Tata operates

Tata operates Introduction Tata operates over 96 companies in 7 sectors which are: information technology, communications, engineering, material, service, consumer product and chemicals. This company was founded in late 18th century in India in British rule. It has been facing problems ever since, although it turn out to be India’s largest company with revenues equivalent to nations 3.2% nations GDP in 2007. Tata International came into existence in 1962, and it has evolved into an international company with turnover more than 850 million$ in 2006-07. This company has taken over various other sectors of business adding more responsibility to the stake-holders. Here we will discuss the problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom and there PESTEL and PORTAL analysis, issues relating to Marco-environment like Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environment and Legal. â€Å"In dynamic environment where the external situation is continually changing this analysis would be carried out regularly† (Roger Lewis, 2005). The model of the Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book â€Å"Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors† in 1980. The five forces as describe in his book are bargaining power suppliers, Bargaining power of customers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitute and competitive rivalry between existing players. When a company enters a new market they have set a certain goals and ambitions, they first segment the market on the basis of demography, political, environmental, socio cultural, economical and geographical. Whenever any company goes overseas it needs do proper research and see if the structural fit is possible. They should also consider the macro –environment and then decide what strategies they want to adopt and which will be the best to survive. Tata has six sectors of business in United Kingdom, which are Engineering, Consumer products, Services, Information system and communications, Chemicals and Material. Tata has widely spread business, which went on acquiring many companies in United Kingdom. Under the guidance of Ratan Tata these companies have done exceedingly well, however due to financial crisis last year its profits fell from 10.1bn rupees ($214m;  £133m) in the year to the end of March, down from 20.29bn rupees a year earlier. One of the recent achievements was to present the world’s cheapest car within 2000$ which Ratan had promised to world, although it’s having problems in setting up an industry for this car. PESTEL analysis of Tata in U.K. â€Å"Organisation’s performance and effectiveness will be dependent upon the successful management of the opportunities, challenges and risk presented by changes in the external environment† Management and organisational behaviour by Laurie J. Mullins. Political problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom The political environment in United Kingdom is quite stable and much more organised than any other countries. The only problem that the firm may face is the high tax rates in this country. Which makes it more expensive as the raw material increases the cost of productions also goes up automatically and this is the reason why many firms stay out of United Kingdom. There are also some policies by the labour contract to avoid exploitation of labour which makes this country much more expensive The famous incident is Tata Nano project in west Bengal which had to be shifted due to the political pressure and there were riots and big problems. So this plant had to shift at different region finally it was decide to Gujarat. Ratan Tata had promised the world that it would be available next year for the common man. This was not happening because of this political problem. This car was also going to be exported to UK. As the production process didn’t start the other thing got to be delayed. This is how one country’s political problem affects the whole manufacturing as well as the sales of a company. Today in financial crises every government is under tremendous pressure for the lack of investment and increasing unemployment. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Tatas UK-based car maker beset by recession and falling sales, wants the Government to act as guarantor to underwrite a  £340m loan on offer from the European Investment Bank, but the Government is stalling. It also wants Labour to encourage banks to advance it loans worth  £400m â€Å"Tata Motors executives will warn Business Secretary Lord Mendelssohn that they will scrap plans to build electric cars in the UK if it does not receive a 10 million pound loan soon†. After launching the project â€Å"low carbon industrial strategy† by Lord Mendelssohn Tata showed a great deal of interest and decided to build electric cars and applied for 10 million pounds loan. The firm secured 292 million pound loan from the European Investment Bank in April, but this needs to be guaranteed by the British Government and the two sides still cannot reach agreement on the conditions, the paper reports. (ANI) Economical Problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom Corus was really in big financial crisis before and it was in argument. UK government was ready to help this steel company and it would have followed the aluminium business which went to close for shut down. A rescue package was being prepared by the government for the bail out of the Corus. The attempt was made to bail out of this crisis as this government intervention comes there is added pressure on the managing director. Sir Brian Muffed stepped down of the post. So Corus had planned to raze 543 £millon to get out of this crisis by selling the aluminium business in Dutch and this was ruled out by the court. Off course taking over an in loss company would have been difficult and also get approval from all the stake holders. Tata was eager to become world’s 5th largest steel producing company. Tata steel borrowed 1billon $ form state bank of India, with this finance Tata injected 250  £ million into Corus much more than they anticipated. The real problem of Corus was about its finance so it had to merge with an external company. There were many problems after Tata took over the Corus and many disagreed with this design of Ratan Tata but it said that â€Å"the need for steel in this world will never will be over and it will go on rising endlessly as more and more sky scrapers are being build more new constructions are being developed and new dams are being constructed the need for steel will rise and we need to produce†. Of course this is proving to be wrong as the finical crises raise the largest steel consumer China cut the down the consumption but it’s never know what may happen. According to reports Tata is planning to raze 2 £ billion pounds as it tries to cope up with the collapse of its core business and looks for the ways to salvage the acquisition such as 1.5  £ billion Ford Marques and Corus, the British steel maker bought for 6.7 £ billion nearly 2 years ago. Tata faces tremendous pressure because of the money borrowed for foreign acquisitions thanks to economic turn down and fall for the demand of their product. Tata motors needs to repay 3 £ billion bridge loan which they borrowed for JLV acquisition. Sociological problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom Every International company faces socio-cultural problems, proper research to overcome this problem is necessary. Geographically we are divided into different continents and every country has its own cultural, according to this the company’s has to adjust and make some changes to their approach. In Corus there were mixed reactions like ,Paul Hoyt who works at defender line in land rover said that â€Å"the workers were told about this deal in three minutes just before the deal was about to be confirmed. There were only leaflets and CD’s distributed about the company about Tata Company but nothing about actual sales†. Mr. Hoyt was happy to retain his job but for how long. Johanna Nichols who works at assembly line said that, â€Å"I just hope we don’t get stitched up again†. Another worker who was working for 20 years in this company described this as â€Å"good move†. Jaguar on other hand is planning to shut down a factory and stop the production for X-type cars. This move will cost 300 job cuts while trying to adjust with changing economy, where it reported a loss of 521.8$ million in 2008-2009. Tata motors have also announced to export Tata Nano in United Kingdom with some minor changes according to the rules and regulations of the country. Tata in general has to look at the boarder view at the socio cultural changes from its home country as in India is a developing nation the labour laws are not so perfectly followed. There are lots of changes in cultural like Demographic, lifestyle patterns changes, attitude towards issues like education and corporate social responsibility and ethnic and religious matters. There also been reports of cultural clashes in Tata led Nextel in South Africa between South African Indian staff and those brought from India by Tata Communications. This was denied later on by Windily Zoà «, Nextel executive head for corporate communications and branding Technological problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom. Tata has always looked positively towards technology and has invested billions of pounds for it. Tata’s led Corus and jaguar land rover are one of the most technical advance factories. Tata invests around 35% of its total profits in RD which is by far more that its competitors. Tata consultancy service (TCL) has tied up with CISCO for technology labs in India. The lab will also allowCiscoandTCSto illustrate proofs of concepts, and IT and networking methodologies for client-specific business processes. The Pune factory in India for Tata motors is more emphasised on human hand rather than robotic arms, Ratan Tata believes that the labour in India is cheap and investing more on robotic arms will push more individuals on unemployment scale. The brand new factory being set up for Tata nano in Gujarat is more technically advance to meet its demand. Tata in UK did not face any technical problems as such but there are plenty of threats that may cause these problems. As this is a more technically developed country the infrastructure available is much more advance and stable then India. As Tata telecom is ready to invest 500$ US dollars it future technology of WiMax, 4G, Wireless broadband in India. It recently formed joint venture with Boeing with investment of over 500$ million for defence-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing and its international customers. Tata motors European technical centre (TMETC) brought up for RD a purpose which is steadily taking Tata motors towards achieving global standards. Legal obligations faced by Tata in United Kingdom The political environment of United Kingdom is very stable and well structured. The laws and trading policies are well developed which give minimum exploitation to labours and customers. Tata comes from India where the legal environment is not so stable and the regulatory bodies are incapable to enforce laws. The British health and safety laws for the better conditions of workers are the most strong and predominant On June 30th 2009 Gordan Brown meet chairmen of Corus about the 2000 job cuts as the steel industry faces a major economic turn down. He agreed that government has already offered  £5 million pounds to help with training support across Corus sites. Buying over Land Rover and Jaguar for 2.3$ billions Tata was under tremendous pressure as there were mixed reactions from all Britain. Plenty feared about devaluation by Indian brand and suggested government to take control of Jaguar brand, as it symbolises best of British. There were no real legal or political problems faced by this company in United Kingdom. There were some MPs who did not like an Indian brand taking over British Companies. India has the second largest investment from Asia with 75 projects in 2007-07. The future changes to be expected in the legislation are mostly based on the environment effect and the green house effect on our earth. Environmental problems faced by Tata in United Kingdom Today in the ever changing environment there is lot of pressure on every industry to cut down there green house gases and cut the pollution to minimum. As the climate change is a major problem in front of humans, the changes in the basic system of industrialization is necessary. The Tata group has a set of explicit guidelines on environmental and ecological issues, and a broad range of policies aimed at helping Tata companies protect, conserve and restore our natural resources. Tata group is facing up to the challenge of climate change and making it integral to its processes. Coordinating and directing the climate change efforts of the groups companies are some of the senior-most Tata leaders. It is quite clear that the major pollution is caused by automobile industry and other commodities. Tata has its share of problems in this sector as it launched the new product Tata nano the low price car which is also to be sold in the European market by nano europa. Professor Lucas Reinders, Amsterdam Universitys professor of the environment, is very concerned: This car will offer an attractive alternative to people who rely on Indias poor public transport or who ride cycles or motorbikes on its dangerous roads. Therefore, I think theres a good chance a huge number of the cars will be sold. Professor Reinders however has different views about this car and says that even though nano is clean then motor bikes, it still drinks more fuel than motor bikes. Jaguar and land rover in UK have a different story, which is asking for more investment to meet the fuel-economy regulation in EU. LandRoverdoesn’t have a single model that comes near the EUs proposed 120g/km CO2 fleet average emissions rating, let alone an entire fleet averaging this, while Jaguar’s emissions levels are only marginally better. Corus Consulting offers a comprehensive range of environmental services which are applicable to many heavy and light industries through a number of Environmental Groups established by Corus in both the Netherlands and the UK. In all, Corus Consulting can call upon the expertise of around 120 environmental specialists within the Corus Group. Additionally The Corus Group of companies has developed numerous unique and innovative techniques used in the field of environmental practices which are used to enhance and benefit the services offered. Portal’s Five Forces for Tata Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power is the ability to set the prices according to changing conditions. The more concentrated and controlled the supply is the more monopolistic it is. In a truly competitive market, no one supplier can set the prices. The choice of supplier may affect every department of company directly and indirectly The fear that the production of jaguar and Land Rover can leave Midland, it is estimated that up to 90% of the suppliers in Midland employing around 15,000 people, make parts directly or indirectly for Jaguars Castle Bromwich Plant in Birmingham and Land Rover in Solihull. Corus Purchases include iron ore and coal, alloys, refractories, rolls, and paint, as well as a whole range of other goods and services. Corus expects their suppliers to be comply with law and regulation standards, appropriate health and safety standards, appropriate quality, appropriate environmental standards, financial safety, reliable supply and competitive prices. These are not unusual demands and in fact every company expects the same and demands the similar choices. Bargaining power of customer Similarly, the bargaining power of customers determines how much customers can impose pressure on margins and volumes. Customers bargaining power is likely to be high when customers buy large volume of sales; the supplying industry comprises a large number of small operations, supply industry operates with high cost. Sales for jaguar and land rover have decreased over the year and past few months it has registered loss due to decrement in sales. The table below shows us the sales of past few years and how it has decreased over the years. Jaguar Sales Land Rover Sales Sales Year 41,046 2003 41,401 2004 43,769 2005 42,793 2006 Sales Year 29,240 2003 32,535 2004 26,328 2005 23,165 2006 Threat of new entrant It’s not only the existing players in an industry pose threat to each other; a new entrant can also affect the competition. The easier it is for a new firm to enter in a business, the more cut-throat competition there will be. Factors like Government Restrictions and legislations, Patents, High Entry Cost, Existing loyalty to major brands. Tata does not hold such risk but it may have risk against new high prices and also government restrictions. As the raw material prices rise so does the cost of production, this may affect the sales and the profit margin of the company. Tata’s Taj hotels may have a threat for new hotels, although they have enough competitions already. The dream project Nano is also going to face a competition as Nissan- Renault are developing a new product similar to Nano with Bajaj the biggest two wheeler company in India . Threat of substitute of Product Substitute refers to the change of taste of customers, the threat that customer will switch to a new of a substitute product for e.g. If Tata tea (Tetley) increase their price it is quite possible that their customer might switch to coffee or a cheaper brand. â€Å"The international steel shortage and subsequent price increases have led to the manufacture of fibreglass gratings as an alternative to steel grating† says Fibreglass Grating Company MDJay Behrmann. Steel needs high costs of steel installations and maintenance, frequent replacement and steels susceptibility to corrosion and rust, alternatives to steel are being sought. Tata motors also face a major threat as the fuel crises rise and demand goes on rising, the quest to search for new or alternative source of fuel goes up. The new hybrid cars and electric cars seem to be solution for time being. There are major research labs set up by competitors to overcome this problem Tata somewhere seems to be left behind. Competitors with Industry This is the competition between the existing firms in the same sector of industry the most common example is coca cola and PepsiCo. Tata has big set of rivals in each sector of its business and it adds to change in strategies, prices, structure and finance. The competitors for Tata steel (Corus) is Arcelor Mittal, Nippon Steel (Japan), JFE (Japan), POSCO (China), these are some of the major steel producing companies in world and they stand before Corus in production bases and impose a major threat to Corus. Tata motors on other hands has major problems because in this financial crisis it has imposed a major loss of around 383$ millions. Companies like BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Honda are major threat to Jaguar as we have seen the sales has decreased over the years and after Tata took over the company there was a big decline. The competitors impose a huge pressure on the pricing on the product and denser the competition more price effective the customer is. Conclusion Tata one of the leading company’s of India is facing some major problems due to credit crunch. Although it is in FTSE 100 it has done excellent in taking over some of the major companies and can look forward to get long term benefits. After doing the PESTEL analysis i suggest considering the economic problem which could be the major problem for the company. After analysing the Portal’s 5 forces i see a major threat from the rivalry with in Industry. Tata has a long way to go before if finally achieves its ambitions and the external factors or Macro Environment factors won’t make it easier. Bibliography Global shift: mapping the changing contours of the world economy / Peter Dicken, 2007 (page no. 57-58). Management and organisational behaviour By Laurie J. Mullins (page no 256-259) http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/india/ visited (06-06-2009) http://uk.tata.com/ visited (08-06-2009) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/ visited (12-07-2009) http://www.corusgroup.com/en/ visited (12-07-2009) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_business visited (13-07-2009) http://blog.taragana.com/n/tata-says-uk-job-cuts-likely-at-jaguar-land-rover-93565/ Visited (13-07-2009) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8074231.stm visited (14-07-2009) http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/marketing-plan/pestle-analysis.html visited (14-07-2009) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/damianreece/5297599/Labours-cold-hearted-treatment-of-Tata-could-be-costly-to-UK-trade.html visited (16-07-2009) http://blog.taragana.com/n/tata-led-neotel-denies-problems-between-indian-south-african-staff-76091/ visited (16-07-2009) http://blog.taragana.com/n/tata-to-scrap-uk-electric-cars-project-if-10-mn-pound-loan-is-delayed-114007/ visited (16-07-2009) http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk/en/working-with-india/india-uk-relations/ visited (18-07-2009) http://www.marketsmonitor.com/Indian-Automobile-Sector-A-Booming-Market-Report/IM526.htm visited (19-07-2009) http://www.researchconnect.com/downloadreport.asp?RepID=23987 visited (21-07-2009)

History evacuation course work Essay

The two sources are different, source B is a picture taken during the war in1939 the year in which the war had started in September. It seems to have been used as a government propaganda source. The photo is to encourage people to evacuate their children, also to get people to look at the people in the picture see the faces in the picture and look at their spirit and get them to follow the example. I have made this conclusion because the picture looks as if it has been taken from high up and at an angle looking down, also all the people are waving and they all look happy and the formation they’re walking in is pretty organized. The government wanted this because they wanted people two evacuate. Source C is a teacher being interviewed in 1988 remembering what happened the teacher tells us about the start of the journey at the train station about the mothers trying to shout to there children good bye because they wont see them for a long time. The teacher might not remember every thing because its 50 years after the event so his memory would be patchy or might only focus on just the bad points in instead of the good. This source was probably made for teaching aides or an archive because sources e and f are also dated 1988. I think that source C is the most valuable source as evidence as what happened because source b was probably set up by the government to get people to agree with them that children should be evacuated this was important to the government because they don’t want children among the casualty list also they want to keep that generation because in ww1 they lost a generation of men. Source C is someone who was their giving their opinion on the matter this is valuable because someone is recalling the truth as they saw it happening before them. The extract comes from a book called Carries war it was written in 1973 by Nina Bowden. The book is a children’s novel it has been written to entertain children. This would affect the book by changing facts and figures because she needs to make it more interesting. The context of this story is the evacuees Carrie and nick being taken back to there evacuation home by there carer Miss Evans before this scene they would have had been at the train station being issued to there cares. Miss Evans thinks that the evacuees Nick and Carrie are poor Carrie and Nick think that it’s funny and aren’t really bothered. The characters think this because the children saw evacuation as a big adventure but the adults saw the children as smelly little things. The conditions some of the children come from were terrible the houses were terraced close together and very poor quality. I think this source is not very reliable at all it is a story it is a story it is made to entertain little children problems would be that the facts may be different and could that the author doesn’t have a clue.

Battle of the Somme and Source

How far does Source 3 challenge the impression given in Sources 1 and 2 that the Battle of the Somme had achieved worthwhile objectives? Having analysed all 3 sources, it can be said that source 3 significantly challenges sources 1 and 2 giving an entirely different perspective on the battle of the Somme. Source 1 is an extract from Sir Douglas Haig’s final dispatch, published in March 1919. This source begins to describe the Battle of the Somme as a tremendous victory.Haig claims that â€Å"The three main objectives†¦ had been achieved. † Haig also then begins to describe the three objectives, â€Å"Verdun had been relieved†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , â€Å"German forces had been held down†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and â€Å"the enemy’s strength had been considerably worn down†. Haig also claims that as the objectives had been â€Å"achieved† this was enough to â€Å"†¦justify the Somme Battle. † This source was published shortly after the war in 1919, b ut was a few years after the Battle of the Somme allowing some time for the truth about the events of the battle to emerge.The source has some limitations as it was an extract from Haig’s own writing, who was Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces therefore the source may be bias towards Britain and their success in the battle. The purpose of the source was to inform people of Haig’s perception of the battle and due to this being one person’s view, the accuracy of the source cannot be verified. Source 2 is extract from a book published in 1929 by Charles Carrington who was a Junior Officer during the time of the Battle.Similar to source 1, this source was written by someone who had authority in the armed forces, and describes the Battle of the Somme as another â€Å"moral† booster for the British Army. The author of the source states there was a â€Å"definite and growing sense of superiority over the enemy† and by the use of the word â€Å"defi nite† the use of facts is now apparent. In contrast, later on in the source Carrington states â€Å"we were quite sure at the time that we had got the Germans beaten†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and by using the phrase â€Å"quite sure† it is now apparent that facts are no longer the basis of this source.Unlike source 1 where Haig describes the Somme Battle as a complete victory, Carrington quickly states that â€Å"we did not win a decisive victory† but is quick to reverse this by stating â€Å"†¦next spring we would deliver the knock-out blow† showing that he feels the end of the war is near. This source was published many years after the war, but it was published by someone who was there, similar to source 1.Also similar to source 1, this source is the view of someone with authority and someone with a high ranking position within the armed forces therefore their opinion may be bias towards the Somme and the British Army. Source 3 is part of an interview with Cor poral W. H. Shaw in the 1960s where Shaw is recalling the first day of the Battle. Already this source differs to sources 1 and 2 as it is no longer an extract but part of an interview. Shaw starts of the source with â€Å"we did not get anywhere, we never moved from the line, hardly†.This is different to source 1 where Haig claims â€Å"Verdun had been relieved†. Shaw states that â€Å"our men were just falling back into our trenches† which significantly differs to Carrington’s statement that â€Å"we had got the Germans beaten†. Shaw claims that the events of the some were â€Å"sheer bloody murder† and that â€Å"whatever was gained it wasn’t worth the price the men had to pay† which is in contrast with source 1 where Haig claims that the results of the Somme where â€Å"sufficient to justify† the battle.This purpose of this source is to spread light on the Somme battle and release the truth about the event. Because t his source was by a member of the British Forces and who of which is supplying eyewitness accounts of the events at the front line, this source can be classes as highly reliable. Due to the date of the source, it can be argued that Shaw’s memory may be slightly skewed but due to the lack of censorship at this time compared to during the time of the war, Shaw can now freely speak about the events of the Somme.Throughout all 3 sources it is noticeable that soldiers and officers of a higher rank are more likely to support the Battle of the Somme and argue that it achieved its objectives. Throughout sources 1 and 2, Officer Carrington and General Haig are extremely supportive of the Somme battle. This is demonstrated by Haig’s claims of â€Å"the three main objectives†¦ had been achieved† and Carrington’s view that â€Å"we had got the Germans beaten†.However, neither of these men were likely to have engaged in any front line combat within the tre nches during the Battle of the Somme. This is why source 3 proves very useful as an account of the first day at the Somme. Shaw describes the battle as â€Å"sheer bloody murder† and crushes Carrington’s claims of â€Å"superiority† with accounts such as â€Å"men were just falling back into the trench†. Therefore it can be argued that Source 3 significantly challenges the view given in sources 1 and 2 that the Battle of the Somme achieved its worthwhile objectives.

Defining The Nature Of A Strategy Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1955 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? The word strategy is derived from a greek word strategus which means commander in chief. From management context strategy is a longterm planning or decision patterns and actions taken by the upper level of the organizational members in order to achieve and accomplish organizational objectives. (Bratton, n.d). Strategy is the formation of a unique, exceptional and valuable position involving a different set of activities. Strategy can be defined as determining long term objectives of an enterprise and the adopting of course of actions and the allocation of resources that are required to execute those goals. A strategy is the internally consistent configuration of activities that distinguishes a firm from its rivals. (Poter, 1996) Strategic management is a continuous process of formulating, implementing and controlling broad plans that facilitate an organization in achieving the set objectives. It can also refer as the art and science of formulating, implementing and eva luating cross-functional decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objective. (Bratton, n.d). Strategic management is an ongoing activity and requires an invariable modification among the three traditional poles of a strategic plan including: values of senior management, environment and the resources available. It can also be defined as the set of decisions and actions that determines the long-term performance of an organization. The strategic management process has five steps; mission and goals, environmental analysis, strategic formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation. The strategic management model starts with top management evaluation of organizations current position with respect to its set current mission and goals. The Mission reveal what an organization wants to be and whom it wants to serve and how? Mission Statements are essential for effectively establishing objectives and formulating strategies. Goals are the desired ends sought through the actual operating procedures of the organization and typically describe short-term measurable outcome. Strategic management second step is the environmental analysis which consists of two parts internal assessment and external assessment. Strategic formulation is the third step in the strategic management model which involves making strategic choices and making strategies at three different levels corporate, business and functional. Strategy Implementation the fourth step which means invloving employees and managers in order to execute the formulated strategies. It is referred as the most difficult stage of strategic management process. It requires personal discipline and commitment. The final stage in strategic management process is strategy evaluation in which management analyzes the consequences of implemented strategies and controls it by adopting corrective measures. (Bratton, n.d) In diversified business organization, strategic management is applied on different levels o f hierarchy based on their strategic needs. The hierarchy of strategy can be classified into three levels as: corporate, business and functional. Corporate-level strategy explains what business we are in? It provides the overall strategic direction in diverse areas of an organization that facilitates in smooth running of its different business units. Business-level strategy focuses on effectiveness and efficiency of a business unit. The basic purpose of this strategy is to take decisions that would make a business unit more competitive in the market place and therefore, it is primarily concern with the process of how do we compete?(Bratton, n.d). Porter (1985) (as cited in Bratton, n.d) had introduced a framework for business strategy which is based on three competitive strategies; cost leadership, differentiation and focus. These strategies are worldwide known as Michael Porters Generic strategies. Cost leadership strategy emphasize on producing standardized products at a very low per-unit cost for consumers who are price sensitive. Two alternative cost leadership strategies are classified as Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 can be defined as a low cost strategy that offers products or services to a wide range of customers at a lowest price available in the market. Type 2 can be described as a best value strategy that offers of products and services to a wide range of customer at the best price value on the market. It aims to offer customers a range of products and services at the lowest price available compared to rivals products with similar attributes. Differentiation is a strategy focused at producing products and services considered unique industry wide and intended for consumers who are relatively price insensitive. Focus strategy emphasize on producing products and services that fulfill the needs of a small group of consumers. The two alternative of Focus strategies are categorized as Type3 and Type 4. Type 4 is a low cost focus strategy that offers products or services to a small range (niche group) of customers at the lowest price available on the market. Type 5 is a best value focus strategy that offers products or services to a small range of customers at the best price value available on the market. (David, n.d). Miles and Snow (1984) (as cited in Bratton, n.d), identified four levels of business strategies that are called four modes of strategic orientation: defenders, prospectors, analysers and reactors. Defenders are companies with limited product line and management focus on improving the efficiency of their existing operations. Prospectors are companies having broad product lines that focus on product innovation, creativity and market opportunities. Analysers are companies that operate in at least two different product areas, one stable and one variable. Reactors are companies that lack a consistent strategy structure culture. Rather than defining a strategy that suit to specific environment, they respond to environmental thre ats and opportunities in ad hoc fashion. Functional level strategy emphasizes on continue improvement of functions within a business units including: research development, marketing, manufacturing, finance and HR. It has been highlighted with strong emphasize in the several strategic management literature that the synergy among different levels should be present. Therefore, when the strategies at different levels are fully integrated, organization would effectively able to achieve its sets targets. (Michael E. Poter, 1996) Competitive strategy is about being different it means consciously choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value. Competitive advantage occurs when firm have resource heterogeneity and resources immobility. Firm resource heterogeneity this concept suggests that firms all have the different amount and kind of physical, human and organizational resources and they vary across firms. Firms resource immobility refers that competing firms a re enable obtain resources from others. (Jay Barney, 1991) Sustainable Competitive advantage is a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors as well as competitors are unable to duplicate the benefits of these strategies. According to Porter, 1985 (as cited in Ulrich, n.d) competitive advantage can be defined as firms ability to generate unique products or services which are valued by users of those products. In search of its sources, executives have come across three traditional means of gaining competitive advantage (economic, strategic technology capabilities). (Jay Barney 1991) Four attributes that gives potential to firm recourses to achieve sustained competitive advantage are: valuable, rareness, imitability and substitutability. Strategies are valuable when they facilitate an organization to envision of or implement strategies that improve efficiencies and effectiveness and recourses are rare when a value creating strategy not simultaneously implements by large number of other firms, the resources must be imperfectly imitable and it is possible when any firm has one or a combination of three reasons (a) unique historical condition (b) causal ambiguity (c) social complexity, the resources can not be substituted with another resources by competing firms. (Pankaj Ghemawat, 1986) Sustainable competitive advantage has three categories: size in target market, superior access to resources and restrictions on competitors options. Organizational survival in highly turbulent environment has become the major concern of organizations today. Since last decades, due to the extreme globalization and increased technological influences the business environment has gone through major changes and become the focus of attention. Such changes have emphasized executives to focus on means that help to create and achieve competitive advantage. (Ulrich, n.d). In order to remain competitive and perform effectively i n rapidly changing environment, decision-makers need to seek out factors that provide organizations sustainable competitive advantage. (Hussain, n.d). According to Porter, 1985 (as cited in Ulrich, n.d) competitive advantage can be defined as firms ability to generate unique products or services which are valued by users of those products. In search of its sources, executives have come across three traditional means of gaining competitive advantage (economic, strategic technology capabilities) (Ulrich Lake 1991; Ulrich 1997). Reviews on traditional means of gaining competitive advantage highlighted that these traditional means may be necessary but not sufficient. Executives have realized that additional sustained competitive advantage lies in recognizing and creating organizational capabilities through better deployment of human resources. (Schuler MacMilan, 1984; Ulrich 1986; Ulrich, n.d). Organizational capability can be defined as firms ability to manage people to gai n competitive advantage. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). It focuses on employee commitment and competence. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). Organizations human resources is prove to be the key differentiating factor in developing future competiveness when traditional sources of competitive advantage are easily imitated. (Hussain, n.d). It is something that is difficult to imitate and hence it creates uniqueness. (Ulrich and Lake, 1991). There are several models to measure organizational capability that include (cited in organizational capability- what does it mean, n.d): Hase and colleagues (2000), Dill and Delahaye (2003).But one the widely used model is EFQM. The model is based on nine criteria: five enablers (leadership, people, policy strategy, resources and processes) and four results (people result, customer result and society result). When organizational capability has become the source of competitive advantage and HR professionals are the driving force behind it, than there is a need to d evelop new agenda for both HR practices and HR professionals. (Ulrich, 1997). Ulrich emphasized that HR professional who contribute to CA must become strategic business partner and acquired new set of personal and professional competencies. (Ulrich, n.d). The concept of strategic business partnering was introduced by Dave Ulrich in his famous book Human Resource Champions in the mid 1990s. (CIPD, n.d). Human resource business partner is a new emerging role in organizations today. In this capacity HR professionals are the human resource specialists, involved in strategic planning of organization to improve business performance and develop organizational culture. (Dash et al, n.d) Lawler and Boardreu shared their views on HR as strategic business partner and highlighted that in this new role HR is a member of senior management team and is directly involved in the major business decisions of the organization, including the formation of strategy, the design of the organization and th e implementation of the business model.( Lawler and Boardreu, n.d). It has been observed that, during the past decades HR was solely viewed as administrative support function, involved in processing employee paper work, benefits, maintaining personal files. (Dash et al, n.d). Ulrich (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) has also highlighted the fact that HR function has been viewed an administrative function led by individuals who was primarily responsible to control cost and look after the administrative affairs. As highlighted by Ulrich, HR is the key to success.( Ulrich, 1997). Several studies have positively highlighted the potential for the HR function to be a strategic partner and concluded that it can be a value-added function. Research by Becker and Huselid (1998) (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) also identified a relationship between HR practices and firm performance. Other studies also highlighted the need and emphasized the fact that due to the increased comp etition for HR talent, HR must mould itself in strategic business partner role. (Lawler and Morhman, 2003). Ulrich discussed that HR needs to become a strategic business partner. (as cited in Lawler and Morhman, 2003) He has emphasized that the HR function should become strategically proactive, that it needs to go beyond administrative expertise and be an expert in strategic business partnership, change management, and employee advocacy. (Ulrich, 1997). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Defining The Nature Of A Strategy Business Essay" essay for you Create order