Al Maya group plans expansion

Al Maya Group plans expansion

Al Maya group currently operates 30 retail outlets including 15 hypermarkets. Al Maya is planning an expansion and plans not to enter the hypermarket race. Its growth plans are depicted in the supermarkets and fashion retail stores.

Business mission:

In Hamel’s language we could note that the company is attempting to expand in the retail sector by opening neighborhood supermarkets. The company believes that growing number of consumers would want to shop at the neighborhood retail outlets which offers a great deal of convenience. Thus, their business mission is to seize the opportunity of neighborhood stores, something in the range of 3,000 square feet offering convenience shopping.

Product/market scope:

Al Maya; as a part of global expansion; intends to expand its market scope by increasing the number of stores to a total of 25 stores. The company is also opening the first British Home Stores in Poland.

Core competencies:

The article mentions that the traffic has been growing in a continuous basis and high gasoline prices have increased by 30%. For that reason most people will seek an alternative for the inconvenience driving to the hypermarkets. Thus choosing the convenient location to expand is a great potential or them.

Fulfillment and support:

Al Maya group is aware of the inconvenience associated with hypermarkets. Thus, in an attempt to support their customers they chose to avoid the hypermarkets and go after the supermarkets. Because supermarkets will attract consumers that are avoiding driving in traffic and encounter the parking lot problems.

Finally, I would like to say that supermarkets are good alternatives if they go hand-in-hand with good locations and good service. The way I see it is that we need both kinds of markers because it would be nice to have alternatives. That is a choice for those that enjoy hypermarkets and for those that want to avoid traffic jam.

Disney to probe labor claims in China Factories

In this article "Disney to probe labor claims in China factories", it states that there were claims by a labor rights advocacy group regarding unsafe conditions at Chinese factories that makes books for Disney. This tends to jeopardize the position of Disney because the Chinese factories are their suppliers and part of their stakeholders. Disney could have argued that is up to the Chinese government to investigate this claim because after all they were only bidders that Disney accepted the offer thus it wasn’t part of their direct operation. However, as a way of acting socially and ethically responsible to all its stakeholders they hired Verite, a non-profit social auditing and training firm, to conduct an investigation of the claims. According to Baron, we have two issues which are the unsafe conditions at Chinese factories and the 10-13 hour work days with a salary below the legal minimum wage. The interests groups are the labor rights advocacy groups and Disney. The institutions include National Labor Committee, the Chinese government and the public sentiment. I believe that Disney should take more strict rules when accepting bids and ensure that their suppliers follow the standard ethical rules and to do sudden checkups on them to ensure that. In terms of HFP, such a claim could affect their image and reputation especially that Disney creates an image of fairy tales a place were everything is right, innocent and truthful. A similar incident was the case of Nike were they had issues of sweatshops and bad working conditions and as a result there was a large protest by college students against such acts. Thus, i don't think Disney would want to reach such a phase as Nike.

Qatari Firms Blacklisted for Woeful Treatment of Indians

Qatari Firms Blacklisted for Woeful Treatment of Indians:

In a workplace you expect to encounter people or employers who would exploit your potential to the max. However, you would expect to be compensated for that by good salary payment or by promotion to a higher level. But in certain working place this doesn’t happen especially for those poor people that are not highly educated and would be satisfied with little. In the article it reports the maltreatment that the Indian workers are facing in Qatar to an extent they were thrown out of labor camp for complaining to embassy about salary arrears. Analyzing it from Baron’s perspective, I believe that we have an issue which is maltreating the Indian workers in Qatar such as defaulting in paying the salaries, the bad accommodation and in some case the ‘sub-standard’ food that they offer. The interests are those that have a stake in this issue and this includes the workers and the Indian embassy which is as well the institution. This issue rises from moral concern a concern from the Indian embassy of the way that the Qatari companies have been treating the Indian workers. In my opinion, I believe that Qatar should reconsider and seriously scrutinize this issue because I believe that Indian workers that work in construction areas are tolerating a lot of pressure and risk associated with such a work. In addition, I see that those people that accept such a low paying job are rare and valuable in Hamel language because you wouldn’t find a Qatari national who would actually accept to work on construction. Thus, if Indians are fired and few of Qatari people that would accept such a work then who would construct? I find that this act is unethical and against human rights thus, there must be mutual respect and I believe acts should be taken to fight sweatshops worldwide. According to Baron the issue passes through stages and this issue went through the stage of issue identification and interest group formation which in this case are the Indian workers and the Indian embassy that have blacklisted 11 Qatari companies and put 35 others on a watch list for mistreating its nationals working in the country.

Seniors At Senior Level

Seniors At Senior Level

Retirement age has now developed a new trend. Before seniors or gray people use to retire at the age of 60 or 65 and live the rest of their lives with their families on pension funds. However, this was before now you encounter people at the age of 70 and 80 who can just be as effective and experienced as a person of half their age as mentioned in the article "Eighty isn't 80 anymore". "A lot of 80-year-olds don't feel old and they feel like working.". The baby boomers to me are people with grey hair, wrinkles and probably a curved back but with a bundle of cherished experiences and knowledge in the working field. This what makes them rare!!!! I mean where else can you find valuable knowledge and learned experiences other than from people that have grew in age and have dealt and encountered with a lot of obstacles throughout their lives. In Barney’s language this is considered a rare asset to the firm that has them since they would not “want to lie around in a hammock. They're going to find a way to stay active as they move into the post-60 years." In addition, what makes them rare is that certain positions and fields require expertise such as working in the top business levels where “the older boss is a niche player”. Moreover, they are of great value because they can occupy “the spectrum of jobs from low to high skills.” Moving on, I believe that having such a potential from old senior people makes it hard for other firms to imitate because each has his/her own experience and knowledge. Baby boomers according to Barney could be a unique historical condition for they have the knowledge that is of great value. In addition if firm s acquire and retain those people in early periods this could be a competitive advantage to them. Moreover, there is the social complexity phenomena in which aged people that work in a certain firm can excel in this firm but not the other.

“Effect of Danish Boycott Patchy”

“Effect of Danish Boycott Patchy”

Lately, the media broadcasted the cartoons which provokingly depict the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by the two newspapers Jyllands-Posten and Norway’s Magazinet magazines. This aroused a great anger from the Muslim community which was certainly a direct offense and disrespect to their religion. An immediate act was taken by Arab Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia to withdraw all Danish products as a way of boycotting them. As mentioned in the article supermarkets had labels to support boycotting and some even left their shelves empty.

Customer Interface:

The way the supermarkets tried to link themselves to the customers and to show both support and consent to those patchy cartoons is known in Hamel’s language as customer interface. Personally, I see that in this article the three factors fulfillment and support, information and insight & relationship dynamics are interrelated. Supermarkets in Jeddah showed a great deal of support to the customers who condemn such actions by boycotting Danish products. The way that they chose to reach their customers and build a bond of support is defined by Hamel as fulfillment and support. The second concept brought by Hamel which is quiet evident in this article is information and insight in which the supermarkets were aware of these cartoons and the effects that it could arise in the Muslim community. Thirdly, we have the relationship dynamics concept in which the supermarkets have reacted to the environment surrounding them and initiated an interaction with the customers. This was marked when the manager of flagship supermarket stated “We have had very positive feedback from our customers to our decision”.

Strategic Resources:

Supermarkets had the Danish products which constitute a 5% of their sales as mentioned by one of the owners. This is considered an asset to them which is known as strategic assets so they used the assets they have in a way that would show support to the Muslim community. Another concept discussed by Hamel is a core process which is basically what the firm chooses to do.

The problem behind this is whether boycotting will succeed? The problem is that local companies are also hurt. In the article, SADAFCO used to have ties with Denmark but not anymore however, there still exist a preconception that is related to the Denmark. Such boycott has resulted in decrease in shareholders wealth and decreased sales.

The Real Cost of Google's Sellout to China

Government Policy:

In this article “The Real Cost of Google's Sellout to China”, Google wishes to seize the commercial opportunity present in China. According to the article, China is considered to be the second largest internet market in the world. However, Google had encountered the problem of binding to the Chinese governmental policy. This Patriot Act censorship engine imposed by the Chinese government demands from Google the ability to “allow a surveillance test of millions of its users' search queries as part of its effort to enforce online pornography legislation passed by Congress to protect children”. According to the Porter’s framework this is known as government policy barrier which is part of barrier to entry. Google is fully aware of the fact that if it doesn’t comply with the government’s demand or assists them in filtering certain websites then they would be at a “competitive commercial disadvantage”. This was considered a barrier to Google in which its speed engines would be slow and undependable if they refused to bind to these rules. Thus, due to this policy Google had to assist the Chinese government to bare access to thousands of Websites in order not to lose the opportunity of entering the market. However, although Google accepted these terms it can’t fully control the market because it is under the grab of the Chinese government.

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