PowerPoint

All assignment 1 to 4 have been uploaded. I f you have any question let me know.  

Using your selected publicly traded corporation from Assignments 1 – 4 and identify a corporation which you would like to work or are currently working.

Research the corporation on its own Website, the public filings on the Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR database (

http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml

), in the University’s online databases, and any other sources you can find. The annual report will often provide insights that can help address some of these questions.

You will do a 15 minutes presentation to the Board of Directors of the corporation. Develop an eight to twelve slide PowerPoint presentation with speaker notes or record a video based upon Assignments 1 through 4. You may choose to compare your chosen corporation and to another corporation you would like to work or currently working. You will make recommendations to the Board of Directors based upon your analysis and decision on why the corporation remains or is not a good fit for you. 

Determine the impact of the company’s mission, vision, and primary stakeholders on its overall success as a competitive employer in the industry.

1. Create a SWOT analysis for the company to determine its major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

2. Based on the SWOT analysis, outline a strategy for the company to capitalize on its strengths and opportunities, and minimize its weaknesses and threats.

3. Discuss the various levels and types of strategies the firm may use to maximize its competitiveness and profitability.

4. Outline a communications plan the company could use to make the strategies you recommend above known to all stakeholders.

5. Assess efforts by this corporation to be a responsible (ethical) corporate citizen and determine the impact these efforts (or lack thereof) have on the company’s bottom line. Provide specific examples to support your response.

6. Use at least three (3) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length.

Running head:    STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC COMPETITIVENESS

6

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC COMPETITIVENESS

Strategic Management and Strategic Cmpetitiveness

KaToya Jones

Dr. Wanda Tillman

Business Administration Capstone

January 14, 2018

Introduction

Strategic competitiveness is gained when an organization successfully establishes as well as implements a value-creating approach. In this perspective, strategy refers to a cohesive and coordinated combination of commitments and also to mention actions developed to exploit primary competencies in order to gain a competitive advantage (Hitt, Ireland, & Artz, 1999). This occurs when a firm implements a strategy unique from that of competitors giving them leverage. As a result, the firm is able to ensure above average returns and satisfy investor’s expectations from other investments with a common likelihood of risk. This paper will focus on Twitter, Inc to examine how globalization and advancement in technology have impacted the company. Further, applying the industrial organization model and resource-based model I will explore how the company could earn more profits, analyze how both the vision and the statement of the company impact its overall triumph and lastly investigate how Twitter’s stakeholders impact on the its overall success.

How globalization and technology changed Twitter Inc.

The modern world is transforming into a time of technological invention. Existence of new innovations on top of the available technological resources is such a remarkable achievement. As it improves, it as well spreads to other parts of the world. In this case the global spread of innovations it avails vast connections which consequently creates new markets across the world. Focusing on social media, it is one of those tools that can easily be exploited by those who are connected. Basically, as access is gained on a larger scale, it avails multiple market opportunities to those outsourcing ideas. In today’s world, the use of social media has revolutionized out society. Basing this on real life events various social media platforms have contributed to activism. This, however, has been criticized by many but the point is that social media is revolutionizing the world. Therefore, there’s no doubt that the present as well as the future transformation will still use social media. This is because social media platforms capture considerable large audience within a short period of time. In this case, the widespread of social media platforms such as Twitter; the company growth cannot be stopped.

Globalization and technology have contributed to the consistent growth of the company. For instance, according to Complete the micro-blogging sites recorded 23 million unique users with an increased growth (Java et al, 2007, August). This does not include the large number of people that do not visit Twitter.com but instead use third party service to update. Focusing on the trend the company hopes to have a consistent growth in the future. In addition, the company has also gained approval from multinational corporations. According to a report by Mashable’s, twitter as a social media platform is used by many corporations. Generally, the company has continued to receive growth internationally as people are learning the value of using Twitter.

How industrial organization model and the resource-based model are used to increase the company returns

Before deciding which model would best be appropriate for Twitter in order for them to earn high returns than expected, it important to understand each model? Starting with the industrial organizational model, it’s defined as a field of economic concerned with the strategic behaviors if firms, market competition, rules and regulations to name a few. The model is much related to economic theory that focuses on price to industries. Therefore, the whole idea is linked to understanding methods by which a firm operates; improve government policy in relation to these industries. Resource-based model, on the other hand, is defined as a competitive advantage. As a result, the model tends to focus on organizational internal resources, the firm’s strengths, weakness, in comparison to the environmental structures of competitive benefits on opportunities and threats. Therefore, after examining the two models, I prefer the resource-based model because it could allow twitter the greater chances to expand their returns and in that regard gain, high returns because of its main concentration on the corporation’s strengths as well as weaknesses.

How both the vision and mission statement of the company influences its overall performance?

Both statements are critical elements of a corporation organizational strategy. In most cases, most established companies create organizational mission as well as vision statements, which serve as a foundational guide to the establishment of company goals and objectives. Before assessing how these elements have influenced Twitter Inc, a company mission serves as a guide to an organization’s decision making (Ingenhoff, & Fuhrer, 2010). In this case stakeholders (shareholders, leaders, and employees) are the target of the mission. Vision, on the other hand, directs and gives the corporation a clear perspective of its values. To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information, instantly, without barriers is the company’s mission. I think Twitter’s statement is a pretty good on the core purpose. A vision statement should give people a clear picture of what the company wants to be. Twitter’s vision is for it to become a premiere micro-sharing platform. These two statements have and will continue to be the reason for consistent growth for the company because stakeholders are part of the inspiration that the company seeks in the future. As a result of Twitter’s employees remain loyal, while fostering an atmosphere of success, as Twitter makes it known as their stakeholders succeed, so does it.

How stakeholders impact the overall success of Twitter Inc

The success of any company is gifted by stakeholders. In this case, success tends to come from a combination of two factors. To begin with the ability of a company to deliver real value to the stakeholders while the other one is the ability of stakeholders recognizes the value and appreciates it (Hitt et al., 1999). In addition, another important factor in achieving the success of an organization is the meeting of the stakeholder’s expectations. Twitter is owned by a few investors that supply a firm’s capital. They expect Twitter to preserve growth the health they have invested in the company. Satisfied stakeholders reinvest back into the company, while others even invite other new investors, while those who feel the company is not meeting their expectations sell their stock. The company engaged stakeholders in various ways because it believes that the path of business sustainability is a process. Literally, experiences is what makes up a journey, thus the company is promoting sustainability through;

• Branding- the fundamental strategy of corporate sustainability is how a company communicates with its stakeholders. As an emerging role of social media, the company is engaging stakeholders to share their broader corporate responsibility agenda.

• Prospecting- by using the Twitter search function, it’s possible to find prospective buyers and vice-versa with who you can do deals, just to mention.

• Networking in today’s world, networking has evolved as an important aspect of life. Using Twitter as a tool it is possible to foster relationships.

References

Hitt, M., Ireland, R., & Artz, K. (1999). Strategic management and strategic competitiveness. Strategic management: competitiveness and globalization.

Pfeffer, J., & Veiga, J. F. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success. The Academy of Management Executive, 13(2), 37-48.

Ingenhoff, D., & Fuhrer, T. (2010). Positioning and differentiation by using brand personality attributes: Do mission and vision statements contribute to building a unique corporate identity?. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 15(1), 83-101.

Java, A., Song, X., Finin, T., & Tseng, B. (2007, August). Why we twitter: understanding microblogging usage and communities. In Proceedings of the 9th WebKDD and 1st SNA-KDD 2007 workshop on Web mining and social network analysis (pp. 56-65). ACM.

Runninghead: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS 1

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS 9

External and Internal Environments of Twitter

KaToya Jones

Dr. Wanda Tillman

Business Administration Capstone

January 28, 2018

Segments of The General Environment That Would Rank Highest in Their Influence of Twitter

Twitter, Inc just like all other business organizations have the same general environment. The general environment consists of the technological, economic, socio-cultural and political, and legal trends that influence a business decision. The general the environment is sometimes referred to as the Macro-economic environment. The general environment consists of forces that exist outside the organizational control, which has a potential to either affects the organization positively or negatively. This means that a company like Twitter has to keep constant watch of such an environment for opportunities and threats. The aim of general environment scanning is to help business organizations in decision making and strategic formulation.

Technological factors are one of the factors that exists in the general environment that affects Twitter as company. Twitter is among the many companies that totally depends on technology for people to use their services (Fitton, Gruen, & Poston, 2009). Services of Twitter can only be accessed through devices such as phones, and computers among other similar devices. This means as a company they have to ensure that such devices that are produces as capable of allowing access of Twitter services. Twitter as a company also have an application through which the services of the company can be accessed. These have application is always in constant update to ensure it contains the latest technologies to support. This means that the company has to keep on checking on the latest technologies to ensure that it stays in a market that is highly competitive.

Socio-cultural and political factors are also part of the factors that exist in the general environment of Twitter as a company. There are certain cultures that are in heavy use of the new technological changes that are being experienced. There are also other societies and cultures that are not much into technology. Twitter as a company has keep on ensuring that these group that is not much is technology such as use of social media is brought on board to increase their market share of on the use of social media. Politics, which also have close relationship with the socio-cultural aspects of the society also affects the general environment of a Twitter. Political campaigns have seen rise in use of social media for such purpose. This means that during political seasons in different countries the use of social media is always increased. This means as a company such have to be taken into consideration. The general environment is dynamic and complex and strategic planning is needed to enable a company such as Twitter adapt to such environmental changes.

Forces of Competition That Are Most Significant to Twitter

Porter in his Harvard Business Review article wrote, “Understanding the competitive forces, and their underlying causes reveals the roots of an industry’s current profitability while providing a framework for and anticipating and influencing competition over time” (Porter, 2008). The biggest threat to a business such as Twitter is competition. There are five forces of competition that exists and they include: competitive rivalry, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of customers, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitute products or services.

Twitter is a social media platform that is used for various purpose ranging for business communication, marketing and social networking. There are also other companies such as Facebook and Instagram that provides almost the same services. Threat of substitute products or service as one of the forces is one that can easily affect Twitter as company. It is very easy for consumers of services of Twitter to switch form their services to that of the competitors such as Facebook and Instagram. The threats of substitutes are always informed by switching of costs, both long-term and immediate, as well as a buyer’s inclination to change. This means that Twitter has to offer their services in a manner that it will be difficult for them to be substitute by the consumers.

Competitive rivalry is another force of competition that affects Twitter as a company. This force examines how intense the competition is in the marketplace. This is determined by the number of existing competitors and what each is capable of doing. For example, a competition is considered to be high when there are just a few businesses equally selling a product or service, when the industry is growing and consumers can easily switch to a competitor’s offering such services at a lower cost. Competition rivalry affects advertising and price, which can sometimes end up hurting a Twitter’s bottom line.

There are many things that Twitter as a company can do to improve its ability to the threat of substitute products or services. There are factors that brings about consumers substituting products or services offered by a company to other products or services from other companies. One of the factors is the quality of products or services that are produced by the company. Another factor is the aspect of price for the services or products that are offered. This means that Twitter to help avoid their services from being substitutes by those offered by other companies such as Instagram and Facebook, they have to improve on the quality of their services, which includes better client services. The company will also have to look at their prices when using such services. As there are a group of price conscious consumers that will go for the service that is offered at the cheapest price.

In regards to what Twitter, Inc can do to improve effects of competitive rivalry, such are very many. Competition requires that a company, in this case Twitter has to remain relevant or it risk being ousted in the marketplace. One of the ways in which the company can go about this force of competition is by increasing their marketing and advertising activities to help create more awareness. This helps the company to remain relevant within the industry they operate in. Pricing is also another factor that has to be taken into consideration when competitive rivalry as a force of competition is being discussed. The pricing should be done in a way in which the consumers can switch to the rivals for similar services as prices in which the consumers can consider fair and better compared to that of the company.

Assessment of The External Threats Affecting Twitter and The Opportunities Available

External threats of a company as those that arise from the external environment. This are threats that the company has to deal with by changing to adapt to such threats as they are not within the control of the company. One of the external threats is the legal changes that always happen in regards to the use of social media by companies. As an external challenge Twitter has only one option of responding to such an external threat. That is by adjusting to meet the legal requirements as laid down by the authorized body. Changes in legal requirements has always acted as one of the greatest threats to social media service provider companies like Twitter among others. Responding to such changes promptly is very necessary as the legal consequences of such failure is always severe to the extent it can lead to the shutting down of such a business as Twitter.

Another external threat is the threat of a new entry into the marketplace. Twitter as a company has no control of who enters the marketplace and when they enter. People have the freedom of coming up with companies to offer services and produce products that already exists. New entries mean that they will want to have a market share by taking a portion of the existing market share of Twitter among other social media companies. When are there are threats of new entrance in the market, the greater the risk of a business’s market share being depleted (Martin, 2017). It is essential that that a company like Twitter puts up what are known to be barriers of entry so that threats of new entrants are neutralized. Some of such barriers include access to inputs, absolute cost advantages, economies of scale, and creation of well-recognized brands.

Having a well-recognized brand for example, help create about customer loyalty to the brand and cannot move to new companies that are offering the same products even if the offers are so good. Economies of scale ensures that the prices of the services and products of a company is always keep low in what cannot be substituted by the new entrant entry price. In most case, when there is no big difference in pricing, they will consider staying with the brands they are used to rather than moving from one brand to another.

Opinion on Twitter’s Greatest Strengths and Most Significant Weaknesses

There is undoubtedly an information overflow around Twitter and its related services. However, just like other companies in the marketplace, Twitter has strengths and weaknesses. Twitter has many strengths that have made it to be where it is today. One of the strength of Twitter is the fact that the company has a strong brand name already. This helps the company to get tons of publicity on a daily basis. Another strength of Twitter is the fact that it provides authentication for other applications. There has been an increase in fake things and people using other peoples name to market themselves or engage in other activities. The authentication aspect of Twitter makes it good people who want ensure they use real and true things. Another strength of Twitter is the fact that it has no ads. Ads is one thing that is making use of social media platform boring. Twitter has realized this and have ensured that there are no ads to its services.

However, with many strengths that Twitter as a company has, there are relatively good number of weaknesses that Twitter as company has. One of such weakness is the fact that it is down more often. There are times when its services cannot be access because it is down. Another weakness is the aspect of unequal distribution od tweets, as 10% of the tweets are coming from the top 10% users of the services. Another weakness is the fact that Twitter has a low retention rate, with such being at only 40%.

There are many things that the company can do to maintain their strengths as mentioned above. One is by sticking to some of their policies as long are such policies are still working. For example, since the policy of no ads has turned out to be a strength, such policy should be maintained to ensure that such a strength of the company never goes away. Apart from maintaining the strengths of the Twitter, it is also important that it improves on its weaknesses to make the company even better in providing of its services. One of the ways in can improves its weakness is by increasing its horsepower, which will help avoid situations when the company is down in terms of offering of services. The company should also increase its retention rate from 40% to a more reasonable figure owing to the success that the company has had in regards to the services that it offers to the public. The distribution of tweets is also another issue that Twitter should look into to make it almost equal among its users, to avoid some users having the feeling of being discriminated.

Determination of The Company’s Resources, Capabilities, And Core Competencies

Twitter can be said to be one the most successfully companies since it was founded in 2006. One is the things that make it be classified as one of the most successful companies is the kind of resources that the company that helps it in provision of its services. The company has hundreds of applications arounds its API, that help to supplement and support the main service that the company provides to the public. Other resources of the Twitter as a company includes: Twitter logo, social icons, logo pairing lockups, and tweet treatments. All this are used in the betterment of the services of the company.

Apart from the resources that Twitter as company has, there are also capabilities that the company has. One is the aspect that it has the capability of creating the bluebird craze. With fakeness being represented in all aspects of society, authenticity is one that each and every individual looks for when purchasing or looking for services. Twitter has the capability of providing authentication for other applications. Twitter also allows for microblogging as it is a thing on its own. There is almost no competition for doing microblogging on Twitter. In fact, bloggers nowadays engage more using Twitter that normal blogs that are created as websites.

There are also key competencies that the company has. One is that it is a social marketing tool. Marketing has been taken to another level with the millennials being their main target owing to the amount of time this group of generation spend on technology. It allows for marketing by as business organizations have accounts that help them market some of their products and services. Another key competency of Twitter is the aspect of it being able to allow businesses to communicate with their customers. Communication with customers for business organizations is very important for maintain good public relations. Twitter can also be said to be a search engine as there are certain searches that can be conducted through Twitter.

Analysis of The Company’s Value Chain to Determine Where They Create Value Using Resources, Capabilities, And Core Competencies of the Company

Value chain can be defined as a set of activities that a frim operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product or service to the market. The history of Twitter is similar to other social or search sites like Google and Facebook in that it was built for web but has matured into a mobile product making use of contextual and real time functions like geolocation, messaging and live events. Twitter has used the “systems thinking” concept to understand how things, such as animals, objects, and business among others, as part of the system influence one another within a whole.

A good example, in understanding an eco-system like a rainforest by analyzing the birds, plants, bugs, and weather among others, in the forest and how they influence on each other. In business, it is important to understand the value chain, the actors in it and the influence they have on one another as they to aspire to create value. For Twitter, the core parts of the system, which is social media advertising are businesses and consumers, social media platforms, third-party developers, advertisers, and content. Twitter’s move to mobile was on the black of creations by third-part developers. Since then however, the pressure has been on the company to monetize and create shareholder value from its platform. This has led to a strategy of closing out parts of the system.

Twitter like other social media platforms have a privileged asset. The company has unique understanding about its users’ identity. It knows what users like and what interest such users. This is done by analyzing who they follow and what they tweet about and this is very powerful. For other social media platforms, this advantage is not there. For example, Facebook only knows “who you are and who you know” and Google know “what you are searching for and when”. This means that the thing that Twitter valuable is its system and not the features on the Twitter platform. It is the knowledge of its user base.

In particular, it is the Twitter identities and the understanding that can be gleaned from how those identities are used and how they interact that matters. With this knowledge and understanding of user base, Twitter could play to win a much more open approach o its system. Such an approach would make Twitter the world largest social media advertiser, with no advertising on its platform.

References
Fitton, L., Gruen, M. E., & Poston, L. (2009). Twitter for Dummies. Hoboken: Wiley Publishing.
Martin, M. (2017, June 26). Porter’s Five Forces: Analyzing the Competition. Retrieved from Business News Daily: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5446-porters-five-forces.html
Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces that Shapes Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 134-145.

Running head: TWITTER’S BUSINESS-LEVEL AND CORPORATE-LEVEL 1

TWITTER’S BUSINESS-LEVEL AND CORPORATE-LEVEL 8

Twitter’s Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies

KaToya Jones

Dr. Wanda Tillman

Business Administration Capstone

Februray 12, 2018

Twitter’s Business-Level and Corporate-Level Strategies

Twitter Inc., just like any other organization, has an overarching goal; to create a return for shareholders through earning a profit. In order to attain this, the organization tries to do everything right to attain better performance in the market. The business-level strategy of Twitter is employed to sell its products and services at a profit and attain a good customer base. Corporate-level strategy, on the other hand, is used to determine what business units to purchase or sell and to make the decision on how to integrate operations and determine synergies between them.

Business-level strategy

Twitter’s business-level strategy is directed towards differentiation. Recently, a new business-level marketing strategy was rolled out by the organization. The strategy had a video explaining what the organization stands for. The video was designed in a way meant to distinguish that company from other social media platforms. This effort is attributed to the research of the organization.

The company is doing everything possible to change the perception of Twitter among the public. The perception to be changed is that from being a social network enabling users to connect with friends and family to become “go to” place for every news update. In fact, the effort of the organization is meant to position itself as a unique platform that will have news ranging from local updates to big events together with access to live commentary. The management of Twitter believes that being unique in the market is the best way through which the organization will be able to grow its customer base (Business Grow, 2014).

Furthermore, a new marketing campaign on Twitter shows that its platform can be used for various reasons, such as answering questions relating to what is taking place in different corners of the world. This is a clear indication that the company is trying to position itself as a news platform. It is trying to differentiate itself from other social media platform organizations.

In addition, the organization is trying to lead towards a controversial new path. There has been a strategy shift, where the organization is now planning to offer algorithm-driven curation of feeds. This is driven towards enhancing relevance for its users. As a result of this, the organization will begin determining what people see on their timelines with regards to what is trending or what the company thinks a person would like to see.

Throughout the past, the management of Twitter has signaled many big changes. This is a move informing stakeholders of the organization to be prepared for new things that are on the way. Some of the changes that are to be introduced are meant to counter increased pressure the company is facing from Wall Street related to increasing the number of users. Compared to Facebook and other platforms, users love the idea that Twitter is unfiltered. People can filter streams by themselves and also control the flow of information their own way through different apps, such as Twitter Lists and other third party platforms like Hoossuite.

Also, the strategy will make a Twitter’s platform to be more appealing and accessible to users. This move will attract new users and retain the current ones. In fact, the core point of differentiation in the market will be increased by this move.

The increased level of differentiation is important for strong user growth. The valuation of the organization will increase due to user growth. “As per our estimates, Twitter’s U.S. average monthly active users will increase moderately from around 66 million in 2016 to nearly 78 million by the end of our forecast period” (Business Grow, 2014, par. 5). In the international market, the number is expected to go up from 250 million to 315 million by the end of the period forecasted.

Therefore, the business-level strategies adopted by the organization are excellent since they will increase the level of differentiation in the market. Increased level of differentiation will ensure the needs and wants of customers are satisfied. Unique products and services will also attract new users. The outcome of all these will be an increase in profit for the organization and better returns for shareholders.

Corporate-level strategy

The organization has a program termed as the international expansion of the Twitter certified program. This program was introduced to partner the company with other leading services and products, which assist businesses to thrive on Twitter. Through partnering with other leading organizations, the company is able to expand its reach, products, and accessibility.

Already, there are a number of organizations added to the program. All the organizations are first international class. Twitter is a global platform already. About 77 percent of company users are in different parts of the world, that is, outside the United States (Shah, 2016). Also, the usage of Twitte is increasing in other regions. Indeed, the demand for the company’s products is increasing since individuals need to connect with the international audience have also increased. It is the hope of the organization that partnering with these new organization will increase brand of Twitter around the world. The brand will increase with reach and measurement, customer engagement, ad management, and content curation tools.

Spanning India, Latin America, and Europe, there are some of the Twitter certified partners. The first partner is controversocial. This is a cloud solution that makes it possible for an organization to provide customer services over social media on a large scale. The second partner is SocialBro. This is a marketing platform that provides tools to examine and act on Twitter data with the goal of engaging, growing, and monetizing the audience.

Additionally, there is Socialmetrix, which assists brands to get to know consumer opinions and sentiment. It also gives actionable insights regarding day-to-day activities. The fourth partner is Talkwalker. Talkwalker provides powerful and easy to use monitoring engine, analytics, and social search. Other agencies and brands in the world are also using Talkwalker. The fifth partner is Unmetric that works with leading agencies and brands by assisting them to create benchmarks for their social activities.

Consequently, Twitter has formed a deal with Telecom that will improve its global growth strategy. This deal has led to the launching of Twitte Access. This is a program formed in partnership with telecom companies aimed at zero-rating the micro-blogging services and subsidizing the data the company demands. Most people using the platform, especially through their phones, have been complaining of high data costs. However, partnering with these telecom companies will enable Twitter’s users to enjoy lower data costs.

Finally, the organization continues live-streaming expansion. This is a new deal with Bloomberg. Bloomberg and Twitter have partnered to live-stream many television programs of the media company on the social network. Included in the partnership is the right to three financial news shows. These are the daily stock market coverage of the network, With All Due Respect, and Bloomberg West, What’d You Miss?. This deal shows how the organization is continuing with aggressive expansion (Trefis Team, 2016). It now provides live video on its flagship platform. Recently, the company got the social media rights related to some of NFL Thursday Night Football games. Moreover, the company also broadcasts many ESPN-produced segments.

The expansion, aggression has made Twitter become one of the fastest methods to know what is happening in different parts of the world as well as on the financial markets. For instance, partnering with Bloomberg will make it easy for people to view live financial market performance together with live commentary regarding underlying implications and drivers.

Competitive environment

Facebook and Twitter are dominant on the social media platforms. Nevertheless, there is a pool of competitors that are growing in number and size. This is an indication that the market is very competitive. Other competitors growing are Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat. These competitors are growing very fast thanks to video and photo sharing (Allison, 2016).

Facebook tops the social media landscape. With many different products and it has also acquired many competitors in the market. Currently, Facebook owns four of the biggest messaging and social media services. These are Messanger, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Even with the big size of Facebook, Twitter has still managed to remain unique in the market through providing differentiated products. Trying to differentiate itself and making users aware of what exactly it is offering has been the biggest effort of the company.

Slow-cycle and fast-cycle market

A competitive advantage of a company in a slow-cycle market is normally shielded from imitation. This is also seen when it comes to a resource (Miranda-Agrippino & Rey, 2015). Competitive pressure will not easily penetrate resources and competitive advantage of a firm. In such a market, the cost of imitation is high and the trend is seen for a long period. Twitter comes second after Facebook in its market. However, its competitive advantage comes from its increased level of differentiation. The slow-cycle market makes this this competitive advantage of the organization to be sustainable both in short-term and long-term operations. It will be difficult for competitors to imitate the unique products and services produced by Twitter. This is because the company is shielded from imitation. It will cost competitors high amounts to imitate the strategy of the organization. This advantageous to Twitter because it will continue with this competitive advantage and continue being different from other competitors. Therefore, product differentiation of Twitter will not differ in the slow-cycle market. The company should continue making its product different from those of competitors. This is important since, at one time, it will be able to outdo its biggest competitor.

On the other hand, in a fast-cycle market, Twitter will not be shielded from imitation. This means that its competitors will easily copy what it is doing, that is, product differentiation. In addition, imitation takes place very fast in the fast-cycle market. The speed of imitation is enhanced by the fact that the cost of imitation is not expensive. Therefore, in the fast-cycle market, competitors will be able to perform what the company is doing .

References

Allison, C. (2016). Twitter continues to struggle as Social media competitors rise. Retrieved

from http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a802893/latest-figures-show-how-facebook-continues-to-kill-its-social-media-competitors/

Business Grow. (2014). The Twitter strategy shift and what it means to you and your business.

Retrieved from https://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/09/08/twitter-strategy/

Miranda-Agrippino, S., & Rey, H. (2015). World asset markets and the global financial cycle

(No. w21722). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Shah, S. (2016). Twitter continues live-streaming expansion with Bloomberg news deal.

Retrieved from https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/twitter-bloomberg-live-stream/

Trefis Team. (2016). Can Twitter’s New Marketing Strategy Drive User Growth?. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/07/26/can-twitters-new-marketing-strategy-drive-user-growth/#73a3abe762f3

Running Head: MERGER, ACQUISTION, AND INTERNATIONAL STRATGIES 

MERGER, ACQUISTION, AND INTERNATIONAL STRATGIES 9

Merger, Acquisition, And International Strategies

KaToya Jones

Dr. Wanda Tillman

Business Administration Capstone

February 25, 2018

Companies engage in merger and acquisition as a way of them having the market power. Market power has many advantages to the firms, and it can make firms to control price and the quantity produced in the market. However, it is not automatic that when two companies merge they increase their market power. Most of them face other challenges when merging and they also face other risks that can make them more efficient. Other factors that can also ensure companies do not increase their market power is when there are no barriers to entry of other players in the industry. This will ensure there are no cases of monopoly as result of increased market power (Stiglitz & Rosengard, 2015). Therefore, this essay is going to use General Electric Organization and Heinz corporation which has acquired other smaller companies such as Beech-Nut.

General Electric Organization’s vision and mission statement are tailored in a way that can propel the business to industrial development. The vision of the company is to be the world’s leading digital company in the competitive industry. Achieving this requires the company to transform the industry with a software-defined solution which is responsive, connected, and predictive. Subsequently, the customer benefit from the company can execute critical outcomes for them. The mission statement furthers echoes the aspiration of the company to be the major influencer in the industry. It is quite evident from the mission statement that the company aims at inventing and introducing new technologies that can significantly contribute to industrial progress. The main purpose of General Electric Organization is to be the leader in their line of business by doing what has not yet be done. They act as the pacesetter in their industry as they are ready to take risks of moving forward. The company has dedicated its resources to research and development because it is the only that they can stay ahead of their com The General Electric organization structure can be described as the multidivisional organizational structure. In this arrangement, the organization’s management focus is on supporting separate but interconnected departments and operation in different industries. For instance, each of the company’s divisions has a group of officers to execute policies that suit corresponding industries and markets that include the aerospace market and electric lighting market. Doing this enables effective optimization of General Electric diversification and solving specific challenges that emerge in the industry.

Heinz Corporation and Beech-Nut entered into a merger agreement where Heinz was to acquire Beech-Nut’s voting securities at $185 million. Both companies are in the food industry and have their markets shares. Heinz Corporation and Beech-Nut have market shares of 17.4% and 15.1% respectively. The merger was expected to boost their market share and make one company that can become a giant player in the food industry thus competing favorably with Gerber Product Company. However, merging the two companies do not automatically leads to efficiency. If there are no barriers to entry or exit, then other players will interfere with the market (Stiglitz & Rosengard, 2015).

Mergers and acquisition have become common in the business world just like the Heinz’s case. However, these new trends in business do not always undergo a smooth transition due to new emerging challenges. Primarily, most businesses engage in joint venture or acquisition to create value by acquiring new markets, products, or technology. More importantly, creating economies of scale is the core reason for these new practices and establishing the global presence. On the other hand, cultural differences usually make things hard when it comes to management of such entities. This problem has led to the collapse of some global mergers that have taken place as it becomes extremely difficult to incorporate the different culture of the companies (Stiglitz & Rosengard, 2015).

The profit margin for Heinz companies is dropping because of the increased spending on salaries and operating costs. The revenue has remained the same whereas the operating cost has risen due to the incentives that the corporation has to offer to the retailers and customers for them to compete favorably with Gerber. In some cases, the company has to offer a discount to match with their main competitor. As the two corporations increase their market share, the operating cost also increases as the retailers distributing the products must be paid first. The company has failed to control costs because it has no brand loyalty like Gerber which is a giant player. The fixed cost by Heinz and Beech-Nut to promote their products as a way of enticing the customers has made it difficult for the company to control cost. Additionally, the company must pay the retailers for their product to be properly displayed on the shelves and also get a display. Consequently, this increases the operating cost of the two companies which are about to merge. Unfortunately, they must incur this cost for them to survive in the market. The high cost operating is one of the major threats to this new venture (Stiglitz & Rosengard, 2015).

The prices are not properly determined because Heinz does not price against each other. Both companies do not engage in the price competition something that is important in any market. More so, fixed trade spending which comprises pay to stay and slotting fees and other payments to the retailer meant to ensure that the product gets desired display and shelf space does not affect the prices. This is clear indication that prices are not determined in the market. Competition is inevitable in today’s business world. It is important for a business organization to come up with ways to which it can have the competitive advantage for to have an edge. Information about the trends and preferences of consumers is the most important data that can be used by the business

The three main characters of the General Electric corporate structure are business-type division, geographical division, and organizational-wide corporate teams. In the business type division, each subsidiary of the company is considered as operating segment which is a representation of the businesses that the company engages. This primary characteristic helps in prioritizing the needs of the business depending on the market condition. There is also the wide corporate team which is charged with the mandate of implementing the strategies of the whole organization. This helps in making every department or division to be tied to one goal. It is essential to note that corporate teams are a secondary feature in the structure since business-type division is the one that plays a leading role in implementing strategies of the company. Lastly, the geographic division as part of the company’s structure is used in reporting and analyzing business data. In this context, the geographical differences in various markets are put into consideration. For instance, all the General electric’s segments such as the Renewable Energy Segment and Power Segment normally use the same geographic division in organizing business data. However, the geographical division influences minor managerial decision-making in the organization. It is useful in inventory management and location strategy.

General electric company has managed to diversify in the market. The product mix provided by the company provided the much-needed high-quality products that deliver a rare experience to the customers in the market. The product mixes for the company are appliances for business, aviation, energy connections, lighting for business, consumer electronics and digital energy modernization. Moreover, the company has also ventured into oil and gas, mining, personal healthcare, and mining. This range of products and services show how the General electric has broadened their horizon in the market. The company target customers in different industries that include oil, gas, and energy, electric aerospace and other industries that have been mentioned. This shows that the company’s market mix must respond to different market conditions. The market changes and trends also play a critical role in the company’s success in the industry.

General Electric has also gone a notch higher to employ direct marketing as the core tactic of promoting the products and services to the targeted market. The direct marketing as exploited by GE is used to promote digital services and products to practitioners in the health industry and other organizations that need the same services. Moreover, the company has also successfully managed to market directly its aviation products to many airline companies across the world. On the other hand, General Electric advertises the consumer appliances products which are under Lighting Operating Segment. Therefore, the company multiple customers who benefit from many products that it offers. They are not limited to one industry like other companies which may either in the food industry or aviation industry (Drucker, 2017).

Competition is inevitable in any business world, and such companies should strive to have some competitive advantages. For General Electric Organization, their competition is much stiffer than anyone would expect because they deal with different industries. Consequently, this makes them face competition from players in different industries. Competitors of the company include investment banks, commercial banks, leasing companies and financial institutions that deal with the manufacturers. Excellence in design, technological competence and innovation, competitive pricing and high product quality and performance are the critical factors that play a leading role in the competitive market. One of the competitors for the competitor for General Electric company is the Siemens which is also a diversified and successful company. Both companies have structural similarities on the way they manage their inventories in the market. However, General electric has tried to differentiate itself and provide a unique experience in the market. The company has managed to stay one step ahead in the market by constantly innovating and bringing new products. This forces Siemens to respond to the innovation. Subsequently, Siemens only counters the General Electric as opposed to playing a leading role in the industry. Considering that both companies deal with technology, innovation is the only way that an organization can have the upper hand in the industry. Hence there are higher chances that in 10 years to come General Electric Company would have outsold Siemens (Drucker, 2017).

General Electric Company strives to be the leading innovator in their industry. The company is dedicated to ensuring that they update the standard of their products and services to their consumers using the latest available technology. This explains why the company invests massive resources inventions and innovation as they are aware that their competitors are also looking for ways to edge them out of the market. For instance, the company sets aside $300 million to support the innovation and invention in the company.

The General Electric Company has put great emphasis in pushing the limits of science and technology. As captured in their mission, being industrial leaders by using the latest technology is one of their major aspirations. The products provided by the company are aimed at solving some of the toughest challenges that exist in today’s world. The drivers behind this mission are the Global Research Centers where teams of well-qualified personnel have been given the necessary resources to achieve the desired. For instance, since the year 2001, the revenue allocated for research and development has doubled to reach approximately $4.9 billion by the year 2017. The researchers in the station engage with the business partners, suppliers, and customers in providing a real-time solution to the existing problem. The R & D development has been effective as the company managed to reduce the cost generator insulation for their clients by 30 percent (Drucker, 2017). The consumers benefitted from the low cost of the products and services.

References

Drucker, P. F. (2017). The Theory of the Business (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard Business Press.

Katzenbach, J. R., & Smith, D. K. (2015). The wisdom of teams: Creating the high-performance organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Stiglitz, J.E., & Rosengard, J.K (2015). Economics of the Public Sector: Fourth International Student Edition, New York W. W, Nortion & Company.