REAL WORLD BUSINESS ISSUES

Following the presentation of Michelle, and Ben, there are four major connections that the Board of directors should immediately address. These are industry analysis, development of the workforce through training, specialisation and innovation. All these issues are of paramount importance and should be given priority to maximise the delivery and increase in company production. The Board of Directors should work towards improving the production of the company by implementing each of the following. The company’s development relies on each of these and its survival through the challenges will be determined by whether each of these suggestions is implemented. Companies that have adopted these strategies have been known to be more productive and to give better results than those that don’t.

Industry analysis

First, there is the issue of industry analysis. When Michelle starts a clothing business, she seems to have been pushed by the market to open business. She says that she used to make the clothing for herself and people would request to have her make them clothes. On the other hand, Bill starts business and only makes good sales at the beginning of the business. After sometime, the business starts failing and he is forced to close down. This aspect is very common in many young businesses. Sometimes people just quit earlier than they should. Sometimes they have issues with management that they are unable to solve.

While many people want to start businesses, they do not first stand to think whether the company has a good enough market or not. They also lack an idea of what the competition is like and what it is going to be like in the future. Both of the lectures show a lack of information before and after starting the business. People fail to prioritise the important aspects while selecting a business and a location for the business but rather tend to prioritise matters as convenience and cost (Vogel 2007).

To analyse the industry, the Board of Directors needs to analyse all the aspects of our business. They need to determine if there is a ready market for the products that are being produced. They need to ensure that they have better products than their competition and they have better, trained if possible, market skills (Hara 2008). They also need to ensure that the key success factors are in their advantage. These key success factors include a good environment for their business, reasonable taxes and so on.

Conducting a detailed and intense industry analysis provides business owners with specific knowledge concerning their marketplace. Business people, by doing this analysis, may discover a market gap that is uncovered by other companies (Hara 2008). The Board of Directors can also conduct consumer surveys to research about alternative goods and services that could have a high demand in the marketplace. This information can provide new companies with a noteworthy benefit over existing businesses.

Education of the work force

Secondly, education of the workforce should be prioritised. Once the business has begun, the issue of making sure that the business succeeds comes up. While Bill’s case is incomprehensive, we see that at some point he was unable to continue doing business and closed down. Michelle on the other hand has issues with strategy. She was operating her business head-on and solving issues as they come. She did not have the knowledge on how to run a business. Her partner went back to school to further his knowledge on the running their clothing business. However, he trained on matters about clothing rather than management which later turned out to be a big issue. Bill on the other side tries out business while still at college and when production dropped he closed down. When Michelle closed down she decided to go back to school. She narrates that she can now run a business much more easily. Bill also furthered his education when he got a scholarship from IWMA. They both seem to be doing well in their respective positions. Something, however, worth noting is that when Michelle finishes her education, she feels less entrepreneurial and gets herself employed. On the other hand, Bill also gets himself a position in his father’s company rather than building himself his own company.

The board of directors should concentrate more on educating the work-force so that they can be more productive rather than learning on the job. Another option is to employ only trained personnel so that more time can be spent on production rather than training of employees.

Training of the workforce is fundamental for the company. Firstly, it cuts down on wastage as untrained personnel are more bound to waste resources than their trained counterparts. Secondly, a trained workforce will increase production. Thirdly, training the workforce will lead to a commitment towards the company. Thirdly, when workers display weakness in an area in their job, the suitable training can draw them closer to the required level of performance. Fourthly, training can enhance the know-how they already have and develop them to professionals. Fifth, training also cultivates a sense of belonging once they have been trained by the company. They will, therefore work harder and show more commitment to their team and tasks at hand since the employer will be showing trust to them by training them. These workers may dedicate themselves more to their employer and feel a sense of accomplishment as the company achieves its goals.

Specialization

            Another theme that is clearly demonstrated by Michelle and Bill is specialization. While Bill is working in a business that concentrates in the processing and manufacture of wires, Michelle seems to not specialize in her sector (Marlet 2013). She changes her samples every year hence showing no consistency to her consumers. She even loses some customers when they enquire about designs they are no longer producing. The board of directors should concentrate on perfecting the production of specific products rather than changing their products every few months. The board of Directors will by so doing make a positive impact on the business in several ways.

First, they will be able to reduce on the cost of production as new products, more often than not, require a lot of money for research. The money that would have been used for research would then be used in other section such as improvement of current products, technology, employment of new personnel and production. That way, the company will be more productive. Secondly, specialization will create a customer basis. This is because return customers know they can still get it (Marlet 2013).

Thirdly, a specialised company gets trust from its consumers because consumers do not want to keep risking. A customer may buy a product with the intention of testing the product. On returning, he is a customer who trusts that specific product. If, however, the customer does not find the product, he loses trust with the company.

Apart from its reliability and durability, it builds strong internal ability to successfully create and deliver valuable services and creates customer devotion, pleasure and advocacy. Specialisation enables the company to have a better positioning tactic that is very uncomfortable for others, especially competitors, to follow imitate or handle. It is vital in building business competitive strength and viability. Specialisation involves understanding, knowing and giving your attention to your core competence while serving customers. Specialisation leverages unique abilities in business so as to achieve appreciable efficiency, and sustainable competitiveness. Specialisation makes a company seem to be everywhere serving customers and thereby results in customer satisfaction. The benefits of specialisation are limitless and cannot be compromised. The Board of directors should seriously consider adopting it so that the company can thrive and rise above its competitors (Marlet 2013).

First, specialisation gives the producer an understanding of markets and competition. A good specialisation strategy gives a good segmentation antecedent of the market that develops large learning opportunities for the company. Market segmentation is the division of the market into segments so that the service of each market can be strategized. People behind the development of the specialisation strategy learn the entire market and how it relates to new and existing market at this stage. With this knowledge, the competition is also understood. This learning experience expands the product knowledge of the sales people, improves their moment of truth capacity and heightens their chances of becoming better salesmen (Marlet 2013).

The company also achieves a clear and well guided operational focus. It is compelling and leads to definite focus within the sphere of the company’s key capabilities. It also allows the company to succeed in small markets where your unique strengths can best serve.

Innovation

            Another aspect that is shared between the two cases is innovation. Both Michelle’s clothing business and Wintwire Ltd. are very innovative. Wintwire Ltd. makes a variety of products that display its innovativeness. However, it does not see the need to do away with the old products but keeps them for return customers and for variety. Michelle, on the other hand, makes new products every six months but unwisely does away with her former products.

             The Board of Directors should in this regard create a culture of innovation so that new and better products should be produced as often as possible. The best way to enact a culture of innovation is by example. If the Board of Directors show a genuine desire of innovation, they are most likely to pass this attitude to their employees. If it is passed over to all employees over time, it becomes a culture that is deeply rooted in the hearts of all the employees of the company (Bytheway 2007).

            Another way that innovation can be ingrained into the company is through experiences with the external environment. This means that the company should learn from its own past experiences concerning competition and have a desire to win the competition every other time

Finally, innovation may be started by making sure that employed only the best people to work with the company. This way, they will be creative enough to create products that are better than those of the competition (Bytheway 2007). Compromising while selecting employees is one way of increasing the cost of running business and should therefore be avoided. The current work-force will try to keep up with the pace of the high quality employees and, therefore, work harder.

The importance of adopting a culture of innovation comes in different forms. Firstly, an innovative company commands more trust from its consumers. This implies that if a company is innovative its product will attract more customers than others. Secondly, a culture of innovation is ingrained into every employee’s heart. This implies that the employees all want to participate in the production of a better product. A culture of innovation is best explained with the term “passion”. Passion is what drives development in innovative companies (Pratt & Jeff 2009).

The benefits of creativity and innovation are boundless. In an innovative company, information flows freely. New ideas are also welcomed as an innovative company is a receptive group of individuals. Innovative individuals tend to adhere to the best practices in their group. They work together to filter the ideas that are given so that they only retain the best. In an innovative company, risk taking is allowed as experience involves failures along the way. However, recklessness is not allowed (Bytheway 2007). Only actions that may result in ideas that are worth the effort are nurtured. Innovators are rewarded as it is hard to find creativity. This will result in a company in which all personnel are interested in using their skills and creativity for the better of the company.

In conclusion, every one of the above measures should be given a priority and effected as soon as possible. It is only by so doing that our company will start reaping rewards of its hard work. The Board of Directors should work towards improving the company by implementing each of the above ideas of the company in order to be able to achieve more than our competitors. By adopting the above suggestions, the company will be making a step towards a better workforce, a better company, more production and a better working community. The future of your organisation depends on the productive suggestions you are going to adopt.

References

Bytheway, C. W. (2007) FAST Creativity and Innovation: Rapidly Improving Processes, Produce development and Solving Complex Problems. FortLauderdale, Fla: J. Ross Pub

Hara. T. (2008) Quantitative tourism industry Analysis: Introduction to Input –output social accounting matrix modelling and tourism satellite accounts. Amsterdam: Butterworth Heinemann

Marlet, R. (2013) programme specialisation. London: ISTE.

Pratt, A. C., & Jeff, P. (2009) Creativity, Innovation and the Cultural Economy. London: Routledge

Vogel, H. L. (2007) Entertainment Industry Economics: A guide to financial analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University press