Diversity Management

The world’s increasing globalization trend demands more interaction between people from a vast diverse of cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds than the past. Today, people no longer live and work in an insulated marketplace. The reality is they are now part of a worldwide (or commonly mentioned as flatten) economy with competition coming from nearly every angle of the globe. For this reason, businesses need to be open to change and accept the concept of diversity to become more creative. In daily conversation, the word of “diversity” has the meaning of differences or variety. However, in the business world and in the business textbook, diversity often refers to the many differences present among people today in workplace as well as marketplace that were not aware of by most people in the past. Diversity management is often referred as acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, Continue reading

PESTLE Analysis of Starbucks

Starbucks started off as a small coffee shop in 1971. The founders consisted of Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Ziev Siegl who exchanged their ideas and launched their first outlet at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. In the early 1980s Howard Schultz joined Starbucks and has later felt the need that Starbucks needed to market themselves. He wanted to create a brand image that would attract customers and help them to differentiate their coffee outlet from other competitors. Schultz visited Italy and was ‘impressed with their popularity and culture.’ He thought it would be a good idea to bring the espresso bars, lattes and mochas to Seattle. Throughout the years Schultz has managed to differentiate Starbucks, creating a very strong brand image in the most unique way in American’s minds, gaining its competitive advantage through the comforting physical environment that they adapt encouraging the lounging experience. Schultz successfully embedded Continue reading

Adam, Hayes and Hopson Model of Transition

We experience change on a daily basis as our environment is continually changing, more so than ever before in this digital and rapidly advancing technological age, but change is not the same as transition. A transition in the context of this article is an internal (psychological) change within a person or persons. Change happens to people and transition is an internal process. Changes which people experience may or may not be accompanied by a transition depending on the level of change and how a person is affected by it. In the Adam, Hayes and Hopson model of transition a transition begins with a discontinuity in a person’s life which they are aware of and can be the end of a job, relationship, loss of a loved one, loss of identity, loss of a current mode of being and so on. A person has to adapt to a new environment, situation Continue reading

Strategic Business Plan

Either in the start up process or when re-inventing one’s business development, the design of a strategic business plan is an indispensable step towards a successful and viable business. Strategic planning involves setting up a sound and multifaceted plan or strategy to follow over a defined time period. It can involve all aspects of the business, or just a small part of it i.e. a selected department such as the marketing department. However, this does not mean that strategic business planning is only for large scale businesses since it can also benefit the small business, especially at start up, when the business sets its first goals and establishes itself in the business landscape. Writing up a business plan is an important step of a starting business, since most lending bodies will not authorize loans in absence of a detailed business plan. Why is it important? Imagine sailing off for a Continue reading

Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron?

Business ethics refers to application of rules and regulations that govern business conduct by both individuals and organizations. It forms a basis for the philosophy that gives a business or an organization a purpose to operate. The complexity and demands of business in today’s world have changed how business is executed. Business owners determine what is ethical and what is unethical . Why Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron? Business ethics is an oxymoron because business and ethics are incompatible. Therefore, businesses should focus on what they do and leave ethics to individuals. Looking at their respective definitions gives an indication of two contradictory sets of principles. To ensure success in business, it is necessary to prioritize personal interests. This requires aggressive competition with other businesses, an insatiable appetite for money and power, and stringent business principles. It is difficult to achieve these business ideals by being overly ethical. The contradiction presented Continue reading

Importance of Capital Structure Planning

For the real growth of the company the financial manager of the company should plan an optimum capital structure for the company. The optimum capital structure is one that maximize the market value of the firm. In practice the determination of the optimum capital structure is a formidable task and the manager has to perform this task properly, so that the ultimate objective of the firm can be achieved. There are significant variations among industries and companies within an industry in terms of capital structure. Since a number of factors influence the capital structure decision of a company, the judgment of the person making the capital structure decisions play a crucial part. A totally theoretical model can’t adequately handle all those factors, which affects the capital structure decision in practice. These factors are highly psychological, complex and qualitative and do not always follow accepted theory, since capital markets are not Continue reading