Al Maya Group plans expansion

Al Maya Group plans expansion

Al Maya Group has opened has opened 10 new stores last year and it currently operates 30 retail outlets including 15 supermarkets. According to Hamel’s framework, this relates to the strategic assets of the firm’s specific resources that is what the company actually owns.

Market Scope
Moving on to the company’s core strategy, they are planning to invest DHS40 million in an expansion plan to open eight supermarkets and two fashion retail store. Also the company is opening the first British Home Stores (BHS) in Poland on September 9. this relates to the market scope since they are trying to reach customers in different geographical areas.

Mission Strategy
As for the business mission that was what strategy they accomplish to deliver, Al Maya Group wants to open neighborhood retail outlets and they are not planning to enter the hypermarket sector.

Core Competencies
As for the core competencies, they see great opportunities in neighbor stores such as UK’s Tesco Express. Since traffic and gasoline price in increasing, they think that people will more likely shop at neighborhood stores instead of driving to hypermarkets.

Fulfillment and Support
Al Maya group is offering a great deal of convenience to their customers through their neighborhood stores since they don’t have to drive all the way to hypermarkets and experience the traffic and the parking problems. This relates to the fulfillment and support element of the customer interface since they are reaching their customers through their convenient stores.

Disney to probe labor claims in China factories

The article, Disney to probe labor claims in China factories, states that there were claims by a right advocacy group of hazardous conditions at Chinese factories that make books for Disney. Disney had contacted a non profit social auditing and training form to investigate the claims and to assure that the benefits of all stakeholders are maximized. According to the National Labor Committee, employees were forced to work for 10 to 13 hours a day and were paid below the legal minimum wage. Moreover, the National Labor Committee released a videotape of the workers who assured that they faced dangerous conditions.
Issues:
According to Baron, the first issue is that the workers are exposed to hazardous conditions and the second issue is that workers were forced to work for 10 to 13 hours a day wand being paid below the minimum legal wage.
Interest groups:
The interest groups who have an economic stake in the issue are the labor right advocacy group and Disney. They are trying to attain the basic human rights for these workers.
Institutional groups:
Moving on to the institutions, it includes the National Labor Committee and the public sentiment.
Such an unethical behavior will affect the workers productivity in the long run since they will be less motivated to produce the best products for Disney. Nevertheless, it will affect Disney’s reputation and trustworthy as long as they accept products from the Chinese suppliers.

Qatari firms blacklisted for woeful treatment of Indians

According to the article, Qatari firms blacklisted for woeful treatment of Indians, the Qatari companies activities in the market environment such as engineering, construction and contracting had created non market issues.

Issues:
According to the article, several Qatari companies mistreated its nationals, working in the country. As a result, India has blacklisted 11 Qatari companies and put around 35 companies on its watch list. The 11 companies that are blacklisted will not be allowed to employ Indian workers anymore. The 35 companies that are on the watch list will be observed over a period of time so that if they treated their employees well, they will be removed from the blacklist. These companies attempt to mistreat their workers is against human rights since they have the right to live and work in a safely atmosphere and not abused by anyone. Furthermore, 93 Indian workers in Qatar were thrown out of their camps after they sent a complaint to the Indian embassy for not being paid their salaries.

Interests:
Moving on to the individuals or groups who have an “economic stake” in this issue, I think it includes the Indian nations, the Indian government and the Indian embassy.

Institutions:
The institutions include government entities as well as non government institutions such I think the institutional arena here includes government entities that are the Indian government, the Indian embassy, and the labor unions and the non government entities include the public sentiment.

The New School

According to the article, The New School, this year about 1.2 million graduate students and nine million unemployed people are competing for three million jobs. As a result, many graduate students plan to get the MBA degree just to “enhance their resume” and acquire the job they always dreamt of. However, according to the article, many career specialists see that postponing a job search to attain an MBA directly after finishing the bachelor degrees is “a big mistake.” Others see that most of the fresh graduates seek an MBA degree for the wrong reason.

As a result of the growing need for an MBA degree among graduates nowadays, many business schools are competing for students and therefore, are adjusting and enhancing their academic programs to better prepare students for the competitive work environment. Many business schools are following different strategies to attract graduate students and make them prepared to meet the changing needs of employers and others are doing campaigns to help graduate students in finding the job in their field.
Other schools also discuss that MBA studies should include “skills in areas where they had no previous training and MBA programs should be innovative and teach proficiencies such as communication skills.

The business schools’ attempt to enhance their programs to meet the changing environment’s needs and prepare students for their future career indicates the strength of the internal organization that is related to the question of value of barney’s framework.

Effect of Danish Boycott Patchy

The article, Effect of Danish Boycott Patchy, illustrates the reactions of retailers and consumers toward the cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) that were published in the Danish and Norway media. Messages were flowing to all Muslims around the world urging them to boycott Danish products and petitions were sent to the Danish authorities asking for an apology for the offensive cartoons.


Customer Interface: relationship dynamics
Many supermarkets withdrew Danish products from their shelves and left the shelves empty for people to notice. Others displayed posters in English and Arabic indicating that Danish products are dropped out. This interaction between the retailers and the customers applies to the relationship dynamics of Hamel’s framework since retailers are establishing an emotional common ground with their customers. Retailers are trying to evoke a sense of loyalty and build a long term relationship with their customers through supporting their opinion. Moreover, it also applies to the fulfillment and support element of the customer interface since retailers chose to support the customers in withdrawing Danish products and satisfying their wants as long as the situation stands.

Bargaining power of buyers
According to porter’s framework, the bargaining power of buyers is shown in consumers’ attitudes in boycotting Danish products. The switching costs of the dairy products that Denmark produces are low so people can easily switch to other brands. Such an action will cause the sales and the market share of many Danish businesses to drop significantly.

Strategic Resources: Core processes:
According to the article, the activities that supermarkets and retailers are doing in removing Danish products from their stores and displaying labels indicating that Danish products are removed are transferred into value to consumers. This is related to the core processes element of the strategic resources.

The real cost of Google's sell out to China

According to the article, “The real cost of Google’s sell out to China,” China is considered the second largest internet market in the world which made Google and other internet companies strive to enter this market. Using porter’s framework, Google has faced a government policy restriction which is an aspect of the barriers to entry when it decided to enter the Chinese market. Google is not the first internet company that gave up to China’s pressure; however, it is the most troublesome case.
Google’s decision to censor web searches in China is due to the government policy that placed restrictions for users in China. According to the article, the Chinese government had placed filters on access to Google which badly hindered its search engine. It slowed down its search speed and made it unreliable. Also it would keep Google at a competitive commercial disadvantage unless it complies with the Chinese government demand. Therefore, Google decided to help China in blocking access to thousands of websites that might threaten the authoritarian government in China. Also it will exclude the blogging and e-mail services that it offers to users all around the world.

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