BRITISH PETROLEUM, UK – PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

As part of privatization of public utilities/companies, this company was created originally by government and later as a privately owned Public Limited Company (PLC). Its role was to provide the infrastructure for the society. Given the massive pressures on the system, there is both commercial and political pressure to create a profitable and efficient public utilities system. However, there have been substantial criticisms of the public utilities post-privatization.

You have been provided with information indicating some of the issues around the function of the company. Using these and other sources which you may be able to obtain, analyze PLC in the following areas:

Task 1

You are to provide a write-up in tabular form to be use as ‘Induction Presentations’ as well as this coming discussion on the following matter:

You are required to identify the legal structure and type of the organization and state the purposes such as mission, values, aims, profits, market share, goals, objectives of selected organization                                            (1.1)

[Suggested answer]

Legal structure and type, in this case, means such types as proprietorship, partnership, …etc.

Check the rest from their websites.

Describe the extent to which selected organization achieves the objectives of stakeholders. Identify the stakeholders, conflict  of expectations and  satisfaction the stakeholders objectives                                              (1.2)

[Suggested answer]

Stakeholders – Groups that have interest in the company, e.g employees.

Do some research on who are the stakeholders and how the company meets their expectations.

Highlight the conflict of expectations and how the company balances the various expectations.

Explain the legal responsibilities of the selected organization and strategies employed to meet objectives of stakeholders                                (1.3)

[Suggested answer]

There are laws imposed by the host country. E.g. Laws on pollution, laws on employment … etc.

Do some research about how the company fulfills its legal obligations.

Task 2

• Explain how economic systems in your country (Viet Nam) attempt to allocate and make effective use of resources available within the country                      (2.1)

[Suggested answer]

Economic system – It means centrally planned system, free market system or mixed system.

How a country allocates and makes effective use of resources using the mixed system – E.g. liberalization and privatization of certain industries while centralization of education and ……..

Visit http://btechnd.blogspot.com

• Assess the impact of fiscal policy, monetary policy economy on selected organization and stakeholders in your country                                     (2.2)

[Suggested answer]

Do some research on your country’s fiscal policy and monetary policy. How these policies impact on BP? E.g. Tax policy, currency exchange rate policy. Check BP’s financial report. ….. etc.

Refer to http://btechnd.blogspot.com

• Evaluate the impact of competition policy and other regulatory mechanisms on the activities of a selected organization                                           (2.3)

[Suggested answer]

Competition policy – This is a governmental policy to prevent market from being monopolized by a company in the industry. E.g. In Telecom sector, government usually has competition policy to allow competition among telecom operators. This regulatory policy helps promote competition and to reduce cost to consumers.

Check if there is such competition policy in BP’s industry. If yes, what kind of impact does it have on BP?

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All supplementary information besides the provided materials is required to cite the source and quoted in the appendices.

 (Refer in the next page – Company Profile)

COMPANY PROFILE

BP PLC is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by 2011 revenues and is one of the six oil and gas super majors. It is vertically integrated and operates in all areas of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution  and marketing,  petrochemicals, power generation and trading. It also has renewable energy  activities in biofuels and wind power.

BP’s origins date back to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909, established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit oil discoveries in Iran. In 1935, it became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and in 1954 British Petroleum. In 1959, the company expanded beyond the Middle East to Alaska and in 1965 it was the first company to strike oil in the North Sea. British Petroleum acquired majority control of Standard Oil of Ohio in 1978. Formerly majority state-owned, the British government privatised the company in stages between 1979 and 1987. British Petroleum merged with Amoco in 1998 and acquired  ARCO  and  Burmah Castrol in 2000.

BP has been involved in several major environmental and safety incidents, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the world’s largest accidental release of oil into marine waters. In 1997 it became the first major oil company to publicly acknowledge the need to take steps against climate change.

BP in Vietnam

BP arrived in Vietnam in 1989 with many ideas. Over time, it had been able to turn those ideas into reality.
The business in Vietnam includes the exploration and production of oil and gas, the production and distribution of lubricants, and the supply of crude oil to the first local refinery. BP also invested in the growing Vietnamese power industry.
In the early 1990s, their exploration discovered four major gas fields 320km offshore south of Ho Chi Minh City. It resulted in the $1.3 billion Nam Con Son Gas Project. This complex operation involved the development of the Lan Tay and Lan Do fields, the laying of a two-phase offshore pipeline (the longest of its kind in the world) and the construction of the 720 MW Phu My 3 Power Plant in Ba Ria Vung Tau province.

The Nam Con Son Pipeline that BP built, operated, transferred operatorship, and expanded has become a model of sustainable, reliable, and efficient investment project in Vietnam.

BP and Castrol are recognised brand names in the lubricants markets here. Every year, the business grows faster than the market, with a record performance of 2- 3 times growth in 2008 alone.

In 2009, BP Integrated Supply and Trading signed a contract with PetroVietnam to supply crude to Vietnam’s first refinery. The contract is for a minimum of 50% of their foreign crude requirement and is for the next five years (with option for extension).

BP’s work in Vietnam focuses on the areas of environmental protection, poverty reduction, education and training, enterprise promotion, and access to energy.

So far, BP has invested more than US$6 million in community projects across Vietnam, with particular focus in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province where the company operates major production projects.
BP has worked with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Leeds University to help with the training for Vietnam’s government employees and students, has provided over US$620,000 in sponsoring Vietnamese students to pursue graduate studies in the UK. We also initiate and provide financial support to the Marcel Loos Memorial Business Course at Da Nang University. The course covers such topics as modern accounting and business skills, both of them key to Vietnam’s transition to a market economy.

For more information about the Company, please visit: http://www.bp.com ; http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=497&contentId=2000747

You are a member of a team of researchers employed by HCM Consultants (fictitious). Your team is currently carrying out surveys and compiles statistics on a wide range of employment issues at the request of local employers or employer organisations.

Your team has just been assigned to conduct an investigation into how sample of organisations approach the management of their activities. Your analysis will extend into an examination of organisation structure and culture, as well as management style.

COMPANY – Electrolux

AB Electrolux (‘Electrolux’ or ‘the group’) is a leading producer of appliances for household and commercial use. The group operates in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Latin America. It’s headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and employs about 51,544 people. The group sells 40 million products annually across 150 countries under various brands. Some of its products include refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, cookers, and air-conditioners that are sold under brands such as Electrolux, AEG, Eureka and Frigidaire.

The group distributes its products through 20 sales companies worldwide and through a global network of independent distributors. Electrolux has its manufacturing facilities in 16 countries across the world. The group’s manufacturing operations consist mainly of the assembly of components and processing of standard raw materials sourced from various third party manufacturers.

Electrolux operations are divided into five business areas, which include six sectors and a total of 25 product lines. Within Major Appliances, the business sectors are geographically defined, while the sectors Professional Products and Floor Care and Small Appliances are global.

There are five Group staff units that support all business sectors: Finance, Communications, Branding, Legal Affairs, and Human Resources and Organizational Development. In order to fully take advantage of the Group’s global presence and economies of scale, a global organization was established in 2009 with responsibility for product development, purchasing and manufacturing within Major Appliances. The Group has a decentralized corporate structure in which the overall management of operational activities is largely performed by sector boards.

In Europe

The Swedish multinational company has grown through acquisitions to become a dominant player in Europe. But the European market is highly competitive and the company had to find ways to cut down on costs and improve product standards to stay ahead of fierce competition. Electrolux Home Products Europe used a functional organizational structure to compete in the European market.

Their solution was quite simple yet strategic in nature. They introduced a Europe-wide functional structure to replace the geographical structure (resulting from its acquisitions). The new organizational structure had four functions/departments.

1. Purchasing, Production and Product Development – This department/function was important as it ensured a seamless flow from supplies to finished products.

2. Supply Chain Management and Logistics – This function was responsible for getting the products to the customer and created the association between sales forecasts and factory production.

3. Product Businesses, Brand Management and Key Account Management – This function was involved in all the marketing activities to support products and brands. Also included key account management, service and spare parts functions.

4. Sales clusters – The different sales divisions grouped geographically.

The Electrolux People Vision is to have an innovative culture with diverse, outstanding employees that drive changes and go beyond in delivering on the Group’s strategy and performance objectives. The Electrolux culture features diversity and innovation.

Development of innovative products is a vital part of this vision. Diversity is a prerequisite for Electrolux ability to compete in a global market. Personnel with diverse backgrounds create a greater understanding of consumer needs in different countries.

At Electrolux, leadership development is a process, which focuses on taking Electrolux forward and improving the overall business results through accelerated development of the leadership capabilities of the managers.

Source:

http://group.electrolux.com/en/governance-structure-1413/,

http://creately.posterous.com/how-functional-structures-benefit-in-bringing

COMPANY – LG Electronics

LG Electronics (LGE or ‘the company’) is one of the global leaders in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. Its product range includes kitchen appliances, home entertainment products, communication devices and electronic components. Its production network is spread across North America, South and Central America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Its product range includes kitchen appliances, home entertainment products, communication devices and electronic components.

In FY2010, the company operated through five business segments: business solutions, home entertainment, mobile communications, home appliance, and air conditioning and energy. However, LGE restructured its business under four segments: home entertainment, mobile communications, home appliances, and air conditioning and energy solutions.

The home entertainment segment operates through the subsidiary LG Home Entertainment Company. This segment offers wide range of products such as liquid crystal display (LCDs) TVs, plasma TVs, pen touch TV, LED monitor, TV upgrader, home theatre system, LED projector, commercial display and hospitality TV, and security camera.

The mobile communication segment operates through the subsidiary LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. The subsidiary offers a range of cell phones and laptops across the globe.

The home appliance segment operates through the subsidiary LG Home Appliance Company. This segment’s product offerings include washing machines, dish washers, refrigerators, vacuum cleaner, cooking appliance, built-in appliances, water purifiers and air purifiers.

The air conditioning segment operates through the subsidiary LG AE. The segment provides both residential air cooling and commercial air conditioning solutions. Besides, it also operates in the solar energy and green lightning solutions sector. Some of its key products are: air conditioners, solar energy and lighting. The segment also includes three major solution-oriented businesses: home management systems, building management systems, and hotel solutions.

Supplementary LG ELECTRONICS EARNINGS HIT BOTTOM IN Q2: CEO

-          Asia Pulse [Rhodes] 06 July 2011.

The worst has passed for LG Electronics (KSE:066570), the world’s No. 3 mobile phone maker, as its earnings hit bottom in the second quarter and will likely improve down the road, its chief executive officer said Wednesday.

Koo Bon-joon, who took control of the electronics giant in October as its mobile business faltered in the lucrative smartphone race, said that the company’s earnings will not deteriorate further as its mobile and TV businesses pick up.

“We did not make a significant rebound in our overall businesses,” in the first half of this year, Koo said in a note to his employees. “But earnings are not going to worsen in the future so we will only go up.” He said that the positive market response to its Optimus 2X Smartphone’s, 3-D TVs and premium home appliances were encouraging signs for the company.

Hurt by mobile losses and weak TV sales, LG posted a second straight quarterly loss in the first three months of this year, losing 15.8 billion won (US$14.6 million). LG’s mobile sector, which lost money for four straight quarters since the April-June period of 2010, will not make a turnaround in the current quarter, its chief financial officer said in April.

While its rival Samsung Electronics Co. (KSE:005930) made a quick transformation from a smartphone also-ran to a viable competitor to Apple Inc.’s iPhone, LG failed to produce a hit smartphone model, as it reacted too slowly to the rapidly growing market for feature-packed, mobile computing devices.

The company unveiled a string of high-end Smartphone’s this year with 3-D glasses and a dual-core processor, hoping to regain ground lost to rivals. Koo also said he will beef up efforts to stamp out corruption and wrongdoing from the company as he received many tips through his e-mail about improper behavior within the company.

Koo’s pledge came after Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of larger rival Samsung Electronics Co. and South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, declared a war on group-wide corruption last month and conducted a management reshuffle.

Source:

Part of the case reference is taken from ‘Datamonitor’

http://www.lg.com/global/ir/reports/annual-reports.jsp

http://visiblebusiness.blogspot.sg/2012/02/organizational-chart-of-lg-electronics.html

LG ELECTRONICS EARNINGS HIT BOTTOM IN Q2: CEO Anonymous.Asia Pulse [Rhodes] 06 July 2011.

The above data has been based on real life organisations, but details have been changed for assessment purposes and do not reflect the current management practices.

You have been given specific responsibility for the areas outlined below:

BRIEF: Prepare a report, citing relevant research, which addresses the following tasks:

Tasks

 For both organisations sampled in your investigation, compare and contrast Electrolux and LG Electronics Inc. different organisational structures and culture. (1.1)

[Suggested answer]

Compare and contrast – It means you need to identify the similarities and differences between the two corporations.

The question asks you about the organization structures and culture of the two companies. You may focus your discussion based on the following areas:

1. Extent of business: Both are MNCs having offices and factories globally.
2. Products: There are some similarities in products, e.g. electrical appliances.
3. Departmentalization: They structure their business according to segments or business sectors, a concept of departmentalization. However, for each of the geographical area (E.g. Europe), the structure may be different due to market conditions and other factors. Take a look at the few structures, i.e. by function, by products, by geography, and matrix system.
4. Centralization vs decentralization: Which parts are similar (And different) between the two companies? Why? Flat and tall organizational structure…….. why?
5. …

For each of the above points, discuss its advantages (E.g product innovation) and disadvantages, if any. Link the advantages and disadvantages to culture. E.g. decentralized organizational structure promotes empowerment and hence encouraging new product and market development.

To answer this question, you need to understand types of corporate culture. You may refer to your textbook or ask your lecturer. A useful link is listed below:

http://www.haworth.com/en-us/knowledge/workplace-library/Documents/Four-Organizational-Culture-%20Types_6.pdf

Explain how the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture can impact the performance of the business (1.2)

[Suggested answer]

Performance of business means many things including product innovation, market competitive advantage, profitability, sales………..and many more.

You can pick a few and link that to culture for discussion. E.g. a centralized production mean higher control which leads to economies of scale and that drives down the unit production cost, hence, market competitive advantage etc.

Related to the given scenario, discuss the factors which might influence individual behaviour at work (1.3)

[Suggested answer]

Individual behaviour, in your case, relate to such good and bad behaviors as motivation, corruption at work etc. Discuss those factors (E.g. Empowerment, communication, …….) and how they influence such individual behavior.

Compare the effectiveness of different approaches to leadership style in Electrolux and LG Electronics Inc. (2.1)

[Suggested answer]

Check what are the few possible leadership style at this link:

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html

Relate the style as provided in the case and discuss and compare the styles adopted in the cases by the two companies.

Explain how organisational theory underpins principles of management (2.2)

[Suggested answer]

Relate what the cases provided to the organizational theory you have learnt from the book. Organizational theory means such things as system approach, contingency approach ………

Principle of management means many things. Essentially, management principles are statements of fundamental truth. These principles serve as guidelines for decisions and actions of managers. They are derived through observation and analysis of events which managers have to face in practice, e.g. dividsion of work, unity of command, authority and responsibility, motivation ……… etc

“underpin” – Here it means “as a basis to”.

E.g One such organizational theory is the system approach,  The System approach views the organization as a unified , purposeful system composed of interrelated parts. This way the manager can look at the organization as a whole or part of the larger outside environment. Activity of any part affects all other parts of the organization. A system can be biological,physical or social. The system appraoch underpins that organizations need to,for example, consider to protect the ecology of its environment for business sustanability and future profitability. The ecological aspect of the enivironment is part of the total system………

Evaluate the different approaches to management used by Electrolux and LG Electronics Inc. (2.3)

[Suggested answer]

To evaluate means to discuss the advantages and disadvantages. Link that to management approaches (E.g. management reshuffle to fight against corruption etc)

Check out more at http://btechnd.blogspot.com.

Good luck.

This student has done an in-site observation on a retail outlet.

To find out more about the report, click this link: rmAssignment1-1

To open this document, click the link below.

Global Business Assignment

Scenario

Mobile phone subscriber growth in 2012’s first six months is under the microscope. By the end of May, 2012 Vietnam was home to 132.8 million telephone subscribers. Of them, mobile phone users amounted to 122.79 million, representing 92.5 per cent and fixed line users approximately 10 million, making up 7.5 per cent, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) Telecom Department.

With a population of 88 million, this means each Vietnamese person uses an average 1.5 mobile SIM cards, after one decade’s high growth in telecom services.

However, statistics from 2012’s first six months show that mobile phone user growth had reached saturation point with only around 800,000-1.2 million new subscribers each month, and 5.4 million new subscribers after half a year, up 2.8 per cent against the same period in 2011, according to VnExpress.net.

Telecom firms also pointed out to unstable growth in mobile subscriber numbers as several million customers have reportedly frequently changed service providers to enjoy their diverse sales promotions.

For instance, in 2011, MobiFone rolled out 30 million SIM cards. There remained 500,000 SIM cards only by the year end tantamount to 1.66 per cent. In fact, ‘virtual’ subscribers just add to telcos’ subscriber count while generating little profits to firms.

Virtual mobile phone subscribers are expected to plummet in number following enforcement of MIC’s Circular 04/2012/TT-BTTTT on managing pre-paid mobile phone subscribers, effective from June 1, 2012.

Accordingly, the purchase, circulation and use of pre-paid multi-function SIM cards to register subscriber information will also be banned. Besides, pre-paid mobile subscribers will have to directly register their personal information at agencies for subscriber information registration.

In addition, to restrict virtual mobile subscriber growth MIC has worked on a fee restructuring draft which will require pre-paid mobile phone subscribers to pay network connection and associated fees as post-paid subscribers to ensure impartiality among diverse customer groups.

MIC Deputy Minister Le Nam Thang assumed sales promotion policies equally applied to new and existing, prepaid or post-paid clients would help drive down the number of ‘virtual’ mobile phone subscribers.

Source:

Vietnam Investment Review:  http://www.vir.com.vn/news/coverage/talking-up-mobile-growth.html

Assuming that you are an intern of a local mobile phone retailer (public or private), complete the following tasks:

Task 1:

1)       Discuss the ranges of decisions that may be taken with various stakeholders for pre-paid mobile subscriber.                                                                                                         (1 .1)

Suggested answer

1. Identify the key stakeholders. (E.g. Internal and external. All the existing and future pre-paid mobile subscribers, employees, shareholders, Telecom companies …… )
2. Discuss the decisions needed for each stakeholders. (E.g. To Telecom companies who are your suppliers, you need to clear instructions from them about the steps and rules for the fulfil the new regulatory requirements. To employees, you need training programs for them………)

2)         Examine the information and knowledge that you need to ensure that the above decisions are effective.                                                                                                          (1.2)

 Suggested answer:

1. Customers

a)   Size of your existing and new customers.

b)   The extent to which they will be affected.

c)    What are the likely responses from the affected customers

d)   How to retain customers

e)   How to access to your shop in case they want further info.

2. Employees

a)   Size of the employees required for training

b)   Gaps of the new information required for Employees

c)    Human resources needed to support the training.

3. Suppliers

a)   Info about the new requirements

b)   ………….

c)    …………….

4. ???

5. ???

3)         Assess your internal and external sources of information that you have to understand – such as formal and informal, primary and secondary (including official and unofficial sources) and others.    (1.3)

Suggested answer:

1. Internal sources: For information about customers, you need info from Sales reports (Secondary data), employees’ feedback (Formal or informal), ….to understand the needs of the customers and what are the assistance you can give to help your customers in view of the change of the rules.
2. External sources: Newspapers about the new rules. Call up your friends in the similar business to find out what to manage the situation (Informal). ………

4)         Justify recommendations for improvements in making decisions with your stakeholders for pre-paid mobile subscriber..                                                                                            (1.4)

Suggested answer:

Any or all the possible improvement indicated below:

-          Identification of the stakeholders’ needs

-          Choice of communication channels

-          Timing

-          Frequency of communication

-          Delivery of the message

-          ……

Task 2 (Mobifone):

5)         Identify possible stakeholders for decision making process for Mobifone. Design a questionnaire related to the awareness changes Mobifone. Make contact with those identified (20 stakeholders) and involved those identified in the decision making process (collection of required information and analyse your finding).                                                                         (2.1, 2.2, 2.3)

Suggested answer:

1. Mobifone is a Telecom company. It distributes its service through retailers. Identify both its internal and external stakeholders (E.g. Retailers, subscribers …..)
2. Questionaire design – either qualitative type of open-ended questions (I.e. What, where ….) or quantitative type of questions with scale answers (I.e. Excellent, above average, average, poor, bad).
3. Table you info collected and do an analysis. E.g. 20% of existing customers are not interested to register their pre-paid card under their names……   The analysis helps you to do the recommendations.

6)        Based on the above tasks (2 a, b, and c), Designed strategies for improvement (prepare a presentation to your manager on your compiled data to justify those identified in the signed questionnaire as appropriate for your day-to-day decision making and building business relationship with stakeholders of Mobifone. Use suitable graphs, tables and provide conclusions recommend appropriate business strategies and information systems for improvements with your local mobile phone retailer (public or private)).                                                                 (2.4)

Suggested Answer:

Here, you need to do a PPT showing your findings and give your recommendations. Note that you are presenting to your manager. What decision does your manager want to make? It is likely to be about how to support retailers and roll out communication program educating the public about the new rules. Your strategy is likely to revolve around these objectives.

Good luck!

This is an example of a service process flow chart involving activities performed at the front and back stage. Each contact point where the customer interacts with the company is considered as a service encounter.

幸福是甚么？
幸福是指人感知自己的需要、活动和条件相对和谐的生活状态。

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has this ambition. It is considering drafting a happiness index of the Chinese people to better direct our decision makers’ policy-making.

The bureau said it would include more human factors, including the happiness index, in its statistics system, reflecting more of the non-economic side of people’s well-being.

While gross domestic product (GDP) is technically calculable, overall domestic happiness would seem not to be. It is, in essence, the psychological state of satisfaction, hedonic adaptation and social comparison – which can hardly be represented in figures.

Tempted by the convenience of calculable indices in gauging the world, economists have never given up the attempt to measure the spiritual side of the people. So comes the so-called hedonomics, or happiness economics.

Various institutions and government departments in the developed world have drafted similar human feeling indices to help assess public policies.

While the sense of happiness cannot be accurately calculated, it can to an extent be reflected by using some scientific tools, such as meaningful surveys.

The results can help us find out why people are dissatisfied and provide clues for public policy-making.

The global trend to study people’s happiness by economic methodology is a sign of a focus shift from traditional material affluence to people’s spiritual well-being.

China is doing well to incorporate that trend. It is pushing economic growth, but also attaching increasing importance to non- economic aspects, a drive mirrored by the government’s efforts to build a harmonious society.

It has been recognized that unrestrained pursuit of GDP will not lead to harmony. Inadequate attention to the environment and human development will offset economic growth.

As a transitional society, China is especially vulnerable to such a development trap. Money cannot buy happiness, nor can economic growth.

While developing the economy, China needs to step up its efforts to improve people’s medical, education, housing, and employment conditions, to name but a few. Economic growth will not automatically bring them those benefits.

The new plan by the NBS, in this sense, is a clearer sign that the country is moving in the right direction.

The drafting of the happiness index, however, is risky. It must be based on solid statistics and surveys. And it must be independent, free of any influence from political forces or vested interests.

Otherwise, an index that differs greatly from the general public feeling will not only be absurd, but risk leading policy-makers awry.

Source: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1126877551&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=68428&RQT=309&VName=PQD [Access 1 Oct 2011]