Introduction
To begin with, the world of management is full of different innovations which are additionally emphasized due to the flow of scientific thought in the world. Moreover, the trends of the current fashion industry are strengthened with such factors as present economic instability and the decrease of customers’ activity; current or potential. For this issue, the clothes companies should immediately work out the strategic designs for better estimation of the company’s possibilities with a glance at the present day situation along with perspectives of further variability in management aspects.
The company under analysis
Menswear Company Burton is one of British leading textile companies aimed at the realization and satisfaction of men’s need in clothes of high quality with trendy points in its design. Established in the year 1903 in Chesterfield by an 18-year-old Montague Burton the company tended to look for the changes being needful for this or that period of time in the twentieth century. First, when there was a risk of World War I the company strived to restructure the production strategy in terms of the realization of uniforms for British troops. Then there was a time of company’s elaboration by means of fast spread of its subsidiaries in Great Britain.
The main slogan of it “Good clothes develop a man’s self-respect” always stimulated the employees and their managers to find out all the decisions about resolving current problems or needs in men’s clothing so that to lift up the personal evaluation of the company within the society (Burton, 2009). After World War II until now Burton continues to develop the production of its clothes and gained at once acknowledgment all over the world. Being a part of Arcadia Group Ltd Burton made special emphasis on its ability to compete with other companies popular in this field of industry. Furthermore, Burton provides its customers with an honest policy regarding four steps to be followed, namely:
- Lawful, fair, and honest dealing;
- no exploitation of the people who made clothes;
- abidance of decent working conditions;
- no damage to the environment (Burton, 2009).
These steps are the main in the system of company’s management approaches, and still, they point out the fundamentals of the Code of Conduct which was developed earlier with some guidelines according to the requirements of modern time.
As it is known, the services of Burton fall into two types of sharing products, such as traditional in-store sales and newly acknowledged online type of sharing and delivery. The company does not want to lag behind the perpetual challenges of business life. That is why on its website there is entire information including such sections as the size guide, details of delivery, returns policy, and a store locator (Burton, 2009). Every customer is significant in all his peculiarities of body structure, current stratum in society, and style. All layers of men are vital to providing high standards of sales policy.
An annotated outline
After World War II the society outlasted some significant changes in its structuring. The post-industrial type of society where the main product is information is vital in the era of high technologies and the 21-st century, in particular. Organizational design is a complex thing that should have an appropriate number of measures and standpoints to go together with genuine solutions of mankind at the moment. This is vital for a company to save its positions among its closest competitors. Fast-moving of progress determined such points of the company to follow the core challenges of the contemporary world of business outlined as such:
The strategic outlook of the company should coincide with the environment’s peculiarities at the moment (Nadler & Tushman, 1999).
This means that due to constant uncertainty in the world economy the strategic coloring of it should respond to the main objectives of this or that kind of customers evaluating the key requirements of the society.
The company in virtue of its credibility and ability to follow the needs of the environment should work out the well-timed key points of its strategic steps taking into account the recent changes in the business environment as well as in societal relationships. Right ways when providing some even revolutionary policies should be widely considered within the board of directors in order to adopt deliberate decisions for the company’s well-being in terms of its current improvements and solutions to find a new way of development so that to be functionally competitive in the arena of main leaders or neighboring brands. The risk is minimal in this issue but needs more responsibility in order to make the position of the company strong enough.
Strategy is a driving motive for the organization
The constituent parts of the company are very significant in terms of their efficiency towards each other. The strategic view should take into account the mutual processes within a company so that to promote its well-planned schedule of actions. When all the parameters are considered, there ought to be another glance at the structure of the departments in the company in order to maintain the annual performance with the results close to the primary goals voiced and designated for the realization in a current year or years in the future. Here the strategic objectives play a very important and weighty role in terms of standing against problems and their successful resolving with gaining a precious experience in the business environment and society of a defined country on the whole. So the responsible parts of an organisation should be adjusted as closer as possible.
Strategy and organisation ties should be mutual
The way a company is elaborated and organised is the standpoint of its further conditions as of maintaining the working process. Time, human resources, financing background are the factors according to which the strategic frameworks are made out for their forth putting within the borders of complex measures on company’s strategy. In fact, the prospects on creative ideas should be encouraged by a company, so that to find more stimuli and ways of its elaboration in terms of additional guidelines to the current policy of a company and strategic innovations of the way it is urging at the moment.
The impact of organisation structure is felt when the reciprocal connections of it split together and aimed at the achieving the main strategic goal which is determined in the designs of companies. The encouraging/restricting model should determine the perpetual attempts of employee to contribute into the company by means of personal stable work and, what is more, by their ability to produce genuine rational suggestions as for the work process optimisation.
The ethical part of managerial organisation in a company is grave and significant here in order to support objective evaluation of those being subordinate to managers in a defined company. So the separate work of some departments in the company without determining to the principles of subordination necessitates the internal problems and disorganisation of corporation which in return leads to the weakening of company’s positions in contrast to main competitors, unless reminding its possible bankruptcy.
Unchanged nature of fundamental dilemma as of organizational design
The achievement of true potential of a company depends on the fact whether it is strong in maintaining internal and external programs with more emphasis on the processes of differentiation and integration. Evaluation of people in accordance with their basic specialisations and interests and working processes in which they are involved tend to stimulate the growth of the company in order to make tight connections to the central part of a defined corporation.
This is made for the purpose of accounting and emphasizing the ability to vary between the issues of strategic importance, for the challenges may appear to be spontaneous and undetermined in the design of organisation. The attitudinal relationships considering agreements or disagreements in the company outline the factor of its strength due to the well-elaborated system of approval or disapproval of some innovative solutions discussed by conscientious employees and their managers up to CEO’s, so that to urge to the fundamental principles of sound business practice maintained in the world of trade and business affairs.
Project estimation
Taking into account the crucial importance of new technologies and means of implementation the world business affairs are changing too. On the eve of the buying activity decline in the year 2009 it is very important to find out the ways of company’s further way of development standing against the features of world economic collapse due to the economic crisis. As a rule, the most able-to-live organisations still stand in the rows of world leaders with a scheduled program bout the anti-crisis measures to follow. This is ital for those who want to perform the best outlook on the characteristic features of the company.
What is a current status quo in your corporation? What are the ways of strategic changes or delivery towards them? These and many other questions irritate acquisitive mind for sure. The future of Burton Company is not limited when confronting with the crisis effects on the society. The population is undoubtedly suppressed, but the natural callings in the way of dressing seem to be constant every now and then.
That is why the management team should pay special attention on the infrastructure of today’s client base of the company changed after the recent changes in levels of well-being which in most cases decreased and left people only with a hope that something will turn in their favour soon.
This fact cannot but impulse the board of directors to act immediately, because delays are dangerous. The majority of present competitors tend to make prices more democratic and attractive for the population having suffered from the crisis instability and collapse, as it was mentioned above. The need of reshaping the portfolio of the company is very actual in terms of elaborating the key points of strategic measures with a special look at the economic climate in this or that country, where the branches of company are situated and performed (Nadler & Tushman, 1999).
Logically accepted principle that before a great downfall the growth of economic data reaches its relevant critical point showing the tempos of a company growth is true when grabbing view on the present economic situation along with its indicators: positive and negative as well. Burton had great chances to obtain the biggest amount of profits during last three years and now it is known to be one of the British leaders in textile industry.
This is vital to have experience in the field of business relationships to demonstrate then some of appropriate ways of resolving company’s global convulsion with prospects onto societal privileged stop in buying and more efforts in saving money. Thus, the company should strive at the optimal suggestions as for the fact of how to draw near the customers and how to attract them counting on the some distinct benefits involved for the customers better activity?
New approaches projecting the innovative ideas of today can reflect on people’s decision-making process tomorrow. So the variability of the company should imply the aspects of previously gathered knowledge and experience with their implementation and execution in terms of modern Internet era of global computerizing within many work processes maintained by able-to-compete companies and their partners. The interactive relations of main people who tend to make the company successful should co-exist with some rational models of maintaining business. Their number is great and in most cases they serve as a framework to find some more information for the managers in providing the company with quality, speed and appropriate ways of conditioning in the society.
The social character of business is determined by a complex of economic and political measurements which should suit the current financial ability of governments in order to protect the population of a definite country from the hazards of default and country’s economy falling down. In this case the features of accounting practice are vital with their urge to clear up the tools which are needed to detect the centre of the problem, first, and then to follow the procedure of stabilization in terms of satisfaction the needs of different layers of the society. Standpoints about the main requirements of today’s strategic policy of the company ought to take into account the optional and mandatory factors to be done, and one of them is a current solution of the financing and using capital rationally with sound opinions of its use. With regards to the report titled “Future Management Accounting: Preliminary Propositions with Survey Evidence” by Erkki K. Laitinen (Laitinen, 5) the management accounting should follow the way illustrated below:
The future balance of opportunities within many companies can gradually increase due to the polarization of key sectors of activity in the fields of industrial development and its restructuring. Reorganizational policy is a challenge for every single company because of the risk to delay and miss the time perspectives to gain many profits. There must be a deeper tendency in researching the problematic issues according to the company’s today’s accountability pointing the aftermath of the global crisis and scrutiny of its negotiation. More emphasis should be paid on the restructuring plan in the Burton Company with glimpses of what was done so far and what is in progress today.
The research work in the field of management development of modern times written by Nadler D. A. accompanied by Tushman M. L. has many strategic points on designating the best principal ways of resolving current issues on developing the company’s performance in contrast with main competitors.
Their model of “Managing Intra-enterprise Cannibalism of Organizational Challenges” is perspective and adequate due to the ability of making out the approaches to be efficient in the future development of company’s actions emphasizing new strategic imperatives. The authors have a wide survey on the problem of future strategies for the leading companies. The eight-steps model presupposes the structural, organizational, and managerial approaches in dealing with the reorganizational changes. IT is significant to apply to them gradually explaining the value of each.
Increase Organizational clock speed
The company should oblige the staff to do their job as well as it is stated in the business plan for each year. The instructions are to be followed without any hesitations. Many of the employees due to managers’ irresponsibility take the liberty of often tardinesses when the whole economic atmosphere is pressing every now and then with gradual losses in key ways of company’s maintenance. The discipline is a principal thing in such area of business activity as human resources along with the motivation of key workers and their subordinates. The structural component of staff representation should be counted while designing time horizons of company’s perspectives and future affairs in order to feel sure in every succeeding step required by its strategic policy. This factor goes along with the point of structural diversity of the company’s constituent parts in virtue of their value for the success of the corporation in next decades, quarters or years.
Design structural divergence
The need of structural peculiarities in the company is grave enough supporting the idea of every department individual work independently of the amount and type of work they have already done which results in the annual statistics and divergence of structural parts. The company is favoured by this point to provide the policy strengthened due to personal activity of each department or structures subordinate to them. As the article interprets:“…if two units of the same organisation operate in different environments, each should take on different characteristics” (Nadler & Tushman, 1999).
Promote organizational modularity
The key prospects of team-building are supposed to be the greatest motives for the personnel to be encouraged and satisfied with the communication among other colleagues in informal conditions. Promoting regulations on the working place is a factor which can comprise the efficiency of the results achievements and relied-on employees. This fact cannot but be accompanied with the tendency of the company to strive at the most objective ways of departments colouring.
Structure Hybrid Distribution channels
The channels of distributed goods should take into account the discount policy and seasonal occasions to stimulate the flow of customers. The distributers net should be encouraged with the maximum advantages of collaboration with Burton. Their poly-structural nature should be applied to and intensified by the ordinary streams in the business world.
Design metrical research and development
Data of metrical research can give a complex picture of the company present activity on the market. A well-planed model of the company’s development touches upon the systematic and fair metrical improvements implemented in the digital parameters according to the evaluation of company’s balance at the moment. Here more attention should be given to the factors of debit and credit correspondence.
Construct conflict management processes
The company is to have well elaborated and clear objectives of what should be done within team departments, so that to stimulate the staff to achieving main goals. Conflict management is used here to omit the obstacles caused by hackneyed agreements in every decision-making process. Conflicts are needful for companies in order to make them more efficient and competitive by means of finding the compromising ideas or consensuses on the whole. This principle is universal for the leaders, because “Truth is sprout in discussion”.
Organizational coherence
Organisation contains in its extent the functioning principle of every live organism which is able to live and survive until all organs of it are responsible for their work and appropriate functioning supporting the well-being of the organism. On the other hand, the main figures of the company do need the facts of correction retraction. If there is nothing to worry about, so the work process is clear enough to imply perspective design of further actions.
Executive teams
When the all factors being of the primordial character are considered and planned well with appropriate ways of their taking into practice the need to execute all guidelines becomes crucially important in terms of the effects which can be caused by positive execution of designed actions. Negotiations on the pre-executive level should point out all pros and cons making out the achieved goal. Thus, summarizing the steps of making progress in the company one ought to consider the fact: “World is your oyster, just crack it!”
Reference List
Nadler, D. A.., & Tushman, M. L. (1999) ‘The organization of the future: Strategic imperatives and core competencies for the 21st century’, Organizational Dynamics, 28 (1), pp. 45–60.
Laitinen, EK (2004) ‘Future management accounting’ Future Management Accounting: Preliminary Propositions with Survey Evidenc, Department of Accounting and Business Finance, University of Vaasa.