KM at GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey & Co Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

KM at GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey & Co - Essay Example GSK by end-2005 was the world's third largest pharmaceutical company in terms of market capitalisation (85.5 billion) and is in the top tier of global industry competitors in turnover (21.7 billion), operating profits (6.9 billion), employees (over 100,000), products in development (149), and profitability (12 of 30 major products each had sales over 500 million) (GSK, 2006). GSK resulted from the 2000 merger between two English global healthcare businesses - Glaxo Wellcome plc and SmithKline Beecham plc -, and has its headquarters in London, two operational headquarters in the U.S., principal research and development (R&D) labs in the U.S., Japan, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, manufacturing plants in 37, operations in 119, and sales offices in 130 countries (GSK, 2006). Business competition and survival in the industry is characterised by getting the right number of products to the right markets at an affordable price and at the right time (Stiglitz, 2002, p. 224). Companies need to achieve efficiencies at all stages of each product's life cycle: from establishing the target strategy (which sickness to address and compounds to test), to testing and licensing (getting government approval takes years), commercialisation (where and how to sell, at what price, and which distribution network to use), and supply chain management (manufacturing and getting drugs to the patients who need them). Stiff competition from generics, rising product development costs, growing R&D failure rates, and increasing legal threats push GSK to develop drugs faster, safer, and more profitably. This is where KM initiatives are important. With over 100,000 employees - many among them top scientists that gave us retroviral drugs for HIV, vaccines for deadly hepatitis, medications for ulcers and erectile dysfunction, and Horlicks for nutrition - GSK is a repository of immense knowledge that can be shared efficiently and effectively. McKinsey & Company: An Overview McKinsey & Company is a privately held U.S.-based management consulting established in 1926 as an accounting and engineering analysis firm. The legendary Marvin Bower, Managing Director from 1950 to 1967, led its growth and development into a global power by transforming a small technical-oriented company into one of the most knowledge-based firms within the global management consulting industry (Edersheim, 2004). McK, with 2004 annual revenues of $3.5 billion and 11,500 staff working in 80 offices in 40 countries is highly profitable, has a strong brand image, and spends at least 10 percent of its annual revenues on managing and sharing knowledge. In comparison with other giants like IBM and Accenture, McK is the 8th largest in annual revenues (MCI, 2004). McK has been consistently recognised for developing knowledge workers through senior management leadership,

Gucci And Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Gucci And Innovation - Essay Example This paper intends to analyze the employee creativity and innovation as a key focus for most international organizations especially while trying to manage global economic crises in recession. Among other ways through which the multinationals remain strategic and influential in the international, market especially in terms of competition and market segmentation is through organizational processes and products/services differentiation. A key strategy that has been adopted in this regard is through adoption and focus on creativity and innovation. Employees have been very instrumental in ensuring relevance of the international organizations through creativity and innovation. However, the level of innovation and creativity by such employees has been dependent of institutional frameworks and thus organizational leadership becomes very instrumental in empowering the employees for such assignments as designing of products and services for the companies through innovation and creativity (OECD , 2009, p. 5-6). Discussion Innovation is a phenomenon that is socially acceptable, which brings together the ideas of different people and the implementation of the same. Moreover, through innovation, products and services are designed and made through the cooperation of people working together. The success of any organization especially in innovation and creativity requires the collaboration of efforts by the leadership as well as the subordinates. The management/leadership teams within organizations are usually tasked to propel the organization forward with implementation of policies meant for realization of goals and objectives carried on by the organization. In fact, many studies reveal that to many organizations, goals are just one and the same as the performance of the organization itself. However, it is more challenging to realize set goals and there must be some frameworks through which the realization of set goals; short term as well as the long-term goals (Ordonez et al, 2009, p.1-5). The process of driving the international organization towards realization of the set goals entails among other things proper planning and human resource management. International organizations’ management such as is the case with Gucci undertakes the planning in terms of short-term vision as well as long-term vision. Whenever an organization adopts either short-term goals or the long-range vision, continuous improvement is vital in order to realize that long-term objective. Nevertheless, changes in management practices have seen a substantial shift of the management practices from long range planning to much simplified planning structures, which concentrate with very short-term goals that are easy to achieve and evaluate. In order for any business to remain relevant and objective, the periodical evaluation and analysis of performance is critical. Innovation and creativity is such a basic tool that is currently in use in order to realize such goals especially aimed at overcoming the effect o f economic recession that affects the global economy today (Sharma et al, 2010, p. 29-30). In the choice of management practice to adopt, any management team must therefore put profit consideration into perspective. Continuous

Introduction to Organisations and Management Essay

Introduction to Organisations and Management - Essay Example Hence, in any good organization, there should be a clear road map that decides the specific roles of various people at different tiers so that good coordination would be possible facilitating maximum out put in unit time. In general, several principles of management play vital role in giving any organization a solid strength and proper direction and an element of sustainability. Effective management also facilitates good organizational design and structure, effective team work, ideal organizational culture and dynamic leadership. To understand this properly, practical studies of some organizations and comparison of their operation and management styles would be of immense help. Keeping this in consideration, a relative comparative analysis of two different firms i.e. Watson’s Engine Components vs. H&M Consulting has been made in terms of their style of operation and nature of management. The operation and management of both these firms is discussed with special emphasis to str ucture and design of organization, team work, leadership issues and organizational culture. ... Good organizational design would always facilitate better coherence and coordination among the employees and would also be instrumental in production of high quality end products. In the present case study, the organizational design of Watson’s Engine Components is hierarchial and it is not satisfactory as it lacks proper direction. In any organizational design, the founder or leader has to provide clear road map in which the organization has to concentrate for achieving its predetermined targets. Moreover, an effective organizational structure requires functional and divisional components (Hax and Majluf, 1981). In Watson’s Engine Components, Watson couldn’t give any futuristic model and it is completely family owned company with less diversification and specialization is also wanting as there is no proper division of works under different sections or departments. In this way, there is no proper communication and operation of authority of individual employees, s pan of control and accountability resulted in poor performance of Watson’s Engine Components. There is no coherence at among the employees and flexibility is also found to be lacking which makes Watson’s Engine Components less competitive in the present day market. For meeting the present needs of the market, the design has to be modified in any successful organization (Kikulis et al., 1995). But this has never happened in Watson’s Engine Components. The staff absenteeism and turn over rates of technical staff are quite quite high in Watson’s Engine Components resulting in poor organizational efficiency and this is to be addressed immediately. The Managing Director Gordon

Fast Food and Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fast Food and Children - Essay Example Studies related to the culture of color pin different societies argue about blue and pink as cool and romantic colors. However, the correlation of the colors worn by the mother in the film and the general mood indicate a controversial nature to the desired meaning. The result of the controversy is the unhappy mood evident in the mother’s face that builds suspense to audience to realize the uneasy nature the mother has towards her child. The generalized approach of the controversial use of romantic colors with the signs of depression is a lesson to the target viewers to understand the repercussions of feeding on junk food despite the delicious and appealing tastes. The child’s blue tee shirt is an indication of the love that the family seeks to share, but the daily injections bar the characters from revealing such affection in their behavior. Since the mother enters the room, the blue clothed child does not look into her eyes as he continues with his activities with know ledge of his mother’s presence and the expected injection. The wooden facilities in the house are mahogany brown. Arguably, the wooden floor matches with the furniture, but fails to match with the walls, which are white and black in color (Fast Food and Children). From an artistic point, it is arguable that the use of the wooden floor is a deliberate act for the environment to remain dull. It is notable that the reduced lighting in the room and the mahogany colored floor erode the desired humor and love that should be present in every family.

Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Statistics Project Example In this case, a description of the length of labor could have been initiated whereby the length of labor of one works would be considered as a random variable. A probability distribution that provides a description to such a random variable would them be initiated. 4. The distributions of scores for the experimental and control groups were not similar for the length of labor because the two means were different. The mean of the experimental group was 14.63 while that of the control group was 12.79, portraying a mean difference of 1.84 (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). 5. The experimental and control groups were slightly in their type of feeding since in all types of feeding such as bottle feeding, breast feeding, as well as the combination of the two modes of feeding depicted a difference in their mode, as a measure of central tendency (Mann, 1995). Breast-feeding was found to have a mode of 40.6% for the experiment group against 41.7% for the control group, while bottle-feeding had a mode of 53.1% against 50.0% for the experimental group and control group respectively. On the other hand, the combination of both the breast and bottle-feeding showed a mode of 6.3 and 5.6 for the experimental group and the control group respectively (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). 6. The marital status mode for the subjects in the experimental and control groups included 78.1% for the married subject in the experimental group, against 86.1% for the control group. The mode also included 3.1% for the separated/divorced subjects in the experimental group against 2.1% in the control group, and 18.8% for the single subjects in the experimental group, against 8.3 in the control group (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). The frequencies for these three subject categories for the experimental groups against the control groups were 0.781 vs. 0.861, 0.031 vs. 0.021, and 0.188 vs. 0.083 for the married, separated/divorced, and single subjects respectively. 7. The median for the education data cannot be

History of Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of Psychology - Essay Example Same is with the study of different kinds of areas of education. Psychology is a kind of social science that has emerged to be one of the prime aspects of life today. All the marketing activities are revolving around the concepts of psychology which have evolved over the last 100 years. The research and development that has taken place has multiplied with each passing year. All the fundamental aspects of human life and functioning are now explained through the various concepts of psychology. Hence psychology has become an integral part of our lives. The type and extent of research that was done at the start of 1900s was different from what it is today. Methods of research are increasing, and developing; providing room for improvement to the research that was already present. Also the theories and concepts which were popular in the start were not as important as more concepts were coming as research was growing. A cross-sectional analysis of the studies which were conducted in two different time frames would provide one with a better picture regarding the difference of opinions, topics and concepts in different eras. For this purpose, two articles have been chosen pertaining to different eras of the 1900s. Thorough analysis of these articles would help us understand the evolution of research and concepts in psychology. The first article that has been chosen was published in 1914 in the Psychological Bulletin/ Psychological Review Company, named as "Psychology of religion". This article was written by Elsworth Faris and advocated the different concepts prevailing regarding religion in the world and their linkage to the psychology of human beings. The other article was chosen from the same journal but published in 1958. The opening remarks from the symposium on relationships between religion and mental health, delivered by Herman Fiefel, were chosen to be analyzed. Like the previous article this article also talks about the relationship between religion and its effect on the mental state of mankind. (Faris, 1914) To start off with, religion has a fundamental link with the mental health and stability of a person. It has been established that believing in the presence of the unknown power above us helps us to live better/accountable lives in this world. It makes us responsible for our actions and can help make the world a better place. This topic has been discussed and researched upon over the years by scientists and results have shown linkage between the two aspects of life. While going through the first article, one notices that the common concept of psychology and religion, pragmatism, is being discussed; the fact that at that time all the concepts were considered important only when they were proved. Pragmatism talks about the purposes behind everything and not a single purpose; it strives to prove to concepts. In the article, the author believes that the faith Christianity is the epitome of the riddle of existence. Although the article clearly mentions that education is an important factor in the development of sound religious concepts. Education helps the person identify with the key facts of the religion; these facts are the presence of a single power which can help them with thing; the fact that they will be offered redemption, the existence of evil and the presence of self-esteem of man. These beliefs are

Performance Appraisal Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Performance Appraisal Systems - Essay Example The evaluation is normally done by the individual's immediate superior in the organization who rates others is also rated by his superior. Performance appraisal employees rating techniques for comparing individual employees in his work group, in terms of personal qualities or deficiencies and the requirements of their respective jobs. It should be differentiated from job evaluation, which is concerned with the determination of worth of different jobs. Performance appraisal refers to the task of the rating or assessing the individual performance and abilities at work. (Yvonne, 1999, p.119) The performance appraisal is a formal programme in an organization, which is concerned not only with the contributions of the members who form part of the organization, but aims at spotting the potential also. The satisfactory performance is only a part of the system as a whole and the management needs more than merely evaluating the performance of the subordinates Performance evaluation is, something of an executive, art and science in itself. One important benefit of the system is that it helps top management to make further judgements about the executives who judge others. The top management can get a sense from the various performance appraisals, about the various departments of the organization and also the need of executive development in the years to come. Performance appraisal helps the supervisors to evaluate the performance and to know the potentials of their subordinates systematically and periodically. (Yvonne, 1999, p.124) Following are the benefits of merit rating: (a) It helps in the correct placement of workers. (b) Performance rating helps in guiding and correcting employees. (c) It helps the employees to know where they stand and consequently they try to improve their performance. (d) The performance appraisal helps to find out the ability of the personnel. This will stimulate them to better their performance in a bid to improve their rating over others. (e) Ratings can be used as the basis of sound personnel policy in relation to transfer and promotion. (f) Performance appraisal helps in designing the training programme in better way. (g) The performance appraisal if done scientifically and systematically will prevent grievances and develop a sense of confidence amongst workers because they are convinced of the impartial basis of evaluation. The making of appraisal ratings has a beneficial effect both on the persons doing the appraisal and the one being appraised. The appraisal brings to attention of supervisors or executives, the importance of knowing their subordinates as individuals. Purpose of Performance Appraisal Systems The object of performance appraisal falls in two categories: Administrative; and Self- improvement (a) Administrative Promotion. This is perhaps the most important administrative use of performance appraisal. It is of common interest to both, management and employees, to promote employees to