Strategy management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategy management - Essay Example Over the period of time, it has followed an aggressive growth strategy and became more innovative offering additional services. It has also been one of the first global retailers in the world to offer mobile payment checkouts at its several of stores. Through it has followed an aggressive strategy to further penetrate into its existing markets; it has also been more aggressive in terms of market development and has been opening its outlets in various new markets. Starbucks has more than 700 stores in UK, it is operating to be one of the leading coffee makers in the country. UK is going through an economic recession and overall consumer confidence is relatively low. It was because of this reason that Starbucks suffered losses in UK also however; it is still recovering and is following an aggressive strategy to penetrate into UK market. Macro-Environment Analysis The main factors discussed in this analysis are important because it directly influence the way Starbucks operates in UK mar ket. A careful management of these factors requires effective strategic initiative in order to become more competitive in the market. Political Factors UK is considered as the mother of democracy in the world with stable government in place. Government is supportive of market economies and is therefore the overall risk of government intervention is relatively negligent. Overall government policies are favorable for the private enterprises and the private property rights and laws are properly in placed. Though UK has strong bureaucracy in place however, government administration and functionaries are supportive of private enterprises with little administrative hurdles in place. Though UK has a history of nationalizing private companies however it may not be the case considering the overall dynamics of global business. Economic Factors UK is going through economic recession with consistently low or negative economic growth rates witnessed during last few years. Unemployment is on the rise and government has put in place austerity measures to control government expenditure. Due to these factors, overall consumer confidence is low and consumers are withdrawing their consumption to save more. Recently, UK economy experienced slightly higher economic growth rates due to Olympics however, this may be considered as a seasonal variation. (Monaghan, 2012).   Still the level of unemployment is relatively with more than 2 million people are still unemployed. With the economy further shrinking, it may be possible that the unemployment rates may increase. Social Factors Drinking coffee is becoming a norm in UK though Britain are considered as tea drinkers. Mostly working class professionals as well as youth prefer to drink coffee and is increasingly becoming a social norm in UK. It has also been suggested that drink coffee is considered as something which high achievers do. Coffee, socially, is being drunk by the working professionals who are looking for some on-the-go bo ast of energy. Coffee is also being used in offices mostly with different organizations. Technological Factors Technology is relatively changing fast with mobile payments becoming new trends for consumers to paying. The advancement in smart phones and mobile payments technology has brought new changes in the way consumers actually interact and pay. The impact of online recommendations on the way

Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures - Essay Example In this paper, the proponent tries to define the concept and relevance of non-verbal communication in business settings. In particular the differences are compared and contrasted as observed using specific cultures of Japan, and the UK. Furthermore, the proponent also discussed the business etiquette and the possible consequences of not being familiar with the correct etiquette. Other variables such as power, status, or gender are also included especially on their impacts on non-verbal communication. Silence The absence of words or specific level of reaction does not mean there is something totally void or emptiness about it. Not with the Japanese culture because silence or chinmoku says more than a word. In Japan silence does not mean to be a specific level of insult or something else because it is a communicative skill (Davies & Ikeno, 2002). In this country, silence is derived from the Japanese values and it is the main reason how it is significantly viewed important today in ever y walk of life and in different circumstances. It is considered as a virtue. Compared in the western culture, silence in the midst of communication in Japan on a daily basis stands in a longer duration and this is due to two most important factors: historical and dominance of group consciousness (Davies & Ikeno, 2002). ... UK on the other hand has strong individualistic culture which emphasizes strong level that is contained within individual competition (Brown & MacBean, 2005). Thus, it would appear that people in the UK are more dynamic in their response especially in the context of achieving competitive advantage. Eye contact In the UK, eye contact signifies respect, honesty and listening (Moore & Woodrow, 2009). This means how important it is to have eye contact when one is in the midst of a conversation in the UK. However, a bit of contrast happens in Japan. Eye contact may mean an insult because Japanese show politeness by not having direct eye contact for it is associated with aggression, insensitiveness, negative boldness, and other related emotional manifestation (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2010). Gestures There are deep vocabularies associated with gestures (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2009). In Japan, pointing to objects and at people require the entire hand which at some certain reasons would mean an insult to use a finger in doing so. In the UK, this would bring out different meaning knowing the fact that hand gestures for instance are associated with culture and thus they would convey contradictory meaning across different culture (Thakur & Srivastava, 1997). In other words, specific bodily movements have varying meaning across different cultures, which at some point if not properly used will result to different level of conflicts. Business etiquette The above non-verbal communications are applicable within the business etiquette in the cultural context of Japan and UK. As stated earlier, silence is associated with Japan’s highly collectivist culture while being proactive is in line with UK’s individualist culture. Thus, in the UK an