Mountain West Health Plan Case Analysis Essay

PROBLEM STATEMENT a. FACTS OF THE CASE: Mountain West Health Plans, Inc. – Denver-based health insurance company Martin Quinn – Senior Vice-President for Service and Operations Evelyn Gustafson – Former and retired Director of Mountain West Customer Service Department. Her motto â€Å"always put yourself in the subscriber’s shoes†. In her time, there were only 10% turnover rates in the department compared to the typical 25% to 45% rate for customer service representative. She firmly resisted all attempts to increase efficiency and lower cost in the department where salaries accounted for close to 70% of the budget. Erik Rasmussen – newly hired Director of Customer Service, the replacement of Ms. Evelyn. He is a young man in his late twenties with a shiny new bachelor’s degree in business administration. The management tasked him to bring down the cost on the department. Under Mr. Erick, the company, for the first time measured the representatives’ performance and used software that generated automated work schedules based on historical information and projected need. Also, the company cut back on training. The department cost was finally heading downward, though department morale was downward, with the current turnover rate climbing at 30%. Also receiving more complaints from subscribers of inaccurate information from inexperienced or representative who sounded rushed. b. KEY PROBLEMS How Mr. Quinn will address the issue of low morale among the employees in the customer service department and its high turnover rate, while keeping and meeting the goal of the company to increase efficiency and lower the cost incurred in the department? KEY OBJECTIVES To meet the company goal to increase the efficiency of the customer service department and lower its cost. To uphold the morale of the employees and to reduce turnover rate from 30% to 10%. ANALYSIS OF CAUSES A. Analyzing the leadership and management style of Ms. Evelyn and Mr. Erik, including their strengths and weakness, and their source of influence: MS. EVELYN GUSTAFSON MR. ERIK RASMUSSEN Behavioral Approach People Oriented – attention to people Task Oriented – attention to task Leadership Grid Country Club Management – Thoughtful attention to the needs of people for satisfying relationships leads to a comfortable, friendly organization atmosphere and work tempo Authority-Compliance Management – Efficiency in operations results from arranging conditions of work in such a way that human elements interfere to a minimum degree. Strength Consideration and motivation of the needs of her subordinates, a happy work environment as a result of her good interpersonal relationship. Valued the interest and personal development of her subordinates. Focus on productivity and efficiency in the accomplishment of organizational goals. Weakness Uncontrolled cost in her department result of excessive flexibility and too much focus on employees’ personal concern. Inability to analyze the internal culture, less concern of his subordinates’ personal development, interest and needs. Source of influence Legitimate power – authority granted from a formal management position in the organization. Reward power – stems from the authority to bestow reward on other people. Referent power – comes from an individual’s personal characteristics that command others’ identification, respect and admiration. Legitimate power and Coercive power – refers to authority to punish or recommend, and the opposite of reward power. Leadership of Ms. Evelyn – She is focus on people, highly concerned on the needs and interest of her people. She believes that when people are happy, contented and comfortable they will work hard to accomplish the organization goals. She sees that it is easy to gain the support of people, when its leaders fosters respect and  fair treatment, considers their needs and interest, and shows trust in them. Source of influence – From the authority of being a manager, she has access on giving rewards e.g., flexible scheduling, fr equent breaks, offering plenty of trainings opportunities. She used this to gain influence on her people. Leadership of Mr. Erik – He is more concerned on the accomplishment of goals rather than people. He believes that employee’s needs plays secondary to the need of effective and efficient work places. His type of leadership views that â€Å"employees are only tools in accomplishing task†. Source of influence – from the legitimate power given to him by management, he ensure to get things done, and with the achievement he got support from the top management. B. It is also important to note the Style of Followership of the subordinates of these bosses, to further analyze the existing concern of the department. The employees in the customer service department could be describe as: a. Dependent uncritical thinker – does not consider possibilities beyond what he or she is told, does not contribute to the cultivation of the organization, and accepts the supervisor’s ideas without thinking. DEVELOPMENT AND SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVES (ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES) ALTERNATIVES ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES To recommend Mr. Erik to a particular leadership training that would develop his leadership skills. He will be more effective leader as he develops an interactive leadership style. Measurement is reduction of turnover rate in his department. It would somehow take time, as leadership style cannot be acquired overnight. To give Mr. Erik another task to accomplish: to promote strategies that would increase efficiency and effectiveness of his people and at the same time minimize turnover rate. Being a task oriented leader, Mr. Erik will ensure  that he will accomplish this task, which will make him realize that he would attain it by being concern on the interest and needs of his people. If Mr. Erik will take it another way around, he might insist on his authority to accomplish the new task. Job Enrichment – giving employees control on the resources in performing their tasks, give them elbow room on how they will accomplish their task, give them opportunity to grow, and give them a set period to accomplish it. Employees would have greater sense of responsibility with their involvement and commitment on the task. Increase motivation Contributes high morale Low turnover High performance Management may lose control on employees RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION: Recommending combination of alternative 1 and alternative number 3 – Job Enrichment, this alternative would be more effective, than the existing statistical standards that emphasized speed, recording the customer service calls, using of software to generate automated work schedules. This will promote high morale, as you will be considering people big part and contributor in the accomplishment of task and not as a â€Å"tool† only. While at the same time, Mr. Erik undergoing a leadership training to enhance his people skills, being young, he is more focus on promoting himself as achiever. It is but typical to young professional, but as he goes along, he will start to develop his leadership style with balanced skills on both people and task. WORKPLACE APPLICATION In my company, I observed different styles of leadership. The most prominent in my heart, is the leadership style of my immediate boss. She is woman, her immediate subordinates are both male, I agree on the women rated higher almost in all aspect in leadership ability as shown in Gender differences in  leadership behaviors. I also described her as follows with the following situations that she exhibits as a leader: Servant Leader – she fosters selflessness to serve both people and organization. Her personal vision â€Å"to have one million employees†, she even gave away to her people some precious personal things e.g., cellphone, bags, shoes, clothes. Authentic Leader – she demonstrate high level of passion and commitment, leads with her heart, have compassion for others, have the courage to make difficult decision, she loves to be surrounded by good people and contribute to their growth. She is never after on any merit or credit, she preferred it be given to her people. She always treats trainings and development of her people as investment. She sends me here as full scholar.

Biology 3.3 Dna Structure

3. 3 & 7. 1 DNA Structure Worksheet 1. Draw and label the structure of a simplified single nucleotide, including sugar, phosphate and base. 2. Complete the table below to show the pairings of the bases in DNA: Purine| Pyrimidine| Adenine| Thymine| Guanine| Cytosine| 3. Where would one find the base uracil? RNA, it replaces thymine 4. In the space below, draw a single strand of three nucleotides, naming the bonds between them and showing the correct relative position of these bonds. The sequence of these bases makes up the genetic code. The red linesrepresent covalent bonds.They are read in groups of three called triplets. These triplets arethen used to send instructions in the cell: to switch genes on and off. 5. Define the term double helix. The term double helix is two strands of DNA that twist around each other. Anti-Parallel 6. In the space below, draw a section of DNA, showing two anti-parallel strands of three nucleotides. Label the bonds which hold the bases together as well a s the correct complementary base pairs. Also include the 3’ and 5’ linkages (and ends), and the distinction between purines and pyramidines. . Explain the relevance of the following in the double-helix structure of DNA: a. Complementary base pairing Complementary base pairing is when G only bonds with C and T only bonds with A and these are found on each strand of the double helix b. Hydrogen bonds Hydrogen bonds between the bases hold together the strands of DNA c. Relative positioning of the sugar-phosphate backbone and the bases The relative positioning of the sugar-phosphate backbone are on the outside and the bases are on the inside of the double helix 8.In the space below, draw the structure of a simplified nucleosome, including the H1 linker and histone proteins. 9. Nucleosomes allow the DNA to be supercoiled. a. What is the approximate length of the DNA strand in one chromosome? The length is (length of 1 bp) (number of bp per cell) which is 2 meters. b. During which phase of the cell cycle is DNA most likely to be supercoiled? Prophase c. Outline how nucleosomes help regulate transcription. 10. Distinguish between unique or single-copy genes and highly repetitive sequences: Single-copy genes| Highly-repetitive sequences| . 5% of genome makes polypeptides. Each codon (mRNA) (3 bases) codes for one amino acid. 3% codes for ‘on/off' gene switches. Within each eukaryotic genes there are:Exons (coding regions)Introns (non-coding regions which are edited out)  Ã‚  Every gene has a ‘switch', for example a skin cell will turn off unnecessary genes so it does not perform the wrong activity (e. g. producing blood)  | Makes up about 5% – 45% of the genome. Once called junk DNAAlso known as satellite DNA, each repeated sequence can be 5-300 base pairsHRSs are used in genetic fingerprinting.This is because they accumulate mutations rapidly| Not all of the base sequences in DNA are translated. Highly repetitive base sequences ar e not translated. They consist of sequences of between 5 and 300 bases that may be repeated up to 10 000 times. They constitute 5-45% of eukaryotic DNA. Single-copy genes or unique genes are translated and constitute a surprisingly small proportion of eukaryotic DNA. 11. Distinguish between introns and exons in eukaryotic genes. Exons (coding regions) Introns (non-coding regions which are edited out)

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY,unit 4, question #1, Essay

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY,unit 4, question #1, - Essay Example tions to philosophy Thomas White states â€Å"Aristotle is very much a commonsense philosopher, and commonsense tells us that people should be held responsible for what they do†(White, 2008). Therefore, because Aristotle believed and philosophized that people are responsible for their own lives and actions, which is the definition of commonsense in the realm of philosophy, Aristotle would definitely fit into such a category of philosopher. The idea of Aristotle being a commonsense philosopher is further shown through his discussions and thoughts on voluntary and involuntary actions. White defines voluntary actions as those that are â€Å"under our control,† and involuntary actions as those that â€Å"result from constraint or ignorance†(White, 2008). In Aristotle’s view, humans should be held responsible and accountable for the actions that they themselves have chosen and should not be held responsible for actions that were forced upon them or done through ignorance(White, 2008). However, Aristotle does seem to make the distinction between responsibility and accountability in regard to involuntary actions. It appears that this is where morality plays a large part as a person should be held more accountable for involuntary actions if those actions had a negative impact on the overall well-being of humanity. These voluntary and involuntary actions may be positive or negative, and both types of actions are related to the concept of well-being (White, 2008). By maintaining this viewpoint that humans must be held responsible or accountable for their actions, both good and bad, Aristotle is showcasing his commonsense approach to philosophy. Commonsense generally means knowledge that everyone has or should have. Aristotle’s contribution to philosophy uses a lot of the moral and ethical reasoning that already exists in a civilized society, but was not fully understood at that particular point in history. Aristotle brought this kind of thinking and reasoning to the

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present Term Paper - 4

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present - Term Paper Example Theories have been advanced to give an in-depth explanation of the scope of animal ethics as they try to explain the boundaries within which animal ethics should exist and what human beings are expected to do in order to ensure their moral obligation as far as animal ethics is concerned. There are three groups of theories that have been advanced so far that try to explain issues concerning animal ethics and morality. They include; indirect theories, direct moral theories and moral equality theories (Beauchamp). Therefore, this paper examines issues concerning animal ethics and morality by examining the above theories. Indirect theories are against animal ethics as they argue that animals are not entitled to any form of moral status or equal considerations to man since they lack consciousness (Beauchamp). This means they are not able to make sound decisions, moreover they cannot think independently hence they should be treated less of human beings are they do not form part of the moral community hence they have no rights to be protected (Palmer). Despite that, the theories do not encourage animals to be harmed as they possess a sense of sentiment thus their feelings should be respected. Direct theories are those that accord animals moral considerations but the moral status that is accorded to animals is limited in nature since animals are unable to recognize the rights of other agents and respect them thus they cannot be included in the moral community (Palmer). The theories argue that actions by human beings should not harm animals directly but whenever conflict of interest between animals and hu man beings sets in the interests of human beings always supersedes as human beings are always supreme over all other animals. The moral equality theories, on the other hand, argue that animals and human beings ought to be treated equally. The theories ignore the special characteristics that are often associated with human

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Philosophy - Essay Example They are motivated and have directions with clear mission in life. Religious people are the only ones to feel comfort through their supernatural powers where their involved in religious practices to seek divine interventions, from their practices such as prayers. Through these activities they believe that their goals will be achievable as they work under these motivation aspects to achieve their goals. Non religious are viewed as people who will only feel comfortable when the things they care about overcome challenges on them and prevail their success, that the only thing that can bring meaning to their life. The Relationship between the religious people and non religious is that all groups have to work under certain motivation factors to gain comfort, by committing themselves to things they care about such as, promising careers, their families and material things to support their satisfaction in life. Even though, they have different capabilities and approaches to achieve them. Reli gious people may seek supernatural assistance to overcome their challenges while the non religious have to come up with new things to counter the challenges they face every day in their life... Finally to be on the light sides to know the meaning of life is being able to learn the meaning of comfort which will help people achieve a meaningful life, without literary interpreting it as only information we learn or reflect only on purpose of life merely as to accomplish certain tasks we believe we were created for on this universe. The premises Tom Nagel also a philosopher argues that life is not about accomplishing purposes or meeting certain objectives that we interpret to have been created for, while we feel uncomfortable and loss of sense to them. as per religious believe that God created us to abide by the religious rules and acknowledge his presence, but to do things in a way that opens up to us the meaning of life why we should live? What do we think about for our comfort? This what those religious practices teaches Christian’s to trust so that they can overcome difficulties in their life and find comfort for a meaningful life. Therefore, life has not actually been fully understood by people as their view things according to their understanding and external influences may be their customs, beliefs and norms will evaluate their meaning of life. In fact, there is endless interpretation of life from all sorts of things and evidences, so circumstances and practices we do in our life shapes our comfort levels and the purposes we should achieve in our life for us to live or have a mean full living on universe. Life has so many encounters and challenges every day and people in every generation that preceded the other. They try to interpret things that are beyond their power differently and have different views, solutions and understanding on them. The main purpose of the questions people have every day in their life is to get the information and the real b ackground why things happen like that, and what can we do to understand them. For example, people may want to know. What does it mean when the sky above is blue but there is a dark line all the way around the horizon? This question may find a lot of answers from different angles. Where people may see it according to the purpose they think is there to serve so information cannot only define the purpose of life, this

How the Federal Reserve System Functions Term Paper

How the Federal Reserve System Functions - Term Paper Example the Fed†) is so deeply interconnected with the entire political system, the inevitably byproducts of central banks are business cycles caused by politically-oriented monetary policies. Politicians use the Fed as a means of imposing fiscal policies that, although look good to constituents, ultimately worsen and damage the economy further (Bresiger, 2001). The following is an account of how the Fed is supposed to work, and the effects that the central banking system is supposed to have. An account of how it actually works is an entirely different matter. The Federal Reserve is, in fact, a tool under public control, overseen and manipulated by government to accomplish the goal of a healthy, vibrant economy. As said before, the question of function is deeply rooted in the question of structure, which is in turn related causally to the history of the Fed. The Fed began with â€Å"panics† in the early 20th century, wherein people raced to banks to withdraw deposits. A fragile banking system at that time was overwhelmed, forcing Congress to draft the Federal Reserve Act, which, has been modified through time to encompass broader and wider responsibilities. The Fed was forced to find the virtuous mean between the moral responsibility of the government and the private interests of banks, which gave rise to countless checks and balances imposed on the system by government influences (Meltzer, 2004). Congress, of course, ever since the first establishment of the Fed, has regulated the system. Based on that, the Fed is answerable to Congress and must work within the Congressional system. However, the Fed still retains a certain level of self-rule in order to carry out its responsibilitie s apart from the political process (Lapidos, 2008). The Fed is composed primarily of three parts: the Board of Governors, the regional Reserve banks, and the Federal Open Market Committee. The first, the Board of Governors, is the agency of the Federal government regulating banks,

Historical and Theoretical Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Historical and Theoretical Studies - Essay Example Inevitably, within this changing cultural climate, design took on new guises and performed new roles. During the early postwar period, which was one of economic, social and cultural reconstruction in the industrialized world, design played a crucial, although usually silent, role. It became an important factor within two areas of postwar life; the first as part of the need to create a national identity for products on the international market and the second in the formation of mass culture - both of them highly significant aspects of the world history of the post-1945 period (Bonsiepe, 1965). Within this economic rebirth the manufacture and trade of goods played a major role. The reasons for this resurgence were complex but the strongest stimulus, in addition to the numerous social and economic changes that occurred in these years, was the rapid development of technology. Many advances had been made during the Second World War, including the development of radar and work in aircraft production which, in Britain, was sustained into the 1950s. Perhaps the most significant development of the late 1940s, however, was that of the transistor which made possible the miniaturization of electronic equipment, including computers, which in turn were to play such a central role in the postwar period, both in the automation of production and in information retrieval (Stearn, 1968). As a result of the numerous social, economic and technological changes that... The lesson presented by the prewar USA example that 'design sells' was learnt and digested and became one of the major strategies in most countries' programmes of industrial reconstruction and within international trading in the postwar period (Rogers, 1946). Design in postwar Italy was quick to develop into a highly sophisticated marketing exercise. Because its products were aimed from the beginning at a small, wealthy, international market, Italy was able to focus on quality and aesthetic innovation as the two defining characteristics of its consumer goods. This inevitably placed a strong emphasis on the role of the designers, giving them the sole responsibility of finding the right visual formula for the product. For the most part, disillusioned with prewar Rationalism because of its associations with fascism, they took their cue from contemporary fine art incorporating into many of their designs sensuous curves directly inspired by the abstract, organic sculpture of artists like Henry Moore, Hans Arp, Alexander Calder and Max Bill (qq.v.). The Turinese furniture designer, Carlo Mollino (q.v.), took this expressive aesthetic to an extreme in what he called his 'streamline surreal' tables and chairs. As a result of this pioneering work Italy, in particular Milan, soon became a centre for debate and discussion about progressive attitudes towards design, and the postwar Triennales, three-yearly exhibitions of design which had been initiated in the 1920s (Huisman and Patrix, 1968). Mollino was the most idiosyncratic of the Italian postwar furniture designers. Based in Turin rather than Milan where most furniture designing went on, he developed a personal style

Juvenile Detention Facility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Juvenile Detention Facility - Essay Example The detainees are predominantly criminal offenders, but children requiring supervision and traffic violators occasionally serve time at James River. As it is with most detention centers, the focus at James River is on providing detainees with the programs and services to ease the transition back in to their communities and to foster a crime free future. In order to ensure the best possible results, there is close supervision from all three counties and they have implemented educational, religious and recreational programs as well as psychological screening. The cornerstone of the rehabilitation effort at the James River Detention Center is the educational program. The program is composed of individual and group learning classes, personally tailored to address the individual needs of the detainee. Individual Education Programs (IEP), are used to simulate the curriculum of the respective detainee's home school. This is important because an efficient transition back into the school system aids in the overall rehabilitation process. While it is difficult to properly gauge the effectiveness of this center's success, they certainly appear to have the right idea with regards to their educational programs. Conversely, it seems that James River Regional Juvenile Detention Center has some proverbial "red flags." For instance, three counties currently have administrative voices in the operations, which presents a potential problem. As previ

Analysis of Witan Pacific Investment Trust Plc- Fund Management Essay

Analysis of Witan Pacific Investment Trust Plc- Fund Management - Essay Example Witan Pacific is an investment trust that was established in 1907 as General Investors & Trustees Limited (GIT). The company then used to invest in a diverse range of assets. Following the 1929 market crash, the company shifted from equities to Treasury Bills, cash and British Government Securities. GIT merged with City and Gracechurch Investment Trust in 1975. GIT was renamed F&C Pacific Investment Trust in 1984. In 2005 it adopted a multi-manager approach where Witan Investment Services was entrusted with management of the operations and Aberdeen and Nomura became the investment managers of the company (Witan Investment Services Limited, 2012). Investment Objective The investment objective of the fund is to give its shareholders a portfolio of investments with a balance of assets in the region of Asia Pacific with the aim to outperform MSCI AC Asia Pacific (Witan Pacific, 2011, p.1). Investment Strategies In order to achieve the aim and objective, the fund has devised a set of strategies: In order to diversify risk and add value for investors, active multi-manager approach is used. The company faces the foreign currency exchange risk and equity market risks in emerging markets such as settlement risks with regional exchanges. Other risks include selection of investment managers and other generic risks related to specific country. The company does not use foreign currency hedging instruments but regularly report the sensitivity analysis of each foreign currency exposure. This might be due to the fact that using hedging instruments with underlying emerging markets currencies except yen may add to the existing inherent risks. Also the concentrated exposure to Japanese markets has been reduced from 2010 levels (figure 5). The investments are also more diversified on the basis of sectors (figure 6). The multi-manager strategy and regular reviews by the board have helped mitigate the equity market risks and settlement risks because of the different investment approach. Investment in fund with two different investment approaches diversifies risk by averaging the risk and return. Investment in two different funds will increase the costs for the investors. To manage the fund’s growth predominantly through return on capital. The NAV total returns over 1 year, 3 years and 5 years period are more than the benchmark return (figure 12). Over the five years, the NAV has been at premium to the share price of the trust over 5 years. The NAV total returns and total shareholder returns include dividends re-invested. Buy-back shares when the company’s shares are at a discount to the net asset value. The bought back

Future Competitive Threats of China and India for Industries Essay Example for Free

Future Competitive Threats of China and India for Industries Essay Discuss the future competitive threats of China and India for industries in developed countries. The emergence of China as the mass manufacturing pioneer in the world has lead to the concern that China will soon be competing with the industries in the developed nations. India, at the same time, is emerging as the centre of IT enabled services including software development, and poses significant threat to the developed countries in high-skill goods and services. Today, the main competitive threat that China and India pose to the developed nations is their cheap labour. They are able to produce basically anything at a much lower price compare to those in the western developed nations. Therefore, they signify threats to these countries. However, on the future prospects, China and India would acquire competitive threat that is different from what they were before. For instance, the education rate in China and India are both increasing, and they produce about half a million of scientists and engineers a year comparing to mere 60,000 in the US. Therefore, these skilled labours will take over the current low skilled labours in these two countries and further exploit the opportunities that they have, and compete better in the high skill sectors. In addition, many companies from the developed nations have shifted their RD centre to the China and India, therefore, China and India are able to learn and gain experience through these foreign RD centre and excel in innovations in the future. This makes the developed nations to lose their competitive advantage, and signifies competitive threat from China and India.

Strategic Position Sabmiller Company Commerce Essay

Strategic Position Sabmiller Company Commerce Essay SABMiller company has a positive strategy to promote the quantity and productivity of major markets, optimize and expand an established position in the market of developing countries, seeking value-added opportunities to strengthen its position as a global beer manufacturer in the international premium beer segment develop their own brand, and actively participate in the ongoing consolidation in the industry. SABMillers success depends on its strategic focus: a balanced and attractive global business, a strong brand portfolio and expand its operations worldwide activities in the relevant market, the style of performance appraisal, the development of a strong relevant market. 1.1.1 Corporate acquisition Acquisition a brand or a business is a way that can improve the companys competitiveness and increase its market share. For the SABMiller, if it buys a brand or business, it can acquire a new turnover. It can gain new locations as well as factories and shops. Not only that, but it will gain new products and technology enabling itself to enter a new market. By the way, corporate acquisition can also give SABMiller other benefits, such as, increased value generation, increase in cost efficiency and increase in  market share. So a good and right acquisition plan for the future of the SABMillers strategic position is very important. 3 1.1.2 Foreign operations For an international organization, like SABMiller, foreign market and operations are more important than locations. Foreign operations can reduce unit costs, spread economic risks and absorb excess capacity over a wider number of markets. Foreign operations can allow firms to set up production facilities of lower cost in locations close to raw materials and cheap labor. For example, china has a huge market share, SABMiller can enter Chinese beer market by some operations, and build factories in different cities, hire local labors to reduce costs. So SABMillers strategic position should more tend to foreign operations rather than local operations. 1.2 A new vision Nowadays SABMillers vision is to be the most admired company in the global beer industry, that including investment of choice, employer of choice, partner of choice. In the future, SABMiller can develop a new vision that to be the most innovation and technology company in the global beer industry. 1.2.1 Mission statement For the customers, SABMiller is staying responsive to consumers changing needs and desires are central to competitive success. Their products face competition from rival brands and from other types of leisure activity: if we fail to offer customer and consumers the best price, quality and service, the business will suffer and with it the wealth we create for all stakeholders. 4 For the products, SABMiller has a rigorous, group-wide approach to quality control and product safety. On most sites this is based around external standard system, such as ISO, NOSA. For the technology, water scarcity, low energy costs due to large-scale investment in fossil fuel alternatives. SABMiller has been researching how to make more beer using less water and reduce their energy and carbon footprint. For the concern of employees, SABMiller seeks to be a preferred employer. Employee development SABMiller seeks to create an environment in which all individuals and teams may develop their full potential for the benefit of themselves and the group. Employee diversity SABMiller companies understand and respect the wide range of human diversity in which they operate and encourage inclusiveness with regard to human resource practices, irrespective of (among others) nationality, race, gender and physical disabilities. 1.2.2 Strategic objective In the SABMiller, there are four major strategic objectives: creating a balanced and attractive global spread of businesses, developing strong, relevant brand portfolios that win in the local market, constantly raising the profitability of local businesses, Leveraging our skills and global scale. 1.3 Strategic options 5 There are three strategic options for SABMiller: à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚  Product development à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡Market development à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢Diversification Porters Generic Strategies Cost leadership à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   Differentiation à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ Cost focus à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ Differentiation focus à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ Ansoffs Matrix Market penetration Product development à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   Market development à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ Diversification à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ The Bostons BCG Matrix Stars à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   Question marks à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ Cash cows à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ Dogs Option à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚   (Product development): Product development strategy, it is to point to in the current market by the improvement of current products or develop new products to expand sales strategy. Product development strategy can avoid enterprise temporarily, optionally, blind development and into some no market value of the products, and ignore that really can improve competitiveness in the market of products opportunity. Product development strategy is the enterprise product development of military road map to guide product development direction and road signs. 6 Analysis using Generic Strategies : For the product development, the most important thing is not developing new products but improving current products. So the best way is choosing cost leadership, reducing the cost of product as much as possible. SABMiller should focus on manufacturing cost and staff cost. As a beer company, SABMiller can research new technology that use less water to produce more beer. Then, they can build their factories in developing countries, such as Indian, China and Malaysia, using cheap labor to reduce the cost. Analysis using Ansoffs Matrix: SABMiller can extend its product by producing different variants, or packaging existing products it in new ways. Develop related products or services, shorten its time to market, or improve customer service or quality. Analysis using BCG Matrix: The further development of star product is the most important. In the SABMiller, there are at least five beers brands that are popular in South Africa, Miller Genuine Draft, Pilsner Urquell, Peroni, Amstel and Castle Light Lager. These five beers occupy the 75 percent market share in South Africa. So constantly expanding the market and improving these star products are the main strategies to SABMiller. Option à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¡ (Market development): Market development strategy is the enterprise in the complex market environment, to achieve specific marketing objectives and design of the long-term, stable action plan, form the guidance 7 enterprise marketing global goal and management policy. Market development strategy is the unity of the goal and means. No goal, we have no way, no strategic measures, the goal is not possible. Analysis using Generic Strategies : In the market development, SABMiller should use focus strategy, cost focus and differentiation focus. For the cost focus, SABMiller can try its best to decrease the cost, then they can decrease the price of their products, it is a good way to keep customers loyalty and get more new customers. For the differentiation focus, suppliers have power due to low volumes, but a differentiation-focused firm is better able to pass on supplier price increase. Analysis using Ansoffs Matrix: SABMiller can target different geographical markets, use different marketing channels, such as direct sales or online, if you through the trade selling, target different groups of people, perhaps with different genders or age groups from your normal customers. Analysis using BCG Matrix: In the field of product produce large amounts of cash, but the future growth prospects are limited. This is a leader of mature market, it is the source of enterprise cash. As the market has matured, the enterprise need not a lot of investment to expand the size of the market, at the same time as the market leader, this business enjoy economies of scale and high marginal profit advantages, thus brings to the enterprise to large amounts of cash flow. Enterprise often uses cash cows business to pay for the account 8 and support other business that need a large amount of cash. Cash cows for the business strategic framework mentioned stable strategy, purpose is to keep the market share of the SBUs. Option à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ‚ ¢ (Diversification): Diversification involves growing the scope of products or markets served by an organization. Related diversification involves diversifying into products or services with relationships to the existing business. Analysis using Generic Strategies: A differentiation strategy for SABMiller products and competitors products that have significant differences to form the distinctive characteristics. SABMiller highlights the differences between its own products and competitors. Analysis using Ansoffs Matrix: Diversification can be a good choice, for SABMiller, but compared to other options, it is not very attractive. In fact, SABMiller is a publicly traded company that can manage their own portfolio harder for real portfolio management as a shareholder. It can work in favor of the SABMiller manufacturer, if you can add enterprise, the portfolio can support and complement its core beer business. Analysis using BCG Matrix: Diversification is to reduce the risk of investment, but it also has risk. So we should use question marks to analysis these diversified investment, a good investment can make products become to stars or cash cows but a bad investment can also mean that the investment is fail. If 9 SABMiller produce a new beer, it should analysis whether this beer can occupy the market share and have high growth. 1.4 Recommendation Above those three strategic options, I will recommend market development to SABMiller. SABMiller achieved great success in South Africa market, but to the world, the biggest market is China. Chinese customers consume forty-five million seven hundred and sixty thousand tons beer each year. If SABMiller can choose a correct market development strategy in China, it will get a greater development. 1.5 Conclusion The key point to SABMillers success is its management of strategic brand and its brand portfolio. But in the future, it has to face more challenge and competitive. SO SABMiller should continue improving its strategy, developing innovation and technology.