Core Business Strategy Of Thomas Cook

Core Business Strategy Of Thomas Cook If one looks up the most famous names in travel, he is sure to come across Thomas Cook. 1841 marked the inception of this international travel company. Gradually growing from humble settings Cook came up with one of a kind company dedicated to making the whole world accessible for Britons. Today Thomas Cook is a very big name with several brands under it. It has an airline by the name Thomas Cook Airlines equipped with 44 aircrafts which fly worldwide. It has a variety of financial services as well which includes Thomas Cooks passport and credit card. The current form of Thomas Cook is the result of a merger which took place between Thomas Cook and My Travel. The company is working and controlling all its operations to stay on the top. Thomas cook works in different areas, including UK and Ireland, continental Europe, northern Europe, North America and Germany. The most number of passengers are catered are in Continental Europe and the count reaches up to 7.5 million. Thomas Cook Group has a portfolio full of travel brands that are leading the market currently. Thomas Cook strives hard on offering the most optimum quality products and services to their stakeholder. They never let the shareholder value to decrease. Customers: As all the leading organizations understand the importance of their customers so does Thomas Cook and hence they constantly look for the feedback from their customers once they have availed their services. There are questionnaires and all other sorts of feedback techniques that facilitate the analysis of each individual service that they give. Then accordingly they make the improvements and the changes necessary. Employees: With a very vast experience Thomas Cook is the excelling brand in travel. If you are looking reliability, flexibility and value for money, Thomas Cook is the company you are looking for. What is the factor that makes them unbeatable? It ultimately comes down to the people that work for the organization. Thomas Cook has over 34,000 employees worldwide, and this organization knows how to choose the best and then retain them. Investors: Investors are the one of the main asset that the any organization relishes besides good customers. Thomas Cook has its set of loyal investors and to keep them happy it ensures open communication with all the shareholders. This exchange of concerns is done inside an investor relations framework and is a very structured one so as to leave no room for mistakes. There are formal presentations held to inform them of the financial conditions annually and quarterly, different sorts of trading statement. There are also other more regular meetings between the top management and the investors. The product: If the core product of the company is effective that becomes the foundation for its success. Hence Thomas Cook invests a lot of time and resources to ensure that everything goes right. Making the right product is the main element that adds to the value for customers as well. For this purpose Thomas Cook has made a specialized team which has the sole purpose of assuring the quality and keeping tabs on product performance and keeps all the managers updated with regard to any potential problem. The cardinal measures that the company adopts are Punctuality, ensuring flights are on time. Information handling Taking customer services very seriously so as to minimize the number of complaints The questionnaires filled by customer, getting them catered from a third party. Thomas Cooks Code of Conduct: Thomas cook has a strong set of values. There is a set of five values that all the employees share and it defines what the company stands for and it operates. These five values hold great importance for everyone that works in Thomas Cook because the employees believe that it is their persistence with these values which is causing their maintained success. It also facilitates their effective customer services which of course can make or kill any organization. They have an interesting way of referring to these values. It is said once you follow these values, youll be PROUD to put on your Thomas Cook badge. The five PROUD values are: Pioneering our future; In Thomas Cook the culture that is encouraged is of improvement. Nobody should fear taking on ownership and enhancing every opportunity that is thrown their way. Learning from their past mistakes and making the future most profitable is also one of their virtue. At Thomas Cook employees believe that they cant stay stagnant, they have to keep innovating to stay one stay one step ahead of all the copy cats. Results orientated; The success of any organization or individual as a matter of fact depends upon the achievement of the preset goals and aims. So is the notion embraced by Thomas Cook, it becomes the driving force for attaining their goals, working for betterment and raising the stakes every time. Flexibility is a virtue that is encouraged and taking responsibility is greatly appreciated. Obsessed with customer service: Customer is the king, this rule is incorporated in every companys mission statement. When you are catering to the masses and are depending on them for your revenues, it will be very dumb to not give due importance, respect to them. Thomas cook is always working on making their service better. Their main focus is their customers and hence they take their feedback very seriously, readily solving the problems that the customers come across. Thomas cook tries to ensure such standards of service which will make the customers keep coming back. United as one team; companies who have no harmony get ripped apart in no time. Team has a very significant meaning, Together Everyone Achieves More. At Thomas Cook everyone has clear perspectives on their team work. For them it is about being able to communicate effectively, giving each other the boost as they are moving towards the same goal, respecting each others views and ideas. Jealousy and bullying are the demerits that eat up a progressive organization. Driving robust decisions; one bad decision at the worst time can turn an organization upside down, on the other hand if an astute decision is thought of and is executed at the right time can change the whole situation for the organization for good. For Thomas Cook employees understand they have to be objective, scour all the options and then coming up with the best choice. Picking the most easy and safe option might get you through for some years but in this competitive world one has to constantly be on his toes to sustain. The bigger the risk, the better is the result. Thomas Cook also believes in concepts like Diversity, Equal Employment Opportunity, and protected class and so on so forth. It has worked on a system that assures the efficient inculcation of such norms. In Thomas Cook the range of dimensions making a distinction in people is considered to be an asset. Normally that does not happen. Companies readily fall victim to notions like glass ceiling, glass walls and reverse discrimination. But Thomas Cook endorses and promotes the diversity that its people bring in. To not fall victim to certain discriminatory policies it has adopted a staunch management and efficient policies that would ease and ensure their support for all their employees. Thomas cook acclaims to have treated everyone fairly so far by basing their evaluation on solely individual virtues and capabilities considered against the business needs. They have created in itself an ideal system, and to keep every thing running smooth strict actions are taken against any type of discrimination that arises due to factors like nationality, ethnicity, sexual origin, age, religious beliefs, race color or any sort of physical disability. Not only does Thomas Cook provide equal employment opportunities for everyone but it helps its existing and potential employees in all possible ways. The main asset that they flaunt for Thomas Cook is their hard working employees. Firstly anyone can apply for any job in Thomas Cook if he/she is qualified. There is no discrimination is the recruiting process. Once a candidate is taken aboard he/she is trained for 7 days, polishing their skills and then they are off to work. Once the contract is over, Thomas Cook does not dispose off his loyal employees. They find ways to keep the talent within the organization by changing their positions and other means. Thomas Cook values loyalty by employees and customers. There is a culture of deep trust among all the employees, and this trust is transferred to customer which adds to their loyalty. Privacy policy: In this present era when internet has become equally essential as breathing for us, we dont care what information we are giving up. No matter how personal it is, we think it is not visible by other and even if it is so what. Some websites sell your information to organizations like CSI and so on as well. But we dont realize the price that we pay for all the free information that we are getting with just one click is jeopardizing our identity. For Thomas Cook it is of grave importance that the customers information is not leaked anywhere. One part of their imparted trust is reflected in this privacy policy as well. Also Thomas Cook does not discriminate against ex offenders. If the person comes clean with his crime in earlier stages of the recruitment process, he wont be necessarily barred from working in the organization. Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-Offenders is provided by the company. And the person is then evaluated on the position he is opting for and the nature of the offence he has committed and then coming with the best for the company as well as the candidate. But to be considered the interested candidate should be straight to the company with regard to his crime record. Company has a strict policy of withdrawing any one who tries to hide this fact. At the same time it assures fair treatment to all. Conclusion: Code of conduct helps organizations with their recognition. Every company has it own way of dealing with its code of conduct. Some succeed in finding their and some fail. To conclude it all Thomas Cook has a strong code of conduct. It has some conspicuous set of rules and procedures that it follows. From this persistence the culture that evolves leads to success all the way. The organization works for the benefit of its stakeholders and cherishes the trust, loyalty they get in return. Thomas Cooks Corporate Social Responsibility: CSR is a crucial element for any organization. It augments to the goodwill of the company. The conventional definition of CSR would a type of corporate self initiation inculcated in a business model, but Thomas Cook has its own definition. For them CSR is working towards the goal of curtailing the negative and adding to their positive carbon footprint in reference to social, environmental and the economic factors. This they believe would be able to ensure a pro longed existence of their business and the resources they are dependant on. They have an extensive CSR team, which works around the clock to ensure that they come up with some strategies that facilitate their objective of making a difference in this world. The sustainability team is the one who takes the aim of administrating and conveying the consequences of their social and environmental actions. This is the team that has to incorporate Corporate Social Responsibility into their routine business culture. Thomas Cooks CSR structure: As pressed upon again and again CSR is a very cardinal concern for the board. It is not just a random body put only in papers to gain goodwill. It has a proper structure, a proper committee called Health, safety and environmental committee headed by Roger Burnell, which keeps an eye on all the operating companies. This committee is liable for keeping tabs on the risks related to environment, forming and implying policies as well. There have been many changes in the structure of the organization down the road to ensure effective and efficient administration of health and wellbeing of customer as well as the employees. Thomas Cooks CSR partners: To enhance the efficiency and impact of CSR there are several number of partners that Thomas Cook works with. The travel foundation: Thomas Cook is working with a charity called Travel Foundation to help discover useful ways to build up and put into practice liable travel. This activity is helping Thomas Cook sticking to new responsible policies. Enable holidays: They have been in partnership with Enable Holidays and became the cardinal tour operator to sell holidays to people with impaired mobility. Enable Holidays is an organization which works to facilitate the travel wheelchair user and their surroundings. As Thomas Cook is a pioneer in the travel industry so it is taking this opportunity to help. WRAP: Also in relation with WRAP which helps Thomas Cook with the recycling of paper. Expanding your horizon: Even if the company is working very efficiently on CSR all the goals cannot be achieved without the help from stakeholders. If the company is very staunch with values like CSR it can easily transfer them to customers, employees and suppliers. Sometimes unexpectedly it is these other elements that make the most if the impact. At Thomas Cook much effort is pressed upon updating the employees about CSR, why is it essential for the society and for the business. By making them realize the crucial importance the customers also take part. Thomas Cook also informs them ways of how they can contribute. Also Thomas Cook incorporates supply chain in their CSR as well. For this purpose they work with suppliers to attain the maintenance standards crucial for industrys long lasting success and future. Thomas Cook believes that the social and the environmental impacts are related to the places they serve in and the suppliers that they cater to in those areas. Among these the most important are the ones which make available accommodations. The organization provides the suppliers with all the information needed. It makes sure to impart education on maintenance and endorse their usage of Travelife Sustainability System (one stop online resources for travel businesses. From the very beginning Thomas Cook has been working with FTO to build up a supply chain management scheme that assures the organization that their suppliers are well equipped with good health, safety and environmental standards which are in accordance with companys policies. Conclusion: After all this discussion we reach the conclusion that Corporate Social Responsibility is an element that no organization can afford to ignore. All companies strive hard to enhance their corporate social responsibility teams in order to excel in it. Thomas Cook also realizes the importance of giving something back to the society and the environment. It has taken many steps from its inception and is still working on it. This is a two way thing; on one hand Thomas Cook solves corporate social responsibility issues internally. And on the other hand it depends on collaborations with other companies, fund raisers, charities. Referencing: Thomas Cook official website, 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2009 [online] (Updated December 2009) Available at: http://production.investis.com/tcg/csr/employees/oview/ [Accessed 10 March, 2011]. Business and Human Rights resource centre, 2009. New adventures in ethical travel (Online) (Updated 25 March, 2011) Available at: http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Individualcompanies/N/NeilsonTravelpartofThomasCook (Accessed on 11 March, 2011)

Critically assess porter’s contribution to strategic thinking

Henry Mintzberg, Abraham Maslow and Michael Porter are renowned gurus whose hard works have left a footprint on management. Some of their works has helped in explaining the success and failure of big businesses over the past few decades and question marks have been raised in recent years if their work can still be applied to our present environment considering the rapid rise in globalisation and technological innovations. Few of the works done by these management experts have been on significant topics such as leadership, strategy and motivation, but this essay will focus on the effort of Porter in elucidating how businesses can gain competitive advantage in our growing competitive environment. The essay aims to assess Porter's contribution to the way in which people in an organization think about, assess, view, and create the future for themselves and their associates. However, given the space available the essay will only take a detailed look at the most criticised work of Porter and only few of his other works will be described. This essay will be based on previous researches by academics and strategists, and all information should not be judged as accurate but as a springboard since they are mostly based on historical theories. In order to get a grip of the essay; it is necessary to highlight the key words related to the topic of the essay as any precise delusion can de delusive. To start with, Wit and Meyer (2002) defined strategy in terms of organisational objective as a course of action for achieving an organization's purpose. For Kay (1996), strategy is the match between the organisation's internal capabilities and its external relationships, describing ‘how it responds to its suppliers, its customers, its competitors, and the social and economic within which it operates' (cited in Boddy, 2002 page 165). Both definitions are acceptable but assessing various strategies is the theme of the essay that is why a well defined structure of the essay is required. The first part will introduce Porter's works, the major assumptions of five forces analysis and Resource Based View. The second part will detail the fundamental differences between Porter's work and recent works such as RBV before highlighting key areas of debate principally those presented by D'Aveni, Hamel and Downes. The third part will give a brief evaluation on how Porter's work has developed our understanding of Strategy which will help develop a conclusion to the essay. From the eighties, Porter has developed a number of models for businesses on how to gain competitive advantage. Porter developed models such as three generic strategies, five forces analysis, Porter's diamond and value chain. In his three generic strategies model, Porter (1980b, 1985) identified two basic types of competitive advantage namely low cost or differentiation (cited in Wit & Meyer, 2002 page 350). He developed a third generic strategy from this called focus and proposed that an organization that hopes to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage must implement one of the three strategies. This is not the first and the very last of Porter's works and another model he developed was value chain analysis (1985) where Porter argued that it is necessary to examine activities separately in order to identify sources of competitive advantage (Boddy 2002, page 166-167). The value chain provides a way to identify a firm's sources of differentiation where it results from actual uniqueness in creating buyer value and from the ability to signal that value so that buyers perceive it (Toby Harfield, Strategic Management and Michael Porter: a postmodern reading). However, it is five forces analysis that has attracted the most number of criticisms. The model, developed by Michael E. Porter in his book â€Å"Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors† in 1980 (www3) pointed out that the state of competition in an industry is determined not only by the existence of competitors but also by the strength of buyers (customers) and suppliers, by the existence of substitute products or services and by the ability of new competitors to enter the industry which he collectively referred to Porter's five forces. However, he argued that whatever the collective strength, the corporate strategist's goal is to find a position in the industry where his or her company can best defend itself against these forces or can influence them in his favour (Mintzberg et al, pg 61). Thorelli 1977; Masson & Quall 1976 explained that forces mentioned above determine the conduct of firms, which in turn determines firm performance (Toby Harfield, Strategic Management and Michael Porter: a postmodern reading). Although the five forces analysis has become an important device for analyzing strategy the vast number of criticisms received consequently led to the development of a different approach called the Resource Based View (RBV). RBV, which has received the highest number of plaudit since the evolution of Porter's work was first spotted in Wernerfelt's article in 1984 before further development by Rumelt 1984, Barney (1986a; 1986b; 1988; 1991) (power point). RBV explains how a company's resources drive its performance in a dynamic competitive environment (David J. Collis et al, 1995, pg 118-128). The idea behind the development of RBV is to state the importance of resources to gaining competitive advantage over rivals where resources are heterogeneous in nature. In clarifying the prerequisite of resources Barney (1991) explained that a firm resource must be valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable and substitutable in order to be source of a sustained competitive advantage (cited in Henderson and Mitchell, 1997). However, both frameworks have received appraisals but conflicting assumptions have been made by both theories which further developed more theoretical views. Porter 1980 assumes that understanding the external environment and decision making (or â€Å"moves†) according to the five forces is the primary role of strategy, thus opposing the argument of Barney 1986a who argued that analyzing internal skills and capabilities produces more accurate information on the potential value of strategic resources than does environmental analysis (www2). Barney's argument wasn't wholly accepted by Priem and Butler (2001 a & b) but argued that Barney's (1991) statement â€Å"if a resource is valuable and rare, then it can be source of competitive advantage† is necessarily true if the concepts ‘valuable' and ‘competitive advantage' are defined in the same terms (cited in Henderson and Mitchell, 1997). It is obvious from this point that Porter's assumptions have developed other strategist notions which are cited further. Another underlying assumption made by Porter is the homogeneity of firms which revealed that all firms have the same ability to implement the right strategy, which contradicts the basic premise of the RBV that all firms are different and consequently do not have the same ability to implement a given strategy (www1). Even though both theories have been applauded, theorists have not been totally overwhelmed by the five forces analysis and RBV; different strategies are still in constant development which they deem useful for our current environment. D'Aveni (1995) in his article â€Å"Coping with hypercompetition† claimed that no organization can build a competitive advantage that is sustainable in our dynamic environment as any advantage gained is only temporary, therefore companies must actively work to disrupt their own advantages and the advantages of competitors by employing a new 7S's framework. IBM is an example mentioned to have suffered from ignoring this approach. Firstly, this view opposes that of Porter and RBV as its strategy does not believe in a sustainable competitive advantage. Secondly, it can be deduced from D'Aveni's article that Porter's model assumes a relatively static market structure (Porters five forces article www3) by saying that the forces mentioned by Porter such as buyer and supplier power (Five forces analysis) that raises barrier to entry and leadership in price and quality (three generic strategies) are not enough to guarantee success. Downes (2001) saw a similar argument in his article â€Å"Beyond Porter† where he quoted that â€Å"Porters theories base on the economic situation in the eighties and the period was characterised by strong competition, cyclical developments and relatively stable market structures†. He condemned the view made by Porter that competitive advantages develop from strengthening the own position within the five forces framework and stated that three new forces namely digitalization, globalization and deregulation should be taken into context has the main driver for change today is technology. Hamel (1996) also conducted a work on strategy in an article called â€Å"Strategy as Revolution† where he categorised companies based on their successes into rule makers, rule takers and rule breakers. Logically, IBM whose strategy was also questioned by Downes (2001) was tagged as a rule maker because they have shaped their industry but subsequently failed. Tagged with rule breakers (the industry revolutionaries) is Dell Computer whose intent is to overturn the industrial order with the support of the crumbling oligarchy under the weight of deregulation, technological upheaval, globalization and social change. It is evident that Porter's five forces analysis is extremely influential in the field of strategic management as it has developed other strategic views and further improved our understanding of strategy. Porter's work has been the basis for recent strategic notions and his work has received more criticism than RBV which followed suit. Referring back to the question, Porter has developed numerous strategic frameworks with the most criticised work being the five forces analysis which has the most impact on strategic thinking. His work mystified many strategists because of the one-sided approach of the model where it made certain assumptions such as external environment is the primary role of strategy, homogeneity of firms and market structures are relatively stable. These assumptions led to the development of RBV whose main unit of analysis was the internal environment. RBV claimed that the key to sustaining competitive advantage is to have resources which are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and substitutable. Briem and Butler debated this approach where they said it is the way the concept are defined that determines if it is a source of competitive advantage. Other strategists were not left in the cold and they voiced out their criticisms of Porter's work. D'Aveni stated that there is no sustainable competitive advantage and market structures are dynamic. Downes claimed that three new forces namely digitalization, globalization and deregulation should be taken into context has the main driver for change today is technology and not just the forces mentioned by Porter. Lastly, Hamel in his article explained that companies can either be a rule taker, maker or breaker. In order to give a valid conclusion to the essay, it is important to reconsider the definition made by Kay (1996) where strategy definition was given has the match between the organisation's internal capabilities and its external relationships. It would be correct to state that a successful strategy will take both the internal and external environment into consideration when developing its strategy. It is obvious that neither the five forces analysis nor the RBV has done so in this case; none of the theories can be considered capable of achieving competitive advantage but will only be valuable if both approaches are combined. Based on the level of knowledge of this essay it would be interesting to see a strategist which will develop a strategy that will link the internal resources with the external environment.

A Report On Saki Chi Toyoda - 2577 Words

Saki-chi Toyoda was the one who laid the foundation of the massive international company known as TOYOTA today. He was born on 14 February, 1867. Toyoda was grown up in a poor family and his father worked as a carpenter, but he later known as the â€Å"King of Japanese Inventors.† He is also believed to be the person behind â€Å"Japanese industrial revolution†. He invented automatic loom and invested all his money to create the Toyota Motor Company. Japanese government gave much support for creation for this company Early years of company: The first engine was successfully made in 1934, and the first car and truck were manufactured in 1936. In the beginning the company focused on the production of trucks only. Then there was built (Toy pet) Toyota†¦show more content†¦Toyota has become the largest car manufacturer in Asia and second largest producer. Toyota stands in row of those three Asian manufacturers who have competed US producers on world markets. Company’s products are sold under the names Toyota, Scion and Lexus. Toyota also owns stake in Daihatsu and Hino, and 8.7% of Fuji Heavy Industries, manufacturer of Subaru cars. Toyota has contributed to the markets of US, Europe, Africa and specially Australia. Factories of Toyota are spread around the globe where process of production and assembling are conducted for the local markets. The manufacturing plants of Toyota are located in Japan, USA, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Indonesia, Poland, Brazil, most recently t hose in Pakistan, India, Czech Republic, Mexico, Malaysia, Argentina , Thailand, China and Venezuela. Business strategy of Toyota in international markets: Toyota’s international strategies for international markets are reshaped by Japanese specialists to meet the demands of international markets to get the desired results. The reason why the Company has attained such status is that Japanese believe there is nothing in the world which could not be improved so they keep on working hard to make the previous product better. Toyota lays heavy emphasis on quality, quantity and competitiveness. The strategy of Toyota revolves around high quality product new innovative techniques, safety and to make

Timeline of Major Events in the History of Persia

This Persia timeline of major events is based on a Library of Congress Persia timeline. For an introduction to this area -- now generally known as Iran -- see Extent of the Persian Empire: An Introduction to Ancient Persia and the Persian Empire. Iran (Persia) Timeline of Important Events Early Historyc. 3400 B.C.Elamite kingdom emerges in southwestern Iran and Mesopotamia.c. 2000 B.C.Nomadic peoples -- Scythians, Medes, and Persians -- move from Central Asia to Iranian plateau. [See Tribes of the Ancient Steppes.]6th Century B.C.c. 553-550 B.C. Cyrus II (Cyrus the Great) overthrows Median king; becomes ruler of Persia and Media; founds Achaemenid Empire.539 B.C.Cyrus captures Babylon, releases Jews from captivity.525 B.C.Cyruss son Cambyses II conquers Egypt.522 B.C.Darius I becomes king; re-establishes and extends empire, carries out administrative reorganization.5th Century B.C.490 B.C. Darius invades Greek mainland; defeated at the Battle of Marathon.4th Century B.C.334 B.C. Alexander the Great begins Persian campaign; completes conquest of Persia and Mesoptamia, 330 B.C.323 B.C.Death of Alexander; division of empire among generals; Seleucids emerge as principal heirs in Iran.3rd Century B.C.247 B.C. Parthians overthrow Seleucids; establish own dynasty.3rd Century A.D.A.D. 224 Ardeshir overthrows last Parthian ruler; establishes Sassanian dynasty with capital at Ctesiphon.A.D. 260Shahpur I wages campaign against Romans, takes emperor Valerian captive.7th Century637 Muslim armies capture Ctesiphon, Sassanian Empire begins to crumble.641-42 Sassanian army defeated at Nahavand; Iran comes under Muslim rule. Related AchaemenidsSeleucidsThe Parthian EmpireThe SassanidsProblems of Historical Evidence About Ancient PersiaTimeline of the Greco-Persian Wars