MGMT20144 Management and Business Context

Identify critical issues around the contextual factor Generate a series of appropriate recommendations that will enhance the performance of the specific business organisation  

 

Decide the importance of the contextual factor. the effect or influence the contextual factor has on the organisation. careful judgment about the important aspects of issues related to the contextual factor. the recommendations should logically evolve from the discussion.to improve the quality, effectiveness or outcomes of the business by using the contextual factor. 

 

Defining relevant terms, theories and concepts presented in Utilising the specific contextual factor, explaining key details and assessing its impact on the relevant business organisation Displaying an ability to develop appropriate recommendations to improve the performance of the business organisation Developing a concise and structured presentation with introduction, main presentation, conclusion and recommendations.

Siemens AG is a global electrical and electronics business with a turnover of £53 billion.  The business employs over 450,000 people.  The company base is in Munich, Germany.  From there, executives oversee work carried out in the name of Siemens all over the world(Shmueli, & Lichtendahl, 2017)  . 

In the UK, Siemens plc has its headquarters in Bracknell, Berkshire and has more than 100 offices and factories.  It employs more than 21,000 staff, 5,000 of these in manufacturing. There is hardly an aspect of our lives that is not touched by the company’s work (Wheelen & Hunger, 2017).  We can toast bread in a Siemens toaster powered by electricity generated and distributed by Siemens, travel on a Siemens train or pass through Siemens traffic lights in a car, which uses Siemens technology.  

People in hospital are having life saving MRI scans using Siemens advanced medical imaging technology (Kozubíková et al. 2015).  Businesses, health service trusts, local authorities, government and government agencies all use Siemens expertise.  This expertise includes ICT, healthcare, transport and energy.   

Siemens is a multi-sector business. The business specializes in finding new ways to improve our quality of life and work.  The UK business has a turnover of more than £3 billion and contributes £96.2 million profit to the group (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014).  Siemens contributes significantly to the UK economy and provides a huge variety of jobs 

Globalization’ refers to the trend where individual countries become less influential in relation to cross-national bodies.  People worry we are turning into one global ‘village’. Decision makers are far away.  There is fear because such decisions do not take note of what local people need or want (Mingers & Willmott, 2013).  However, as the case study will show, meeting local needs is key to the performance of a business like Siemens’.  

Siemens is multi-national. It operates across 190 separate nation states.  Executives in Germany and across the world must make decisions in the best interests of Siemens’ shareholders. Most multinationals have many capabilities (Bargiela & Nickerson, 2014).  They must make decisions about where their separate activities should be.  For Siemens it is not efficient to design and manufacture all products in all countries.  It is more efficient to concentrate manufacturing to keep economies of scale through specialization. Products can be shipped anywhere within the group 

Siemens aims to meet the needs of a range of global markets.  All its companies report to the German parent company.  To deliver value to the overall group, each separate business must meet the needs of its own customers, wherever they are (Bryman & Bell, 2015).  There are thirty businesses within Siemens in the UK. This figure is constantly rising as Siemens strengthens its UK portfolio as it acquires more businesses.  

Each operates to achieve targets for growth and profit. To do this best requires an understanding of local needs and culture.  Its businesses in the UK have freedom to decide how best to meet local needs (Carter, Rogers & Choi, 2015).  Siemens employees based in the UK share their customers’ culture. Its group’s focus is to ‘think customer’.  In delivering their services to consumers, its employees understand customers and the issues and problems they are working to solve.  

The Roke Manor Research facility in the UK serves the whole Siemens group. Any of its businesses, wherever in the world they may be, can call upon their expertise.  In the UK, Siemens works within a new global strategy, ‘Siemens One’ (Liñán & Fayolle, 2015).  In all its activities, customers can call upon the potential of other Siemens groups.  If one does not possess a skill, another will. If a particular part of the business requires something offered by another elsewhere, then that product or service is supplied.  

Working across ‘sectors’ of an economy An ‘economy’ refers to the way in which a group of people set about using scarce resources to produce the things they need or want. ‘ Scarce’ resources are those that have limited supply. A way of understanding this is to think of a family.  . Each sector adds something different. Primary activities produce the raw materials we need.  This could be food from agriculture, fish from the sea, or stone dug out from the earth.  

Secondary activity makes and assembles physical products It is common to speak of ‘economic blocs’ such as Asia Pacific, the United States of America, Latin America, or the European Union (Klang, Wallnöfer & Hacklin, 2014).  World movements of resources are a vital factor. There is a growing role of ever-bigger ‘blocs’ of economic power.  It is at the level of the nation state that economic judgments tend to occur. 

In the UK, the trend at Siemens is towards providing more business services.  Working in long-term relationships with both private and public sector bodies (Klang, Wallnöfer & Hacklin, 2014).  It is a partner in success.  It is becoming an essential part of continued growth and service improvement. Through buying other businesses (Vom Brocke et al. 2014) 

Siemens has grown to acquire different skills. Its presence within the UK now embraces several industrial sectors.  Siemens helps businesses concentrate on what they do best, e.g. in media and broadcasting  Siemens has a 10-year deal to provide broadcast and IT services to the BBC. They develop their ‘core competency’. Siemens in action Siemens in the UK designs and makes super conducting magnets for body scanners worldwide and more than a third of all MRI scanners in hospitals have a Siemens magnet at their heart. 

Variable speed drives; industrial gas turbines; motor parts and rail communication systems are UK produced. These are for the world market.  Siemens traffic management systems manufactured in the UK are exported to places as far afield as China, Malaysia, Bahrain and Brazil .  In 2005, exports of manufactured goods totaled £500.4 million and accounted for 16% of sales.  However, for Siemens in the UK the trend towards service provision seems unstoppable, because this is what customers want.  

The UK National Health Service (NHS) is Europe’s largest organization.  Using private sector specialists, NHS Hospital Trusts in the UK are modernizing healthcare.  Siemens is working with NHS Trusts and other partners to create brand new hospitals.  In Barnet and Chase NHS Trust, it has embraced a 33- year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) (Schnackenberg & Tomlinson, 2016).  The company is providing Accident & Emergency units, medical equipment, communications, intensive therapy units and several operating theatres 

Siemens is creating hospital IT and energy management systems.  These systems can integrate patient records with an electronic picture archive (Al, Cascio & Paauwe, 2014).  This helps to improve hospital efficiency at every level. This saves lives and makes clinical decisions easier.  To raise standards of service, Siemens employs on-site contract managers to look after customer relationships and technology 

Siemens’ aim is to be profitable.  It seeks to be a global leader in electronics and electrical engineering. Because of this, it works within a huge range of industrial sectors.  All over the world, electrical equipment controlled by Siemens electronic systems is in use. 

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