Marketing: Discussion Questions and Participation - Assignment Example

An organization evaluation can be beneficial in a variety of ways. When a company performs an internal evaluation of a company the results of theevaluation can provide managers with very valuable information. The evaluation can help a company identify weaknesses that must be attended in order to improve the operation of the company. For instance an evaluation may reveal that the employees lack proper training in different areas. Providing the needed training will enhance the skills and capabilities of the staff. An evaluation can also serve the purpose of identifying potential opportunities to improve the products or services the company offers. Despite the benefits associated with evaluation they can also have negative consequences especially for publicly traded companies. If an evaluation reveals that there are internal problems in an organization this could have an adverse effect in the price of the common stock. 2. The resource based view (RBV) is a method for analyzing and identifying a corporation’s strategic advantages by evaluating the combination of its assets, skills, capabilities, and intangibles (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). The application of resourced based view can help a company enhance the functionality of a SWOT analysis. For instance a company can use the RBV to determine the value of the branding value of a company. Knowing if the company has good brand value can help in the evaluation of the opportunity section of the SWOT analysis. Opportunities for international expansion are easier to achieve for companies that have develop branding in their domestic markets. The internal weakness section of the SWOT analysis can benefit from RBV because this method can help the manager determine how valuable the tangible assets of the firm are. If for instance the RBV determined that a lot of machinery been used for production are obsolete, the firm must invest in new machinery to eliminate that weakness. Pearce, J, Robinson, R. (2011). Strategic Management: Formation, Implementation, and Control (12th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Company. 3. The use of value chain analysis can improve a SWOT analysis because it breaks down the firm into distinct value activities that allow for a detail interrelated evaluation of a firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses (Pearse & Robinson, 2011). Identifying the limitation of SWOT is very useful because it can prevent managers from making a lot of common mistakes associated with the implementation of the technique. For example one of the weaknesses of SWOT is that it can overemphasize internal strengths and downplay external threats (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). An example of a downplaying of an external threat could be not taking seriously a new competitor that enters the industry. If the competitor brings better prices, service, and value they will steal customers away from your firm. Pearce, J, Robinson, R. (2011). Strategic Management: Formation, Implementation, and Control (12th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Company. 4. I agree with you that evaluations can be used to take corrective actions. A few years ago I worked at a company that could have benefited a lot from an evaluation. The business was set up in a way in which one contract serve as the primary source of all the revenues of the firm. This client helped the company build the infrastructure of the start-up company and it helped in the initial training of employees. After the representative of the client left the premises of the company the managerial staff began a destructive behavior that eventually led to the downfall of the firm. The company stopped paying workers on time, it stole hours from the payroll, and it not honored a bonus system that increased the pay of the workers up to $5.50 an hour. If the client would have audited the firm and performed internal evaluations of the firm the company would have had a greater chance of succeeding. 5. I agree with you that one of the detriments of evaluation is that it can discourage the workers of an organization if the results are poor. The bad effects of evaluation on the staff are more likely to occur when organization had no idea they were performing so poorly. This can occur in companies that for years undermine the importance of evaluations. When these companies finally decide to perform an evaluation they can have very poor results because the firm did not follow any strategic approach to achieve operational improvements. 6. In your answer you mentioned that one of the detriments of evaluation is that managers may become obsessed with the information and overanalyzed the data. A principle that could help management avoid wastage of time during evaluations is materiality. This principle states that information should not be considered if its cost more to create that the benefits associated with its implementation. A manager has a very important job and all his time during work hours is very valuable. There is no room in corporate management for wastage of time analyzing useless information. 7. I believe that SWOT analysis is one of the most useful tools managers have at their disposal. The use of SWOT analysis can help companies stay on top of their game. For example companies that use SWOT analysis on a recurrent basis are better able to identify market opportunities than companies that do not place any effort into formulating a sustainable strategy for the long term. Also these firms are better able to identify the weakness the firm have. By identifying weakness early company can take corrective actions to fix the problems. 8. I agree with you that resource based view is a great technique that can help managers gain greater insight about their operations. When managers fail to properly evaluate their firm a lot operating inefficiencies may occur. I once worked in a company that went out of business after one year operating despite the fact that revenues exceeded $10 million because the ownership failed to invest any money to improve the operation. The application of RBV could have helped this business owner realized how to add value to the firm such as investing money in training and development for the employees. Read More