Virgin Boss launches space tourist aircraft
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 507.
(1) British Business Tycoon Richard Branson has unveiled an aircraft aimed at sending tourists into space. The high-altitude jet, nicknamed Eve after Branson's mother, will act as a mothership, releasing a second spacecraft into orbit.
(2) “The beauty of ‘Whiteknight One' and ‘Whiteknight Two' is that they can help change our relationship with space, achieving an era where accessibility becomes a commercial and scientific norm and not the exception,” he told reporters at the unveiling.
(3) More than 200 hundred people have already signed up for the maiden voyage, which is expected in 2010. Each have paid just under 130,000 Euros for the sub-orbital space trip.
►Analyze what sort of strategy Richard Branson holds behind this launch. What might his business intentions be?
‘WWW.2' POINT
►Go to the corporate website of one of the following businesses:
· British Airways
· Marks and Spencer
· Vodafone
· Renault
and prepare a PowerPoint presentation keeping strictly to the guidelines below:
· What is their current market position?
· Who are their key target markets?
· Who is their main competition?
· What are the external factors that have impacted and will continue to impact on the business in the future?
· What image have they managed to cultivate? (It might be a bad image!)
· What key trends are going to affect the business in the coming years?
· Will the business still be in existence in ten years time? If so, in what form?
· Conduct PEST and SWOT analysis
Each of the above businesses has had their troubles and challenges and so would be interesting cases to study. These businesses are merely suggestions and you can choose one of your own, one that has also had its troubles and challenges recently.
‘SUMMARY' POINT
►Translate the phrases below into Russian and make them stick in your mind:
1. a company truly global in scope
2. visualize business environment in terms of layers
3. influence organization and operations of a business
4. corporate governance
5. mechanisms for exercising ultimate control of the company
6. reap annual dividends from the company's profits
7. corporate executives
8. the internal and external environment of the company/business
9. stakeholders
10. corporate strategy
11. assess the firm's strategic profile
12. highlight a firm's distinctive/core competencies (competitive advantage/edge)
13. gain/develop/maintain a huge competitive advantage/edge (distinctive/core competence)
14. monitor and evaluate forces which affect the organization over the long term
15. raise prices and increase profits in the short term
16. respond to strong/cut-throat competitive forces
17. competence mastery
18. consumer demand
19. remain stable
20. new entrants in the market
21. meet financial objectives
‘TRANSLATION-3' POINT
►Translate into English using the expressions from ‘Summary' Point:
(1) Сегодня, для того, чтобы выжить в среде бизнеса любая компания должна быть готова реагировать на жестокие конкурентные явления. Компания действительно глобальная по своим масштабам обязана отчетливо представить себе среду бизнеса с точки зрения ‘слоев', которые могут влиять на организационную структуру и деятельность этой компании. Таким образом, корпоративная стратегия может рассматриваться как набор определенных действий, нацеленных на то, чтобы получить и сохранить огромное конкурентное преимущество в долгосрочном аспекте.
(2) Во-первых, надо оценить стратегический профиль компании с помощью специальных инструментов анализа, которые позволяют контролировать и оценивать явления, влияющие на организацию в долгосрочном аспекте. Во-вторых, необходимо найти и установить механизмы для осуществления эффективного контроля над организацией. Члены правления корпорации должны придавать особое значение ключевым компетенциям компании. Приступая к анализу ключевых компетенций, им необходимо понимать, что конкуренция между компаниями означает не только борьбу за долю рынка и рыночную власть, но и соревнование в мастерском владении ключевыми компетенциями.
‘CASE-3' POINT
Back to 1970's(1) Iveco, the truck subsidiary of Fiat, based in Nanjing, is the largest Italian investor in China. The company, which has been in China since the 1970's attributes its success to Sino-Italian cultural exchange. Iveco selected 400 Chinese engineers and other workers and trained them in Italy, where they learned Italian and gained on-site experience in Italian factories in the 1980's. Neither the Chinese nor the Italians spoke much English, so Italian was the obvious language to use. The Iveco representative in China explains: ‘We have tried to give the Chinese the possibility to understand our industrial culture and the opportunity to live our social life.' Importantly, there was $7 million in Italian government aid for the technical training of Chinese people on the exchange program. In 1986, he arranged for 32 Italians to come to Nanjing to teach basic Italian to 350 local mechanics and other staff. (2) The Iveco project in Nanjing, which is a 50-50 partnership with its Chinese partner, was four years in the planning. Some foreign investors may feel that this is a long wait. But the Iveco representative explains: ‘Nobody can do business here with a short-term strategy'. When asked ‘How long?' he replied emphatically, ‘Thirty years'. The message for international companies is to adapt our know-how to the local conditions. Iveco continues to develop new production facilities in China. Meanwhile, the number of Italians in Nanjing is shrinking, down to 8, in a workforce of 3,000. The reason is that the company is developing local managers.| <== previous lecture | | | next lecture ==> |
| Location | | | Back to 2005 |