AQA BUSS 4 - Corporate Culture Discussion

Maybe how a culture can completely bring down an organisation, for example a weak one like Goldman Sachs, incredibly self destructive.

Or how an entrenched culture can stop firms from changing because they think 'the way things work around here' is good enough to last, eg Sony and Nokia. Hope this helps! :smile:

I'd disagree entirely with your Goldman Sachs example. I found the culture to be strong and positive, 'A meritocracy built on collaboration, teamwork and integrity in order to deliver value to our clients.' And seeing revenues rise by 18% to US$34.163 billion in an environment where RoE has fallen to around 15% from 25% pre-2008 is not 'self destructive' in my opinion. But I may be wrong.

Reply 1001

J_W-x

13

Is anyone else over the whole grieving process and is into acceptance that im going to fail...or is that just me

Reply 1002

MrChuckNorris

2

If there's a question about the external environment, do you have to talk about all of PESTLE or is that something completely different? For example "To what extent do you think that the external environment in the UK is favorable for businesses at the moment?" (June 2012 Q5), What would you talk about?

Reply 1003

J_W-x

13

Original post by MrChuckNorris

If there's a question about the external environment, do you have to talk about all of PESTLE or is that something completely different? For example "To what extent do you think that the external environment in the UK is favorable for businesses at the moment?" (June 2012 Q5), What would you talk about?

Absolutely ANYTHING to do with the external environment from PESTLE/Competitors

Reply 1004

LukeKnights

Original post by CharlotteD1

For Leadership use, Vogue - Anna Wintour, RBS - Fred Goodwin, Google - Larry Page or Starbucks - Howard Shultz .. For Emerging Markets - Mothercare in India are a good example

Thanks

Anything for corporate planning? This arises a lot in questions and I find it very hard to gather research on it

Reply 1005

Moj

Is Orange & T-Mobile a good example? Is it a merger or acquisition :s-smilie:

would coming together help make them more competitive with increase in market share etc?
Also I think it has been asked before in the thread but what are some bad retrenchment examples? Can there be bad examples, like which context would you have a counter argument to retrenchment? Would it be like if a company was on the verge of closure or... ?

Reply 1006

Jordan_Howell1

1

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any blockages in the exam marking.

For example in some of my other exams you couldn't get higher than a certain amount of marks If you didn't relate it to the case.

Is there anything similar to that in this exam?

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Reply 1007

Jim Riley

3

Original post by AClown'sPocket

I'd disagree entirely with your Goldman Sachs example. I found the culture to be strong and positive, 'A meritocracy built on collaboration, teamwork and integrity in order to deliver value to our clients.' And seeing revenues rise by 18% to US$34.163 billion in an environment where RoE has fallen to around 15% from 25% pre-2008 is not 'self destructive' in my opinion. But I may be wrong.

Goldman Sachs has an incredibly strong culture (though you might not like it) and is widely regarded as a great place to work

Reply 1008

JCuthbert

Original post by Jordan_Howell1

Hi, I'm wondering if there are any blockages in the exam marking.

For example in some of my other exams you couldn't get higher than a certain amount of marks If you didn't relate it to the case.

Is there anything similar to that in this exam?

Posted from TSR Mobile

No, just make sure you evaluate.

Reply 1009

AClown'sPocket

1

Original post by Jim Riley

Goldman Sachs has an incredibly strong culture (though you might not like it) and is widely regarded as a great place to work

That's what I said :') I'd like to work for them when I graduate

Reply 1010

Proflash

9

Is there anything additional you can mention for Goldman Sachs other than their strong culture?

Reply 1011

nadster

12

Original post by JCuthbert

No, just make sure you evaluate.

Are you sure this is correct? Pretty sure the guy at the Tutor2U conference said examiners can't award more than a certain number of marks if you don't refer to the case study at least twice (only in section A)...

Reply 1012

akash11

9

PLEASE SOMEONE ANWSER MY QUESTION:

Do you need to do any reasech for section B? Or does section A reseach cover that?

Reply 1013

AClown'sPocket

1

Original post by Proflash

Is there anything additional you can mention for Goldman Sachs other than their strong culture?

They're a self proclaimed 'leader in corporate philanthropy'

Look at their annual reports. That's what I've done for all 9 of my companies, there's almost endless amounts of information within an annual report. Good luck! :smile:

Reply 1014

jakethecake2008

1

does anyone have any examples for the external environment question? For example a firm taking advantage of the low base interest rate?

Reply 1015

linabina94

1

Help - will the strategy of retrenchment inevitably fail if managers aren't able to overcome internal resistance to change?

I thought BA, Royal Mail, Nokia could be used but I don't know enough details about their retrenchments to write effective arguments

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Reply 1016

YoloPirate

6

Original post by akash11

PLEASE SOMEONE ANWSER MY QUESTION:

Do you need to do any reasech for section B? Or does section A reseach cover that?

OMG YES.
Section B you will get a tiny case study you dont even need to use. The rest is purely research based (while answering the question lol)

Reply 1017

CharlotteD1

Original post by LukeKnights

Thanks

Anything for corporate planning? This arises a lot in questions and I find it very hard to gather research on it

No problem, it'd be a Godsend if Leadership came up as a question, but considering Section A is culture I doubt it.. if i'm honest I haven't got a clue on Corporate Planning, I'd just steer well clear of that Question! :smile:

Reply 1018

shannonsnelling

Original post by A00

My main weaknesses is point 1 and point 5
I researched the following
Nokia
Kodak
South West
Barclays
Zappos (breifly)
Apple (Breifly )
Royal Mail

With bullet point 1, i understand factors influencing the organisational culture like objectives of the business ect but i don't have a clue about culture differences ???
Also problems with change the organisational culture 5. Could i say workers dont want to change ect. I dont have a business except barclays for it but i dont know what to say about problems. What has actually changed at barclays apart from his transform programme and extra training. They've cut cost ect and introduced training ? Could you say training is going to add to cost ?

I think i need another business asap, please help

you could use BA (willie walsh) as an example of a business which tried to change culture but experienced employee resistance, as employees didnt want to lose the benefits/perks they had got.

also in the change of culture essay you can talk about...
how competitors make change easier e.g. samsung always have Apple to compare to and so this makes it easier for them to change because they need to in order to keep up! Also Kodak is an example of a business which didnt change in time because they became complacent and believed they would just carry on being successful. But as Alex Ferguson always does, you should change when you're at the top!

the japanese 'salaryman' culture. Many of those working in Japan are extremely loyal to the company and the company is extremely loyal to them. A employee turned up to work with a broken leg to show togetherness - this means employees are more likely to support change. contrasts Amazon where they have a 'slave labour' culture - so employees are much less willing to help out because the company does not treat them well and there is also less room for Amazon to change by cost cutting as they are already on minimum wage!

Also change requires cash too!!! Apple have the ability to change because of their large cash pile - $137bn whereas companies such as HMV who needed to change did not have the cash to do so...debt of £180m, so they couldnt change even if they wanted to.

Hope this helps!! x

Reply 1019

Oliver1234

8

Original post by andyjack94

would LOVE to see your notes on this?!?! Sound great haha

Haha i can tell you briefly points and what you could look at

Those who have gained from globalisation i have used dyson with them moving manufacturing to far east asia, leading to lower manufacturing costs, and also access to new markets and existing suppliers. However on the downside has influenced the local economy of malmesbury in wiltshire UK with them being the only major manufactuer in the area, and the move has led to the loss of 800 jobs

Also globalisation has provided Starbucks access to India through a partnership with with TaTa group in a 50-50 strategic deal. This is because of the strong economic growth in India as well as the emerging middle class, who have increasingly demanded westernised goods. Although they have only opened 9 stores in India, starbucks are looking at India as a long term prospect, espescially with the poor infrastructure in India.
Issues include - poor infrastructure (roads) make it difficult to get goods to market, pricing as it is unsure whether Indias population will be able to afford starbucks in the long term also indias economic growth has fallen to 6.9% therefore could emerging markets be short term fix.

Negatives of globalisation i talked about primark exploiting child workers and also the recent collapse of the Bangladesh factory who were a supplier of primark, and the death of more than 600 people. I linked this to CSR and then talked about companies who have a good record of CSR with Ikea, BAT, and even starbucks despite the recent tax avoidance.

Hope this helps if you search these examples you will get more information on them :smile:

AQA BUSS 4 - Corporate Culture Discussion

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