Contents
Task 1 ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 P 1.1 .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 Virgin Group Limited ............................................................................................................................. 2 Sainsbury PLC ........................................................................................................................................ 3 McDonald’s ........................................................................................................................................... 4 National Health Service (NHS) .............................................................................................................. 5 A corner shop ........................................................................................................................................ 6 P 1.2 .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 P 1.3 .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Task 2 ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 P 2.1 .......................................................................................................................................................... 8 P 2.2 .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 P 2.3 .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Task 3 .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 P 3.1 ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 P 3.2 ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 P 3.3 ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Task 4 .......................................................................................................................................................... 12 P 4.1 ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 P 4.2 ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 P 4.3 ........................................................................................................................................................ 13 References .................................................................................................................................................. 14

Task 1
P 1.1

Virgin Group Limited

Founded in 1970 as Virgin Records, the Virgin Group Limited has expanded to a humongous organization comprising of more than 200 companies in 2007. Its business portfolio ranges from air travel, fitness centers, and mobile telephony. Since its inception, the culture and image of Virgin Group has been directly attributed to the personality and efforts of its owner and founder, the high-ranking executive and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. It makes no sense to delink Virgin Group from Sir Branson. In fact, the name Branson is almost becoming synonymous with Virgin Group (Grant 2004, pp. 16). This essay aims to provide several aspects of Virgin group. These include the critical analysis of its organizational model, the leadership of Sir Richard Branson and eventually organization’s communication.
Discussion

Virgin Group is made up of more than 200 companies, which employ nearly 50,000 people all over the world. The business has witnessed continual growth since it was started. The revenues reached a record mark of 10 billion sterling pounds in the year 2006. This reveals the magnitude and level of business in which Virgin Group is operating. The nature of leadership in existence in Virgin Group draws many features from the personality of Sir Richard Branson. The business philosophy postulated by Sir Richard Branson believes that the ultimate results of customer satisfaction and shareholders’ gain is the responsibility of every individual. He believes that if the staffs are kept happy then the customers are going to be happy meaning that the shareholders will be happy too (Branson 1998, pp. 14). Consequently, the management of Virgin Group does not fall in to any particular model. It has a unique management structure whose characteristics do not fit those of the existing models. The amalgamation of concepts makes it distinctive. A critical review reveals that the success witnessed by Virgin Group can be attributed to the uniqueness of its management styles. Management Theorists like F Taylor first created the concept of scientific management. This scientific concept postulates that there are six main features of management, namely; experiment, observation, selection, standardization, and training. Scientific philosophy of management expects that rewards and employee compensation should be pecked on

performance and co-operation. Although some facets of this theory are outdated, some of its features are still applicable in the business structure of modern times. As a good illustration, Virgin group may be having what appears as a relaxed working environment but some features of scientific management are in the application. Such aspects of scientific management used in Virgin Group include training, selection, and payment pecked on results. Some employees are compensated because of their outstanding entrepreneurial ambition and innovative thinking. Outstanding performance in Virgin Group is not only measure by the amount of financial input an employee has brought but also creativity and ability to think outside the box. Another model of management is bureaucracy, which sees the organization of business as one unit. The pioneers of this school of thought believed that family practices could not be delinked from the organization.

Sainsbury PLC

Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 and today operates over 1,203 supermarkets and convenience stores and employs around 161,000 colleagues. We put our customers at the heart of everything we do and have invested in our stores, our colleagues and our channels to deliver the best possible shopping experience. Our strong culture and values are part of our identity and integral to our success. Sainsbury’s 500 superstores and 300 convenience stores have been performing strong over the past few years with its consistent approach towards its operation and growth expansion. From its 15.1% increase in operating profit, the underlying operating profit margin has increased by 26bps. Well controlled direct expenses have helped to maintain a steady average of 5.98% over the past three years, as compared to 38.25% of M&S, even though the operating margin was expected to rise by 12-30bps with the help of stronger sales and smaller proportionate contribution from lower-margin petrol sales. The rising grocery prices have boosted sales at Britain grocers for nearly over a year but food price inflation slowed to 1.6% in September, the slowest annual increase since may 2006. The net profit margin and interest cover are quite consistent with an average of 1.75% & 4.61% as compared to healthy 7.46% & 8.18%, respectively of M&S and could help the investors build their confidence. However, Sainsbury's underlying retail profit margin -- up 26 basis points to 3.26 percent -- lagged rivals, due largely to its higher rent bill. Sainsbury's UK trading margin is 6.2 percent. The point is salient. Sainsbury's margins are 6.1pc whereas Sainsbury's margins are 3.3pc. Given the vast volumes of eggs, frozen peas, T-shirts and bread that supermarkets sell, margins are hugely important to a company's profitability. “Mr. King argues that comparing Sainsbury's and Sainsbury's margins is an "apples and pears comparison".

Profits from Sainsbury's international business alone were £709m last year, compared to £540m for all of Sainsbury's. This year, Sainsbury is on track to open around 6m square foot of new space overseas. Most startlingly, Sainsbury's share of the UK grocery market is 30.8pc. Sainsbury's is 16.3pc. UK's largest supermarket also has retailing services business – comprising its bank and telecoms arms – that turned in profits of around £400m last year. Profits in this division will grow to £1bn over time. "Investors get so much more than a UK grocer when they buy Sainsbury," said one observer.

Sainsbury’s policy of equity finance and short term debt finance has thrown it off the picture by M&S’s figures of Return on Equity: 39.01 as compared to its 7.06 (average over three years). Looking at the bigger picture, it’s in a more stabilized and on well performing acceleration gear as showing more close figures to industrial : 4.05, sectors: 7.43, and S&P500: 8.73. The high debt/equity ratio of M&S (from Figure 5 above) shows a clear idea of its good return on equity ratio, whereas Sainsbury’s management is more concerned to keep their investors happy and in good health. The return on Assets % is showing pretty consisting move over the past with an average of 3.04. The major contribution is by current assets turnover (34.50% growth) where as fixed assets showed only 0.26% decreases as compared to 40.6% decrease in total assets turnover. M&S showed a sluggish performance in effective utilization of fixed Assets: -18.4% and current Assets: -35.7%, over the past three years.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s is comprised of more than 30,000 local restaurants and serves 52 million people in more than 100 countries each day. The company is the largest food retailer in the world and is part of the American way of life. In order to remain competitive and an iconic American institution, McDonald’s has developed programs and strategies for motivating employees and teaching leadership. As a result, our group believes that McDonald’s presented an excellent opportunity to observe organizational behavior in action. In this observational study, we sought to discover what leadership techniques and group skills were actually practiced by McDonald’s employees. Our field study entailed visiting four different McDonald’s stores in the greater Rochester area during distinct shifts ranging from early morning to late night. During each visit, a group member made a purchase and sat at a table where one could observe the behavior of managers and employees and customer interactions, without interfering with normal operations. Due to the fact we were restricted to a small sample of McDonald’s restaurants, we could not capture the complete spirit of the corporation. However, we were able to relate our findings to leadership and organizational behavior theories and some of McDonald’s corporate values. Through a series of observations and corporate research we discovered that McDonald’s employees demonstrate quality leadership and that the organization as a whole puts significant effort into motivating and working for its employees.

When analyzing an organization’s leadership and teamwork skills, it is useful to first analyze the organization’s work culture and how this culture is maintained. The work culture of McDonald’s seems highly dependent upon the particular line manager in charge at any given point in time. One would imagine that the manager would almost always use position power and would use a telling style of leadership since the typical employee is young or inexperienced. Indeed, some managers were observed as running the operations in a machine like manner, especially during peak business periods. However, in the majority of cases the managers were relatively relaxed and sometimes were indistinguishable from the other employees. One manager in particular used a selling approach, which indicates a higher readiness level of her team (Daft, 2008, p. 73). She did not simply give orders, but accepted feedback and alternatives to her decisions. While it was obvious she was the manager, her team was obviously in the later stages of development and was comfortable outside of their predefined roles.

In general, the managers did not try to put any strong vertical barriers between themselves and their employees. Managers usually seemed to display real concern and interest in the emotions and wellbeing of their employees, which was not expected in this environment. For example, one manager was observed asking an employee cleaning the floors about her weekend and her kids. There seems to be legitimate efforts in order to motivate employees even at the line worker level. Herzberg’s two-factor theory explains that good working conditions only go so far, and that employees require higher level fulfillment such as motivation and recognition in order to be satisfied with their position (Daft, 2008, p. 231). Even in a low- skill position, low turnover is desired. In addition, happy employees lead to happy customers.

National Health Service (NHS)

A national health service was one of the fundamental assumptions in the Beveridge Report which Arthur Greenwood, Labour's Deputy Leader and wartime Cabinet Minister with responsibility for post-war reconstruction had successfully pressed the cabinet to commission from economist and social reformer William Beveridge.[8] The government accepted this assumption in February 1943, and after a White Paper in 1944 it fell to Clement Attlee's Labour government to create the NHS as part of the "cradle to grave" welfare-state reforms in the aftermath of World War II. Aneurin Bevan, the newly appointed Minister of Health, was given the task of introducing the National Health Service. Healthcare prior to the war had been an unsatisfactory mix of private, municipal and charity schemes. Bevan now decided that the way forward was a national system rather than a system operated by regional authorities, to prevent inequalities between different regions. He proposed that each resident of the UK would be signed up to a specific General Practice (GP) as the point of entry into the system, and would have access to any kind of treatment they needed without having to raise the money to pay for it.

Doctors were initially opposed to Bevan's plan, primarily on the stated grounds that it reduced their level of independence. Bevan had to get them onside, as, without doctors, there would be no health service. Being a shrewd political operator, Bevan managed to push through the radical health care reform measure by dividing and cajoling the opposition, as well as by offering lucrative payment structures for consultants. On this subject he stated, "I stuffed their mouths with gold". On 5 July 1948, at the Park Hospital (now known as Trafford General Hospital) in Manchester, Bevan unveiled the National Health Service and stated, "We now have the moral leadership of the world".

The money to pay for the NHS comes directly from taxation. The 2008/9 budget roughly equates to a contribution of £1,980 for every man, woman and child in the UK. When the NHS was launched in 1948 it had a budget of £437million (roughly £9billion at today’s value). In 2008/9 it received over 10 times that amount (more than £100billion). This equates to an average rise in spending over the full 60-year period of about 4% a year once inflation has been taken into account. However, in recent years investments levels have been double that to fund a major modernization programmed. Some 60% of the NHS budget is used to pay staff. A further 20% pays for drugs and other supplies, with the remaining 20% split between buildings, equipment and training costs on the one hand and medical equipment, catering and cleaning on the other. Nearly 80% of the total budget is distributed by local trusts in line with the particular health priorities in their areas. The total budget of Department of Health in England in 2008/9 was £94bn of which NHS England accounted for £92.5bn. The National Audit Office reports annually on the summarized consolidated accounts of the NHS. In 2012 the NHS budget was set at £104 Billion, or £3000 per second.

A corner shop Light Shop is a small shop near my house that isestablished by a sole proprietor. The purpose of such kind of sole proprietorship business isto get full freedom while doing the business for the own capital maximization. Such kind of business organization is established so that the proprietor can utilize all of his knowledge inhis own way taking a lot of risk and higher earnings.

P 1.2
Sainsbury’s are a private sector organization whose main interest is in gaining financial reward, such as profit and shareholder value. Sainsbury’s are a particular public limited company whose securities are traded on a stock exchange and can be bought by anyone. So the strategic plan would therefore be particularly concentrated on generating profit although this can be balanced against the needs of the stakeholders. There are many factors, firstly there is the age of the business, since Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869, and it has established itself as a leading retailer in the UK. This can be an advantage as new businesses opening would struggle to gain sales and would only be hoping to break-even to survive in the market. But Sainsbury’s has the brand reputation and large customer base to not be worried about any sales or profits targets it may set. Sainsbury’s has a massive 1000+ store network (Sainsburys.co.uk), so any costs it may need to cover such as extra promotional offers or marketing costs, Sainsbury’s should be able to cover this because of its large network of stores it can absorb the costs through its massive capacity of stores. Whereas this can prove difficult for new firms entering the market since they do not have the financial capacity to cover the costs. This can be of benefit to Sainsbury’s has it can act as a barrier to entry as there are huge sunk costs to incur, for new businesses to get to Sainsbury’s level of business. Since Sainsbury’s has developed into a massive retailer which diversifying into new markets as produced greater sales and made it much harder for existing competition and new entrants to compete with the standard of Sainsbury’s. Another factor is the situation of the economy can affect the objectives set by Sainsbury’s, since the strategies set by Sainsbury’s would have planned at least 6 months ago and it may currently be a deterioration in the economy.

P 1.3
Model One - Basic Strategic Planning The process might be implemented in year one of the non-profit to get a sense of how planning is conducted, and then embellished in later years with more planning phases and activities to ensure wellrounded direction for the non-profit. Planning would usually carry out by top-level management. Model Two - Issue-Based Planning External and internal assessments are to identify “SWOT” (Strengths and Weaknesses and Opportunities and Threats). Strategic analyses are to identify and prioritize major issues and goals. Design major strategies to address issues and goals.

Design and update vision, mission and values (some organizations may do this first in planning). Establish action plans which include objectives, resource needs, roles and responsibilities for implementation. Record issues, goals, strategies and programs, updated mission and vision, and action plans in a Strategic Plan document, and attach SWOT, etc. Develop the Operating Plan document. Develop and authorize the Budget for year one. Conduct the organization’s one year operations Model Three - Alignment Model

Task 2
P 2.1
There are different economic systems followed by the government. These economic systems are normally introduced to allocate the resources more efficiently that are shown in the following. In a command or planned economic system, government controls the full economy allocating the scarce resources like soil, capital, labor etc. Here, the planning body or the government has the full information and can take better decisions for the resource allocation but this economic system normally cannot allocate the resources efficiently. This is because the planning body does not have the full knowledge or efficiency to decide how much should be produced. In such kind of economic system there are always shortage or surplus of the inputs where a company like Sainsbury faces difficulties to operate the business activities properly (Edgar, 1992). In the free enterprise economic system all the organizations can operate the business activities with little government intervention. Here, the government has very small number of companies in the market and rules and regulations are flexible to operate the business activities. For this reasons there works a strong positive competition in the market that leads a strong efficient resource allocation. As government does not intervene in the market company like Sainsbury can produce the products what they really want considering the demand of the market (John and James, 1992). Here, though the private sector has the freedom to operate the business activities freely government makes some regulations and policies to make the market stable. This economic system can efficiently allocate the resources as there remain s both the free trade and some restrictions through which the market players can operate effectively. So, in tis economic system resources are efficiently allocated

with little wastage. In this economic system, private companies can apply their own policies managing the government policies and regulations (John and James, 1992)

P 2.2
Government makes different monetary and fiscal policies to control the economy and the business organizations. These policies are taken by the government bodies considering the economic positions that also have a god impact on the business activities of a company that are shown below. Changes in the interest rate: When government changes the interest rate through the monetary policy then it has an impact on the business activities. If interest rates rise then Sainsbury will face difficulties on financing as the cost of capital will increase while the customers will reduce their consumption level that will reduce the sales volume of Sainsbury’s PLC. Changes in the exchange rates: If exchange rate changes then it will also affect the activities of Sainsbury. If pound appreciates then the business sector of Sainsbury that is operating in other countries will face problems while home country sales will increase more value for Sainsbury’s PLC. Changes in the tax rate: If government changes the tax rate through the fiscal policy then it will affect the business activities from different perspective (Edgar, 1992). If tax rate is reduced then Sainsbury will be benefited and company may increase the quality of the products without considering the changes in the price. Or Sainsbury’s PLC.can increase more expenses on the advertisement or other sector as reduction in the tax rate has made the company more profitable. Changes in the government spending: If government increases the government spending in different sector than a business organization will face reduction in the sales volume. On the other hand, reduction in the government spending will increase the demand for the private sector so is it for Sainsbury’s PLC. (Sainsbury’s PLC. 2012).

P 2.3
In UK supermarket and retail shops face a severe competition among them as there are different super shops with equal capital and business policies. The major competitors are Sainsbury, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrison's that are dominating the super market. Though there are different companies but Sainsbury is almost holding 35% of the market capital. But changes in the policy of the competitors will change the activities of Sainsbury has an organization has to adjust its policies with the existing market to cope with the competition (Puzzle, 2013). So, when other organization changes the policy to stay in the competitive position then Sainsbury has to change the business policy. Sainsbury normally made competition policy considering the cost and product diversification.

Task 3
P 3.1
There are different market structure like Monopoly, oligopoly and perfectly competitive market. In different market the company has to make different strategies to determine the output and price of the company’s product. Monopoly market structure: when there are one or two company operating in the market is called the monopoly. In this market structure company normally impose the price what they really wants to maximize the profit and does not care about what the customers are willing to pay for the products (Gilman & McDaniel, 2009). Here, in the monopoly market, Profit maximization will be achieved by setting price so that MC=MR and One cannot choose both P and Q. on the other hand, Like any firm, the monopolist is constrained by their demand curve. Oligopoly market structure: In an oligopoly market the company normally considers the top level competitors pricing system and considers the customers demand. In the oligopoly market, the company set prices low as signal to possible entrants or other competitors. This is to shown the willingness and ability to defend the market share. Perfect competition market: In the perfect competition, there are many companies operating in the same industry with extreme competition among the companies. Sainsbury PLC is under the perfect competition as in the UK Super market is perfectly competitive industry where there are many companies operating with high efficiency (Allen, 2001).

P 3.2
There are different market forces that an organization has to consider to make strategic decision and other purposes. The major market forces are the supply and demand, elasticity of demand and supply, perceptions and actions of customers, economic of scale, and cost and output decisions (Scanner, et al., 2009). How Sainsbury PLC will respond to these market forces are discussed below; Supply and demand: Sainsbury PLC has to make supply decisions considering the demand of the market. So, if the demand is high then Sainsbury PLC produces the goods at high volume. So, in this case any company like Sainsbury PLC will always has to make the supply available considering the demand position of the market (Denison & Daniel, 1990).

Customers’ perception and actions: Sainsbury considers what the perception of the customers is and what actions customers take before buying the products. If customers are highly sensitive to the price change and they emphasize on the product quality then Sainsbury finds the way of increasing the product quality keeping the price level under the control (Scanner, et al., 2009). Economic of Scale: Before going to produce high volume products, a company has to consider the economics of scale as it has a direct impact on the decision of producing the large volume product. Here, Sainsbury PLC has a good economic of scale and company can produce a large volume if the demand is high. So, if demand is high then Sainsbury can produce large amount of products. Cost and output: If cost of products rise when Sainsbury produce large amount of products then Sainsbury consider whether the products is profitable.

P 3.3
An organization has to consider the business and cultural environment before making any decision as these environmental factors have a direct impact on the business organization (Slack,et al., 2000). Here, the business environment is analyzed through the PEST analysis, Political factors: In UK political situation is more stable and the government makes different supportive regulations for the business organizations. Sainsbury PLC can make policy considering this inductive political situation. Economic Factors: The economic factors are the interest rate, GDP, employment rate, inflation rate. All of these factors are good position in UK that made the activities of Sainsbury easier. Social Factors: The behavior of the customers, their expectations, perceptions and actions are determined by the social norm and environment that has to be considered by Sainsbury for the business activities. Technological factors: As technology is changing fast, Sainsbury has to adjust the operational activities with the changed technology to increase the product quality and reduce the cost of the products.

Task 4
P 4.1
Because of the modern production techniques, advanced transnational corporations and better transportation system International trade has flourished in the recent years. Through the international trade system, any company like Sainsbury PLC can operate in other countries with no or little barriers (Heizer and Render, 2003). So, international trade is very significant for the Sainsbury as Sainsbury PLC UK has already become global operating in different countries especially in the EU countries where the company can freely operate the business activities with no barriers. If there were no International trade in the UK then the economics of scale of Sainsbury will be useless and the company could not make more revenues. On the other hand, because of the international trade Sainsbury PLC can outsource some of its business activities and operations in other countries to reduce the cost and increase the quality. So, a company will always be benefited under the international trade that has been emphasized by David Ricardo in his competitive advantage theory that one country will be benefited by specification while other country will be benefited in reducing the cost (Galloway, et al., 2000).

P 4.2
Global factors are also a major issue for an organization while it is operating in the global way or even if the organization is operating only in the home country (Denison & Daniel, 1990). Here different Global factors are considered that have an impact on Sainsbury PLC. International competitiveness: While Sainsbury is operating in other countries or even in Home countries then the company has to consider other international competitors like Wall-Mart. If this competition is high then it is tough to compete in the international market. International Business environment: International Business environment is consists of Political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors (PESTEL) that have a direct impact on the organization (Heizer and Render, 2000). So, Sainsbury PLC has to consider these factors while operating in the international market. Tariff and tax: If the global market’s tax and tariff rate is high then Sainsbury face difficulties to compete with that countries company though in EU this is not applicable. Exchanger rates: exchange rate is another important global factor For which company’s ultimate revenue is affected. So, sudden huge change in the Exchange rate of UK with other countries is a great threat for Sainsbury PLC.

P 4.3
EUROPEAN UNION has some rules and regulations that the member countries have to maintain while operating different business activities within and outside the home country (Burnes, 2009). Here the major policies taken by EU are; Employment policy Regional policy Inflation policy Education and training policy Taxation policy International policy Establishing the 'rules of the game' policy All of these policies have a direct impact on the business activities of the member country. Here, Sainsbury PLC has to consider whether there is any regulation and policy that may limit the business activities. So, while doing the business Sainsbury has to consider the all policies imposed by EU otherwise the company will be faced under the common law of violating the agreement of EU member countries. As Sainsbury PLC is also operating in different EU countries the company has to maintain these regulations though as a company of EU member country Sainsbury is getting more facilities in EU countries (Galloway, et al., 2000).

References
1. The Virgin Group Limited has expanded to a humongous organization http://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/the-virgin-group-limited-has-expanded-to-ahumongous-organization-business-essay.php 2. Strategic management: virgin group ltd http://www.essay.uk.com/free-managementessays/strategic-management-virgin-group-ltd.php 3. Sainsbury PLC http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/ 4. Sainsbury PLC http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/accounting/sainsburys-plc.php 5. Observation of Leadership & Organizational Behavior at McDonald’s http://www.ericgoldman.name/non-technical/28-leadership/34-observation-of-leadership-aorganizational-behavior-at-mcdonalds#_ftn1 6. Sainsbury’s Aims and Objectives http://www.studymode.com/essays/Sainsburys-Aims-AndObjectives-1262410.html 7. Environment analysis and strategies of Sainsbury’s PLC http://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/environment-analysis-and-strategies-ofsainsburys-plc-management-essay.php