Product Success Is Not A Reliable Indicator Business Essay

Product Success Is Not A Reliable Indicator Business Essay The report highlights the importance of different factors that contribute to the success of a company and strengthens its foundation. It draws insight on product success that is given an important consideration in terms of companys future growth and revenue generation. It is an essential pre-requisite for a companys strength. It contribution is vital towards the success of a company but it is not considered as a reliable indicator as various other factors play a greater and crucial role in determining companys strength. The strength of a company lies in those indicators which have the power to govern change and sustain its competitive advantage in the long run. There are various indicators which have been changing with the course of time and changing needs of business environment. These indicators are viewed different by various scholars. Thus, enriching there interaction in a company. The term reliability is the measure of consistency of different indicators that are devised in a company structure to overcome competitive threats and have a grab on opportunities. It can be correlated to business acumen and its knowledge. A great deal of business success depends on generating new knowledge and on having the capabilities to react quickly and intelligently to this new knowledge . . . (Richard Rumelt, 1996). The products of a company play a significant role in generation of revenue but the essential indicators are the factors leading to the creation of the product in accordance with the market demand and consumer needs. The firm specific knowledge plays a crucial role in exploiting the available resources to have a competitive advantage and contribute to companys strength. An essential feature of strategy or more specifically innovation strategy should be directed towards accumulation of such firm specific knowledge. Ives et al. (1998), for instance, trace the history of knowledge management back to the ancient Sumerian civilization where cuneiform archives served to record knowledge for future generations. Modern management tends to focus on controlling, centralising and standardising knowledge which reduces the marginal cost of knowledge by economies of scale. It is argued whether knowledge management represents an extension or departure from these tendencies. The conversion of tacit into explicit knowledge and storing it is lined up with such tendencies. The new technology integrates knowledge in the organisation. It opens up new opportunities for knowledge creation and transfer beyond the more traditional means of face-to-face interaction, mentoring, job rotation and staff development (Alavi and Leidner, 1997). IBMs Larry Prusak says, knowledge is both an asset and a process of acting knowledgeable. Knowledge management is the process of continually managing knowledge of all kinds to meet existing and emerging needs, to identify and exploit existing and acquired knowledge assets and to develop new opportunities (Quintas et al., 1997). The knowledge management programmes have coheren ce across a number of dimensions, including organisational structure and culture, people aspects, process and technology (Quintas et al., 1997 p387). Harry Scarbrough (1998) points that managing knowledge is not easy as it are often sticky and tacit. It cant be extracted from its context. He raises human relation issues such as staff will resist being treated as a moveable asset. It is further argued that knowledge itself appears in a number of different guises according to context: intellectual capital (e.g. Bontis, 1998; Roos et al, 1998); knowledge assets (Boisot, 1998; Teece, 1998); workplace and organisational capital (Adler and Cole, 1993; Argyris, 1992). The formulation of an innovation strategy having the ability to cope up with an external environment that is considered to be complex and ever changing, with consequent uncertainty about present and future advancements in technology, competition challenges and market demands may prove to strengthen companys business tactics in the long run. It is argued that the distinction between approaches i.e. choice and implementation breaks down when firms decision are made in complex and fast changing environments. The rational approach to innovative strategies dominance is believed to be less effective than the incremental approach which lays emphasis on changing needs in the light of new information, learning and understanding that is consciously obtained. The nature of the competitive threats and opportunities that emerge from advances in technology rightly stress the importance of developing and protecting firm-specific technology in order to enable firms to enable themselves against the c ompetition (Porter, 1980). It is argued that Porters approach underestimates the power of technology to change the course of the competion by transforming industrial structures and overestimates the organisational competencies to exploit them. It is very difficult (but not impossible e.g. the case of Nokia) for a manufacturing traditional textiles to have an innovation strategy to develop and make computers (Patel, P. and Pavitt, K., 1998). The product success is not a reliable indicator because when the product enters the market its reliability and validity depends on the market forces and competition and both of them are based on uncertainties. A firms technological innovation requires complementary assets to produce and deliver new products and services. Prior commercialisation activities require and enable firms to build such complementarities (Teece, 1986b). New products and processes can either enhance or destroy the value of such assets (Tushman et al., 1986). For example: IBMs direct sales increased with the development of computers, while disk brakes were rendered useless as auto industries invested in drum brakes. Further ample evidences are available for a given type of competence (e.g. quality) which can be supported or manufactured by different routines and combination of skills. Garvin (1998) and Clark and Fujimoto (1991) studies both indicate that there was no one formula for achieving either high quality or high product development process. There is a firm competition between firms on the basis of product design, quality, process efficiency and other attributes. It is pointed that firms are constantly seeking to create new combination, and rivals are continuously attempting to improve their competencies or to imitate the competence of their most qualified competitors (Schumpeter, 1934). Such processes drive the destruction of product creativity. The focus is on the dynamic capabilities of firms which provides a coherent framework to integrate existing and empirical knowledge, and facilitate prescription (Teece, D. and Pisano,G., 1994). What depicts the strength of a company in global market is not its products success but demonstration of firms timely responsiveness and rapid and flexible product innovation, integration of management capabilities to effectively coordinate and redeploy internal and external competences. It is offered as an emerging paradigm of a business firm. It tries to facilitate a prescription by integration of existing conceptual and empirical knowledge. It is an indicator which provides competitive advantage to firm rooted in their high performance routines, processes and continued by history. They are built as they cant be brought from a market place. The very essence of capabilities/competencies is that they cant be readily assembled through markets (Teece, 1982, 1986a; Kogut and Zander, 1992). Resear chers (Doz and Shuen, 1989; Mody, 1990) have pointed that collaboration and partnership can be vehicles for new organisational learning, helping firms to recognize dysfunctional routines, and preventing strategic blind spots. This concept of dynamic capabilities opens the door to inter-organisational learning. Leonard Barton (1992) finds that the organisational core capabilities can easily create core rigidities. That is, opportunity for learning will be close in to previous activities and thus will be transaction and production specific (Teece, 1988). Porter (1980) describes two market strategies: innovation leadership and innovation followership. The initial one is concerned with those firms which attempt to introduce a new product to gain a technological lead and temporary monopoly profits whereas the latter tries to initiate the market pioneer by reverse engineering. It is argued that the survival and growth in the firms succeed or fail in their innovations, whether offensive or defensive. For a firm to survive and grow in competition, it must be capable of adapting its technologically based strategy to this competition. The introduction of a new product in any industry poses a threat to older products and processes by turning them obsolete or uneconomic. It has been inferred that core competencies play a vital role in companys strength. Managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994).In the long run competitiveness derives from an ability to build at lower cost and more speedily than competitors, the core competencies that spawn unanticipated products. The real sources of competitive advantage are to be found in managements ability to consolidate corporate wide technologies and production skills into competencies that empower individual businesses to adapt quickly to changing opportunities(Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). The validity of this statement still holds its firm position in the mainstay thinking of todays firms. Core competence leads to the harmonisation of a number of related skills which starts building up an intelligent organisation. The competence base should be strong and should be managed properly. It should not be overlo oked. The core product of a company is the crux of an end product.For example: Cannon has 84% share in laser printer engines but miniscule laser printer share.It has built its core competence in engines rather than printers through continuous feedback from customers. It has been able to manage low risk, low cost and reduction in lead time by focusing on its competencies. In conclusion, a well-crafted strategy can lead a company to be a pioneer firm in the market if it possesses the ability to convert intellectual leadership into market leadership and be ahead of their rivals. The foresight of the rising opportunities plays a vital role in gaining a competitive advantage. Core competence and dynamic capabilities holds the key to exploit opportunities and are intriguing assets which are built with time. By getting hold of such opportunities a company can capture royalties, market reputation, customer lock-in, vast distribution network and set or define rules for other companies to compete, as Sony did in portable audio products and Intel has done in microprocessors. The key to innovation is stability.The focus of a company should be on organisational stewardship and stability rather than short-term profit fixation which can be gained from the success of one product.

mussolini Essay -- essays research papers

The first World War left the entire world in a state of chaos, suffrage as well as separation; this was all mainly centred in Europe. The European countries were most effected by this war because it was so close to home. Italy, being such a new country saw these effects in an extreme way. The already regionalised country became more and more separated and saw all the crippling societal results of this war. Benito Mussolini was able to capitalize on the state the country found itself in. Mussolini and his fascist ideals were able to overthrow Italy and turn it into a dictatorship and lead it into the second World War behind Hitler’s Germany. Mussolini was able to successfully turn Italy into a dictatorship under a fascist regime because of the country’s internally divided war-torn society as well as the weak state of Italy’s minority governments which could not unite to oppose fascism and finally because of his ability to appeal to this country through a false sen se of security and nationalism. In the troubled postwar period Mussolini organized his followers in the Fasci di combattimento, which advocated aggressive nationalism as well as violently opposed the communists and socialists. Amid strikes, social unrest, and parliamentary breakdown, Mussolini preached forcible restoration of order and practised terrorism with armed groups. In 1921 he was elected to parliament and the National Fascist party was officially organized. Backed by nationalists and propertied interests, in October 1922, Mussolini sent the Fascists to March on Rome . King Victor Emmanuel III permitted them to enter the city and called on Mussolini to form a cabinet. This created the fascist regime under Mussolini. The fascist regime turned society into individuals who would just obey and distrust reason as well as understand violence as an essential tool to order. Ideally the country would transform into a totalitarian state; where the government would have total control over the lives of individuals and this would mean that anything is justified if it serves the states ands. Fascism emphasized victory, glorified war, is cruel to the weak, and is irrational and intolerant. Mussolini used the condition of the country to his advantage in his journey to becoming the dictator of Italy. Italian fascism had at least four principal phases. Until 1925, it was political action seeking an ideolog... ...inent invasion by the Allies of the Italian mainland at last caused a rebellion within the Fascist party. In July, 1943, the Fascist grand council refused to support his policy-dictated by Hitler- and the king dismissed him and had him placed under arrest. He was freed two months later by a daring German rescue party and became head of the Fascist puppet government set up in Northern Italy by Hitler. Italy unlike the rest of Europe was greatly affected by the first World War and the state that the country was left in made it vulnerable to the extremist view of Mussolini and was easily transformed into a dictatorship and lead into a fateful alliance with Germany. Mussolini and his fascist ideals were able to overthrow Italy and turn it into a dictatorship and lead it into the second World War behind Hitler’s Germany. Mussolini was able to successfully turn Italy into a dictatorship under a fascist regime because of the country’s internally divided war-torn society as well as the weak state of Italy’s minority governments which could not unite to oppose fascism and finally because of his ability to appeal to this country through a false sense of security and nationalism.

My Father’s Life by Raymond Carver Essay

The last paragraph of this essay is my favorite by far, â€Å"†¦in their beautiful voices out of my childhood. Raymond. † The author of this story made it so tangible the dislike Raymond Jr. had for his birth name that it felt like a true revelation when the character finally embraced it. To hear his father’s name echo as his own name and to enjoy it leaves the reader with the same sense of happiness. The author of this essay has such a grasp on the lives and senses of a lower class worker that he surely must have experienced it in his childhood. It doesn’t surprise me to find out that his father worked at a saw-mill. That type of gritty upbringing must leave an indelible mark on your psyche. This mark was clearly a reservoir from which to pull deep and meaningful prose that truly paints a picture in the mind of someone who lacks those same experiences. This essay tells the story of a boy who liked his father more than most. This boy even liked his father, very possibly, more than his mother. It also tells how perceptive the boy and, later on, man were. This Raymond Jr. recognized the weaknesses of his father and still fell into the same traps himself. This essay taught me much about the depression era environment that the main character’s father, Clevie Raymond Carver, grew up in. His father rode on boxcards and pickled apples to get by. He also was able to set aside money to buy a car. I never imagined an environment where a day laborer would have the excess income to set aside spare change. In this modern age of paycheck to paycheck living that is truly an amazing feat. If the author was able to expand on his writings to fulfill a request of mine I would prefer to hear more about his father’s life before marriage. His father clearly had faults but what drove him into that personality. The character’s father was an alcoholic but still strived to better the life of his family. I’d like to know why.

Iroquois essays

Iroquois essays Theories of literature demand the reader separate the author from the story. Millions of students engrain the mantra of the author is not a character in the novel into their memory or risk failing the most basic of English courses. While the author may not directly play a role in the novel, he does create a picture of a certain time and culture Therefore literature represents culture, especially in folklore and religious stories. This is true in the case of the creation myth; what a person believes about his creation provides insight to his cultural and personal beliefs. Comparing and contrasting the creation stories of the worlds three main religions with the creation myth of the Iroquois nation illustrates this link between culture and creation of a society. Within the stories of creation the reader gains insight to the use of symbolism in everyday life, the role of gender within society, religion as well as human relations with the earth itself. The similarities in the creation stories of several cultures can be attributed to the fact that the Judeo-Christian and Islamic versions of the creation are one in the same. The Quran does not retell the creation story; rather it makes comments and corrections on the previous Judeo-Christian creation. Therefore the symbolism between the three cultures and time periods is one and the same. This leaves many of the symbols in the works, however interesting and significant to the text, irrelevant to the topic of this paper. The only time a compare or contrast in symbols will be mentioned is when the Quran specifically addresses a change to the creation story as seen in the first five books of the Bible/Torah. The purpose of this work is to stress the symbolic significance in the Iroquois creation myth in relation to those of the East/Western religions. Readers of literature may assume the works of other cultures are a word for word account of what is meant....

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Differences between Ethics and Law From Bioethical Point of View Essay

Differences between Ethics and Law From Bioethical Point of View - Essay Example Although there is a boundary between laws and ethics, the boundary does not separate them sufficiently. This paper seeks to define law and ethics and in the process try to bring out the difference between the two. Ethics comes from the notion of rights and wrongs within a given society. These wrong and rights are based on actions we would expect others to do for us in return. We are thus forced or expected to do to other people, as we would wish them to do to us. With time, these expectations have been developed into principles that define ethics in a given society. On the other hand, laws are developed and imposed by the government to enhance harmony among members of a given society1. This implies that laws are generally accepted in a given society as guiding principles if they create a difference between wrongs and rights. The government, through peoples representatives, creates laws for a given society and not the vice versa. For these laws to be generally acceptable, they must fu lfill the society’s requirements for wrongs and rights. Laws are therefore developed from existing ethics and imposed by the government to mediate the relationship between members of a particular society. An example of a common ethic in medical practice is treating emergency cases urgently. A similar law created by the government would state that all emergency cases brought to a hospital should be attended within the shortest time possible. The law would continue and give penalty for defaulters. Similarly, ethics have attached consequences that stipulate actions to be taken on defaulters. Laws are therefore developed from existing ethics for them to be generally accepted by a given society2. The development of laws from existing ethics implies that laws are just extensions of ethics and hence related. Due to general acceptance principle, ethics are unwritten rules that mediate between people of a given society. On the other hand, laws have a wider coverage and varied interpre tations that require preservation in writing. Ethics of a given society do not require to be kept in a written format since people are aware and ready to commit to them. Ethics are therefore established on people’s conscience eliminating the requirement of written a document. For a code of conduct to be accepted as an ethic in a given society, people must have the ability to recall it when a need for application arises. Therefore, some institutions have a written document that stipulates the code of ethics that must be upheld by the members of such institution. For example, health institutions have a code of ethics document for medical practitioners. Elimination of ambiguity and preservation are the two main reasons for writing down laws. Ethics on the other hand are preserved in people conscience and passed from one generation to another. This factor weakens the difference between written and unwritten rules. Writing of laws is done objectively while ethics are preserved in people‘s consciousness for a similar objectives. This implies that the existence of laws as written rules and ethics as unwritten rules does not create sufficient difference between the two implying that laws and ethics are similar. Laws have to be approved by all arms of the government before being put into application. On the other hand, ethics do not require approval by any party since they are generally accept

Homemade Lava Lamp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homemade Lava Lamp - Essay Example Subsequently add 10 or more droplets of the selected food colouring to the mixture in the bottle until a rich colour is seen. In understanding how the lava lamp works, the first step would be to understand that oil and water do not mix. They are insoluble. The main goal in the liquids used in the lava lamp is to obtain two liquids that have very close densities but are insoluble in each other and that is why oil and water are most preferable (Cothron et.al 4). Oil and water will not mix in the experiment as water is made up of highly charged compounds while oil is made up of long carbon chains that have no charge. As a result, the water molecules are not attracted to the oil molecules hence rendering the two liquids immiscible. The immiscibility of the two liquids causes the separation that will be seen in the experiment just as observed in our everyday life such as the kitchen sinks and oil spills. Further, the oil being less dense than water will float on top of the water as will be exemplified in the experiment. The baking soda used in the experiment contains sodium bicarbonate. Baking soda is technical ly both basic and acidic. When the baking soda is mixed with water, a chemical reaction is formed that releases carbon dioxide gas (Heuer, 10). Carbon dioxide gas is produced in a bubbling manner which is seen in the coloured fluid that is in the bottle. Food colouring is used to merely add colour to the experiment. When added, the food colouring falls through the oil and mixes with the water at the bottom giving it the particular colour of choice that is to illuminate at the onset of the chemical reactions in the