Porters Five Forces Analysis In Companies Business Essay

Porters Five Forces Analysis In Companies Business Essay The Environmental analysis can be defined as a study of environment within the organization for the purpose of locating environmental factors that effect on the operations. For the purpose of analysis the business environment we can categorize in to three levels: Internal environment, Operating environment and General environment. This can be shown in figure as below. STEEPLE Analysis By the STEEPLE analysis we can examine that which external factors can be influenced the organizations ability to achieve its vision and mission. FACTOR EVENTS Social Factors The life styles of the peoples is changing due to economic crisis therefore, they change to use energy for sometime People would like to use bio fuel rather than normal fuel due to reduce environmental pollution Technical Factors The International Energy Agency states that alternative energy markets will be underpinned by technological breakthroughs. technology is the key to competitiveness in the alternative energy industry; The government spending for research on bio fuel and other alternatives Environmental Factors BP should highly concern on Environmental Law Responsibility of Oil Spill damage Economic Factors Due to economic crisis there is a declining demand for energy There is a increasing demand for Alternative energy sources Political Factors The global energy market is becoming more unstable because of geopolitical instability. Encouragement of the government towards more sustainable forms of energy due to CO2 emission Legal Factors According to the environmental law, responsible for Payments on oil spill damages Transportation safety Ethical Factors Charitable giving Investment on development programme Table 01. STEEPLE Analysis Source: EU (2004) The European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme, EUROPA, http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/climat/emission.htm [Accessed 22nd May 2011]. Porters Five Forces Analysis The Analysis of Porters five forces help to assess where the power of BP lies in Market and also helps to analyze the attractiveness of the industry. In addition to that we assess the current strength and future strength needs to plan in the BPs competitive position as shown: (Source: http://notesdesk.com// porters-five-forces-model.jpg -Accessed on 23rd may 2011) Potential Entrance Strict government policies and requirements High technological focus on alternative energy industry Large initial capital is required Threat of Substitutes Alternative energy due to higher cost Competitive Rivalry High exit barriers High fixed costs High stakes for Shell Renewable and low stakes for BP Solar. Bargaining Power of Buyers Low volume of buyer Low information of buyers High availability of substitutes Bargaining Power of Suppliers Low concentration of alternative energy suppliers (principally just BP Solar and Shell Renewable) Strategic Group Analysis Helps identify who the most direct competitors are and on what basis they compete. We can decide that SHELL is the major competitor in the industry for BP in both geographic coverage and service diversification by analyzing SGA as follows: SWOT analysis for BP Strengths World third largest energy company Strong Brand loyalty Financial strength of the company. It has vertical integration operation system. Weaknesses Increase the petrol price in UK Has to paid criminal charges due to spread huge amount of oil in the Alaska Sea in 2006. Reduce in natural gas and crude oil production. Opportunities Has high investment capacity Research to investigate alternative fuel such as Hydrogen, Solar, Wind and natural gas Increase demand for natural gas in USA and Europe countries. Implement more flexible price polices to face their competitors. Treats Unsound policies related to Environment after oil and toxic spill in 2006. Explosion of refinery tunnels in occasionally Has big rivals such as Shell and Chevron Instability in some oil and gas producing countries and regions Task Two Strategic Options and role of corporate parent Strategic Options is an important facet and it helps to craft companys alternatives and provide safe and keep up the competitive situation. The international requirements for energy for the next 20 years are such that hydrocarbons are still going to have a leading part in meeting that energy demand. BP supports emissions trading mechanisms as a means of putting a value on carbon in order to make appropriate investment decisions. Corporate Mission of the BP BP mentioned that there goal for next few years to realize the latent impending of their advantage base by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of everything they do. They will dynamically drive cost and capital efficiency whilst at the same time maintaining the first main concern of safe and reliable operations. Objectives of the BP BP has some objectives for their growth in 2015. And all employees are working as a team to achieve company goals. Average 1-2% p.a. volume growth to 2015 Underpinned by upward resource base and quality through preference Key sources of growth beyond 2015 will come from: Increasing deepwater Leveraging expertise in gas Managing worlds enormous oilfields Enabled by application of technology Source-: http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=2contentId=7065607 Values and ethics of the BP BP is a compilation of resources and there people working together. To attain business objects they focus on sustaining and encouraging their leaders and staff. And they maintain recruitment stands and developing people skills at every level. BP is a well distinguish organization and wants to do some different in the world. BP is a performance driven company which is competitively booming. Through all this they prefer high ethical stand. Directions and methods of Strategic Options BPs direction is clear and it is the unrelenting pursuit of competitive leadership in respect of cash costs, capital efficiency and margin quality. The Strategy Clock is another suitable way to analyze a companys destructive position in comparison to the contributions of competitors. The Ansoff Growth matrix tool which is helps businesses to decide their product and market growth strategy. Figure 02.Ansoff Market mix (Source-: http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/ansoff_matrix.htm) Evaluating strategies at BP SOP Matrix is a tool which can use to identify the company relevant strategies through external environmental factors. As an example BP Opportunities and treats as below and by indentifying the external environmental factors can recognize the relevant strategies options. Has high investment capacity Invest in HR development and through that develop the skills of the staff members. A same time invest in market opportunities. RD to investigate alternative fuel such as Hydrogen, Solar, Wind and natural gas By research can find the best alternative and company can give attention to that. Extension of acquisition of North sea area Can develop deep sea oil well. Increasing demand for natural gas in USA and European countries. Efficient and effective resource allocation to maximize profit. Implement more flexible price polices to face their competitors. By price reducing can get more customers on their products Gas and Oil searching Will help to increase their market values and can demand them among the competitors Threats Strategic Option Unsound policies related to Environment after oil and toxic spill in 2006. Understand the policies and work with less effect to environment Explosion of factory tunnels in occasionally By keeping the brand image without harm can face the problem Has big rivals such as Shell and Chevron To make company as No1. And more promotional works Sold corporate owned stations. Buy the stations Pipeline decomposition Should check the pipeline back and do the needful changers Insecurity in some oil and gas producing countries and regions Should find some more producers in case to use. Task Three SMART Objectives of BP BP Objectives are prepared according to SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed).That means it should be particular about what we are going to achieve and should calculate about the objectives. There are a several types of objectives like process objectives, outcome objectives, personal objective that all can be done in the SMART format. BPs five year plan objectives are, Increase profitability by 20% Increase production Financial gain by serving to the increasing demand Build brand value that was affected by the oil spills BP spends on growing technology budget on potentially most competitively profitable innovations both in open and new power spaces. It is both a strategic option and an opportunity for BP when comparing with the rivals as BP is strategically positioned themselves in a highly innovative RD processes which is unmatchable by the rivals easily. While facing major challenges of dilapidated supplies and defense of supply in oil and gas, global warming and insist for pure energy in major markets, BPs percentage of expend on novel technologies is growing. Five year development plan for BP Business plan is a statement about companys future goals and plans to achieve those goals. This can be externally focus or internally focus. BPs Strategies in development can position as, Upstream growth Downstream turnaround Alternative Energy: alert disciplined Corporate overview In the upstream will hub on cost and capital efficiency to distribute profitable growth. In the downstream will drive additional efficiencies and a focus on quality and incorporation. They will maintain their disciplined approach to substitute energy and will carry on unlock corporate efficiency through a culture of uninterrupted enhancement. Evaluating and implementing the plan In business strategy, Johnson, Scholes and Whittington shows a model in strategic options are evaluated next to three key success criteria such as Suitability, Feasibility, and Acceptability. Recommendations Strategic investments in RD to exploit new market opportunities and to maximize efficient and effective productions. To negotiate with governments and other low and medium sized firms in the industry through a joint profit sharing process to search for new avenues of the market. Recruit experienced and capable sales, marketing and research experts. Re-build the brand value and affinity using new media opportunities like social media to reduce the black mark occurred as a consequence of oil spills. Streamline production and business operations by using just in time (JIT) and creating a agile end at the supplier end of the operations. Conclusion Strategic planning plays a vital role in strategic management and the leadership. Strategic planning can divide in to three stages as strategic Analysis, Strategic Options and Evaluation and Implementation. The British petroleum Corporation is a well established organization in petroleum industry and here it is illustrated through the strategy and competitive advantages of the BP and the technical tools which they could could use to analyze the situations. The porters five forces investigation helped identifying the competitive environment and market situation BP is facing. There are major rivals like Solar, Sharp, Chevron in the market and BP engaged with mass production. By the SWOT analysis company situation and the market position identified which extracts the internal and external environment of the company. BP is focused on customers and they believe in their mass productions over its rivals. Company can use strategy clock, Ansoff growth matrix tools to analysis their position in the market. To develop strategic options first it should identify the external context and priorities and clusters. Then it should develop the strategic options. SOP matrix is one of the best tools to identify the strategies of the company. BP has a decentralized en route for RD units. It also drives the strategic positioning of BP in competition among rivals. Cost advantage exits when company can give same benefits as competitor with lower cost. And differentiation advantage exits when the company can make different benefits or the value to the customer from their products (Broad differentiation strategy). As an Example BP is using combination of Crude oil and natural energy such as solar power to give differentiation to their customers and it is a well successful strategy. STEEPLE analysis also can be used to investigate the external environment in a business operates and concerned with the political, economic, social factors influential industry change and helps to gain a better understanding for external conditions for growth in a market. The porters five forces investigation helps to diversity a competitive environment. For example, BP analyzes the market for Quality oil production. BP entered into solar market in 1973 and produced BP solar in 2000, it was one of main strategy to face current oil crisis and environment issues. BP solar becomes profitable but it is not prominently spread among the public, so government involvement is important to become popular of solar power. BP business plan has advantage in the Research and investigation area. The crude oil plus the solar power combinations was very successful strategy implemented in recently. Products segmentation, explorations and productions, significantly company restructuring, improve cost efficiency, centralized company departments are their current strategies to compete with rivalry and increase company profits. They entered into oil plus solar power combination and they should strategically positioned the product segmentation, improve cost efficiency and enter into new market opportunities through the findings of RD to increase their profits. They have created value through technology innovation and this is a barrier for their competitors. But the opportunity is yet to be scrutinized with more investments to the RD. By a comprehensive situation analysis company can create strategic options to devise organizations external atmosphere and can exploit the potential.

Medea and Lysistrata Essay -- World Literature Gender Inequalities Ess

Medea and Lysistrata Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society. Despite the contrast in the characters of Euripedes' Medea and Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the two playwrights depicted how gender inequality can start a fire. As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that i...

IT project for Banking and Finance

This paper seeks to chronicle the history of information technology in finance from its infancy to the modern era with special attention place on the Caribbean experience. The paper therefore presents a summary of major (IT-based) innovations and an analytical framework with which to Structure an historical review Of how Information Technology innovations were adopted in the financial services sector and their impact.The early history of Information technology globally First wave From as early as 1846 the financial sector has been using Information Technology (IT), the history traces back to financial markets when the eelgrass was used to reduced stock price differentials between New York and regional stock markets. Information technology was later employed in 1866 with the transatlantic cable equally enabled greater integration of securities trading in New York and London (B;tic-Lazy, Wood 2002).Further integration took place as the completion Of the transatlantic cable reduced the time delay to execute a trade in New York, which had been initiated in London from six weeks to only one day. These early innovations were accompanied by statistically significant evidence that the introduction of primitive forms of telecommunication substantially educing or even eliminated foreign exchange and security price differentials between geographically distinct markets, (B;tic-Lazy, Wood 2002). Hence at that time information technology' reduced interest rate risk and operational risk for the institutions.In addition greater use of telegraph or telephone facilities also resulted in price related information becoming homogeneous by linking the head office with branches in different domestic and international locations or by providing dealers and banks with the same price information in a timely manner. Second wave A second wave of Information Technology innovation in retail finance began n the late asses with the introduction of computers. This introduction allowed instituti ons to keep up with growth in business volume while, at the same time, solve very specific problems and automate existing practices of specific departments.This resulted in the branch network quickly turning into the main point of contact with retail customers. A process-directed automation thrust dominated the specific application period and aimed at undercutting the cost of administrative tasks such as the labor-intensive cheese clearing systems. Computer applications were therefore concentrated n back-office operations (Morris, 1986), this was because it was felt that controlling a growing mountain of paperwork provided the potential for economies of scale at that time.As the benefits previously mention became apparent the incentive to automate at the individual branch bank level and to improve market-wide processes became greater. Technology further helped developed banks and took on the challenge of reducing cost and expanding their level of customer service and efficiency. In 1967 Barclay Bank (ELK) introduced the first Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in the world (Barclay, 1982) while IBM introduced the magnetic stripe plastic cards in 1969. These two innovations marked the birth of electronic banking.The chart of Figure IA on the following page shows this information. Use of Technology in the Organization, 1845-1995 (Figure IA) Impact on the Provision of Retail Finance Early Adoption Specific Application Emergence (1846-1945) (1945-1968) (1968-1980) Innovation in Reduction in Conversion from Growth of cross Service Offering inter-market price bank relationships. ATM introduced. Guaranty Automated bank statements. Operational border payment. Increased branch to Differentials. Cheese Automation of branch Functional cards.Reduce cost of coordination labor intensive head clearing system). Branches accounting. Innovation office and between n activities (I. E. Real time control begins. (Sources: Morris (1986) and Squint;s (1991)) In a nutshell, technological changes have spread throughout many internal aspects of the banking organization. During this period the convergence of telecommunications and computer power resulted in true Information Technology applications as the emphasis of technological innovations shifted from data processing to communications.The Evolution stage Electronic banking is an umbrella term for the process by which a customer may perform banking transactions electronically without visiting a brick-and- mortar institution. This form of banking became popular in the early ass it was facilitated by banks mailing their customers a floppy disk with software that the customer could install onto their PC and accessing their accounts from the privacy of their homes. ( Canasta Research on 07/02/2013). Initially this service was for a fee.Then in the mid ass a big leap occurred with banks setting up websites for consumers to access both product and contact information. Within a few years after internet banking functionality was launched, this made the process of doing your banking online easy and accessible to everyone. This form Of banking has emerged as an option to customers and was offered by Caribbean banks as well. The major benefit according to one survey is an estimated cost providing that the routine business of a full service branch in the USA is $1. 7 per transaction, as compared to 54 cents for telephone banking, 27 cents for ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) banking and 1. 5 cents for Internet banking (Nathan 1999; Pun et al. , 2002). However it is unclear whether cost savings ill be the primary benefit derived from the adoption of e-banking systems, as any cost reductions achieved may not be a source of sustained competitive advantage for individual commercial banks.Cost savings using e-banking techniques are generally easily replicated by competitors. Secondly, cost savings are also accompanied by reduced entry barriers or increased market transparency leading to a further intensification of competition, ( Belgrade, Paris and ward, 2005 Key technological changes in retail finance Year Name Characteristics Contribution 1979-1985 Telephone Branches retail Multi-channel distribution systemBanking UK, US intermediaries for banks base on an integrated customer account and information system ( Figure B) 1988-1996 Monde Cards (I-j) Debit card with re-writable Facilitate small value retail transactions micro chip with the potential to substitute central bank issued notes and coins 1989-1998 Digit cash (ML) Electronic only medium of Payment system and products that depend exchange and unit of account exclusively on only high-speed communication done through computers 1995-2001 Security First First intermediary working Technologies open new opportunities for Network Bank (US) through the internet. Ink growth and offer managers of banks possibilities to achieve high organizational flexibility Source (B;tic-Lazy, Wood 2002) The Barbados Experience Improvements In Barbados all ba nking institutions and major credit unions offer the most basic forms of e-banking. There is a well connected network of automatic teller machines (Atoms), telephone banking, debit cards, and electronic funds transfers (OFT). The majority of the ATM use in Barbados came about as a cost savings measure. Consequently, ATM banking has become the most popular form of electronic banking in Barbados, with even some non-bank entities costing similar services.However, the graduation to the next level of e- banking, Internet banking has been sluggish. According to ( Belgrade, Paris and Ward, 2005 ) the lack of advancement is for a number of reasons, one most obvious is a divide between customers who wish to use the technology and those who simply prefer traditional banking methods. However the increase in efficient by Automated Teller Machines can been seen in the graph below figure B Observation of Traditional and ATM banking: A Busy Day (No. F Customers per 30 Minute Intervals) Bank I 8 36 ATM I 10 90 15 Source: pa iris (2001 ) Traditional (Teller) A 5 c Within the back office operations of the institutions they have been major improvements across the banking sector, with the use (ARTS) Real Time Gross Settlement and, (ACH) Automatic Clearing House with increase capacity to process transactions. With regards to information systems Finance Core banking system is one of the information systems use as a customer management information system.The use of this system has allowed institutions to capture customer information which can then be used for the modeling of products to specific target markets base on the habits of the institutions clientele and overall profile. In accordance with the know-your- customer guild lines some Transactions Processing Systems such as Finance are even able to go a step further and record personal life events such as weddings, anniversaries and future plans of younger children and other personal information. Which all assist in the construct ion of products and services that will meet customer's needs at every stage of their life.Hence the (T AS) is used as a strategic management information system in some institutions. In addition to cost savings and increase capacity (IT) has brought about payment innovations such as Sure-pay in Barbados. Sure-pay is a payment undying service that allows customers to pay an array of their bills in one location. The company Sure-Pay began its service just offering basic utility payments, and eventually evolve into a well recognize efficient entity which at one time even offered a payment service for tickets for former airline Red Jet and has now expanded to Trinidad & Tobago.Risk The issue of capital flight and money laundering are real concerns that will surface with Internet-Banking, also the ability and cost of regulating this form of banking. This is especially so in an small open economy with a fixed exchange rate such as Barbados. For example if capital is allowed to leave at an rapid unregulated rate this could place pressure on the central bank's reserves which can have a negative effect on the exchange rate and cause the parity of the dollar to be threatened, especially in cases where settlement of the transaction will be require in foreign currency.With respect to money laundering if we look at Internet-Banking it is unique because it offers the user anonymity, rapid transactions speed and wide geographic availability. For those reasons the issue of depositing and withdrawing money in and out of the system is extremely important because t is easy for layering to occur. Encryption technology, fire walls and the use of digital signatures are extremely vital verification tools and should be standard operating procedure with this evolving technology.An added defense in breaches or affiliated criminal activities is that banks should adhere to the commonly cited know-your-customer guidelines. If properly implemented, within an effective operational and regula tory framework, such guidelines should prove pivotal in preventing these kinds of crimes. Future expectations The future of Information Technology and the financial service industry will only be limited by the imagination of those who use the technology, or the regulators who need to keep abreast of how new technologies will permit circumvention of the law.

Lurking Doubt Test Is Still an Applicable Test in Appeals Free Essay Example, 1500 words

It is important to state that the subjective measure proposed by Widgery is that the court should decide whether to let the matter rest as it is or whether they have some lurking doubt. In this case, the lurking doubt is considered if it makes the court wonder if some miscarriage of justice was committed. This subjective test is strictly not based on the evidence received by the court; instead, it is based on the general feel of the case and the personal opinion of the judge(s) of the case. The precedent set by Lord Widgery in 1966 became the lurking doubt test for the appellate court, where each member of the bench considers if the verdicts given are unsafe or unsatisfactory and then allows the conviction to pass or be quashed. The decision on whether the lurking doubt test should be consigned to history or still be used is based on the court itself and the trial jury. An analysis of different cases indicated that the test is still in use but can be arguable. From an analysis of Ma lleson s () research into the use of the lurking doubt test, it is found that after Widgery s introduction of the test in Cooper (1969), 6 cases used the test between then and 1989.We will write a custom essay sample on Lurking Doubt Test Is Still an Applicable Test in Appeals or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page In these cases, five courts decided that there was lurking doubt in the convictions returned by the jury. This indicates that in all cases, notwithstanding the passage of time, there is still the element of lurking doubt, and the test should not be consigned to history, instead, should get statutory recognition. A proposal by the Royal Commission indicates that the lurking doubt test should be given credence since in some cases, the experience of the judges dictate that there might be a miscarriage of justice based on the jury s verdict.