...Innovation in Outsourcing: The Case of The Procter & Gamble Company Case Study by the Academic Team from The University of Tennessee, College of Business Administration GEO IAOP’s Global Excellence in Outsourcing Award www.IAOP.org P&G: Taking Innovation to New Levels of Value through Partnership INTRODUCTION Many people believe innovation springs serendipitously from some kind of “aha” moment – literally a bolt out of the blue. P&G knows differently. Innovation has been the corporate lifeblood since P&G’s humble beginning in 1837 when William Procter and James Gamble signed a partnership agreement formalizing The Procter & Gamble Company. Today, P&G’s products touch and improve the lives of over 4.8 billion consumers in 180 countries. Fifty “Leadership Brands” include some of the world’s most well-known household names with 25 of these 50 brands each generating more than $1 billion in annual sales. Simply put, this degree of corporate growth could not be achieved without significant innovation across all aspects of the business even extending to our relationships with suppliers and partners. In 2001, P&G radically changed its approach to Research & Development (R&D). Instead of relying solely on its own, highly capable R&D resources, P&G welcomed ideas from individual entrepreneurs and scientists from other companies, and universities, the concept came to be known as Connect & Develop; the goal was to gain half the ideas from inside and half from outside the...
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...are responding by creating global strategic management plans to address the competitive trends occurring in the market (Kim, Bak, & Bae, 2010). In fact, the aforementioned factors created a rich environment for firms to access new technologies, materials, customer bases, as well as, the ability to form business partnerships, globally (Russell & Taylor, 2011; Nembhard, Shi, & Park, 2000). Consequently, there has been a shift in the way business operations are performed and managed. Procter and Gamble Company (P&G), is an excellent example of an iconic firm maintaining a competitive advantage in global markets through the effective implementation of global operations strategies and management. In fact, P&G is the leading consumer goods firm, generating annually $84 billion in sales, operating in 180+ countries, spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia. In terms of manufacturing sites, P&G own and operate 32 US manufacturing sites located in 21 different states or territories and 102 manufacturing sites in 40 other countries (Personal Care MarketWatch, 2011; Procter & Gamble, 2014). However, global manufacturing firms are experiencing problem associated with schedule instability and demand. Consequently, these problems are resulting in...
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...Managing Operations Introduction The report will start with definition of operations management concept. This will be followed by identifying some of the global factors affecting operations management in organisations and the impact such factors have on operations management in organisations and to assess how operations management can contribute to sustainable business activities . The second part of the report will describe how project management techniques contribute to the development of operations management and how project management techniques can be used to improvements the management of business operation in a multinational organisation. The effectiveness of business operations to organisational goal of Shell Petroleum will be discussed As operation management entails risk, the risk management techniques that can be applied to the management of a business operations (Shell Petroleum) and how to evaluate the risk to business operations in global markets will be discussed. How risk to Shell Petroleum operations be minimised for a business functioning in a global market will be discussed The technological infrastructure that supports operations management of Shell Petroleum will be identified and the contribution of information technology to it operations management will be analysed. The benefits to operational management of implementing technical solutions will also be analysed . The contribution of information technology to operations management of...
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...INFOANALYTICA FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS SUMMER INTERNSHIP REPORT ANANDARUP GHOSHAL 2008 ICFAI BUSINESS SCHOOL, AHMEDABAD SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS IBS AHMEDABAD 2|Page SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT PROJECT AREA: FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS FACULTY GUIDE: PROF. AMIT SARASWAT COMPANY NAME: INFOANALYTICA COMPANY GUIDE: ULLAS UNNIKRISHAN MARAR IBS AHMEDABAD SUBMITTED BY: ANANDARUP GHOSHAL ENROLLMENT NO: 07BS0024 MOBILE NO: 9913815561 E-MAIL: anandarup99@yahoo.co.in 3|Page I am thankful towards my company INFOANALYTICA a division of the Agarwal management consultants for giving me this great opportunity to work into the company for the summer internship project. It was a very good learning experience for me. I am thankful to the CEO of the company Mr. Amit Gupta. My project guide Mr. Ullas Marar has helped me a lot whenever I needed. My regards to my college faculty guide Mr. Amit Saraswat for being extremely helpful during the project. For him this was working as well as a learning experience. During my project I have got help from many other faculties. I am very thankful to Dr. Rashid Saiyeed, Prof. Toby Mammen, Dr. Saji Kumar and Mr. Ravi Gor. I am thankful to our director Prof. Bala Bhaskaran for providing me this great opportunity of the learning. 4|Page Table of Contents INTRODUCTION: ....................
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...Individual Research Project – Preliminary Research Design Lori Whidbee American InterContinental University Abstract The first part of this paper examines the similarities and differences between formal research and business proposal. The paper finds that the process taken for both research methods are comparable in nature. However, both research methods have difference uses in business. The purpose, use and goals of the research determines whether formal research or business proposals add value to the decision making process in corporate world. Part two of the paper examines a hypothesis question: What are the effects of human resources outsourcing on leadership performance and employee commitment? Upon review of several journal articles, research suggests that the outsourcing of key human resource functions such as training, employee benefits, and recruitment has had a positive impact on leadership performance and employee commitment. Human resource professionals indicated the delegation of more complex tasks to third-party administrators has given them the opportunity to practice core competencies with employees which has resulted in a satisfied workforce. Individual Research Project – Preliminary Research Design Managers are required to make decisions in business every day. Making the right decision can mean the difference between a financial gain or loss and retaining or losing valuable employees. Bazerman (2009) states most of our decisions are evolved...
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...Professional Paper “Trends in University Outsourcing” By: Mike Nieto May, 2008 About the author: Mike Nieto and has spent his entire adult career of nearly 20 years working in B2B outsourcing. During this time, Mike has been involved in many engagements which required analysis, recommendations, implementation including mail, copy and print-shop redesign, build outs, consolidations and metrics tracking of implemented outsourced client operations. In charting our course for the development of our Professional Paper; “Trends in University Outsourcing”, we found the dramatic changes and pressures that exist today in education require significant resources and greater core focus to achieve University overall objectives. The dynamics of the education system have changed significantly and there are far greater challenges that are no longer just national but global in scope. Extrapolated from A Report of the Commission Appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Pre-Publication Copy September 2006, titled; A test of leadership charting the future of US higher education, provided the following insights on some of the challenges which require the consumption of significant resources and consequently a need to focus on your core business: 1) Where once the United States led the world in educational attainment, recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development indicate that our nation is now ranked 12th among major industrialized countries in higher...
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...Adversity of Outsourcing: Outsourcing from the Employee’s Perspective Schillen & Steinke Mitigating the Adversity of Outsourcing: Outsourcing from the Employee’s Perspective Sarah J. Schillen Seattle Pacific University USA sschillen@gmail.com Gerhard Steinke Seattle Pacific University USA gsteinke@spu.edu ABSTRACT This paper explores how outsourcing activities and decisions put the well-being of the remaining employees at risk, ultimately affecting productivity and creating further costs to the employer. It highlights four potential threats to remaining employees: trust, job satisfaction, motivation, and stress. The paper provides several suggestions for mitigating these impacts, including communication to retain trust, acting ethically to ensure satisfied employees, seeking an understanding of employee perspectives to build employee motivation, and providing good planning along with training and development to reduce employee stress. INTRODUCTION Globalization provides organizations with more options than ever before. Business leaders are continuously encouraged to adapt, reevaluate, and strategically improve processes and approaches. Best practices are reinvented rapidly in attempt to keep up with market trends. The quest to recognize new methods for increasing revenue has become the inspiration for exploring new management techniques and strategies. One such rising trend in the advent of global markets is that of outsourcing. Common purposes for outsourcing include improvements...
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...document.] | Contents 1. Definition of outsourcing 3 2. Functions outsourced by HR 3 3. Advantages of outsourcing HR Functions 4 3.1 Managing and minimising risk 5 3.2 Cost Savings 5 3.3 Efficiency and economies of scale 5 3.4 Professional Expertise 5 3.5 Improved Employee Morale 6 4. Disadvantage 6 4.1 Poor Performance and decline in quality 6 4.2 Distance and lowering moral 6 4.3 Recruitment Problems 6 4.4 Leak of important internal information 6 4.5 Perceived loss of power and control 7 4.6 Increased Direct Costs 7 5. e-HRM 7 5.1 Objective of e-HRM 7 5.2 Advantages of e-HRM 8 5.3 Disadvantages of e-HRM 8 6. Conclusion and Advice to the Client 8 1. Definition of outsourcing The Human Resource department is considered to be one of the highly accredited departments of the organization; these are the people who provide the working resource to the company and keeping the company afloat even in the worst economic downtime. The best way in which the HR can be managed is decided by the HRD. The ways in which the human resource management is done has changed considerably in the recent years. The HR activities and functions can now be delivered, not only by the specialised Human Resource professionals, but also through outsourcing (Ulrich 1996; Tremblay, Party and Lanoi 2008). The HR outsourcing can be defined as the purchasing of the HR functions and services from a third party supplier. HR outsourcing can also be defined as the process of...
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...Outsourcing Jobs to Low Wage Countries Research and Key Issues Business outsourcing, a practice that was previously shrouded in controversy has become commonplace, not only among technology firms but also the IT departments of established companies in various industries. The bulk of overseas outsourcing, a practice that involves companies in economically developed nations shipping jobs to businesses in developing countries, has expanded after the practice became fashionable during the period of economic boom in the mid 1990’s. During this time, the outlook of the practice remained relatively unchanged, though this seems to be changing. For instance, firms that deal with outsourcing are starting to consolidate, resulting in larger providers who offer a wider range of services. Niche providers are also coming forth. Additionally, developing nations such as China and India are in direct competition with one another (Sornarajah 277). India has been the traditional outsourcing –services leader. Initially, outsourcing was the preserve of the larger companies, but now even the smaller and mid-size businesses are beginning to outsource jobs. Additionally, the previous practice was to outsource large projects, for instance call-center operations and basic application development. Today, as outsourcing is becoming more commonplace, companies are beginning to outsource smaller projects such as research and development (R&D) and scientific projects to external providers. Many developments...
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...Outsourcing Outsourcing is a strategy that concentrates an organization’s resources on its core competencies allowing the organization to achieve a definable preeminence and provide a unique value for customers (Behara, Gundersen, & Capozzoli, 1995, p. 45). The goals of outsourcing are strategic: improved efficiencies, lower costs, improved flexibility, higher quality, and a greater ability to achieve a competitive advantage. The ultimate strategic goal is to develop core competencies that develop into barriers of entry that make it difficult for competition to copy. By focusing on core competencies, and utilizing qualified vendors to provide process that are not one of the organization’s core competencies, the organization’s risk can be shared with its suppliers, and minimized. Core competencies are the collective institutional learning and capabilities of the company that allow it to supply products and services that uniquely add absolute preeminence in those competencies (Hilmer & Quinn, 1994, p. 47). “Core competencies are the innovative combinations of knowledge, special skills, proprietary technologies, information, and unique operating methods that provide the product or the service that the customer value and want to buy” (Greaver, 1999, p. 87). Activities that the organization must be proficient in are called its core activities. Core activities are those activities that are: 1. Traditionally performed internally with long standing precedence. 2. Critical...
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...their approaches to motivating and energizing the workforce in order to meet their organizational goals. Pfizer is meeting that challenge through its new and innovative program called PfizerWorks. This program allows employees to shift tasks offshore to one of two Indian service-outsourcing firms located in India. Pfizer is displaying the type of leadership required and needed to energize and motivate their workforce. The Chore Goes Offshore The number one resource of any business is its employees; keeping employees motivated and energized is a way to meet a company’s organizational goals. Most companies understand that a happy employee is a productive employee. Pfizer understands that concept and that is why they have launched their new program, PfizerWorks; whereby shifting tedious and time consuming tasks offshore. PfizerWorks is the brainchild of Jordan Cohen, the architect and head of this new program. Cohen recalls seeing one of his recruits from the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., a new father stay late at the office one night to crunch number and search for information on the Web. To Cohen, it didn’t seem like the time best spent (Jones & George, 2011, p. 322). This observation brought about the creation of ‘PfizerWorks’ which is a tool that addresses the concerns of employees having to do tedious and time consuming tasks. An article in Business Week highlights the concerns of Pfizer’s employee, David Cain as noted in...
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...chain management. The authors of Managerial Accounting for Managers define supply chain management as, “A management approach that coordinates business processes across companies to better serve end consumers,” (Noreen, Brewer and Garrison, 2011, p. 25). More and more consumers are increasingly trending toward a mass of buyers that crave instant gratification, whether it through technology, delivery or service. Common issues in supply chain management involve stock availability, inventory purchasing and order to delivery timeframe. Other concerns focus on the next generation of business, which involve cost effective and green supply chain, outsourcing, new technology, consumer behavior and most importantly emerging economies. With different views and theories on supply chain management it has become an increasingly important role for businesses in order to deal with these major problems that have arisen in the past few decades. Supply Chain Management Jobs Along with all of these progressively escalating concerns comes the increase for demand in the supply chain management career field. In a recent survey conducted by Supply Management, the information found backed the previous statement with statistical data, (Clark, 2011, p. 1). The need for these positions are rising simply because these corporate companies are seeing more issues that need to be addressed by specific departments that specialize in these areas. In the past supply chain management was predominantly seen...
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...ABSTRACT While outsourcing internal audit function in the private sector has been extensively Investigated by various researchers (Carey and Chua, 1999; Petravick, 1997; and Sharma and Subramaniam, 200l; amongst others), there is scant empirical data from the public sector. This study attempts to fill the gap by providing some preliminary evidence in food and beverages industry. Using responses from 3 firms which includes Dangote flour mills, UAC and Northern Nigeria flour mills plc, the study found that more than 85% of the respondents had either fully outsourced or co-sourced their internal audit function. Further, non-department entities were found to more likely to fully outsource their internal audit function than the departments. Lack of technological know-how and service quality of external providers seem to outrank cost-related factors as reasons for outsourcing. The study also raises several issues in relation to a lack of segregation of duties in the process of selecting and monitoring outsourced arrangements. Implications for policy setting and avenues for future research avenues are discussed. INTODUCTION In today’s business environment, outsourcing processes to a third party has become relatively commonplace. The practice gives organizations an opportunity to gain efficiencies, improve performance, lower costs, and focus on core competencies. Many businesses, however, fail to complete necessary due diligence work before the outsourcing relationship begins and neglect...
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...Outsourcing refers to a company which contracts with another company in order to provide services that might otherwise be performed by its own employees. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service. Often, these outsourced employees may be located overseas. To know whether outsourcing is appropriate in a given circumstance, it is important to understand several key concepts. Many professors and experts in the business world have conducted case studies and general research to understand the implications of outsourcing, both positive and negative, and the environment which provides the greatest chances for a successful outsourcing venture. The framework within which a firm must decide whether to outsource or not will often involve a two-stage decision process. First, the business must make its decision and secondly, it must take managerial action to implement the decision. To begin with, a company must identify why outsourcing can be useful in an ideal situation and then evaluate whether their circumstances fit these conditions. Essentially, outsourcing can ideally benefit a company from a financial perspective since the outsourced work can be cheaper in and of itself and secondly because it allows the company to focus on other, perhaps more pressing issues. As important as it is that the company can identify appropriate conditions it is equally necessary to be aware of circumstances which will not provide an appropriate environment to outsource...
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...Management Information Systems Reaction Paper Engaging in CIO-‐CxO "Conversations that Matter": An Interview with Peter Keen Done by: Rime OUADI Supervised by: Dr. BENMOUSSA Table of Contents Introduction: ..................................................................................................................... 3 My reaction: ...................................................................................................................... 3 Conclusion: ........................................................................................................................ 9 References: ...................................................................................................................... 10 2 Introduction: Known as “One of the top 100 business gurus in the world and thought leaders with impact” in 2003 according to The Global Speakers Bureau’s website, Dr. Keen is a distinguished international consultant, educator, public speaker and writer in many prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Stanford...
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