Annexes 2C (Singapore Schedule) and 2B (US Schedule). Originating goods refers to goods which are entirely produced or obtained within the territory of Singapore and/or the United States and have met the prerequisites stipulated in Annex 3A (Wolff, 2015). Annex 3C of the FTA provides a listing of products which are considered as re-manufactured products that are also considered to have come from America or Singapore. In addition, the two countries would not maintain or implement a merchandise processing fee for originating products. The importing individual or organization has to make claim for preferential treatment. The information with regard to the qualification of the products as originating goods should be submitted to the importer by the exporter. The exporter in Singapore must verify that the products actually came from Singapore. Both countries would not introduce a new customs duty or increase an existing customs duty on imports of originating goods, other than as allowed by the FTA, subject to Annex 2A. The Agreement has also facilitated the elimination of non-tariff obstacles hence the cost of doing business would be kept low and exports would become more competitive (Parinduri & Thangavelu, 2013).

The Singapore-United States Free Trade Agreement has been helpful in increasing exports from the United States, improving the competitiveness of America globally, securing presence of the United States in the Southeast Asia region, and providing a standard of free trade which serves to encourage a high degree of liberalization. In Singapore, conducting a business has become more transparent, cheaper, faster and much easier. The Agreement has provided American exporters and companies with more access to Southeast Asia, one of the largest markets globally, where there are lots of opportunities (Wolff, 2015). Other than binding all Singapore tariffs for American products at zero, the U.S-Singapore Agreement has increased export opportunities for some manufacturing sectors in America, such as the ones that make medical equipment and instruments, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, photo equipment, microelectronics and certain textiles. In addition, with few exemptions, Singapore has accorded considerable access to its investment and services market. Singapore has also increased opportunities for government procurement as well as protection of intellectual property. What’s more, the Free Trade Agreement provides for revolutionary collaboration in fostering labour rights and the environment (Parinduri & Thangavelu, 2013). Singapore was America’s tenth biggest export market in 2010 at more than $28 billion. This represents an increase of 31 percent over the previous year 2009. The main exports from America to Singapore are in the following sectors: medical devices, oil and mineral fuel, machinery, spacecraft and airplane, and electrical machinery (Aggarwal, 2013).

Discussion and synthesis of results

The results show that in both the Free Trade Agreements between America and Australia and between America and Singapore, the United States seeks to further certain goals. For instance, the Agreement between the United States and the two countries would remove or gradually reduce tariff barriers on originating goods, and eliminate a merchandise processing fee for originating products. The Australia-U.S Free Trade Agreement furthers the U.S foreign policy goal of allowing American apparel and textile exporters – that is, textiles made in America – to be more price-competitive within the Australian market when they compete with the local Australian suppliers in addition to suppliers from other countries such as Thailand, India, China, or Malaysia who have no duty benefits. Besides eliminating tariff barriers particularly duties, the Free Trade Agreement between America and Australia also removes non-tariff barriers which helps to further open the Australian market to Made-in-the-United States products (U.S. Department of State, 2015). Furthermore, through this Agreement, America seeks to attain the goal of creating more employment opportunities in the United States and benefit American exporters especially companies in America which produce goods that qualify as originating goods.

Similarly, the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Singapore is aimed at achieving the foreign policy goal of facilitating trade between America and Singapore. In addition, the United States uses this Singapore-U.S FTA to accomplish the foreign policy goal of increasing exports of good that originate from the United States. Furthermore, the United States achieves the foreign policy goal of improving the competitiveness of America internationally, securing America’s presence in Southeast Asia, and providing a standard of free trade which in fact promotes a high degree of liberalization. Equally important, the Agreement helps to achieve America’s foreign policy objective of providing exporters and companies based in the United States with more access to the market of Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asian region, which is regarded as one of the largest markets worldwide with plenty of business opportunities. Moreover, the Agreement between the United States and Australia and the one between the United States and Singapore advance the foreign policy goal of enabling American suppliers to participate in tenders conducted by the governments of Australia and Singapore.

Conclusion

To sum up, in the FTA between America and Australia and between America and Singapore, the United States seeks to achieve the foreign policy goal of facilitating trade between America and Australia and between America and the Southeast Asian nation of Singapore by removing or decreasing tariffs, and removing non-tariff barriers. American exporters can benefit from cost-savings when they export various originating goods to Australia and Singapore. American companies that produce the following types of products can particularly benefit: chemicals, precision instruments, information technology and electronics, medical equipment and instruments, pharmaceuticals, photo equipment, microelectronics and certain textiles. Through these Agreements, America is able to realize the foreign policy goal of improving the competitiveness of America worldwide. In addition, the United States, through these Agreements, seeks to accomplish the objective of creating more jobs in America and benefit American exporters that export originating goods to Singapore and Australia.

References

Aggarwal, V. K. (2013). U.S. Free Trade Agreements and Linkages. International Negotiation, 18(1), 89-110. doi:10.1163/15718069-12341246

Desker, B. (2010). In defence of FTAs: from purity to pragmatism in East Asia. Pacific Review, 17(1), 3-26.

Evans, K. J., & Welch, J. M. (2015). Official Eyes on History: Digital Access to Foreign Relations of the United States. History Teacher, 48(3), 505-515.

Harris, R. G., & Robertson, P. E. (2011). Dynamic Gains and Market Access Insurance: Another Look at the Australia–US Free Trade Agreement. Australian Economic Review, 42(4), 435-452. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8462.2009.00557.x

Maynes, C. W. (2010). Bottom-up foreign policy. Foreign Policy, (104), 35.

Naoi, M., & Urata, S. (2013). Free Trade Agreements and Domestic Politics: The Case of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Asian Economic Policy Review, 8(2), 326-349. doi:10.1111/aepr.12035

Parinduri, R. A., & Thangavelu, S. M. (2013). Trade liberalization, free trade agreements, and the value of firms: Stock market evidence from Singapore. Journal Of International Trade & Economic Development, 22(6), 924-941. doi:10.1080/09638199.2011.616934

Pickering, T. R. (2011). Foreign Affairs Challenges, Priorities, and Policies. American Foreign Policy Interests, 30(5), 266-274. doi:10.1080/10803920802435252

Singapore Government. (2015). Overview of United States (US-SFTA). Retrieved from http://www.fta.gov.sg/fta_ussfta.asp?hl=13

U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (2015). Australia Free Trade Agreement (AUFTA). Retrieved from http://www.cbp.gov/trade/free-trade-agreements/australia

U.S. Department of State. (2015). Benefits of U.S. Free Trade Agreements. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/e/eb/tpp/bta/fta/c26474.htm

Wolff, A. (2015). Why free trade agreements don’t really deliver free trade. Fortune.Com, N.PAG.

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European and American airlines fear Middle East

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Why European and American airlines try to operationalize their governments to protect their markets against Middle East carriers

Over the last fifteen years, the big three carriers from the Middle East comprising Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates have expanded to become 3 of the most highly regarded global carriers in the world. Over the recent past, carriers in Europe and the United States have raised complains that the Middle Eastern airlines get unfair subsidies from their respective governments (Noakes, 2015). This paper seeks to evaluate the reasons why airlines in the United States and Europe are trying to operationalize their governments to protect their markets against carriers from the Middle East.

Through various agreements between the American government and governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the Middle Eastern trio commonly referred to as ME3 have increased their presence considerably within the American market. Even so, Delta, United and American Air Lines which are the 3 largest carriers in America and commonly referred to as the US3 assert that the Middle Eastern trio’s lavish spending and explosive expansion are due to billions of dollars on unfair subsidies from their governments. At the moment, Delta, United and American Airlines want the federal government to cancel those agreements which allow the Middle Eastern trio to encroach on their territory (Unnikrishnan & Flottau, 2015). In the year 2014, Etihad Airways expanded to nearly 15 million travellers, with Emirates carrying 3 times more travellers and US3 carried 34 times more travellers (Ball, 2015).

While labour unions and carriers based in the United States initiate a campaign in opposition to alleged subsidies for the Middle Eastern trio, the debate is already in progress in the European Union. The major players in the transport policy are seeking a new agreement with Middle Eastern countries aimed at regulating government subsidies, but Qatar and the United Arab Emirates along with their airlines are strongly against this effort (Dunbar, 2015). For many years, airlines based in Europe have lobbied against the ME3. These Gulf carriers affect a considerable part of the European airlines networks. As Etihad’s investment into Italy’s flag carrier Alitalia demonstrate, European airlines face the Gulf carriers not just on long-range services, but also inside Europe. As such, the ME3 are facing more pressure and scrutiny.

The European Commission (EC) seeks an authorization from EU countries to negotiate with the Middle Eastern countries regarding the issue of unequal competition. This process was instigated by Lufthansa Group and Air France KLM in 2014 in a letter in which, along with their subsidiaries, they demanded that competition with the Middle Eastern trio has to be more equitable and fair. The transport ministers of Germany and France made a joint proposition that until fair competition is ensured, ME3 airlines must not be given more traffic rights into the EU (Flottau & Unnikrishnan, 2015). The two transport ministers also stated that European airlines, in spite of significant adaptations which they have made, have continued to lose their share of the market to the Middle Eastern carriers on numerous destinations including Eastern Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent (Flottau & Unnikrishnan, 2015). They noted that there is an urgent need to act and pointed out that the current situation decreases the attractiveness of EU hubs, harms the European airlines very much, and significantly threatens EU’s connectivity with the rest of the world.

The German and French transport ministers suggested that a response may be a wide-ranging air transport agreement with the Qatar and the United Arab Emirates if some specific conditions are satisfied fully. The conditions to be met are as follows: a guarantee of fiscal transparency, competition that is fair, exhaustive and full provisions on subsidies, unfair competition and practices, over and above giving the European Commission and EU countries proper means of action besides the standard dispute-settlement methods in case of nonconformity to or disobedience of these stipulations (Walker, 2015). They added that the opening of EU Markets would be slow and restricted. In an exhaustive air service agreement, only 3^rd and 4^th freedom rights should be covered and additional traffic rights to the Middle Eastern trio would be associated with a positive progression or development of the competitive environment. The 3^rd and 4^th freedom of the air dictum cover the rights of to move traffic from and to the home nation of the carrier. However, the business model of the Middle Eastern trio is developed largely on connecting traffic and beyond – 6^th freedom – and therefore the condition is very likely to be unacceptable to the Gulf countries and their carriers (Flottau, 2015). A proposition such as this one has been suggested by Richard Anderson, who is the Chief Executive at Delta Air Lines. He stated that new agreements between the Gulf countries and the United States have to prevent the Middle Eastern trio from offering flights which do not end in the United States or their home countries (Flottau & Unnikrishnan, 2015). This suggestion is equal to a prohibition on connections, which is in fact the exact business model under which airlines in Europe and the United States are operating.

Unbalanced and unfair competition with airlines from the Middle East

An important reason that makes US-based and EU airlines to operationalize their governments to protect their markets against carriers from the Middle East is the unfair competition from heavily-subsidised ME3 carriers. The United States, European and international carriers operate internationally under various Open Skies treaties which are aimed at lessening protectionism and freeing up competition. The intention is essentially to expand global cargo and passenger air travels through the elimination of government interference in commercial airline decisions with regard to pricing, capacity and routes (Aguinaldo, 2015). For nearly fifteen years, the Gulf airlines have been party to Open Skies treaties and the ME3 have aggressively expanded into the American market over the last 10 years, all set to compete with award-winning service and large fleets of new airplanes. With their international business threatened, airlines based in the United States argue that competition with the Gulf airlines has now turned out to be inherently unbalanced and unequal.

The US3 want their government to freeze the growth of the Middle Eastern trio into the American market and to negotiate once more the Open Skies treaties with United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The Partnership for Fair and Open Skies, the lobby group which represents the US3, stated that the Middle Eastern trio have been given an estimated $42 billion over the last 10 years in subsidies from the Qatar and United Arab Emirates governments (Open Skies Partnership, 2015). The Middle Eastern trio are wholly dependent on taking traffic from other carriers through subsidizing for instance subsidized marketing, product levels or pricing (Open Skies Partnership, 2015). In essence, airlines in the United States are not concerned about Middle Eastern airlines flying domestic routes around America. Actually, the ME3 are only configured for long-haul international flying. What the US3 are looking to protect are their important international air travels out of and into the United States. Therefore, the US3 are seeking a new agreement. It is worth mentioning that any re-negotiation of Open Skies treaties may have sweeping business as well as diplomatic ramifications (Francis, 2015).

As said by the Partnership for Fair and Open Skies, ME3 airlines have been given $12 billion in shareholder advances and interest-free loans, in addition to $8.79 billion in loans from their governments in the past few years. Additionally, they have been given slightly over $11 billion grants and inequity infusions, plus an extra $9.5 billion in wage savings from labour costs that are below the market as well as other subsidies (Open Skies Partnership, 2015). Every time that a carrier based in the United States loses an international route to ME3, there would be a loss of 800 jobs in America (Dunbar, 2015). European and U.S-based carriers assert that subsidies for instance cheaper access to airports, interest-free loans from their governments, and cheaper access to services like ground handling and fuel make it not possible to compete for profitable international travellers. The Chief Executive Officer of American Airlines stated that there is adequate evidence which suggests that the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are going against the aviation trade treaties between the United States and these two Middle Eastern nations by giving huge subsidies to Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad: these subsidies are in amounts so high that are in fact record in the history of global trade (Dunn et al., 2015). Airlines in Europe are also disturbed. Transport ministers of Germany and France arranged for the European Union (EU) executive commission to espouse a strategy aimed at ending subsidies to the Middle Eastern trio. The initiative was backed by officials in Austria, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands.

There are quite a few things which make which the Middle Eastern airlines particularly unique. Firstly, of all the government-owned carriers in the world, Qatar, Etihad and Emirates are expanding in a disproportionate manner in comparison to their respective growth in Gross Domestic Product and populations. Not so many years from today, these three airlines would have more widebody jets than all carriers in the United States put together, in spite of the fact that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have a population which is less than four percent of the United States (Baker, 2015). Secondly, these three carriers are not playing fair and their behaviour is actually destructive to other airlines. In essence, the long-term business model of the Middle Eastern trio is to run rival carriers out of markets as much as possible, and to do so at whichever cost, even if it means losing billions of money in the process (Flottau & Unnikrishnan, 2015).

U.S and European carriers seek to protect the profitable transatlantic routes

Another major reason as to why airlines in the United States and Europe are trying to operationalize their governments to protect their markets against carriers from the Middle East is that they are seeking to protect the highly lucrative transatlantic routes from new competitors. The US3 want restrictions on the destinations and routes which foreign airlines may fly into America. Over the past few years, carriers from the Gulf region have expanded into cities across America with direct air travels from their respective nations of origin. This growth has largely been met with slight resistance. In 2013, nonetheless, Emirates Airlines started to operate air travels between Milan, Italy and New York City: air travels that come from outside the domestic market of the airline. This a major source of the conflict (Bart, 2015).

Any air travels from the Gulf region with a stop in Europe allow the airline to sell flight tickets on the portion of the trip between America and Europe. In essence, this is a game-changing development given that transatlantic flights are highly lucrative and competitive and increased competition on the transatlantic routes would certainly be troublesome and worrying. The entrance of the Middle Eastern trio – which are very deep-pocketed and accomplished carriers – could actually be catastrophic and disastrous not just for U.S-based airlines, but also for their European alliance partners (Dunbar, 2015). Most of the transatlantic air travels are controlled by U.S-based airlines along with their Skyteam, Star Alliance, and Oneworld partner carriers based in Europe. Increased competition from the Gulf carriers on the transatlantic routes would surely lead to a decline in profits for US3 and the European airlines flying these routes such as Lufthansa, British Airways, and Air France.

Unlike U.S and European carriers, Middle Eastern trio not motivated by profits

The other reason is that airlines in the United States and Europe are trying to operationalize their governments to protect their markets against carriers from the Middle East because the big carriers from the Middle East are actually not financially motivated. They seek to increase their market share but not to make a profit. Etihad Airways, Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways are not really motivated by profits and to increase shareholder value like other airlines. Every aspect of the operations of these three Persian Gulf carriers is run so as to create a loss and increase share of the market in order to develop the country and not the carrier (Francis, 2015). There is one particular thing which makes the ME3 unfair: it is not that these airlines have lower costs of staffing owing to where they are situated. It is also not because they have lower costs due to their location. Rather, these three airlines employ dirty tricks and have unfair advantage since they have almost unlimited access to interest-free capital and all aspects of their supply chain and operations are interlinked. The conspiracy between these airlines and their governments does not allow for transparency, which has the intention or result of giving these 3 carriers an unfair advantage in the marketplace (Baker, 2015). For instance, the President of Emirates Airlines, Sheikh Al Maktoum, is also the Chairman of Dubai Airports, he is Dubai Civil Aviation Authority’s President, over and above being dnata President. This is something that really presents a conflict of interest, particularly considering that the business organization is not motivated by money.

Furthermore, the landing fees at Dubai Airports are actually lower than the costs incurred in providing them. In other words, Dubai Airports lose money with each aircraft that lands there (Dunn et al., 2015). This is something a typical airport in Europe or America cannot justify. In Dubai however, Dubai Airports understands that Emirates Airlines benefits the most when landing fees are subsidized. Moreover, when a single person is in charge of the airport, the carrier, as well as the civil aviation authority, he can do virtually anything. Furthermore, when a passenger flies via an airport facility, there is usually a passenger facility surcharge. In essence, some constituent of the plane ticket cost will go to the airport facility for having utilized their terminal. Almost every airport in the world charges this passenger facility surcharge to both travellers who connect at or originate from an airport. Even though this fee could be different depending on whether the traveller is connecting or originating, each traveller is charged at least some amount. Nonetheless, at the Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi airport facilities, this does not happen. Facility fee is charged only to travellers who terminate at or originate from these cities (Noakes, 2015). The reason for this is that most travellers who travel on Qatar, Etihad and Emirates airline carriers are connecting, whereas most of the travellers on other carriers who fly to the airports in these cities are terminating at or originating from there. For instance, between Boston and Tokyo via Dubai, a passenger does not pay any kind of Dubai passenger service fees. However, if a passenger is terminating in or originating from Dubai, then he or she will be required to pay about $20.40 in passenger service fees.

Although ME3 do not care about profit making, they are essentially having foreign airlines subsidize operations at their hubs. There is also the fact that Emirates Airlines faced a $2.4 billion fuel hedge loss which the government of the UAE took care of. The fact is that under this system, other carriers just cannot compete with the Middle Eastern trio. This is not particularly about the fact that Qatar, Emirates and Etihad are fully owned by their governments. This is also not about routes, aircrafts, or service. It is about the fact that these 3 carriers are not financially motivated at all: making a profit does not motivate them (Ball, 2015). For this reason, European and US-based airlines cannot just compete with these ME3 carriers which are losing billions of dollars annually. European and US-based airlines cannot compete with the service without regard for their shareholders.

As per the Financial Times, the accusations against Emirates airlines comprise $1.9 billion of savings from the carrier’s non-unionized employees, $2.3 billion of savings from very low airport fees, and a $2.4 billion of fuel hedging loss. The boss of Emirates denies the accusations stating that cheap ground-handling and labour costs are not government subsidy but rather, they are a reflection of the Dubai government’s commercial savviness (Aguinaldo, 2015). Etihad is accused to have been given capital injections amounting to $6.3 billion, interest-free loans of $4.6 billion without obligation of repayment, in addition to extra committed subsidies of $4.2 billion from the government of Abu Dhabi. It is claimed that Qatar Airways was given interest-free loans by the government of Qatar amounting to $7.7 billion in addition to reduced debt-interest charges amounting to $6.8 billion because of sovereign guarantees (Bart, 2015). As a result, the Middle Eastern trio enjoy obvious fiscal advantages over their European and American rivals, which provides them with a safety net that allows them to operate unprofitable services for the purpose of gaining market share.

Long-range jets would bring much more capacity than needed by the demand

There is also the assertion by European Union and American carriers that very big jets for instance the long-range Airbus A380s would bring a lot more capacity into the United States and the European Union than is in fact warranted by destination and origin demand. The U.S.-based carriers claim that the Middle Eastern trio are adding capacity to the United States which outstrips the demand by far, since there is very little destination and origin traffic between the United States and United Arab Emirates and Qatar (Flottau, 2015). This denotes that the Middle Eastern trio are siphoning traffic from EU and US airlines to Asia and beyond at a scale with which the American and European carriers are not able to compete because of unfair subsidies from Qatar and UAE governments.

In the United States, James Hogan and Tim Clark, who are the CEO and President of Etihad and Emirates respectively, strongly defended their points of view in various meetings where US-based carriers and their unions pushed to reduce the access of ME3 to the United States. These 3 Gulf airlines are calling for the government of the United States to start consultations with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar governments. Until a resolution is reached, airlines based in the United States assert that no new ME3 airline capacity to America should be permitted. Even so, critics argue that this condition abrogates the open-skies agreement (Noakes, 2015). On the whole, airlines in Europe and America cannot effectively compete with carriers which benefit from significant subsidies from their governments. Nonetheless, the boss of Emirates Airlines stated that the airline only ever got $10 million from the UAE government as seed capital in the year 1985 and that its explosive growth on the international arena is as a result of a combination of the Gulf region’s geographical good luck at the midpoint of West and East as well as the pro-aviation policies of the government of Dubai (Dunn et al., 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, airlines in the United States and Europe are operationalizing their governments to protect their markets against Persian Gulf carriers due to unfair competition from these carriers which are very much subsidized by their respective governments. The Middle Eastern trio have been given over $41 billion in the last 10 years in subsidies which gives them unfair advantage over US and EU carriers. Moreover, the Middle Eastern carriers are actually not motivated by making profits. They are operated so as to create a loss and increase share of the market in order to develop the country and not the carrier.

References

Aguinaldo, J. (2015). Disputing the Open Skies. MEED: Middle East Economic Digest, 59(36/37), 32-33.

Baker, M. B. (2015). U.S., Persian Gulf Carriers In Open Skies Spat Over Funding Allegations. Business Travel News, 32(5), 12.

Ball, L. (2015). Outlook stormy as U.S. open skies debate rages. Air Cargo World, 105(3), 20-21.

Bart, J. (2015). Emirates CEO goes on offensive. USA Today.

Carey, S. (2015, February 24). U.S. Airlines Clash Over Rivals From Persian Gulf. Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition. pp. B1-B5.

Dunbar, M. (2015). Big 3 carriers aim to rollback US Open Skies. (Cover story). Canadian Travel Press, 47(26), 1-14.

Dunn, G., Yeo, G., Russell, E., & Pilling, M. (2015). US big three accusations spark open-skies debate. Airline Business, 31(2), 14.

Flottau, J. (2014). Defining Fairness. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 176(41), 35.

Flottau, J., & Unnikrishnan, M. (2015). France, Germany Protest Gulf Carrier Encroachment. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 177(11), 1.

Francis, R. (2015). North Texas officials, airlines seeking new talks. Fort Worth Business Press, 27(22), 7.

Noakes, G. (2015). Sky strategies. Buying Business Travel, (75), 56-59.

Open Skies Partnership. (2015). U.S. airlines, unions reveal evidence of $42 billion in subsidies and benefits by Qatar and the UAE to their state-owned carriers. PR Newswire US.

Unnikrishnan, M., & Flottau, J. (2015). Lobbying Against Gulf Carriers May Be To No Effect. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 177(17), 1.

Walker, K. (2015). A Dangerous Debate. Air Transport World, 52(4), 5.

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Campaign objectives and consumer insight

Campaign objectives and consumer insight of Lorna Jane yoga pants

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Since i did finish other parts of the project so far, so only thing the writer need to do is consumer insight and campaign objective.
I will send all the information in the files and just follow my concept and idea that i provided. Also, the requirement for those 2 parts. All of them including in my files.

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Campaign objectives and consumer insight of Lorna Jane yoga pants

Campaign objectives

There are several objectives for the advertisement campaigns for the Lorna Jane wear yoga pants line. These targets include developing awareness about the Eunoia line of yoga pants among the people of Sydney as an independent line of clothing. The campaign is also aimed at reaching 30 percent of the target population, which is Sydney within three months of advertisement. The attainment of the objective should be timely and precise.

The campaigns should also increase improve the attitudes f the people of Sydney about the brand, from zero percent to 20 percent. This objective should be attained by use of the natural background and the desirable models to be featured in the campaign ads. The slogan should also be made clear in all advertisements it would be significant in popularising the brand and improving the attitude of viewers of the campaign ads.

The advertisements should also show the fashion sense of the yoga pants to the potential clients as a way of increasing the attitudes of people. The slogan of the line, which is fashionably well minded, peace & beauty, eco-sexy, the beauty of the mind, natural fashion, naturally wild should be able to help achieve this aim. Campaign ads should be able to connect all the aspects captured in the slogan statement. This would blend the fashion sense of the yoga pants, natural beauty of the customers, and the outgoing nature of the young adults of between 18 and 25 years of age.

The campaigns should also enlighten the customers about the various colours and types of yoga pants under the new brand name. All the different colours of the yoga pants that signify the various parts of the slogan would be featured in the ads, while worn by a beautiful model. The ads should create a sense of choice among the viewers (Park, H, Jeon, J, & Sullivan, P 2015)..

The campaigns should highlight the strengths of the new line of yoga pants. Views of the campaigns should be able to identify the uniqueness of the material that the new yoga pants will be made of. Viewers of the ads should be able to tell the advantages of the Eunoia brand over the other brands.

Consumer insight

The target clientele are women who are interested in maintaining their body fitness body fitness. This means that the clients would majorly be female youths between the age of 18 and 25 years old who are either fit and would like to remain that way or are unfit and would like to become fit and sexy. The brand would majorly be sold in Sydney where there is a hug population of youths. The youths in Sydney are also influenced by the pop culture which influences ladies to have a youthful look.

It is a positive thing that fitness is what drives motivation to perform yoga and therefore buy yoga pants. This is because with the popularity of pop culture in Sydney, more and more women are conscious of their looks and therefore generate a long term market for products to do with yoga. The brands have a variety of categories in terms of colors and sizes to ensure that all the potential clients can get a pair of yoga pants (Carroll, A 2009).

85 percent of participants of yoga in Sydney are women. It is more likely that investments in yoga outfit for women would be less risky than the investment in outfits for men. In the total number of people who participate in yoga in Australia, 56.6 percent attended practice one or two times every week. 24.1 percent attended practice more than three times per week while the rest were not consistent. From these statistics, it is clear that the consumers need a more durable material for the yoga pants. A line of yoga pants that would be of high quality may be need by consumers. Yoga sessions also take a considerable amount of time each day of practice.

In a typical day in Sydney, about 46 percent have to work for longer hours and therefore prefer to engage in yoga in their free time because of the lack of enough time to engage in other physical activity and the calming nature of yoga.

The target market for the Lorna Jane line of yoga wear is mostly the youths. This class of people is fashionable and needs a sense of freedom. Therefore, Eunoia line of yoga pants is expected be favorable and marketable to the target group due to the lines ability to capture al the aspects of youth fashion (Park, H, Jeon, J, & Sullivan, P 2015).

The consumers should buy the yoga pants from authorized dealers of the Lorna Jane brand and other countrywide stores and malls. The yoga pants will also be available in online stores for the busy people of Sydney to purchase from their offices and homes.

The media to be used to communicate with the potential clients would majorly be social media such as facebook. This is because of the popularity of the social network. Other media for advertisement would include television and magazines. Most of the people who attend yoga also have smartphones and other internet enabled gadgets such as PCs and tablets. It is therefore easier and cheaper for the line to be advertised through social media (LaPointe, P 2012).

The campaign ads should reach at least 30 percent of the population of Sydney city to achieve the objectives of the advertisement. This may be achieved by advertisements being done at least two times between seven and nine o’clock in the night. Facebook ads should be updated as frequent a hourly due to the high number of times youths log in to facebook (Smith, S 2013).

The key challenges of communicating with the target audience may be the high expense of TV ads in terms of costs per ad. Therefore, to reduce on the cost of TV ads, the ads would be short and precise.

Bibliography

‘Effect of an office worksite-based yoga program on heart rate variability: A randomized controlled trial’ 2011, BMC Public Health, 11, 1, pp. 578-582, Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 October 2015.

LaPointe, P 2012, ‘Measuring Facebook’s Impact on Marketing’, Journal Of Advertising Research, 52, 3, pp. 286-287, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 October 2015.

Smith, S 2013, ‘Conceptualising and evaluating experiences with brands on Facebook’, International Journal Of Market Research, 55, 3, pp. 357-374, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 October 2015.

Park, H, Jeon, J, & Sullivan, P 2015, ‘How does visual merchandising in fashion retail stores affect consumers’ brand attitude and purchase intention?’, International Review Of Retail, Distribution & Consumer Research, 25, 1, pp. 87-104, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 October 2015.

Carroll, A 2009, ‘Brand communications in fashion categories using celebrity endorsement’, Journal Of Brand Management, 17, 2, pp. 146-158, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 October 2015.

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Management Assignment Paper Available

Management

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The companies as mentioned above have a business relationship thus guarded by a contract. For the relationship to continue well, trust between the two entities must be guarded. According to the case study given, Symbol is the client and thus paying for the services rendered to it (Meredith, 2012). On the other hand, CONNECTCo is the one providing services. It should, therefore, give services that meet or are above the needs of its clients. In this case, it is shortchanging its largest client by charging for non-existent services. As its biggest source of revenue, the managers and staff at CONNECTCo should ensure proper procedures are followed for the client to be satisfied (Daft, 2014). The Internal Account Executives should be in line with the agreement, and the empty territories should be as written down. Steve Puhl, Vice President of Direct Sales at Symbol and Charlie Gallagher, Vice President of Canadian Operations should have a similar understanding of the contract they signed and any amendments made especially the most recent (Meredith, 2012). It will enhance proper understanding, and any hitch will be solved easily.

The management of CONNECTCo lacked moral responsibility due to their flawed accounting procedures and the fact that they were not adherent to the contract or its amendments. It is very evident from the first step Davis takes by approaching Gallagher to get to the bottom of some discrepancies (Meredith, 2012). Davis wanted to know to calculate the amount to be credited for the available open seats. It was due to some staff resources his company was to be supplied but had not and yet the client was paying for. Without any hesitation or any analysis, Gallagher just told Davis to use the lowest cost yet they had not received any hint to do so. It is despite the fact that Charlie had met the Symbol contact during a golf session. Even the usage of only nine words amazed Davis due to the seriousness of the issue he had posed (Daft, 2015).

A similar reaction met Davis when he approached McDonald the Vice President and Relationship Manager and who was in charge of the Symbol account. It showed that his greatest concern was the money to be charged notwithstanding any service rendered.

According to the contract signed on 1st September 2002, there were 275 IAEs but in the actual sense, 6 were empty territories thus not active yet CONNECTCo continued to charge the services (Meredith, 2012). Section 5.2 was amended on 1st October 2003 and stated that only 225 IAEs were agreed upon. However, on 15th December 2003, there was another amendment returning the IAEs to 275 (Daft, 2014). Then, there were three more open territories thus becoming 9.

In a meeting with McDonald and Charlie, they both told Davis to run to run the days including training days. It was to see the reduction of the money they had overcharged instead of thinking of refunding. A company with a profit of above 35% and could not refund less than 1% only served to reflect the greedy and corrupt nature of the management (Daft,2014).

Davis, as an honest staff, should not ignore this flawed process and should report to the top management. It is, however, risky since Charlie is the Vice President, and he may want to protect him by telling Charlie of the flaws. Still, in the management ladder, only Charlie reports directly to the CEO and his reporting may be seen badly (Meredith, 2012). If so, this may result to his sacking. It is a risk considering the plight of his girlfriend’s concerns. However, he can cushion himself this risk through informing everybody involved of the financial risk involved. Also bearing in mind that Symbol is their largest client. Still, no member of the management would like to see CONNECTCo a bad image suffers like Enron and Adelphia (Meredith, 2012).

References

Daft, R. L. (2014). Management. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Meredith Belbin, R. (2011). Management teams: Why they succeed or fail. Human Resource Management International Digest, 19(3).

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Marissa Mayer’s Challenge: Yahoo! Inc.

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The case you will analyze is, “Case 30: Yahoo! Inc.: Marissa Mayer’s Challenge.” In preparation for your case analysis, read “Guide to Strategic Management Case Analysis” in the text, which provides valuable advice on how to analyze a business case.

Your paper needs to include at least two charts, graphs, or visual aids to support your points.

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Marissa Mayer’s Challenge

Introduction

Plagued with adverse management challenges, failed business strategies and evident loss of industry dominance, Yahoo! Inc appointed Marissa Mayer to head the organization, in the hope that she would re-invent it to its former glory. Having worked as an executive at Yahoo greatest competitor Google, Mayer is expected to bring in her expertise to address the challenges at the organization. Mayer faced a significant number of challenges including the need to change Yahoo’s culture towards greater innovation, less bureaucracy and higher employee productivity; low financial performance in comparison with other players in the market; and the management of funds obtained from Yahoo’s sale of its share at Alibaba. Mayer was expected to steer the company towards a stable direction, having experienced a major leadership crisis leading to constant change of CEOs, especially within the last five years. This case study will address some of the challenges and problems that Mayer faces, with an objective of suggesting workable recommendation for Mayer and Yahoo.

Yahoo’s Background

The determination of two Stanford University students, Jerry Yang and David Filo, to find a means of tracking their favorite web pages on the internet marks the genesis of Yahoo Inc. In February 1994, Yang and Filo developed a list of websites and as the list got longer, they categorized them into subgroups for easier management. This was later followed by the development of the Yahoo! Website, which the pair came up with as a means to categorize their growing list and enable easy search of the websites. The search engine eventually gained popularity among friends and other students as a way of finding websites on the internet.

In the fall of 1994, the duo began considering the venture as a business opportunity, when the site eventually reached a millionth user hit. Having obtained venture capital to get the business going, Filo and Yang appointed Motorolla veteran, Tim Koogle to head the business as CEO. Yahoo recorded exceptional growth, providing the earliest World Wide Web online navigational guide; before using its platform to sell advertising space. In April 1996, the company went public and soon after expanded into Europe and Japan, forming Yahoo! Europe and Yahoo! Japan; which would ensure that the company offers its services to users worldwide.

By 2001, Yahoo was employing 3,000 people, making over $717 million in annual revenues and owned 24 global properties. Appointed in 2001, the new CEO Terry Semel led Yahoo into new ventures and the company consequently gained revenues from music, photo sharing, blogging and posting. Over the years, Yahoo continued to develop new products in line with market needs and competition. Yahoo mostly generated revenue from advertising space, listing fees and transaction fees. Major products included Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Answers, Yahoo! Travel; all which are updated with content to ensure traffic to the website. Management of Yahoo’s global business is done geographically and consists of three segments including the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). To increase its reach, Yahoo had sites in forty five languages across sixty countries.

Problem statement

As Merissa Mayer enters Yahoo as the CEO, she is faced with various issues, which she must address to prove her ability to revolutionize yahoo. To begin with, Mayer comes into a company which has been managed by numerous CEOs and the biggest challenge remains giving a new and stable direction from the company. As the fourth CEO in 2012 alone, Mayer is faced with the challenge of establishing which direction Yahoo should take, having been steered to different directions by the various CEOs (Tsukayama, 2012). There are high expectations that Mayer will turn the company around, given her expertise and pressure is therefore on her to deliver.

Yahoo faced stiff competition from new entrants, with Google proving to be the biggest threat. Combined with low economic times, Yahoo’s performance deteriorated and company even laid off some employees in 2008 and 2010. The company struggled with management crisis over the years, constantly changing the management in a bid to revive the company. Jerry Yang would later replace Semel as CEO in 2007 and later pave way for Carol Bartz, who was then followed by Tim Morse and Scott Thompson in quick succession. Yahoo’s competiveness failed to improve despite the various strategies adopted by the various CEOs. It also faced a significant amount of internal politics and investor unrest that caused constant ripples in the organization’s operations. Microsoft made several attempts to acquire Yahoo but their bids were considered undervalued.

The financial performance of Yahoo has been declining over the years and while the company performed exceptionally well during its initial years, the share price has slowed down considerably over the years. This can be attributed to high levels of competition as well as lack of innovation in strategy, causing the firm to lose to competitors including Google and Microsoft.

The graph below indicates the stock price trend during the tenures of various CEOs in Yahoo’s history.

Essentially, Marissa Mayer is faced with various challenges including the following:

Enhance efficiency at the organization and change the corporate culture in order to promote performance
Deal with the high level of competition in the industry
Deal with redundant policies, processes and bureaucracy
Guide the organization into forming an identity; either work focus on being a technology firm or a media firm
Establish the best manner to invest the proceeds from selling half of its investment at Alibaba
Promote growth by targeting new markets

Alternative solutions

Marissa could begin by working on the organization’s culture to eliminate the redundant policies, processes and bureaucracy that threaten innovation and creativity. Beltrán-Martín and Roca-Puig (2013, p. 646) notes that employees are more likely to be flexible and innovative where they are given an open environment to work in and where their capabilities are not limited by bureaucracies. Mayer should encourage direct interaction with employees and ensure that each creative suggestion can be accommodated. In addition, she must instill a working culture that enables employees to be creative and proactive in their work in order to ensure that the company keeps up with other companies such as Google which fosters a creative culture Lowe (2009, p. 9). A change in culture would certainly face resistance as employees adjust to the new policies, hence the need to introduce change gradually.

Yahoo needs to focus on one strategy and excel on it as opposed to taking on a variety of products and having average or poor results. As much as diversification spreads risk for the company however, specialization is also considered effective because it allows the management to focus all its energies into enhancing success of the chosen product. Yahoo for example could focus on search and thus work towards marketing itself as a niche solution when it comes to search. The company could also focus on being a media company, and follow this strategy to excel in this field. While this strategy is effective in promoting a focused organization, it is apparent that the internet business is highly competitive and specialization may limit the organization’s earnings (Chickowski, 2008, p. 12-13). Furthermore, Yahoo already possesses skills and expertise in a wide array of internet solutions and it would be inappropriate to let go of all the investment they have made. In this regard, the solution would be to select a few number of businesses that are performing well and concentrate on these to bring more revenue to the company.

Mayer should leverage on the growing mobile platform to reach more users through Yahoo. Statistics indicate that more users than ever are accessing the internet through their mobile devices and this is expected to grow Fulgoni (2015, p. 116). This is indicated in the graph below.

Source: eMarketer, Dec 2014

The best solution would be to create content that correlates with what mobile users search for online. While this solution promises better user reach, it is important for Yahoo to realize that that every other internet-based organization is eyeing this strategy as a means to promote business, hence the need to be very innovative in their approach Chickowski, 2008, p. 13).

Mayer should use her strengths at search, acquired from Google to promote Yahoo’s performance in this sector. Mayer headed the Google’s search business for a significant number of years and therefore possesses the right skills of knowing what users want to see on the internet. She should then guide the organization into adopting the right skills to promote content development and thus increase traffic to Yahoo. This would not only increase the amount of advertising revenue but it would eventually lead to an improvement in the company’s share price. This approach like the any other means that the organization must face competitors, through coming up with innovative strategies to create a niche.

Mayer needs to increase the quality of the workforce in order to realize better organizational performance. It is clear that the industry has become highly competitive and the productivity of workers at Yahoo is questionable as indicated in the in the case study. This also includes providing extensive training for staff and research to ensure that the company possesses knowledge on the most current trends. In order for this alternative to work, Marissa must be willing to sacrifice some of the inefficient hiring policies as well as ineffective workers. This may create unrest within the company if now well executed.

Proposed Solution and Recommendations

The above suggested solutions present highly valid strategies that Mayer could adopt in creating a more productive Yahoo. The most suitable solutions based on the discussion above would be to change the organization’s culture, encourage innovation and productivity among employees and focus on mobile technology as an avenue to gain a niche in the online market.

As Mayer undertakes a change in Yahoo’s culture, promoting an innovative culture for employees should be a major priority. By allowing employees to be creative, eliminating irrelevant policies that limit innovation and maintaining an open door policy, Mayer could soon transform Yahoo through the employees’ potential (Tampu, 2015, p. 45). In an online study conducted by Ideacomb in 2012, it was established that talent management to a significant extent determines the innovation level in any industry. The report further established that most employees were not comfortable with the idea of the CEO being the only one responsible for innovation and would therefore desire to participate. Based on the responses obtained from the survey, employees are motivated to be more productive and innovative when they are recognized by the management and when they are given an opportunity to participate in the innovation process. The graph below is an indication that allowing employees to be innovative is a source of motivation.

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/spadeworxsoftware/role-of-hr-in-fostering-innovation-a-survey-report

In order to promote productivity, Mayer should go ahead with her plan to review all new hires to establish their potential and ensure that they will deliver quality work for the organization. In addition, she should ensure that the level of commitment among employees in the company is increased considerably within the organization. To achieve this, employees can be put under performance programs, aimed at assessing their contribution to the performance. Through this program, Yahoo will ensure that only the productive employees are maintained while inefficient ones are eliminated.

The mobile user platform promises great potential for Yahoo and Mayer should consider this as the next business for the organization. This involves identifying the content that mobile users are interested in, and thus work towards tailor-making the internet experience to suit mobile users. Through creating new applications and focusing on social media as a medium for reaching mobile users, Yahoo could transform into a media company that will derive significant gains from the mobile user population. Social media is a particularly fertile ground in reaching mobile users and Yahoo could create content that targets users of popular social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, Foursquare, LinkedIn and its photo sharing social media platform Flickr and among others. The traffic created could then be used to sell advertising space, thus earning the company its former glory.

References

Beltrán-Martín, I., & Roca-Puig, V. (2013). Promoting Employee Flexibility through HR Practices. Human Resource Management, 52(5), 645-674. doi:10.1002/hrm.21556. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=67571c8c-5251-4647-bc1e-145075417de0%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4210

Chickowski, E. (2008). Battle of the brands. Baseline, (82), 12-14. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=257fd6bd-d2af-44a2-bf6b-9752b1df843f%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4210

Fulgoni, G. M. (2015). The Rise of the Digital Omnivore. Journal of Advertising Research, 55(2), 115-119. doi:10.2501/JAR-55-2-115-119. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=44ade5f6-634e-44d2-aafc-5987e30315b7%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4210

Lowe, J. (2009). Google Speaks : Secrets of the World’s Greatest Billionaire Entrepreneurs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzI3NDk2NV9fQU41?sid=df826849-030e-4a53-8d02-4f9ee3ba8b0a@sessionmgr4002&vid=5&hid=4210&format=EB

Shirokova, G., Berezinets, I., & Shatalov, A. (2014). Organisational change and firm growth in emerging economies. Journal for East European Management Studies, 19(2), 185-212. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4d2e14ae-a4b8-4cd4-97c6-0c1b7c618e37%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4210

Tampu, D. L. (2015). Impact of human motivation on employees performance. Internal Auditing & Risk Management, 10(1), 43-53. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a98a3732-d91e-487e-974d-5e953e88c03a%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4210

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Simmo’s Ice Cream Case Study Assignment

Simmo’s Ice Cream

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Executive Summary

Simmo’s Ice Cream is a company based in Australia established in the year 1992. It mainly deals with ice cream and related products. This report aims at establishing a good marketing plan. Therefore, the paper analyses the company fundamentals using SWOT analysis. On the same note, the paper analyzes the competitive advantage and market positioning of Simmo’s Ice-Cream Company. This report mainly concentrates on how the company can invest in product promotion with an aim of achieving competitive advantage over competitors and other key players in the market. If successfully implemented, this report would greatly assist for the future expansion plans of the company.

Introduction

Simmo’s Ice Cream is a company that specializes in the manufacture of various brands of ice cream. The company has made considerable profits through low production costs, providing quality products and by hiring employees that provide excellent customer service. They have created a new type of various flavors given the increasing market competition from several other companies dealing in the same line of business. It deals with various flavors that include dairy free, lactose-free vegan flavor and latest being Yahava coffee flavor. All this is mainly aimed at achieving customer satisfaction. As a matter of fact, there is increasingly changes in the customer taste and preferences and, therefore, need to meet the customer need and satisfaction.

Simmo’s Ice Cream enjoys a variety of a good customer base ranging from tourists, couples and families on holidays and also corporate partners. The ice cream company based in Dunsborough, Western Australia, has a long establishment history. Having been established in 1992, it has undergone considerable expansion process with their expansive market base. It has a large labor base with their employees going on recess during winter. The Simmo’s Ice Cream is mainly made from the locally available raw materials from scratch with the materials sourced from the surrounding areas of Dunsborough, Western Australia.

Strengths

· High investment on innovation

· Marketing through the internet

· Expert team of managers

· Equity in flavors and brand

· Efficient distribution and supply routes

· Good reputation from the public

Weakness

· Few customers and small market

· Few products and brands

· Low production during winter

Opportunities

· Foreign markets increase

· Innovation and new product development

· Sales and marketing through the internet

· New classes of flavors development

Threats

· Competition from other Ice Cream manufacturers

· Poor economic growth

· Changes in foreign markets and government policies

· Changing foreign exchange rates

· Price wars with other manufacturers

Competitive advantage and positioning and marketing objectives

Simmo’s Ice Cream competitive advantage arises in that it is one of the leading ice cream sellers in Australia. It enjoys a sweet and a long history having been established a little bit longer hence it has won more of the consumer markets. The product already has gained adequate market perception and is, therefore, easy to evaluate on the customer satisfaction basing on previous reports on performances of the brand (Hollensen, 2015).

Customer Feedback is also highly valued and, therefore, gaining a competitive advantage. The differentiation of the product branding is mainly unique and of its own. The unique taste and flavors make it fit for all consumers due to varied consumer tastes and preferences. The affordability and use of locally produced raw materials make it more viable and very tasteful. Most customers would wish to purchase it for the purposes of trying this unique product.

Its planned marketing strategy mainly aims at digitalizing their operations. This is mainly through the use of social platforms for marketing and also employing a technical team to assist in new brand developments and flavors.

Marketing objectives

First, Simmo’s Ice Cream’s major objective is to outshine other competitors in the market for example Unilever of Britain. Also, it aims at increasing its market through facultative and intense advertisements. This will help in increasing the market penetration and obtaining more feedback from the customers.

Target market

The main target markets for Simmo’s Ice Cream products include but not limited to; tourists, both local and international, families who are out on holidays and also foreign markets not exploited. Low and medium class earners are the ideal target market given that the products are pocket-friendly. The young population is also the target market given that they would prefer to eat these ice creams as a hobby and during their time out. This target market can be easily reached through a chain of various selling points. Also, it ought to be distributed through key retailers.

Product Strategy

When packaging and branding of the product, it is good for the manufacturer to use or have more appealing and consumer friendly packages that are affordable (West et al., 2015). Distinctive packaging helps eliminate doubts of similar packages by customers. Packaging using tetra packs also helps improve the shelf life of the Simmo’s Ice Cream products. Marketing mix is also a key aspect of product strategy. This marketing mix is achieved through differentiation in the product, distribution chain, the pricing and also promotion strategies.

Product design

Simmo’s Ice Cream should design the product in a way that reduces production cost. The product should, therefore, economical. The design should be more appealing given that the customers mainly look at the prices, their appearances and also in terms of prestige depending on their class. The technical team should ensure the right flavors are achieved.

Pricing strategy

Pricing based on time is a key strategy given that demand varies with time. For example, the price can be reduced during winter due to the low demand. Similarly, prices can be a little bit hiked on holidays given the demand. Also, prices can be based on the value and flavor of the product. Simmo’s Ice Cream can also apply their role of price leadership in the Australian market by setting up the prices that are to be adopted by other players in the market. Since they utilize price leadership strategy, the company should set prices that ensure there is a higher contribution margin so as to maximize profits and gather for all costs used in the production, distribution, marketing and branding of the product.

Simmo’s should also utilize decoy pricing strategy. That is Simmo’s can offer at least 3 products and give one product for free. This strategy can encourage clients to purchase more products so as to have a similar product as a discount. The company can also set prices of other products to be higher than the others as a strategy of promoting sales of the lower priced products that has adopted decoy pricing.

The company can also set lower prices when introducing new products. This strategy can be adopted so as to make a product familiar and encourage clients to purchase the product and build customer relationship. However, this strategy should be utilized only for a short period in the marketing cycle.

Place strategy

Simmo’s Ice Cream should locate their shops at strategic points that are easily accessible to customers. At the same time, the cost of the distribution channels should be economical. They can also choose to do marketing through the internet to enable an online placing of orders. Evaluation of competitors’ strategies is also a key factor. The management should also evaluate the ability of continuous supply of raw materials, and ensure that the product is adequately supplied within all markets in time. This trend helps reduce shortages in some markets. Also required is an effective invoicing system, supply management and control of stock.

Promotion strategy

Promotion is a critical path in the marketing strategy. Simmo’s Ice Cream should engage in intensive advertisement through it unique branding. Advertising is important as it makes products to be familiar in the market. On the same note, promotion promotes goodwill and build image as well as educate and inform the public about the available products in the market. Also, it should aim at persuading the customers into purchasing their products. This goal can also be achieved through giving out of offers and discounts. Successful advertising can be through the print media, social platforms, window display and use billboards and cartoons. Competitive selling is also a key principle here. Competitive selling plays a critical role when it comes to prospecting and quantifying the product depending on the set prices.

On the same note, Simmo’s should engage in extensive sales promotion. That is they should provide incentives to promote their products and obtain a competitive edge in the market. The company should organize seminars and workshops that can be used to sensitize the customers about Simmo’s products. The company should also exhibit their products in business exhibitions that are organized across the country. These exhibitions are important in showing the products strengths and encouraging customers to purchase the organization products.

Finally, when the organization has expanded, the company should use event sponsorship strategy to promote sales and build customer relationship. The company can consider sponsoring popular events such as football games, charity runs and other events that are dear to the people in the market. This strategy often helps to improve corporate image and encourage customer loyalty and thus organization sustainability in the long run.

Poster

Conclusion

On conclusion, an effective marketing strategy will help the company to expand reasonably. The future expansion plans greatly depend on the company’s ability to put in strategies that will help it achieve market leadership. The products of this company enjoy a large market in Australia and recently foreign markets.

The strategies put in place will help it achieve profitability at the same time giving back to the society through employment and purchasing materials locally (Baker, 2014). Through the application of the SWOT analysis, the company can put in place strategies to outgrow the increasingly changing business environment.

Bibliography

Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

West, D., Ford, J., & Ibrahim, E. (2015). Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press.

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

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Small business experience Assignment

Small business experience

Order Instructions:

The writer will have to read each of this post and react to it by commenting, analyzing and supporting with relevant articles. The writer will have to read carefully before giving constructive comments or criticism on the post. The writer should write a one paragraph of at least 150 words. APA and in text citation must be use as each respond to the 4 article must have in text citations. The writer will have to use an article to supports his comments and criticism on each of the article. Address the content of each post below in a one paragraph each, analysis and evaluation of the topic, as well as the integration of relevant resources. The writer cannot just say “I agree or disagree” the writer must constructively support and use relevant sources to support his point why expanding on the article.

I will send the details via email

SAMPLE ANSWER

The writer will have to read each of this post and react to it by commenting, analyzing and supporting with relevant articles. The writer will have to read carefully before giving constructive commentsor criticism on the post. The writer should write a one paragraph of at least 150 words. APA and in text citation must be use as each respond to the 4 article must have in text citations. The writer will have to use an article to supports his comments and criticism on each of the article. Address the content of each post below in a one paragraph each, analysis and evaluation of the topic, as well as the integration of relevant resources. The writer cannot just say “I agree or disagree” the writer must constructively support and use relevant sources to support his point why expanding on the article.

Article 1

The research question for the interview was as follows: What strategic human resource management practices contribute to the retention of employees in the business?

Based on the two interviews conducted, the following themes were present:

Small business experience
Motivation of employees
Marketing for employees
Training employees
Communicating with employees
Relationship building
Atmosphere of small business

Qualitative researchers create small categories based on text or visual data (Creswell, 2013). In developing the codes, I looked for common things related to human resources. Some of the themes I gathered from researching human resource practices. I looked for commonalities between the research and statements made during the interview. I listened and looked for patterns between the interviewees.

Small Business Interview 1 Transcript

Interviewer: Good morning. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. Today, I would like to interview you regarding your small business. Your name and the name of your business will remain confidential. Is it okay if I record the session?

Participant 1: Yes

Interviewer: Okay, let’s get started. First, I would like to ask you some background information regarding your business.

Interviewer: What type of business do you own?

Participant 1: I own a Plumbing Repair/Remodeling business which provides 24 hour service 365 days out of the year. I knew I wanted to go into business for myself at a young age. I didn’t know what type of business I wanted to own until I met my husband. He was going to school for plumbing and I was going to school for business. We made the perfect team. For the first few years, it was just the two of us. Over time, our team grew. Our team members are all licensed and highly skilled with many years of experience. For over 30 years, we have always maintained superb customer satisfaction, affordable prices, and the highest quality products on the market.

Interviewer: How long have you been in business?

Participant 1: (Experience) We have been in business for 31 years. We had only two plumbers but after 2 years clientele increased beyond belief. As a result, we made the business decision to expand and hire a crew of plumbers to support the expanding demand. We have one building located in the center of the metroplex. We decided to strategically locate in the center so it would be easy to service the entire metroplex.

Interviewer: How many employees do you have?

Participant: As of right now we currently have 8 full time plumbers that work during the day and 3 on-call plumbers that assist with the overnight service calls. We recently made the decision to hire on 5 more techs that are currently going through the interview process. We believe in the next five years we will have at least 15 full time plumbers.

Interviewer: What methods do you use to recruit employees?

Participant 1: (Marketing for employees)We rely heavily on social media. We recently opened a Facebook account and have over 300 followers. We also use career websites to recruit such as Zip Recruiter and Career Builder. Another marketing technique that we have found useful is to post recruitment flyers at all of the local supply stores. Eventually, we would like to attend some of the career fairs that are held around town.

Interviewer: How do you motivate employees?

Participant 1: (Motivation) We have various contests throughout the year that are geared towards motivating our employees to reach certain goals. Once these goals are reached they are rewarded with bonuses and pay increases. For example, we typically compete to see who successfully services the most clients in a specified time period. The plumbers have to complete the regular plumbing services within an hour and have no complaints for a year.

Interviewer: What type of human resource management training have you completed?

Paericipant 1: (Experience) I went through a community college and obtained a Management degree with a focus in HR. I also participate in at least one HR training or seminar every year. I did learn a lot of things along the way. One day I’d like to complete my certification in human resource management.

Interviewer: How do you help your employees understand the day-to-day operations of your business?

Participant 1: (Communication)We have weekly mandatory meetings where we discuss finances and our company goals. We also keep all of our employees up to date on all training materials as well as policies. The foundation of our company comes from employing qualified and expert plumbers who are trained to follow well-organized business procedures to provide the best experience and customer satisfaction.

Interviewer: What day-to-day practices do you use to retain your employees?

Participant 1: (Communication) We have an open door policy which allows all of our employees the opportunity to express any concerns with the owners. (Building relationships) I let all of my employees know that I appreciate them and how valuable they are to my company. We also provide health benefits, vacation/sick time, and offer the opportunity to attend self-improvement trainings.

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Include the one paragraph comments hear using a pear review article to support your comments. Also include in text citations in APA.

The article is clear and precise. I do agree that indeed qualitative research is suitable for conducting such an interview. Using interviews allows a researcher to obtain in-depth information that provides insights on the topic of focus (Creswell, 2013). Furthermore, a researcher has to use coding to better understand the key aspects of the study (Bailey, 2014). It is however, important that the researcher listen attentively when using interview. Recoding the interview is one of the best ways to ensure that nothing is omitted or misquoted. I therefore, find the article insightful and well organized. The themes selected are very important in any human resource department in human resource management and in retaining customers. For instance, employees require motivation to remain focused and have a sense of belonging (Fratričová & Rudy, 2015). Relationships building and employee experience as well as training and communication in an organization play a key role when it comes to performance and employee retention.

References

Bailey, L. F. (2014). The origin and success of qualitative research. International Journal Of Market Research, 56(2), 167-184. https://www.doi:10.2501/IJMR-2014-013

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Fratričová, J., & Rudy, J. (2015). Get Strategic Human Resource Management Really Strategic: Strategic HRM in Practice. International Journal Of Management Cases, 17(4), 149-155.

Article two

Small-Scale Qualitative Research Project—Conduct the Interview

The purpose of my proposed qualitative study is to determine the accounting skills small business owners use to achieve business sustainability beyond 5 years. The primary research phenomenon under study is the relationship between accounting knowledge, managerial decision making, and small business failure. The primary research goals are to explore strategies small business owners use to record accounting information and subsequently retrieve and analyze the data for decision-making purposes.

The targeted population will consist of owners of companies with fewer than 20 employees, inclusive of the owner, located in Juneau, Alaska that have been in business for more than five years. I interviewed one participant for the small scale research project. This interviewee owns and operates a small businesses in Juneau, AK that has sustained beyond five years. Furthermore, this interviewee meets the Walden University Institutional Review Board criteria for Minimal Risk.

Data analysis and interpretation within a qualitative study is time consuming and iterative (Creswell, 2013). Along the data analysis spiral, researchers describe, classify, and interpret data into codes and themes (Creswell, 2013). The researcher begins the process by identifying a short list of codes (Creswell 2013). The investigator applies those codes to evidence thereby aggregating the information into categories (Creswell, 2013). The examiner further analyzes the resulting categories to develop themes (Creswell, 2013).

Prior to coding the interview transcript, I identified four codes: Processing; Decisions; Knowledge; and Assistance. Table 1 includes the name and description of the codes used to analyze the interview transcript.

Table 1. Code Names and Descriptions

Code	Description
Processing	Interviewee conducts accounting related transaction processing
Decision	A managerial decision is made that is informed by accounting information
Knowledge	Interviewee self-assessment of accounting knowledge, skill and ability
Assistance	Small business leader relies on an outside accounting firm for assistance
Analysis	Small business leader reviews accounting information

I developed the codes by keeping in mind the overarching research phenomenon and primary research goals under study. In the next section, I apply the codes to the interview transcript of the interview conducted on October 1, 2015.

Interview for Participant #1, small business owner in Juneau, AK

Interviewer: Thank you for agreeing to talk to me this afternoon. As we spoke before, I’m interviewing you for my DBA my doctorate in business administration which I am seeking from Walden University and my main research topic is the relationship between accounting knowledge, managerial decision making and small business success. As we talked before I am taping this interview and if you wish to look over the transcript after I transcribe it you are more than welcome to do that. And in the report I will submit for my class, I won’t use your name or the name of the business you will simply be Participant #1, small business owner in Juneau. OK? So as I get ready to ask the questions to you have any questions for me?

Participant #1: No, I don’t.

Interviewer: Well, great. So the first few questions are just some initial background questions. So how long have you operated your business?

Participant #1: 15 years

Interviewer: 15 years. So even though I’m taping I’m going to jot down a few notes as we go. Do you perform your own accounting?

Participant #1: See I’m not that knowledgeable about what exactly what part is accounting. [Knowledge] I have an accountant [Assistance]. But I use QuickBooks. So I do all accounting things. I write paychecks, I pay all the bills, I balance the checkbook. But I do that all month then they check it. I give it to them once a month. I also pay sales tax. All those 730 forms, all those 130 forms – federal and city [Processing]. Then I give it to them at the end of the month. They make sure it is balanced and that the checks are in there [Assistance]. I did not start with QuickBooks so now it is easier, obviously.

Interviewer: Did you do it manually then switch to QuickBooks?

Participant #1: Yes. The previous owner did nothing on a computer.

Interviewer: OK

Participant #1: So, they don’t do as much at the end of the month but they make sure I balance correctly [Assistance]. And then, they do the State employment taxes [Assistance] and make sure my 940s are submitted correctly. I submit them [Processing] but then they make sure everything is correct. Then at the end of the year, they do my taxes [Assistance].

Interviewer: Is this a CPA firm?

Participant #1: Yes

Interviewer: Ok, great.

Participant #1: I do my basic accounting [Processing] and they do my taxes [Assistance].

Interviewer: So it’s a mix of doing your own daily transaction work and then you hire an accountant to oversee everything and then do some reporting for you.

Participant #1: Right. I can’t stand finding that little mistake and it takes so much of my time it is not worth it [Assistance]. But it is worth my time to write paychecks and do all that [Processing]. The previous owner, didn’t even write paychecks and that is a piece of cake now day.

Interviewer: With QuickBooks?

Participant #1: Yes, that was a long answer.

Interviewer: No that is great. And we have kind of hit several of the next questions. You perform your own accounting [Processing] and yes you do hire an outside firm to help out with that [Assistance] and you use QuickBooks as your general ledge accounting system.

Participant #1: Correct

Interviewer: Have you taken any accounting courses?

Participant #1: No, that is what I have wanted to do [Knowledge]. You said five years is kind of the cut off of who you would interview and at about five years I realized that Wow, I don’t really understand the basics or the terminology [Knowledge].

Interviewer: Debit, credits?

Participant #1: Yeah – all that stuff. Like at the University but adding more night classes to a business that has night working hasn’t worked out, especially with kids [Knowledge].

To review the remainder of the coded interview transcript, please download the attached word document.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Include the one paragraph comments hear using ana pear review article to support your comments. Also include in text citations in APA.

The article is well organized and precise. Using qualitative research is recommended for researchers and I therefore, support the decision of the researcher to use this research design (Creswell, 2013). I do agree with the researcher and support the use of interviews as a technique of data collection. Despite the various alternatives of collecting data such as use of questionnaires and observation, interviews have benefits as well (Sandy, Beigi, Cohel & Nash, 2014). Using interviews allows the researchers to read into the emotions of the interviewees. The researcher can therefore make adjustments when asking questions to ensure that detailed data is collected. I also agree that when using interviews, it was a good gesture for the researcher to request or seek informed consent from the interviewee on whether to record the interview or not. Embracing ethics in the study is a positive gesture that helps to increase the level of confidence among the users of the information. The themes adopted by the researcher to code the interviews suits the topic of study. I therefore, find this article constructive and reliable.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Sandy, E. A., Beigi, R. H., Cohel, C., & Nash, K. C. (2014). An interview tool to predict disruptive physician behavior. Physician Leadership Journal, 1(2), 36-39.

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How managers use accounting for decision making

Order Instructions:

In preparation, submit an annotated bibliography of 10 or more resources you related to the topic of your Final Paper.

My Topic : ” How can managers use accounting information to make better decisions ?”
****** Instructions: Please submit all 10 annotated bibliography as it pertains to my topic ( see above) !!!!!!!
Please review the General Format of an Annotated Bibliography document located in the Weeks 2–3 Learning Resources.
For each entry, be sure to do the following as a minimum:
Include the full APA citation.
Discuss the scope of the resource.
Discuss the purpose and philosophical approach or methodology.
Discuss the underlying assumptions.
Relate the resource to the body of resources you have consulted in this course.
Discuss any evident limitations and opportunities for further inquiry.
Your annotated bibliography is due Day 7 of Week 3.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Topic: How managers can use accounting information in making better decisions

Briciu, S., Scorţe, C., & Meşter, I. (2013). The impact of accounting information on managerial decisions – Empirical study conducted in the hospitality industry entities in Romania. Theoretical & Applied Economics, 20(9), 27-38.

Briciu, Scorte and Mester (2013) conducted an empirical research which is based upon a survey carried out from November 2012 to January 2013. They administered online questionnaires to managers of 91 organizations in the tourism and hospitality sector. The findings revealed that the managers surveyed can use accounting information to determine the company’s funding needs. The managers analyze revenue to determine the amount of funds that would be available to finance future projects (Briciu, Scorte & Mester, 2013). The study’s limitation is that the questionnaire contained so many questions totalling 38 questions which called for maximum concentration of the study subjects and some managers lost patience while completing the questionnaire.

Dumitrana, M., Radu, G., Dumitru., & Jinga, G. (2010). The use of the accounting information in decision making in the hospitality business. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 17(1): 39-50

Accounting information, managerial accounting information in particular, has been utilized and analyzed extensively in the context of manufacturing firms. Few studies have been done on the utilization of managerial accounting information in aiding the process of decision making in the hospitality sector. Dumitrana et al. (2010) sought to fill this gap in existing knowledge. They discovered that accounting information could be utilized by managers in budgeting. Managers utilize the continuous flow of accounting information related to overhead, investments, purchases and income to create budget for the following year. The weakness of their study is that the research was conducted in only 2 hotel organizations hence the findings cannot be generalized in other organizations and organizational settings.

Florin, B. (2014). Development of decision making by managers with financial and accounting information. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 837-844.

As per the author of this article, accounting information is of great importance in improving the effectiveness of the fiscal function and assists managers in making managerial decisions. As used in manufacturing, accounting information is employed by managers in deciding whether to purchase or to make – in buy or make analysis – a particular component which the company requires in order to make its primary product (Florin, 2014).

Gheorghe, D. (2012). The accounting information quality concept. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 7(4), 326-336.

Good accounting information is able to respond to the requirements of an organization and help in managerial decision making. Accounting information in the form of fiscal reports can be used by managers to guide the future of an organization. Balanced scorecards, fiscal statement projections, and budgeting are some of the ways in which managerial accounting information is employed in providing information to assist managers in guiding the future of the organization. When managers focus on this data, they are able to make decisions which aim for constant improvement and are justified basing upon intelligent analysis of the company’s data (Gheorghe, 2012).

Lengauer, V., Mayr, A., & Parasote, S. (2011). The impact of accounting information on management’s decision-making process. The Accounting Review, 12(67): 511-525

In their study, Lengauer, Mayr and Parasote (2011) examined the impact that accounting information has on the decision-making process of a company’s management. The managers of a particular company known as Wexiodisk AB, a manufacturer of dishwashing machines, were interviewed. Their findings demonstrated that managers at the company utilize accounting information for budgeting purposes and to determine the funding needs of the company’s upcoming ventures.

Miculescu, C., & Miculescu, M. N. (2012). Quality of accounting information to optimize the decisional process. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 21(2), 694-699.

Accounting information is valuable when used in a decisional process. In their study, Miculescu and Miculescu (2012) found that managers can utilize accounting information in determining what needs to be sold and how it should be sold – using the process of relevant cost analysis – and in determining whether to stop operations or increase product lines. Moreover, managers utilize accounting information to decide which consumers are less or more profitable so that marketing efforts could be focused on customers that are most profitable (Miculescu & Miculescu, 2012).

Scorţe, C., & Farcaş, M. (2013). The impact of accounting information on managerial decisions – Theoretical approaches. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 22(2), 692-702.

In this peer-reviewed journal article, Scorte and Farcas (2013) conducted a literature review on accounting information as it is applied within the hospitality sector. They also carried out literature review on the topic of management accounting in this particular industry. Scorte and Farcas (2013) learned that accounting provides the information which is essential for monitoring, for establishing the extent of liability and the result produced at different places of work, which facilitates the detection of internal reserves, of uneconomic and unnecessary spending and of losses. This way, accounting information contributes to the fulfilment of strategic objectives. Managers in the tourism and hospitality industry also use accounting information in making appropriate financial and economic decisions. Furthermore, accounting information acts as an advisor which aids managers in determining the conditions wherein the company is operating at both macro-economic and micro-economic levels (Carmen & Mariana, 2013).

Silviu-Virgil, C. (2014). The importance of the accounting information for the decisional process. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 593-603.

In his qualitative research study, Silviu-Virgil (2014) reviews a number of books and articles which have looked into the topic of accounting information from a managerial decision viewpoint. The author found that accounting information is in actual fact the raw material for the process of managerial decision making. Managers can utilize accounting information to help attain organizational goals. Moreover, accounting information could be employed to aid in budgeting and in analyzing whether to purchase or make a component in-house.

Socea, A. D. (2012). Managerial decision-making and financial accounting information. ScienceDirect, Elsevier. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 58(12): 47-55

In this journal article, Socea (2012) looks into the role played by fiscal accounting information in managerial decision-making. The author states that for fiscal accounting information to be of use for decision making, it should be comparable, dependable, relevant and intangible. The results of his study indicate that managers utilize financial accounting information in knowing what took place previously and to know what is the organization’s present situation. Furthermore, managers utilize fiscal accounting information in making visible the events which are not noticeable by everyday activities. It also provides managers with a quantitative overview of the organization over and above helping managers in preparing for future decisions and activities (Socea, 2012).

Tunji, S. T. (2012). Accounting information as an aid to management decision making. International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research, 1(3):29-34

In his study, Tunji (2012) analyzes how accounting information helps in management decision making. Using survey research design, the author enlisted 55 participants and data was gathered from them with the use of a questionnaire. A number of hypotheses were developed. The findings indicated that managers utilize both non-fiscal and fiscal accounting information in aiding business decision-making. In particular, they utilize accounting information to monitor the organization’s performance, and to monitor the process of decision making. Since accounting information provides more timely information, managers also use it in improving the efficiency of operations.

References

Gheorghe, D. (2012). The accounting information quality concept. Economics, Management & Financial Markets, 7(4), 326-336.

Florin, B. (2014). Development of decision making by managers with financial and accounting information. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 837-844.

Lengauer, V., Mayr, A., & Parasote, S. (2011). The impact of accounting information on management’s decision-making process. The Accounting Review, 12(67): 511-525

Miculescu, C., & Miculescu, M. N. (2012). Quality of accounting information to optimize the decisional process. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 21(2), 694-699.

Silviu-Virgil, C. (2014). The importance of the accounting information for the decisional process. Annals Of The University Of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 23(1), 593-603.

Socea, A. D. (2012). Managerial decision-making and financial accounting information. ScienceDirect, Elsevier. Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, 58(12): 47-55

Tunji, S. T. (2012). Accounting information as an aid to management decision making. International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research, 1(3):29-34

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Utility and relevance of operational management

Utility and relevance of operational management topics to the contemporary business environment

Order Instructions:

Evaluate the utility and relevance of any one of the operations management topics to the contemporary business environment.

you must demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical concepts and frameworks in the chosen operations
management topic, this assignment requires a critical evaluation/ analysis of a topic “very important”

I need more analytical material rather
than descriptive material, one or two diagrams if required only

Please ask the writer to send me a couple of topics to choose from and the structure of the research paper as well to confirm before starting.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Characteristics of quality:

• Performance	It includes the main attributes of the product. The features should conform to customer’s expectations and needs.
• Aesthetics	feel, smell, taste and appearance should be unique and customer oriented to have a high market penetration since the competitors are also trying to follow the same plan.
• Special features	special features such as extended warranty, specific customer design including specifications such as printing customers name on a t-shirt or the cup of coffee.
•Conformance	How well the product conforms to design specifications. The product should be of standard as per designer’s requirements and customers’ expectations. The way a product is designed translates to good or poor quality.
• Reliability	Consistency of performance. Customers expect that a product will meet their needs. When the product is reliable, the customers will be loyal leading to more production, new market entrance, and consequently a high market share in the dynamic market environment
• Durability	The useful life of the product. A durable product is a quality product. Customers always seek for quality products as they seek to increase their savings and reduce expenses. The customers always remain loyal to an organization that assures them of quality products.
• Serviceability and responsiveness–	After sale service is a form of quality assurance. Managers should ensure proper tools are in place to handle customer’s complaints.
• Consistency	Good quality products should always be present.

Quality management is not a one-time process and it’s influenced by many factors. It is therefore through total quality management that quality is assured. Every person in the organization has a role to play in bringing out all the needed quality features.

Masaaki (2015) also added that Quality is determined by design, conformance, ease of use, and after sale services:

Design quality:

It refers to the decision by designers to either include or exclude attributes in a product. The design of the product is the starting point for product quality. The size, shape, and place of the issue is determined in the design phase. Quality is assured when the designers seek customers view on products before designing. Another features in the design phase are the costs incurred in the production, availability of machinery, the time taken for design, safety. When the design phase is expertly handled, quality of the product will be assured, the poor quality design can cause the company a lot in terms of costs as well as image and market share. (Masaaki, 2015)

How easy it is to use the product:

Another feature of quality is the ease of use. The easier to use a product or service is, the higher the quality of the product. When designing the product, attention for the use of the product should be put in place. Consumers like products that are not complicated and time-consuming in terms of use. When there is no ease of use, an organisation will lose consumers, sales will decrease, will get return of goods, or even face legal problems as a result of injuries. Directions for use of the product, assembling, unpacking, maintaining, adjusting the product and what to do in case something goes wrong should be included. The easier to use a product is, the higher the quality of the product and the higher the chances of survival of the organisation in the modern market. (Masaaki, 2015)

After-sale services

Services that are offered to customers after the sale of the product are also determinants of product quality. Demonstration on the use of the technical products should be done by sales people or the technicians to avoid product failure or injuries. At times when a product fails, after-sale service is needed. The service can be in the form of repair of the product, replacement, recalling the product, adjustment or evaluation of service use. Consumers appreciate organizations that are dedicated to offering after sales services. To have after sale service is a good reputation of the company and it improves the image of the company. (Masaaki, 2015)

Benchmarking

Hoyle and David (2007), argue that if a company wants to meet the current market requirements, quality control managers have to benchmark themselves against competitors. Apple Inc being the second largest telecommunications company would have to compare its production strategies with Samsung Company. After benchmarking, the firm will need to come up with unique ways that will differentiate its products with the competitor. The steps used in benchmarking are:

Identification of the process that need improvement: Going through the phases a product goes through to identify the loophole that needs fixing. It might be design, production, or sales process. (Hoyle and David, 2007)
Match the need for improvement in the organization that is best at the process: Identify the organization that known for producing good results in the process that need to be improved
Research the organization

Gathering information the other organization uses for the process

Analyse the information

Assessment of the information is done to determine the most effective way to go about the improvement process

Improve process

Having come up with a strategy gap, assessment is made on how to go through the implementation of the new idea for quality improvement. To stand out in the market, expertise is needed so that the new idea brings out a unique form. Correct implementation leads to quality improvement and consequently better chances of outdoing the main competitors in the market.

High quality gives an organization a competitive edge and ensures that it remains profitable in the current market. Other advantages of good quality are;

Improvement in the company’s reputation in the market leading to high productivity.
The liability costs are minimized since the company can pay its debts.
Increase in customer loyalty and customer satisfaction that leads to increased sales and profitability. (Hoyle and David, 2007)

The main contributors for the total quality management are the senior managers. In the operations department, quality control managers come up with strategic plans for quality, implement tools necessary for quality improvement, guide and motivate employees.

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Table of contents

Introduction. 3

CSR and its Origin. 3

Literature review.. 4

Basic components of Corporate Social Responsibility -extractive industries. 6

Requirements for CSR strategies and reasons for engaging in CSR.. 7

Extend of CSR initiatives and level of performance in developed and developing countries. 9

Introduction

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has gained prominence in many companies including extractive ones. CSR is one of the business strategies that these companies are using to participate in the sustainability of the environment as well as the community. It is one way of giving back to the societies in which they operate.

In developed countries, the scenario is considerably different. Such countries have an already developed infrastructural and social sector. They are therefore involved in well-established CSR programs which have international set standards. These programs’ main aim is to enhance the competitiveness of these extractive industries in the international market. In addition, developed countries unlike the developing countries have readily adopted these CSR policies and strategies with great support from their government. An exemplary country with well-established CSR programs in its extractive industries is the Canadian gas and oil mining industries. This paper deliberates on whether extractive industries embrace CSR to best of their abilities and any performances variations in developing and developed countries. Development and definition of CSR are incorporated as well as critical examination of various literatures on the mining industry among many other aspects relating to the topic.

CSR and its Origin

According to McWilliams & Siegel (2001), the term Corporate Social Responsibility even though has been in the public domain for many decades, it became popular in the 1960s and is nowadays used indiscriminately in organizations more to further moral and legal responsibilities. Definition of the term CSR is both complicated and complex because of the context and nature of the problems. The complexity arises from the fact that CSR is intimately involved in the society, ecology, and economic systems that are high complex dynamic systems (Sheehy, 2015). Regardless of these complexities, in general CSR is defined as a form of corporate self-regulation entrenched in the business models of companies. Its main role is to act as a self-regulatory mechanism through monitoring business to ensure that they comply with the spirit of law, national or international norms, and ethical standards. Some firms that have implemented CSR have gone beyond compliance to engaging in acts that promote social good, and beyond the interests of the firm (Sheehy, 2015). CSR as well involves the corporate actions aimed at encouraging positive impact on the stakeholders including employees, consumers, investors, communities and others as well as impacting on the environment.

Literature review

According to Littlewood (2014), different people, ascribe different meaning to the term CSR. In 2001 European Commission Green Paper, CSR is defined as the concept where “entities integrate social and environmental concerns in their operations as well as their interactions and association with stakeholders on a voluntary basis” (Littlewood, 2014, p. 17). CSR in the mining industry therefore, ought to be on voluntarily basis if this defining is to go by.

Various institutions and initiatives have also been advanced to ensure that mining industries remain compliance and engage in social corporate responsibilities. Such initiatives include the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and Mining and Minerals Sustainable Development Project (MMSD) (Littlewood, 2014). Other initiatives include corporate reporting on companies’ websites and engaging with ISO 26000 social responsibility performance measurements, development of best practices, toolboxes, and guidelines relating to CSR issues such as mining community development and sustainability and mine closure among many others (Littlewood, 2014).

Despite the growth of CSR initiatives in industries, many questions remain about the role of mining in economic and social development remain unanswered (Du Venage, 2015). A good case is South Africa where despite discussion of CSR in the industry, there are still questions on the depth of the adoption and implementation and the extend this has impacted on the social and economic industry in South Africa.

According to Littlewood (2014), mining industry in Namibia contributes around 16 percent of the GDP and close to 50 percent of the merchandise exportation. This means that it is a central industry in the economy of Namibia. Mining began between 1884-1915 under the Germany colony. Copper mining started in 1906 in the northern region also known as German South West Africa at that time. Diamonds were also found in the South West in 1906. Mining since 1970 has become diverse in Namibia and more minerals such as gold and zinc are mined. Companies involved in mining have managed to deal with issues of community sustainability and viability after mining through their CSR. This has been done in different ways. The government also has laws that require compliance to legal requirement. For instance, after mining, all structures and buildings are removed as per the license terms (Littlewood, 2014).

According to Kirschke (2014), mining industries are impacting negatively on the lives of many people especially is DRC, a top cobalt and the sixth copper producer nation. Kirschke (2014) further argues that CSR activities of some of these companies are not working as expected and therefore what they do can be described as, “Greenwash”. He argues the companies have caused community displacement, and caused environmental wreckages.

According to Arko (2013), mining industry in Ghana has been in operation for close to one hundred years. The companies to a large extent have been doing well and this has enabled them to participate in corporate social responsibilities. They have supported the communities in different ways through CSR. Nevertheless, the support provided by these companies has been small and has not made any substantial differences. The Ghana Chamber of Mines reports of these expenditures exemplify this fact. The way forward, is to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to ensure that these companies participate in CSR (Arko, 2013).

Stakeholder in the mining industry such as the government, mining companies, civil society, international financial organizations among others have a role to play in the operations and CSR engagements of mining industries (Yakovleva & Vazquez-Brust, 2012). Mining companies have to develop plans that will ensure that they do not pollute the environment and contribute to climate change. They have as well to ensure that they support the welfare of the people in the community. The level of commitment of different countries when it comes to implementation of CSR has varied. These variations are because of different reasons such as the negative perception in relation to the industry, controversial nature of many mining investments, social and environmental externalities that for decades have been associated with the mining industry. Other reasons are the weak legislations and ability of states to monitor the activities of mining companies across the globe (Kirschke, 2014).

Basic components of Corporate Social Responsibility -extractive industries

Different extraction companies have adopted different CSR programs basing on the type of the environment they are based upon. A CSR program has to be formulated with regard to the situation at hand. A typical CSR program should encompass the main areas of the community including social, environmental and the economic factors of a community.

A CSR policy entails the approval of the company by the local community. Furthermore, an extractive company ought to be involved in the community activities, such as involvement in local charities as well as supporting the local growth and sponsoring the community events. Adopting a CSR program entails the consideration of the three aspects including people, the planet, and the profits. The deviation in the corporate motives from profits oriented operations to adopting the CSR program can be associated to the worldwide change in the conscience of the corporate (Kirschke, 2014). The deviation entails that the corporates exercise four particular responsibilities in addition to generating profits.

The main environmental factors that the policy should encompass include the sustainability of the environment through waste recycling as well as proper waste management strategies. Other approaches include provision of clean water for use, the establishment of renewable sources of energy and the recyclable materials. It is the role of the extractive industry to maintain an appropriate working environment as well decent social appearance.

As much as CSR strategy is aimed at the voluntary social responsibilities, it is also important to make sure that the economic aspects of the community are take account of. A good CSR program should seek to promote the economic status of the community and at the same time that of the extractive industry. The economic roles apply particularly to the developing countries that are in the verge of establishing development for their countries. For instance, an appropriate CSR strategy for extractive industry in developing countries is the establishment of infrastructure and improvement of the communication networks in the regions.

Requirements for CSR strategies and reasons for engaging in CSR

One s the strategies is sustainability whereby Corporates establish a foundation and come up with ways of avoiding harmful effects of the mining activities in the environment t they operate in. The CSR program should have the capability of sustaining the environmental as well as the economic aspects of the community. License is another important aspect as each extraction industry should be legitimate and should satisfy all the legal requirements. To prove the legitimacy the company should obtain a letter of approval accompanied with a license for operation.

In addition to the license for operation and sustainability, the CSR should also comprise of a moral obligation meaning that it has responsibility to do the right thing, uphold the ethical values pertaining to all the activities the company is involved in. The company’s long-term commitment to social responsibility is also important when ascertaining the well-being of the company to the commitment to CSR (Kirschke, 2014). The establishment of a good past relationship is important in ensuring that the extractive company is well acquainted to the CSR responsibilities.

In addition to the effectiveness of branding, companies have developed a new trend in enhancing their CSR programs. Companies with well-developed CSR programs are perceived more positively than those with poorly developed CSR programs. It is important to have a mission and vision that goes beyond the profit driven purpose. Such companies give the stakeholders as well as investors a warmer and better image and an impression that it will be easy to interact with (Arko, 2013).

Extractive corporations engage in CSR programs so as to have an easier time when dealing with the government regulations (Arko, 2013). The better the relationship a corporation will establish with the immediate society, the better the perception of that corporation in both the legal as well as in the public perspective. The participation of the extractive corporation in the society’s social responsibility will also bar the company from harmful activists that may launch against it. Lastly, one of the main benefits of CSR in the workplace is the appropriate working environment created for the employees as well as for the occupants of the society. CSR creates a sense of community and teamwork between the society, stakeholders, and generally the overall corporation(Kirschke, 2014).

Extend of CSR initiatives and level of performance in developed and developing countries

A number of international CSR initiatives and associations that promote CSR policies in the extractive industries include the United Nations global contact initiative where the extractive companies perform self-evaluations and report their performance in regard to the ten principles. Another international initiative is the Europeans commission strategy for CSR and sustainable consumption sustainable industrial policy (Miningfacts.org, 2015). The global committee on mining and metals is managed by the largest mining companies and comprises of a number of programs to improve sustainable mining. Extractive companies additionally, have started pursuing certifications such as ISO 14000 which is an environmental certification. SA 8000, which is a working standard certificate, and also AA 1000 which is accountability certificate (Miningfacts.org, 2015).

Canada

Canada is one of the developed countries that have embraced CSR programs in its extractive industry. The Canadian extracting industries has laid out a foundation to ensure that there is greater rationality in the advancement of the sector’s in the Canadian extractive sector is a well-defined strategy as pertains to other developed countries (Andrews, 2007). The CSR strategy for the enhancement of business and prosperity consists of four major provisions. Examples of CSR strategies implemented include promoting the industry, securing access to global markets, improving infrastructure among others.

The government of Canada has enhanced international performance guidelines for the Canadian extraction companies. Such guidelines include first, the social and the environmental sustainability for the mining projects with potentially harmful environmental and social repercussions (Miningfacts.org, 2015). Secondly, the guidelines on voluntary principles on human rights and security for projects involving public or private security forces (Miningfacts.org, 2015). The global reporting initiative for CSR is the other guideline for reporting by the mining sector. Canada has therefore, succeeded in its CSR initiatives in this sector.

Developing nations in Africa and Asia have also embraced CSR initiatives in extractive industry due to various reasons such as prevention of pollution, conserving environment, adhering to international codes, take advantage of the natural resources to achieve economic and social development as well as protect its environment among other reasons (Mzembe, and Downs, 2014). Most of the African countries have devoted their CSR efforts in protection of the environment, social economic development, and improvement of infrastructure (Smith, 2008). Various African countries that have adopted the concept of CSR include; Mali, guinea, Tanzania South Africa and Nigeria among others (Mzembe, and Downs, 2014).

South Africa

In the recent past, CSR has become globally popular accompanied by widespread management methodologies, technologies, and new ideologies. The impact of the CSR in South Africa has seen great developments with increased social responsibility and sustainability of the countries mining industries. The CSR initiatives in South Africa’s mining industry have resulted to increased communities growth as well as infrastructural development. The major impacts CSR in South Africa’s mining industry include; increased efficiency in the societal gains pertaining to the aspects energy and water usage. In addition, safeguarding of the environment has been more efficient following the establishment of CSR policies by the mining industries. Furthermore, safeguarding local employee’s safety has been more addressed (Mzembe, and Downs, 2014).

Advocates of CSR believe that CSR is a major breakthrough to solving majority of the social issues that the government has failed to address. In addition, they also argue that knowing that an institution is morally and socially responsible will attract more investors. However, the opponents of CSR argue that the most important goal of a business if profit generation and not social development. Other critics argue that corporate industries are not institutions meant for moral purposes (Mzembe, and Downs, 2014).

South Africa has played a major role in defining and enhancing the CSR initiatives. Nevertheless, for the CSR to be fruitful and to be properly executed in South Africa, it is important to lay emphasis on the liability and equality of businesses CSR practices. CSR is viewed as exclusively associated to big businesses which explains why there has been reluctance in smaller companies in complying with the CSR measures since they feel that their operations will go unnoticed (Bond, 2008).

Nigeria

Nigeria is one of the largest nations with the largest economy in Africa classified under developing economies. The country had enjoyed its oil and gas extractions that have contributed to its economic growth.

The country has various policies that companies must adhere to when engaging in their activities. CSR is one of the ways that oil and Gas Company give back to the society through their CSR initiative. In a study conducted by Gabriel (2007), most of the multinational companies in Nigeria dealing in gas and oil participate actively in the corporate social responsibility. The company contributes to the society through various as including, measures to curb environmental pollution, sponsorships, community services among many others (Watts, 2004). Many of the host communities in Nigeria have higher expectations in community development initiative. However, pressure from the community keeps on piling up because some of the companies do no keep their promise (Frynas, 2005).

Most of the community members are interested in the social projects that give them hope of a stable and prosperous future. The companies in Nigeria have as well embraced development initiatives to portray to the people how socially responsible they are. In some areas in the Niger Delta, they are marred with unstable environment as there is ethnic disputes and conflicts over oil revenues (Gabriel, 2007). Companies such as Shell and Oil have participated in the CSR to resolve the conflicts. Recommendations to solve the problems have as well been made. These recommendations includes, enhance further cooperation with the Nigerian government to ensure that the situation is peacefully resolved. There is also need to improve transparency in order to avoid human rights violations as well as resource exploitation. Shell has the duty to continue handling the situation to see if there would be any positive outcome.

It is therefore, evident that both developed and developing countries have embraced CSR initiatives in their countries to foster change and to achieve certain goals and aims. Countries such as Canada have put in place various measures to ensure that it protects its environment as well as contribute to social and economic development of their people. Most African countries such as South Africa and Nigeria have also embraced the concept of CSR and is transforming their them on different frontier. Even though, most developing nations have lagged behind on this area, the concept is gaining momentum on daily basis.

Conclusion

Creation of awareness is a major trend occurring in most extractive industries all over the world. Integration of the CSR programs with the functioning of the extractive industries has resulted to development of multiple benefits in both developed and developing countries. In addition, there has been contribution of the implementation of CSR policies by the international community. Some extractive companies in the developing countries however, have remained reluctant to adopting CSR strategies as a component of their conventional business. Most developed countries have successfully implemented CSR strategies to advance different interests. The developing countries such as Congo, South Africa and Botswana among others are in the process of putting in place such strategies to impact positively on the society, and environmental.

There has been great impact in integrating CSR into the business strategies of the extractive industries .The benefits of such integration has resulted to robust impact on both the appearance and the accomplishments of a company. Extractive industries all over the world continue to seek opportunities to comprehensively capture a greater proportion of the benefits of resources extraction and at the same time ensure that they develop the community that they operate in. Local governments should support their extractive industries so as to ensure that they in the best way reap the benefits that accompany the implementation of such. Upcoming small and medium sized industries should also be encouraged to adopt such strategies. Besides, large mining industries should be taught on the benefits that accrue the implementation of CSR industries.

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