Using international entrepreneurship to drive a small business - Dissertation Example

?Introduction: The concerned company which is now in consideration is Crave Outsourcing Group. A group of very professional individual which is a rapidly growing outsourcing firm specialized in providing integrated outsourcing solutions to small and medium sized businesses (SMB) and blue-chip clients in the UK, Nigeria and across the globe. This is founded in April in 2008 which is a largely growing private firm. There are three directors Femi Odunmbaku Alexander Ihebuzor Seun Akinpelu A three successful professional striving hard to achieve their goal in achieving the edge on others companies and off course they had suffered hard yet managed to cop up with the challenges they have faced during last year’s. As the rapid decrease has been seen in the sales of this firm. It is calculated that the turnover of this company for the year 2010 was UK - ?85,000 Approx (fiscal 2010). This company has managed to retain a god position still in the market by holding a valuable place in a commercial area in London as the company headquarters. The main objective to write this innovative report is to share the crises the company has faced and to identify the core issue and manage to find out the solution. The companies was in crises since 2010 the third year f its operational working company experience the disaster as tremendous change in the sale. Its sales low down up to a significant figure. in this report we will discuss all the features. Objectives: The biggest question and objective to run a successful business lies on the core question like How to effectively and successfully operate an organization. It requires an extensive amount of training, skills, knowledge and experience yet an intelligent investment. Although organizations over time have become very complex and competitive and using every mean to get an edge over others. The company managers must understand the concept of management in order to effectively run an organization. It takes a lot of savvy and skills to supervise employees and run an organization. The company who faces crises up and cannot stand against those crises has the biggest reason in form of lack of management skills and timely correct decisions. Managers, Supervisors and skilled or technical staff are some of the most important individuals in an organization. As they set the tone and culture for an organization. They have to get the employees to buy into the culture and policy of the organization. Furthermore, the manager is responsible for solving problems and motivate the employees to achieve the target. They also have the responsibility to make sure that employees are working effectively. They must also strive to make sure the organization is profiting or providing a quality service. Supervisors should possess leadership characteristics. They must be able to recognize the strength and weakness in their followers. Also, a manager must be able to delegate responsibilities and motivate their employees. They should have good communication skills and know how to read their employees. "Nothing is more exciting than growing a prosperous business, but nothing is more dangerous for a prosperous business than growth." - Steve Meisenheimer The main objective of this report is to cover all and every aspect which evolves in making an organization. Like What should your new organization look like? What is the performance of the company? The yearly revenue generated by the company. What are the key factors involved in the success or failure of the policies?? The core factors evolve in the failure and lower revenue?? What are the successful strategies companies had or should have?? When should you add each new position? How will you manage the new hires? What education and skills should each of them have? What contribution should you expect from each employee? Can you afford all the new people you'll need? Even for those successful companies, answering these questions can be taxing, if not overwhelming. You might agree, however, that these questions should be answered before you begin the process. There's nothing like getting prepared so you feel prepared. A company should have the following clear approach A clear aim and objective A complete trust on what it is doing Continuous and larger investment on researching the market needs and challenges to be faced Skilled and efficient staff quality matters a lot Perform surveys internally and externally to know the about the employees and customer satisfaction. While in case of Crave Outsourcing the clients are of various and dramatically different backgrounds so it is very important to know all the above mentioned factors. Well outsourcing is really growing at a pretty fast rate not just in the United States but also in Asia and Europe. Most organizations see outsourcing as an effective strategy that can be used to achieve strategic objectives, improve customer satisfaction, greatly reduce costs and also help to provide other effective and successful improvements. You also need to understand that outsourcing is not risk-free and really needs very effective management skills from the beginning of the outsourcing evaluation all through the duration of the contractual relationship. In this article, I will outline the important factors for successful outsourcing. You Need To Carefully Define Objectives Business owners need to understand that outsourcing MUST be done in the most careful and systematic manner and outsourcers need to also have clear goals. Business owners who want to outsource information technology should NEVER rush into outsourcing, they should first understand what they hope to gain or else they may find themselves receiving services that will actually worsen their business instead of improving it. Just like in case of Crave outsourcing though all these factors considered but still needed a continuous market research. Outsourcing is really great for departments with pretty high expenses that cannot be reduced. With outsourcing, you can compete on a global level without spending so much money to run your business. out sourcing is well doing in case of privatized firms as they can earn a lot and can cut down the cost factor. As a business owner, you need to clearly understand outsourcing is not a strategy for washing your hands off a badly managed, expensive or a misunderstood business process. Business owners need to understand every function of their business function and successfully manage it before assessing its possibility for outsourcing. Outsourcing is a really big decision for any business owner to take because it is important that they choose the right outsourcing firm to outsource their business tasks to. There are many outsourcing firms that claim to be the best at what they do but end up messing up big time! Before outsourcing jobs to an outsourcing company, you will need to make sure that the outsourcing firm is a reputable one. The great thing about outsourcing is that it will not cost you a lot of money. You will not have to worry about dealing with lazy employees who actually worked their way into your company pretending to be hard working but are only interested in receiving their weekly pay check without bothering to put in their best into making the company grow in leaps and bounds. With outsourcing, you can expect your business to grow strong without worrying about spending so much money to do so. Company Snap shot: The Crave outsourcing has been in the market since June 2008 and still retaining its position in the international outsources market. Crave Outsourcing is operating from Nigeria and it is a consultancy  company specializing in providing accounting, technology and recruitment services to large companies and the public sector. And it has a great reputation in the market. Also Crave Outsourcing is operating in UK as it is considered as a fast growing international consultancy company specialising in providing Project Management services to SMB's in the UK. In fact this is how it is working and saving lot of its valuable assets through outsourcing. Three main directors are operating this outsourcing firm named as Femi Odunmbaku Alexander Ihebuzor Seun Akinpelu It is a private firm holding a great amount f share in the market like if calculate the 2010 turnover of this frm from UK it is a good amount of ?85,000 Approx while from Nigeria the turnover count is ?85,000 Approx. which is good amount. While in year 2010 the company has suffered a lot and still striving hard to come out of the crises the sales of the company down drastically and it affects all the infrastructure of the company. Then the management thought to revise the strategies to find out the core issue. Problem solving cycle: The 5 Corporate Objectives that can be used in any organization are as follows: 1. Exceed Financial Targets 2. Grow / Develop the Company 3. Increase Productivity & Quality 4. Improve Employee Satisfaction 5. Improve Customer Satisfaction For each of the objectives, there are several examples of key performance indicators to include and all we need to check weather in Crave outsourcing all are fulfilled or not. While the issues needed to discuss named as six hat strategy which covers the following valuable issues like What is the implementation plan and how it was implemented?? How the creative ideas have been generated and how they have evaluated to successfully implementation?? Do those ideas were innovative or just the ordinary and also lack of the strong evaluation technique?? If there is some problem faced by the company or any department how it is resolved? Do the problem statements is written clearly or a vague statement is forwarded to the concerns? The problem statement covers all the facts or not? How the cause analysis has been done? At the end the main question remained was why why why and how how how? The core issue? The core issue of crave outsourcing was why during the third year of operations (2010), there was a dramatic decrease in sales which led to Crave Outsourcing being on the verge of collapse. And the main objective is to find out the main issue and the innovative and effective solution to it. While if we see in the first operating year of crave international the sales graph was its peak as the turnover was great the recruitment process was little slower that means the company was operated by fewer but efficient employees. When we see the second year there is a dramatic change in sales as it down by half though the ratio of hiring also decreasing and in third all of sudden every aspect down to the least limit. What is the reason behind this drastic collapse? Mind Map: In this portion we will cover up and brain storming all the issues like Inadequate training Less trained staff Poor salary delivery Lesser motivation Wrong recruitment strategy Lack of motivation Late commission A delay in salary These are the issues can be found at the employees end while what happened to the other department like technology which is a very important factor in outsourcing firms Few and use of backward technology Unstable power supply Slow internet access While there are also some issues found at the management end like Lack of management skills Unprofessional approach Assumed business plans Wrong strategy Vague vision and mission statement. The factors involves in decrease in sales are as follows: In fact there is chain which leads to the second and then the series goes on. and all these factors involves the customer dissatisfaction regarding the whole products and services.like High customer satisfaction Low quality of service Gap in the promise and delivery Delay in service Lack of expertise wrong target market These are due to Lack of professionalism No proper training Wrong target market Unskilled staff Low motivation for staff Cheap labor Inexperienced staff Low salary The other major factors are high prices of the product. And also company did not focus on the current trends of the market. May be because of the company was new to this business, did not done a complete and effective market surveys. Company has to operate between different cultural backgrounds and did not have a flexible approach. Also lack of essential resources like power, internet and technology. The company was also lacking in the wellness of services delivered by it to the customers. Wrong marketing strategies are another drawback of the company. Plus company did not go through with what are the actual requirements of the market and also it is small company so finance is another issue. Fish Bone: Now we will gradually go through each department and see what are their part in the collapse of company. First the in marketing management likes Did not performed a complete market research Targeted a wrong market No personalized service to honor its client The techniques company chose for marketing was old or not appropriate enough for the survival and increase in sales Did not focus on the customer feedback What customer wants was not offered by the company Wrong leadership qualties Below are the details of the above mentioned factors The high rate at which small and medium scale business like Crave outsourcing (Nigeria) are folding up, has brought to limelight, The reasons behind the collapse of these businesses can be traced to the following reasons: Lack of Capital No business can thrive without sufficient fund to carry out its daily operations. The situation is pathetic in this regard, as most small businesses are starved of needed funds. While governments funds them they can survive otherwise they collapses but in the concerned company may be Commercial banks are not willing to release funds, and when these funds are made available, the interest rate is so high, thus discouraging potential lenders. Epileptic Power Supply: The power sector in crave has gone from bad to worse, as most businesses are now forced to resort to the use of petrol or diesel generator to sustain their business. This has adversely affected the running cost of these businesses which are barely managing to survive. The present move by the Government in NIGERIA to privatize the power sector is aimed at encouraging private investors to fully utilize the huge potential available in the Nigerian market. Low patronage: Some small and medium scale businesses like crave easily go under due to low patronage from customers. This low patronage can be linked to the harsh economic situation which has forced companies to cut down on some luxuries. Inexperience Management: This is a key factor in the survival of every small business. The influence of management on business success cannot be undermined. Most small and medium scale business like crave is owned by individuals, and this can often affect the choice of who manages the business. The decision about who manage these businesses is often influence by family ties and relationship with recourse to experience and business ethics. This can ultimately prove disastrous in the long run. Or may be another factor is that the company managers are not skilled enough. Insecurity: The spate of violence in most part of Nigeria has resulted in most of the small businesses closing shop. Militant activities, kidnapping and ethnic/religious crisis have conspired to ensure that the average business life span in Nigeria is greatly reduced. Government Policies: The frequent change in Government has also resulted in change in Government policies. Some of these policies are not business friendly, as they tend to add strain to the limited resources of these small businesses. There are cases when multiple taxation is implemented and where goods in ports are unduly delayed due to change in Government policies. Lack of Creativity: The creative ability of small business owners can become a survival weapon in time of depression. Most business owners are lacking in this regard, hence the high rate of failed businesses. Some creative entrepreneur having studied the economic tide, are forced to diversify their operation to counter any adverse effect that would otherwise have some negative implication on the operation of their business. Less use of new technology: The company was lacking in the technology aspect as there is not a good speed internet is available which is as necessary as other factors. If the outsourcing company is lacking in this regard how it will fulfill the customer orders on time. Marketing strategies: Company did not perform the proper research so it did not use the fresh technology which customer demands, hence old strategies are the reason of its collapse and decrease in sales. Unskilled staff: The staff company hired was not skilled enough so that they can treat customer in good way and lacking of communication skills was also another factor. Lack of Welfare Benefits and Rewards: Employees of Crave Outsourcing put in less effort at work due to the lack of welfare benefits offered by the company. For example, the Personal Assistants of the Vice Presidents and even the Chief Executive Officer in the company do not enjoy the benefit of claiming their phone bills from the company. As the Personal Assistants, they have to liaise with overseas clients and make frequent overseas calls. The bill for overseas calls is high and the Personal Assistants have to pay the bill themselves. Furthermore, there is also a reduction in medical compensation. For medicine purchased at pharmacies, the employees are not allowed to claim the medical expenses from the HR department. This led to unhappiness among the employees. Another reason is the lack of rewards. The employees are overloaded with work. They finish their tasks for the day only for more work to pile up. Hence they have to stay back after office hours to complete their work. However, they are not getting overtime pay. Read More