Global Security in the United States - Essay Example

Global Security in the United s Introduction a. The Industry The industry segment chosen for this work is the software industry. Software industry is a service sector aimed at providing service to all other industries. Some of the major attributes that affect the business in software industry are: this is a support industry to other industries and if they are in a recession then the software industry is also affected. Secondly, the software industry grows swiftly so much so what is today the cutting edge is no more used one year down the line. Thirdly, this is dependent on the employees in the company that would decide on the way the results are produced. Creativity of the people, agility of the industry segment that the products of the company addresses and the speed at which the company could acclimatize itself to the new technologies coming in every day. It is also important to note that any company in the software business face is the customer satisfaction. Unlike other products, where the product is clearly one that the people can see, test and accept, in case of software, even after the initial acceptance of the software, it might be found to be under performing in those areas that are critical to the buyer. Similarly, while products fail under use due to external reasons, viz., mishandling, surges in electricity, etc., in case of software, it is always viewed as the one that comes with the failures or most of the problems are manufactured with the product. This leads to customer dissatisfaction even after one to two years of use. The software industry has been growing phenomenally in the last decade and has a number of competitors whom the upcoming company should take care of. The competition comes from all sizes of companies, from small to mega corporations. Therefore, it is essential that the company entering the market works out a niche for itself before jumping on to the growing bandwagon. The market and the economy connected with the software industry have been booming in the last two decades, driven mostly by the revolution called internet. Software is totally market driven and, in contrast to most of the other industries, in case of software industry the company spends comparatively little on research vis--vis the development. There are lots of new ideas that come in every day in the software industry. None of the companies like Microsoft, Borland, Sun or Novell, invented what they successfully made. They adopted the new technological idea in a way that people would accept and sold successfully. It is not who does it first or who does it differently; it is a question of who does it right that makes a software company successful. b. The Company The company that is formed will address specific software needs of verticals that are identified as strengths of the company. Such identified and short listed verticals will be clearly understood and the employees / consultants in the company will have adequate understanding and strengths in the vertical so chosen. This would help the company to identify software products for these verticals, addressing requirements that might not be easy for competitors to emulate. This niche will also ensure that the value the company gets for its products will be substantially higher than what they might get if they should do a run of the mill product. Hence, this would ensure both addressing a niche segment with little or no major competition and would also ensure that the compensation for their product will be better than what the company might get otherwise. The concentration of the company in the product development exercise will be to do it right rather than do something new alone. It has to be new and it has to be right. Right in the sense, it will be the way the customer or the user might expect or want it to be. This would necessitate a close interaction with the customer and possibly work in tandem with the customers in those specific verticals and produce a product that is in line with their needs. c. SWOT Analysis i. Industry Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Investment during commencement of the company is very low. Running capital is high since most of the employees are highly paid. Cost of operation is a major concern during the start off days. Software is on the boom specifically the internet related business. Lots of new ideas that could be capitalized on is available. Doing any idea right is the major issue. What is right would depend on the market response. Creativity is the major selling point. The creativity of the employees is reflected in the product directly. Getting and retaining the right kind of employee is a problem with a high level of employee poaching happening between industries Software could make people earn millions of dollars with the least amount of investment and the right kind of work. Constant upgrade of technology is a major cause of concern since continuous skill enhancement is needed. Highly professional and strong research support is existing in the industry. Customers 'think' that the software can do miracles. Still the knowledge of what is possible and what is not possible in software is limited. The requirement for software is very wide and every industry needs it at different levels. It is very vast. Software knowledge alone is not sufficient; knowledge of industry segments is also needed to do it right. More and more people are tending towards using computer and computer based services for their day to day needs. Too common in usage. Therefore, even undergraduate students develop software. It is too easy for anyone to compete. The requirement is global and the business opportunity can be tapped anywhere. Government policies in any country could change in support or not in support of software business. Uses cutting edge technologies and therefore, the latest and best is what is on. This delivers value for customer and for the company. Requirement of people is wide and vast which makes it difficult to get one or two people who can match all the customer needs. Every product out of the software table is an opportunity that can be tapped if worked out appropriately. Value is in the product and can get outdated overnight. ii. Company Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats The company has strong and capable software professionals who are the major assets for the company. Retaining and building a team that would produce the result needed. Software for specific vertical segment throws up immense possibilities. Will be dependent on the performance of the industry for which the software is being developed and marketed. Software industry is growing and can easily accommodate a new player in the market. Highly competitive and this could reduce the working margins. This would mean more work has to be done to get at the same profits. Software industry offers the best compensation for the person with the right kind of skills. Therefore, making use of this in the contracts is important. The market for any specific skill gets changed over night and this could hamper continuous working and cause loss of work / pay. An internet product can be sold across the globe with little and consistent effort. Internet products could be used by people without really buying a license. The chances that there are misuses are high. Global selling of products enables a large market to be tapped. Payment optimization and other promotion details enable the industry to make use of the situation. Policies across the world get altered. The currency price variations also create vagrancies in contribution to the company's profitability. 2. Strategy The company would work out the following strategy : 1. A software product that would cater to the industries and web enabled would be sold on an ASP model. The company would be charging on a per use basis or on a period basis. This would be the product model that the company would adopt. 2. This would enable regular and renewal charges for the company and this would also ensure that the people keep paying the license fees in order to enable proper and continuing operations. 3. The company would have a strong marketing team and a strong development team that would have ten developers working on the product and keep upgrading it to match the expectations of the users. The marketing team would put across the product in the market. They would promote the product to meet the customer expectations and also give a feedback to the production team on the customer expectations so that the product gets updated continuously in terms of both technology and features. 4. The company's finance model would largely map the cash flow model that is expected out of the product and the people model that has been explained earlier. This would expect a lean investment followed by a launch of the product and sustaining the market growth. Following this, a fund flow from the market is expected to turn the tide and bring about a sustained profit. 3. Organization Chart a. Design of the Organization Chart b. Advantages and Competencies The structure has been worked out with the following thoughts in the mind: 1. In case of team structuring, for the marketing team the requirements of different vertical industry segments would bring in different set of requirements. Therefore, the teams are divided under those categories and people who are skilled in that particular vertical segment are placed in them so that they could understand the requirements of the clients much more and try to satisfy them. Similarly, the development team is built for every module since the technical skills required for different modules could differ and the teams can be constituted on that basis. 2. The major advantage of such structuring would be to ensure that the competencies of the individuals are made full use of their capabilities in the specific sphere of operation and their individual technology skills. c. Globalization Issues Similarly, in case of the globalization of the company, the same structuring could be adopted and can provide for the special requirements of important vertical segments. This can further get divided into the respective geographical region in their sub teams. This would help in understanding the requirements of the specific vertical within the specific geographic area. In case of marketing this would stand a good stead in completing the needs of the customer. In addition, a localized marketing person could capture the specific local needs and have it passed down to the development team for further enhancement of the product. In the same way, the module level breaking of the team under the development wing can further be broken down into specific vertical segments that could address the needs of the specific verticals. A better understanding of the verticals needs can be met because of the specifically created teams and sub teams. It is to be noted that with the global perception in mind, large MNCs would be the most important clients for the company under design. One, this would help in roping in large accounts where even if the company has two or three accounts it would add lots of credibility to the software. Two, the software would also become better validated and better executed once the software is used by a large self contained MNC. These MNCs will also insist on performing software that would have world class software working for them. In addition, they would also insist on basic working professionalism and a continuing financial support to the company. 4. Internal Conflicts Internal conflicts in any organization happen because of the following reasons: a. Personality clashes b. Communication issues c. Differing moral, social or religious values d. Differing views on goals, perceptions and interests e. Pressures of responsibilities f. Competition for limited resources g. Organization or leadership problems In the above structure many of these issues are sorted out by making teams that are clearly focused, limited to a specific product, region and vertical. This would help the teams in understanding each other better both under the marketing and under the development. In the same way, improved intra-team communication, reduced intra-team difference in moral or social or religious values, and reduced leadership issues are all taken care of in the structure. However, in intra-team clashes, personality clashes could occur and so can conflicts due to pressure of responsibilities, competition for limited resources and possible difference in goals or perceptions and interests. The organization structure tries to reduce the differences in views by providing a hierarchical organization. Inter department or inter team issues and conflicts would continue to exist on very many of these possible factors. This structure would reduce the possibility of leadership related issues while the rest of the issues that are listed out would exist and could cause issues that have to be handled. The inter team communication, differing views, perceptions and targets could also exist due to change in product vertical, geographical area or module and skill difference. All these could cause problems, during the normal operation of the company. 5. Internal Networks a. Start and Maintain The internal network in an organization normally follows the informal community structure in an organization (Guimera R et al, 2004). Though this is pretty close to the organization structure that is formally depicted, it is found that the kind of relationship people tend to have with each other would follow in addition to the formal structure an informal structure that would make communications pretty complex. In order to get the best out of the internal networks, the company would aim at creating technology networks and communities that would satisfy the needs of the industrial experts in terms of technology needs that he might have. Similarly expert communities will also bring out solutions to complex problems that might arise during the course of the work undertaken. In addition to this, the expert communities can also through out new ideas which could be the back drop for new areas the company could venture in. Once these communities are formed, they should be activated by providing appropriate thrust to their growth over a period of time. This can be done by increasing the nature of work that could be done in these communities; from encouraging to conduct competitions for the younger lot to take interest to having invited guest lectures and thought sharing sessions. All these would improve the work that is done and also add interest in the subject. It is very important that the company takes adequate interest in not only forming but also in maintaining the same as indicated. Formal networks like email groups could be maintained specifically to address one to one issues that could be recorded and also be sorted out with the least interference from the higher order managers. b. Resolving of conflicts These communities would help in resolving specific issues relating to technology and related issues. Issues can be brought over to the communities and can get sorted out in a growing sense of togetherness. The company can also try out communities for HR and establish leadership and management related communities that would help the company resolve even HR related issues which could crop up on communication related issues and others similar to them. Conflict resolution using communities have always brought in specific solutions that are both accepted by the employees and implemented by them with eagerness. It is important the formal and the informal groups that are formed in the company effectively communicate to ensure that their points of views are appreciated. The inter communication would depend on clearly documented responses for issues and queries that would contribute extremely to the success of the company; since if the documentation that travels across the communities and the groups are not proper then this itself could lead to conflict situations. 6. External Formal and Informal networks Similar to the networks that get created within the company, networks external to the company comprising of the vendors who make up the partners in the supply chain, the retail chain made up of the distributors and the specific customers. Networks of specific groups can be formed to enhance informal discussions among the members. Some of the typical groups could be product centric or vertical centric or geography centric. Most of the vendor centric groups are formed on a product vertical centric in the company. In case of customers, geographic and vertical industry specific networks can be formed. This would encourage an open discussion on the advantages and disadvantages in the product. In addition to this, the comments will be more forthcoming as a corrective measure rather than as a complaining measure. These communities would increase the interaction between the members of the distribution network and the customers in the specific area. It is also possible that having networks that could transcend the teams in marketing and production could also bring out interesting information from the customer / distributor end to the production / development staff. This would form the formal network that would turn out to be the best asset for the company and such similar networks can also be formed for informal communication between the people detailed earlier. Informal networks are formed when idea groups are formed and patronized. Most of the new ideas come from the customer as a requirement and the development group would implement them. In order to improve upon the performance it is always good to recognize the contribution done by the customer and to bring about new ideas to the fore. This can be done only through informal networks that would improve by having substantial time and energy devoted to informal networks. 7. Summary The company designed would have a clear structure to produce a product of international standard and present it in the market that would take it. In order to move to the top position, the company has worked out the network strategy for collecting input from the customers, from the employees and from the other partners to the company and this is implemented into the product so that the customer needs are met. Both the formal and informal networks internal to the company are used to resolve any conflicts that come about in inter departmental and intra departmental feuds. It is important that the conflicts are resolved in amicable and acceptable manner so that this does not lead to any further conflict and the company gets a smooth and comfortably working team. The community based networking is one of the best networking phenomenon that is happening today and can be used to the maximum to gain out of it. 8. References a. Guimera R, et al, 21 Sep 2004, The real communication network behind the formal chart: community structure in organizations, J. Economic Behavior and Organization. 9. Bibliography b. Jay R Galbreith, 2000, Designing the Global Corporation, Jossey-Boss Business Management. c. Parhalad , C.K. and Hamel, G., May-June 1990, The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard Business Review. Read More