Analytical Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Analytical Report - Coursework Example Industry clusters provide favourable business environment for various types of business entities, including core businesses, supporting businesses, government structures, academic and research institutions, etc. Industry clusters facilitate collaboration among all these members and facilitates innovation within a cluster. Close proximity and direct communication increases trust among firms and commitment. Due to knowledge sharing environment companies gain competitive advantage and stay ahead of rivals, operating distantly. Moreover, while operating within one geographical location, firms are encouraged to collaborate with various players, starting from customers and suppliers, and ending with government and research institutions. As a result, many companies collaborate in terms of R&D, driving thus innovation performance within a cluster. This form of collaboration increases innovation performance and makes companies more competitive on the global market. National legislation and po licies play an important role in promoting collaboration and innovation within a specific cluster. Thus, major attributes of industrial clusters (knowledge sharing and collaboration) enable firms to develop long-term relationships with their business partners, and thus to establish more sustainable business model. Concentration of research institutions, universities, think tanks and other industry players facilitates innovation and development. As the research shows, all these aspects help nations to gain and maintain competitive advantages in the international arena. In the era of globalisation, improved logistics and communication, it may appear that geographical location plays less important role in competitive position of a nation or a country. There are practically no more physical constraints imposed by distance factor as companies may source, supply and provide services/sell products distantly (Porter, 1998). However, there is another tendency, which challenges this position,

Sainsbury (in branch level) Organisational diagonis and problem Essay

Sainsbury (in branch level) Organisational diagonis and problem analysis - Essay Example The firms of the specific industry have all significant potentials – as also weaknesses. Sainsbury’s is one of the key competitors of the particular sector. The firm has not severely affected by the recession, at least up to now. However, it seems that the inability of its leaders to respond to the needs of the market, as increased under the pressure of the global financial crisis, has caused turbulences in the internal organizational performance. Moreover, instability has been also developed in regard to the firm’s financial performance, a phenomenon made clearer from June 2010 onwards. The changes suggested in regard to the firm’s leadership should be more effectively promoted trying to avoid delays in the restructuring of the organization aiming to minimize the risk of potential damages. It seems that through an effective plan of action the firm will be able to stabilize its performance in the British market and seek for further growth. 1. Introduction Under the influence of globalisation, firms in all industries have to continuously update their practices in order to secure their position either locally or internationally. In certain sectors, competition is extremely high, especially when firms of similar characteristics are involved. The UK supermarket industry is an indicative example. When trying to develop their organizational plans, the firms that operate in the particular industry have to face a series of challenges and barriers. Current paper focuses on the review of Sainsbury’s organizational structure and practices. Efforts are made so that the firm’s organizational problems are diagnosed; among them, one is chosen and is further analysed and evaluated. Also, recommendations are made so that the specific problem to be eliminated or, if the above target is not feasible, just to be effectively controlled. In this context, a series of change intervention methods are presented and appropriately justified, aimin g to support the improvement of the organizational performance, as expected to result from the limitation or the elimination of the firm’s key organizational problem. 2. Description of research method 2.1 Documentary Evidence The research over the organizational structure and performance of Sainsbury’s is based on appropriate documentary evidence, which includes material of the following kind: books published in the academic literature, articles published by organizations focusing on financial evaluation (e.g. Bloomberg), articles of newspapers and non-governmental organizations and reports published by the organization under evaluation. The material described above is appropriately categorized – in terms of its relevance with the issues under discussion and is used in order to support the arguments developed in the paper. Most important, through these documents, the potential failures of the organization are identified (along with its strengths) in the context of the needs of this study. 2.2 Limitations of the research method chosen The documents employed in this study, as describe above, refer to different time periods, so that the performance of the organization under different market conditions to be identified. However, the specific