Nowadays it becomes more and more obvious that ethics should be implemented not only in humanitarian sciences but also in so-called “exact” sciences, in particular, mathematics, analytics, and business statistics. In this context, after establishing its mission and objectives of management, a company should start the diagnostic phase of the strategic planning process in the framework of Christianity ethics in order to remain successful analytics competitor.
The first step is to study the environment. It is possible to assess the environment according to three parameters:
- To consider rate changes that affect different aspects of the current strategy. For instance, higher prices for jet fuel create a variety of problems for the airlines. Consequently, the latter should continually assess the dynamics of fuel prices as part of the strategic planning process.
- To determine which factors pose a threat to the current strategy of the firm. Monitoring the activities of competitors allows management to be prepared for potential threats.
- To determine factors that are more opportunistic in achieving company goals taking into consideration the empirical facts along with avoiding harmful effects on people.
Environmental analysis helps to determine the opportunities and threats for the company. It gives the company time to forecasting capabilities, for preparing the plan in case of unforeseen circumstances, time for the development of an early warning system for possible threats, and the time to develop strategies that could transform old threats in any profitable opportunities.
In terms of assessment of these threats and opportunities, analysis of the role of the environment in the analytics competition process lies fundamentally in response to specific issues including the following ones: organization mission, its tools to achieve the goal and the ethics of the corporative management (Wogaman 96).
The second step is the economic factor. Current and projected state of the economy could have a dramatic impact on the organization’s objectives. Some factors in the economic environment should be regularly evaluated and diagnosed. Among them: the rate of inflation or deflation, employment level, the international balance of payments, the stability of the currency, and the tax rate. Each of these factors could be a threat or a new opportunity for the company.
What is one organization considers the economic threat, the other perceives as a possibility (Viaene and Van Den Bunder 68). During the recession, for example, the industry dealing with the issue of spare parts for cars is booming. Why? At such times, consumers prefer to repair their cars instead of buying new ones.
Moreover, the political factor is of the great importance as well. The active participation of business leaders and analytics competitors in the political process is a clear indication of the importance of public policy for the company.
Precisely speaking, management of analytics competitor company should follow the regulations of the local authorities of the federal government; the federal government loans to finance long-term investments, etc. Since the government is persistently and actively involved in analytics matters, it would be better for the company to monitor the political activities closely.
In addition, the volatile market environment is an area of constant concern for organizations. The analysis of the market environment includes plenty of factors that might have a direct impact on the success or failure of the company. These factors include changing demographic conditions, life cycles of different products or services, ease of market entry, distribution of incomes, and the level of competition in the industry.
In general, the analysis of the various market factors enables management to clarify its strategy and strengthen the company’s position in relation to competitors. For example, an increase in wealth in the United States and Canada has created a demand for more attractive products for the holidays. To meet this demand, the “Club Med” prospered by offering the market very popular items for recreation kits.
Finally, the majority of corporations and thousands of small companies are operating in the international market. Therefore, analytics competitors should always scrutinize and evaluate changes concerning the global extent. Threats and opportunities might arise as a result of the ease of access to raw materials, the activities of foreign cartels, currency and political decision-making of countries acting as investment projects or markets.
Thus, in order to provide the analytics competitor company with successful operation and prosperity, it seems necessary to follow a range of the above factors.
Speaking of sources of strength for an analytics competitor company, people, strategy, and information technology should be noted.
First of all, it goes without saying that people are very significant for analytics competitor company. The factors of the social behavior include the changing expectations, attitudes, and mores of society (Ianhutomo par. 7).
Some important factors currently prevailing in society are feelings towards entrepreneurship, the role of women and minorities in society, changing social attitudes of managers, and the movement to protect the interests of consumers. Often, it is social factors that pose the biggest problem for the organization. To respond effectively to changes in social factors, the company itself should change consciously transforming into an institution adapted to the new environment.
Moreover, in order to achieve considerable results, the company should create the code of ethics for its employees. As business ethics is an essential part of the corporate culture of the organization, the management of corporate code would inevitably lead to changes in corporate culture. The code of ethics would create the image of ethical, socially responsible company in the eyes of business partners, competitors, customers, government agencies, the media, and others.
It is also should be noted that the corporate code of ethics is a tool for managing the organization allowing managers significantly improve the efficiency of the company along with employees’ satisfaction of their job.
Besides, the company might apply to Bayes’ formula in connection with Christian ethics, according to which probability could be more accurately calculated taking into account the previously known information and data of new observations. Bayes’ formula allows to “rearrange the cause and effect” (Geertsema 161). Events reflecting the effect of the “causes” in this case called hypotheses.
The article affected my outlook concerning quantitative business modeling and its value in business decision making. I comprehend the main principles of the given topic within the confines of Christian ethics. It was stated that sometimes even the necessary decisions are not taken for a long time because of the inability to see how it would work after the change. In many cases, quantitative modeling of business processes could help to “look into the future”.
Using specialized software or other tools allows simulating the business process in its current form and in other ways. For instance, there is the above-mentioned theorem of Bayes. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that its practical application requires a large number of calculations along with computations. Therefore, Bayesian estimators have been actively used only after the revolution in computer and network technologies.
In addition, Bayes’ theorem of probability was subjected to a variety of interpretations. In one of these interpretations, it stated that the withdrawal of the formula is directly linked to the use of a special approach to statistical analysis. If one uses a Bayesian interpretation of probability, the theorem shows how the personal level of trust could dramatically change the number of events occurring. These are the conclusions of Bayes that became fundamental to Bayesian statistics.
However, the theorem is used not only in the Bayesian analysis, but also actively used for a large number of other calculations. Some psychological experiments have shown that people often incorrectly assess the probability of the event focusing on experience (a posteriori probability), at the same time, ignoring the very probable assumption (prior probability).
As a result, the correct result oа Bayes’ formula could be very different from the intuitively expected one. In this regard, Bayes’ theorem coincides with Christianity paradigms of the probability.
A Christian worldview of analytics competitor company considers actions and behavior of a person acting in this field in relation to the universal ethical requirements of any company. It focuses on a wide range of behaviors of managers and subordinates (Schwartz 73). The focus of the attention is paid to both the purpose and means used to achieve the successful operation. Modern ethics has a strong impact on society (Viaene and Van Den Bunder 67).
Precisely speaking, it affects the development, culture, spiritual values of the company, the aspirations for lifestyle assessment system, the standard of living, etc. The level of ethical behavior and actions of individual members of society and society as a whole depends, therefore, from the level of functioning of the ethics as a powerful social institution.
Besides, fulfilling an educational role, ethics forms the culture of relations of the employee to his or her products or services provided, rules of communication of employees with each other, and others (Ripley and Dwiwardani 72). If one talk about the environment, the managers, especially top managers, should form standard relations with competitors, suppliers, business partners, and other members of the competition process.
Consequently, the modern manager has to show examples of morally impeccable behavior and bring the same qualities in his or her employees and partners. In this regard, my opinion coincides with those of scholars formulated in their articles and supplements them.
I believe that man himself should be aware of the general principles, norms, and notions of good and evil, to take them internally, and direct accordingly in the future. In other words, it means following a Christian worldview. That is why morality plays a considerable role in individual consciousness (personal beliefs, motives, and self-esteem) that allow a person to control his or her actions internally then developing it into corporate strategy.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that a Christian worldview becomes an integral part of the modern science, namely business analytics leading to the higher results, employees satisfaction, and better competitiveness in the framework of Christian ethics of agape.
Works Cited
Geertsema, Jan. “A Christian View of the Foundations of Statistics.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 39.3 (1987): 158-164. Print.
Ianhutomo, Taman. “Competing On Analytics: An Article Review.” Ianhutomos Web Logs. 06 July 2012. Web. <https://ianhutomo.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/competing-on-analytics-an-article-review/>.
Ripley, Jennifer, and Carissa Dwiwardani. “Integration of Christianity in Research and Statistics Courses.” Journal of Psychology and Theology 42.2 (2014): 72-76. Print.
Schwartz, Paul M. “Privacy, Ethics, and Analytics.” IEEE Security & Privacy 9.3 (2011): 66-69. Print.
Viaene, Stijn, and Annabel Van Den Bunder. “The Secrets to Managing Business Analytics Projects.” MIT Sloan Management Review 53.1 (2011): 65-69. Print.
Wogaman, Philip J. Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction. 2nd ed. 2011. Louisville: Westminster John Knox. Print.