Resetting_Management,_Marketing_and_Human_Resources_for_Failling_Company

1.0 Introduction Golden Myanmar Group of companies is one of the leading companies for many industries in Myanmar. Last month, we acquired Asia Best Link Company (ABL) which head-quarter is located in S-17, U Chit Maung Housing, West Horse Racing Road, Tamwe, is a medium size company, had successful in the past, has been in this industry for four years, yet the reputation drops slowly due to the internal weaknesses, for the business expansion. ABL was successful in the past two years since they captured the customers’ satisfaction by providing the best service in the industry in the very beginning. Moreover, the customers were enthusiastic about having the security equipment for their personal or private belongings. This ABL Company currently has 73 employees and the employees are highly motivated in the early years of the business first established. During the budget year (2011-2012), the business gets the 35% of the market share. But in this budget year, the market share drops form 35% to 20% due to the poor service, customers’ dissatisfaction, less motivated employees and not having the clear and specific vision, mission, and objectives which are the essential process in running a business. So we set the new vision, mission and objective for our organization’s growth. The chart below shows the market share of the same business in this industry. 2.0 Task 1 2.1 Situational analysis Mission -To provide safe, well-maintained and comfortable facilities that complements and promotes our dynamic environment. - To provide meaningful protection to members and their families against contingencies. - To help people in preventing the risks of everyday life and in recovering from unexpected loss. - To protect the life and property of the customers we serve. - To have a strong and firm relationship with our stakeholders by building up mutual understanding and trust. Vision Our vision is to be the best and most successful security company in Yangon and throughout of Myanmar by delivering high quality and cost competitive products and be the first choice of customer. And we also aim for facilitating people to live in better and safety environment in accordance with the changes of policy, culture and circumstance. Moreover, we aim to expend our company to International Security School which provides the bodyguards for President and other VIPs. Objectives In order to reach our specific goal, we must achieve our objectives first. Strategic Objective -By the year 2017, we must get 60% of market share. Tactical Objective -To increase our sale revenue up to 10% by the end of this year. Operational Objective -To persuade 10 or more customers by promoting our high quality products within a month. 2.2 Organization structure Cashier Cashier Distribution Distribution Purchasing Manager Purchasing Manager Intermedium Intermedium Individual Customer Service Individual Customer Service Operation Manager Operation Manager HR Manager HR Manager Finance Manager Finance Manager Sales & Marketing Manager Sales & Marketing Manager Customer Service Manager Customer Service Manager CEO CEO BOD BOD GM GM Sales Sales Marketing Marketing Technical Technical Logistic Logistic Public Relations Public Relations Retail Retail Wholesales Wholesales Accounting Accounting Recruitment & Selection Recruitment & Selection Logistic Logistic Technical Technical Training & Development Training & Development Sales account service Sales account service Warehousing Warehousing Public Relations Public Relations Stockist Stockist Finance Finance Market Research Market Research Online Marketing Online Marketing Promotion Promotion Our old organization structure hierarchy was a bit complicated due to the tall structure and the long change of command. In our case, we build flat organization structure to define our company’s hierarchical alignment and work flow in order to provide efficient flow of information and control a broad area with wide span of management. We plan to delegate and empower authority to employees according to situation so that they can learn opportunities to do their task and can be self-directed in their work. As our company is medium-sized one, it is difficult to report all on-going projects and activities as it can takes too much time for making decisions in this hypercompetitive business world. In our company, we assign each department manager to perform quickly and to do efficient decision making process. In the case of budget related projects, we consider assigning the site manager (finance) and then reporting back to GM and he will finalize the decision to eliminate losses. In this way, we can achieve our company’s reputation with skillful and talented employees. 2.2.1 Work Specialization Work Specialization or Division of Labor means a particular staff or worker is assigned to a particular type of job and the advantage of specialization is that work can be performed more efficiently. Also the employees can improve their skills through repeating same job and thereby it can increase ability and the company to work in harmony and more efficient way. Our organization structure illustrates to assign employees to specialize in a single task which will make our employees to be professionals in their field. 2.2.2 Chain of Command The chain of command is an unbroken line of authority that links all people in an organization. Our organization’s decisions are usually passed down from top to bottom of the hierarchy that shows who report to whom. We believe that it makes distinct authority and responsibility for different tasks. 2.2.3 Span of Management The span of management is sometimes called the span of control. The span of management is the number of employees reporting to a supervisor. There are two types of span of control, narrow and wide in business. Our management span is the wide span as our organization structure is a flat one. It allows to take little time in coordination with other department or planning, then makes decision to be more quickly because as there are fewer levels of management that must relay information down to the customers. 2.2.3 Centralization and Decentralization Centralization and decentralization pertain to the hierarchical level at which decisions are made. We retain authority for top management in taking major decisions and framing policies and delegate rest of the authority to the middle level and lowest level of management. According to our organization structure, we planned to use both methods. For purchasing and importing, they are to be centralized since they are the tasks associate with the financial matter. When it comes to budget related projects, it is best to be centralized so that we could be able to eliminate superfluous losses. However, we decided that other tasks which are not related to financial matter should be ruled by the GM and the line managers, since they are fully responsible and has been given authorities for all the works over their subordinates. 2.2.4 Delegation of Authority (DOA) We used to use supervision system long ago. And it was such a failure for the organization in every way. Our organization prefers to delegate authority in order to make decisions more quickly and more effectively. We all know that timing is everything in this hypercompetitive and rapidly changing market place. So, DOA becomes essential role to implement all the operations in time. We insist managers to delegate authority to lowest possible level. Managers still encourage delegating authority in spite of many difficulties. 2.3 Importance of Leadership today Leadership is a process of giving purpose (meaningful direction) to collective effort, and causing willing effort to be expended to achieve purpose. (Jacobs and Jacques, 1990) Leadership is important in implementing successful decisions. Leadership defined as the ability to influence people towards the attainment of organizational goals. Only good manager with brilliant leadership can associate the best opportunities to become a successful business. There are some differences between management and leadership in a system of action. (See table1.1) In our organization, we must emphasize each level of management carefully to raise the reputation of company. We lead our organization by spending more time with people, scanning opportunities, developing a vision and setting goals. We motivate our employees by creating opportunities to make decisions, to show their own talent and to have self-confident. Moreover, we do not need yes-man so we encourage constructive debate and welcome big-picture ideas. We use the quiet way touching the minds and hearts of our staff. Management | Leadership | Planning and budgeting-Identifying steps to goals achievement and allocating resources to achieve those goals | Setting a direction-Creating a vision for the future, along with strategies for its realization | Organizing and staffing -Identifying jobs and staffing requirements, communicating the plan, and delegating responsible to job-holders for carrying it out | Aligning people-Communicating the vision and marshaling support; getting people to believe the management and empowering them with a clear sense of direction, strength and unity | Controlling and problem-solving-Installing control system to correct deviations from the plan, the purpose being to complete routine jobs successfully | Motivating people-Energizing people through need, fulfillment and involvement in the process, including supporting employees’ efforts and recognizing and rewarding their success. Co-ordination occurs through strong networks of informal relationships | Table 1.1 Leadership and management as system of action (Kotter, J.P. (1990) cited in Jeff Gold, Richard Thorpe and Alan Mumford, 5th edition, p.9) 2.4 Organizational Control Organizational control refers to the systematic process of regulating organizational activities to make them consistent with the expectations established in plans, targets, and standards of performance. We must find the critical degree of control to keep people motivate and improve creativity. We must also control the basic processes for allocating financial resources and developing human resources. We must monitor the quality of imported products and at the same time, we need to give the best service to customers. Taking back the feedbacks from customers can help us in analyzing how to develop the others projects. And also allotting the reasonable incentives to employees is to achieve target control level. 3.0 Task 2 3.1 Market Analysis Nowadays, in Yangon, people are getting to understand how security items can protect their property and family and can prevent from dangerous and accidental conditions. Utilizing the security equipment at home or other building is trendy among the sophisticated people. Because of these facts, security business is booming in these days. So, our marketing department analyzed the market using the SWOT analysis. Strengths | Weaknesses | - Exported products with the best quality.- Best customer service and satisfaction.- Giving the longest warranty period among the competitors.- Suppliers have good image in whole world wide. | - Small amount of market share. - Unstable foreign currency.- New product line. | Opportunities | Threats | - Increasing number of crime- Security projects for private schools, colleges, supermarkets, hypermarkets, hospitals, hotels, business industry projects, governmental projects and others.- Technology advanced and innovation. | - Some competitors are importing illegitimacy products with low price. - External changes.( Policy, politic, tax, etc.) | Our company has small amount of market share unlike the other competitor companies. Therefore, marketing becomes the key of the company's upcoming successful business to achieve the 60% of market share and it depends on the needs of the customers. Marketing Objectives - To get 60% of market share and be one of the top three best company within 5 years. - To increase 5% of sales revenue in every 6 months. - To become the most trusted company in products and service. - To improve agreement with main suppliers. 3.2 Market Segmentation The safety is becoming necessity for humans. In our time, the crimes are increasing days by days. Therefore, we imported the security such as walk-through, walkie-talkie, mine detector, CCTV, recorder, camera, security accessories, video camera and stun gun from Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. We also retail qualified local police use like whistles, stun gun, and rubber rod etc. According to the research we made, we found the market which consists of many types of customers and needs in every segments. Our market research department analyzed the market with three options, geographic, demographic and behavioral. Geographic | Demographic | Behavioral | * Yangon * Mandalay * Nay Pyi Taw | * Authorized person * Higher income level * No gender differentiation | - Sophisticate- Vigilant | 3.3 Market Targeting Then our marketing department decided to target the entire public sectors throughout the country. In Yangon, there are so many businesses than the other cities in Myanmar as it is the commercial city of our country. According to that, our target customers will be the authorized adult. Furthermore, our company’s business location is in the city center which has many major businesses and catches the people’s eyes, plus there are no competitors around us. So, we infer that the customer in the city center will definitely buy our high quality products which has fair price. As our target market is all the public sectors, we first plan to persuade the Hotels, Supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Private schools, Universities, Banks, Stadiums and also governmental buildings such as hospitals, schools, police station and ministries etc. to give us the projects. 3.4 Market Positioning A company must decide which market segments to be served, how it will differentiate its market offering for each targeted segment and has to position its products to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers. We have to position ourselves in the region of high price and high quality as our target customers have high income level. Since the products are imported from reliable suppliers like Japan and Korea which are gaining attention for the advanced technology, are highly reputable company already, the raw materials they use are the quality items of great worth. Our products’ price is a bit higher than that of competitors’. And the quality control of our suppliers’ is trustworthy. High Quality High Quality Low Price Low Price High Price High Price Low Quality Low Quality Figure 3.4 Marketing Mix Marketing is about projecting the right product at the right price in the right way to the right customers. This is how the value is added. Bringing a product to a market involves balancing several key ingredients. This is called the marketing mix: the 4Ps of product, price, promotion and place. Every offering will need a slightly different mix of these factors, depending on the product itself, the target audience and the market. Depending upon marketing plans and industry, marketing managers have to make various approaches to achieve goals by using that 4Ps. 3.4.1 Product A product must deliver value to customers in the target market by meeting customer requirements. Our high quality products are, * Gate automation and Access control * Automatic Barriers * Traffic control * CCTV and relative equipments Businesses demand profits and millions of people around the world want a safe and secure place to live, work and play. Security drawbacks lead to loss of millions of money and deaths. ABL aims to provide a “safe and sound” environment for people around the world. It seeks to improve workplace efficiency, prevent criminal offenses, and deliver safety and security. 3.4.2 Price Pricing that corresponds to the market can contribute to the success of the products and services. And it not only attracts customers' attention but also brings image. It also corresponds to the product. Therefore, we must focus on exploring customers in order to set appropriate to the level of needs being satisfied. We are planning to analyze how competitors price their products and if those prices are still within the purchase need. Our prices are very competitive, providing value for the customer’s investment. We use standard methods of setting the price via thorough evaluation of product demand, volume of demand, and competitors’ prices. Price is one of the major factors when consumers purchase products. We do not wholly believe in lowering the price, just so to sell our products, although it works sometimes. We value maintaining a competitive price and we believe in other factors, such as quality, support and service. To accommodate customers who have financial concerns, we have developed several methods of payment such as leasing, installments, discounts, and demo-to-buy strategies. 3.4.3 Place ABL is currently headquartered in Yangon. Rising instances of security breaches and acceptance of surveillance cameras in the public sector in the Yangon have increased the demand for safety and security products, thus making the Yangon one of the major markets for surveillance solutions. This is a critical factor for our business’ success. Instant and nearby access to customers will be beneficial because it would provide: * solid immediate product and technical support and consultation * faster transaction processing and product deliveries * convenient and cost-effective business operations ABL has plan to set our three outlets in our target markets, Yangon, two outlets in Mandalay and one in Nay Pyi taw for wholesale. We will use indirect distribution channels like agents. We will retail our products to the lower Myanmar from Yangon and for upper Myanmar; we will retail our products from Mandalay. The showroom in Nay Pyi Taw will mainly focus on governmental projects. 3.4.4 Promotion ABL products will be promoted via print, online, aggressive below-the-line marketing tools and a variety of other advertising media. Please see details below: Print * Quarterly Broadsheet and Magazine Advertisements * Annual Direct Mail * Press Releases Word of Mouth Online * Website + E-commerce Websites * Search Engine Optimization, monthly Web mails, Newsletters, Paid Advertising and B2B Online Trading * Press Releases Trade Shows (at least 2 of the major safety and security trade shows) Dealer Promotions * Incentives * Discounts Business Partnerships Direct selling from regional outlets On top of these promotional methods, we also plan to create new business cards, new product presentations, case studies of safety and security requirements in vertical markets, and an online product demonstration. * 4.0 Task 3 4.1 Human Resource Management Efficient human resources management would help an organization in attracting and retaining the best people, in imposing self-commitment, motivating the people in performing their jobs and in maximizing the human resource contribution for achievement of its goals. We have set the goals and objective of our HR department depends on our organization’s goals. 4.2 Goals and Objectives of Human Resource Department -To have the good relationship with entire departments within the organization - To increase the employees’ satisfaction - To plan the business in accordance with our organization’s Missions, Visions and objectives. - To keep the company in track leading to goal. 4.3 Reasons for High Turnover Rate Human resource is the primary foundation in running a business; without them the business would never be successful. It is very difficult to retain the employees since the needs of the employees are changing every day and we need to provide some services to meet their satisfaction. If the employees are not satisfied with their jobs, the rate of turnover will be higher. The high turnover rate can have a severe impact not only on the company’s reputation but also on the prospect of company financially and emotionally. Our ABL Company’s turnover rate is increasing apparently since last year, comparing to the other competitors. So our HR department makes a research on the causes of high turnover. It is turn out that the causes are the lack of career opportunities and challenges, dissatisfaction of job scope and conflict with the management. The most important point is that our employees became lowly motivated since they think that there are no career prospects for their self-improvement. And the second most important thing is the payment for some employees are low comparing to their tasks and responsibilities. So they want to negotiate over the salary and compensation. Figure 4.1 Increasing turnover rate of our company Turn over ratios for a company vary from year to year, a general range can be possessed by analyzing the figure above over a few consecutive years. This graph shows the increasing rate of turnover within our organization, based on the facts which are filed by the HR department. 4.4 Strategic planning to overcome the causes of turnover After analyzing the causes of high turnover rate, we resolve to carry out each basic function of HR practically to overcome the causes of turnover. 4.4.1 Performance Appraisal (PA) After analyzing the causes of high turnover rate, we decide to perform the performance appraisal. Performance appraisal (PA) is a formal system of review and evaluation of individual or team task performance. Performing the PA is according to the organization hierarchy. We plan to use downward appraisal and peer-peer appraisal method by grading the employees regardless of the risks like bias. 4.4.2 Recruitment and Selection We planned to do recruiting, both internal and external, according to our outcome from PA. For some positions, we are planning to recruit internally by identifying current employees who are capable for the open position. We should reconsider the past or quit employees to reemploy. In this way we can eliminate the risks and the cost of hiring the new employees. Since our company had the good reputation, we have the chance to fine and the right person with potential and for the right post from the labor market. (See appendix 1.) 4.4.3 Training and Development Training is most demanded as most of the work scopes are concern with customers’ relation. For the entry or operational level employees, we suppose that training like attitude training, Foreign Languages training and Advanced IT training are more favorable in order to impart self-esteem and motivation toward them, regardless of the cost. We will outsource the training like foreign language training which will be attended by the nominated employees who have to relate with the foreign countries. The HRD will take care of other trainings base on the fact that either it should be taken care of line managers or the professionals from each field. For the managerial level, developmental training like Leadership and Management development, Strategic Planning development, IQ EQ development will be provided as we infer that there may be some problems with their leadership ability. Moreover, our employees are sponsored for external training programs for enhancing their knowledge including seminars and work shop organized by our foreign supplier companies. 4.4.4 Compensation and Reward According to our company’s Rules and Regulations, we would consider the compensation and reward. Yet basis pay systems like incentives, health insurance and pension are provided as the Labor Law. For the annual bonus, it will be according to the total net profit of the organization and their performance. And also for our employees’ pleasure, our organization will provide trips for each and every department every two years. We also plan to bestow the “staff of the month” for each department every month according to core competency. Furthermore, starting from this year, our company is going to hold “Annual Award Ceremony” once a year and we will reward the most outstanding and best performed employees throughout the whole year. As non-financial compensation we plan to give them complete trust in firm’s highly visible management. Our operation time is fixed, yet we consider the employees’ work-life balance. We make sure to give empowerment and autonomy for their improvement. As for leave, we decide giving a month for the annual leave. As our company’s past failure was because of the lowly motivated employees, we will draw our employees’ concentration as we sustain not only on their emotional improvement but also on their physical needs by using win-win strategy.  Conclusion In sum, after analyzing the causes of downturn crisis, we make plan to change the management structure, marketing strategies and human resources practices in every way. After we managed to change the business functions, we can assure that we can not only overcome the downturn crisis but also to be able to reclaim the leading position in our security services market. And we also hope that our organization will do well with the new organizational plan and new operational system. After doing analytical report on ABL Company, the skill of being able to use management functions, the concepts of STP and marketing mix, various HR functions and written communication skills are significantly improved. In order to write this assignment, the MIC text book and some books are used as references as well as internet. In addition, it can be said that working cooperatively in group is essential and we did know the unity of the teamwork and co-operation. We get loads of experiences and knowledge beyond our expectation while doing this assignment. Consequently, we would to express our gratitude towards all lecturers, friends and the group members who has been involved in this assignment.