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Financial Analysis of Sprint Corporationand Its comparison with Verizon Communications Inc
Sprint Corporation is US based telecommunication company which provides wireless and internet services. It was founded in 1899. HTC is considering shifting to this company’s communication system so this report synthesizes the financial analysis of the company so as determine its future prospects and financial viability. The tools of trend analysis, ratio analysis and stock price trend have been applied.
This financial analysis will become the base for taking the decision whether to shift to this company’s communication system or not. Sprint Corporation changed its financial year from Jan-Dec to April-March in 2014. So the financial period ending on March 2015 is of 15 months. The comparative study of financial performance of Sprint Corporation and Verizon Communications has also been done to study the prospects of Verizon Communications.
I. Trend analysis of financial performance in financial analysis of Sprint Corporation and Verizon Communications
The financial technique of trend analysis has been applied to evaluate the financial performance of Sprint Corporation for last three years along with its comparison with Verizon Communication Inc. for the last year i.e.2016.
Table 1: Trend analysis
Sprint Corporation
Verizon Communication Inc
Dec-12
Dec-13
Mar-15
Mar-16
Dec-15
Dec-16
Revenue ($ in Millions)
35345
16891
34532
32180
131,620
125,980
Increase/decrease in Revenue (%)
-52%
-2%
-9%
-4%
Net income ($ in Millions)
-4326
-1860
-3345
-1995
17,879
13,127
Increase/decrease in Net Income (%)
-57%
-23%
-54%
-27%
Working Capital ($ in Millions)
4,885
2,389
-1,163
-5,130
-12,772
-3,945
Increase/decrease in working capital (%)
-51%
-124%
-205%
69%
Return on assets (%)
-8.57
-2.7
-4.03
-2.46
7.49
5.37
Return on equity (%)
-46.73
-11.39
-15.41
-9.62
124.48
67.4
(Morningstar, 2017)
The above table depicts the trend value of revenue, net income, working capital, return on assets and return on equity.
Revenue: There is decline in revenue of Sprint Corporation over the last three years. The reduction was huge in 2013 as it reduced by more than half. In 2014, the company was able to revive its revenue and able to gain revenue near to base year i.e. 2012. This financial period is of 15 months. It can be one of the reasons for recovery in revenue. In 2016, again the revenue reduced by 9%.
Net income: There is declining trend in net income of Sprint Corporation. The value of net income is negative in all the years. The decrease in net income of financial period 2016 is greater than the decrease in revenue. It means the company has not been able to control its expenses.
Working Capital: There is decreasing trend in working capital of the company, which represents the excess of current assets over current liabilities. The working capital was positive in 2013 but it became negative in 2015 and 2016. The decrease in working capital depicts the deterioration in the capability of the company to repay its short term liabilities in time.
Return on assets: The return on assets of Sprint Corporation is negative in all years.
Return on equity: Similarly return on equity of Sprint Corporation is also negative in all years.
If we compare the performance of Sprint Corporation for the financial year 2016 with the performance of Verizon Communication Inc, we find that the decline in net income of Verizon Communications Inc was also greater than the decline of its revenue. It also has deteriorated working capital position but it has been able to generate positive return on equity and assets.
This paper intends to discuss a proposal and a presentation on public finance. In order to present an appropriate discussion this essay will consider the case of Cedar City.
Public policies and processes that affect Cedar City’s budget
Cedar City’s budget is affected by financial planning. However, financial planning at Cedar City is influenced by strategic goals, the level at which services are offered, the previous budget for the city, property tax percentage increase, personal services offered within the city, and services which are non-personal and are influenced by historical information along with projections (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
Furthermore, if the department of financial planning in Cedar City finds it significant to increase operations of the existing service levels, the new budget plan accommodates the increased amounts. For instance, a recent increase in the budget of Cedar City was influenced by the amounts required for managing projects for software maintenance of the city (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
Additionally, reviews made by different departments in Cedar City regarding their assets, project plans for capital improvement, potential sources of funding, and recommendations made on timelines for construction also affect Cedar City’s budget (Sarantsev, 2016). Markedly, Cedar City’s budget is affected by discussions made by the manager of the city, the finance director in the city, and the city council regarding needs of the city, the impact legislations have on the needs, and potential issues in funding before the budgeting process begins (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
For instance, the recent budget for Cedar City was influenced by the need to finish up flooded buildings, policies restricting an increase in levies for property tax, and the maintenance of existing levels of service (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
The elements involved in Cedar City’s budget preparation, budget enactment, and budget execution
The preparation of Cedar City’s budget involves an increase in operational funding and drafting of changes to revenues earned. Therefore, the preparation of the budget requires that the finance department meets other departments for reviewing needs of Cedar City and preparing requests of Cedar City. The manager to Cedar along with the directors are involved in reviewing projects aimed at improving on capital, which determines the components of the budget (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
Reports are then created to be used in subsequent processes of the budget which also includes enactment. However, before enactment of reports made regarding the budget of Cedar City, finance department along with the manager of the city review the budget requests to determine the requests along with charges to be included in the budget being prepared (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
For instance, during the enactment of the recent budget for the Cedar City requests for information of property tax, made the budget to balance. Moreover, the amounts allocated to revenues were parallel to amounts allocated to expenditure (Rahman & Weller, 2014). The manager of the city also requested the including of projects of capital improvement in the budget.
Hence, enactment involves reviewing of merits and the prioritization of different projects as subject to other projects (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015). However, execution of the budget considers the overall impact relating to recommended funding, considerations made for operations, and the relationship of operations to the budget of the City along with associated tax levies. Moreover, the council has to be informed of the situation of the budget and a public hearing for the budget prepared in accordance with IOWA (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015).
Long-term Financial alternatives for the City of Cedar Falls
Cedar City has three main alternatives for long-term financing. The first alternative is government funding. The government provides different types of funds to the City of Cedar Falls. The funds include general funds, finances for special income, finances for investment projects, and finances for liability service (Mervis, 2016). The finances allocated to Cedar City by the government are aimed at accounting for different revenue sources and revenue uses of the government’s primary unit.
The second alternative for long-term financing is proprietary funds. Proprietary funds refer to enterprise funds along with funds from internal services. Proprietary funds are viewed as self-supporting since they are financed from user charges and user fees (Tate, Strong, Kraus, & Xiong, 2015). The third alternative for long-term financing is fiduciary funds which are trust funds and funds from agencies. Fiduciary funds are used in accounting for different resources of financing held in the capacity of a trustee.
Conclusion
Public finance is a topic of great interest for all cities globally. The essay above has efficiently discussed public finance by considering the case of the Cedar City. Consequently, a discussion on the process of creating a budget in Cedar City, enactment of the budget, executing the budget, and funding of the budget has been presented in the paper above.
Rahman, M. & Weller, K. (2014). Preparation for and response to the flood of 2008 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. International Journal Of Emergency Management, 10(2), 180. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/ijem.2014.066201
Sarantsev, V. (2016). Treasury system of budget execution: organizational model and prospects. Moscow University Bulletin Of Them. SY Witte. Series 1: Economics and Management, 15-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.21777/2307-6135-2016-3-15-20
Tate, E., Strong, A., Kraus, T., & Xiong, H. (2015). Flood recovery and property acquisition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Natural Hazards, 80(3), 2055-2079. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2060-8
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To deliver quality care for patients, it is essential for nurses to apply the best current practice. However, the old adage “all that glitter is not gold” is also applicable in research. This is because not all nursing research is of high standard, which implies that nurses should not just take research based on the fact that it is being published. Critiquing of quantitative study follows a systematic approach to appraise the strengths and weakness of the piece of research, with the aim of determining their applicability or credibility to practice.
In this context, this paper will critically analyze this study: – Dobson, R., Whittaker, R., Jiang, Y., Shepherd, M., Maddison, R., Carter, K., Cutfield, R., McNamara, C., Khanolkar, M., and Murphy, R. (2016). Text message-based diabetes self management support (SMS4BG): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 17: 179. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1305-5
Background of study
The title is the first thing observed in this article. An appropriate title should be about 10-15 word long. Too short or long title can be confusing as well as misleading. In this context, the title clearly identifies the purpose of study, which is randomized controlled study on the impact of text message based diabetes support program.
The study’s abstract provides a succinct overview of the study research, including the aim of the study, sample size, study method, findings and conclusion. Reading the abstract, one is able to determine the relevance of the study to the researchers interest, and to whether continue or not continue reading the article (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2015).
The research problem is well presented in the back ground if the study. The statement in this section broadly informs a reader about the purpose of the study. For instance, the study highlights that the prevalence of diabetes is increasing internationally, and the burden of this disease is reported among the minority groups, especially those from low income household.
The quantitative research critique reports that effective self management strategies should include frequent monitoring of diabetic patient, empowering the patient with healthy behaviors, and appropriate dosages insulin administration in order to enhance improvement in glyceamic control. In this section, the significance of the issue in nursing is also explored.
The study proposes that use of text message services to deliver health services and vital information is effective in supporting healthy behaviors and appropriate disease management. The increasing ownership of mobile phones makes it possible to reach populations that would otherwise be difficult to reach (Hinshaw & Basu, 2015).
The research question is thorough and is well elaborated using substantial yet relevant details as well as the explanation process. The study aims, research question and hypothesis helps the researcher to form a link between stated purpose and research problem. In this study, these concepts are clearly.
The aim of this quantitative research critique is to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile health diabetes in supporting program (SMS4BG) in patients diagnosed with diabetes type1 and type 2. The specific objectives includes a) enhancing self management processes to improve glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and b) to assess its ability to improve diabetes management in remote populations (Dobson et al., 2016).
Methods of study
Methodology can be compared to nuts and bolts of a research study. The study followed the Standards Protocol Items Recommendation for Interventional Trials (SPIRIT) 2013. The study intervention was done based to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT)-EHEALTH checklist. The research method used in this study is quantitative research method.
There are various research method including experimental, non- experiment and quasi experimental design. In context, the study applied randomized controlled design to determine cause and affect relationship of the study variables. This type of research design is appropriate because it reduces potential sources of bias. This research method is easier to blind mask the participants because the treatment are identified clearly (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2015).
The sample size used was 1000 participants (500 per arm). The stratification was done per health district with the urban and remote areas. This sample size was adequate and provided 90% power and 5% significance level to detect changes in 0.5% HbA1c within baseline of 9 months. Randomization and blinding was done in a ratio of 1:1. The stratification was done according to health district categories i.e. high urban or remote and status of diabetes.
To enhance vigor, the randomization process was done using computer program based on block sizes of 2 or 4. The nature of intervention made it difficult to conceal treatment allocation to participants and the research staff. To improve study outcome validity, the primary patient outcome such as HbA1c, hospital emergency visits and admissions were the objective assessors of the intervention (Dobson et al., 2016).
The next element is method of data collection. There are many strategies that can be adopted when collecting data in quantitative research including interviews, observational tools and attitude scales. This study used tailor made questionnaires that consisted of closed questions that had fixed answers. The paper outlines the process of data collection in clear and logical processes (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2015).
The last phase is analysis of data collected, which is often identified as the most daunting tasks. This is because it is associated with complex statistical tests. The study clearly identifies the statistical tests that were undertaken including descriptive and inferential statistics in order to identify the causal and effect relationship between the variables. In this context, the demographics attributes were summarized using descriptive statistics. The study’s continuous variables was summarized using mean, standard deviation, and mean (Dobson et al., 2016).
Results of study
The discussion of the study findings flow logically and have been associated with literature review. However, the researcher does not indicate if the hypothesis supports the findings or not. The study discussions do not indicate if the findings relate to conceptual framework or not. However, the interpretations as well as the inferences met are clearly associated with study results. The significance of study findings is stated. The researcher also explores clinical significance and its clinical implication of the study (Polit and Beck, 2006; Jackson et al., 2014).
In this context, the paper explains the protocol for the proposed intervention which is use of SMS4BG trial to explore its impact on diabetes self management program. According to the study findings, this kind of intervention provides tailored support for people with poorly controlled diabetes, especially those living in remote areas. The study develops a protocol that builds on previous evidence on the impact of technology in people with diabetes. The researcher states that the pilot study indicates that the intervention is applicable and is perceived and important in patients diagnosed with diabetes across the country (Dobson et al., 2016).
Ethical considerations
There are four fundamental ethical principles including justice, non-maleficence, autonomy and beneficence. The principle of autonomy implies that participants have the right to decide whether or not they want to participate in research without any coercion or have fear of what the research is investigating. The Non-maleficence principle implies that the participants are protected from any kind of physical or psychological harm.
Beneficence principle in this context implies that the research should have positive impact to the patient and the society. Justice in case implies that the research should ensure that all participants are treated equally. In addition, moral rules connected with these ethical principles include fidelity, veracity, privacy and confidentiality (Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt, 2015).
To ensure that these ethical considerations are observed is by ensuring that the institutional review boards approve research before it takes place. This is to ensure that the principles and moral rules are adhered to. In this context, the research team sought ethical approval from Health and Disability Ethics Committee (14/STH/162), and that each participant signed an informed consent (Dobson et al., 2016).
Conclusion
The paper concludes by discussing the significance of the study findings. The study makes generalization but indicates that caution should be taken when implementing the recommendations depending on the study purpose and design. The paper does not make any meaningful recommendations for further investigations (Polit and Beck, 2006).
References
Dobson, R., Whittaker, R., Jiang, Y., Shepherd, M., Maddison, R., Carter, K., Cutfield, R., McNamara, C., Khanolkar, M., and Murphy, R. (2016). Text message-based diabetes self management support (SMS4BG): Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials 17: 179. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1305-5.
Hinshaw, L., & Basu, A. (2015). Technology Use for Problem Solving in Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics, 17(7), 443–444. http://doi.org/10.1089/dia.2015.0175
Jackson, I. L., Adibe, M. O., Okonta, M. J., & Ukwe, C. V. (2014). Knowledge of self-care among type 2 diabetes patients in two states of Nigeria. Pharmacy Practice, 12(3), 404.
Risk management is an intrinsic component of any healthcare organization’s regular business practice. Risk management encompasses of recognizing risks, evaluating risks and coming up with implementations that could help reduce or completely eliminate risk (Cagliano, Grimaldi & Rafele, 2011). This risk management plan is developed for to guide new employees to ensure risk is effectively managed within the healthcare center to reduce or completely eliminate risk while dealing with patients. The rationale why I chose to develop a risk management plan for new employees is that new employees need to be taught about risk management practices within the organization to ensure smooth transition and minimization of risks in future.
Administrative steps and processes
Be as it may risk management program is often administered through the risk manager who is expected to report to the healthcare administrator. It is the duty of the risk manager to work in tandem with the administration, healthcare workers, staff as well as other professionals to ensure that risks are minimized. It is imperative to note that the risk manager has the power to cross operation lines to ensure that the risk management goals are met. It is also the duty of the risk manager to chair all activities concerning patient safety and risk management committee.
The five typical steps of risk management in healthcare include
Establish the context: It is paramount to establish the context of risks in the risk management process. High priority areas for risk management include ICU (Intensive Care Unit), E. R (Emergency Room), O.R (Operation room), CCU (Coronary Care Unit) and blood transfusion services (Cagliano, Grimaldi, & Rafele, 2011). Likewise, it is important for new employees to identify the context based on their assigned duty.
Risk Identification: This process enables healthcare professionals and employees to become aware of the risks prevalent in health care services and the environment. All risks identified must be documented in the Risk Management Tool (RMT). This is a typical process and thus new employees should be able to identify risks win the health care services and the environment.
Analyze risks: This step enables new employees to understand the risk identified. Typically, this process encompasses of understanding the risk score, underlying causes, and existing control measures.
Evaluate risks: The goal of risk evaluation is to prioritize risks depending on risk analysis score. Similarly, it enables the risk management team to make a decision on risks that need treatment and how it can be treated.
Risk treatment/ risk mitigation: The decision concerning risk mitigation should be in tandem with the internal, external and risk management context put in place.
Key Agencies and Organizations that Regulate the Administration of Safe Healthcare
American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM)
This body provides guidelines that help healthcare professionals to comply with risk management. ASHRM is made up of members from AHA that represent risk management, issues to deal with patient safety, low, insurance, finance among others.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This organization help in risk management. AHRQ is under HHS (department of Health and Human Services). Their main role is to conduct research with the aim of bettering the quality of healthcare, reduce costs, and address medical errors and the issue of patient safety.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization (JCAHO)
This organization is a non-profit organization that operates to make certain that health care organizations offer quality care. This is achieved by examining health care organization and ranking them using scores of 1-100.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The CDC is a public health regulation program that examines public health and warns of possible health threats arising from infectious diseases. The agency achieves this by monitoring disabilities, birth defects, conditions, diseases, environmental health, genetics, workplace safety and health.
Other agencies include Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for controlling the safety as well as the effectiveness of drug supply used for the treatment of humans and animals, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for protecting the environment as well as human health.
Analysis of New Employee Risk Management Plan
Be as it may, the American Society for Health Care Risk Management encompass of approximately 6,00 members that represent risk management, issues to deal with patient safety, low, insurance, finance among others. Their mission is to “advance patient safety, reduce uncertainty and maximize value through management of risk across the healthcare enterprise” (The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, 2017). The new employee risk management plan has been tailored to comply with ASHRM standards.
Privacy of new employees in the risk management program is maintained. New employees record risk issues identified in the risk management tool without including their private information such as name and contacts. All documents and records that are part of the risk management program are privileged and confidential as stipulated by the federal law. The confidentiality covers on attorney work product, attorney-client privilege among other peer review protections.
The risk management program has also put in place measures to ensure the safety of the healthcare worker. The program provides the guidelines and safety measures that health care worker should adhere to while in the workplace to ensure their safety. New employees are also trained in risk management and given effective strategies to ensure that they cushion themselves against risk while attending to patients. The environment in which healthcare workers carry out their duties is also inspected to ascertain if it meets Occupation & Health Safety (OHS) standards.
The new employee risk management program is also tailored towards patient safety. Patient safety is enhanced by adequately training health care workers and staff, encouraging good communication among the patient and staff members. The program also provides counseling services to employees that work with patients. On the same note, competency assessment is conducted regularly.
Recommendations
One area of concern in risk management is avoiding potential financial concerns. Therefore, plans designated for risk management should cover patient-specific risks. On the same note, these plans should be well documented and made accessible to all health care workers working with patients. New employees should be trained and provided all the requisite information concerning risks and safety in the workplace. New employees working with patients should also be provided counseling services. Adequate training of staff help reduce the prevalence of risks in healthcare organizations.
The plan should also encourage strong communication among staff members and patients. Good communication between different stakeholders enable the risk manager to identify potential risk as the health care workers are able to communicate freely and note some of the risks they encounter while in the workplace.
References
Cagliano, A. C., Grimaldi, S., & Rafele, C. (2011). A systemic methodology for risk management in healthcare sector. Safety Science, 49(5), 695-708.
The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. (2017). About ASHRM – The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. Ashrm.org. Retrieved 25 February 2017, from http://www.ashrm.org/about/index.dhtml
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This paper intends to discuss ethics in business. In order to develop a detailed discussion, the essay will develop a program for Company X’s ethics.
Acceptable and Unacceptable behavior
Notably, operations at Company X will be guided by applicable standards along with procedures whose elements are as indicated below.
Walking the walk:
It is expected that managers and high-rank officers of Company X, should influence the tone of the organization, through demonstrating in actions what they are requiring of junior officers at Company X. Thus, managers and high-rank officers should be an example to junior officers (Giddy, 2015).
Trusting one’s own feelings:
When something does not feel right, then there is a high likelihood of that thing not being right (Michalos, 2013). Thus, if any employee of Company X is not sure of how to act in a given situation, it is recommended that the employee speaks openly, in order to gain guidance regarding all questions he/she might have or advice for any subject relating to Company X.
Retaliation is not allowed:
At Company X retaliation against an employee reporting an ongoing policy violation case or a possible policy violation case should not be tolerated. However, disciplinary action should be subjected to employees of Company X who intentionally fail to give information regarding an ongoing policy violation case at Company X or gives false information regarding the matter. Hence, all employees are mandated with upholding the values of Company X.
Avoidable conduct:
Both the high-rank officers and junior officers at Company X should avoid performing actions and uttering words that may be assumed to be intimidating to others, unpleasant or improper. At Company X all actions by an employee that offend another employee or unreasonably cause disruption to another employee in his/her working capacity are considered as harassment. Thus, all employees are mandated with reporting harassment cases (Poruthiyil, 2013).
Dress Code:
All employees of Company X should dress in a way that acts as Company X’s mirror to the society. Additionally, employees should dress in a way that does not unreasonably cause disruption to another employee in his/her working capacity.
Training Program
Company X will also be providing different training programs for its employees, as a way of providing employees with the chance of exploring and discussing the policies of Company X, along with different procedures required by Company X. Furthermore, training programs will also help in ensuring that the rules of Company X are always being followed. Consequently, components of the training programs are discussed below.
Training frequency:
Company X will be providing training programs for its employees two times annually. Generally, the first training program will be done at the beginning of every year, while the second training program will be done six months after the previous training program. Moreover, each training program will run for a period not less than two weeks. The people responsible for conducting the training programs include Company X’s management officials and visiting speakers who are temporarily invited to join Company X’s management team.
Gift Acceptance:
Among the programs to be regularly provided training on is gift acceptance. Company X highly discourages taking of gifts from clients in form of bribe in order to give the client favored treatment. Hence, the programs will train employees what government policies are in place regarding gift acceptance, and how the government policies align with policies of Company X. Moreover, the programs will also illustrate existing penalties by both the government and Company X regarding gift acceptance. Notably, acceptance of gifts plays a role in clients’ decision making (Vazquez, 2016).
Sexual harassment:
Most of the cases reported regarding harassment in many organizations are based on sexual harassment (Wolcott, 2014). Thus, Company X will be providing training programs on sexual harassment to its employees. The program will involve making employees aware of their constitutional rights and the protections provided to them by Company X’s policies. Furthermore, the programs will educate employees on where they should report any case of sexual harassment. Notably, the aim of providing training programs on sexual harassment to employees is to advocate for employees equal treatment.
Confidential Information:
Training programs at Company X will also illustrate the need for maintaining the company’s confidential information. Different laws relating to confidentiality of companies information are provided for in the constitution. Moreover, the policies of Company X also provide guidelines relating to confidentiality of the company’s information.
Thus, it is important to educate employees regularly on the penalties accorded to confidentiality of the company’s information by the constitution and Company X’s policies. The aim of educating employees regarding confidentiality of the company’s information is to ensure that they do not have a conflict between their personal interests and the interests of the company (Wolcott, 2014).
Monitoring of misconduct
Monitoring of misconduct at Company X will be done through a policy of Company X allowing employees to confidentially talk to the company’s manager of human resource. Furthermore, employees will be allowed to secretly report misconduct cases. Notably, Company X will mostly address misconduct in form of discrimination of employees, and sexual harassment of employees.
Furthermore, Company X will also address causes of hostile working conditions, abuse of the internet, employees stealing the company’s property, violation of Company X’s policies regarding breaks, and employee misconduct when attending to clients. Outstandingly, monitoring will be conducted by the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X.
Reporting misconduct
Reporting of misconduct at Company X will involve a thorough process. The officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X will be mandated with documenting of all comments made by complaining employees and the evidence that the employees provide regarding the complaint. Moreover, the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X will be required to identify if the employee who complains are raised against has a disciplinary record with Company X.
Thus, before engaging the employee who complains are raised against the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X is expected to interview co-workers who also include other managers. Notably, employees will be allowed to report their co-workers who engage in acts of violation of Company X’s policies. The employees will do the reporting through a confidential talk with the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X.
Ethics program audit
The ethics program at Company X will be audited in order to determine its effectiveness. Therefore, different tools will be used in performing the audit. The first foundation is detailed foundation benefits, where the actual behavior of Company X’s employees will be compared to the policies of Company X. The second tool is the development of metrics where ethics goals will be developed for Company X and reviews made annually regarding the ethics goals performance, with compensation being made on ethical behavior.
The third tool is creating a team which is cross-functional that includes the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X. Notably, since training programs for employees of Company X will be provided two times in every year, then audits regarding ethics programs will be done once per year. Mostly, audits will be done towards the end of the year. Hence, reviews will be made by a team which is cross-functional that includes the officer responsible for managing human resource at Company X.
After the audit, improvements will be applied through developing a code which prioritizes ethical performance. Furthermore, the management team of Company X will be mandated with demonstrating leadership in upholding ethical values of Company X.
Company X’s employees will also be trained on how to act more ethically with different routes of supporting the employees being created, after which the effectiveness of the program for ethics at Company X is measured again. Consequently, communication of changes at Company X regarding ethical behavior will involve training of employees and role modeling acts by Company X’s management.
Conclusion
Ethics determine in a great way how a business performs. Consequently, the essay above develops a discussion on ethics in business by building up a detailed discussion on a program for Company X’s ethics. Furthermore, the essay provides applicable standards for Company X aimed at guiding the conduct of employees at Company X’s workplace.
The essay also illustrates what a training program by Company X should encompass. Moreover, the essay has also provided the need for conduct monitoring and illustrated how misconduct reporting should be done at Company X. Markedly, since upholding of ethics at Company X is expected to be done through a program for ethics the essay provides an appropriate way of performing the ethics program audit.
References
Giddy, P. (2015). Proportionality reasoning in business ethics. African Journal Of Business Ethics, 8(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.15249/8-2-88
Michalos, A. (2013). The Business Case for Asserting the Business Case for Business Ethics. Journal Of Business Ethics, 114(4), 599-606. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1706-2
Poruthiyil, P. (2013). Weaning Business Ethics from Strategic Economism: The Development Ethics Perspective. Journal Of Business Ethics, 116(4), 735-749. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1818-8
Vazquez, P. (2016). Family Business Ethics: At the Crossroads of Business Ethics and Family Business. Journal Of Business Ethics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3171-1
The research topic explains the position played by the public-private partnership in the emergency management in New Hampshire. It is identified that efficient mobilization and stakeholders collaboration is a must for the success of the public-private partnership, (Nohrstedt, 2016). On the other hand, there exists a challenge inside stakeholder’s collaboration and mobilization that is linked with the inter-organizational and intra-organizational forces which merge to public-private partnership, (Moshtari, & Gonçalves, 2016).
The researched literature about the emergency management explains that we recognize the active stakeholder’s relationship among various stakeholders during the disaster reaction plays a vital role in influencing disaster result success. If the public-private partnership is efficiently utilized, it will be a success in motivating the emergency management. It is because it promotes efficiency in performance on resources available in the individual department and links them to the state resources and its capabilities.
To meet the requirements of the research, the following research questions were asked.
What are the biggest challenges of collaboration in public-private partnerships in emergency management in New Hampshire?
What are the biggest challenges of mobilization in public-private partnerships in emergency management in New Hampshire?
Can the challenges listed above be solved using local knowledge?
What ideologies can be utilized in enhancing collaboration in public-private partnerships in emergency management?
What ideas can be used in improving collaboration in public-private partnerships in emergency management?
What are some of the innovative ideas that can be utilized in increasing efficiency in mobilization and cooperation?
Phenomenology research design was used because it explains, in particular, the identified obvious fact throughout how it is apparent to a specific research by the researcher, (Leew, & Dillman, 2012). It assists in collecting in-depth information by inductive and qualitative techniques such as discussion, observation, and interviews.
To comprehensively come up with incredible findings, a sample of ten people was used to help the research find the answers to the mentioned research question ns. They received the questionnaires through email and gave their feedback through email. Purposive sampling techniques were used to sample the data since the method is regarded judgmental and nonprobability.
Qualitative coding was used to analyze the data. The most often answers were recognized and helped to follow a pattern of the trending responses. Additional, the coded date was categorized into the table. It was meant to help in arranging the results thus playing a crucial role in discussion and analysis, (Klenke, 2016).
Leew, E. D., Hox, J & Dillman, D. (2012). International Handbook of Survey Methodology European Association of Methodology Series. London: Routledge.
Moshtari, M. & Gonçalves, P. (2016). Factors Influencing Interorganizational Collaboration within a Disaster Relief Context. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-22.
Nohrstedt, D. (2016). Explaining Mobilization and Performance of Collaborations in Routine Emergency Management. Administration & Society, 48 (2), 135-162.
Yin, R. K. (2013). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. New York: SAGE Publications
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IMPLICATIONS OF STRATEGIC PLANNING OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ON STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE AT FAMILY BANK (KENYA)
Abstract
Financial institutions presently implement strategic planning with the aim that this will lead to better performance. Previous research focused on the strategic planning and performance direct relationship and not the guidelines followed that make up the process of strategic planning. The manner and extent to which each of the steps is practised could have implications on the expected strategic planning results. The study’s purpose is to establish the effects of strategic implementation on a bank’s financial performance.
The effectiveness of strategic planning is measured by the extent to which it affects organisational performance and its survival rate. The study has a primary aim of looking into the relationship between planning and fulfilment in a financial organisation and determines the extent to which strategic planning affects performance in an enterprise, of which the Family Bank of Kenya, will be used as case study. Based on the above objective, relevant kinds of literature were thoroughly reviewed, and three research questions were formulated for this study.
The study is aimed at proving that Strategic planning enhances better financial institution performance, which at the end last has an effect on its survival and that strategic planning intensity is determined by managerial, environmental and organisational factors. This research is to help the management and administration of the Family Bank of Kenya as a guide to implementing an effective strategic planning for improved corporate performance.
The findings of this research work will also help the public who would want to know about some advantages and disadvantages of strategic planning and its effect on organisational performance. The research tools included; interview, reading the corporation’s journals, reading research books and e-books and also use of questionnaires.
CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Introduction
Although strategic planning began with military war decades ago, it has become a central element to many organisations today (Efendioglu and Karabulut, 2010). Strategic planning is the organisational process of defining its strategy and taking up decisions on the allocation of resources to implement policies (Thompson and Strickland, 2004). Robert and Duncan (2007) asserted that strategic planning offers directions to organization’s departments according to their identified strategies to achieve success.
There has been a rise in scholars’ opinions in the past concerning strategic planning and how it is effective in competition and firm performance. (Schmenner, 1995) asserted that financial institutions which are in the service industry are susceptible to the threat of entrants to the market and therefore need strategic thinking for designing and implementing projects that will make the firms stand out in the market.
Thompson and Strickland (2003), regard strategic management as a critical process that leads to formulated strategies being implemented to ensure the achievement of organisational objectives. Efendioglu and Karabulut (2010) said that suggestions were made concerning the use of formal plans to control market forces and competition for a firm’s effectiveness and performance. Educational institutions, business administrators and researchers have paid attention to strategic planning due to its effect on competition and organisations performance (Efendioglu and Karabulut, 2010).
Strategic planning has granted opportunities to the Family Bank of Kenya in the creation of projects that are aligned with plans and in the daily activities of the firm. The strategies therefore used by the Family Bank of Kenya acts as a guide in this study as the researcher aims to identify whether strategic planning has implications on the strategic performance of firms.
General objective: The researcher intends to find out the implications of strategic planning of financial institutions on strategic performance.
1.1 Background of the organization
The family Bank is also known as the family bank limited and is a financial institution started in 1984 by the name Family Finance Building Society Limited. Later in the year 2007, its name changed to Family Bank Limited. The bank has its headquarters in Nairobi and a total of 93 branches. The key leaders in the Family Bank are the Chairman of the BOD, the managing director and the chief executive officer. The Bank states its aim as meeting the needs of people ignored by other banks. The financial institution has concentrated on small income earners such as fishermen, farmers and the Jua kali sector.
The mission of the bank is to liberate people from poverty and financial bondage. Family Bank offers loans, savings, checking, and investment and debit cards as its products to its consumers. The bank also has a purpose to helping people obtain and sustain wealth through the financial services it offers.
Strategic importance is a necessary tool for the Family Bank of Kenya as it has a strategic thrust of becoming a premier lender. The key areas of strategic planning by the bank include infrastructure, the organisational structure, offering innovative products and services and quality customer service.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Though the importance of strategic planning on the performance of the Family Bank of Kenya is to satisfy the needs of its customers, nevertheless several obstacles are militating against the effective execution of such strategic planning. These issues include competition from other financial institution operators. There also is inadequate and ineffective information systems and overemphasis on short-term results to the neglect of long-term goals.
These problems mostly associated with the Family Bank of Kenya and therefore required solutions as revealed from the study done so as to encourage the performances of the Bank economically through the development and implementation of strategic planning.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
• To establish the extent to which leadership with strategic implementation has influenced organisational performance.
• To determine the degree to which corporate structures on strategic implementation has affected organisational performance.
• To establish the extent to which resource on strategic implementation has influenced organisational performance
1.4 Research Questions
1. How does leadership on strategic implementation influence organisational performance in Family Bank?
2. What is the extent to which corporate structures on strategic implementation has an impact on the organisational performance of Family Bank?
3. What is the extent to which resource on strategic implementation impact corporate performance?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The Family Bank of Kenya has maintained a first rating with the capacity to meet obligations as and when they fall due since 1984. The expectation is that the study will yield information that may be useful for future proper planning and decision making in the Family Bank of Kenya to improve competence and customer satisfaction. The findings and recommendations of the study may also be useful to the management and directors of other financial institutions.
This study will assist them not to rely on haphazard personal experience or subjective expert judgment or tradition or fashion in their management tasks but base their methods, decision and actions on concrete knowledge of issues of their strategy implementation supported by the findings. It is my hope that the study will form a basis for further research on how to enhance the competence of not only the Family Bank of Kenya but other organisations. Further research may lead to the generation of new ideas for better and more efficient management of banks and other organisations in Kenya and globally.
1.6 Scope of the Study
As an enterprise with a new status, the Family Bank of Kenya presents a tremendous responsibility to provide leadership in innovation, the products and services offered, creative thinking, value production and the implementation of globally accepted best practices through the adoption of strategic plans.
Hence, this study will focus on strategic plan employed by the Family Bank of Kenya and the criteria tools used in evaluating the performance of the Bank with particular reference to other organisations involved in the competition.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW.
2.1 The Concept of Strategy
Scholars have put forth different explanations of how they define strategy. The strategy is a crucial aspect of an organisation as it used as a tool to offer directions in the firm. Aremu (2010) defined strategy as a formula for organisational competition and a guide to what policies are to use for success. Mintzberg (1994) referred to strategic planning as a systematic criterion of implementation, formulation and control of strategies to meet organisations objectives.
Arasa and Obonyo (2012) states that most corporations are taking strategic planning as a tool used to show the level of a firm’s performance. Studies on strategic planning have been done in the past, but they did not consider steps in the strategic planning procedure. Ansoff (1970) explains strategic planning as a process of searching the relationship between making plans and performance in a firm.
Drucker (1954) implied that strategic planning involved managing programs in a process that is meant to make best strategic decisions. Strategic planning is an environment affected by consumers, changes in technology, competitor and social-political factors (Drucker 1954). Steiner (1979) refers to strategic planning as a formal systematic effort used in establishing enterprise policies, objectives and purposes.
Planning entails the creation of a detailed course of actions to enable implementation of strategies to achieve a firm’s goals and objectives. Wendy (1997) breaks strategic planning into three components that lead to achievements of the mission and visions of an organisation. The three elements are setting of the enterprise directions on its goals, defining the company’s strategic intentions and putting efforts in understanding the business environment.
2.2 Strategic planning and performance
Ansoff (1971) proved that strategic planning could result in excellent financial performance which is measured by various accounting measures such as the net income and internal rate of return. Porter (1987) outline cost strategies, differentiation strategies, focus and generic strategies that would enhance performance in businesses. Mintzberg 1994 argues that good outcomes do not originate only from planning but the effort put by the commitment from people.
Hopkins (1997) also claim that high performance can be discovered through planning but only with managers input or participation. Miller and Cardinal (1994) are said to put strategic planning to test and approved that it leads to positive performance. The strategic planning process is defined by many as entailing three major steps. (Armstrong 1982) Policy planning involves formulation, implementation and control.
Dimma (1985) claimed that performance is greater when managers place more emphasis to the stages of strategic planning. Hopkins (1997) stated that the financial performance of a firm cannot be directly linked to strategic planning. However, it arises from the different manager skills contained in the enterprise. The skills by managers show the kind of experience and expertise that they have in policy planning.
Managers are not so much into the process of strategic planning as they do not understand the significant impact it has on output. (Steiner 1979). Bird (1991) stated that the environmental change and intensity has led to the need for strategic planning in banks.
2.3 Theoretical framework
2.3.1 Thompson and Strickland Model
According to Thompson and Strickland Model (2003) implementation processes and activities or consumption sets up processes that can be used to gear an organization towards a set objective.
Table 2.1: Steps for implementing strategies
Step
Special tasks
Creating an organization which can implement the strategies.
Creating a structure which supports implementation of strategies. Reinforcing skills and capabilities on which strategies are planned. Positioning most appropriate people for occupations in organizations.
Providing financial resources (budgeting) which can support strategies.
Being sure that financial resources are allocating to units in appropriate to their contribution of strategic role. Being sure that consuming resources (inputs) will cause desired outputs.
Establishing inter support units.
Developing and managing policies and procedures that facilitate implementation of strategies. Creating operational and administrational systems which can empower strategies.
Innovating motivation and remunerations in close relationship with objectives and strategies.
Motivating people and units for implementation of strategies. Designing remunerations can cause optimal level of performance. Encouraging tendencies for achievement of aims.
Forming organization’s culture to adjust strategies.
Creating common values. Defining ethical criteria Creating a workplace which supports strategies. Creating highly achievement motives in culture of organization.
Establishing inter support units.
Developing and managing policies and procedures that facilitate implementation of strategies. Creating operational and administrational systems which can empower strategies.
Performing leadership strategies.
Leading process of value formation, culture development and empowering implementation. Developing and saving innovations, responsibility to environment and using opportunities. Considering political aspects of strategies, confronting to power conflicts, and creating consensus. Posing ethical criteria and behaviour. Innovating modifications for improving implementation of strategies.
Source: Thompson and Strickland (2003)
According to this model, there are several steps that an organisation should undertake to have a successful strategic plan implementation. Each step has a unique task taken. The factors in this model are relevant to this study because they show what an organisation should undertake to have successful implementation towards business performance. It has step by step plans with a particular task that companies can follow to influence their capabilities.
The following dimension of this model was selected and considered relevant to this study: Creating an organisation which can implement strategies. This dimension is appropriate this study while looking at organisation structures. It has particular tasks that should be undertaken to influence a company’s performance.
Providing inter-support unit is considered relevant to the study because it shows us that an enterprise can go about setting the appropriate policies, procedures and rules that can influence proper administration and operation functioning that can lead to good organisation performance. Performing leadership dimension is considered because it shows group leadership should go about in its endeavours to influence performance in a firm.
It shows how leadership leads to values formation, culture development, conflict resolution, and motivation in an organisation providing financial resources (budgeting). This dimension is considered because it shows financial allocation and budgeting is relevant to the contribution of strategic goals in the business.
2.4 Empirical review
Strategic planning researchers and academicians have contributed to the literature by examining the conditions under which specific practices, resources or structural arrangements contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. However, strategic management or strategy is a relatively young field facing all the problems and difficulties associated with a growing academic discipline.
Historically, the field of policy was viewed as ‘integrative’. Most scholars actively involved in the study of strategy hail from a host of disciplines – anthropology, sociology, population ecology, finance, marketing, political science, and theology to name only a limited number.
A study by Kaplan and Norton (2008), suggests that the management of operations and strategies involves five steps. The first phase is forming of the strategy with alignment to the company’s policies. The second step is translating the set strategies to objectives.
Thirdly, an operational process is created to facilitate the achievement of initiatives. The fourth step entails the implementation of the plans as well as monitoring performance. The last step is putting the strategy to the test by an analysis of profitability and cost in comparison to the outcome or performance.
A lot of scholars are now researching on the central role of firm processes in the improvement of financial performance. According to Spanyi (2004), the book by Kaplan and Norton on “Strategy Maps” puts business processes at the centre of their approach of measuring a firm’s progress in implementing the plan (Spanyi, 2004). They wanted to put emphasis on that in a procedure of changing to a processing company, and they thus kept a focus on thorough analysis in the implementation of processes which would, in turn, affect the organisational success.
2.5 Conceptual Framework
Strategic management practices are useful only when they make a positive difference in output from the traditional management practices. In this study performance is the dependent variable and independent variable include leadership, policies and procedures, structures and resource allocation
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework Showing Relationship between Strategic plan Implementation and Performance Source.
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section gives a detailed procedure of the methods to use in this study. It focused on a clear and concise description of the methods and manner through which this research work is to be conducted. Data has to be gathered for proper analysis of the effect of strategic planning on organisational performance using the Family Bank of Kenya as my case study. Therefore, an attempt is made in this chapter to show the results of this study by considering areas such as the design of the survey, research instruments, the population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, the method of data analysis and reliability of the instrument.
3.2 Research Design
According to Heron (1998), a research design refers to a method for managing and utilising information to get the desired precision. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey research approach. A cross-sectional approach is an approach where information on a population is gathered at a single point in time which is the case for this study. The study design uses the family bank of Kenya as the case study. The method chosen for the study is appropriate for obtaining in-depth knowledge of the policies utilised by the Family Bank for competitive advantage. Kothari (1990) agrees to the fact that a case study gives insight into issues that may be less known or not known by many.
3.3 Target Population
The target population for the study will be all departments within the headquarters of the Family Bank situated in Nairobi. The departments included in the survey will consist of the Operations/ Customer Service, Treasury, Risk Management, Inspection, Information Technology and the Human resource Department. Most importantly, financial managers and accountants who are involved in financial planning functions of the bank will be interviewed.
Five managers from the departments and 20 employees from the various departments that get affected by the financial planning of the bank will be interviewed. Before the interview, the researcher will seek permission from the respondents by explaining the nature and reason for undertaking the research so that none of the interviewers will be undue pressure to participate.
3.4 Sampling procedure
The sampling method used is stratified random sampling to select the respondents. This design allows the population to have an equal chance of being selected in the different strata. The strata, in this case, are the various categories within the company. The sample was chosen to ensure that the sampling size had a symbolic representation of the population.
The formula to find the sample size is:
n = N /1 + (N * e2)
Where;
N= population size
e= Tolerance, take 0.05 at 95% confidence level
n= sample size.
The distribution of the sample across the categories will be done using the formula:-
Number of individuals in the category x the sample size
The researcher intends to interview 5 managers from the company’s departments and 20 employees distributed across the departments.
3.5 Data Collection
The study uses both secondary and primary data. Secondary data is obtained from existing literature such the financial statements and records found at the Family Bank of Kenya. Primary data is gathered by the use of interviews. The study will however rely mainly on primary data collected using a questionnaire. The respondent consists of senior management, middle management and operational staff of Family Bank.
Structured questionnaires, where the study participants are asked to respond to same questions, will be used to aid the study (Mugenda and Mugenda, 2003). Five concept questionnaires will be used with multiple variables under each concept. The concepts will consist of Strategic Leadership, Organisation Structure, Resource Allocation and Performance. Books and journals from Family Bank will act as reference in this study.
The questionnaires will be semi-structured to allow attainment of diverse opinions and views regarding the research question. Interviewees will be given the ability to demonstrate their understanding of the topic by explaining their opinions such that questions may lead to other questions or dimensions for answering them. By getting diverse opinions, it’s possible to critically evaluate the research question and provide a detailed and conclusive analysis.
3.6 Validity of the Research Instrument
According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), reliability refers to the degree to which the research instrument can yield consistent results and data from repeated trials. Validity, on the other hand, is the extent to which results from the analysis of the data represent the phenomenon under study. To maximise the reliability of the instrument the researcher with the help of experts in measurements and evaluation will ensure that the questions in the questionnaire are not ambiguously presented to the respondents. In other words, to ascertain the reliability of the instrument, questionnaires have been used by several researchers who have come out with reliable solution to the problems
3.7 Data Analysis and Presentation of Findings
The study will apply descriptive statistics which describes and summarises data so that patterns are made visible. Inferential statistics are used to analyse the relationship between the factor and the service quality and multiple regressions to evaluate the contribution of all the factors to the dependent variable. Multiple regression methods use the correlations between a dependent variable and independent variables as a criterion to determine which variables would be included in the regression model.
3.8 Ethical issues
The researcher will upfront inform the respondents that taking part in the survey is voluntary and that they are also not forced to disclose information that they are unwilling to. The researcher expects to get resistance or difficulty with some of the respondents. Trust will be obtained from respondents by explaining to them the purpose of the research and the benefits it has on the firm. The interviewees will be given an opportunity to ask questions which will be answered by the interviewer.
3.9 Chapter summary
This section explores the research design and methods to be used by the researcher in the study. The researcher will use company records as secondary data together with semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, which of form part of the primary data, to collect data. The respondents will consist of the managers and employees distributed within the different departments of the bank.
For ethical purposes, the respondents will be asked to sign non-disclosure forms to ascertain that researcher will ensure confidentiality. Moreover, the researcher will follow the required guidelines as stipulated in the company’s policy to select respondents, like through the gatekeepers including the management, so that the research will be openly conducted. Respondents will deliberately decide to participate in the research.
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1. Introduction: Huawei and the Business case for Innovation
Huawei, a company that initially started as a private start-up in China is rapidly becoming a competent innovative and encompassing company. Through competitive advantage, the company has found its way inside countries where competent companies exist, like the United States, Europe, and Japan. With staffs spread worldwide, the company allows employees to hold stocks, thereby becoming an employee-owned company, allowing the company to quickly spread across the world (Tao & Chunbo, 2014).
Historically founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei has undergone extraordinary transformation since its foundation (Cremer & Tao, 2015a). Zhengfei started the company selling Private Branch Exchange (PBX) in 1987. By 1993, he had built research and development (R &D) team, and the company was developing its own digital PBX (Zhu & Jones, 2014). Rapid expansion through innovation and leadership made the company to enter overseas market by 1995, and since millennium, the company has its presence across 170 countries.
Transforming from one man sales to international telecommunication giant, speaks about the innovative business management undertaking that Huawei embodies. The company mainly deals with selling optical transmission equipment that generates voice data and video services (Cremer & Tao, 2015a; Zhu & Jones, 2014). Some innovative products such as the Softswitch products, which is a used in VoIP network and Public Stitched Telephone Networks (PSTN) and VoIP networks are made available through this company.
Other products of Huawei that provides edge over other company includes the Next Generation Network (NGN) that give solutions to multimedia networks in cell phone (GSM and CDMA), land lines, and television (Abbott Foster & Reinsch, 2010). Collaboration and partnership with strong company like IBM and Neuf Telecom has also allowed the company to quickly build on their business set-up (Bell, 2008; Cremer & Tao, 2015b).
All these factors put together is making Huawei to offer good price-value-offer in the market, and allow cheaper and better technologies of China to compete and match with the Occidental ones. In short, Huawei is the upcoming company to watch and compete in terms of business innovation.
2. Prioritising Innovation in Huawei
Through transparent media desensitization, the company is able to show that company based in China is worthy of respect, and that it is ready to play their part in international field (Tian et al., 2016). Huawei has unique management and business systems, different culture and systems, different approach towards innovation and reform, and rapid adaptation to evolving strategies and leadership systems that allow the company to climb towards innovative leadership board. Given such advancement, Huawei has become one of the most cited companies in terms of their business programs across the world (Tian et al., 2016).
During the 90s, R&D was all about internationalization, corporate entrepreneurship, and information-integration, but the turn of millennium is taking R&D towards becoming a technological maverick, which the Chinese company like Huawei is emphasizing. Huawei has simply become the classic example of technological prowess from emerging power country that is China (Boutellier et al., 2008). In China, Huawei is known as the B2B-brand, and the Chinese consider it as the largest manufacturer of telecommunication equipment (Bell, 2008).
Within China and beyond, the success of the Huawei is attributed towards its excellent R&D, where they engage in investing 10% of its revenue every year, holding thousands of patents, and cooperating with global players like IBM, Intel, Motorola, Oracle, and TI (Bell, 2008; Tian et al., 2016). With research centers in information technology centers of the world like India, Russia, Sweden, and the United States, the Company works toward garnering customer’s requirements, thereby becoming a leader and innovator in technology world.
Their business innovation comes in terms of creating several digital technologies that will help link PCs, TVs, stereos, and other devices to the internet, thereby making the company to get easy access to the competitive platform, and in establishing itself as one of the leader in innovation (Bell, 2008). Again, since there are many fourth generation networks operating commercially across contemporary world, the relatively new system is suddenly becoming obsolete again.
Huawei’s R&D is therefore working to develop fifth generation or 5G network system that will give innovative and leadership edge in the telecom world. With hundreds of engineers working on 5G networks, excellent airwaves or spectrum is expected to be released by Huawei by 2010 (Hu, 2013). This network will allow Huawei to introduce 5G network, which will accelerate the speed to 10 Gigabytes, which is 100 times faster that 4G network.
The company also believes in diversity as part of its business innovative skills, and such emphasis has been able to garner revenue sales for the company. Diversity has been able to build the company’s sales and revenue, allowing employees and stockholders to build their own business and interest. Study by Cremer and Tao (HBR) shows that in the initial period, when Zhengfei designed the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), he came to realize that not owning the company’s total share capital will not harm his company.
He therefore makes employees to have their own share, and he himself holds only 1.4% of the company’s total share capital. Such profit allowance to employees and stockholders is an innovative step of the Company, yet unapplied in other competing companies. Confucian values of equality and harmony, and the idea of building the company on equity are making Huawei to rapidly expand their businesses. Bridging wealth gap, but getting paid for what people contribute balanced out the business growth and entrepreneurial set-up of the company.
3. Leadership and Innovative challenges
3.1. Theoretical Framework
Smith, Fressoli and Thomas (2014) in “Grassroots Innovation Movements: Challenges and Contributions” shows that innovative challenges in technological world mainly encompasses some grassroots issues like attending the needs of distinctive local requirement-specificities, and company like Huawei faces such challenges in penetrating local markets. For Edquist (2009), innovation challenges mainly takes the form of global innovative challenges where many competent markets are there in the market for consumers to affiliate themselves with. West and Gallagher (2006) present in “Challenges of Open Innovation:
The Paradox of Firm Investment in Open-Source Software” also present a theoretical framework that innovation challenges and becoming a leader in the market often involves finding creative ways to compete with other brand; understanding internal and external needs of the companies; and keeping up with the need for innovations that will fulfill customers across its market. Will R&D solve such issues? Since Huawei invest vehemently in R&D, this alone may not be the solution, but business strategies and management, innovative product development, and selling complements will also speed up the process.
3.2. Leadership and Innovative Challenges within Huawei Company
Huawei is no doubt a leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions provider, and the leadership of Huawei is demonstrated through its capacity to surpass Sweden’s Ericson in 2012, thereby proving that it is an upcoming world’s largest telecom equipment maker and provider (Zhu & Jones, 2014).
However, given the fast changing environment and relentless international competition, Huawei like any other company now face innovative and leadership challenges in the telecom market. Huawei strategy so far concerns developing proprietary standards, and making technologies available at a low cost that will help the company to become the number one telecom company in the world (Abbott Foster & Reinsch, 2010), but Chinese companies are always regarded as copier of technologies, and not a world leader in terms of innovative revolution, and Huawei comes under this category.
In terms of leadership challenges, the company continues to compete with other telecom companies like Cisco, Lucent, and Alcatel (Bell, 2008; Boutellier et al., 2008). Since they remain as the world leading equipment manufacturers, Huawei faces strong competitions to their leadership stand.
In China, Huawei faces strongest competition against their leadership and innovative spirit from UTStarcom, where the latter has branded Huawei as a ‘follower’ and not an ‘innovator’ (Bell, 2008). The work of Huawei is regarded as doing thing which others have already done and made.
This only manifests the company as imitating company, where research studies and building products are based on other companies’ working mechanisms and products. Thus, Huawei as a total B2B-brand is also not considered as consumer’s brands like Haier and Lenovo; instead, it is only regarded as a company that could or could not become a consumer brand someday.
Innovative challenges are seen even while creating equal access to stock opportunities by Huawei, since the company to not promote distribution outcomes. This equal access of ESOP however remains inaccessible to non-Chinese employees owing to legal constraints, thereby making the innovation business management and practices to possess its own limitations.
Attempt to solve the issue through long-term incentive plan known as Time-based Unit Plan (TUP) has not borne much success for the company (Tian et al., 2016). Huawei also basically remains as private company in terms of leadership and business management, and the fact that company has no plans to go public continues curtails innovation and growth of high value within the company.
According to Cremer and Tao (2015b), Huawei’s rotating CEO system that drives any profit organization also remains re-examination. The company should appoint competent strong CEO, since this position is the embodiment of the company in terms of promoting sales, profit and creating shareholder value in general.
Huawei aims to become the leader of smart phones and smart-device suppliers in the world in the coming four or five years, but such leadership target comes with all forms of internal and external challenges (Yu, 2016). Among technological giant countries, Huawei is only making rapid headway in China and Europe, but slower in the United States, Japan, and India. Penetrating rapidly in these countries will allow the company to grow in their leadership prowess, although breaking technological giants prominent in these countries remain challenging.
4. CONCLUSION: Practical Measures to Overcome Challenges
Huawei operates in a challenging environment, and although the company is regarded as an imitator, rather than a leader, the company can transform itself as a leader through the process of re-orientation, adaption, management strategies, and better business innovation through R&D.
The company can solve its leadership and innovation challenges mainly through R&D activities that will help design and transform the telecom and propel its position in becoming a global innovative ICT leader. To meet leadership and innovative challenges, Huawei should invest more time in R &D that meet the needs of customers and channel partners within and outside Chinese employee stockholders.
In recent years, Huawei has been launching products that encompass progressive technologies like cloud computing, ISP, IOT, and all other vertical solutions that will provide better business platform for the company (PTI, 2015). Such innovation will provide the company to leverage with global experience and expertise to become the leader in telecom and information technology world.
The company should also come up with distinctive products for all non-Chinese markets, depending on the needs of the consumers in different countries. The fact that the company has been expanding overseas since 1997, but remained little known outside China shows its weak business management strategies and weak innovative skills (Witzel & Goswami, 2012).
Globalized strategies along with its heavy R&D investment will help the company overcome innovation and leadership challenges. Consumers always want better product and the company that can come up with their requirements to succeed in the competitive market, and although success depends on the customers to decide their affiliation with the most advanced telecommunication capabilities that fulfill their needs company’s innovative and leadership prowess can make Huawei the leading ICT brand in the market.
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Despite the fact that Federal law aims at protecting people from being discriminated based on their own genes, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) has a loophole in that it only apply to health insurance. It does not state anything regarding insurance companies that sell disability, life insurance and long term care insurance. In reality, insurance companies are designed to operate in such a way that people purchase policies but only few percentages of the people insured will use them.
This is to ensure that policies selling are sustainable. However, through genetic testing, people identified with potential risk of developing chronic health condition based on the genetic markers identified are likely to purchase life or disability insurance because they already know that they will develop the chronic disease down the road, making it unsustainable (Feldman, 2012).
The Early onset familial Alzheimer disease (Efad) is a dominant genetic disease, which is caused by single gene mutation. The disease is caused by mutant gene which is inherited from one generation to the other. APOE testing is important health care domain because it aids confirming the disease, or to predict who has the potential of developing the disease in the future.
However, the tests help people to ponder knotty ethical dilemma and life questions. For instance, of one is 25 years old and have a parent who have suffered with the disease, would it be advisable to understand your fate so as to plan and escape it ( Strobel, 2013).
The results of Genetic testing for Alzheimer disease can be devastating if a person carries they carry genes for Early Onset Familial Alzheimer disease. Some people can even decide to end their lives prematurely to avoid facing the health complication associated with the disease. In addition, there is little information on effective treatment options, predictive tests for APOE testing is important in preparing families and patients for decisions that needs to be made such as advance care planning.
It helps in confirming diagnosis, and in developing care plans. The testing informs patient’s family about the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease, and to prepare them financially or have them fill advance directives where necessary. The testing may also facilitate prevention whereby people to make behavior changes such as exercising so as to improve hypertension and other health issues that can negatively impact patient’s cognition (Sheffrin, Stijacic Cenzer, & Steinman, 2016).
Question 2
Most of chronic diseases today are treated using trial and error drug methods. However, pharmacogenomics technological advancement has ensured that physicians are able to match the drugs with right patients, and according to their genetic profile. This ensures that people get the appropriate therapy from the start, and without any complication. This is because healthcare providers are able to prescribe the best drug therapy, thereby speeding their recovery and eradicates potential side effects. Research evidence indicates that this approach can reduce mortality rates by 100,000 and more than 2 million hospitalization rates annually in the USA (Seyerle & Avery, 2013).
Alzheimer disease may occur at any age but its onset is usually at around 40 years. The rate of disease occurrence increases exponentially with age. Alzheimer treatment protocol begins with the diagnosing the patient with Alzheimer disease. The patient baseline functionally and psychiatric state is assessed. If patient condition is mild at diagnosis, the patient begins treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitor.
The patient is assessed after 2- 4 weeks, and a stable dosage is established, and the patient is advised to visit the clinic after every 3-6 weeks to continue the treatment. If the patient is not tolerating the medication, the healthcare provider changes to another type of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor until, patient are re-evaluated until the appropriate medication is achieved (Bradford et al., 2011). This protocol highlights that treatment of Alzheimer is basically trial and error as shown in Fig 1 below.
However, the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease as well as drug metabolism is regulated genetically, and by numerous gene interactions. Alzheimer patients respond moderately to conventional medicine such as donepezil, galantamine, memantine and rivastigmine; with doubtful cost effectiveness. This implies that the healthcare provider must put the following factors into account when choosing the type of cholinesterase inhibitor include a) the dosage, frequency and availability of medication, and b) the number of drugs need to achieve the intended therapeutic dosage. This calls for further assessment of patient’s inherent factors and their ability to deal with medication’s side effects.
The previous pharmacogenomics studies indicated that therapeutic response for this disease is specific to genotype that contains apolipoprotein E. According to these studies, the pharmacogenomics factors may account for 60 to 90% of drug variability in disposition of drugs and in pharmacodynamics. Therefore, modifying the protocol to integrate genomics in management of Alzheimer disease in clinical practice will foster effective therapeutic optimization which will help to develop cost-effective pharmaceuticals, thereby improving drug safety and efficacy (Dua et al., 2011).
References
Bradford, T. W., Onysko, M.K., Stob, C., Hazlewood, K. (2011). Treatment of Alzheimer disease. American Family Physician 2011 retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/afp/2011/0615/p1403.html
Dua, J., Gupta, A., Pachuari, K., Dewangan, S. (2011). Pharmacogencomics- a boon for chronic disease. International journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences 2(2); B- 424
Feldman, E. A. (2012). The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): Public Policy and Medical Practice in the Age of Personalized Medicine. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 27(6), 743–746. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-012-1988-6
Seyerle, A. A., & Avery, C. L. (2013). Understanding Genetic Epidemiology: The Potential Benefits and Challenges of Genetics for Improving Human Health. North Carolina Medical Journal, 74(6), 505–508.
Sheffrin, M., Stijacic Cenzer, I., & Steinman, M. A. (2016). Desire for predictive testing for Alzheimer’s disease and impact on advance care planning: a cross-sectional study. Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, 8, 55. http://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-016-0223-9
