Abe Consumer Finance India - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1971 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Descriptive essay Did you like this example? Case Summary This case discusses about an issue that have a potential to change the customers perception of a company, which is highly regarded for continuously innovating and valuing its customers. ABE Consumer Finance India On 20th May 2005, it was yet another busy morning for Mr. Kumar, making calls and convincing his customers to buy the personal loan which his company sells. Kumar is a product marketing executive of the ABE Consumer Finance India. His work starts 10 in the morning and can extend even up to 8 in the night. Kumars job involves working under extreme pressure. He sells personal loans for the existing customers of the company. He makes telephone calls to his customers to inform them about the details of the loan that has been offered by his company. He never misses a chance to sell at the slightest intent of the customers interest in the product since the daily target fixed by his manager ranges somewhere between 1 lakh and 1.5 lakh rupees. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Abe Consumer Finance India" essay for you Create order ABE GLOBAL INCORPORATION ABE GLOBAL INCORPORATION was founded by a wealthy American businessman Mr. Jamie Fox during 1950s in America. Initially, the company manufactured electrical goods. During 1960s, it diversified into manufacturing electronic household consumer durables. Subsequently, the company flourished during the following years. It was regarded as one of the prestigious institutions in America. Soon ABE GLOBAL INC., amassed huge profits under the able leadership of Mr. Jamie Fox. ABE GLOBAL INC., found new growth opportunities in foreign lands too. So it started its operations in the European, Asian, and Australian countries and presently its operations spreads around 80 countries. ABE GLOBAL INC., has shown a profit after tax of $8 billion registering a compounded annual growth rate of over 40% for the past 10 years. (See EXIHIBIT 1 for the country wise breakup of profit). Keeping its philosophy of satisfying the household needs of the general public, ABE came out with an innovative idea of financing its products. To achieve this, ABE floated a special subsidiary called ABE CONSUMER FINANCE LTD. This has led more and more people belonging to the middle and lower income group buying ABE GLOBALs products. This has helped ABE to a greater extent in maintaining the growth rate and thereby reaching out to the local masses in different countries. The tradition of constant innovation and delivery of values to the customers was maintained by all the CEOs who followed Mr. Fox for the past 57 years. Presently, ABE GLOBAL is headed by Mr. Alex Mathews. Mr. Mathews took over the reigns of the company in 2005. Mr. Mathews is one of youngest CEO and has received the BEST CEO AWARD for the year 2006. ABE CONSUMER FINANCE INDIA ABE Consumer Finance India Ltd., is the wholly owned subsidiary of ABE GLOBAL INCORPORATION in the Indian subcontinent. It sells loan products targeting the middle income group to satisfy their buying needs of household consumer durables. It found the path to the Indian market when the flood gates were opened post globalization. It is almost 10 years now since ABE started its operations and still finds the Indian market very lucrative. The Indian arm shows an annual revenue of over two billion dollars which is over 20% of its global sales (See EXHIBIT 2 for Indian sales figure). Presently, the Indian operation is headed by Mr. Henry Smith. Smith is an MBA from Harvard University. Smith is a highly ambitious person. He is young, energetic, and an active CEO whom ABE has ever found in its history. He personally designs all the new and innovative financial schemes for ABE. Keeping with the high expectations of his employer, Smith has brought out a new financial product for the mark et. At this time, he is targeting the existing customers of his company. THE PRODUCT Smiths new product is exclusively based on the trust the company has on its existing customers. It mainly takes into account the good payment records for the loans which they had previously availed. Based on the risk rate, the company fixes the interest rate for the product. The interest rate ranges from 1.25 percent to 2.33 percent on a monthly basis. The loan has a fixed tenor which means once a loan has been availed, it should be paid back in fixed equated monthly installments (EMI). The tenor period usually ranges from a minimum of 12 months to a maximum of 36 months. The repayment period is usually decided when the customer avails the loan and it adds more flexibility in terms of repayment. The EMI has an insurance component and the loan has one time processing charge attached to it which means the customer has to bear the costs of insurance and processing charge. The insurance amount is paid with the EMI whereas the process charge of 3.5 percent for availing the loan is deduc ted from the actual loan amount. (See EXIHIBIT 3 for a model of loan details chart) THE BUSINESS MODEL Smith has designed an exclusive ad campaign to attract the customers. With the help of the companys database about its customers, the problem of reaching the customers has been eased. The company forwards a personal mailer to each and every customer informing them about the loan. The work doesnt stop there. The company employs exclusive marketing personnel to sell the loan. A typical marketing executive would make telephone calls to the customers reminding them about the mailer and giving further information about the loan. Thereby, ABE keeps itself in constant touch with the customers. This proves to be an efficient strategy for ABE which is evident from the sales figures for the year 2006. Once the customer evinces interest in the product, he is asked to visit the ABE office. At ABE office, the customer is verified for authenticity and asked to complete a set of formalities. Once he is cleared for approval, the loan is sanctioned to him in two days time. This is one of the cor e competence of ABE wherein the acquisition of a customer is done in a matter of days. THE DILEMMA Today, Mr. Kumar, our marketing executive, is facing a tight corner situation which he has never experienced. A customer, who has completed all the formalities for getting a loan like submitting the cheques, necessary proofs and securities, is unwilling to accept the loan sanctioned to him. Kumar is very upset considering the effort he put in to convince him. The bone of contention is that the customer is not satisfied about paying a processing charge of 3.5 percent for the loan amount. Kumar has tried his level best in trying to convince his customer but all in vain. The customer was very particular that he was unaware of the high processing charge. When Kumar brought this information to the notice of his manager, he was called in for a review of the situation to find out what went wrong. Together they found out that while briefing about the details of the loan to the customer, Kumar did not give much importance to the processing charge. As a result, the customer was kept in da rk about the processing charge rate and the costs associated with it. At the outset, Kumar and his manager were worried about whether they would able to retain the customer, the implications of this particular incident on the company, and the image of the company. Moreover, both the parties stand to lose their valuable time and the cost spent in the whole process. Learning Objectives To discuss about the importance of ethics, transparency and candor in business communication To understand how the integrity of the salesperson / marketing executive affects the customers perception of a brand or a company Target audience Post Graduate students of Business Administration Course focus Business Communication / Consumer Behavior / Corporate Social Responsibility Case duration 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours This case was developed based on the model given in the appendix. EXHIBIT 1 Country-wise breakup of revenues and profit for the year 2006 (dollars in millions) Country Revenue Earnings before tax Profit after tax US 2,581 1,864 1,656 UK 2,650 2,368 2,190 Australia 1,805 1,532 1,276 Asia 3,690 3,280 2,981 TOTAL 10,727 9,044 8,103 EXHIBIT 2 Region wise breakup of sales in India for the year 2006 (Rs in millions) Region Revenue Rs. Earnings before tax Rs. Profit after tax Rs. Northern India Capital 30,578 22,167 17,212 Eastern India 26,143 19,790 14,654 Central India Deccan 22,231 16,889 11,590 Southern India 23,165 17,124 12,345 TOTAL 1,02,117 76,970 55,801 EXHIBIT 3 A typical loan details chart Customer name Loan amount Rs. Interest rate per month Tenor (months) EMI Rs. Loan sanctioned * Rs. Ram 20,000 1.25% 12 1500 19,300 Parthiban 25,000 1.88% 24 1250 24,125 Karthik 50,000 2.33% 36 1400 48,250 *Loan sanctioned= loan amount processing charge @ 3.5% of the loan amount Declaration: The author(s) certify that this case has not been published or under consideration for publication elsewhere. *K. Sri Gayathridevi, Sr. Lecturer, PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore, India. e-mail: [email  protected]/* */ I am currently a faculty member at one of the top B-Schools in Tamilnadu State in India. Ive been in the teaching field for the past 12 years. I have published many articles, 4 cases and research papers in magazines, news papers and National and International Journals. Also I have presented cases and research articles in National and international conferences within and outside the country. I have conducted nearly 50 training programs for students, teachers and corporate on Communication Skills, Presentation Skills, Leadership Skills, Team Building, Interpersonal Communication, Telephone Etiquettes, E-mail Ettiquettes and Written Communication. I have attended 4 months intensive Faculty Development Program at IIM-Ahmedabad, the number one B-School in India and several other programs in leading Business Schools in India. My areas of interest and research are Business Communication and Managerial communication. Currently doing my doctoral researc h on the topic Kinesics Pattern Study of Sales Personnel in Retail Clothing Sector. *Dr. D. Sudharani Ravindran, Prof and Head, Marketing, PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore, India. e-mail: [email  protected]/* */ Professor and Head for Marketing; I started my career as a Consultant and after more than a decade of experience shifted to academics. I obtained my doctoral degree in Management from Bharathiar University in 1998. I have an experience of 10 years in teaching and 7 years in research. My areas of interest include Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Marketing. I have also conducted Management Development Programs in those areas for company executives. I was the Secretary of (PSGMAA) PSG Management Alumni Association from 2003-06. I am guiding Ph.D. Scholars in the areas of Marketing and Supply Chain Management. I was the controller of Exams of PSGIM from 2002 to 05. I was awarded an AICTE project on Community participation in Water Supply Management and Revival and Sustainability of Water Resources in Tamilnadu. I was also the Coordinator for AIMA ,PGDM course from 2007- 10. **KP Naachimuthu, Lecturer, PSG Institute of Management, Coimbatore, India. e-mail: [email  protected]/* */ Mr. K.P. Naachimuthu was previously associated with Centre for Organization Development (COD), Hyderabad as a Research Fellow; Sona College of Technology, Salem, TamilNadu as a Lecturer; Indian School of Business, Hyderabad as Research Assistant. He has over 30 publications to his credit in reputed National Journals and Newsletter. He has compiled / authored and co-authored 4 books. He has constructed, standardized and published two psychological tests. He has also presented several papers in National and International conferences / seminars in India. He also has coordinated national level seminar conference. Other than his regular teaching at Sona he also handled classes for MBA Distance Learning Programme of Anna University (Chennai Coimbatore) and Periyar University. He is a resource person for handling sessions on Premarital Counseling jointly organized by Central Social Welfare Board, New Delhi YMCA, Tiruppur. He was a Resource person f or the beneficiaries of Prime Minister Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) training organized by Community Polytechnic, Salem. He has been bestowed with a Gold Medal from Institute of Education, Research and Development (Kolkata) for his research and publications initiatives in Management discipline; and Dr. Ram Gopal Soni award of Best author from Indian Psychometric and Educational Research Association (Patna). He is a founder member of the quarterly journal Global Management Review, Sona Journal of Marketing Research, and Editor for Sona e-Mag (monthly electronic Magazine).

Range of Decision to Be Taken - 2701 Words

MANAGING COMMUNICATION, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION -Discuss the range of decisions to be taken -Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking -Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding -Justify recommendations for improvement -Bibliography Range of Decisions to be taken The technique I choose for a given decision will be influenced by the importance and complexity of the decision. Decision making without planning is common but usually it doesnt do the work, there is a 20 year of research that have pointed out 50 percent of decisions made have failed and I believed that the reasons half of these decisions made have failed was mostly because of the†¦show more content†¦I believe this decision is appropriate because it greatly increased the efficiency of their employees allowing them to feel that the company is partly owned by themselves and showing the firm’s financial abilities which created positive comments to specialists and scholars around the world. I recommend the company to plan carefully the percentage they are willing to use as too much may harm the firm while too less may create a negative impact (Internal information). 2. If the firm want to create a positive impact toward the government and citizens while keeping their human resource expense at the lowest level, for example in China it is over-populated so there are a lot of people who hold diplomas from well known universities but could not find a job. Coca-cola Company could hire over 90 percent of Chinese employees which would keep their expense low since manpower in China is pretty cheap because of the massive jobless population and it creates a positive impact toward the Chinese government for solving a bit of the jobless problems in China which have created headaches for the government. I believe it is appropriate to do so (External information). Tactic Decisions 1. If the Coca-cola company have taken my first strategic decision recommendation for increasing the efficiency and loyalty of their employees while showing the world their financial abilities they would need a tactical decision to supportShow MoreRelatedRange of Decision to Be Taken2694 Words   |  11 PagesCOMMUNICATION, KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION -Discuss the range of decisions to be taken -Examine the information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision taking -Assess internal and external sources of information and understanding -Justify recommendations for improvement -Bibliography    Range of Decisions to be taken    The technique  I choose for a given decision will be influenced by the importance and complexity of the decision. 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Reward Management

Question: Discuss about theReward Management. Answer: Introduction Employees are one of the most valuable assets of any organization; this asset is a key element of the organizational development and success. Absenteeism is one of the biggest issues that one is facing today. One of the key factors for the employee to work with dedication and to get a proper result is attentiveness or a reduction in the absenteeism. The attentiveness of the employee lead to the two major factors first is employee motivation and second is the capability to work with ethics. Whereas attentiveness leads to motivation and it also satisfies the employee as well as an employer, whereas on the other hand absenteeism causes job dissatisfaction. An exposure to the globalization and diversified culturalism, the challenge of upholding of the professional ethics. Work ethics can be broadly categorized into four segments 1) the morality, 2) the values, 3) ethical decision-making, and (4) the ethical standards for risk management (Buzan, 2010). It has been seen since in the last c entury that, social work has prolonged from a preoccupation with employees' morality and values of ethics. The work ethics are the social responsibilities and the duties that once follow without supervision. These affects in the organissation work culture and employees standard of leaving. This study demonstrates the direct relation between the absenteeism and work ethics. The personal management infrastructure development has been started over ten years in the public service reforms was a major task. It was difficult to make changes in the existing system was due to political influence and the culture. Trinidad and Tobago's public service consist of a very vivid workforce (Miller and del Carmen Triana, 2009). The organizations are mainly categorized into three different workforce or agencies. Central agencies, service commission departments or the public service sectors (judge, police, and education department) and the perennial department. Government and political machinations were developed with an objective to protect the career of public officers. As and when the time passed and the public sector grew its length and breadth in 1970s There is a tremendous growth in the size of public services was observed as a result of this hype in the size and the complexity in t he also increase in the current system which left behind ambiguity. That forced to implement the centralization which leads to disfunctionality (Karakas, 2010). This disfunctionality was seen due to the only one executing point with various other working bodies at different location this made the practical implementation of the mode very difficult, so it was not practiced as often due to the lack of fault tolerance of that system. In the subsequent year the decentralization started in the 1990s due to lack of the ethics and attentiveness of the employees (Karjalainen, 2010). Due to the increase in the size of the public sector the price was cut down so to maintain the budget. The other changes such as increments and the cost of living allowances were also cut down. The solution for this could be the work base motivation incentive that means the employee should receive only the basic salary in addition to that whatever he works or does could add extra to him in this way the employee in the public sector could be motivated easily and with a minimum cost the results are more relevantly be seen. For example: In the private sector the salaries were between 30,000 to 105,000 per month in few scenarios where the job is not at all secured, on the other hand the private sector was having only 20,000 per month in some cases like permanently employed. This was the senior with other jobs and positions in both the sector (Kaye et al. 2011). Looking upon the broader term that the public sector the job is secured whereas in the private sector the job loosing risk factor is higher. In order to improve the public sector and to make the human resource more powerful the public sector should introduce the incentive system in accordance with the performance and the hype of the living cost. The workers are the key functional area that an organization should pay more attention to so the human resource. The workers should be more efficient in the work which is assigned to them. This could help in work efficiency and revenue generation to the organization or the customer and employee satisfactio n is seen in this case. Absenteeism and work ethics are positively correlated with each other. There is a strong relation between work ethics and absenteeism. If the absenteeism ratio is very less than the ratio of the ethics are higher, or else the rate of absenteeism the higher than the work ethics are observed very less. Absenteeism can be of several types such as Authorized Absenteeism where an employee applies for the leave to their supervisor. The other can be Unauthorized Absenteeism where an employee does not urge to take prior permission from their supervisors. There also can be a Willful Absenteeism where an employee is willing absent from their duty. And there can be Absenteeism in circumstances which are beyond ones control like accidents or sickness. It has its impact on the any company incurring cost in terms of Productivity, Administration and Finance. This ultimately has its impacts on many areas such as service delivery, financial losses, staff Morale etc. Here if the issue is identified in the early stage and solutions implemented and still if the employee continues to be absent then normal disciplinary procedures are to be implemented. Generally it is accepted that there is an Agreement between both the parties i.e. Employer and the Employee where an employee is abide to render his/his services to the employer in all possible terms. And if this is done properly and up to the satisfaction of the employer then employer is abide to pay the returns. And if the employee fails to render this service and if found absent then employer terms this as Absenteeism. If we try and look at Absenteeism form Employer and Employees side then they have a great difference. Just to list a few examples Absenteeism is a huge problem from Employer side as it is directly affecting the Staff Attitude, service delivery and ultimately loss of revenue. Thus usually all the organizations wants Absenteeism ratio to be as low as possible. Employees fails to see themselves not providing the service delivery when they are not on their work stations for which they are paid but rather sees themselves at work and Employer look at them as being unproductive and are not focused on Goals of Organization (Laroche and Wechtler, 2011). Causes The imbalance is caused due to changes in the economic condition of the state and if the government does not cope up with the changing conditions there is going to be an imbalance in the employment ratio. The solution to the disparity in the revenue generation of the employee in the public and private sector can be eliminated or nullified by providing some extra benefits or perks to the employees who are getting less remuneration. The other solution could be by giving some long term extra benefits, employee like issuing of bonds, shares or by giving extra powers to the employee (Akintayo, 2010). The job security is one of me major threat to the private sector so in order to attract the employee the public services must provide job securities to the employees. On the other hand there are many causes for Absenteeism such as Long hours of work, Poor working Condition, Accidents, Poor Control, Nature of work, Absence of regular leave arrangements, Alcoholism and Gambling habits, Attitude or motivational problem, Poor health, Lack of job satisfaction, Lack of clear standards and policy, Lack of refreshment areas, Lack of medical Aid and health programs, Lack of marketing facilities, Education of children, Lack of cooperation and understanding between employee and the company, outside interests, transportation problems, Stress, Ergonomic issues, Domestic, family or personal problems, management style etc. According to the research (Cailler, 2014) taken in United States of America sometimes under trained supervisors is also one of the causes for Absenteeism rather than low pay, poor benefits etc. Consequences Absenteeism affects both the employee and the company in three major ways, namely Decrease in Productivity, Financial costs and Administrative costs. The Absenteeism of the employees affects the company adversely as the cost of production increases because those employees need to be replaced by new temporary employees (Kavitha, Geetha and Arunachalam, 2011). Their colleagues are brought more additional stress of workload with a feeling of demoralized due to deadlines and work pressure building on them. Absenteeism is directly proportional to the productivity of the company and as a result of that the temporary staff allocated needs to be paid for overtime ultimately effecting cost of the production and so as the price of the commodity. Above that employee turnover incur cost to the company in terms of hiring them, cost of training them, extra labor cost, extra operating cost, loss of goodwill (Martin-Alcazar et al. 2012). There is also a cost incurred to the company in separating the employee, such as job advertising, reemployment administrative functions, selection interview, employment test, meeting to discuss with the candidate (Buttner et al. 2012). Moreover the employees are also affected by the Absenteeism as they will be getting paid very less and as a result of that their standard of living is decreased. And thus Absenteeism very adversely affects the employer and employee along with the customer paying high for the commodity. These consequences can increase work load, undesired overtime, Conflict with absent worker, more grievances etc. This may also lead to loss of business or it may end up getting unsatisfied client which no company or organization would like to bear. Understaffing and poor quality of goods resulting from overtime is possible one of the consequences of it. Excess of managers time dealing with the suitable replacement of new employee. Safety issue can pertain due to inadequa te trained employees (Kaplan et al. 2011). Recommendation In the future the government should introduce, such as a system in which the employees must be benefited in such a ways that they get inspired to work in order to get a better outcome from it. This dedication of the employee must be kept consistent by awarding with the perk and incentives. The employee should be getting enough salary to spend this life comfortable, adding up the person should be given enough opportunity to work hard and earn extra incentive or bonus or promotion in this future. His basic increment of the employee should be implemented with reference to the cost of living index. If the solutions are not adopted timely there would be a major depreciation in one of the sectors leading towards the imbalance. The rate of Absenteeism will gradually reduce on announcing that there will be steps taken the check on the Absenteeism. The very first step taken should be record all type of Absenteeism of each employee for each year along with the duration of leave for each employee and the reason behind it. The next step should be to take a follow up for each case of Absenteeism such as to pay visit to them on sick leaves whenever necessary to all those who have a excessive sick leave reports (Acar, 2010). Writing letters to the them recording Absenteeism and should be handed over to the relevant employee and a receipt of proof has to be obtained in return from them. The next thing should be conducting meetings with them. Incentives should be given for not taking the sick leaves. Giving health insurance as a part of their package an bonus (Carraher, 2011). There are workplace strategies that help to provide a positive impact towards the employees and this is assorted with the abilities and the opportunities that very well increases the performance of the staff. Effective organizational leadership approach is a deep understanding for achieving the principal objective that helps to enhance the performance of staff and the work absenteeism is decreased in such organizations. The workplace strategies may sometime have a negative impact which indicates the negative behavior and the negative consequences that are infact the barriers for increase in productivity (Chevalier and Strayer, 2008). As such high retention rates are categorized due to work absenteeism, so the efforts that enhance the positive affect while considering the performance and reliability of work ethics are to be build in an organization. This will help to support the workplace performance with the influential tool for workplace design. Motivation at work place is an effective way to communicate with the employees and the staff members that may lead to the discussion and the challenges in the perceptiveness of employees. Challenges and problems are analyzed and this may improve the communications with employee relationship strategy (Khan, Clear, Al-Kaabi and Pezeshki, 2010). There are studies that resulted in the improvement of the work ethics with low retention rates. Positive attitude has to be build for increasing the standard of workplace and motivation to employees. The reward system at public sectors may help to create a positive environment as increasing the employee productivity would help to increase the overall growth of an organization. Management relations may even impact to increase the level of growth for employees and decrease the work absenteeism with certain barriers. Leadership qualities may enhance the structure of an organization and the produced improved outcomes are a success for an organization. At this end, there are incentives that are given to the employees for improving the work ethics and a proper performance evaluation system is considered by engaging employees in reward system categories with an interest of publicly accepting the criteria for performance achievement goals. there are intellectual areas that are considered and are highly confidential, which needs to be reviewed while sharing personal information (Agrawal, 2012). The elements of work ethics are considerably broad and this may lead to certain standards that are followed by an organization with the management relationships and an enhanced performance standard that motivates employees and thereby engages into organizational profits. As such the goal of some decisions that encounter the individual identity creates an enthusiasm by evaluating the emotional movement of employees. Employement standards are acknowledge and this diescribes the antecedents that are beneficial for growth and development of an organization. Work absenteeism can be decreased by these strategies in the future to determine the level of productivity that increases while adopting those strategies. Employees should be given a reward system that is recommendable and accepted as per the standard and for future growth this may help to decrease the work absenteeism and increase the level of work ethics in an organization (Lawrence and Tar, 2013). References Acar, F. (2010). Analyzing the effects of diversity perceptions and shared leadership on emotional conflict: A dynamic approach. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21, 1733-1753 Agrawal, V. (2012). Managing the diversified team: Challenges and strategies for improving performance. Team Performance Management, 18, 384-400. Akintayo, D. (2010). Influence of emotional intelligence on work-family role conflict management and reduction in withdrawal intentions of workers in private organizations. International Business and Economics Research Journal, 9, 131-140 Buttner, E. E., Lowe, K., and Billings-Harris, L. (2012). An empirical test of diversity climate dimensionality and relative effects on employee of color outcomes. Journal of Business Ethics, 110, 247-258 Buzan, B. (2010). Culture and international society. International Affairs, 86, 1-25. Cailler, J. G. (2014). Toward a better understanding of the relationship between transformational leadership, public service motivation, mission valence, and employee performance: A preliminary study. Public Personnel Management, 43, 218-239. Carraher, S. M. (2011). Turnover prediction using attitudes towards benefits, pay, and pay satisfaction among employees and entrepreneurs in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Baltic Journal of Management, 6, 25-52 Chen, Y., Wang, W. C., and Chu, Y. C. (2010). Structural investigation of the relationship between working satisfaction and employee turnover. Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 6, 41-50. Chevalier, R., and Strayer, J. (2008). A manager's guide to improving workplace performance. Performance Improvement, 47, 46-48. Kaplan, D., Wiley, J. W., and Maertz, C. P. (2011). The role of calculative attachment in the relationship between diversity climate and retention. Human Resource Management, 50, 271-287 Karakas, F. (2010). Exploring value compasses of leaders in organizations: Introducing nine spiritual anchors. Journal of Business Ethics, 93, 73-92 Karjalainen, H. (2010). Can multicultural human resources management problems be solved by an organizational culture? Management International, 14, 99-114. Kaye, H. S., Jans, L. H., and Jones, E. C. (2011). Why dont employers hire and retain workers with disabilities? Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 21, 526-536. Kavitha, S. R., Geetha, S. R., and Arunachalam, V. (2011). An empirical study on employee retention strategies in a biscuit manufacturing company in India. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3, 762-772. Khan, T. M., Clear, F., Al-Kaabi, A., and Pezeshki, V. (2010). An exploratory study of the effects of diversity dimensions and intervening variables on attitudes to diversity. Team Performance Management, 16, 289-308 Laroche, P., and Wechtler, H. (2011). The effects of labor unions on workplace performance: New evidence from France. Journal of Labor Research, 32, 157- 180. Lawrence, J., and Tar, U. (2013). The use of grounded theory technique as a practical tool for qualitative data collection and analysis. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 11, 29-40 Martin-Alcazar, F., Romero-Fernandez, P., and Sanchez-Gardey, G. (2012). Transforming human resource management systems to cope with diversity. Journal of Business Ethics, 107, 511-531. Miller, T., and del Carmen Triana, M. (2009). Demographic diversity in the boardroom: Mediators of the board diversity firm performance relationship. Journal of Management Studies, 46, 755-786

International Business Culture and Leadership

Question: Discuss about the case study International Business for Culture and Leadership. Answer: Rationale for choosing country: Singapore is a multi-ethnic society consists of different communities including Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian (Chan Tong, 2014). The rationale for choosing Singapore as a host country is due to its potential resources for enhancing the business opportunities in an effective manner. In recent years, Singapore has been experiencing robust industrial growth due to its enhanced infrastructure. By choosing Singapore as a host country, different business opportunities can be analyzed in an effectual manner. Singapore borders Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. The main island is entirely urbanized with a dense commercial city center to the south (Gomez Hsiao, 2012). Moreover, the city is surrounded with the new township. Singapore has 5 million populations. Most of the organizations chose Singapore as their primary business center because it has an effective Commonwealth based legal system (Chew, 2015). On the other hand, Singapore has adequate opportunities for fast traction and quic k entry. The multinational organizations in Singapore can easily enhance their business opportunities by simply hiring smart and educated talent available in the country. The ethnic society of Singapore consists of 77% Chinese, 6% Indian, 15% Malay and 2% expatriates (World Bank Group.com, 2016). Hence, it can be assessed that the country includes huge cultural diversity that facilitates in enhancing the industrial growth in an efficient way. Singapore has not only experienced radical business growth but also improved their innovation and technology (Witt Redding, 2013). By analyzing the most significant accomplishments of Singapore, it can be assessed that the nation is very prosperous and comes close to the top in per-capita incomes. On the other hand, the amazing fact is that the incredible business expansion has facilitated Singapore to diminish unemployment issues (Low Ang, 2012). Hence, the selected host country is an appropriate business domain for new and existing multinational organizations due to its enhanced infrastructure. Cultural analysis of the host country (Singapore): Singapore has worlds best labor force that facilitates the industry to experience enormous growth in recent years. Singapore consists of several religions including Buddhist (Chinese), Muslim (Malays), Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and Taoist. The population of the country is 5,567,301 as of 2014 (Forbes.com, 2016). Due to its diverse culture, Singapore has four national languages including Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. Singapore is a multi-ethnic society, and its culture depends on three prime traditions including Chinese, Malay and Indian (Geert-hofstede.com, 2016). The three main ethnic groups in Singapore are culturally and religiously diverse. The nation became an independent country on August 9, 1965. However, the economy of the country was in a very bad shape with 14% unemployment rate (World Bank Group.com, 2016). The cultural diversity has facilitated several multinational organizations to develop their business opportunities in a systematic manner. On the other hand, enhanc ed learning structure of the country produces skilled employees who provide adequate support in the business enhancement. Singapore includes the areas of 248 square miles. The main island in Singapore is urbanized with a dense commercial city center to the south. The particular nation consists of 5 million of populations. Among 5 million populations, 3 million are the citizens and permanent residents (World Bank Group.com, 2016). The unique cultural component of Singapore is the economic prosperity and the political stability. Industrial development has facilitated the country to enhance its economic stability. After independence, Singapore has been facing unemployment issues for several years. However, the unique cultural diversity and the political stability have facilitated the nation in diminishing the unemployment issues in an effective manner. By discussing the ethnic relations and the history, it can be evaluated that the country emerged as a nation after 1965. Singapore had been a British colony, which was linked with the entire Malay Peninsula (Yue Zubillaga-Pow, 2012). Due to consistent industry development, Singapore has experienced a radical business growth in recent years. The country has no single dominant identity due to its diverse culture in the society. Different cultural links to China, Malaysia, India, and Indonesia provide loyalties and Singaporean orientations, which stretch far beyond the national borders (Crane, Kawashima Kawasaki, 2016). By discussing the urbanism and architecture, it can be assessed that Singapore is a green city, and it involves much-groomed greenness. On the other hand, the architectural development also attracts new businesses to make an entrance in Singapore. The striking features of the landscape are the high-rise buildings (Kong, 2012). The above-discussed unique cultural components have facilitated Singapore to develop its international industrial economy. The particular country heavily depends on imports because there are very few natural resources available on the island. On the other hand, there is a large degree of state control on the national economy (Chhokar, Brodbeck House, 2013). With the involvement of the skilled and proficient labors, the local industries have experienced profitable outcome. On the other hand, the diverse cultural background of the country has contributed to enhancing employees skills in an effective manner (Skoric Poor, 2013). The manufacturing industry is the most important economic sector followed by business and financial services, transportation, commerce, and communication (Mangan, 2013). Different business culture in host country (Singapore) and home country (Australia): Business culture in Singapore: The most important factor for the industrial development in Singapore is the cultural diversity. However, it is quite difficult for the newly arrived organizations in Singapore for doing business in an efficient manner (Tan, 2012). There are different kind of social rules and protocols. Hence, organizations need to abide by those protocols for executing the business without offending their business partners. For executing business in Singapore, organizations are required to follow different protocols such as follows: Exchanging business cards: Business cards indicate simple necessity in the business culture. Most of the industries in Singapore follow the same process for executing business in a systematic manner. The perfect timing for exchanging the business cards is after the initial introduction. For doing any partnership businesses in Singapore, both partners need to provide their description on the business cards (Gwynne, 2013). For example, if any organization is doing business with Chinese people, it requires having one side of the business card translated into Mandarin. After receiving the business cards for the business contacts, they need to analyze it carefully. The business relationship depends on how one partner treats others business cards. That is why the business culture of Singapore does not allow mistreating business cards. Business meetings: For conducting any business meetings, organizations in Singapore need to schedule the particular process at least two weeks earlier (Chia, 2015). Moreover, it is important for the management to include a list of the team members and expertise along with making a formal request. On the other hand, if any business is trying to emerge with the other, it should accumulate adequate information on the existing business. Without collecting sufficient information on the existing business, the new partner will not be able to understand its business process management (Rui Stefanone, 2013). Consequently, it will not facilitate them in enhancing the business profitability in an efficient manner. On the other hand, trust is another important factor that influences the partnership business to experience profitable outcome. The meeting cannot be executed on the public holidays in Singapore including Chinese New Year (Ferraro Brody, 2015). Most of the industries in Singapore believe that the punc tuality plays an integral role in business development. Every organization in Singapore follows a particular hierarchy structure for executing the business in a systematic manner. In the meeting session, the informative materials should always accompany the presentation so that it can easily highlight the challenges in the business (Skoric Poor, 2013). It is important for the organization in Singapore to provide proper responses to the business partners for upholding a trusted business communication. Negotiations: Negotiation is one of the major factors for the business expansion. Most of the organizations in Singapore believe that the negotiation plays an integral role in the business development. By discussing the business culture of Singapore, it can be assessed that the business partners need to uphold different types of negotiations for executing a healthy business in the domestic and international market (Mangan, 2013). Business partners never raise their voice or get aggressive against their partner, as it can hamper the growth of the business. on the other hand, the management of the organization needs to pay attention to the business partners body language to figure out their responses. Without upholding the polite and professional nature, the hiring management in Singapore would not be able to maintain healthy workflow system at the workplace. Business culture difference between Singapore (Host country) and Australia (Home country) Business environment: By analyzing the World Banks 2015 Ease of doing business report, it can be assessed that Singapore ranked at the 1st place whereas Australia ranked at 10th position (World Bank Group.com, 2016). There is a significant difference between Australia and Singapore business culture such as taxes, investors protection, trading across the borders, registering property and dealing with the construction permits. According to the Forbes 2014 Best Countries for Business list, Australia ranked at the sixteenth position, whereas Singapore ranked at eighth position (Forbes.com, 2016). The visible differences are seen in the areas of taxes, innovation, technology, and the investors protection. Taxes: By analyzing the comparison between Singapore and Australian tax system, it can be assessed that Singapore imposes one of the lowest taxes in the world. On the other hand, Australia includes the high tax system. Consequently, most of the manufacturing organizations face challenges to selling their products in Australia at a reasonable cost. In the 2009 Tax Misery Index, the Forbes has ranked Singapore at 11th position for having low tax misery. On the contrary, Australia was ranked at 28th position due to its high tax rates system (Forbes.com, 2016). Due to low tax rates, most of the foreign investors chose Singapore as their primary business center. Moreover, existing investors will enhance their investment in the business due to low tax rates. Consequently, it facilitates in enhancing the industrial growth within a short span of time. Global competitiveness: According to the world economic forums Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015, Singapore is the second most competitive economy in the world while Australia was ranked at 22 in the business competitiveness (World Bank Group.com, 2016). Singapore delivers impeccable performance on most parameters including public trust of publications, the burden of government regulation, transparent government policy making, effective legal system, public trust of politicians, quality of infrastructure and quality of the educational system, etc (Chhokar, Brodbeck House, 2013). On the other hand, there are some problematic areas for doing business in Australia such as access to the financing, tax rates, restrictive labor regulations, inefficient government bureaucracy and tax regulations. Singapore upholds an edge over Australia in many areas including fiscal freedom, business freedom, trade freedom, labor freedom and government spending (Crane, Kawashima Kawasaki, 2016). Labor force: One of the major factors for the industrial development in Singapore is that the highly flexible and talented workforce (Low Ang, 2012). Moreover, the enhanced workforce attracts most of the foreign investors to develop new business ideas in Singapore. On the contrary, most of the Australian organizations have been facing challenges in enhancing productivity due to their inefficient workforce. In a recent business report published by world economic forum, Singapore has the best labor-employer relations in the world, whereas the Australia has ranked at 43 in that particular area. Openness to trade: Singapore has a very open trade policy that facilitates new entrants to execute business in an effective manner. Most of the foreign investors select Singapore for the business due to several beneficial aspects including best customer services, least import and export paperwork, and excellent availability of transport infrastructure (Mangan, 2013). On the contrary, Australias tariff rates custom process, cost and documents requirements and complexity to the foreign participation are marked as its competitive disadvantages. HOFSTEDEs cultural analysis on host country (Singapore): Power distance: Singapore scores high on this particular dimension. Singapore normally has a syncretism approach to the religion due to its Confucian background (Geert-hofstede.com 2016). It is also the dominant approach in Singapore. The key principle of Confucian teaching indicates the stability of the society. Hence, it can be assessed that the new business ventures need to follow the cultural dimension of the society for executing the business in an efficient manner. According to this dimension, the power is centralized, and the managers follow their bosses. Individualism: Singapore scores 20 in this particular dimension. Singapore follows the collectivistic societal culture where a group of people gets high priority. On the other hand, the communication is the indirect and harmony of the group needs to be maintained. Therefore, the Investors are required to avoid open conflicts with other existing businesses. Without upholding healthy relationship with other businesses, new investors are unable to fulfill their task in an efficient manner (Gwynne, 2013). Masculinity: Singapore scores 48 in masculinity. They respect the softer aspects of the culture including consensus, sympathy for underdog, leveling with others (Ferraro Brody, 2015). Moreover, the conflicts are avoided in the private workplace. The management of the organization in Singapore needs to uphold proper leadership approach for experiencing high growth in the business. Uncertainty avoidance: Singapore scores low on this particular dimension. In Singapore, people need to follow different types of rules because of its high PDI (Geert-hofstede.com 2016). Singaporeans call their society a Fine country. New industries will obtain huge resources and support from the host country to execute the business in an effective manner. Long-term orientation: Singapore scores 72 on the long-term orientation. The diverse cultural qualities allow new investors for enhancing their business within the domestic market. With the engagement of the long-term relationship, organizations experience immense growth in the business. On the other hand, multinational organizations can expand their business by implementing long-term investment (Gwynne, 2013). Indulgence: The particular dimension can be defined as the degree to which people try to manage their needs and urges. Singapore scores 46 on this particular dimension. Hence, it is not possible to settle on a penchant on this aspect due to its transitional score. Figure 1: HOFSTEDE Model on Singapore (Source: Created by author) Conclusion: It can be concluded that the new investors and industries obtain a wide range of opportunities in executing business in Singapore. There are several beneficial aspects of conducting business in Singapore. These benefits include low tax rates, highly skilled workforce, and least paperwork for new ventures. On the contrary, most of the multinational organizations have agreed with the fact that Singapore maintains an edge over Australia in different areas including business freedom, fiscal freedom, trade freedom, labor freedom and government spending. References Chan, K. B., Tong, C. K. (2014). Singaporean Chinese doing business in China. InChinese Business(pp. 119-129). Springer Singapore. Chew, M. (2015).Leaders of Singapore. World Scientific. Chhokar, J. S., Brodbeck, F. C., House, R. J. (Eds.). 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