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Factors That Affect the Ability of a Company to Recruit New Employees

Student’s Name

Name of Institution

Factors That Affect the Ability of a Company to Recruit New Employees

The company’s ability to recruit a new staff revolves around an irresistible pull that is developed by that very company. The pull serves to address the recruits’ interests and offer solutions to their fears (Heneman & Judge, 2008). In fact, it makes it look like the company is not just hiring talent, but also attracting it. This paper discusses both internal and external qualities exhibited by companies that affect their recruits’ attraction process. The process of recruiting is either internal or external.

Career Development

Evidently, companies that attract internal recruitment offer training and sponsorships to their employees in order to improve their skills (Heneman & Judge, 2008) It allows the employees to grow into senior positions and earn more. This way, a company not only gets to keep the employees, but also look promising to them.

A Good Employees’ Culture is demonstrated when the employees not only feel valued or are treated so, but when the culture is made public for the audience. Company websites and social sites should have projections of a good company-employees association and also admirable employee-employee interaction (Heneman & Judge, 2008). A website should portray a company staff as a happy family, having fun not suffering from the monotony of work.

Having the Best Compensation and Benefits Schemes. When a company offers beyond average benefits and great salaries to employees, they make potential recruits feel like their company is probably the place to be. Free products sabbaticals and large bonuses that make employees feel like they make as much as the company are some of the baiting benefits (Heneman & Judge, 2008). Others are also schemes like free child care, sick time that is unlimited.

Aggressiveness

Ability to spur interests in potential recruits does not just involve sitting around and waiting for their applications, but also going out there to make them apply. This way, the company comes with obvious bait that looks best in the market if competition for particular recruits is stiff.

Popularity

A company already having an excellent reputation in their fields of expertise and is known far and wide gets the chance of choosing from the best. Running informative blogs that have big audience attraction abilities are some of the activities that a company can engage in to gain popularity. The company can also create large social networks and engage the media on a high-frequency note (Heneman & Judge, 2008). This way, interest is created in potential recruits, and they get to know all the information they would love to know about the company for they aspire to work.

Conclusion

To conclude, a company’s ability to get the best or make more by conducting near perfect recruitment processes depends on its ability to entice the labor market. The above discussed factors all play roles either in one of the internal and external recruitments or both.

References

Heneman, H.G. and Judge, T.A (2008). Staffing Organizations. New York: Irwin/McGraw- Hill.

Factors that affect the demand and supply of oil in Australia

Introduction

The supply demand curve plays assumes a paramount part in deciding the harmony cost for anything and to comprehend the oil business demand and supply curve we need to consider emulating exceptions. Oil Supply and Demand is inelastic to the transient as independent of what petrol cost the auto is not going to change to other fuel or the separation between the two spot likewise not going to diminish this comes about the utilization of oil stay same in short run so the accompanying cases are consistently treated under long haul premise. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is occupied with making arrangements and balance out the oil cost on the planet i.e. represents the aggregate evaluating methodology with respect to which now and then over through interest curve versatility (Agcaoili & Rosegrant, 1995).

Supply – Demand curve

The Supply-Demand curve is fundamentally a graphical representation of supply pattern and interest pattern of item/administrations that is utilized to close the harmony cost of the food. As in balance cost is the cost where the interest and the supply curve meets i.e. the point where amount demanded is one and the same to the amount supplied. Furthermore change in the elements which specifically or by implication influence the interest and supply of the food brings about change in balance cost because of the shift in the interest curve, supply curve or both the curves (Kjärstad & Johnsson, 2009).

Shift in Demand curve

The interest curve all in all compares to the measure of some element that a purchaser needs to purchase at a certain level of cost. The build and abatement popular could originate from changing forms and tastes, earnings, value changes in reciprocal and substitute merchandise, market desires, and number of purchasers. This would result in the whole demand curve to move changing the balance cost and amount. The movement of the interest curve, by creating another balance cost to develop, brought about development along the supply curve from the crossing point of interest and supply curve previously, then after the fact the change in the interest of the merchandise

Shift in supply curve

The supply curve fundamentally speaks to the measure of a few products that the makers are ready and ready to offer at different costs. The components influencing straightforwardly or in a roundabout way in increment or decline in the supply of the merchandise i.e. at the point when the suppliers’ unit data expenses change, or when innovative advancement happens, brings about movement of the supply curve. The shift in the supply curve additionally brings about changing in the harmony cost and amount of the item. The aforementioned supply demand curve movements can be clarified better by graphs in the distinctive cases as specified underneath

Circumstances where demand curve be upward sloping

The Demand curve is generally downward sloping for the goods because it follows law of demand that states the demand for a commodity increase when its price decrease and falls when its price rises, other things remaining constant. But there are certain exceptions for law of demand that results in upward sloping demand curve.

Expectation regarding Future price – If the customer expect a ceaseless increment in the cost of sturdy item. It may begin acquiring more noteworthy measure of merchandise regardless of in its cost with a perspective to keep away from the squeeze of much higher cost in future. Correspondingly when a customer expect for abatement in future value it delayed the buy for future. Case in point, in prebudget month’s value for the most part has a tendency to climb. Yet individuals purchase more storable in suspicion of further climb in costs because of new exacts (Peersman & Van Robays, 2012).

Status Goods – The law of interest does not be significant to the items which are utilized as a ‘materialistic trifle’ for upgrading social esteem and for showing ones riches. The sum demanded for such items climb with an increment in their value and reduction with decline in there cost (Timilsina, Mevel & Shrestha, 2011). For example wares like gold, valuable stones, uncommon artworks, obsolescent, and so forth. Rich individuals purchase these merchandise predominantly on the grounds that their costs are high and purchase a greater amount of them when their costs

Conclusion

A Giffen decent may be any substandard article of exchange much low-valued than its prevalent substitution, devoured by the poor family loop as a paramount product. On the off chance that the cost of such stock raise (cost of its substitute left over unfaltering) its demand upgrade rather than fall in light of the fact that in the event of a Giffen decent, wage impact of a value suspend is more than its substitute impact. The reason is when cost of substandard item builds, wage enduring much the same, poor tenants cut the utilization of the predominant substitute so they may purchase enough amount of sub-par element to meet their principal need. Case in point when cost of potatoes (A fundamental nourishment for destitute) decrease radically, and after that this family unit may like to purchase unrivaled thing out of the cash which they can now have because of the decrease in cost of potatoes. It would expand the utilization of unrivaled products like tree grown foods, cereals, and so forth from these rebate as well as from lessening the utilization of potatoes.

References

Agcaoili, M., & Rosegrant, M. W. (1995). Global and regional food supply, demand, and trade prospects to 2010. In Population and food in the early twenty-first century: Meeting future food demand of an increasing population.

Kjärstad, J., & Johnsson, F. (2009). Resources and future supply of oil. Energy Policy, 37(2), 441-464.

Peersman, G., & Van Robays, I. (2012). Cross-country differences in the effects of oil shocks. Energy Economics, 34(5), 1532-1547.

Timilsina, G. R., Mevel, S., & Shrestha, A. (2011). Oil price, biofuels and food supply. Energy Policy, 39(12), 8098-8105.

Gender and Family Status

Gender

In 2013, Expatriates ladies doctoral researchers and architects had a somewhat higher unemployment rate than men (1.8 percent contrasted with 1.6 percent), yet the distinction was not measurably huge. A multivariate investigation affirmed the absence of a factually huge relationship in the middle of sex and unemployment status in 2013, when other important variables were controlled.

Family Status and Gender

In the all-inclusive community, marriage and kids are connected with low unemployment rates amid Expatriates. A comparable example existed in the 2013 doctoral science and building population. Nonetheless, the effect of marriage and children is very distinctive for men and ladies in the doctoral populace. Single expatriates’ men are higher as compared to the married ones. (Table 1). The unemployment rate for wedded men was 2.4%, contrasted with 2.7% for unmarried men. The similar unemployment rates for ladies were 2.9% and 2.2 %, separately. Institutionalization did not change these connections.

Table 1: Expatriates Unemployment based on Gender

 

The unemployment rate for expatriates with children 1.4 percent) was lower than the unemployment rate for those without youngsters living in the home (1.9 percent) (table 2). Like conjugal status, having kids delivered huge contrasts in the unemployment rates of men and ladies. Despite the fact that ladies with kids had unemployment rates surpassing those for ladies without youngsters (2.4 percent contrasted and 1.2 percent), men with youngsters had lower unemployment rates than their childless partners (1.2 percent contrasted and 2.1 percent). Institutionalization on the non-demographic variables did not diminish fundamentally the quality of this association impact.

Amount of Work Experience

An assortment of circumstances may cause a single person to consider deliberately dropping out of the work constrain or working low maintenance including a craving to invest more of an opportunity with youthful kids or maturing relatives, or essentially requiring some investment off to investigate the world. There are likewise times when people need to pick between profession ways offering distinctive levels of employer stability. Vocations might likewise be hindered by variables past a singular’s control. As per tried and true way of thinking, intrusions in full-time livelihood after culmination of instruction can be unsafe to a singular’s future vocation. In this segment, three essential markers of profession congruity full-time work experience, former period non-job, and low maintenance work experience-are inspected to decide how exact this tried and true way of thinking is.

Full-time Work Experience

The unstandardized relationship between years of full-time work experience and unemployment is not direct (outline 1). Those with less than 5 years of experience and those with 25 or more years of full-time work experience were more prone to be unemployed than those with moderate lengths of work experience. The unemployment rates among those with less than 5 years of full-time work experience were 2.6 percent; for those with 25 or more years, it was 1.9 percent. Be that as it may, the unstandardized relationship does not consider that the quantity of years of work experience is indigent upon the chance to work. Case in point, adolescent laborers have not had room schedule-wise to gather long work histories. In the wake of controlling for different variables in this investigation, the relationship between full-time work experience and unemployment demonstrates that unemployment decreases with expanding years of full-time work experience. The institutionalized unemployment rate for people with 2.5 years of full-time work experience was 4.0 percent, contrasted with 0.7 percent for those with 30 years of full-time experience. Subsequently, among people finishing their doctorates in the meantime, the variable of extra years of full-time work experience seems to reduction the likelihood of unemployment. On account of the solid relationship between years since receipt of the doctorate and years of work experience, this relationship is darkened in taking a gander at real unemployment rates.

 

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Factors that caused the U.S. government to transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution

The Articles of Confederation led to the creation of strong states and weakened the powers of the central government. Each state had its own government, independence and power to control its political and economic systems. The main reason for the adoption of the Articles of Confederation was to weaken the national government as a way of avoiding the problems that Americans experienced during the colonial period (Gillman et al., p. 68). However, the Articles could not regulate the growing states, which led to the transition to the constitution. In addition, the Articles of Confederation had vested too much power in the state governments, which challenged the execution of duties and legislation of policies (Prince, p. 45). The transition to the constitution intended to deal with the problem of lack of central leadership where states were independent from each other and the national government. In most cases, states passed policies that did not rhyme with those of the national government, which challenged economic and political prosperity.

Lack of a common currency was also another factor that led to the transition to the constitution. The Articles of Confederation did not establish a single currency to be used by all states in the United States, which challenged foreign trade and inter-state trade. Difficulties in raising national revenue was also a factor that led to the transition. The state governments had the power to collect taxes from the public and then loan the national government (Prince, p. 124). Therefore, the national government did not have the funds required to finance its roles such as clearing foreign debts and maintaining foreign relations. Most of the factors that led to the transition were the results of the inefficiencies caused by the structure of government in the 1780s.

The inadequate powers of the congress was one of the factors that challenged the working of the Articles of Confederation. The congress could not impose taxes or influence trade between states and foreign entities. Additionally, the congress did not have any mechanisms of passing its policies and influencing legislation due to lack of the executive and a court system. The structure of the government also made it difficult to pass laws affecting the American people because all states had to vote unanimously to pass such laws. It was very difficult for all states to adopt a unanimous vote on an issue. The structure of the government, which vested powers on the state governments, challenged the economic and political systems in the United States, which led to the transition. ‘

The three portions of the U.S. Constitution

The Preamble

This is the non-legal part of the constitution. It outlines the basic reasons for writing the constitution as well as the structure and contents of the document. The preamble also indicates how the constitution was created to safeguard the will of the American people in its opening words “We are the People of the United States.” (Peterson and Brian, p. 100) It helps in understanding the constitution by outlining the reasons that prompted its adoption. Many scholars use the preamble as an aid to interpreting the constitution but not the legal implications.

The Articles

The constitution has seven articles with each of the articles having its own unique contents. The constitution has seven articles that highlight the legislation passed at the Constitutional Convention. The articles summarize the basic law in the United States that determines the structure of the government. The articles explain the powers vested on each arm of the government and its leaders. For instance, Article II summarizes the powers of the executive and the president who is the leader of the government (Peterson and Brian 96). The articles highlight the powers vested on each level of government and provide the procedure and requirements of ratifying the constitution.

The Amendments

The amendments section captures the need to change the constitution that may arise in the course of time. It outlines all changes that have been made to the constitution over time. The amendments originate from the states or the congress as outlined in the articles portion. The amendments portion begins by highlighting the bill of rights that is an integral part of the American people. Presently, the constitution has 27 amendments with the first ten touching on the bill of rights (Peterson and Brian 58).

Structure of the Current U.S. Government

The government of the United States is divided into the federal government and the state governments. The federal government has three branches; the legislature, the judiciary and the executive (Storey, p. 89). The three branches of government are independent of each other although they are interdependent. The president is the leader of the government and shares power with the congress and other systems of government. The constitution outlines the powers of each branch of the government, the powers of the president who is the leader of government and the interaction between state governments and the federal government (DiIulio, p. 105). The state governments govern the affairs of their state governments through legislation and other activities as outlined in the constitution. The constitution outlines the unique responsibilities of each level of government.

Works Cited

DiIulio, John J. American Government. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.

Gillman, Howard, Mark A. Graber, and Keith E. Whittington. American Constitutionalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.

Peterson, Christine, and Brian Bascle. The U.S. Constitution. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Press, 2009. Internet resource.

Prince, Le B. B. Articles of Confederation Vs. the Constitution. S.l.: General Books, 2010. Print.

Storey, William. Us Government and Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010. Print.

Groupthink

Author

Institution

According to Janis, groupthink is a decline of mental efficiency, moral judgement and reality testing, which usually results from an in-group pressures. The groupthink has a role in the making of the US foreign policy. Most of the America’s policy failures can be contributed to groupthink; for example the Bay of Pigs. Some irrational factors seemed to operate in the foreign policy failures; in analyzing these factors, Bay of Pigs will be used as a reference. One of the factors was the illusion of invulnerability. This developed excessive optimism, which encouraged the taking of extreme risks. During the Bay of Pigs invasion, several advisers to the Kennedy cabinet made a confession that nothing could stop them from their decision with John Kennedy leading them. Another factor leading to the failure of most foreign policies made by the U.S was the illusion of unanimity. Most members of the cabinet and Kennedy advisers during the Kennedy administration had views and judgments that were unanimous. This was admitted by Schlesinger, an advisor, a few months after the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Self-censorship was another factor contributing to the failure of the US foreign policies; doubts and deviations from the cabinet consensus were not expressed. The advisors were reluctant of asking questions that could cast doubt on the decision that they thought was accepted because of fear of evoking condemnation from their associates. Self-appointed mindguards constituted another factor leadings to the failure of most US foreign policies. The role of the president as a mindguard became supplemented by the pressure that he exerted on the group so as to foster docility and uncritical reception of the defective arguments. Besides, another factor leading to the failure of the foreign policies was direct pressure on dissenters; members were under pressure so as not to express arguments hindering the views of the group. There was no member who could criticize the decision that had been agreed by the majority members in the making of the foreign policies. This led to their failure.

The belief in inherent morality also contributed to the failure of the foreign policies; in making their decisions, members making the foreign policies believed in the rightness of their cause, which made them ignore the moral or ethical consequences of their decisions. In the making of a foreign policy, it is crucial to consider the ethical consequences of any action taken; however, the policy is bound to fail if this is not considered, and this is what led to the failure of most US foreign policies. The decision makers believe that their cause was right and could not be reversed. In addition, collective rationalization was a contributing factor leading to the failure of most of the US foreign policies. Members involved in the making of policies discounted warnings and did not reconsider their assumption, which was a weak decision in the making of foreign policies. Furthermore, there were stereotyped views of out-groups. There were negative views of the enemy, which made it difficult for decision makers to integrate responses that could deal sufficiently with the enemy; for instance, in the Pearl Harbor attack, the decision makers underestimated the enemy leading to failure.

The failures that emanated from the groupthink could only become a success story through the adoption of some measures. One of such measures entails the leader avoiding stating of preferences and expectations during the outset of a foreign policy. By leaders avoiding stating preferences, they were capable of eliminating the notion of self-appointed mindguard in the making of foreign policies. Members in the group making the foreign policies should be assigned the role of critical evaluators by the leader in order to avoid instances, where members cannot challenge a flaw in the foreign policy. Through this mentality, foreign policies were made successful. The involvement of outside experts in challenging the views of policy makers became encouraged leading to a success of foreign policies. In addition, in order to realize success the leaders avoided undermining the enemy; the leaders ensured that there was sufficient time in surveying signals coming from rivals. This helped in analyzing the enemy leading to a successful decision. Social-psychological factors are critical to any decision making process. Since making of foreign policy involves acting rationally, social-psychological factors are vital in the making of foreign policies; therefore, I agree with Irving Janis that social-psychological factors are of importance in the making of foreign policy.

Conclusion

The maintenance of unanimity can lead a group not evaluating all its alternatives; this leads to failure of a decision made by the group. Most of the foreign policies of the United States became a failure due to the involvement of the groupthink concept. Groupthink had a critical role to play in the making of foreign policies as depicted in the Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs, and the invasion of Iraq among others. The decision makers in all these foreign policies utilized the concept of groupthink. However, due to the weaknesses in the decision made by using this concept, these foreign policies did not succeed.

Factors Effecting Small and Medium Enterprises, Selection of Market Entry Mode

Students Name

Affiliation

Abstract

Table of contents

Chapter 1: introduction

1.1. Background.

1.2 Problem Statement.

1.3 Purpose.

1.4 Thesis statement.

1.5 Limitations.

Chapter 2: Method

2.1 Approach.

2.2 Discussion on chosen 10 articles.

In this chapter, we will also discuss why we want to expand internationally, what international market opportunities available to us, which international expansion opportunities will suit us best, Selected dimension, cost, risk, market size and control, decision makers and influencers etc.

Chapter 3: Thesis, Theory

3.1 Relationship/ link between our reviewed articles.

3.2 Critical review of chosen articles/theories.

Conclusion.

Limitation of the study.

Future work.

CHAPTER 1

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

According to him, many large companies in Pakistan have a bulk of resources, such as financial and technological, and have sufficient experience. They have multiple choices of international market entry mode strategies, but small companies, due to limited size and inadequate experience than what they could cope with. Hence, they are unable to meet up with their desired goals. Therefore, SMEs forced to go internationalization due to focus on niche market, limited product life cycles, the limited size of their home or domestic market comparative to abroad. The Researcher argues however, that these firms face a severe dilemma should they try to go for international expansion. The author states that primary international market entry modes used by small businesses is exporting without extending the firm’s resources. The Researcher also emphasizes that small firms often skip some or all of the international expansion stages as many of the companies must be international from the outset (Meyer & Gao 2006).

If a company selects a poor market entry mode of international market entry at the beginning stage of international expansion, it can become a threat for its future international market entries. However, there is no right international market entry mode that can be seen as a suitable choice (Hollensen 1998).

The selection of international market entry mode is a critical decision, which demands a bulk of resources and planning. When making the decision of international market entry mode, a wide range of factors should be considered (Young 1989, Hamill 1989, Wheeler & Davies 1989).

Furthermore, Koch (2001) states all factors proposed to effect international market entry mode selection fall into three groups: internal, external and mixed.

The author pinpoints that a little or no research work made on the particular issues that Pakistani SMEs face influential factors effect of these influential internal/external factors on selection of market entry mode in internationalization.

The problem is therefore to investigate the internal and external factors affecting selection of international market entry mode strategies. The researcher makes additions: the size of the firm is of great importance to go international and to be successful, as the small and medium enterprises are not well prepared as the large companies to deal with the institutional distance between the target country or host country in which investment is to be made, and home country.

As the SMEs prospering their needs to be design and develop according to market entering strategies towards international expansion process. This way Pakistani SMEs could utilize the growing tanneries and maintain the consistency of foreign exchange along with major competing currencies like China, India (Hussain 2003). It is important for all small and medium enterprises to expand internationally to earn more profit (Knight 2002).

The selection of market entry mode is different from company to company and affected by numerous factors, both internal and external to the company (ibid). How a firm deals with the external factors, depends on internal factors while selecting international market entry mode (Root 1994).

It is of great importance for small and medium enterprises to find out what influential factors that was major in the modal choices of other companies. This is in order to improve the SMEs strategies and not make the mistakes other companies have done (Osland 2001, Taylor & Zou 2001).

Hollensen (1998) states that if a company in the initial stage of its market expansion makes poor selection of international market entry mode, it can become a threat for its future market entries and expansion process.

Factors affecting companies’ selection of entry mode can be divided into two groups: internal and external factors (Johansson & Vahlne 1977). Internal factors consist of determinants regarding the inside environment of the company, while the external are determined outside the environment of the company.

According to Hussain (2003) Pakistani small and medium enterprise firms have not enough knowledge about international market expansion and shy to enter the international market. Only few SMEs were in the internationalization process. The author focused on Pakistani SMEs that are on finger tips operating in international market and also effect of influential factors (internal and external) on choice of market entry mode selection.

The author would explore the Pakistani small and medium enterprises Hosiery companies for future foreign expansion. Authors mainly focus on internal and external factors. Internal factors are the firm size, product, international experience, profit objective, Management Risk Attitude. External factors include environmental factors, foreign country market factors, Industry feasibility/ viability of MEM, Market growth rate, Image support requirement, Global management efficiency requirement, Popularity of individual MEMs in the overseas market and socio cultural factors. The problem is therefore to investigate how internal and external factors affecting selection of international market entry mode strategies.

1.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

To investigate and critically assess impact of internal and external factors on small and medium enterprises on selection of international market entry mode strategies in Pakistan.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION

How can internal and external factors influence the selection of international market entry mode?

1.4 ORGANIZATION OF STUDY

The thesis is divided into six chapters and in first chapter introduction problem statement research objectives and research question are given.

Second chapter represents Methodology, the research approach, research strategy for empirical data collection, and how analysis to be done.

The third chapter contains Frame of Reference, theories related to the research topic, and will lead to the gathering of information, empirical data and data analysis.

Fourth chapter contains empirical data collected from investigated SMEs’ (companies) information from Pakistan. Then the data in each case is presented according to research question.

Fifth chapter: Data analysis starts within case analysis, where empirical data is compared with theories, discussed by the researcher. The case analysis followed by the cross analysis where the results of two investigated SMEs compared against each other. Conclusion is drawn in chapter six with implication and future research directions.

FIGURE 1: ORGANIZATION OF THESIS CHAPTERS

635139700Chapter 2 Methodology

Chapter 2 Methodology

4102100139700Chapter 5

Data Analysis

Chapter 5

Data Analysis

-1127125-8890Chapter 1 setting

Chapter 1 setting

1292225-8890Chapter 3 Frame of reference work

Chapter 3 Frame of reference work

2578100-8890Chapter 4

Empirical Data

Chapter 4

Empirical Data

5521325-8890Chapter 6 Conclusion

Chapter 6 Conclusion

CHAPTER 2

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter we have an overview of previous studies relevant to the research question presented. The literature related to research question regarding how internal and external factors can affect the selection of entry mode. The literature on internal and external factors and their influence on choice of market entry mode described. Therefore market entry modes in this chapter applied in SME, s. Finally, a summary of frame of reference is presented.

2.1 INTERNATIONAL MARKET ENTRY THEORY

The literature on the international market has been criticized as being an expressive and missing empirical research (Paliwoda 1999); the selection of international market entry mode in the literature is considered a major issue in the literature (Anderson, Gatignon 1986, Bradley 1991 & Wei 1994) and researched extensively.

Generally, the literature of on the international expansion process of international market entry can be divided into two schools of thought, the stages theory and the contingency theory (Nair 1997 & Melin 1992). The stages theory views the international expansion of firms as a set process of chronological progress through stages of resource commitment (Nair 1997, Anderson 1993 & Peters 1994). On the other hand, the contingency theory focuses on strategies or choices for the various international market entry modes (Melin 1992, Kwon & Konopa 1992).

The thesis reviews the international expansion process model of the stages theory to explain how companies expand their operation in foreign markets so as to establish what stage of the international process Pakistani firms currently are at. The author reviewed two models from the contingency theory: the transaction cost model and the conceptual model of contingencies. These models permit for internal and external environment factors in the decision for international market entry mode.

2.2 THE TRANSACTION COST MODEL

The transaction cost model classifies the environmental factors that influence a company as internal and external factors. The internal factors are the company and product characteristics, while the external factors are the external foreign market characteristics (Root 1987, Anderson, Gatignon, 1987; Kwon & Konopa 1992).

Figure 2: Model of transaction cost market entry mode

Source: Kwon & Konopa (1992)

This model points out that the risks confronted in the overseas market operation are moderated by the level of control achieved by the selection of an international market entry mode, which as a result affects the long-term return of the overseas investment. Risk is known here as the chances of loss arising from trade barriers, strength of competition and political instability. Return is explained as the long-term effectiveness and profit (Kwon, Konopa 1992, Wei 1994 & Nair 1997).

The deficiency of this model is that it does not discover the effect of the home country environment on the overall effect of the trade-offs between risks and return.

2.3 THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF CONTINGENCIES

Stop ford (1972) and wells developed one of the first international market entry mode models. They argued that selection of market entry mode was contingent upon the firm’s international experience and product diversification. Contingency theory explains that a firm that enters a international market should choose market entry mode based on firm, industry and country specific factors. For example, the entering company is less likely to make an acquisition if the rules governing FDI and other industry-specific regulations have been significantly liberalized (Bhaumik & Gelb 2005).

The conceptual model of contingencies include previous research on the international market entry mode in one comprehensive framework (Minor 1991 & Wei 1994) by adding environmental characteristics with competition in industry and the product/market contingencies. The company’s experience and organizational strengths are also considered. The model is consolidated by the insertion of the company’s strategic objectives. The model shows that a company’s overall performance in the international venture is a consequence of the interaction of environmental, product, competition, and organizational factors, of goals and international market entry mode choices.

Figure 3: The conceptual model of contingencies

SHAPE

Source Minor et al. (1991)

2.4 ECLECTIC THEORY MODEL

A model is developed to explore the influential factors of international expansion process developed from the manufacturing research. A model is developed based upon the tenets of Dunning’s (1980, 1988, 1990 &1995) eclectic theory.

Dunning’s (1980, 1988, 1990 and 1995) eclectic theory is a transaction cost-based theory that explains the transfer, internationalization, and firm-specific ownership advantages. Eclectic theory suggests the importance of firm- and location-specific factors to explain international operations. Firstly Dunning, (1980) states that specific organizational skills or technologies permit a firm a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Secondly, Dunning (1980) argues that country-specific factors are also important to be successful in the international expansion process. He further states that the characteristics of the market entered significantly influence a firm’s international expansion efforts. While originally intended to explain international investment, eclectic theory can be extended to explain how firms, either service or manufacturing, approach internationalization.

Dunning’s (1980) eclectic theory, provides a parsimonious theoretical examination of the applicability of manufacturing influential factors to internationalization of the manufacturing. The model contains the firm-specific factors of firm size, competitive advantage and the location-specific factor of market characteristics to assess management attitudes towards international expansion process.

Figure 4: Factors influencing internationalization process

Researchers show that the probability of international expansion process increases with firm size (Aaby, Slater 1989, Keng, Jiuan 1989, Ali, Camp 1993, Erramilli, Rao 1993, & Katsikeas 1994). Resource theory is used to explain firm size relationship to internationalization (Aaby, Slater 1989, & Bonaccorsi 1992). Aaby and Slater (1989) argue that internationalization requires a great deal of resource commitment by the expanding firm. They further say that the larger a firm becomes, the greater its ability to well connect in export and larger firms appear to be better suited to absorb the risks connected with internationalization. However, resources must be viewed not only in terms of financial capital (Dunning 1980, 1995 & O’Farrell 1998).

Bonaccorsi (1992) studying Italian exporting manufacturers, found a positive relationship between the number of employees and their tendency to export within a firm. Thus, human capital decreases a firm’s risk of failure through the increased possibility of employing those with skills necessary to international expansion.

Further, research suggests that the relationship between firm size and management attitudes is supported in the manufacturing context. O’Farrell et al. (1998) found that, as the resources such as financial and human skills of a manufacturing company increased, its ability to absorb the risks connected with international expansion process increased.

FIRM-SPECIFIC FACTOR: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

Wiedersheim-Paul et al (1978) argue that a firm’s competitive advantages influence management attitudes toward international expansion process. They suggest that when a manufacturer is conscious of the unique assets it possesses, it is more likely to search for extensive exploitation of its competitive advantage. ‘This is supported by other researchers (e.g. Bilkey 1978, Cavusgil 1979, Cooper, Kleinschmidt 1985, Edvardsson 1993 & Katsikeas 1994). For example, Bharadwaj (1993) differentiate between two categories of competitive advantage’.

(i) Unique resources

(ii) Distinctive skills

These advantages interpret directly into superior marketplace and financial performance for the firm. Having or possessing advantages over rivals in terms of unique resources and distinctive skills permits firms to exploit these advantages in the open market and get huge profits than would otherwise be attainable (Dunning 1980, 1995).

As same in the service sector, O’Farrell et al. (1996) argue that specialization and competitiveness lead to larger international expansion process. For example, Miller and Parkhe (1998) found that international expansion process was more pervasive of US banks into overseas markets if the firm determined that it could capitalize on their competitive advantages. If management itself is to have a transferable competitive advantage, it is more likely to have a positive disposition towards operating international market.

LOCATION-SPECIFIC FACTOR

MARKET CHARACTERISTICS

Research in the manufacturing sector indicates that market characteristics have an impact on management attitudes towards operating internationally (Alexandrides 1971 & Dunning 1980). Alexandrides (1971) found that manufacturing exporters perceived lower trade barriers to international expansion process. They have a propensity to more positive attitude toward international expansion. Market characteristics of concern to managers involve host government rules and regulations restraints on international market entry, limitation of foreign ownership, local content requirements and financial and fiscal controls (Czinkota, Ronkainen, 1990, Dunning 1980, Robock & Simmonds 1989). Numerous studies show the impact that these external barriers have on international trade (see Dichtl 1986, Dunning 1980, Kaynak, Kothari, 1984, Kedia, Chhokar 1986, Rabino 1980 & Yang 1992).

Lovelock and Yip (1996) indicate that host governments use import tariffs, non-tariff barriers, local content requirements, currency and capital flow restrictions, ownership restrictions and requirements on technology transfer in an attempt to control the degree of foreign competition in the manufacturing industry.

2.5 DEFINITION OF ENTRY MODE

According to Root (1994) ‘Companies enter into the international market by selecting different entry modes’. An entry mode is an institutional arrangement that creates the opportunity for the companies (technology products, human skills, management and other resources) to enter into the overseas country market.

2.6 TYPES OF ENTRY MODE

There are different kinds of entry mode when a company adopts before going into the international market.

(i) Export Entry Mode

Export mode of entry deals with importing or buying and exporting or selling physical goods or products from a domestic country market to a foreign country market.

(ii) Contractual Entry Mode

Contractual entry modes are long term non equity alliances between the home and host country company.

(iii) Investment Entry Mode

Investment entry modes are about acquiring ownership in a company that is situated in the target country.

Root (1994, P.6-7) classified licensing and franchising as a contractual entry mode, joint venture and green field as an investment entry mode.

2.6.1 Export Entry Mode

The transfer of goods or services across the national borders: many companies start through export and then move to other market entry mode. (Kirbua & Benjamin, 2007). Direct export includes the use of agents, distributors, Government and overseas subsidiaries.

Merits of exporting when a company entering into the overseas country, can avail the facilities at the home country and transfer the goods and services to the other country. This way companies avoid the substantial cost which it incur to establish manufacturing facilities in the foreign country. Companies get an advantage from the economies of scale and from its worldwide sales volume.

That’s why exports enable the company to get an advantage from the experience, cost and location economies. Export does not require a substantial presence abroad. Common examples of export as entry mode are the Sony Television market, Matsushita video cassette recording market and many Japanese companies in the United States auto market (Kirbua & Bejamin 2007).

Where exporting has merits and demerits export from home country may not be profitable if, low cost manufacturing facilities could be established in the host country. Secondly it becomes uneconomical if the transportation costs are high. However, this problem can be removed by manufacturing a bulk of products. At last, regularity authorities imposed the tariff barriers to which the company is exporting could make it risky (Kirbua & Benjamin 2007).

2.6.2 Contractual Entry Mode

In this mode of entry one company makes some form of agreement with another company to use some particular benefits. Two types of contractual entry modes are franchising and licensing (Yadong 1999).

(I) Licensing

There are two parties. One is licensor and the other is the licensee. The licensor gives permission to the licensee of the company to use their resources like technology trade mark, managerial skills etc. In return, the licensee has to pay a royalty fee or certain sum of to the licensor (Hill 2007).

The licensor is not liable to bear any cost in order to get their product in to the foreign country market. The licensee bears all the costs of introducing the product to the foreign country market (Dool & Lowe 2007).

The demerit is if the company licenses their specific assets they will lose their control on manufacturing and marketing in the overseas country market. It will fail to get the experience in the overseas country market (Doole & Lowe 2007). There is always a certain risk that the licensee has the knowledge to develop new or same products that can compete with the licensor products or goods (Doole & Lowe 2007).

(II) Franchise

It is similar to licensing, but there is a minor difference between licensing and franchise. The franchiser can help and involve itself in the franchisee business. Furthermore, the franchiser could apply stiff rules on the franchisee business in the overseas country market (Dool & Lowe 2007).

2.6.3 Investment Entry Mode

(I) Green Field

In this mode of entry the company institutes a full function in the target country’s market and exploits competitive advantages to higher degree than ordinarily achievable through contractual entry mode or export. Investment entry mode permits companies to control the international marketing plan and to gain logistical benefits that may arise from the circumvention of import hurdles, savings in transportation cost and lower manufacturing cost. In Green field investment companies may found manufacturing units and machinery. Company has full control over business activities and profit (Doole & Lowe 2007).

The demerit of green field investment multi culture in the overseas country and domestic information is difficult to gather high resources are required to apply into the foreign market. High resource commitment in the overseas market create exit barrier under uncertainty (Dool & Lowe 2007).

(II) Joint Ventures

When international firms invest their capital in the target country with local partner firms, then overseas investor may have the majority or minority or partial joint ventures equity. It is started from scratch but may result from the purchase of equity in an existing local company. Companies more prefer this mode of entry because they share the risk and costs among other business partners and partner in the foreign country and profit share depend upon agreement (Doole & Lowe 2007).

The core benefit of this market entry mode is to employ host country business partner as they share their experience knowledge of the particular country or their local market (Doole & Lowe 2007).

The disadvantage is difference in the aim and objectives of the participating firms which can cause disagreement on the question of investment, strategies, lose control of the form assets like technology, and overall goals of particular companies. Some countries put restrictions to adopt joint ventures. For instance in Philippines confined foreign ownership. (Doole & Lowe 2007)

2.7 ENTRY MODE CHOICES IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET FOR SOCKS KNITTING INDUSTRY

In the socks knitting industry, entering into new international markets takes place through different market entry modes. For small and medium enterprises it can take the form of exporting at the beginning stage, and for MNCs it can take the form of acquiring local firms or joint ventures with them. It can also take the form of a request from a local government based on a company’s goodwill on special projects in the market (El-Gamal 1993). Governments play a major role in promoting hosiery industry work through bilateral relations and foreign aid with other governments (Ostler 1998). Other forms of entering new international markets are through foreign direct investments, export, licensing (Buckley et al, 1991) and competitive tendering (El-Gamal 1993, Wheeler & Woon 1987).

International contractors tend to use different approaches when entering new international markets according to host country market conditions, and prefer complementing their lack of local skills by joint ventures (Strassmann 1988). Another form of entry in an international market for contractors is the formation of a consortium with home country partners, where one firm is managing the project and the others doing the work at their own set prices. When small and medium enterprises penetrate new international markets, they take the form of causal or accidental exporting or foreign licensing (El-Gamal 1993, Kurtz 1984). Erramilli and Rao (1993) added contractual transfers to the international market entry mode choices of manufacturing industries and it included licensing and franchising.

Each of these international market entry modes involves diverse levels of resource commitment and consequently these resources associated with diverse levels of investment risks. Normally, the higher the resources committed level, the higher is the investment risk. In the socks knitting industry entering into overseas markets takes the form of exporting, contractual agreements, joint ventures with home country partners and host country partners, as well as wholly-owned subsidiaries. International contractors mean MNCs tend to prefer operating as joint venture with host country partners, others prefer to export their products through agents and distributors basis with no long-term involvement (El-Gamal 1993).

2.8 FACTORS INFLUENCING SELECTION OF ENTRY MODE [BY KOCH]

Management decides which market entry mode is the most suitable to penetrate a new market, a company has to consider different factors, which will determine the right selection of entry mode. Koch (2001) categorizes these factors internal and external company size, product and experience. The size, product and the overseas experience of a firm are very important factors which determine the different options to acquire a new market for a firm. Alexandrides (1971) found that, when manufacturing exporters perceived lower trade barriers to internationalizing, they tended to have a more positive attitude toward expanding globally.

Figure: 5 Shown Factors influencing the entry mode selection

Koch factors effecting selection of market entry mode (2001)

(I) INTERNAL FACTORS

Company Size/ Resources

Smaller companies have limited market servicing alternatives as Koch (2001) has quoted from Benito & Welch 1994. Small companies have limited amount of resources and may just not allow, or not support the selection of some market entry modes. Researchers indicate that the probability of international activity increases with the firm size (Aaby , slater 1989 Ali and camp 1993, Erramilli and Rao, 1993) Resource theory is used to explain firm size relationship to internationalization (Bonaccorsi 1992). Aaby and slater (1989) argue that international expansion requires a great deal of resource commitment by the expanding firm. For example, to set up a fully owned subsidiary often connects with very large investments as well as high risk. Similarly, small companies may not have suitable management potential and special skills to enter overseas markets through establishing fully owned foreign based subsidiaries or international joint ventures.

Product

Koch (2001) states that differentiated products with obvious advantages compared to competitor’s products give the seller a very clear limitation when it comes to price setting. Well differentiated products can demand high transportation costs; high import taxes still remain competitive. On the other hand, the standardized products that are not differentiated have to compete on the price they can offer for the customer. It is only possible with some local production. Therefore, high differentiated products are preferred to enter overseas markets through export, low differentiated products forces the firm to home manufacturing/contracting manufacturing or equity investment. Kindle Berger (1969) states that when product differentiation through R&D exists, companies will search to set up control over these benefits and look after them from distribution through the use of investment of market entry mode.

Manufactured products that needs pre and post purchase services often seems harder for a firm to market from a far distance. Usually when providing product services the company needs to be close to the customer, service intensive manufactured products are biased towards branches/subsidiary exporting local production modes of entry.

Technology intensive products give the firm an opportunity to license its technology in the overseas host country instead of using other entry modes. Due to the fact that technology intensity in many cases is higher for industrial products, firms are more optimistic entering licensing provisions than consumer product companies. Those products that desire a high level of adaptation when going to be marketed in a foreign country prefer entry modes that permit a company to have a closed distance to the overseas market, which means that entry modes such as subsidiaries/ branches, exporting local production are suitable alternatives.

Management Risk Attitudes

Anix (1988) states ‘A link between mangers attitudes towards international expansion should not be undervalued’. Management attitudes act as guiding force of the organization. He further states that attitudes towards exporting become more positive, managers become less concerned with the complexities of international expansion.

Additionally, research from the manufacturing sector strongly supports the relationship between managerial attitudes and internationalization (Cavusgil & Nev

Factors for Designing Organizational Websites

Presented by

Institution

Businesses deploy websites for the commercial activities due to the widespread use and dependency on web technology. An organization should consider factors put into consideration while designing an organizational website (Herbert et al, 2012). This discussion will focus on websites from three retail stores namely; Zappos, Men’s Wearhouse, and Nordstroms. These retail stores have so far produced the best websites that the organization should aim at adapting.

Zappos management has taken a step in maintaining the website simple so that customers have an easier time accessing it. Simple websites provide an easier navigation and makes customers shopping easier and fact. On the other hand, Zappos provide the most reliable website for online shopping since web pages and links are easily downloaded. Customers do not wait for a long time while downloading company files (Zappos Milestone, 2013). Nordstroms Company website also is easily accessible and customers access links quickly, but not as fast compared to Zappos (Nordstrom, 2013). Organizations should provide an online application forms for potential candidates to use while submitting an application (Herbert et al, 2012). The three companies analyzed have a provision for this. Moreover, Men’s Wearhouse has gone a step further to load the applications forms and make them accessible in all company databases (Men’s Wearhouse, 2013). According to Wilson (2013), an organizational website should save money in terms of online efficiencies. Providing an online application process saves the company the cost of printing application forms and sending them to potential tendering firms.

Information about culture is particularly crucial for an organization development and growth. Most employees require knowledge of the organization culture in order to make a decision about joining it or not (Herbert et al, 2012). Zappos, Mens Wearhouse, and Nordstrom’s websites have well explained culture in their websites matching the requirement of each retail store. Putting the necessary information about an organization is another factor that a website must have. Nordstroms management has made available only the company’s necessary information required by new applicants and customers. Zappos has included a lot of unnecessary information in their website that give readers a lot of confusion in fishing the valuable information (Zappos Milestone, 2013). In addition, the organization’s website should have such an arrangement resembling Men’s Wearhouse’s website because all the necessary information is easily searched. Moreover, the organizational information in the website should have a systematic arrangement in order to attract viewers on first sight (Men’s Wearhouse, 2013).

According to Herbert et al (2012), selected links on relevant websites always makes it easier for browsers to access information about an organization. They make necessary calculations related to products and services offered. Zappos’ Retail Market website provides many links where customers check the costs of various products and make a comparison. The website should also give links that direct the customer on how to acquire a product and the most appropriate mode of payment (Zappos Milestone, 2013). On the other hand, Nordstroms’ website has modified its website to include a section for career advice directed to new recruits in the company. Lastly, an organization should consider the factor on keeping current information. The business world advances at a high rate as technology also keeps on growing. The high rate of globalization has made Zappos, Nordstroms and Mens Wearhouse retail shops keep on updating their website most frequently to keep browsers informed. In case, an organization wants to recruit new staff day to day update on the current organization information is extremely necessary.

By adapting the above 7 factors in designing the website, the organization enjoys all benefits necessary for growth and increased productivity.

References

Herbert, G. H III., Timothy A. J., and John D. Kammeyer-Mueller. (2012). Staffing

Organizations. McGraw Hill/Irwin. Print, p. 248.

Men’s Wearhouse. (2013). Men’s Clothing – Men’s Suits, Dress Shirts & More | Men’s

Wearhouse. Retrieved February from:

http://www.menswearhouse.com/shop/Ho

Nordstrom. (2013). Company History. Retrieved from;

http://shop.nordstrom.com/c/company-history

Wilson, R. (2013). 12 Website Design Decisions Your Business or Organization Will Need to

Make. Retrieved from:

http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/12design/

Zappos Milestone. (2013). Timeline – Markets – Footwear News – WWD.com. Fashion, Beauty

and Retail News – WWD.com. Retrieved February from:

http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/markets/zappos-milestone-timeline-2121760

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Facebook: Watching the Watchers by Patrick White

The influence of Facebook has grown tremendously over the years affecting the lives of both young people and adults. Its inception lies in Harvard University where programmer Mark Zuckerberg designed it as a profile site for university students. Its use started spreading to other schools including colleges and high schools before becoming popular to the entire world. Today, one cannot neglect the benefits as well as harms that this social networking site presents to people far and wide. Facebook helps in fostering and maintaining relationships while at the same time exposing private information about users to strangers. Patrick White’s watching the Watchers article attests to both aspects of Facebook in a lucid manner.

The social platform, Facebook, transformed “oh nothing” responses that Ms. Van der Spank would often get from her children to healthy relationships, and the same effects could multiply to any parent. Ms. Bromberg serves as another example that illuminates the benefits of the social site to family relationships. However, Facebook also made Ms. Van’s private information public, and it only took a short while before she began complaining about how people spy on her through Facebook. This article also suggests that Facebook is taking away the need to socialize in person. True to these sentiments, young people today exhibit profound changes in the way they make friends and ask for dates. While the article praises the social networking site for its ability to manage and maintain relationships, it also presents the bad side of Facebook. In a nutshell, watching the Watchers by Patrick White opens up Facebook users, young and old, to both sides of Facebook enabling them to devise ways and set limits to ensure a balance between the positive and negative aspects.

Factors Influencing Chinese Employees’ Job EngagementContents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177450” Factors Influencing Chinese Employees’ Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177450 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177451” CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc376177451 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177452” 1.1 Backgrounds PAGEREF _Toc376177452 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177453” 1.2 Problem Statement PAGEREF _Toc376177453 h 3

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177454” 1.3 Research Aim and Objectives PAGEREF _Toc376177454 h 4

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177455” 1.4 Structure of the Dissertation PAGEREF _Toc376177455 h 4

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177456” CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW PAGEREF _Toc376177456 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177457” 2.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc376177457 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177458” 2.2 Employee Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177458 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177459” 2.3 Impact of Leadership Style on Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177459 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177460” 2.4 Impact of Performance Assessment on Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177460 h 10

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177461” 2.5 Impact of Compensation and Welfare on Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177461 h 13

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177462” 2.6 Impact of Training and Development on Job Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177462 h 15

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177463” 2.7 Summary PAGEREF _Toc376177463 h 17

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177464” 3.0 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc376177464 h 19

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177465” 3.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc376177465 h 19

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177466” 3.2 Research Philosophy PAGEREF _Toc376177466 h 19

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177467” 3.3 Research Approach PAGEREF _Toc376177467 h 20

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177468” 3.4 Research Strategy PAGEREF _Toc376177468 h 21

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177469” 3.4.1 Questionnaire survey PAGEREF _Toc376177469 h 21

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177470” 3.4.2 Questionnaire Design PAGEREF _Toc376177470 h 22

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177471” 3.5 Sample and Sampling Techniques PAGEREF _Toc376177471 h 23

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177472” 3.6 Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc376177472 h 24

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177473” 3.7 Data Analysis PAGEREF _Toc376177473 h 25

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177474” 3.8 Validity and Reliability PAGEREF _Toc376177474 h 25

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177475” 3.9 Research Ethics PAGEREF _Toc376177475 h 26

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177476” 4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION PAGEREF _Toc376177476 h 26

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177477” 4.1 Overview of the Study Findings PAGEREF _Toc376177477 h 26

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177478” As the reviewed literature shows, there is no doubt that leadership style, performance assessment, compensation and welfare, and training and development have a direct bearing on employee engagement (see for example BlessingWhite, 2011; Bakker and Later, 2010; Downey, 2008; Kim et al. 2008; Schaufeli et al. 2002; Albrecht, 2010; Appelbaum, 2000; Attridge, 2009; Avery et al., 2007; Avolio et al., 2004; Armstrong and Baron, 2005; Cawley et al., 1998; Denisi and Pritchard, 2006; Nnazir, 2012; Castellano, 2001; Muller and Trannoy, 2011; Robinson et al., 2004; Schaufeli and Bakker, 2004; Brum, 2007; Becker, 1993; Virginia, 2012; Herzberg, 1966; Maslow, 1943). The respondents confirmed this through their comprehensive answer to question 6 of the introductory part of the questionnaire – all the respondents had a clear understanding of what employee engagement entails – they said it entails unrivalled commitment, desire to want to achieve the set personal and organisational goals, desire to work for the current employer for the long term, low burnout levels, and the ability to withstand organisational challenges without desiring to resign. Specifically, this is in line with Attridge (2009) assertion that “the concept of employee work engagement describes the extent to which workers are involved with, committed to, and passionate about their work” (p.1). PAGEREF _Toc376177478 h 26

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177479” 4.2 Impact of Leadership Style on Employee Engagement PAGEREF _Toc376177479 h 28

HYPERLINK l “_Toc376177480” 5.0 CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc376177480 h 28

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 BackgroundsWith the arrival of new economic times, competition among enterprises is increasingly fierce. In order to keep a strong market footing and sustainable operational improvement, enterprises are gradually realising that talents are the key factors of remaining competitive (Bakker and Laiter, 2010). Today, more and more enterprises have started to conduct researches on job engagement with a view to improving job performance and satisfaction (Kaplan et al., 2009). This has given popularity to the field of positive psychology. This is due to its utility in understanding employee behaviours and how such behaviours can be adjusted to realise high productivity. In recent years, managers and researchers are gradually realising the great impact that positive psychology has on improving business performance (Bakker and Leiter, 2010; Warr and Inceoglu, 2012). Through positive psychology employers are able to rollout new employee welfare programmes to boost employees’ morale and hence their ability to remain focused and committed to organisational goals.

Under the backdrop of this realisation, job engagement as a business management concept has become very popular in China as well as in the western world. Job engagement pays attention to the individual’s positive attitude towards the job. This exerts a significant impact on the business performance and can greatly improve job efficiency and retention rate (Rich, Lepine and Crawford, 2010). Therefore, it is necessary for enterprises to try to improve employees’ job engagement by rolling out programmes that address the individual, group and family needs of the employees.

The concept of employee engagement is multidimensional. Attridge (2009) posits that “the concept of employee work engagement describes the extent to which workers are involved with, committed to, and passionate about their work” (p.1). For Bakker and Leiter (2010), employee engagement is a concept of managing contemporary enterprises that involves increasing the overall involvement of employees towards the organisational goals. Normally, employee engagement is measurable in terms of how employees positively or negatively attach themselves emotionally to workplace processes, people and the organisation in general. However, it should be noted that employee engagement is very different from employee satisfaction or employee motivation but motivation and satisfaction forms part of employee engagement (BlessingWhite, 2011). From these closely related arguments it can be concluded that the concept of employee engagement which is also referred to as worker engagement or even employee job engagement is a set of positive attitudes towards the organisation, its vision, mission and values.

Employee engagement is a function of multiple factors. Conventional knowledge gathered from multiple sources show that employee engagement is normally influenced by factors that have a direct bearing on the employees compensation levels and welfare at the workplace (see for example Bakker and Leiter, 2010; Muller and Trannoy, 2011; Warr and Inceoglu, 2012). This is an indicator that organisations that embrace collectivism and other worthwhile, modern human resource management practices such as share-based employee loyalty programmes strengthen their long term strategic standing while those that do not practice this are at a disadvantage.

Studies carried out by Avolio, Bass, and Walumbwa (2004), Tims and Bakker (2011), Walumbwa and Hartnell (2011), Wang and Chen (2005) all point out to the notion that leadership style has a great bearing on employee engagement. Specifically, these studies believe that transformational leadership style has the greatest impact on employee engagement among all existing leadership styles. This is so because transformational leadership increase employees’ dedication and commitment to their tasks, increases employees’ potency and efficacy, and increases employees’ ability to undertake complex organisational tasks.

Employee engagement is also influenced by performance assessment. According to studies carried out by Denisi and Pritchard (2006) and Muchinsky (2012), employee engagement is influenced by performance assessment related factors such as performance management and target setting. On the other hand, studies carried out by Schraeder, Becton and Portis (2007), Sudarsan (2009) show that employee engagement is influenced by factors related to employee welfare and welfare programmes. Performance appraisal has strong bearing on employee engagement as it gives employees an opportunity to re-examine and align their capabilities with those of the organisation (Armstrong and Baron, 2005; Denisi and Pritchard, 2006; Manasa and Reddy, 2009; Muchinsky, 2012). On their part, Gruman and Saks (2011) and Keeping and Levy (2000) when performed professionally, performance appraisal help to identify training needs, communicate employee skill needs and how best these skills can be acquired. However, Cawley, Keeping and Levy (1998), Keeping and Levy (2000), and Muchinsky (2009) cautions that if performed unprofessionally, performance appraisal can be detrimental to employee engagement as it can kill employee morale and commitment especially when the appraiser is biased.

Lastly, studies carried out by Brum (2007), Becker (1993), Castellano (2001), York (2010) and Truss et al. (2006) argue that employee engagement is influenced by factors related to training and development. These studies argue that employee training and development is the best way of managing human capital. Specifically, these authors argue that when employees are given the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their tasks, they tend to become more happy, resourceful and engaged. Moreover, Truss et al. (2006) posit that employees need to be taken through regular training drills so as to become their overall productivity, an organisational target that is directly impacted by the level of employee engagement. Overall, these studies seem to arrive at the conclusion that employee engagement is a business management idea whose core premise is to make employees more productive.

Employees who are not meaningfully engaged are costly to maintain. A study commissioned by the Gallup Organisation show that employees that are not meaningfully engaged cost between $250 and $350 billion every year to employers in the United States (Attridge, 2009). Another study carried out in the 1990s show that employees that are not connected to their jobs pose a major challenge to CEOs especially when building competitive advantage through cost reduction and sustainable innovation (Wah, 1999). These two studies are reflective of the situation at ground in many organisations across the global divide. For instance, BlessingWhite (2011) argues that studies carried out in the 1990s show that only about one out of every five employees is meaningfully engaged. This converts to about 20 percent of all employees in the world. According to Attridge (2009), a survey whose results were tabled in a 2005 Conference Board showed that about two thirds of employees lack the will power to pursue their employers’ goals; another 40 percent employees lack a genuine connection to their jobs, while another 25 percent only attend their tasks to get paid. This large number of unengaged employees could be responsible for the occasional market crises and losses in the global market especially among large multinational companies with foot prints in major markets that are known to treat their employees differently according t the local labour and employment cultures.

1.2 Problem StatementIn the past decades, job burnout has become a hot topic among western and Far East organisations. Based on survey results published in the Chinese Human Resource Development website, almost 70 percent of Chinese employees possess different levels of job burnout. This is due to the rapid development of the economy and the gradual westernisation of the originally conservative society. Under this background, job engagement becomes important point in human resource management among many organisations.

Many researchers have studied the antecedents of job engagement and factors including leadership style, performance assessment, compensation and welfare and training and development (see for example Hassan and Ahmed, 2011; Albrecht, 2011; Attridge, 2009; Bakker and Leiter, 2010; BlessingWhite, 2010; Earnshaw, 2005, Kaplan et al., 2009; Maslach and Leiter, 2008; O’Neil and Maitland, 2008; Taylor Nelson Sofres, 2011; Warr and Inceoglu, 2012). As expected, majority of these studies address employee engagement from an international perspective while only a few narrow down their scope on Chinese situation. Studies addressing Employee engagement in China include BlessingWhite (2011), Earnshaw (2005), O’Neil and Maitland (2008) and Taylor Nelson Sofres (2011) all suggest that employee engagement in China is at its lowest compared to other countries in the world. For instance, BlessingWhite (2011) argue that employee engagement in China was found to be 52 percent, about 6 points lower than the situation in other parts of the world. BlessingWhite study found that the number of Chinese employees likely to leave their jobs was triple the global benchmark (16 percent against 5 percent). The study also found that employees engage themselves because they like their work while employees disengage themselves from their work because of lack of career opportunities, desire for better compensation, and because they do not like their work.

Despite these cross cutting studies, it is wise to argue that studies on job engagement in China are still in their nascent stages – most of the existing studies do not critically address the major factors that affect employee engagement, they only report employee engagement levels in the country without outlining in deeper detail the reasons behind these levels. Therefore, it is important to carry out a study that critically analyses the major factors that influence employees’ job engagement in China by collecting information from practising human resources management professionals through the China Human Resource Website. In addition, the extremely low employee engagement levels in China are another precursor for more studies to be done on this area. Moreover, with the prevailing uncertainty in the international market and the growing competition in both local and international markets following the country’s entry into the World Trade Organisation, it is only fair to assert that more studies need to be carried out so as to establish the degree which critical factors such as leadership style, performance assessment, compensation and welfare, and training and development impact employee engagement. This will provide useful information that organisations can utilise to improve employees’ job engagement level and the wellbeing of the entire organisation.

1.3 Research Aim and ObjectivesCurrently, in the intense market competition around the global business, talents are the core resources of enterprises, and organisational performance greatly can be determined by the level of these talents engaging in the work. Job engagement is a crucial facet for building competitive advantage among organisations in emerging markets such as China. Therefore, this research is very crucial as it seeks to analyse the factors influencing employees’ job engagement among Chinese organisations. From this overarching aim, the study will also pursue the following specific research objectives:

To explore the impact of leadership style on employees’ job engagement in China.

To investigate the impact of performance assessment on employees’ job engagement in China.

To report the impact of compensation and welfare on employees’ job engagement in China.

To analyse the impact of training and development on employees’ job engagement in China.

1.4 Structure of the DissertationThis dissertation comprises of five chapters. Chapter covers a background of the study, problem statement, research objectives and aims. Chapter two covers a comprehensive review of the existing relevant literature gathered from journal articles, textbooks, and authentic websites. The third chapter will cover the research methodology, sampling, data collection and data analysis methods. The fourth chapter will present a set of findings and discussion of these findings. Lastly, the fifth chapter will wrap up the study and offer recommendations that organisations in China can employ to enhance employees’ job engagement.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a rich set of information on job engagement. This is in line with Creswell (2009) who posits that a literature review chapter should cover information related to the study aims and objectives. To this end, chapter is divided into five main sections. Firstly, the chapter covers a comprehensive discussion/definition of job engagement. The second section addresses information related to leadership style and job engagement, the third section will address literature related to performance assessment and job engagement, the fourth section will address literature related to compensation and employee welfare and job engagement while the fifth section will address training and development and job engagement. Lastly, the chapter will be wrapped up with a short but comprehensive summary addressing all the major points reviewed in the chapter.

2.2 Employee Job Engagement Researchers have put forward multiple definitions and dimensions of employee engagement. For instance, Wefald and Downey (2008) defined job engagement as the ability for organisational members to control themselves to integrate with work related roles. From this definition, it can be deduced that self and work role are actually in a dynamic process of transformation. When job engagement is relatively high, individuals will input the energy to role behaviour (self-employment), and express self in role (self-expression). Based on this point, Kahn further divided job engagement to physical, cognitive and emotional dimensions. Kim, Shin and Swanger (2008) redefined job engagement as the omission of burnout. They regarded burnout and engagement as two external points of a three-dimensional continuum and divided job engagement into three dimensions of energy, involvement and efficacy. On their part, Schaufeli et al. (2002) defined the concept of job engagement as a kind of durable perfect state full of positive emotion and motivation characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption. Based on the above discussions, it can be summarised that job engagement refers to the state of mutually satisfying contentment among employees. Employee engagement is a facet of emotional attachment. Studies show that actively engaged employees have strong emotional attachment towards both the organisation and the values it stands for. A 2010 study by BlessngWhite shows that only about 31 percent of all employees are emotionally attached to their jobs (BlessingWhite, 2011). These employees have been noted to work with great passion and are always willing to paint a good image of their organisation – a big chunk of the emotionally engaged employees believe that they have the capacity to make their organisation succeed in the long run (Bakker and Leiter, 2010). Specifically, these employees believe they have a positive impact on the quality of the product an organisation sells to its customers, they can positively influence customer perceptions regarding brand quality and most importantly, they can positively impact on an organisation’s cost reduction efforts. Again, emotionally attached employees will most likely recommend the organisation to their colleagues (Robinson and Hayday, 2003). Overall, emotional attachment has to do with the intrinsically positioned prompts that an organisation extends to its employees such as personal growth and a sense of common purpose and involvement in core organisational processes such as workplace restructuring and change of mission statement. Extrinsic prompts such as pay and rewards too have substantial impacts on emotional engagement but it is intrinsic prompts which have the biggest influence.

Employee engagement entails maximum employee involvement in organisational processes and activities. According to a study carried out by Appelbaum et al (2000) on 10 electronic manufacturers, 17 apparels manufacturers, and 15 steel mills, to compare and modern production systems, it was found that employees become more engaged if they are involved in organisational activities. When employees are involved in making decisions they develop positive attitudes towards the organisation and are easier to manage. To this effect, Attridge (2009) argues that engaged employees are usually passionate about their organisation. Bakker and Leiter (2010) argue that employee engagement is a contemporary business management concept that whose core goal is to generate morale and therefore make employees more involved in workplace activities. Overall, employee engagement is determined by how employees positively or negatively attach themselves emotionally to workplace processes, people and the organisation.

Employee engagement also incorporates commitment involvement and higher organisational performance. Employee engagement is a function of many performance related constructs which all narrow down to employee involvement and performance (Attridge, 2009; Bakker and Leiter, 2010). According a study carried out by Lockwood (2007), engaged employees were found to be 87 percent less likely to quit their current jobs, perform 20 percent better, are committed to the organisation. Lockwood also agrees that engaged employees are likely to serve customers well and therefore earn the organisation more revenue. Moreover, engaged employees are less likely to be involved in workplace accidents as they command a better understanding of organisational processes. This helps to reduce operation costs and therefore freeing the much needed funds for use in income-generating activities. Again, two studies one involving over 3500 employees from 49 organisations and the other one involving over 4800 employees from 92 organisations in the life insurance industry found that when employees are constantly involved in running the organisations, their morale increases and hence their performance (Konrad, 2006). Overall, these findings lead to the conclusion that organisations with committed and engaged employees outperform their colleagues whose employees were less engaged.

2.3 Impact of Leadership Style on Job Engagement

Leadership style refers to the different characters expressed by leadership in the long-term operations process of an enterprise. The leadership style varies a lot from one enterprise to another. Mainly, there are three typical kinds of leadership styles including autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and laissez-faire leadership style (Albrecht, 2011; Wang and Chen, 2005). Democratic leadership style can further be broken down into transformational and transactional leadership facets (Vugt et al., 2004). Overall, a leadership style shapes the employer-employee relationships and makes the workplace more accommodative.

Trust is an important facet of democratic leadership styles as shown by a survey conducted by BlessingWhite (2011) in China – trust creates a sense of entitlement and belonging among employees (Tims, Bakker and Xanthopoulou, 2011). BlessingWhite (2011) found that most of employees would like to have more chances to engage in their jobs because they considered that leadership is an important factor in employees’ job engagement. Further the study found that about two thirds of all employees working for various organisations in China reported to have trust in their organisation’s leadership. This was the second highest show of trust on organisational leadership after India (with 75 percent) and ahead of Southeast Asia (with 62 percent), Australia/New Zealand (with 55 percent), North America (52 percent), and UK/Europe (50 percent). Further, the study found that 3 in every 4 Chinese employees have trust in their managers, an almost similar trend with the situation in other major markets of the world. On their part, Ludwig and Frazier (2012) found that when employees can connect with the destiny and purpose of enterprises, they will possess high level of engagement with high aspirations. Through conducting research on ten thousand employees in Great Britain, Institute of Employment Studies found that a sense of being involved and valued is a significant driver of job engagement. It has been achieved that leadership qualities can help organisations achieve high level of engagement (Markos and Sridevi, 2010). It is arguable that leadership and management styles have a great impact on employee engagement because employees tend to trust leaders and managers are capable of setting a good organisational culture and inspiring them to greater heights.

Leadership styles that enhance workplace interpersonal relationships have a greater impact on job engagement than others. Tims et al. (2011) investigated whether supervisor’s leadership style has a direct influence on employee work engagement and found that transformational leadership that puts in place strong workplace relationships boosts employee engagement. Bass (1985) found that transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership styles have a lesser impact on employee engagement compared to transformational leadership. The author argues that this is because the former two leadership styles lack motivational and inspirational appeal and therefore cannot impact on employee engagement as transformational leadership does. This is because transformational leadership provides individual support for employees. These findings are supported by Vugt et al (2004) who found that employees are more likely to leave groups headed by transactional and laissez-faire leaders and join groups headed by transformational leaders. Vugt argues employees are discouraged by the limited control they enjoy when it comes to decision making processes when in transactional leadership groups and lack the drive to invest more efforts in their tasks when in laissez-faire leadership groups. These findings are supported by Skogstaad et al (2007) that leadership styles that does not support to employees normally reduce employee morale. Overall, transformational leadership transforms employees’ norms and values, inspires employees and makes them more happy and useful to the organisation. This in turn boosts their job engagement.

Leadership styles that address employees’ interests increase job engagement. Since managers are known to exercise a hard style of leadership where employees are assumed to be knowledgeable enough as to undertake their tasks without guidance or motivation, it is arguable that the gist of leadership in an organisation is to create a soft approach for achieving the set organisational goals (see for example Tims et al, 2010). Evidence shows that employees tend to become more committed to their tasks if the top management rolls out programmes that improve their overall welfare such as programmes aimed at covering their medical insurances expenses or aligning employees’ interests with organisational interests. Transformational leadership for instance, inspires employees, influences employees positively, takes into consideration employees’ individual needs, and stimulates employees’ intellectual faculties (Tims and Bakker, 2011). Inspiration takes the form of objective communication that is appealing in nature while idealised influence take the form of convincing employees to believe that group interests are more important than individual interests. Together, idealised influence and inspiration constitutes what is generally referred to as charismatic leadership style as demonstrated by renowned leaders such as the late Steve Jobs or Apple Computers (Warr and Inceoglu, 2012). On the other hand, individual consideration acknowledging employees career growth needs and providing tailor made programmes that fulfil these needs (Avolio, Bass, and Walumbwa, 2004). Lastly, intellectual stimulation has to do with the constant talks that managers hold with employees to convince them to practice a multidimensional approach to workplace challenges. This involves critical thinking and can only be made possible if employees are more engaged with their tasks (Avery, McKay, and Wilson, 2007). When followers are challenged, involved, share the vision of the leader they tend to drop their own personal visions and work towards the collective organisational vision.

Communication, as a facet of transformational leadership style has a great impact on employee engagement. According to a series of studies conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide between 2002 and 2006 among a wide range of enterprises to test the impact of communication-based leadership style on employee engagement, firms that communicate regularly with their employees have a chance of improving employee engagement up to four times more compared to their counterparts who do not communicate to their employees regularly. One of these series of studies indicated companies that practise corporate communication realised a 91 percent total return to shareholders, a facet for measuring the level of employee engagement in public owned enterprises. This was phenomenal improvement compared to only 62 percent return to shareholders for companies that did not embrace corporate communication. These studies also found a correlation between corporate communication and market value improvement of up to 16 percent for the observed companies (Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 2007). Another study conducted by Mercer in 2002 dubbed “People at Work Survey” supports these later findings. Based on more than 2500 persons working for United States based companies, the study found that the effectiveness of workplace communication improved the level of employee engagement as it boosted employee satisfaction, employee commitment, and employee loyalty. Specifically, the study found that when senior management communicated a company’s mission and vision to the junior employees, a large section of the employees became more confident and focused to their specific organisational responsibilities up to a margin of 39 percent compared to a margin of 7 percent when such communication was absent (Attridge, 2009). Overall, these studies seem to support the notion that interactive and individualised leadership styles increases the level of certainty among the employees, increases employees knowledge of organisational values and therefore boosts employee engagement in the long run.

A transformational leader creates a good environment that influences employee engagement. A study carried out by Tuckey et al (2009) found that apart from instilling worthwhile states among employees, leaders boost employee engagement by creating friendly environment that stimulates their cognitive faculties. Tuckey et al studied 84 Australian fire fighters and found that their empowering leadership style was responsible for increasing the number of voluntary workforce. According to Albrecht (2010), empowering leadership style is characterised by sharing an organisation’s vision with the employees, showing how tasks should be carried out, involving employees during critical decision making processes, and offering regular coaching to employees. To this end, Tuckey et al

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Facebook, Inc. is the largest social networking organization which allows users exchange information, share videos and photos play games or interact with each other via online profiles. The company started in 2004 and became public in 2012 posting one of the biggest IPO witnessed in the American history. Facebook, Inc. has successful incorporated the 4Ps (Promotion, Place, Price, Product) in positioning the brand to target customers.

Promotion

Promotion involves all approaches to communication that make customers aware of a product. To promote the social network, Facebook, Inc. used blogging and other internet forums to make people aware of its existence. Also face book created an application that requests everyone who joins to invite their friends to join. These spread the information about the social networking site which now has over 915 million users.

Place

Place refers to provision of a product at the specific place that consumer need it or can access it. Facebook provided its product on the internet ensuring that everyone with a computer and internet could access it easily. To make the product more accessible, Facebook, Inc. modified their website making it easily accessible on the phone that could access the internet. This was followed by creation of applications that enable those with powerful phones to access all face products similar to PC access (Hartung).

Price

Price involves the amount a customer has to pay to access a product. Facebook made its product free to users who can create a profile freely and access it without limitations. Facebook also charges very minimal prices on advertisers and online game providers compared to other website. The continual attracts and retains its targeted customers (How Does Facebook Make Money?).

Product

Product is the good the company provides to the customers. Facebook provides social networking services, advertising services, games virtual gifts, virtual cards and millions of networking applications. Face service are unique and tailored to meet its customers need. The ability to identify and meet the needs of the customers has made it the most popular and profitable social network site around the world. Facebook also made it easy for one to find and add a friend on the network as well as provided unbeatable privacy to users (Kelleher).

In conclusion, facebook has successful use the 4Ps be creating a unique product, placing it at a place that can be accessed easily, and can be accessed freely by users at a minimal fee by marketers. The promotion strategy which allows users to invite their friends to join has also made the company to realize its success.

References

Kelleher, Kevin. “How Facebook learned from MySpace’s mistakes.” November 19, 2010. Web. August 5, 2012 <http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/19/how-facebook-learned-from-myspaces-mistakes/>

Hartung, Adam. “How Facebook Beat MySpace”. January 14, 2011. Web. August 5, 2012 <http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/19/how-facebook-learned-from-myspaces-mistakes/>

How Does Facebook Make Money? 2012. Web. August 5, 2012 < http://www.tech-faq.com/how-does-facebook-make-money.html >