Making the redesign work this time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Making the redesign work this time - Essay Example All of these are dependent to a number of participators, namely: change-recipient, -implementer, -planner, and -administrator. Aside from the organizational sector, other sectors are also at play in the midst of change. They may include the social, economical and the political sectors per levels of community, public or private entities, and the regional and national authorities. Reacting to change was largely partitioned into two: through resistance or allegiance. The health care facility chooses the latter but is not ignoring the existence of the former. Rather, the facility wants to take these two into consideration in redesigning the existing patient care delivery, and understand better and evaluate the feasibility of applying the administration’s recommendation of employing universal workers. After Merge The merge had left the facility with a redundancy of several staff positions; thus, the consequent reduction of workforce. Existing issues had to override with the concern on coping with the loss of compartmentalized service providers. The primary issue involve is the fragmentation of patient care delivery which resulted to poor coordination between service providers within the facility. In a fragmented delivery system, inefficiencies include failure to assist the patients and their families in navigating through the facility’s health care system, lack of service provider-to-patient accountability, absence of feedback collection systems and feedback-based improvement schemes, not systematized clinical records, and higher emphasis on â€Å"high-cost, intensive medical intervention† against the â€Å"higher-value primary care† (Shih et al., 2008). Furthermore, the patients are well aware of these inefficiencies, having â€Å"frequently reported† the several instances of coordination breakdowns (How, Shih, Lau, & Schoen, 2008). Evidently, a fragmented system of delivery is not enough to achieve higher efficiency in delivering health care services. The assessment of the facility’s current system of patient care delivery

Statement of purpose Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Of purpose - Personal Statement Example This career path will allow me to combine my inclination towards the two subjects into a powerful personal and professional skill (Brown 24). The statistics program at Columbia is especially appealing to me because it is both challenging and inspiring. The learning environment is also perfect for me, particularly the diversity and academic achievements of the institution. Last year, I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Miami. I majored in management but also undertook minors in finance, marketing, mathematics, accounting, and economics. However, being a very ambitious individual, I immediately set my minds on enhancing my academic and professional pedigree. As stated before, I am keen on working in the business statistics field, but it is so competitive that an undergraduate degree alone will not propel me to the greater heights I aspire to. The graduate program in statistics will provide me with the technical and soft skills I require to succeed in business statistics. I believe that the program will prepare me for the rigors of business statistics and give me the motivation to inspire, innovate, and impact. Over the years, my work experience has paved the way for me to complete my undergraduate degree and pushed me to hunger for further studies. I have worked as a sales assistant at Jiangsu GPRO Group Company in Nanjing, where I participated in the company’s sales and marketing activities. I have also worked as an intern at Bank of China, New York, which is one of the largest and busiest banks in the US. Most recently, I worked in the sales division of Runton International Corporation, where I performed duties related to sales, administration, support, and marketing. These experiences taught me the value of hard work, diligence, planning, and skill development. However, the biggest lesson I learned was the value of education in career growth (Brown 24). I realized that all the senior managers I interacted with had advanced

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Assignment Example One of the various changes experienced by the health care system is the change of continuum of care. Continuum of care refers to involvement of integration of various systems of care that assists patients from time to time through various means of services of health (Columbia University Medical Center, 2012). For example: in the past care was restricted to health care organizations and settings, but now health care providers are needed to provide services at different settings such as home and community centers. Now nurses are required to be culturally competent so they can deal with different patients coming from different cultural backgrounds and understand issues in the context of patient’s culture. The focus of health care systems used to be on helping patients get better, now the focus has shifted to disease prevention and individual well being. Accountability of the health care service providers have even changed. In the past, care providers were paid for their services on the basis of fee for each service. This promoted health care professionals to increase the number of services and they started focusing on quantity of service rather than quality of service. One method used to fix this issue is creation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs); such organizations have been promoted and accepted by insurance companies who cover health care and by the government. ACOs are created in such a way that certain amount of service providers obtain responsibility of caring for a batch of patients and focus is on treating and providing health service to the entire batch (Dickerson, 2011). Compensation is paid to these service providers by Medicare and insurance companies in return for saving the expenditure and cutting down the cost of treatment while providing very high quality treatment to the patient. Another new system that is gaining popularity in health care system is patient centered medical homes, this system has not only changed the previous method s of providing care, and it has even increased the required amount of nurses and their competencies (Haney, 2012, p.5). Medical homes comprise of providing health care services in teams, the leader of this team is a physician and his task is to provide health care services to patients on an ongoing and continuous basis with the main aim of achieving higher quality health care for patients. This approach specializes in providing health care services to the youth, kids and adults. An important component of this system is care coordination and for the purpose of care ordination, highly trained staff is required who know how to use technological advancements and they should have the ability to work in teams. Surveys have shown that people have started giving importance to prevention of diseases and well being of individuals over healing diseases, this issue has even been addressed in legislative and funding for prevention has been increased by the government (HelathCare, 2012). The shif t from treatment to prevention and wellbeing of patients and individuals has been given great importance by Nurse Managed Health Care Centers. These facilities charge less than what physician led health care centers charge and there is an increase in demand for such centers because of the continuous increase in cost of health care services. The focus is on care systems that are community based has been increased and more people have been covered through health care insurance

Case Study Food Restaurant Management Marketing Essay

Case Study Food Restaurant Management Marketing Essay Jack Sprat is the owner of seafood restaurant in a coastal town. He is 63 year old and doctor has advised him to take rest so he had appointed a Manager to look after the business operations and he use to come to see the business once in a week. But once he handed over the business to the manager his business is not doing well and there is continuous decline in the business. So in order to find remedy owner has approached to the investigator to analyse the case and suggest as what should be done to bring back the business of the restaurant. The investigator has analyzed the business with the tools of business (case) analysis-SWOT and further financial data has also been taken into consideration to find out the declining trend and come to a conclusion as why business is going down. In order to evaluate the business operation and put the findings in the report the investigator has done extensive research-secondary research and analysed the case with his valuable suggestions. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The investigator would like to convey his gratitude to those entire people who helped him to enhance his understanding of the case and analyzed the situation so that a valid conclusion of the case can be drawn. The investigator has completed this case successfully and has presented his findings with suggestion in this report. So author would like to thank the Module tutor for kind support and guidance. INTRODUCTION Jack Sprat is 63 year old owner of 60 seat licensed seafood restaurant that is situated in a coastal town. Before starting this business Jack was simply a Manager at a local Bluebeckers Restaurant. But an inheritance left this restaurant to him. Since the opening of this restaurant business it has given very good return. The belief of Jack towards success of this business is the Maintenance of high standards in food production and presentation. Other fact is Menu and beverage list has been fairly constant since beginning of this restaurant. Jack did not change menu and beverage list because business was giving modest return since beginning. But jack is not regular to the restaurant so he has appointed a Manager to manage the business operation and he used to come to the restaurant to see the business operation once in a week. This is because at this age (63) he has been suffering from health problem and his doctor has advised him to take rest. But business of this restaurant has gone down as soon as it was handed over to the manager. Absenteeism of the staff has increased. Keeping in mind the remedy of the situation author has established aim and objectives of this report, here are the aim and objectives written in detail: Aim of this report is to find remedy of the existing problem or discrepancies of the restaurant and give valuable suggestions to overcome from these problems so that business can be put on its old pattern-profitable. Objectives are: Finding most important problems Identification of further information that would be helpful in making realistic plans for the future of the business To list the priorities Drawing an action Plan The structure of this report is as follows: First of all main body has been presented wherein SWOT other detailed analysis has been done. Then conclusion has been drawn and bibliography (list of references) has been given followed by appendix section where additional information has been provided. MAIN SECTION Before providing solution of anything one has to find the problems first. So to find problems related to Jack Spart business the investigator has conducted SWOT analysis and financial analysis. Before going for the SWOT analysis of the business concerned it is important to understand SWOT first. SWOT ANALYSIS is the detailed search and listing of factors from situational analysis that might or will impact the businesss strategy. Strategic marketing is based on the SWOT analysis. The process by which SWOT factors are derived is to carefully review the internal analysis for strengths and weaknesses, and the environmental analysis for opportunities and threats, and to then record. (Reich, Z.A, 1997) According to Morrison, J (2002) The SWOT analysis is a commonly used planning tool, which assesses the firms strategic profile in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Focusing on both internal and external environments, it serves to highlight a firms distinctive competences, which will enable it to gain competitive advantage. Based on the above information from the scholars it is true that business environment can be divided into two part-internal and external environments. Internal environment consists of all factors that are internal part of the business. These internal factors are within the control of the business. Strength and Weaknesses of the business can be found in the internal environment of the business. External factors are those factors which are not within the control of the business and to be into existence business houses have to change in internal policy and adjust itself to cope with the external environment factors. Opportunities and Threats are the factors that are part of external environment of a business. For SWOT analysis please refer to appendix1..SWOT ANALYSIS.docx FINANCIAL ANALYSIS REVENUE (SALES) POINT OF VIEW: Food sales has increased in 2007-8 by 4.3% compared to 2006-7, and it has gone down in the financial year 2008-9 by 3.95% compared to 2007-8 sales of food. Liquor Sales has increased in 2007-8 by 5.97% compared to 2006-7 and further it increase by 15.59% in the year 2008-9 compared to 2007-8. Overall Total Sales has been increasing in the financial year by 4.67% in the financial year 2007-8 compared to 2006-7, and further increased by 6.57% in the financial year 2008-9 compared to 2007-8. DIRECT COST POINT OF VIEW: In the financial year 2006-7 food cost was 42.05% of its sales and in 2007-8 it became little favorable by going down to 41.16% of its sales figure and in the year 2008-9 in again gone up to 43.63% Direct cost of Liquor is 59.72% of its sales in the financial year 2006-7, and 57.70% in 2007-8 and further 57.91% in 2008-9. So its favorable as it is in declining trend. Total direct cost is 54.01%, 55.11% and 52.88% in the financial year 2006-7, 7-8, and 2008-9 respectively which also seems favorable because in 2007-8 it gone little up but again it gone down by good margin-around 2 to 3% GROSS PROFIT POINT OF VIEW: Gross profit of food is 57.95%, 58.84% and 56.37% in the financial year 2006-7, 7-8, 8-9. This shows increase in 2007-8 and further decline in 2008-9. Gross profit of Liquor is 40.28%, 42.30% and 42.09% in the financial year 2006-7, 2007-8, and 2008-9 respectively. Overall it is in favorable trend. Gross profit in the financial year 2006-7 is 54.01%, 55.11% in 2007-8 and 52.88% in 2008-9 which seems declining trend. In the year 2007-8 it gone up but in 208-9 it came down. This is because there was declining of sales of food in the financial year 2008-9 by 3.95%, otherwise sale of liquor in this financial year was good and direct costs were also behaving favorably. INDIRECT EXPENSES POINT OF VIEW: There are three component of indirect expenses-labour, overheads and operating expenses and maintenance expenses. Amount spent in labour is in increasing order i.e., 29.76%, 31.51% and 33.21% in the year 6-7, 7-8, and 2008-9 respectively. This shows restaurant is spending more % every year in its staffing. Overheads and operating expenses seems within control as its 8.78%, 7.21% and 8.36% in the year 2006-7, 2007-8, and 2008-9 respectively. Maintenance expenses is 1.61% of sales in the financial year 2006-7, 1.40% in the financial year 2007-8 and 0.91% of sales of financial year 2008-9. This shows that organization is spending very less on maintenance expenses. Overall total indirect expenses is 40.15% of its sales in the financial year 2006-7, 40.12% in 2007-08 and gone up in the financial year 2008-9 to 42.48% NET PROFIT POINT OF VIEW: Net profit is 13.86%, 14.99% and 10.40% in the financial years 2006-7, 7-8, and 8-9 respectively. This shows that Net profit has going down, and in the financial year it has gone down with huge gap compared to previous years percentage. Overall its a matter of discussion and management should pay attention to the indirect costs as percentage of indirect cost is very high. As gross profit is in 50% so almost 40% of sales are being spent for indirect expenses. Although management is not spending much in maintenance component of indirect expenses but other components i.e., overhead and operating expense, and payroll expenses are very high that is the reason Net profit of the restaurant is not attractive. For further information please refer to financial ratios table in appendix2..FINANCIAL ANALYSIS.docx Aim and objective No.1: Finding important problems: Operational System A sales forecast is a prediction based on past sales performance and an analysis of expected market conditions. The true value in making a forecast is that it forces us to look at the future objectively. The hotel can takes note of the past and stay aware of the present and precisely analyzes that information to see into the future. It will also help the hotel to establish policies so that one can easily monitor prices and operating costs to guarantee profits, and make one aware of minor problems before they become major problems. Employee Morale Employee morale describes the overall outlook, attitude, satisfaction, and confidence that employees feel at work. When employees are positive about their work environment and believe that they can meet their most important needs at work, employee morale is positive or high which can lead to better service and customer retention. Since there is an increase in absenteeism in restaurant employee morale can be increased by treating employees with respect, recognition and empowering them. Menu choice is stale and boring Redesign menu to increase the average spend of the hotel customers, correctly categorize the items on the menu, improve the food presentation, increase food and beverage cost and thereby increase sales at the same time. Maintenance and Hygiene problem The organization is spending very less on maintenance expenses. In any food establishments, food handlers are either the first line of defense or the cause for the need for defense. This is because most types of foods can be contaminated and it is the responsibility of the food handler to ensure the safety of the consumers by eliminating or minimizing the contamination to safer levels for consumption.   The restaurant needs to have rules and procedures in place to ensure that Personal Hygiene is effectively managed. Aim and objective No.2: Identification of further information that would be helpful in making realistic plans for the future of the business: Information needed towards market segmentation-target market: Information to the case is very important to analyze any businesss health or problem. It is equally important like medical tests are important for human body for remedy of any kind of complain of a patient. There are other tests or scanning is needed for business analysis. Market segmentation is one of them. Market segmentation: market consists of buyers who differ in one or more ways. They may differ in their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. Because buyers have unique needs and wants, each buyer is potentially a separate market. Ideally, then a seller might design a separate marketing program for each buyer. For example a caterer can customize the menu, entertainment, and the setting to meet the needs of specific clients. However, most companies are unable to offer complete segmentation. The cost of complete segmentation is high and most customers cannot afford completely customized products. Companies therefore, look for broad class of buyers who differ in their product needs or buying responses. The restaurant industry offers many examples of segmentation by a variety of variables. (kotler,p 2004) The reason why knowledge of market segmentation is needed because until unless it is not known that which segment is being targeted by the organization concerned (in this case Restaurant of Jack Sprat), it would be very difficult to compare the strength of that segment for the business. In this case it is not given in the case so its important to analyse this business from its segment point of view. Information Needed for competitors analysis: To get success of the business its needed to deal with customers, suppliers, employees, and others. In almost all cases there will also be other organizations offering similar products to similar customers. These other organizations are competitors. Objective of the other organizations is the same as yours to grow, make money and succeed. Effectively, the businesses are at war fighting to gain the same resource and territory; the customer. And like in war, it is necessary to understand the enemy: How he thinks; What his strengths are; What his weaknesses are; Where he can be attacked; Where the risk of attack is too greatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. And so on. And like in war, the competitor will have secrets that can be the difference between profit and loss, expansion or bankruptcy for the business. Identifying these secrets is thus crucial for business survival. (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com) accessed on 2/01/2011 Other information needed is about its competitors. Information of competitors is very important to know the business of competitors and further business concerned can be compared with the competitors. So competitor analysis is very important. Aim and objective No.3: To list the priorities: First of all instant action should be taken to solve Hygiene problem. Proper forecasting of guests so that underproduction and overproduction both can be kept under control Extra manpower has to be reduced so that there will be less burden on payroll cost Choice of menu has to be increased Manager should be empowered or can be changed (as information is not given properly and in detail so it is impossible to say to change) Somehow owner has to be in touch even over the phone to monitor the business operation and if possible frequency to visit may be increased. Local bank should be approached for short term loan for the refurbishment activities. Aim and objective No.4: Drawing an Action Plan: Action plan is a process that includes assessments of own strengths, available resources and market opportunities. There must be idea about marketing objective of the organization concerned then a plan can be prepared and further implemented to achieve the determined objective. In other words these informations are basic and needed at very first step towards making action plan: Market and trading environment of the business concerned Decision about market business is targeting to Knowledge about differentiation or advantage of uniqueness of own product and services Deciding marketing mix Estimation of Fund etc. ACTION PLAN: PRODUCT: Option in Menu list will be given PRICING : May charge little higher than what has been charging PROMOTION: There is need to promote the product and create awareness to remove the negative image of the organization. So it can be done through normal aids of advertisement-Newspapers or T.V Channels. Through T.V Channels it may be a little costly affair in that point of view daily is better. Other Actions to be taken: It could have opened even on Sunday to attract customers who want to utilize their holidays. So it will be open all 7 days. Funds should be managed instantly- It can be done by approaching Commercial Banks for short term loans. Refurbishment will have to be done as soon as loan is approved. Employees have to be re-motivated so that absenteeism of staff can be kept under control. CONCLUSION The investigator has analysed the case of Jack Sprats restaurant and found that major problem is its hygiene and maintenance and indirect expenses. These two factors have to be kept under control and converted into favorable mode only then this organization can earn profit like previous time. There are other areas also that needs attention i.e., arrangement of fund, manpower management, empowering manager etc. BIBLIOGRAPHY Britton, C and Worthington. I (2003) The Business Environment, 4th Edition, UK:Prentice hall. Hooley.G(2004) Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning, 3rd Edition: UK: Prentice Hall Kotler, P. (2004) Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 3rd Edition, Delhi:Person Luck.D and Rubin, S.R (1996) Marketing Research,7th Edition, USA:Prentice hall Morrison, J (2002) The International Business Environment, 1st Edition, New York; Pal Grave. Reich, Z.A (1997) Marketing Management for the Hospitality Industry,1st Edition,: Wiley and Sons Canada. Wearne.N (2001) Hospitality Management, 1st Edition, New Delhi: Global www.netmba.com/strategy/pest/ Accessed on 2/01/2011 http://dspace.dial.pipex.com) Accessed on 2/01/2011 APPENDIX 1 SWOT : Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat Analysis of Seafood Restaurant Business of Jack Sprat STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES It is an established organization Maintaining high standard in food and presentation Customers feel that restaurant is conveniently placed and charges reasonable price Owner is not able to give full time attention to the business Maintenance and Hygiene problem Menu choice is stale and boring OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Restaurant is old so having established market Market Image is good- reasonable price and consistent standard Dilution of market share due to inability to refurbish Environment Health officer may not be informal in future and there will be time when formal notice will be issued.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Essay -- students, academic progre

On January 8, 2002, President George Bush signed into law The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which was a reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was designed to help disadvantaged students achieve success in school (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011) The components of The No Child Left Behind included annual testing, academic progress, report cards, teacher qualifications, and funding changes. These measures were â€Å"designed to drive broad gains in student achievement and to hold states and schools more accountable for student progress† (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011, para. 3). NCLB also promised to close the achievement gap and increase student learning (Hursh 2007). By the year 2005-2006, the states were required to assess all students annually in grades 3-8, and these tests had to be aligned with the state standards (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011). In addition, a representative sample of 4th graders and 8th graders had to participate in National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) testing program in order to be compared to other students nationally (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011). For a school to meet academic progress, certain subgroups and the school has a whole had to make adequate yearly progress. If the school failed to make AYP, then the school could receive supplemental services and parents could send their children to another school. If the school continued to not make AYP, then the school could receive punitive government sanctions. Teachers had to be deemed highly qualified in their subject matter, and school report cards had to be released each year to illustrate student achievement data and scho... ...lenge them as well as help them to learn, the students are able to achieve academic progress. References Dee, B. and Jacob, T.S. (2011). The impact of no child left behind on student achievement. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 30 (3), 418–446. Retrieved from http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/86808/20586_ftp.pdf?sequence= Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. (2011, September 19). Issues A-Z: No Child Left Behind. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/ Hursh, D. (2007 September). Exacerbating inequality: The failed promise of the no child left behind act. Race, Ethnicity, and Education.10 (3), 295-308. Retrieved from http://www.wou.edu/~girodm/foundations/Hursh.pdf Tatum, A. (2006) Engaging African-american males in reading. Educational Leadership, 63(5), 44-49.

Describe how the British government used propaganda to in fluency the British people in the First World War

Propaganda is information designed to get people to believe a certain point of view. It does not have to be lies. It can be the truth, though it is only one part of the truth. The British government started to use propaganda at the before the world war one. They used it to make the British people dislike the Germans and support the war. Propaganda was used in world war one to promote the war effort. The government used propaganda for many deferent reasons. The government used propaganda at many different times in the war for many different reasons and some of the propaganda was not needed by the end of the war like recruitment poster. Recruitment propaganda was used from the start of the war until conscription was introduced in 1916 .The British government made many recruitment posters to get people interested in signing up to fight in the war. The government used many different and my favourite one is a man sitting in an arm chair and has his daughter asking him â€Å"daddy what did you do in the Great War?† this was made to get a normal family to sing up for the war it had a very big impact on many family men it would make them feel a bit guilty to his family that he did not help to protect the country. The government made theses posters to get people to sigh up for the war because the British army was very small about 250,000 men compared to the French and German army what where conscription army's. We need help to beat the evil Germans so we put up posters asking people to join the army. Women were also the target from propaganda either. Propaganda was targeted at them to try and get them to take up work in the places left by the vast number of men what went to fight in the war. Or to try and make their husband, fight in the war. The news papers published Atrocity stories about atrocity stories what happened in Belgium. This stories where to tell to build up hate toward the Germans. It was based on true fact and most of it was real but got mixed on the way to your ears. But other stories are just made up. They were successful because people wanted some thing to hate the Germans for and this was a good thing for the British government. A British spy was killed by the Germans what was a very good piece of propaganda .But the newspaper told us that she was a middle aged nurse working at the western frontline serving our troop in the war in the Germans lines. It was in all of Germany power to kill her because she was spying and helping British solider in prisoner of war camps escape to the frontline .It was a great pieces of propaganda for the first world war . But after the war the Germans did emit that it was a very big mistake to kill her but she could have been put in a prison. Raising money for the war became increasingly difficult throughout the war. The government tried many different ways of raising money. At first they simply spent less money elsewhere in the county or raised taxes a bit. However as the war kept on growing they didn't have enough money to fund the war. The government found its self, borrowing money from other countries to fuel the war. They decided to issue an appeal for money in the way of propaganda to get the wealthier families and households to donate money to them. They asked people to take out war bonds that could be paid back at the end of the war. This was also coped by the US in WW2. The British army did have a secret weapon of the First World War it was the tank. The Tank was a propaganda persons dream their was many new stories about it in the paper and many different pictures of it in the paper at first it was not that impressive in the war. But after time the army used them goodly and did much damage with them but. The tank did build up much national pride and gave British people hope that we where going to win the war. The government did not only want to influence the views of Britain, but also those of friends and enemies abroad. America would be a great help if they would join the war for the allies. To help mobilise America for war the Foreign Office, who were in charge of propaganda to neutral audiences, printed hundreds o books and leaflets to send to American newspaper editors. When the Luistania was sunk by a German U-boat's torpedo in 1915, British propaganda made sure it was told about a lot. Without the propaganda the country would might not have won the war. It helped us many way . It was one of the crucial factors of us winning the war although be may of gave up on the war but the government used their ever growing wisdom in know what we want to see and hear about the war (was better wisdom in them days).

Case Nestle

NESTLE CASE STUDY Nestle is one of the oldest of all multinational businesses. The company was founded in Switzerland in 1866 by Heinrich Nestle, who established Nestle to distribute â€Å"milk food,† a type of infant food he had invented that was made from powdered milk, baked food, and sugar. From its very early days, the company looked to other countries for growth opportunities, establishing its first foreign offices in London in 1868. In 1905, the company merged with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk, thereby broadening the company’s product line to include both condensed milk and infant formulas.Forced by Switzerland’s small size to look outside’ its borders for growth opportunities, Nestle established condensed milk and infant food processing plants in the United States and Britain in the late 19th century and in Australia, South America, Africa, and Asia in the first three decades of the 20th century. In 1929, Nestle moved into the chocolate business when it acquired a Swiss chocolate maker. This was followed in 1938 by the development of Nestle’s most revolutionary product, Nescafe, the world’s first soluble coffee drink.After World War 11, Nestle continued to expand into other areas of the food business, primarily through a series of acquisitions that included Maggi (1947), Cross & Blackwell (1960), Findus (1962), Libby’s (1970), Stouffer’s (1973), Carnation (1985), Rowntree (1988), and Perrier (1992). By the late 1990s, Nestle had 500 factories in 76 countries and sold its products in a staggering 193 nations-almost every country in the world. In 1998, the company generated sales of close to SWF 72 billion ($51 billion), only 1 percent of which occurred in its home country.Similarly, only 3 percent of its- 210,000 employees were located in Switzerland. Nestle was the world’s biggest maker of infant formula, powdered milk, chocolates, instant coffee, soups, and mineral waters. It was number t wo in ice cream, breakfast cereals, and pet food. Roughly 38 percent of its food sales were made in Europe, 32 percent in the Americas, and 20 percent in Africa and Asia. Management Structure Nestle is a decentralized organization. Responsibility for operating decisions is pushed down to local units, which typically enjoy a high degree f autonomy with regard to decisions involving pricing, distribution, marketing, human resources, and so on. At the same time, the company is organized into seven worldwide strategic business units (SBUs) that have responsibility for high-level strategic decisions and business development. For example, a strategic business unit focuses on coffee and beverages. Another one focuses on confectionery and ice cream. These SBUs engage in overall strategy development, including acquisitions and market entry strategy. In recent years, two-thirds of Nestle’s growth has come from acquisitions, so this is a critical function.Running in parallel to this str ucture is a regional organization that divides the world into five major geographical zones, such as Europe, North America and Asia. The regional organizations assist in the overall strategy development process and are responsible for developing regional strategies (an example would be Nestle’s strategy in the Middle East, which was discussed earlier). Neither the SBU nor regional managers, however, get involved in local operating or strategic decisions on anything other than an exceptional basis.Although Nestle makes intensive use of local managers to knit its diverse worldwide operations together, the company relies on its â€Å"expatriate army. †Ã‚   This consists of about 700 managers who spend the bulk of their careers on foreign assignments, moving from one country to the next. Selected primarily on the basis of their ability, drive and willingness to live a quasi-nomadic lifestyle, these individuals often work in half-a-dozen natiosn during their careers. Nestle also uses management development programs as a strategic tool for creating an  esprit de corps  among managers.At Rive-Reine, the company’s international training center in Switzerland, the company brings together, managers from around the world, at different stages in their careers, for specially targetted development programs of two to three weeks’ duration. The objective of these programs is to give the managers a better understanding of Nestle’s culture and strategy, and to give them access to the company’s top management. The research and development operation has a special place within Nestle, which is not surprising for a company that was established to commercialize innovative foodstuffs.The R&D function comprises 18 different groups that operate in 11 countries throughout the world. Nestle spends approximately 1 percent of its annual sales revenue on R&D and has 3,100 employees dedicated to the function. Around 70 percent of the R&D budget i s spent on development initiatives. These initiatives focus on developing products and processes that fulfill market needs, as identified by the SBUs, in concert with regional and local managers. For example, Nestle instant noodle products were originally developed by the R&D group in response to the perceived needs of local operating companies through the Asian region.The company also has longer-term development projects that focus on developing new technological platforms, such as non-animal protein sources or agricultural biotechnology products. A Growth Strategy for the 21st  Century Despite its undisputed success, Nestle realized by the early 1990s, that it faced significant challenges in maintaining its growth rate. The large Western European and North American markets were mature. In several countries, population growth had stagnated and in some, there had been a small decline in food consumption.The retail environment in many Western nations had become increasingly challen ging and the balance of power was shifting away from the large-scale manufacturers of branded foods and beverages, and toward nationwide supermarket and discount chains. Increasingly, retailers found themselves in the unfamiliar position of playing off against each other – manufacturers of branded foods, thus bargaining down prices. Particularly in Europe, this trend was enhanced by the successful introduction of private-label brands by several of Europe’s leading supermarket chains.The results included increased price competition in several key segments of the food and beverage market, such as cereals, coffee and soft drinks. At Nestle, one response has been to look toward emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America for growth possibilities. The logic is simple and obvious – a combination of economic and population growth, when coupled with the widespread adoption of market-oriented economic policies by the governments of many developing nations, makes for attractive business opportunities.Many of these countries are still relatively poor, but their economies are growing rapidly. For example, if current economic growth forecasts occur, by 2010, there will be 700 million people in China and India that have income levels approaching those of Spain in the mid-1990s. As income levels rise, it is increasingly likely that consumers in these nations will start to substitute branded food products for basic foodstuffs, creating a large market opportunity for companies such as Nestle.In general, the company’s strategy had been to enter emerging markets early – before competitors – and build a substantial position by selling basic food items that appeal to the local population base, such as infant formula, condensed milk, noodles and tofu. By narrowing its initial market focus to just a handful of strategic brands, Nestle claims it can simplify life, reduce risk, and concentrate its marketing resources and manager ial effort on a limited number of key niches. The goal is to build a commanding market position in each of these niches.By pursuing such a strategy, Nestle has taken as much as 85 percent of the market for instant coffee in Mexico, 66 percent of the market for powdered milk in the Philippines, and 70 percent of the markets for soups in Chile. As income levels rise, the company progressively moves out from these niches, introducing more upscale items, such as mineral water, chocolate, cookies, and prepared foodstuffs. Although the company is known worldwide for several key brands, such as Nescafe, it uses local brands in many markets.The company owns 8,500 brands, but only 750 of them are registered in more than one country, and only 80 are registered in more than 10 countries. While the company will use the same â€Å"global brands† in multiple developed markets, in the developing world it focuses on trying to optimize ingredients and processing technology to local conditions and then using a brand name that resonates locally. Customization rather than globalization is the key to the company’s strategy in emerging markets. Executing the StrategySuccessful execution of the strategy for developing markets requires a degree of flexibility, an ability to adapt in often unforeseen ways to local conditions, and a long-term perspective that puts building a sustainable business before short-term profitability. In Nigeria, for example, a crumbling road system, aging trucks, and the danger of violence forced the company to re-think its traditional distribution methods. Instead of operating a central warehouse, as is its preference in most nations, the country.For safety reasons, trucks carrying Nestle goods are allowed to travel only during the day and frequently under-armed guard. Marketing also poses challenges in Nigeria. With little opportunity for typical Western-style advertising on television of billboards, the company hired local singers to go to t owns and villages offering a mix of entertainment and product demonstrations. China provides another interesting example of local adaptation and long-term focus. After 13 years of talks, Nestle was formally invited into China in 1987, by the Government of Heilongjiang province.Nestle opened a plant to produce powdered milk and infant formula there in 1990, but quickly realized that the local rail and road infrastructure was inadequate and inhibited the collection of milk and delivery of finished products. Rather than make do with the local infrastructure, Nestle embarked on an ambitious plan to establish its own distribution network, known as milk roads, between 27 villages in the region and factory collection points, called chilling centres.Farmers brought their milk – often on bicycles or carts – to the centres where it was weighed and analysed. Unlike the government, Nestle paid the farmers promptly. Suddenly the farmers had an incentive to produce milk and many bou ght a second cow, increasing the cow population in the district by 3,000 to 9,000 in 18 months. Area managers then organized a delivery system that used dedicated vans to deliver the milk to Nestle’s factory. Although at first glance this might seem to be a very costly solution, Nestle calculated that the long-term benefits would be substantial.Nestle’s strategy is similar to that undertaken by many European and American companies during the first waves of industrialization in those countries. Companies often had to invest in infrastructure that we now take for granted to get production off the ground. Once the infrastructure was in place, in China, Nestle’s production took off. In 1990, 316 tons of powdered milk and infant formula were produced. By 1994, output exceeded 10,000 tons and the company decided to triple capacity.Based on this experience, Nestle decided to build another two powdered milk factories in China and was aiming to generate sales of $700 mil lion by 2000. Nestle is pursuing a similar long-term bet in the Middle East, an area in which most multinational food companies have little presence. Collectively, the Middle East accounts for only about 2 percent of Nestle’s worldwide sales and the individual markets are very small. However, Nestle’s long-term strategy is based on the assumption that regional conflicts will subside and intra-regional trade ill expand as trade barriers between countries in the region come down. Once that happens, Nestle’s factories in the Middle East should be able to sell throughout the region, thereby realizing scale economies. In anticipation of this development, Nestle has established a network of factories in five countries, in the hope that each will, someday, supply the entire region with different products. The company, currently makes ice-cream in Dubai, soups and cereals in Saudi Arabia, yogurt and bouillon in Egypt, chocolate in Turkey, and ketchup and instant noodles in Syria.For the present, Nestle can survive in these markets by using local materials and focusing on local demand. The Syrian factory, for example, relies on products that use tomatoes, a major local agricultural product. Syria also produces wheat, which is the main ingredient in instant noodles. Even if trade barriers don’t come down soon, Nestle has indicated it will remain committed to the region. By using local inputs and focussing on local consumer needs, it has earned a good rate of return in the region, even though the individual markets are small.Despite its successes in places such as China and parts of the Middle East, not all of Nestle’s moves have worked out so well. Like several other Western companies, Nestle has had its problems in Japan, where a failure to adapt its coffee brand to local conditions meant the loss of a significant market opportunity to another Western company, Coca Cola. For years, Nestle’s instant coffee brand was the dominant coffee product in Japan. In the 1960s, cold canned coffee (which can be purchased from soda vending machines) started to gain a following in Japan.Nestle dismissed the product as just a coffee-flavoured drink rather than the real thing and declined to enter the market. Nestle’s local partner at the time, Kirin Beer, was so incensed at Nestle’s refusal to enter the canned coffee market that it broke off its relationship with the company. In contrast, Coca Cola entered the market with Georgia, a product developed specifically for this segment of the Japanese market. By leveraging its existing distribution channel, Coca Cola captured a 40 percent share of the $4 billion a year, market for canned coffee in Japan.Nestle, which failed to enter the market until the 1980s, has only a 4 percent share. While Nestle has built businesses from the ground up, in many emerging markets, such as Nigeria and China, in others it will purchase local companies if suitable candidates can b e found. The company pursued such a strategy in Poland, which it entered in 1994, by purchasing Goplana, the country’s second largest chocolate manufacturer. With the collapse of communism and the opening of the Polish market, income levels in Poland have started to rise and so has chocolate consumption.Once a scarce item, the market grew by 8 percent a year, throughout the 1990s. To take advantage of this opportunity, Nestle has pursued a strategy of evolution, rather than revolution. It has kept the top management of the company staffed with locals – as it does in most of its operations around the world – and carefully adjusted Goplana’s product line to better match local opportunities. At the same time, it has pumped money into Goplana’s marketing, which has enabled the unit to gain share from several other chocolate makers in the country. Still, competition in the market is intense.Eight companies, including several foreign-owned enterprises, s uch as the market leader, Wedel, which is owned by PepsiCo, are vying for market share, and this has depressed prices and profit margins, despite the healthy volume growth. Discussions: 1. Does it make sense for Nestle to focus its growth efforts on emerging markets? Why? 2. What is the company’s strategy with regard to business development in emerging markets? Does this strategy make sense? From an organizational perspective, what is required for this strategy to work effectively? 3. Through your own research on NESTLE, identify appropriate performance indicators.Once you have gathered relevant data on these, undertake a performance analysis of the company over the last five years. What does the analysis tell you about the success or otherwise of the strategy adopted by the company? 4. How would you describe Nestle’s strategic posture at the corporate level; is it pursuing a global strategy, a multidomestic strategy an international strategy or a transnational strateg y? 5. Does this overall strategic posture make sense given the markets and countries that Nestle participates in? Why? 6. Is Nestle’s management structure and philosophy aligned with its overall strategic posture?