A Need to Assess Businesses Performance - Essay Example

? Management Introduction Michal Jones is a company that deals with buying and leasing of properties. Itis a well established company and has been operating for sometime now with more of it sales being registered in the buying, selling and letting. Never the less, Michal Jones Company would never have existed if not for the strategic planning that it has observed (Michael Jones & Company 2010). Strategic planning is the systematic process of having a vision of the future and transforming this vision into a broad definition of goals and objectives and a series of steps on how to achieve them (Adekola 2007). It is simply identifying the objectives of a company and finding the best ways of how to achieve them. Strategic planning starts from the desired end and its steps go backwards to get to the current status. On the other hand, long term planning begins with the current status and moves forward to meet the desired future needs. According to Adekola et al 2007, strategic planning looks at the big picture, and is flexible in determining its means as compared to other types of planning. At Michal Jones & Company strategic planning has been practiced in various ways. These ways include: pure planning and financial planning. Planning determines where an organization will be in the future, how it will get there, and how the organization will establish itself if it got there or not. Planning serves different functions in Michal Jones & Company. It has provided a clear focus for the organization, therefore, producing effectiveness and efficiency (Burtonshaw-Gunn et al 2009). Planning has also been the reason why the productivity of the organization has increased significantly due to increased effectiveness and efficiency. Planning has also been used in the solving of major problems in the organization. This is because a predetermined problem is solved before its occurrence due to effective and strategic planning. Moreover, at Michal Jones, planning has enabled the creation of a base for the company’s hence all deviations have been corrected to avoid major blows occurring in the organization. For effective planning to be established, the management at Michal Jones & Company has identified the purpose, which happens to be the key objective of the company. Lusthaus et al 1999 argues that, through the use of the organization’s mission statement elaboration has been made to the public and the potential buyers as a whole on what Michal Jones & Company seeks to achieve. The situation has been analyzed and is now an already existing program. Its defects are amended and the viable changes made. Alternatives present at Michal Jones & Company have been identified leading to a variety of ideas, activities, and solutions (Michael Jones & Company 2010). Creativity reigns in an effort to enhance brainstorming and members’ involvement in the formulation of the plan. The resources have been reviewed, and they have been listed down with regard to available time, money, human and physical resources (Paladino 2010). This ensures that the plan formulated conforms to the ability of Michal Jones & Company and not based on mere assumptions. Some of the impediments that have been witnessed at Michal Jones & Company with regard to effective planning are that planning leads to rigidity. This is because the set conditions may change, and this may contrast prevailing conditions at that particular time. When such a point comes by, flexibility is encouraged in an effort to negate the rigidity. Moreover, strategic planning is not easily facilitated in dynamic environments. Strategic planning also entails finances. No company or organization can be able to plan about the future without the knowledge of where to get the finances from (Reading 2004). In essence, finances go hand in hand with the planning strategy. At Michal Jones & Company, finances were solicited from the Banks as loan payable back in interest rates within a period of one year. Financial statements are very important in every organization. This is because they show the net worth of an organization at a specific time. An organization is able to gauge its financial performance, and make the necessary adjustments if it requires. According to Shaw 2003, various financial statements are used by business organizations they include, business ledgers, balance sheets, trial balance, income statements, budget statements and the cash flow statements (Michael Jones & Company 2010). At Michal Jones & Company, the financial statements have been used to make a comparison between the company performance, and that of other property based companies that are competing in the market. This makes a clear indication of which company is more profitable than the other. With this information, the organization can diverse ways of how to neutralize the competition portrayed by other companies as reflected in the financial statements. The financial systems show the point where Michal Jones & Company has a competitive advantage over other companies and can, therefore, invest more resources in such areas so that the company can maximize its profits. Financial statements are also used to attract shareholders in the company because they are aware of cash flows in the organization. The increased number of shareholders at Michal Jones & Company leads to an increased capital base. This means that the company can invest in more projects leading to increased revenues by an organization (Michael Jones & Company 2010). Over the years, Michal Jones Company has been able to practice improvement through innovative processes and technology advancement to better meet the company’s business objective such s improved product quality, increased productivity, efficiency, effectiveness consistency in meeting budget, and schedule that revolve around the company (Paladino 2010). Michal Jones has been able to recognize and hands-on solicit incremental and inventive improvements from within and without the organization like competitive intelligence and successful improvement that have been implemented by other property selling companies. This has been possible with the realization that the workforce is important in any company. Needless to mention, Michal Jones has been able to evaluate possible improvements and has maintained a focus on long term planning, which is full of innovations. However, Michael Jones has not been in a position to provide many house varieties as would be expected by the clients and most of the properties have been situated in Lancing, Goring, Findon, Broadwater and Worthing states only leaving those from other states with limited choices to choose from. Moreover, it deals with more new homes as compared to other services, which at time inconveniences the client when it comes to variety. Conclusion All the businesses need to assess their performances in order to understand them in a better way. It is important for them to have a strategic plan on how they carry out their work and the finances in, which they are working with. Ensure that the re is good leadership from those that manage the company and that there is a strategic way of hiring qualified employees. Moreover, companies should ensure that efficiency, effectiveness and the economic issues are put forth to act as the mirror for there performance analysis. Bibliography: Adekola, A et al., 2007. Global business management: a cross-cultural perspective. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Aziza, B et al., 2008.Drive business performance: enabling a culture of intelligent execution. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons. Burtonshaw-Gunn, S et al., 2009. Essential tools for organizational performance: tools, models and approaches for managers and consultants. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley. Lusthaus, C. et al., 1999. Enhancing organizational performance: a toolbox for self-assessment. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. Michael Jones & Company 2010.Retrived from http://www.michaeljones.co.uk/commercial- property.html on 29th October 2012. Paladino, B., 2010. Innovative corporate performance management: five key principles to accelerate results. New York: Wiley. Reading, C. 2004. Strategic business planning: a dynamic system for improving performance & competitive advantage. London: Kogan Page. Shaw, M., 2003. E-business management: integration of Web technologies with business models. Boston: Kluwer Academic. Read More