Learning Project: Contemporary Management Technique Research Paper Assignment Instructions
Based on your evaluation of an organization or a segment of an organization in the previous Learning Project: Company Analysis and Evaluation Project Assignment, select 1 contemporary management technique (listed in the Blocher & Hicks text) not currently being implemented in the organization/segment that could aid the organization/segment in achieving its critical success factors (CSFs).
Using the electronic databases provided by the library and other sources, search for journal articles in professional, peer-reviewed accounting and business journals that pertain to the contemporary management technique chosen.
Write a research paper in current APA format. The paper must be 10–15 double-spaced pages, with 1-inch margins and current APA pagination. The font must be 12-point Times New Roman. The paper must include references from at least 5 different sources. Be sure to include a title page and a reference page in addition to the essay pages. The title page and the reference page do not count as part of the 10–15-page length requirement.
The paper must address the following in order:
Rationale for the contemporary management technique selected
In-depth analysis of the technique, in which you fully describe the technique, its implementation process, its application by other organizations, its applicability to your organization/segment, and your plan for implementation
Additional guidelines:
Avoid using first and second person (e.g., “I,” “we,” “you,” etc.).
You must reference a minimum of your textbooks and 5 additional scholarly sources. Wikipedia, Investopedia, and the like are not considered scholarly sources and should not be used. Any use of these sources will be grounds for a 50-point deduction.
Any personal communication should be cited appropriately within the text; however, citations of personal communication are not needed for the reference section.
An abstract and table of contents are not needed.
Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.
See the Course Syllabus for the Late Assignment Policy. See the Learning Project: Contemporary Management Techinues Research Paper Grading Rubric for more information concerning the point breakdowns.
Learning Project: Contemporary Management Techniques Research Paper Grading Rubric
Rationale and selection of the technique
Selection clearly and explicitly identifies the management technique that the organization is currently not using and should be. A well-developed rationale for the selection of the management technique is provided.
Management Technique
Management technique is described in an in-depth manner.
Implementation Process
Implementation process of the management technique is described in an in-depth manner.
Application by Other Companies
Application of the management technique by other companies is described in an in-depth manner.
Plan for Implementation
Plan for implementation of the management technique is described in an in-depth manner.
Evaluation/Creating Applicability to the Chosen Company
Applicability of the chosen management technique to the chosen company is described in an in-depth manner.
Text and Journal Support
Textbooks and at least 5 scholarly sources are referenced for support in answering the questions; all opinion statements are substantiated by citations.
Format Length and APA
Project is formatted in the prescribed manner and order. Length requirement (15 pages) is met. .
Grammar/Spelling/Organization
Spelling and grammar are correct. Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. Paragraphs contain appropriately varied sentence structures. Where applicable, references are cited in current APA format.
Previous Learning Project
Company Description (Alibaba)
The organization that will be analyzed and evaluated in this article is Alibaba. Founded in 1999, Alibaba Group is one of the largest e-commerce companies in China. Headquartered in Hangzhou, China, and established subsidiaries in foreign countries (US, UK) and other countries. Its original business model is very much like Amazon, which is to provide sellers with business infrastructure and new technologies. Allow consumers, merchants, and enterprises to obtain a platform for mutual communication. But as Alibaba continues to grow, they also start to expand in other areas such as life services, digital media, entertainment, cloud computing, and payments. By involving businesses in different fields, Alibaba has established a relatively complete ecosystem. The number of users has also reached a staggering 1.2 billion. According to the information found: “Alibaba became a business giant with a market value of more than $800 billion in 2020.”
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)
The first step for every organization to succeed is to find out what are the key factors of success, and SWOT analysis is a systematic procedure for identifying a firm’s critical success factors: its internal strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats (Blocher E, 2016). Simply put, SWOT is to list the various factors that need to be analyzed in the most intuitive way through four simple tables. Through SWOT, an organization can more easily find out whether it can use its own advantages to seize market opportunities. Or learn about your own weaknesses and avoid entering the wrong field. In general, SWOT is used to analyze the competitiveness of a company and formulate corresponding strategies through the analyzed data. The following Table 1 is the SWOT table analyzed by Alibaba after visiting and researching.
TABLE 1: Alibaba SWOT
INTERNAL
EXTERNAL
STRENGTHS
Has a huge consumer base
A large number of enterprises use Alibaba as a sales platform
Have its own independent payment system
Have a relatively complete ecosystem
OPPORTUNITIES
Rising demand for e-commerce in the business environment
Population income rises in the environment
The huge profits brought by the enterprise create opportunities for investment and development
Growth from cloud computing
WEAKNESSES
Fake and inferior products
Dependence on the Chinese market
Simple business
THREATS
Uncertainty brought about by political factors
Threats from competitors
STRENGTHS
For Alibaba’s STRENGTHS. Because of geographical reasons, that is, Alibaba is a Chinese company, and China is a country with a population of 1.3 billion, so there are many consumers. A large number of consumers is the root of the company’s development.
As one of the earliest sales platforms in China, Alibaba has undoubtedly become the object of choice for many companies. And because of Alibaba’s popularity, a large number of consumers have chosen to become Alibaba users, which has led to most companies choosing Alibaba as their sales platform.
Alibaba has a Chinese version of PayPal (Alipay). This is a business that most businesses don’t have. Alipay’s functionality in China completely replaces bank cards and cash. It can be said that as long as there is a network, consumers can use Alipay to pay. It is even available in some parts of the United States.
Due to the payment function, consumers can basically use it to pay bills related to life, such as water bills, electricity bills, Internet bills, etc. It also has a business of selling things. This results in Alibaba owning both buy and sell. This has helped Alibaba form its own ecosystem.
WEAKNESSES
Alibaba has far less control over sellers’ products than Amazon and its rival JD.com. And these reduce customer satisfaction, which affects the company because A high level of customer satisfaction is argued to lead to a stronger company image, protection of current market share, increased customer loyalty (Jacob H & Johan P, 2021).
90% of Alibaba’s business is in China. In other words, Alibaba’s market is too single. And only a diversified market can provide companies with new business and bring in new consumer groups.
Alibaba’s business is actually very small, basically only two: 1. Provide a trading platform. 2. Payment business. Single business will reduce the company’s ability to resist risks.
OPPORTUNITIES
E-commerce is now favored by consumers. E-commerce helps consumers find what they need more quickly and easily. And the sudden onset of Covid-19 has also helped accelerate the e-commerce trend.
Since China has become the second-largest economy in the world, it has also helped to increase the overall income of consumers. The level of consumer income will directly affect their purchasing power. The higher the income level, the stronger the purchasing power.
Alibaba’s business model has brought it a lot of cash. In its financial report, it shows that from April 2021 to March 2022, the revenue is about 31.865 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 34%. Net profit was $6.634 billion. This shows that Alibaba has a lot of cash flow. And a large amount of cash flow provides Alibaba with investment and development opportunities.
THREATS
Alibaba received an investigation from China’s antitrust regulator last year. Alibaba will face political risks. Alibaba’s shares have fallen from $319 to $122 since the antitrust probe.
Because e-commerce is the trend of development, more and more similar companies appear in China, such as Pingduoduo, JD, etc. This will lead to the loss of Alibaba customers. And increase the risk of being replaced.
Alibaba Balanced Scorecard
The BSC enables the firm to employ a strategy-centered performance measurement system, one that focuses managers’ attention on critical success factors and rewards them for achieving these critical factors (Blocher, E, 2016). Simply put, the Balanced Score card can combine the organization’s goals, strategies, and performance with the organization’s performance to evaluate the organization’s assessment indicators. It includes four evaluation angles, namely:
Financial performance:
Financial performance refers to the company’s financial perspective, such as how to satisfy shareholders and investors. whether profits are maximized. It can comprehensively measure the specific situation of the organization and help stakeholders get the value of the company to them.
Customer satisfaction:
Customer satisfaction refers to the performance appraisal of the organization by paying attention to the situation of enterprise users. Customers are the foundation of an enterprise’s survival and development. Only customers have high satisfaction with the enterprise. Stakeholders can reap long-term returns.
Internal processes:
Internal processes refer to the assessment of the internal operations of an enterprise. For example, what the company is good at, to understand what the company’s competitive advantages are.
Learning and growth:
The last point refers to whether the enterprise can continue to learn and grow. Only an organization that can sustain learning and growth can ensure the long-term development of the organization.
Below is Alibaba’s Balanced Scorecard.
TABLE 2: Alibaba Balanced Scorecard
Critical Success Factors
Measurement
Whether to implement CSFs
Financial
Revenue and Net Profit
Company growth
Investment situation
Cash flow and balance sheet
Net income
Year-on-year growth
Yes, but halfway
Customer satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction
Customer Loyalty
Returning customers
Customer survey
Yes
Internal processes
Efficiency
Quality
Time to complete the task
customer wait time
Satisfaction from customers
Yes
Learning and growth
Internal Learning
Whether to establish learning resources within or outside the organization
Yes
Discussion of Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
Financial performance
Revenue and Net Profit: First, one of the most important financial indicators for a business is cash flow. According to the data: “We examine if this result can be explained by the fact that when firms are insufficiently in bad shape (incurring cash losses), investment cannot respond to cash flow (George A & Abon M, 2004)”. In the short run, cash flow is more important than profit. Because cash flow is directly related to the fundamentals of the enterprise, it is also a tool for stakeholders to measure whether the company can grow. For example, if a company’s cash flow is increasing continuously, stakeholders can predict that the company’s products or services will be favored by more and more consumers. With the growth of the company’s users, it will be sooner or later to gain profits.
Company Growth Status: The company’s growth status is one of the important indicators. The growth rate represents the prospects and trends of the enterprise. Through the growth rate can see the life cycle of the company’s products. This means that companies with high growth rates also grow faster. “Year-on-year growth” can often be heard in corporate financial reports, and once a high growth rate is shown in the financial report, the company’s stock price and market value usually increase tremendously.
Investment situation: Investment is one of the ways to bring profits to a business. In the case of product saturation, companies usually use the investment to obtain new growth points. The most typical company is Buffett’s, Berkshire Hathaway. From 1996 to 2022, its stock price has risen from $20 to $314, which is a 15.7-fold increase in 25 years. The company’s investment can bring considerable benefits to the company.
Customer satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty: Customer satisfaction refers to the customer’s trust in the product and the company after purchasing the product, and the psychology of wanting to buy the product again. It is a habit of consumer behavior. Customer satisfaction can help companies build corporate image and help companies gain customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is one of the essential elements for business success. There are practical examples in life, such as Apple and Microsoft, which are top-ranked companies by market capitalization. They all have high customer satisfaction and loyalty. These ensure that they will not lose the fundamental power of enterprise development – “consumer”. And it shows in the data: “the odds of customer satisfaction were determined to identify the classification of quality attributes and took customer psychology into account to suggest how decision-makers should prioritize the allocation of resources (Feng-H, Sang-B & Yu -C, etc., 2017)”. It means that it can help companies to maximize profits.
Internal processes
Efficiency: Efficiency within an organization is an issue that most businesses need to face. As competition intensifies, business efficiency becomes increasingly important. A simple explanation, efficiency is to create the greatest value in the shortest time. At the same time, efficiency can help companies seize opportunities. For example, due to the emergence of Covid 19, the Federal Reserve has implemented Quantitative easing (or QE) measures. This has helped a number of businesses rise rapidly, the best examples being the two companies Zoom and Tesla. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the market value of the two companies has increased rapidly, and their number of customers has also risen sharply.
Quality: Quality is the life of an enterprise and its core competitiveness. It is the foundation of the long-term development of an enterprise. At the same time, good quality will also help companies improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Companies with high-quality products tend to have a higher market share.
Learning and growth
Internal learning: Internal learning is the driving force for enterprise development and innovation. It helps organization members improve their skills. For example, there are many learning resources within Microsoft, and there will be lectures by excellent members. These can directly improve the level of company members. Internal learning plays a huge role in promoting the development of the company. Often it also fosters a company’s ability to innovate, helping the organization achieve its future goals.
Evaluation of the organization
Financial performance
Financial reports can most intuitively show the company’s operating conditions, so the following are Alibaba’s two most recent financial reports. According to the financial report for the second quarter of 2021, Alibaba’s revenue increased by 29% year on year, but its profit decreased by 39%. The second financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2022, revenue was US$32.338 billion, which was lower than the expected US$329.16, a year-on-year increase of 34%. In terms of profit, Alibaba’s profit was $48.49, down 11% year-on-year. Alibaba said in its earnings report that it is investing in business growth, which has led to a decline in profits, but both cash flow and growth rates are rising. This means that it is in the developmental stage. However, what investors fear most is the uncertainty of the company, and because of the decline in short-term profits, this has caused Alibaba’s stock price to continue to decline.
Customer satisfaction
Alibaba uses several strategies to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, the most common membership system. The benefits of the membership system have attracted many consumers. These benefits cover many aspects of life, such as movies, takeaways, online shopping, etc. These benefits and discounts can save consumers a fee every year. And there are some benefits that you can enjoy without purchasing a membership. Therefore, many consumers choose Alibaba. According to the survey, “In 2021, the number of active users of Alibaba will reach 1.18 billion”. In terms of customer satisfaction, Alibaba belongs to the excellent level.
Internal processes
According to the survey, Alibaba used the “361 system” in the organization. The 361 system refers to: “30% of outstanding employees, 60% of ordinary employees, and the remaining 10% of employees will be eliminated or adjusted.” This system is also called Rank and yank. Sources found: “a management technique centered on annually pruning a workforce of low performers to raise average levels of organizational performance over time (Dennis J, 2018)”. Although this system is resisted by many employees and members, it can bring high efficiency to the company and improve the quality of the company’s products and services. This means that Alibaba has advantages in terms of high efficiency and high quality.
Learning and growth
After research, it was found that Alibaba has its own university and cooperates with some other universities. This means that Alibaba is able to cultivate and acquire a steady stream of talent. This is very important for enterprises because enterprises can only develop and innovate with fresh blood. And Alibaba has such conditions.
Conclusion
Overall, Alibaba is a good company with a clear corporate vision and is already profitable. At the same time, it also has its own moat (a perfect ecosystem). At present, it has encountered development needs and political constraints, which has led to its short-term profit being less than expected. But from a long-term perspective, Alibaba has the necessary conditions for sustainable development, namely Critical Success Factors. So, even though Alibaba’s stock has dropped 50% in a year, it’s still a company worth investing in.
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