Think Essays

Leading Change with the Balanced Scorecard

 What is the problem or issue that necessitates that such an article be written?

            The article was written to discuss the change that was implemented in the measurement of performance. There is a need for measuring the performance of the employees as this creates focus for the future and communicates important messages to all organizational units and employees.

            A Balanced Scorecard program as a change project was introduced. The article discussed the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of such a program as well as its advantages. It describes the new system that evolved out of this new Balanced Scorecard program.

 

 What strategies or techniques are used to solve the problem or address the issue?

            In the Balanced Scorecard program, several strategies or techniques are used in solving and addressing the issues/problems. Organizations that adopt the Balanced Scorecard program for their new strategies understand the need for a new measurement framework and see it as a powerful tool for driving change initiatives.

The executive leadership that creates the Balanced Scorecard becomes the guiding coalition for driving change in the organization. The process of building the scorecard builds both the team and its commitment to the strategy. The scorecard makes the vision and the strategy operational. Words do not sufficiently communicate change initiatives, since the same words mean different things to different people. It's when word statements are translated into measures that everyone in the leadership team understands clearly what the vision and the strategy are about.

            The organizations that adopt the Balanced Scorecard have strategies that include a strong growth component. To increase their profits, they don’t simply do this by cutting costs, downsizing and eliminating unprofitable business units because they believe that cost and productivity improvements typically deliver only the short-term component of the strategy. Instead, what they do to improve profitability long-term is through expanding their revenues.

            Building executive teams are also used as a strategy in the Balanced Scorecard program. Within the team, a shared vision and strategy is created. A tremendous amount of cross-fertilization takes place as each element of the strategy becomes translated into the scorecard format.

 

 Your conclusions and recommendations.

            The Balanced Scorecard program should be used by organizations that are firm in their decision to change for the better. This program introduces the use of meetings report and a discussion of all relevant measures to the strategy and the initiatives designed to improve measured performance along with the usual traditional meetings.

            As presented in the article, it is recommended to have the meetings scheduled in advance. Meetings should be done every month and performance of the employees discussed. The Balance Scorecard program helps drive change in the organization and empower the employees.

 

 Your assessment of how the article contributes to helping practicing managers.

            Practicing managers can gain insight from the article that was presented. They can compare the traditional ways of how performance measurement is done with the new ways like the Balanced Scorecard program. This in a way will help the practicing managers to keep on the right track with their performance and monitoring of employees’ performance.

           

 Provide a list of discussion questions useful for leading a discussion of the article.

            The following discussion questions could be useful in leading a discussion of the article on Balance Scorecard program:

1. Why should a Balanced Scorecard program be a change project and not a metrics project?
2. In what ways can the Balanced Scorecard program be effective?
3.  What is the advantage of organization’s issues being considered as a team problem rather than considered as the domain of a single functional executive?

 

Managing Change

Introduction

Changes in technology, the environment, in the organization, and new strategies impose changes in the entire organizations and needed effective management to be able to cope up with the challenges it can bring and to address the issues accompanied by the changes. This paper discusses the basic roles of management and in implementing change in an organization. It focuses on how the management should lead the organization and the strategies needed to be able for the organization adapt with the changes.

Factors of Changes          

An organization usually experience changes brought about by many factors. One factor is environmental changes, both internally and externally. External changes are those that are can not be control by the management but can be adapted and overcome and at times can be an opportunity for the company. These changes may include consumer behavior such as how consumers buying pattern; changes in society’s attitude; the behavior of the competitors; political and economic changes as well as changes in legislation.

            Changes in technology are a factor that must be capitalize by the organization and maximize the benefits it can bring. Changes in technology may affect and impose new working methods and the development of new products or services produced by the company. Technology also affects communications and information system in a company as well as its interaction with the customers and its marketing strategies.

           

Changes in management are brought about by promotions, changes in upper management or acquisition of new workers as well as mergers with other companies. This changes result to change in corporate culture, values, management style and changes in working relationships. This change is also brought about by changes in the organizational structure or size like a change from a centralized structure to a decentralized one, or by forming new departments, increasing delegation or removing a department due to outsourcing or delayering of the organizational structure.

These changes imply little to great change; can be related with each other and are caused by different factors. Change in management might be caused by a change in strategy and it is needed to have a management more capable of implementing the strategy while change in products being manufactured might be cause by the change in technology and the actions of competitors.

With all these changes encountered by an organization, it is necessary to have a management that has the capability and skills as well as the knowledge needed to lead the entire organization. It is relatively important for the management to know its specific roles to be able to perform them effectively.

The Role of Managers      

Generally, to run a business or an organization, there should be a person in charge that makes decisions, and is responsible for the work performance of other members of the organization. Large and medium companies usually has a hierarchical organizational structure that is composes of managerial levels. The highest-level manager is the top manager. It is the strategic level of management where policies and goals of a company are established. Below the high level managers are the tactical levels or the middle managers who are in charge of different divisions of a company.  Finally, there is the operational level or the lower level managers who are in charge of departments within a certain division and the day to day activities of the company.

 

Generally, all managers’ common function is to manage and interact with people. They coach employees to help them improve their works; they organize job tasks; settle disputes and develop career paths for employees. To make it more specific, activities in business organizations are categorized into six classifications: (1) Technical which deals with production and manufacturing; (2) Commercial which deals with buying, selling and exchanging; (3) Financial which is responsible for obtaining and using capital; (4) Security for protection of property and persons; (5) Accounting which deals with balance sheet, stocktaking, statistics and costing; and (6) Managerial which basic roles are planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling.

As stated, managerial work includes planning which involves defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing sub-plans to coordinate activities. It also includes organizing which is determining what needs to be done, how will it be done and who will do it; leading which is directing and motivating all parties and resolving conflicts; controlling which is monitoring activities to ensure  that they are accomplished as plan; and making sure that the organization has achieved its stated purpose.

           

All these roles of managers can be considered as partial for the range of managerial tasks do not lend to a simple classification.  Informational roles and interpersonal roles are the two important dimensions of every manager that must be considered when analyzing their roles. Interpersonal roles as the name suggested involves interaction with the members of the organization such as when making speeches or presentation; welcoming important clients, when acting as a leader when hiring or motivating employees; or when the manager acts as a liaison officer in which the manager builds a up a network of relationship outside the organization to build a private information system (Mintzberg, 1975). Informational roles, on the other hand, involve monitoring wherein the manager keeps tabs on what is going on; dissemination, where the manager passes on some important information to his staff; and representation where the manager acts as the nerve center of the organization, inform and satisfy the influential people who control the organization.

           

Moreover, there are additional dimension which is the decisional roles where a manager acts as entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. The manager seeks to improve the changing conditions in the environment as an entrepreneur. While all managers assume these roles, to what extent depends on their individual field.

            To be able for a manager to perform all these roles, enough skills and knowledge are required. Managers can be positioned on top management, middle management or supervisory management. Whatever management level he has, he needed all the four dimensions of managerial skills. Managerial skills are conceptual skills, human skills, technical skills and innovational skills. Conceptual skills depend on the manager’s ability to thinking abstract technical skill is the ability to use tools, procedures and techniques in some specific specialization. Human skill is the ability to work with, understand and motivate people as individuals or group. Conceptual skills are important to all levels of management but more important on top management who think and act as the brain of the organization same as how human skill and technical skill become more important to supervisory management who directly interacts with the employees and who teaches the workers how to do their tasks. Different amount of conceptual, human and technical skills are needed depending on the managerial level of managers. However, innovational skills are required about the same amount across the levels of management.

           

Whatever level of management, management skills can be summarized as: leadership – the ability to direct or inspire others; standard setting- definition of roles and responsibilities; delegation- empowering others with the responsibility for tasks; work allocation- sharing out work fairly and appropriately; clear communication- giving information at the right time in the right way; and encouraging good working relations such as teamwork, appraisals and selection.       

 

Leadership means effectively directing the members of the organization towards achievable goals. It demands excellent communication skills and the ability to inspire others through winning their confidence. There is no one set for selecting a manager; it depends on the nature of the job, its roles and responsibilities and the nature and situation of the organization of the business.  In a small business, there may be only one manager. In this case, the person must adapt their management style to suit the business situation.

           

Manager’s responsibilities depend on the level of authority and position he has in the company. A manager may have the authority to hire and fire staff, and to decide on the level of their pay and bonus. A manager has a responsibility for a specific team of people and area of business. For example, an Account manager’s responsibilities are very different with the responsibilities of Human Resource Manager and a Corporate Legal manager and they all handle entirely different set of people. A manager should have the skills and the ability to delegate appropriate staff to a specific task. Delegation of tasks gives employees the opportunity for development and improvement. Even when a manager has delegated tasks to subordinate, accountability remains with the manager. When a manger has delegated and allocated tasks to his subordinates, he can now tackle top level tasks such as strategic planning, generating business, or setting up new production line.

 It is also a manager’s responsibility to set standards. People are better to function efficiently especially in large organizations if they have a framework, a set of rules and standards to provide limits and steer them along.

            Managers should also have the knowledge and skills to encourage good communication and working relationships within the organization. Communication can be encouraged by arranging regular meetings for managers of all sections to update and exchange information directly; by displaying company information on screens, walls, desk aids; by issuing regular reviews on projects and company progress; or by putting important information in writing like memo.

Furthermore, managers should have knowledge on organizational behavior which is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals and groups act in organizations. Application of knowledge in organizational behavior helps a manager establish philosophy, values, vision and goals for the organization; motivate employees in order for them to feel job satisfaction; promotes a more stable organizational culture and helps managers become effective leaders.

 

Managers during Change

All the specified roles of managers are very much needed once an organization undergoes changes. As noted above, one role of management is planning. During planning is where goals and strategies are formed and plan on how they will be implemented. It is when the management can identify the changes that the organizations will undergo. During the stage of planning, the management should determine contingencies and back-up solutions once a strategy failed in order for the organization to move quickly and responsively during strategy implementation. It also during planning that changes in the external environment of the organization are discussed with the leadership of the CEO.  

After the planning stage, organizing follows. Organizing, as part of the management job, includes the positioning of the right persons for a particular task. For example, if a company wants to adopt e-commerce as a strategy, it needs to have a CIO who has good technical background on e-commerce, the internet and good IT infrastructure or has the capability to determine and maximize the technology needed by the company. Organizing is basically putting people at position where they can be effectively utilized by and contribute more with the company and at the same time where they can grow along with the growth of the company.

 

In organizing due to change, usually the organizational structure is change followed by some significant changes such as change in culture and management style. Like the case of the Ford Motor Company, an established and distinguished manufacturer of automotive. In 1993, Ford was enjoying increased in profits due to its worldwide sales. Also during that time was when the company had elected new president and CEO Alex Trotman. Trotman together with the upper management of Ford decided to globalize the company’s operations with the aim to cover more market, driven by the changing international trade environment and the improvement in communication technology that has made the change seems successful based on the Ford’s condition today.

Case Study: Ford 2000

The strategy that Trotman and his management formulated is called the before the Ford 2000, the company has two major operations, the Ford of North America and The Ford of Europe under an ethnocentric organization controlled by the Ford Family. Each operation was run under a very hierarchical, centralized organization with all operations including the research and development being maintained in Dearborn, Michigan.

With its very hierarchical structure, the organization included multiple layers of management superimposed upon each department. Before a new design or any important matter to be incorporated in a platform, idea had to be channeled first through the hierarchy for approval and then reworked if necessary. This type of process with this type of organizational structure causes delay in implementation and wasteful of human resources, which was a disadvantage on the part of Ford. If the idea was originated in Europe and demanded significant changes involving many platforms, then the idea had to be run through additional channels in Dearborn, Michigan.

Trotman, who once became the head of Ford Europe and having the knowledge on the barriers to global efficiency and flexibility had realized that Ford needed a necessary change in order to eliminate inefficiencies and be successful with its globalization plan, hence the Ford 2000. Ford 2000 is basically a reorganization plot in order for the entire company to adapt to the globalization strategy and remain profitable in the 21^st century. The reorganization involved the consolidation of Ford North America and Ford Europe into a single entity, Ford Automotive Operations. Ford’s hierarchical organization was also changed into a matrix structure consisting of three vehicle centers.

It is the management’s role to coordinate the plan within the company. Trotmam and his management did this through a rigorous internal campaign involving all of Ford’s worldwide management. They had numerous meetings and brainstorming about the plan which was supported by Ford’s management and implemented on January 1995, as initially planned.

The matrix type of organization aims to create synergism through shared responsibility between project and functional management. With matrix organization, information sharing is mandatory. At Ford, design efficiency has improved with the linking of Ford’s multiple global design centers through the use of computer networking and extensive video conferencing. The functional departments have functional responsibility to maintain technical excellence, with the leadership of department manager. Some advantages of matrix are that hierarchical referrals are easily resolved; there is a better balance between time, cost and performance; and authority and responsibility are shared.

With the new Ford management structure, there are plant vehicle teams consisting of quality, design, and production engineers and technicians. They design and implement solutions to problems recognized by dealer and customer feedback. Ford’s organizational structure is focus on teamwork, multiple reporting relationships, and technical expertise.

Another role of the management related to change is leading. To lead an organization, the management has to motivate its subordinates and must be able to resolve conflicts. In contemporary organizations, management act as coach to its members; they inform and educate its members to perform the tasks efficiently and competently especially during the process of implementing a strategy where many changes occur.

Ford came up with worldwide learning, an extensive study of operations and benchmarking to find and implement the best practices currently practiced for a particular operation. The company’s upper level management believes that this kind of learning will be the competitive advantage of Ford on long term basis and is useful to harness the energy of Ford’s employees fro the company’s growth. The upper-level management teaches all Ford’s managers to look at the company from two points of view, that of a shareholder and that of a customer, having a global mindset, a rapid response to custo0mer needs, focus on the activities and operate with the belief that real leaders are teachers. The managers will then teach these perspectives to their subordinates in order for the perspectives to be replicated throughout the company. Ford management used formal programs such as Executive Partnering, Capstone, and the Business Leadership Initiative which are all based on the principle that the best way to learn is to “see one, do one, teach one”.

The ‘see one’ involves observing managers to get their management style and listening to that manager to get his ideas, values, motivational energy and edge. To ‘do one’ consists of a number of projects al designed to result in enhanced shareholder value and the ‘teach one’ comes in formulating one’s own teachable point of view and in turn creating a new set of managers.

Controlling and monitoring are usually the roles of managers to ensure that the plan has been implemented and the objectives and purpose of the company or a certain strategy is achieved. These involve strategy implementation and overcoming hindrances for the company’s success.

Ford has adapted computer networking and video conferencing to have link on the company’s design centers worldwide for easy sharing of ideas and feedbacks. Through technology and the use of computer, major functions of the company such as marketing, purchasing, distribution and other service-oriented processes have been linked to the manufacturing facility making the production and delivery of products faster. Organizational change in Ford has resulted to cost saving, responsiveness to changes quickly and efficient product development. The changes in Ford also have brought significant cultural change by changing the management thinking with the worldwide learning. The management is challenged to become teachers and coaches while employees are challenged to have a shareholder and a customer focus.

The Management Consultant

In changes such as reorganization, management consultants play key roles in change management. They analyze, and propose ways to improve an organization’s structure, efficiency and profits. They also help in organizing the corporate structure and eliminate duplicate or non essential jobs. For example, Ford has implemented computer networking within the company; the company probably hired a network engineer as a consultant in order to come up with a network suitable for the company’s needs and specifications.  A company usually hires a management consultant when the company lacks of internal resources needed to handle a project or to determine what resources will be required and the problems that may be encountered during the strategy or change implementation.

Conclusion

An organization most of the time needs to undergo certain changes in order to grab opportunities, to overcome threats and weaknesses and to capitalize its strengths. To do these, the management plays important roles and these roles must be well-understood and performed by the management to lead an organization to growth and success.

 

 

UK Government

            The National Health Service, NHS, is a government agency in UK under the management of the Department of Health whose primary responsibility is to provide healthcare to UK citizens. NHS has three parts: hospital services; family doctors, dentists, opticians, and pharmacists; and local authority health services, including community nursing and health visiting.

           

In 1999, the UK government initiated the modernization strategy on institutions across UK including government agencies such as the NHS. The aim of this modernization scheme is to exploit technology for the advantage of the people all over UK. Part of this modernization scheme is the implementation of e-commerce strategy within government agencies. E-business within government agencies is electronic transactions or public service between a government agency and the public; electronic transactions between government agencies and between departments of an agency; and electronic transactions between the government and the industry.

           

As a health agency, NHS has a great involvement in the e-business since it handles many transactions with the public such as medical services, and the industry where it gets supply for the medicine, equipments and other facilities needed by a health agency. The focus of this paper is the complex supply chain of NHS and how e-commerce can be capitalized for the benefits of NHS, the public and the suppliers which are all part of the chain. The paper discusses on the elements of the e-commerce strategy for the NHS supply and the barriers that may hinder the effectiveness of the strategy as well as the approach needed to overcome the barriers.

           

As stated above, NHS has a complex supply chain. What made it complex are the many independent organizations such as hospitals, primary care trusts and health authorities. Health authorities all over UK include the Bromley Health Authority, the Dorset Health Authority, North West Lancashire, South Humber, and the South Staffordshire Health Authorities. NHS Trusts includes the many hospitals and infirmaries such as Airedale NHS Trust, Glasgow Royal Infirmary University NHS Trusts, Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and many others. Each trust and health authorities has different needs and demands, making the supply chain complex.

           

In addition, NHS needs to manage its £11 billion annual procurement budget. It needed a system that will help manage the transaction in NHS and make transactions transparent. A centralized purchasing using e-commerce is then needed to

To address this issue, NHS has formed the NHS Supplies Authority, an organization formed in 1991 which aims to integrate the variable supply operations across UK by creating agreements with suppliers with fixed prices. The agreements between the NHS supplies Authority and the suppliers allowed all health authorities and NHS trusts to have contract with the suppliers at pre-agreed prices for particular goods and services. The NHS Supplies Authority is involved in the purchasing arrangements between the customers and the suppliers. The organization also has direct customers which buy products directly to them so NHS Supplies Authority also buys goods from the suppliers which they sell through their warehousing and distribution service.

            However, the role of the NHS Supplies Authority is limited to providing framework agreements which serve as a basis of supply contracts. NHS Supplies Authority does not cover other aspects of purchasing such as how much a certain health institution will spend, which brand and which suppliers will provide certain goods or services. In other words, NHS Supplies Authority is not sufficient to make efficient procurement across the NHS supply chain, thus the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency, PASA, was formed. NHS PASA is basically a government agency that develops policy on supplies and formulates strategies including the incorporation of e-commerce strategy in the NHS supply chain. It is responsible of modernizing and improving supply management across UK to ensure that the money allocated for NHS is spent wisely and effectively.

            The functions of NHS PASA includes improving purchasing and supply performance across the NHS; leading the modernization of the supply chain; improving efficiency and reducing cost in the supply chain; raising the profile of the purchasing and supply function; ensuring that all non-pay expenditure is subjected to professional purchasing and value for money practices; and encouraging new and innovative suppliers.

            As noted above, there are differences in purchasing performance across the NHS that make the supply chain complex. This complexity makes the supply chain response slower. To address this, NHS PASA recommended the formation of a middle tier of purchasing between the national and local level purchasing. This is the formation of Supply Management Confederations, a group of trusts who work together to negotiate contracts on a geographical basis. They group together for mutual benefit to achieve a joint approach in areas of purchasing such as strategic outsourcing, product and supplier rationalization, stock management, contracting and supply chain management.

            Through the Confederations, trusts need to commit to NHS PASA contracts and procurement strategies and plans; agree the configuration and terms of reference of their Confederation; develop project implementation plans for collaboration; harmonize corporate governance arrangements; agree and commit to the sharing of risks and benefits; develop strategies within the confederations; monitor and feedback performance using national performance indicator; and share information with regard to best practices.

            NHS Logistics Authority was also formed with the aim to improve the supply chain of NHS. NHS Logistics Authority is structured into four directories which are Finance and Performance; Human Resources; Customer Services; and Information Technology. The NHS Logistics serves as the distribution centers within NHS and its role is to deliver a range of essential modern supply chain services, to manage and develop the NHS-specific supply channel for consumable goods required by the NHS. NHS Logistics also implement the range of e-commerce supply chain solutions it has developed; implement a supplier performance regime; and assists the Supply Management Confederations with the necessary supply chain arrangements and skills.

            In developing a supply chain using e-commerce strategy, it is necessary to identify the members of the supply chain who will operate within the network. In NHS, the members of the supply chain are already mentioned above. These are the customers which may be the patients and the doctors; the NHS PASA, the NHS Trusts and Health Authorities; the Confederations; and the suppliers.

            Before the modernization plot, NHS supply chain network was very complex due to hundreds of NHS trusts involve in the chain. With the modernization ply and implementation of e-commerce strategy, the NHS supply chain network has been simplified as shown in the figure below:

            The network was simplified by classifying the members into two categories: the primary members and the support group members. The primary members are those who carry out value adding activities in an independent environment while the support members are those that simply provide resources, knowledge, utilities, or assets for the primary members of the supply chain. In the diagram above, the primary members are the customers, the NHS trusts and Health Authorities, and the suppliers. The support members include the NHS PASA which leads the modernization in NHS, the NHS Logistics and the Supply Management Confederations.

           

The customers are the end users of products and services being given by the trusts, hospitals and health authorities under the supervision and standards set by the NHS. Therefore, the trusts are responsible in forecasting and demand planning. They are the ones who can determine the products and services needed by the end-users. The Supply Management Confederations as noted above are groups of trusts in a certain location. They are group together to share best practices and skills necessary for product inventories and supply management. The Confederation shares with its members the knowledge and e-commerce supply chain solutions the NHS Logistics Authority has developed. NHS PASA assists trusts in negotiating contracts with the supplier. NHS PASA also established common standards such as the catalogue system where products are categorized and classified and given product codes.

            In any organizations today, they want to incorporate e-commerce strategy in their supply chain management. This has been the primary role of NHS PASA, how to incorporate e-commerce strategy in the NHS supply chain management that will help in reduce expenses in the supply chain and at the same time makes the supply chain more responsive and the flow of products or services faster for the benefits of each member of the chain.

           

Defining supply chain management, SCM, it is the integration of key business processes, from suppliers through end-users that provide products, services, and information that add value for customers and stakeholders. It is also a network of facilities and distribution options that integrate the functions of demand planning and forecasting, procurement of materials, manufacturing, distribution, and return. The goal of SCM is to reduce inventory cost and to improve the coordination and collaboration with suppliers and distributors.

           

According to the UK government, e-commerce is the exchange of information across electronic networks at any stage in the supply chain, whether within an organization, between businesses, between businesses and consumer, or between the public and private sectors. Electronic commerce and Supply Chain Management focuses on systems and processes to support the flow of information within and between organizations which occurs in the context of procurement, manufacturing, sales, distribution of goods, information and services. Both e-commerce and SCM is focus on the integration of information and products or services thus by incorporating e-commerce within the supply chain, the goal of SCM will be achieved.

            With e-commerce, NHS expects to have exploited and consolidated transparency of information across all networks within NHS; obtain greater leverage through appropriate aggregation of demand across the NHS, the government and the wider public sector; and improve efficiency of transactional processes of NHS and its suppliers, ensuring high quality of service.

           

To be able to achieve theses benefits, e-commerce strategy needed to have key elements necessary before and during its implementation. One key element is a good IT infrastructure within NHS and other members of the supply chain including the trusts, health authorities, the Confederations and the suppliers. IT infrastructure composes of computers and laptops, servers, according to the needs of the organization. The software used for SCM should communication networks and software and must be combined together matching the operating system used and should be capable of storing data needed in the supply chain such as product information and supplier information. On the part of the trusts, they should have system capable of storing and retrieving the medical data to plan and forecast demands.

           

Another key element of e-commerce is resources. These resources include human resources and financial resources. Financial resources are needed for the purchase of equipments needed to develop a good IT infrastructure. If the UK government has no enough allocated budget for e-commerce, then the strategy could be a failure. Human resource is very much needed with e-commerce strategy.

 

NHS should have a CIO that has the capability and technical knowledge handling e-commerce. E-commerce involves having a standardized information system within NHS and a CIO and other technical people are needed to implement e-commerce. Employees of NHS especially those involve in the supply chain such as the finance and procurement department should be educated on how to maximize the use of such systems. The people involved in the supply chain are the ones who will implement e-commerce so the success of the strategy is dependent on its implementation. Effective leadership is also a key component of e-commerce. Employees should be motivated and organizational learning should be implemented in order for everyone in NHS become aware of e-commerce.

           

With all the necessary information about the supply chain members as well as the key elements of e-commerce known, e-commerce has been implemented. With e-commerce, all the transactions within the chain are done fast and efficient. Customers can order online with the use of e-mail or via the established website of NHS that publishes information and online catalogues. Via the internet, NHS PASA can assists trusts with contract negotiating. Trusts and suppliers can have interaction for order placement and transaction can be completed online by electronic payment. Suppliers will then deliver the products to distribution centers of the NHS Logistics Authority and distributed to the trusts and to the end-users.

            E-commerce programme in NHS with the leadership and initiatives of NHS PASA includes undertaking electronically traditional and discrete procurement-based activities such as electronic tendering, catalogues and ordering; overlapping financial and probity processes such as invoice receipt and matching, payment of suppliers and audit trail/authorization procedures; generation of management and strategic supply information such as budget planning, reporting and control, demand forecasting, supply chain performance management, and strategic sourcing and supply decisions.

            Undoubtedly, the primary benefit of e-commerce is cost reduction by automating the purchase requisition, approval and process; reducing errors and reworks; ‘maverick’, off-contract purchasing; providing online access to multiple suppliers, thereby facilitating price comparisons; and saving administrative time and providing more developed data which enable purchasing professionals to negotiate better terms with suppliers.

            However, there are some barriers that may hinder the effectiveness of e-commerce. These may include an uncompromised member of the chain. Traditionally, all departments such as management, system, administration, inventory, distribution and the purchasing of an organization such as a health-providing organization like NHS operate independently and are often conflicting. Health Trusts also have different departments responsible for the procurement of health products and facilities. With e-commerce incorporation in the supply chain management, all the different functions of these departments should be aligned and integrated. In order for e-commerce solutions to supplant the healthcare industry’s current methods of transacting business, seamless integration with buyers’ information systems and effective coordination of buyers’ and suppliers’ actions is required.

            E-commerce in NHS will also lead to cultural change due to the substantial change brought about by e-commerce and modernization and it is common that there are some members of the NHS organizations who will resist to changes. It is the responsibility of NHS management to inform and educate its members and defined to them their functions as e-commerce take effect in order for them to appreciate the benefits e-commerce will bring to the entire organization.

            Another barrier is lack of financial and technical expertise. As noted above, with e-commerce in the supply chain management, good understanding of the internet, the web, online marketplaces, and information systems and management require good technical facilities that will support reliable systems. Not all trusts in NHS are in the position of making necessary investment in purchasing and supply. Resources for financial support for facilities as well as human resources for technical and senior procurement positions lack in some trusts.

            Like in any industry implementing e-commerce, security of the system is always an issue. In the supply chain of NHS, important data and transactions are involved therefore it needed security to avoid system failure or interference of hackers in the system.

            To overcome these barriers, the UK government who initiated modernization in government agencies should allocate resources to financially support e-commerce in the supply chain of NHS. NHS PASA addressed the issue of lack of human resources through inter-trust supply management, where a group of trusts in the same geographical area and with similar needs collaborate to pool expertise, avoid duplication of effort, and maximize value for money and the potential for savings. This collaboration of trusts is also the Supply Management Confederations mentioned above. In addition, NHS PASA provides strategy and assists trusts in communicating with the suppliers. Inter-trust supply management has potential benefits for individual trusts and for NHS as a whole. These benefits include economies of scale and lower total costs through volume aggregation, reduced duplication and sharing of costs; increasing purchasing leverage and reduced cost of ownership; purchasing savings; shared risk; shared purchasing resource and expertise and improved career prospects for purchasing and supply professionals; development of centers for procurement excellence; opportunity to standardize products, systems and processes more widely and collective support and raising standards of weaker trusts.

            It is also important for NHS and individual trusts to reorganize in some level to able to have an organizational structure integrated with e-commerce. Sound organizational structure usually means a certain mix and interaction of talented individuals, working in relevant functions and areas of responsibility, sharing knowledge and related assets, behaving responsively and constructively. When a structure’s elements are properly aligned with one another, the structure facilitates effective implementation of the organization’s strategies. Some internal departments must be set up like Strategic Sourcing, Procurement and Systems and Operational Procurement departments set up in Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust which led to a cash releasing savings of £1.35.

            E-commerce and supply chain management can be at their full potential if integrated together effectively. With this kind of project that involves a lot of changes but will results to huge benefits not only for NHS but especially to the public sector who are befitted by the services provided by NHS, the initiative should be reorganization. Putting people at the right position and defining to them clearly their tasks will help the project become effective and will help eliminate problems during its implementation. Reorganization also helps in effective collaboration and coordination among the members of the supply chain. With the advent of technology, e-commerce in health care agencies is important for the speed and flexibility of health care services given to the public.

 

brand development process

Introduction

            Name and logo are the two prominent visual elements of a brand name.  They are prominent tools to increase brand recognition.  In this study, local and international brands will be studied by determining the effectiveness of their brand names and brand symbols from the view of Muslim consumers.  Since free trade and liberalization of business transactions become the theme of the 21^st century marketplace, multinational companies have the ease of access to penetrate different markets across borders.  China started to open up its doors to foreign traders recently to concede opportunities and promises of world trade relations.  However, such global trend might skip the cultural and religious barriers of other countries particularly those Islamic regions in the Middle East like the United Arab Emirates.  Are the Western and other Asian companies transacting to UAE maximize their potentials in their global names and symbols?  Or is there a need to transform their names to Arabic and their symbols to Islamic norms?   

 

Research Questions

The researcher proposed to study the performance of brand names and symbols of global companies in UAE particularly in the consumer products industry.  Factors that affect brand recognition of Muslims to these foreign brands will be cross-referenced to Islamic-based companies to determine the advantages and disadvantages of both.  Specifically, the researcher will try to answer the following queries:

1.      What are the factors affecting effective brand names and brand symbols of foreign and Islamic-based companies?

2.      How these factors affect the propensity to patronize a firm/ product?

3.      Are there substantial differences of foreign and Islamic-based firms in effecting branding?  What are these?

4.      What is most preferred branding for foreign firm: brand name or symbol?  For the local firm?

 

Purpose of the Study

            The study aims to fulfill the following objectives:

1. To determine the difference of foreign and Islamic-based firms on the factors that affect effective brand names and symbols.
2. To determine effective brand name and brand symbol impact to Muslim customers?

 

Review of Related Literature

 

A book coined brand name in one chapter as “the company’s most powerful weapon.”  A brand is the embodiment of information about a company, product or service that typically in the form of name and logo including other images, fonts and colors.  However, this is more a general definition.  Branding can almost take activities of marketing and advertising.  In 1964, a mall branding concept tagged Westfield Shopping towns as “A Wonderful Town” to attract not only customers but also strengthens other business partners’ ties.  Because of these advantages, the potential of branding was termed as “unlimited” by the owners.

Limitations of branding, on the other hand, should be dealt by the company seriously.  Not all sweet messages have absolute positive returns.  When a product did not meet the expectations of the customer, like the failure of voice fidelity branding of RCA products for instance as portrayed by a dog’s recognition of His master’s voice in a phonograph, could reduce loyalty and devalue company strengths.  This is where integrated branding comes into the rescue.  It is a strategy where the promise of the company is keep or the situation where company strengths, which are highlighted through branding, satisfy the needs and expectations of the customer.  It let the company focus in its actions and messages to product strengths, thus, false or unmet branding is prevented.

            One of the highest trademark registrations in America was recoded in 2004 at 248,000 which not only has good impact to its economy but also may illustrate how companies want to segregate their identities with one another, set limits to their capabilities and build strong customer relationships.  Although international businesses are the prominent concerned entities in securing trademarks, Florida had recorded active small players in the economy.  Why is some enterprise willing to spend time, money and effort to register their trademarks?  A well-known home of one of the world’s best runner of imitations, China, had recorded 58% increase in registration.  Other countries like India, Poland, Hungary and Russia also showed trademark filing boost which partly caused by large manufacturers’ desire to create strong brand names.

            Trademark is a distinctive mark of goods and services to identify the manufacturer or provider from other brands and indicate the performance and reputation of their offerings to the buyer.  Imitation and infringement of trademarks is protected by an international body World Intellectual Property Organization under the United Nation.   

                Selecting a brand name is a concern that most managers put into their own discretions due to friction that would be created by employees’ suggestions not being accepted in favor of one successful name and the cumbersome tasks of selecting from customers’ responses.  Companies opted to initiate concept testing, business analysis, product development and in-house testing to arrive at a specific brand name which lasted for 64 hours and an estimated cost of $7,600.  But is this enough?  Is excluding customer views about the naming rationale would save the company time, effort and money or would result to failure?

            Customers draw inferences from brand names and associate them to a specific product category.  In addition, they preferred brand names that are typical or more suited to the actual good or service.  As an example, “Mishu” was more preferred than “Pilot” in the product line of cameras.  This simple connection created between the brand name and the actual product was cited as complimentary strategy for a company to succeed in the business.  Aside from the context of brand names, the sound and pitch of those are demonstrated a preconceived notion from consumers hastening familiarity and recognition more easily.  But what should be prioritized by the company, the meaning likeness or sound likeness?

            English companies placed their brand naming process under the veil of objectives (establishing a particular image, fostering brand loyalty, market segmentation) and criteria (compatibility with product image, memorability, trademark availability).  When generating brand names, companies emphasize that it should say something about the product, convey positioning and differentiate form other products.  On the average, 49 names are initially created by the top management that also seek help from advertising agencies, trademark attorneys, naming agencies and marketing research agencies in the following order.  As research agencies below the list, customer views are somewhat underestimated as a reliable suggestion source.

            Creating a brand in a mass-merchandise scale equates a firm to a subcontractor of customers.  Because of this, customization of the brand or “just for me” approach to customer is necessary for appeal and commitment purposes to a certain market.  The firm must be specific in building its brand to prevent to be piled-up in the enormous number of commodity-based products which in the process giving customers a huge option to satisfy its needs that can be detrimental to the company’s long-term success.  To be able to customize the brand, however, the emphasis should be on the competition wherein customer factors are placed second.  Is this a customization or differentiation regime wherein “custom” in customer is undermined to be replaced by competitor?  

It is found that children’s understanding of advertising has a positive relationship with their age partly because of factors like cognitive development, socio-economic status and adult interaction.  The recognition of Joe Camel as a cigarette product indicated the relative inferiority of younger than eight year old children who accounted recognition rate as low as 54% that increased to 86% with age.  This undermines previous studies that suggested children who demonstrated skills with non-verbal figures wherein the scores were uniform in an experiment even for the youngest sample although differentiating the figure was a different story. 

A study of American and Korean consumers evidenced that they perceived globalization of products as related to quality and brand prestige although the former feature was greater emphasized.  Procter and Gamble disposed some of its products due to limited global acknowledgement while Frito Lay and Vodafone changed company name and attached the word “global” respectively.  This trend of firms to include international figure in their products is said to enhance competitiveness over local competitors.  However, limited studies are done to prove effectiveness of a globalized firm over local ones.  What are the impacts of brand name and brand logo alteration to the local customers?

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has 96% Muslim population with the official language is Arabic but Farsi and English are widely used.  Although most of inhabitants are foreigners, most of them are also Muslims.  Oil is the primary industry while imports like food, manufactured gods, machinery and chemicals are sourced out from trading partners like South Korea, India, Japan, United States and United Kingdom.  The country is rooted to Islamic culture and the government is committed to preserve the tradition of its art and culture which is emanated from the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.

Emotional branding can trigger the opportunity to keep customers in a long-term relationship.  As observed, adaptation to customer needs through branding is required if a company aspires to keep customers, that according to Drucker, costlier to attract.  On the flip side, technology allows firm to imitate the inherent features and design of the existing product that basically make branding promises temporary, at least on the original firm’s part. Further, fifty percent of the world markets are customers of United States, products and services are not globalized but “Americanized”.  Are these facts relevant to the purchasing systems of the Muslim population?       

Theoretical Framework  

This study basically aims to determine the factors that determine effective brand name and brand symbol.  The dependent variables are the brand name and the brand symbol while independent variables are geographical classification, adaptation to Islamic language and norms, visual appeal and attractiveness, relevance to the company or product in question and ease of recognition.      

                 

Methodology

            Methodology

            This study is aimed to identify the factors that affect storytelling and interface performance for an effective visual media communication.  The presentation is largely qualitative in nature with a inclusion of some numerical information.  Books, digital reference and other academic materials are used to come up with the study.  Gathered information will be filtered and analyze to arrive at a conclusion and ultimately to design an experimental interface design.  Findings will be based on the data under the lists of contents presented.  The study of the following areas will signal the factors that could create a framework where effective interactivity will result.  Areas to be studied are the complementarities of letter and visual image, hypertext and hypermedia, understanding interface in multimedia, immersed in visual media through visual and storytelling, narrative techniques and finally interface design testing.      

 

• TOPIC: The brand development process, branding for a national and international marketplace.

The proposal should read as a mini dissertation with a maximum of 3000 words.

The layout should include:

1. Introduction.
2. Theoretical framework.
3. Methodology.
4. Ethical considerations. (Ethical issues that is associated with the dissertation).
5. Timescale. (An outline timescale of submission of draft chapters.) From may to august.
6. References and bibliography.

 

A brand is the name, personality, and defining attributes that represent your company and your product.

Name and logo are the two most visible elements of a brand,

Publication Information: Article Title: You've Got a Logo, You Need a Brand. Contributors: Arthur Eilertson - author, William H. Faust - author. Journal Title: ABA Banking Journal. Volume: 86. Issue: 10. Publication Year: 1994. Page Number: 86+. COPYRIGHT 1994 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

This significant result suggests that international marketers should focus on creating and communicating quality rather than the status and prestige advantages of global brands. Although global brands may also communicate higher prestige and status, quality appears to be more heavily weighted by consumers.

In sum, we have evidence supporting our hypothesized causal sequence, from perceived brand globalness to brand prestige and to perceived quality (instead of the reverse or bidirectional direction). We therefore continue using the hypothesized model to test our hypotheses.

Publication Information: Article Title: How Perceived Brand Globalness Creates Brand Value. Contributors: Dana L. Alden - author, Rajeev Batra - author, Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp - author. Journal Title: Journal of International Business Studies. Volume: 34. Issue: 1. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 53+. COPYRIGHT 2003 Academy of International Business; COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group          

Although previous studies have found that younger children demonstrate some perspective-taking skills when a nonverbal measure is used, the uniformly high scores achieved by even the youngest children in the study were somewhat unexpected. Virtually all the children, regardless of age or cognitive development, indicated that children are not an appropriate target market for cigarettes.

Recognition of cigarette brand symbols increases with age, as does overall recognition of brand symbols in general. Table 2 gives results of recognition tests for the three age groups that correspond to the pre-operational (younger than six years), transitional (between six years and seven years), and concrete operational (older than seven years) developmental levels. Age in months was used for the analyses.

              Previous research has shown that children's understanding of advertising complexities increases with age and is related positively to other factors, including cognitive development, socioeconomic status, and adult-child interaction.

 Publication Information: Article Title: Young Children's Perceptions of Cigarette Brand Advertising Symbols: Awareness, Affect, and Target Market Identification. Contributors: Lucy L. Henke - author. Journal Title: Journal of Advertising. Volume: 24. Issue: 4. Publication Year: 1995. Page Number: 13+. COPYRIGHT 1995 American Academy of Advertising; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

            By customizing the brand it is possible to define and deliver a brand proposition that is designed for and delivered to each individual customer in such a way that it is perceived to be made 'just for me'. Such a brand will be much more appealing and relevant than competitive mass-market offerings. It will also be better differentiated as it will appear in a much more well-defined marketplace – a market of one.

By applying the principles of customizing a brand, the level of commitment will increase as the brand proposition will be more relevant. But, the commitment is not 'for free', it requires a full adaptation of the total marketing mix, from product development and distribution to promotion and advertising.

If, on the other hand, a brand owner continues with a traditional mass-market approach, even spiced up by Internet solutions and CRM systems, the customers will increasingly continue to take charge. The company will in the end become a subcontractor of their wishes and be subject to a marketplace where every product and service is commoditized and all sales are done on the basis of lowest price. For most companies that is not a bright future.

Publication Information: Book Title: Customize the Brand: Make It More Desirable and Profitable. Contributors: Torsten H Nilson - author. Publisher: Wiley. Place of Publication: Chichester, England. Publication Year: 2003. Page Number: 53

advertising agencies (48 percent) and trademark attorneys (39 percent) were most commonly used. Specialized naming agencies (18 percent) and marketing research agencies (11 percent)  

These are: (1) setting branding objectives, (2) creating a list of candidate brand names, (3) evaluating prospective brand names, (4) choosing the best brand names, and (5) applying for registration. 

Objectives of Branding. Most respondents felt that the brand name should say something about the product (see Table 1). Conveying the intended positioning of the product (61 percent) and establishing product differentiation (41 percent) were the most commonly specified naming objectives. Other objectives in decreasing order of importance were establishing a distinct segment for the product (41 percent) and establishing a distinctive image (20 percent).

The second study, Shipley, Hooley, and Wallace (1988) was more extensive in nature. This study summarized responses from 112 consumer-goods manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Unlike McNeal and Zeren (1981), they distinguished branding objectives from branding criteria. According to these authors, companies set explicit branding objectives (e.g., establishing a particular image, fostering brand loyalty, market segmentation, etc.) and branding criteria (e.g., compatibility with product image, memorability, trademark availability, etc.) before they generate names. Overall, companies reported committing a substantial amount of resources to brand-name selection, using a marketing orientation and involving top management extensively. The authors focused only on the importance ratings given to various tasks at different steps. They did not measure what brand-name tasks companies actually performed. A subsequent study, used a questionnaire similar to the one used and focused on industrial companies. Once again the investigation was limited to importance ratings of various tasks at each step of the process.

One hundred and one completed questionnaires were obtained for a 26 percent response rate.

) showed that consumers draw inferences from brand names.  They found that consumers, indeed, associated each brand name with a specific product category. As an example, "whumies" is seen as a brand name for breakfast cereals but not for detergents.

They used meaningful names developed using a priori theory. Their study demonstrated that consonant hardness and vowel pitch in the names increased perceptions of "hardness" in paper towel and cleanser brands. In a similar vein, found that consumers preferred products with "typical" brand names over products with names that were "atypical" for the product category. For example, "Mishu," which was found to be more typical for cameras, was preferred over "Pilot." It was inferred that manufacturers have a better shot at success using typical names, since consumers have a preconceived notion about what a brand name for a particular product should sound like.

Some of Dechert's noteworthy findings for the year 1994 include:

-- On the "Information Highway," applications for marks containing the word VIRTUAL were up 95% from 1993. CYBER was also popular (an 83% increase), as was INTERACTIVE (up 64%).

-- The word SMART has become consistently more popular every year, appearing in 740 new brand names in 1994 (up 19%). As for the word DUMB, it appeared in only 4 new filings.

-- Being REAL or ORIGINAL was still popular in 1994 (up 2%), but the word AUTHENTIC really caught on in the trademark world (up 100%).

-- Marketers clearly believed that consumers wanted things SIMPLE (up 27%) and BASIC (up 11%).

-- The vogue for marks with the prefix EURO- seems to have abated, with 17% fewer filings. Marks containing AMERICA or AMERICAN were still very popular (1,650 filings, up 3%).

-- POWER was powerfully popular in 1994 in American brand names, appearing in 1,100 new marks (up 20%).

NEW TRADEMARK APPLICATIONS SHOW MARKETING TRENDS; DECHERT RELEASES ANNUAL STUDY ON POPULAR BRAND NAMES

 distinctive mark placed on or attached to goods by a manufacturer or dealer to identify them as made or sold by that particular firm or person. The use of a trademark indicates that the maker or dealer believes that the quality of the goods will enhance his or her standing or goodwill, and a known trademark indicates to a buyer the reputation that is staked on the goods. Registration of a trademark is necessary in some countries to give exclusive right to it. In the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, the sufficient use of a trademark not previously used establishes exclusive right to it, but registration is provided as an aid in defending that right. In the United States trademarks are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Internationally, trademark registration is facilitated by the, under the Madrid Protocol. Imitations of a trademark wrong both the owner of the trademark and the buyer, who is misled as to the source of goods, and such infringements of a trademark are punishable by law. Service marks, which are used on services (such as insurance or brokerages) rather than on products, are also covered by trademark laws

The volume of recent trademark applications suggests economic growth, particularly in certain industries and geographic regions. There were 248,000 trademark filings in 2004, a nine percent increase from 2003 and the third highest number in U.S. history. Dechert's Trademark Trends traditionally has shown a correlation between the number of trademark filings and the strength of the economy. For example, the report tracked a steady rise in filings from 1992 through early 2000, with the number of applications reaching an all-time high in March 2000, the same month NASDAQ hit its peak. Applications then plummeted by 23 percent from 2000 to 2001, precisely tracking the burst of the dot.com bubble.

This year, the report looks at regional, state, international, and industry trends to get a sense of economic growth in those areas. An example of the findings: Of the top 10 filing states, Florida is next-to-last in major corporate headquarters, but third in trademark applications, suggesting the state has more than its share of vibrant small businesses. Note to editor: Dechert's Trends in Trademarks contains data on many states, countries, and industries. In addition to data in the report, Dechert can provide geographic- and industry-specific numbers are upon request.

·        On the international front, filings from China rose 58 percent, mirroring recent news about China's rise as an economic power. Although Taiwan still had more applications than China (1,082 compared to 770), China's big increase shows it is gaining rapidly on its island rival, as Taiwan's numbers actually fell by 2 percent from 2003. India and Eastern Europe also saw an upsurge in filings - a 25 percent increase from the previous year for India, while Poland logged a 78 percent increase, Hungary 67 percent and Russia a 22 percent increase. Poland is advancing on Russia, with 105 Polish applications coming up neck-in-neck with Russia's 134. Overall, the data show a rise in applications by countries that have traditionally been manufacturers of products for others, but have not created strong brand names of their own.

Annual Study of New Trademark Applications Reveals Hot Marketing Trends.

Integrated branding is an organizational strategy used to drive company and product direction--where all actions and messages are based on the value the company brings to its line of business. This value is based both on what the company does well and what customers consider important. By focusing actions and messages on company and product strengths, a company is much more likely to create a deep, long lasting relationship with each of its customers.

To summarize, you could also say integrated branding is the promise that you keep. At the heart of any company is the promise that it makes to its customers.

A company that builds products that corresponds more exactly to its strengths builds value, trust, and loyalty with customers far faster than the competition.

Although the effects of branding are most obvious in a company's marketing materials, an integrated brand directs message development and action everywhere in the company. Most people know Nipper, the His Master's Voice dog visual symbol used by RCA. But how many are aware of the brand meaning of "sound fidelity" that was one inspiration behind this association? The concept was that the sound from the phonograph was so clear that the dog recognized his master's voice from the record. "Sound fidelity, is a powerful driver of the RCA brand.

How does an integrated brand use its drivers? If one of a brand's associations is sound fidelity, then it must manifest sound fidelity holistically, throughout the company. That means engineers, marketers, human resource professionals, service personnel, salespeople, accounting, and upper management must all ensure their decisions, actions, and communications further the impression of sound fidelity with customers. For instance, if RCA didn't produce products with high sound fidelity, then an association like Nipper would not seem true to customers. In

fact, it might breed customer cynicism, reduce customer loyalty, and cloud the company's true strengths. The consequence of communication not backed up by actions is devaluing of the customer relationship. This mismatch of promise with reality is one reason why some brands lose value over time.

 

Publication Information: Book Title: Integrated Branding: Becoming Brand-Driven through Companywide Action. Contributors: F. Joseph LePla - author, Lynn M. Parker - author. Publisher: Quorum Books. Place of Publication: Westport, CT. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 21.

"We want to be a household name, and we think branding is the way to achieve that goal," said Simon. "Branding is good not only for consumers, but it strengthens our relationships with retailers and outside marketers. The retail sales potential brought about by our branding is unlimited."

Westfield, which claims to have pioneered the mall branding concept in 1964 in Australia when its first malls were built and dubbed "Westfield Shoppingtowns," is rolling out a multimedia campaign. Tagged "It's a Wonderful Town," the blitz will target cities in seven states, including California, New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and Missouri.