In 1996 two computer science PhD students at Stanford University, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, were wondering how they could sort through the massive amount of information that was starting to appear on the Web to find specific and useful information on a topic. Although there were several different technologies, or search engines, available to search the Web for information, none of them seemed particularly useful to Brin and Page because they failed to distinguish between useful and trivial Web sites. Brin and Page decided to build a search engine that not only would examine the words on Web pages and then index them as other search engines did, but also would look at how and where these words were being used and at the number of other Web sites linked to a page. The goal was to have the search engine return a list of Web pages with the Continue reading
Corporate Strategies
Stakeholder Expectations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Stakeholders can be primary or secondary. Primary stakeholder groups comprise of employees, customers, investors, suppliers, government, and community with whom the corporation may have a formal, official or anybody who has claimed on the firm’s even though it is not significant. They consist of both internal and external stakeholder groups. Internal stakeholders comprise of employees and investors which are shareholder or bondholder, external stakeholders are the customers, communities, suppliers, government, and the environment which claimed on the firm’s if any damage occurs. Secondary stakeholders are media and special interest groups towards a firm where they didn’t have any contact with the firm, they just act like a spectators. Stakeholder theory has a number of strengths and weaknesses in its capacity to address issues of low-wage work. Classifying a group as a stakeholder has moral import and significant outcomes which means that the classifying the stakeholder can ensure that their problems Continue reading
The Strategic Position and Action Evaluation Matrix (SPACE)
Strategic Position and Action Evaluation Matrix (SPACE) is “an approach to hammer out an appropriate strategic posture for a firm and its individual business.” SPACE is an analysis of the following four dimensions in as in a two-dimensional portfolio analysis and involves a consideration of: Company’s competitive advantage Company’s financial strength Industry strength Environmental stability Various factors are evaluated for determining each of the dimensions and they are summarized below: Dimensions Factors Evaluated Company’s competitive advantage Market Share Product Quality Product life cycle Product Replacement cycle Customer Loyalty Competitor’s Capacity Utilization Technological knowhow Vertical integration Company’s Financial Strength Return on investment Leverage liquidity Capital Required/Available Cash Flow Ease of exit from market Risk involved in business Industry Strength Growth potential Profit potential Financial Stability Technological know how Resource utilization Capital intensity Ease of entry into market Productivity Capacity Utilization Environmental Stability Technological charges Rate if inflation Demand variability Prices of Continue reading
Factors to Consider in a Cross-border Merger or Acquisition
Cross border mergers and acquisitions are playing an important role in the growth of international production. Not only they dominate FDI flows in developing countries, they have also begun to take hold as a mode of entry into developing countries and economies in transition. Although the basic merger or acquisition is the same worldwide, undertaking a cross-border transaction is more complex than those conducted ‘‘in market’’ because of the multiple sets of laws, customs, cultures, currencies, and other factors that impact the process. How should the Transaction be Financed? The financial structure of the transaction might be impacted by which country the target is in. For example, from a valuation perspective, ‘‘flowback’’ can have a negative impact on the acquirer’s stock price and cause regulatory problems (i.e. stock ‘‘flowing’’ back to the acquirer’s home jurisdiction). Other types of considerations include the change in the nature of the investments held by Continue reading
Case Study of Procter and Gamble (P&G): Structure and Culture
Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. This happens because P&G provides branded products of superior quality and value to improve the lives of the world’s consumers. This results in leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing employees, shareholders and the communities in which we operate to prosper. The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is a brand behemoth. The world’s first maker of household products courts market share and billion-dollar brands. Its business is divided into three global units: beauty, health and well being, and household care. It also makes pet food and water filters and produces soap operas. Some 25 of P&G’s brands are billion-dollar sellers, including Gillette Fusion, Always/Whisper, Braun, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Downy/Lenor, Folgers (which it reportedly plans to spin off), Gillette, Iams, Olay, Pampers, Pantene, Pringles, Tide, and Wella, among others. The P&G consists of over 138,000 employees Continue reading
Defensive Strategies Against Hostile Takeovers
With the development of economy and technology, competition among enterprises is becoming increasingly intense. Many companies decide to expand their companies scale and business through mergers and acquisitions to achieve maximum profits. Takeover is a business behavior that one company is purchased by another one. There are several types of takeover, including friendly takeovers, hostile takeovers, reverse takeovers and back-flip takeovers. Even though some mergers and acquisitions can bring about synergy and more substantial profits, some takeovers are not welcome. Therefore, a large numbers of measures are taken by target companies to defend the hostile takeover. Different Types of Defensive Strategies Against Hostile Takeovers Defensive strategies can be classified into active measures and preventive measures. Active measures consist of greenmail, standstill agreement, white knight, and so on, while preventive measures are made up of poison pills, people pill and other defenses. In particular, greenmail, poison pills, staggered board terms and Continue reading