Firm Resources and Sustainable Competitive Advantage - Coursework Example

Core assets company limited Industry Report Core Assets Company LTD Industry Report Industry overview Lately, we have seen a number of nonprofit community based organizations coming up to provide services to members of the society for free. These services are often essential but some people can never afford it. Some of these organizations only depend on donations and grants to run their affairs. These donations are always given by international financial organizations such as World Bank and a lot of transparency is expected in the manner they are spent to ensure zero embezzlement. Financial statements are always prepared at the end of the year to show how the money was spent (Buzzell & Gale, 2005). Not many such organizations carry out their financial obligations to the standards prescribed by the donating agencies. Core Assets is not a nonprofit, but it meticulously carries out such community-based issues such as fostering and consultancy. It does so for fees. Its operations are always above par. For this reason, people favor to have paid services at Core Assets, and not have similar services in the nonprofit organizations offering similar services for free. It has professionals in its ranks, resulting in a high level of competency in the way its affairs are run. This is the reason it manages to run efficiently despite having a huge international chain of branches to run (Schlesinger & Heskett, 2006). Fostering is a core activity carried out by Core Assets, and was the only thing going on when it all started. It involves providing a stable and safe family home for a child who can’t live with the family they were born into. They always want to bring out the best out of each and every child under their care. They grow into productive youths and then adults, with good education that they would probably never get if they stayed within their birth family (Bank & Yeats, 2012). With the education, it becomes easy to get jobs and be independent members of the society, who will most likely be in a position to give back to the society in many ways. Efficiency in management is the strength of the company, because with it, so many branches have been opened in many other countries outside the United Kingdom. Introduction to Core Assets Core Assets is a company that was started in 1994 by Jim Cockburn and Jan Rees as a fostering company based in and operating within the United Kingdom. It provided fostering services for the local authorities and ensured better outcomes for looked after children. Time passed by and it expanded widely to other countries within the UK, throughout England, Scotland and northern Ireland, eventually rising to becomes the largest fostering agency within the United Kingdom (Taylor & Polly,2006). It never stopped there; they ventured in the global arena, expanding services to other countries like the United States of America, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore, Finland and Germany. The global expansion has been accompanied by the growth in the scope of Core Assets, which now does much more than the fostering services that it set out to do at its inception. Today, it offers consultancy services, resourcing and services for children and families. The consulting and resourcing services are offered majorly to the social care sector (Camp, 2011). It helps with a number of family issues and children issues. The children under the fostering program of Core Assets are expected to attain high levels of success. They go to school and get mentoring to ensure that they end up being the people that they can be in the society. Competitive Landscape Core Asset faces some amount of competition in the child services industry. Competition is normal in any industry because it helps to improve the quality of services offered by the different players within the industry. Core Assets has the advantage of its size, which helps it get the economies of scale that comes with big size of a company and large scale operation. It is able to offer its services at lower costs than its competitors but still make profits, while maintaining the quality of its services. Products, operation and technology Core Assets has a wide range of services which include fostering services and consultancy to social work areas. There are a number of services that families get from Core Assets. There are situations where living together can be jeopardized by certain factors such as domestic violence, unemployment and drug abuse and mental health concerns. In such cases, Core Assets offers certain services which may include contact services, edge of care services, sorting out separation issues, adoption services and early intervention. International insights Core Assets started out as a small outfit operating within the UK. As time went by, it decided to go global, penetrating the markets within and outside Europe. It established branches in the United States of America, Japan, Finland, Australia, Germany and New Zealand. This gives it a competitive advantage due to the fact that it enjoys economies of scale arising from its big size (Van Dijk & Rabellotti, 2007). There is the management efficiency which ensures that the branches around the world are run harmoniously and in a coordinated matter. Other companies in the industry operate within some limited business space which makes it hard for them to enjoy advantages of working as big business outfits. When operations are spread out in the world markets, there are prospects of getting more profits which could be ploughed back in the expansion plans. Human resource Core Assets employs many people who happen to be locals of the hosting nation. The remuneration for its employees is fairly above that which is offered by its competitors worldwide. Professionals employed within the UK for instance earn between 2500 and 5000 sterling pounds every two weeks. With its huge capacity, it employs many more people than its competitors around the world (Fisher, 2012). Employee terms are good and the working conditions are exemplary. This has earned it repute that goes a long way in marketing its products and services, which means higher income. Core Assets is a household name around the entire UK. A lot of people graduating from colleges and universities confess that Core Assets is one of the companies they would want to get a job because of the good terms of employment and the fairly good salaries compared to other companies within the industry or in other industries. Averages of 15000 people apply for jobs monthly in the many Core Assets around the world. This is a clear show of the good name that it has earned among the people who are still the job seeking bracket. Business Trends in Core Assets Core Assets has been mutating and continually changing as years go by. The company has had a lot of changes in the services it offers. It started out as a fostering outfit; that’s all it did at inception in 1994. As times goes by, it has added a lot to its list of products. It continues to give fostering services, but also engages in a number of other activities such as consulting services, resourcing services and a lot of other services for children and family (Van Lieshout, 2004). Trend is also noted in the way Core Assets has been expanding and continually opening branches in many countries of the world. It started in the United Kingdom, but has since opened up branches in other countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, Australia, New Zealand etc. SWOT Analysis Strengths The strengths of Core Assets are its steadfastness in the way it carries out business. There is a great deal of efficiency in the management of its operations. Competitors find it rather hard to match the market strength of Core Assets. It also has exemplary human resource policies, resulting in a workforce with high morale. Weaknesses No major weaknesses can be noted and this is attributable to the efficient management and running of the Core Assets affairs. There could be challenges of effectively handling and harmonizing the operations of the international branches. It could at times be hard to coordinate the activities of all the branches of Core Assets. This is however constantly overcome by competencies of the staff at the highest level. Opportunities There is the potential for Core Assets to expand further than it already has. Telling from the rate that it has been growing over the years, Core Assets could set up branches in four more countries in the next five years. This would ensure that it grows into a multinational outfit. Profits base would grow (Brubaker, 2008). With many branches, it would have the advantages that accompany large scale operation. It would continue being a market leader in the provision of services around the world, getting more profit. Threats There is some level of competition that Core Assets faces in the industry. This doesn’t threaten it much because its large size makes it possible to offer services at lower rates while retaining the quality of the products. My suitability for employment at Core Assets I am a hardworking young and ambitious student at London metropolitan university, pursuing a degree in business management. Everybody wants to get a job in their field of specialization when they are done with their education. I know myself, and many people know me, as an independently working individual who understands the dynamics of working in a group. I love to be criticized whenever I haven’t performed duties assigned to me as expected, and then learn from mistakes. I have gained massive experience and knowledge from summer schools and colleges. My ambition makes me always ready to expand my knowledge in any industry (Barney, 2002). I have worked with a number of companies, some local and others international. I have worked as a warehouse assistant BaucentrumCronrath GmbH (a German Company) and had the responsibility of restocking and rotation of stock within the warehouse. I also had the duty of picking and packing orders and ensuring that correct before they are dispatched, and also maintaining tidiness inside the warehouse. At the same company, I have worked as an office assistant who was mandated to receive and file correspondences. I also had the responsibility of supplying and managing the company’s equipments and machines. I would also receive and welcome visitors at the office. My work as an office assistant enabled to gain a B2B marketing experience. I have done a lot of research about Core Assets and I can assure you that I know all that you would want your potential employees to know. With that knowledge, given a chance, I would work in coordinate with the ranks of the company with a view to creating the best brand in the industry. Granted an opportunity, I will strive to be a resourceful person in your company. This is because I have earned some amount of experience through my education and also through having worked with a number of other companies (Camp, 2011). I can assure you that I will continue learning given the opportunity to work with your company. It is one of the companies with great repute and I am aware you have set your standards high. I might not be the best, I cannot assure you that I am, but I will work towards perfection. I will try to be the best that I can be, under the mentorship of those I will be assigned to work under. Bibliography Barney, J. (2002) “Firm Resources and Sustainable Competitive Advantage”, Journal of Management, vol 17, no 1, 1991. Bank, A. & Yeats, A.J. (2012). Macroeconomics: The Bigger Picture. (World Discussion Paper No. 348). Washington, DC: The World Bank. Van Lieshout, S. (2004). SIYB Impact Evaluation, mid-term results, July 1999. (Project Document) New York: ILO/SIYB. Brubaker, H. ( 2008) “Success Through Change.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. Business Section.. Buzzell, R. & Gale, B. (2005) The PIMS Principles: Linking Strategy to Performance, Free Press, New York. Camp, R. (2011) Benchmarking: The search for industry best practices that lead to superior performance, American Society for Quality Control, Quality Press, Milwaukee, Wis. Fisher, K.L. (2012). The Only Three Questions That Still Count: Investing By Knowing What Others Don’t. John Wiley & Sons Schlesinger, L. & Heskett, J. (2006) "Customer Satisfaction is rooted in Employee Satisfaction," Harvard Business Review. Taylor, C. & Polly, L. (2006) Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win. New York: William Morrow. Van Dijk, M., & Rabellotti, R. (2007). Enterprise clusters and networks in developing countries. (EADI Book Series No. 20). London: Cass. Appendix Financial Graphs and Charts of Core Assets The latest annual accounts forwarded to the companies house of the united kingdom for the year ended 31st December 2012 reported cash at bank amount to stand at about 7.9M GBP. the net worth of the company stood at 10m GBP, the Total Current Assets amounted to 1B GBP and the Total Current Liabilities was 798M GBP The figures on the vertical axis represent amounts in Million British Sterling Pounds (‘000000) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Cash £1,167,000 £5,488,000 £7,000,000 £6,336,000 £7,906,000 Net Worth £-22,318,000 £-19,329,000 £-3,406,000 £3,661,000 £10,201,000 Total Current Liabilities £552,690,000 £420,443,000 £519,842,000 £478,976,000 £798,000,056 Total Current Assets £511,648,000 £620,226,000 £721,780,000 £919,273,000 £1,043,877,000 Read More