Business report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Business report - Essay Example Given the fact that Chicken Treat is into the quick service restaurant industry, the nation has already witnessed a lot of new players in this particular area starting operations in India. The world famous players like MacDonalds, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut etc have already opened scores of outlets in all major cities within India. So the time is ripe for making an entry into the Indian markets since deferring this decision would only increase competition and may also lead to entry in an already saturated market. The report would harp on the macro environmental factors that are probable to become important if Chicken Treat actually mulls expanding these outlets into the Indian shores. With the help of PESTL and SWOT, the literature available on the industry at large, the upcoming trends, the best market entry decision for Chicken Treat would be suggested in order to make the new market development work a likely success. PESTL Analysis The analysis should initiate with the PESTEL Analysis, which refers to the blend of various macro environmental forces that drive the performance of the organization and consists of the political, economic, sociological, technological, ecological and legal forces (Viardot, 2004). Furthermore, â€Å"it assists companies in the selection of attractive markets and the appropriate entry mode† (Aubert & Frigstad, 2007). Political India as a nation is indeed currently politically stable and post globalization the country has been trying to attract FDI in various sectors and one of those leading industries is the quick service restaurant industry. This is likely to prove to be an advantage in terms of the political environment of Chicken Treat and its subsequent market expansion in the Indian markets (Krafft & Mantrala, 2010, 130). As already mentioned, South Asian nations in general and specifically India and China have gradually geared up for globalization and are therefore welcoming multinationals like MacDonalds and Pizza Hut. In th e context of globalization, various regulation and tax policies as well as FDI regulations have already been relaxed to a substantial extent and the processes of deregulation and delicensing of various products and services are taking place at a fast pace. This should also work towards paving the way for companies like Chicken Treat to open outlets in India. However, given the high order of democracy in India, various political organisations have been trying to resist the entry of too many firms in food sector with particular emphasis on FDI in retail and especially multi brand retail (Datt, 2008, 178). This may also affect the quick service restaurant industry to a considerable extent and hamper the proper functioning of firms such as Chicken Treat. Again, it is sure that the Indian government wants more investment in FDI; therefore the environment should work out to be overall congenial for Chicken Treat in India. Legal The legal environment of Chicken Treat in India again brings forth quite a few heartening aspects of heightened outlay in FDI and patronization from the government along with various other legal entanglements that should be adhered to if a firm intends to open sales outlets in India. Among the other aspects of the legal environme

Licensure and Certification Requirements in the State of Florida Essay Example for Free

Licensure and Certification Requirements in the State of Florida Essay [emailprotected]: Dr. Darlene DanekerAbstract This paper will discuss the licensure and certification requirements for the state of Florida for mental health counselors. It will discuss whether a mental health counselor needs to; hold a license, credential, certification, or some other designation to practice independently as a professional counselor, it will define the laws that regulate and impact the credentialing, certification, and/or licensing of counseling professionals working within mental health counseling, and it will discuss three key content areas that are included in your state laws as they relate to professionals in mental health counseling. Licensure and Certification Requirements in the State of Florida for Mental Health Counselors This paper will discuss the licensure and certification requirements for the state of Florida for mental health counselors. It will discuss whether a mental health counselor needs to; hold a license, credential, certification, or some other designation to practice independently as a professional counselor, it will define the laws that regulate and impact the credentialing, certification, and/or licensing of counseling professionals working within mental health counseling and it will discuss key content areas of; educational requirements, fieldwork and supervision requirements, licensure requirements, specific required examination requirements, and continuing education that are included in Florida state laws as they relate to professionals in mental health counseling. In order to practice mental health counseling in the state of Florida it is a requirement to hold a license for mental health counseling In order to receive such license one must have completed the application for mental health counselor, taken, and passed the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination. However, before endeavoring  on the path of licensure one must also have taken required courses within their graduate program which include (1) Counseling Theories and Practice, (2) Human Growth and Development, (3) Diagnosis and Treatment of Psychopathology, (4) Human Sexuality, (5) Group Theories and Practice, (6) Individual Evaluation and Assessment, (7) Career and Lifestyle Assessment, (8) Research and Program Evaluation, (9) Social and Cultural Foundations, (10) Counseling in Community Settings, (11) Substance Abuse, and (12) Legal, Ethical, and Professional Standards Issues. In addition, the graduate program for which one hales from must be accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP); carrying a minimum of sixty semester hours in the areas listed above or a minimum of eighty quarter hours of clinical and didactic instruction, including a course in human sexuality and substance abuse CITATION Flo131 \l 1033 (Department, 2013). Fieldwork and supervision are also a requirement of the laws in order to be licensed in Florida; one must have the â€Å"equivalent of at least 1,000 hours of university-sponsored supervised clinical practicum, internship, or field experience as required in the standards for CACREP accredited mental health counseling programs† CITATION Flo131 \l 1033 (Department, 2013). The state of Florida strictly follows the CACREP accreditation practices for licensure acceptance. In addition, the requirement for two years of post-master’s supervised experienced under the supervision of a licensed mental health counselor or equivalent who is deemed qualified by the Florida Board of Professional Regulations and the â€Å"supervision experience must have consisted of at least 1,500 hours providing psychotherapy face-to-face with clients for the profession for which licensure is sought† CITATION Flo131 \l 1033 (Department, 2013). Finally, the applicant must pass the national clinical mental health counseling examination (NCMHCE) developed by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and complete an eight-hour laws and rules course from an approved provider, complete a two-hour prevention of medical errors course from an approved provider, complete a three-hour course on human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome within six months of licensure, and complete a two hour domestic violence course from a board approved provider within six months of licensure. The state of  Florida requires its licensed Mental Health Counselors to continue their education on a bi-yearly basis. In order to follow this guideline one must; Licensees must complete 30 hours of approved continuing education (CE) within the two year licensure period (biennium) to include the following: a two hour course relating to prevention of medical errors, a three hour course in ethics and boundary issues, a two h ours of CE on domestic violence must be completed every third biennial licensure renewal period. These two hours shall be part of the 30 hours otherwise required for each biennial licensure renewal, and may be taken at any time during the six years preceding the renewal for the biennial in which the credit is due CITATION Flo132 \l 1033 (Statue, 2013). In order to remain current in all aspects of licensure requirements one must know their renewal date, know their biennial date and the clear and precise steps to timely complete the process in which one is expected. Florida offers a concierge system to track continuing education mandated courses. Utilizing this and an organizational calendar will allow one to keep up with their requirements. Staying apprised of legislation through the state of Florida medical quality assurance website will allow one to be updated as well as sign up for emails that will trigger one to review new laws and legislation regarding their licensure. References BIBLIOGRAPHY \l 1033 Department, F. H. (2013, August 24). To be licensed as a Mental Health Counselor in Florida. Tallahassee, Florida, United States. Florida, C. (2013, July 20). Clinical Social Work, Marriage Family Therapy Mental Health Counseling Statutes and Rules. Retrieved from Florida Department of Health: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/491/soc_statutes.html Statue, F. (2013, August 24). Continuing Education. Tallahassee, Florida, United States http://doh.state.fl.us/mqa/continuingeducation/ce_licenseeinfo.html.

Concepts of Communication in Parent Child Relationships Essay -- Commu

â€Å"Communication is the key† is a quote that is often repeated. In every single relationship communication is essential. Especially among parents and children. Communication between parent and child has always been important. Today, however, there is an even greater focus, especially in light of all the things children face at school and in everyday life. Without a parent knowing what is going on in the life and mind of their child, it is hard to really understand what they are going through. Communication is the starting point of understanding. Children learn communication from their parents. Communication is not something that can be studied; it is something that people have to learn by doing. As a parent, good communication needs to be emphasized as they are talking and listening to the child. A child can tell when a parent is not really listening to them, and this can create a big problem in the relationship. Children who feel misunderstood or feel like they aren’t being listened to will start to hold their feelings inside. This is the exact opposite of what good communication should be. Good communication is not merely talking; it is being with someone and relating that nothing else is more important at that time. So many times parents are doing three or four tasks while their child is trying to communicate something to them. They may not even look up from the recipe or newspaper they are trying to read, as the child is desperately trying to get their attention. This displays a lack of interest in the child or what they are trying to convey to the parent. Lack of interest is one thing that will keep families from communicating. When someone doesn’t feel worthy enough of attention, they will stop sharing all together. When children stop sharing with their parents, they go to places and people that will show them attention. This can lead to trouble. The child may look for other avenues of acceptance, which could be negative influences. This could easily be avoided if only the parent had shown an interest in the child’s life. Part of effective commun ication with your children is being aware of their whereabouts. A child who is unsupervised or who has a parent that doesn’t show an interest in her activities, is likely to shut down and internalize her feelings (Beers, 1987). Parents also need to be aware of what is going on in a child’s life. Th... ...hout their lives. in order to have a society of good communicators, it needs to start in the home. Parents need to start communicating with their children and need to show them how to communicate with others. This is a skill that will be valued all throughout life and is something that shouldn’t be ignored. The skill of communication will be valued in every relationship throughout life. It is a necessity. References Beers, V.G. (1987). Parents and Children: Increasing Family Communication. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. Cushman, D.P. & Cahn, D.D. (1985). Communication in Interpersonal Relationships. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Foxhall, K. (2000). Parent and Child Communication. Monitor on Psychology. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on February 18, 2005: http://www.apa.org/monitor/may00/communication.html Gurman, A. & Kniskern, D. (1991). Handbook of Family Therapy Vol. II. Bristol PA: Brunner/Mazel. Author's name omitted by request. (2001). Parent child communication: how to communicate effectively. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on February 19, 2005: http://www.allsands.com/Kids/Teenagers/parentchildco_stj_gn.htm

Online Privacy as a Corporate Social Responsibility- an Empirical Study

Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 Online privacy as a corporate social responsibility: an empirical study Irene Pollach Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark Information technology and the Internet have added a new stakeholder concern to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda: online privacy. While theory suggests that online privacy is a CSR, only very few studies in the business ethics literature have connected these two.Based on a study of CSR disclosures, this article contributes to the existing literature by exploring whether and how the largest IT companies embrace online privacy as a CSR. The ? ndings indicate that only a small proportion of the companies have comprehensive privacy programs, although more than half of them voice moral or relational motives for addressing online privacy. The privacy measures they have taken are primarily compliance measures, while measures that stimulate a stakeholder dialogu e are rare.Overall, a wide variety of approaches to addressing privacy was found, which suggests that no institutionalization of privacy practices has taken place as yet. The study therefore indicates that online privacy is rather new on the CSR agenda, currently playing only a minor role. Introduction Since the 1990s, companies striving to be good corporate citizens have had to devise strategies to address issues such as pollution, energy use, waste production, animal testing, child labor, sweatshops, workforce diversity, or advertising to children.It has become a de-facto standard for very large corporations to publish social reports documenting how they address these issues in the marketplace, the workplace, the supply chain, and the community in order to ful? ll their role as good corporate citizens (Snider et al. 2003). The advent of the Internet has not only revolutionized many business models but has also rede? ned what it means to be a good corporate citizen (Post 2000), as most of the above issues are of little relevance to companies dealing with data and technology.One issue of public concern that has become highly relevant for IT companies is online privacy (De George 2000, Johnson 2006). doi: 10. 1111/j. 1467-8608. 2010. 01611. x Information privacy denotes an individual’s right to decide what information is made available to others (Westin 1967). Privacy is thus guaranteed only if individuals know that data are collected about them and if they have control over this data collection and the subsequent use of the data (Foxman & Kilcoyne 1993, Caudill & Murphy 2000). In the United States, privacy-related legislation exists only for health care, ? ancial services, and children on the Internet (Bowie & Jamal 2006), while many aspects of data collection and user control in electronic commerce are still unregulated (Fernback & Papacharissi 2007). Countries of the European Union, meanwhile, protect privacy more strictly (Baumer et al. 2004), which has proven to be a hurdle for US technology companies operating in Europe. In 2008, for example, technology giant Google encountered problems in several European countries with its data handling practices (O’Brien 2008).Despite legislative efforts in Europe, data privacy violations have occurred in a number of 88 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. , 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 large organizations, including, for example, the largest German bank, DeutscheBank (Neate 2009), or T-Mobile UK (Wray 2009). The problems with privacy legislation are that it is dif? ult to identify violations of these laws and that the law may lag behind what is technologically feasible. For the above reasons, global companies have some discretion over how much privacy they grant users and how much they reveal about their data handlin g practices to their users. This discretion adds extra complexity to the moral issue of whether companies take advantage of their powerful position by collecting and using data from users to further their own business interests, for example by sending out unsolicited promotional e-mails or selling user data (Pollach 2005).The discretion companies can exercise when it comes to information privacy and the ethical implications of this discretion entail that information privacy is a question of corporate morality. While theoretical work on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests that privacy could be a meaningful addition to a corporate CSR program, little is known about corporate practices. This paper therefore sets out to explore whether and how companies whose core business is based on data and technology are embracing information privacy as a CSR. The ? dings suggest that information privacy is emerging as an element of CSR programs, but that there is a great deal of variety regarding the adoption of privacy as a CSR. The paper ? rst discusses the moral issues behind information privacy on the Internet, reviews the literature on corporate responses to people’s privacy concerns, and then looks at the literature on privacy as a CSR. After describing the sample and the methodology underlying this study, the results are presented and their implications are discussed. The ethics of information privacyThe very core of electronic and mobile commerce revolves around technology, digitization, and the exchange of information, which poses a number of ethical problems (Zonghao 2001). A particular challenge to information handling in electronic commerce is the trade-off between collecting data for the sake of transparency and not collecting data for the sake of privacy (Introna & Pouloudi 1999). Another challenge is the trade-off between collecting data for the sake of pro? ts and not collecting data for the sake of privacy.As commercial transactions on the I nternet or through mobile phones are commonly based on credit-card payments and the shipment of goods to the buyer’s home address, the balance is tipped towards the need for disclosure rather than the safeguard of privacy. However, companies collect not only personally identifying information (PII) from transactions but also collect PII when users register themselves, use online services, participate in sweepstakes or surveys, or send inquiries to the company. In addition to PII, companies collect anonymous click-stream 1/2 data and compile anonymous user pro? es when Internet users navigate the companies’ websites (Kelly & Rowland 2000). Through the collection of IP addresses, PII can also be combined with anonymous click-stream data in order to obtain very comprehensive user pro? les (Payne & Trumbach 2009). The easier access to and increased mobility of data have made information a commodity that is bought and sold by data brokers (Spinello 1998). It is therefore al so possible for companies to buy datasets of user information from data brokers and merge them with the data they have collected themselves.Companies may use the data they collect from customers and visitors on their websites merely to execute transactions, recognize users when they return to the site, and improve their website design based on users’ interests. But companies may equally use such data for purposes other than those they were collected for. For example, they may target banner ads at users, harass users with unsolicited commercial e-mails, or share this information with third parties (Han & Maclaurin 2002). A growing body of literature documents people’s concerns about privacy violations in online transactions (e. . Culnan & Armstrong 1999, Phelps et al. 2000, Sheehan 2002, Norberg & Horne 2007, Norberg et al. 2007). Essentially, these concerns stem from the imbalance in power between companies as data collectors and users as data providers. While companie s have superior knowledge of what user data are collected and how they are r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 89 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 handled, users may not even be aware that data are collected, let alone that they are combined into user pro? les. hus not suited to enhance user privacy or engender trust among Internet users. Corporate response to privacy At the turn of the century, some companies began to introduce chief privacy of? cers (Awazu & Desouza 2004). Their tasks include gathering information about social and legal aspects of privacy, devising the company’s privacy strategy, disseminating information about corporate data handling practices to internal and external stakeholders, and representing the company’s commitment to privacy (Kayworth et al. 2005). Another corporate response to information privacy is privacy policies posted on commercial websites (Sama & Sho af 2002).The original idea behind privacy policies on websites was that companies would disclose how they handle the data they collect from users, while users would carefully read through the explanation of the company’s data handling practices, understand their consequences, and then make an informed decision about divulging personal data or not (Ciocchetti 2007). In reality, privacy policies contain legalese, tech-speak, and other obfuscating language patterns that obscure questionable data handling practices (Pollach 2005, Fernback & Papacharissi 2007).Internet users have been found not to read privacy policies for the above reasons (Milne & Culnan 2004). Privacy policies are sometimes supplemented with privacy seals awarded by private-sector institutions (e. g. BBBOnline, TRUSTe, WebTrust) or accounting ? rms. These seals indicate that companies comply with responsible standards of data handling, as de? ned by the awarding institution (Smith & Rupp 2004). Consumers still have to read and understand the privacy policy, as the seal alone does not guarantee that the data handling practices of the company comply with an individual’s privacy preferences (Rifon et al. 2005).The problem with privacy seals is also that they do not effectively protect users from privacy breaches. The sealawarding institution may not know about a privacy breach or, if it does learn about it, can only revoke the seal, but has no means to help people regain lost privacy (Shapiro & Baker 2001). These measures are Information privacy as a CSR Carroll (1979) categorized corporate social responsibilities into economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, arguing that making a pro? t is the quintessential responsibility of companies, together with their adherence to legal regulations. According to this classi? ation, information privacy can be categorized as an ethical responsibility, given that legislation is insuf? cient to govern corporate decision making i n all areas of data handling. This is elaborated on by Mintzberg (1983), who suggested that areas where CSR comes into play are those ‘where existing legislation needs compliance with its spirit as well as its letter [and] where the corporation can fool its customers or suppliers or the government through its superior knowledge’ (p. 12). If a company decides to address information privacy, it may not just do so because privacy is an ethical corporate responsibility. Rather, Aguilera et al. 2007) argue that companies accept responsibility for social issues for three different reasons: (1) moral reasons determined by morality-driven values; (2) relational reasons driven by the company’s concern about stakeholder relationships; and (3) instrumental reasons driven by corporate self-interest. Moral motives are enacted particularly by individuals with organizational decision-making power who have strong morality-based values. Relational motives are grounded in a compan y’s desire to promote and balance stakeholder interests, thereby building trust, maximizing stakeholder wealth, and gaining social legitimacy (Aguilera et al. 007). Instrumental approaches are self-interest driven, seeking to achieve greater competitiveness and protecting the corporate reputation (Aguilera et al. 2007). The latter approach corresponds to Jones’ (1995) argument that companies that manage to earn the trust of their stakeholders will be able to secure a competitive advantage through savings on monitoring costs, bonding costs, transaction costs, and search costs arising from managing the various corporate stakeholder groups. Instrumental motives 90 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 can also be driven by the desire to preempt costly government regulations (Aguilera et al. 2007). The strategy literature follows the instrumental approach to CS R, arguing that companies to which a particular responsibility is highly relevant can bene? t from integrating this responsibility into their overall strategies. Burke & Logsdon (1996) list the following conditions in order for CSR to bring strategic advantages to the ? rm: the chosen CSR issue is central to the company’s mission, is voluntarily embraced, brings bene? s to both the ? rm and to the public at large, is addressed in a proactive manner, and is visible to external stakeholders. It has also been argued that CSR initiatives can bring sustainable competitive advantages in the form of a ? rst-mover advantage (Lieberman & Montgomery 1998). However, for this advantage to emerge, the company must not only be the ? rst one to address a particular CSR comprehensively but must also continuously seek to enhance what it has achieved in order to secure this advantage (Tetrault Sirsly & Lamertz 2008).The strategy literature therefore suggests that companies in the information t echnology industry could bene? t from embracing online privacy as a CSR, especially if they make this commitment visible to external audiences. Although theory suggests that privacy could be a relevant CSR theme for particular companies, very few empirical studies have addressed the link between information privacy and CSR. They include Sharfman et al. ’s (2000) survey among managers on how important they consider a number of social issues, including the protection of privacy.However, in the exploratory factor analysis they conducted, privacy was eliminated from further analyses. Fukukawa & Moon (2004) included information privacy as an indicator of CSR in their study of CSR activities reported by companies in Japan. In addition, Chaudhri’s (2006) case study of global citizenship at Hewlett-Packard mentions privacy as one area the company has included in its CSR agenda. In previous theoretical work, Carroll (1998) has highlighted the protection of online privacy rights as one area where the law lags behind ethical thinking and morality comes into play.Finally, Post (2000) examined the changing role of corporate citizenship in the 21st century and pointed to customer privacy as a new issue of CSR. To date, there is no article that empirically studies in what ways information privacy is actually addressed as a CSR. Research design This study explores whether and how companies are embracing online privacy as a social responsibility, focusing on what measures they claim to have taken and how they communicate these to their external stakeholders in their CSR disclosures.In view of the lack of previous research in this area, this study is exploratory in nature. Accordingly, its goal is to identify the variety of corporate practices rather than to compare and contrast companies. The starting point for the analysis are the three processes of CSR included in Basu & Palazzo’s (2008) process model of sense-making: (1) the reasons a company states for engaging in speci? c CSR activities, (2) the kind of behavior a company displays to live up to its CSR commitments, and (3) the way in which a company regards its relationships with its stakeholders.This section ? rst describes the sample and the data and then goes on to explain the methodology that was applied to analyze the data. Sample The sample consists of the largest companies from IT-related industries, as they are most closely intertwined with information through the hardware, software, or services they provide. To them, information privacy could be a meaningful strategic element of their CSR programs in two different ways. First, they may embrace privacy as a social responsibility in the way they collect and use data.Second, technology does not just violate privacy, it can also enhance privacy. Accordingly, IT companies may engage in corporate social innovation and develop privacy-enhancing products or commit themselves to educating consumers about privacy protection. Clea rly, other large companies, such as retailers, operate online as well, but were not considered for this study, as data and information are not at the core of their activities. Large companies were chosen, as these companies are believed to serve as lead innovators in their industries. All IT-related companies from Europe 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 91 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 and the United States listed among the Fortune Global 500 and the ? rst 1,000 companies of the Forbes 2000 company rankings were included in the sample. Neither of the two rankings includes ‘information technology’ as an industry. Rather, both include a number of industries that deal with information and technology. These include Computer and Data Services, Computer Software, Computers & Of? e Equipment, Network and Other Communications Equipment, and Telecommunications from the Fortune Global 500 list and Software & Services, Technology Hardware & Equipment, and Telecommunications Services from the Forbes 2000 list. A few IT companies listed in these two rankings could not be included in the analysis, as they had been acquired by another company since the publication of the rankings. Also, the two rankings overlap to a substantial extent, so that the ? nal sample amounted to a total of 95 IT companies. On each company’s website, the CSR section was accessed.If there was no such section, sections dedicated to the company background, mission and values, or ethics were accessed. The goal was to download all texts pertaining at least loosely to CSR and, if available, the latest CSR report. An important criterion was that privacy-related information was collected only if it was framed as a CSR issue. Privacy policies, which are a standard element of every commercial website, were not collected, as their existence alone does not represent a commitment to social responsibility. Of the 95 companies in the initial sample, 30 companies mention privacy in their CSR discourse.The analysis is thus based on these companies (see Appendix A). Their texts range from 21 to 2,367 words in length. Methods This exploratory study draws on both a positivist approach and a constructivist approach in order to look at the data as holistically as possible (cf. Jick 1979). When studying textual data, the fundamental difference between the two traditions is that the positivist tradition sees language as a transmitter of information, while the social constructionist tradition holds that people consciously and unconsciously create social realities when they use language. Accordingly, the textual data were ? st studied using quantitative content analysis, which systematically records the frequency of particular content features. Because of its quantitative, systematic nature, content analysis de-contextualizes the words from the discourse that is examined and therefore has no mean s to interpret its ? ndings within a wider context. The ? ndings of the content analysis were therefore combined with a discourse analysis and are presented together. The combination of content analysis and discourse analysis has also been suggested by researchers in linguistics (van Dijk 1985, Herring 2004), sociology (Markoff et al. 974), and information systems (Trauth & Jessup 2000). In this study, the results of both analyses together provide a much richer picture of corporate practices than one analysis alone could furnish. This is important, given the absence of previous research on privacy and CSR. Content analysis systematically condenses texts into content categories by applying a coding scheme that produces quantitative indices of textual content (Krippendorff 1980, Weber 1985, Kolbe & Burnett 1991, Neuendorf 2002).The content analysis conducted as part of this study records in a systematic and exhaustive manner which companies in the sample have implemented which measure s to improve user privacy. The approach chosen for this analysis uses factual codes, which capture precisely de? ned facts, as opposed to thematic codes, which capture themes addressed in a prede? ned textual unit (Kelle & Laurie 1995). The factual codes pertain to privacy measures companies have actually taken, but exclude those that companies plan to implement in the future.With no existing coding scheme available, a preliminary coding scheme was developed from the data by examining the texts in the sample inductively (cf. Strauss & Corbin 1990) for measures that companies have taken to secure user privacy. Overall, 41 different measures were identi? ed. The measures were recorded dichotomously as being either present (1) or absent (0). They are listed in Table 2 together with the results. The qualitative approach chosen here was discourse analysis, following a social constructionist tradition, which views discourse as a social action that is shaped by and shapes the context in wh ich it occurs (van Dijk 1997a).Discourse analysis is a 92 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 method of textual analysis that focuses on how and why language is used in a particular way (van Dijk 1997b). It is based on the premise that people intentionally and unintentionally construct social realities when they engage in discourse. They use language in their roles as members of particular social groups, professions, institutions, or communities but also construct such roles when they use language in social situations (van Dijk 1997a).Similarly, organizational texts can be constructive and constitutive of realities just like text or speech of individuals (Fairclough 2005). Discourse analysis typically pays attention to language features such as repetitions, pronouns, passive voice, nominalizations, modal verbs, agent–patient relations in sentences, and attitudi nal lexis in order to study the roles assigned to the participants in the discourse, the power relations between them, and the foregrounding or the backgrounding of concepts and events.The discourse analysis conducted here examines how companies present themselves as responsible companies when it comes to privacy and data handling. Basu & Palazzo’s (2008) process model of CSR has guided the analysis and therefore also provides the structure of the results section. Accordingly, the results section starts with the companies’ reasons for including privacy in their CSR programs, then presents privacy measures companies have taken as part of their CSR initiatives, and ultimately studies the relationships with the various stakeholders that are affected by the company’s privacy practices.The reasons for including privacy and the stakeholder relationships are analyzed in the form of a discourse analysis. The analysis of the privacy measures is based on a content analysi s, but enhanced with qualitative insights, as needed. Aguilera et al. ’s (2007) classi? cation of moral, relational, and instrumental CSR motives. Table 1 shows this categorization together with the text passages where these motives were expressed.The moral motives found include the understanding that Internet users have privacy rights, which the company wants to observe, and the acknowledgement that the company has the responsibility to protect the data they gather from Internet users. Relational motives include the recognition that customers have a desire for privacy, which the company seeks to meet, and the expectation that privacy protection will help the company win customers’ trust. Ultimately, one company expects to bene? t from its privacy program in that it expects to gain a reputational advantage from privacy protection. CSR behaviorThe content analysis revealed 41 different measures companies had taken to support user privacy (see Table 2). They have been gr ouped into four categories, which are discussed below. One company has implemented 19 of these measures, and nine companies have implemented eight, nine, or 10 different measures. At the other end of the spectrum, there are two companies that have not implemented a single measure, but still talk about privacy in the context of CSR. Further, eight companies have implemented one or two measures, and nine companies have implemented between three and seven measures.Most commonly, a measure was taken by only one company (19 measures) or two companies (six measures). The measure taken most frequently was taken by 15 companies. Thus, there is a broad variety in how companies address privacy. It is also worth noting that it is not necessarily the biggest companies in the industry that have taken lead roles in protecting user privacy. When ranking all companies according to their ranks on the Forbes 2000 and the Fortune Global 500 lists, one can see that the company with the highest number o f privacy measures ranks among the top three on both the Forbes and the Fortune list.The other two companies among the top three in the Fortune and Forbes rankings have implemented only one and three measures, respectively. The three companies Results Reasons for privacy as CSR The texts were examined for indications of why the companies include privacy in their CSR programs. Only 13 companies voiced their motivation for engaging in privacy protection, presenting different reasons why they engage in CSR. The communicated motives have been grouped according to r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 3 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 1: Communicated motives for corporate privacy programs Motive Moral Explanation Three companies acknowledge that people have a right to privacy Quotations ‘To us, the right to privacy includes the right of individuals to have a voice in the use and dissemination of their personal information. ‘A person has the right to control what information about him or her is collected and to determine how that information is used. ’ ‘Con? dentiality and security of consumer data . . . are areas safeguarded by PT in order to respect the freedom and basic rights of each individual’ ‘We feel a strong responsibility to help ensure a safer, more enjoyable Internet, while addressing the challenges to privacy and security posed by today’s new media. ’ ‘Companies have a responsibility to ensure that the information they hold about their customers and employees is protected, stored, transferred, and used i n a responsible manner. ‘Microsoft takes seriously its responsibility to help address the security and privacy challenges of the information-based society, from viruses and spyware to spam and online identity theft. ’ ‘Respect for privacy is part of our commitment to observe high standards of integrity and ethical conduct in all our operations’ ‘Protecting our customers’ privacy is a priority. We understand and respect your desire to protect your personal information. ’ ‘The protection of personal information is a very high expectation among our customers, and to meet it, we . . .. ‘Externally, Sabre is committed to building customer relationships based on trust, and that includes recognizing the importance of protecting personal information. ’ ‘Consumer trust and con? dence is critical to Cisco’s business and to any technology and Internet-related business; as a result, the industry must protect citizensà ¢â‚¬â„¢ privacy. ’ ‘[We] have to acquire a ‘license to operate’ by conducting our business in a decent and responsible way. ’ ‘Security and reliability form the basis of Telekom Austria Group’s stable and successful customer relationships.The Group therefore gives top priority to protecting the integrity and con? dentiality of sensitive data. ’ ‘Main opportunities: Enhance customer and employee trust, . . . support brand/reputation. ’ Four companies hold that they have a responsibility to protect the data they gather from Internet users Relational Two companies recognize that customers have a desire for privacy that needs to be met Four companies view privacy protection as a means to winning customer trust InstrumentalOne company states that it expects to gain a reputational advantage from its privacy program †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. that have implemented the second highest number of privacy measures occupy ranks #77, #87, and #173 on the Fortune Global 500 list and ranks #49, #518, and #782 on the Forbes 2000 list, which indicates that it is not necessarily the biggest companies in the IT industries that embrace information privacy.An investigation of the relationship between the number of measures taken and length of the privacy text on the corporate website revealed a correlation of 0. 77. This suggests that text length is an indicator of how important the issue is to a company. At the same time, it also shows that the companies generally do not talk at length about privacy without having taken relevant measures. One category of measures pertains to the companies’ internal affairs. They address processes, employee conduct, and, to a small extent, suppliers.The measures mentioned most frequently are the 94 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 2: The content of corporate privacy programs Internal Physical protection of data Procedural/administrative protection of data Electronic/technical protection of data Privacy policy Privacy is part of the code of conduct Privacy of? e(r) Privacy board/working group Employee training Disciplinary action for employee misconduct Privacy newsletter for employees Employee monitoring Privacy included in employment contract Onl ine resources for employees Ethics hotline for privacy questions Internal privacy campaign Limited employee access to data Online reporting of privacy incidents Regular review of systems and processes Regular review of privacy policy Binding third parties to privacy agreements Reviewing third-party privacy practices Privacy newsletter for customers Guidance/information for consumers Resources for parental control & child safety Privacy e-mail address Integrating privacy into product development Privacy blog Involving stakeholders in design of privacy policy Supporting IS education at schools and universities Publishing privacy research papers Supporting law making Supporting industry self-regulation Working with industry Working with governments Working with NGOs, think tanks Political action committee (PAC) Compliance with laws Exceeding laws Compliance with Safe Harbor Compliance with GRI Privacy seal 6 2 3 15 8 7 3 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 5 3 5 2 1 10 5 2 8 1 1 1 1 2 1 5 6 10 1 11 1 4 1 4 79 External 30 Collaborations 25 Compliance 21 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. existence of a privacy policy and privacy training, privacy being part of the code of conduct, privacy of? cers, physical data protection, and regular review of systems and processes. All other measures taken internally were taken by one, two, or three companies each, for example measures encouraging employees to report privacy violations and to comply with relevant guidelines. Two different measures pertaining to suppliers or other third parties were identi? ed, namely that the company reviews privacy practices of those partners and that these outsiders are bound to a privacy agreement.The second category of measures contains those directed towards external stakeholders. They include r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 95 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 primarily guidance for consumers regarding Internet privacy. Five companies take measures that address parents’ concerns about their children’s privacy. In addition to providing information, companies also solicit consumer feedback on privacy matters. Two companies highlight that they have an e-mail address to which people can send privacy concerns and inquiries, and one company involves stakeholders in the design of its privacy policy.The inclusion of privacy considerations in product development was embraced by eight companies. Another group of measures pertain to the participation in industry initiatives and collaborations. Ten companies mention a variety of privacy forums, centers, associations, think tanks, and institutes in which they are involved, in cluding for example, the Electronic Privacy Group, the European Privacy Of? cers Forum, or the Liberty Alliance. Some of them also state that they cooperate with other companies and governments. However, the nature of this cooperation remains unclear, and in some places, the cooperating institutions are not even mentioned.Ultimately, a few US companies express their views on privacy legislation. As part of the measures they have taken, three companies take an active stance for either privacy legislation or self-regulation. Both of these viewpoints are visions at this point, as there is neither privacy legislation nor a functioning model of self-regulation in the United States. The two viewpoints are as follows: ‘We also believe that governments must ? nd improved ways to enforce laws against data breach, misuse and fraud, and help consumers pursue those who mishandle their personal information. . . . HP was one of the ? rst companies to embrace the idea of a comprehensive U. S . privacy law. ‘Because disparate and multiple privacy rules place a heavy burden on global companies, we support a model of industry self-regulation (as opposed to government intervention) in which innovative tools give consumers greater choice in both protecting their personal data and understanding how it may be collected and used. ’ they comply with all relevant privacy laws. As compliance with laws is a legal rather than an ethical responsibility according to Carroll’s (1979) classi? cation of corporate responsibilities, only going beyond the law can qualify as a CSR initiative. Dressing up a legal responsibility as an ethical responsibility casts doubt over the sincerity of these efforts.In fact, one of these 11 companies has implemented no other privacy measure apart from legal compliance. There is only one company that vows to exceed legal requirements: ‘HP is pioneering an approach to the protection and responsible use of personal information. This effort goes beyond compliance with the law. ’ Only a minority of companies have adopted the privacy standards of outside organizations, such as GRI or privacy seal programs. Stakeholder relationships The measures identi? ed above relate to a number of internal and external stakeholder groups, including employees, consumers, parents, industry, suppliers, governments, advocacy groups, and the community at large.However, the analysis of the measures does not reveal anything about the relationships with stakeholders, and in some cases, the stakeholder group to which a particular measure was addressed was not even mentioned. This section therefore focuses speci? cally on the stakeholder groups to which the companies express some form of consideration. This could be in the form of protection measures, information provision, cooperation, or merely by expressing an awareness of their stakes in privacy. In addition to an account of these overt commitments to stakeholders, a discourse analysis is used to uncover discursively constructed relationships with stakeholders. Table 3 lists the various stakeholder groups identi? d, together with their stake in privacy, the number of companies that made a commitment toward each stakeholder group, and an example of such a commitment. This table is different from the results presented in Table 2 in that it was not concrete actions that guided this analysis, but the awareness of stakeholder concerns. We ? nd that companies recognize primarily the stakes of their customers and employees, who exercise a direct and economic in? uence on the company and can therefore be labeled Even companies that do not take a stance on the legislation vs. self-regulation debate emphasize compliance with legislation. Eleven companies state that 96 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 3: Addressing stakeholder concerns Stakeholder GroupStake # Primary Customers/ Protection of 25 Users their data Employees Suppliers/ Vendors Training Guidelines 14 6 Example ‘In order to help our customers address these issues, we have begun to develop guidance documents to help customers understand which parts of our technology may have privacy applications. ‘We work hard to ensure that Sun employees have the information they need to apply our privacy protection standards in their work. ’ ‘When it is necessary for business reasons to share a person’s information with third parties such as network service providers and marketing campaign partners, we work together to ensure that we main tain the highest privacy standards. ’ ‘We met with government of? cials and regulators in all regions to understand their concerns and initiatives and to help them fully appreciate the potential implications for privacy of new technologies. ’ ‘We are working with other industry participants . . . to develop solutions that help us reach both of these objectives. ‘In 2007, we formed our Stakeholder Advisory Council (SAC) comprising respected experts from a variety of nongovernmental organizations. ’ ‘Symantec is committed to helping parents keep their kids cybersafe. We believe that in the same way that we educate our children about the risks of drugs, smoking, or violence, it is critical that we educate them about the importance of safe computing. ’ ‘We tap this internal resource to offer programs that bene? t our local schools and communities. We are also in the process of implementing an employee-led education program. †™ Secondary Government Industry Advocacy groups Parents Compliance with laws; expertise in data handling Cooperation Cooperation 6 6 3 Protection of 5 their children’s data Expertise 1 Schools/ communities †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ‘primary stakeholders’ according to Ansoff (1965). However, there are also companies that talk about privacy in a CSR context, but do not voice a commitment to these two primary stakeholder groups. Of the 30 companies, ? ve do not state that they do anything to improve the privacy situation of their customers and 16 do not make such a commitment toward their employees. Suppliers, who are also primary stakeholders, are addressed to a smaller extent. We can also see that the companies in the sample largely neglect their secondary stakeholders, i. e. those groups who do not directly in? uence a company’s core business (Ansoff 1965).Only a maximum of six companies interact with each secondary stakeholder group, such as parents or governments. On the surface, all companies studied engage in a discourse characterized by care and concern for privacy. In particular, emotion-laden words like help, understand, respect, concern, and safe abound across all texts studied. For example: ‘Protecting our customers’ privacy is a priority. We understand and respect your desire to protect your personal information. ’ ‘And as the 24 A 7 demands of the Internet Age threaten to overwhelm customers with complexity, they need trusted and reliable companies to help them make sense of technology and put it to use to make their lives better. ’The tone becomes even more concerned when companies address their relationship with parents and children: ‘We understand the responsibility and concern of parents who worry about their children’s exposure to inappropriate content and potentially dangerous interactions on the Web. ’ ‘Protecting our children . . . We believe that in the same way that we educate our children about the risks of drugs, smoking, or violence, it is critical r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 97 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 that we educate them about the importance of safe computing. ’ In the second example, the pronoun ‘we/our’ adds to the concerned tone by promoting a sense of collegiality and shared affection.The same is also achieved in other places, when companies use this inclusive form of ‘we’ to reduce the distance between themselves and their outside stakeholders: ‘Our individual sensitivities about how our information is tr eated . . . are not uniform’ or ‘Sun is committed to investigating and addressing the privacy challenges . . . associated with our increasingly digital way of life. ’ In such statements, companies reduce the power distance between themselves and their stakeholders. The inclusive ‘we’ is also an indicator of positive politeness (Brown & Levinson 1987), indicating how writers conceptualize their audiences and what kind of distance writers create between themselves and their audience.While some companies use the inclusive ‘we,’ others talk about companies in general, e. g. ‘all businesses are responsible for . . . ,’ which includes themselves only implicitly and distances themselves from these events. Mostly, though, companies make themselves the causal agents: ‘we must address these concerns by helping to protect . . .. ’ Notably, one company draws its audiences into the discourse by always addressing them directl y, e. g. ‘We understand and respect your desire to protect . . .. ’ All together, the different voices present in these texts suggest that companies have different levels of self-awareness and different understandings of their role in this process.Less variety exists in the distance to the audience, which is – apart from one exception – not explicitly present in the discourse. This suggests that companies do not consider their CSR activities to be dialogic in nature. Another kind of discourse is found in 10 of the companies’ texts studied. This discourse reveals that some companies are actually interested in ? nding a balance between users’ privacy interests and their own business interests rather than protecting privacy unconditionally. They seek to achieve a balance between customers’ privacy interests and ‘business priorities,’ ‘business requirements,’ ‘business needs,’ their ‘values,â₠¬â„¢ or their ‘ability . . . to reap the bene? ts of online interactions. Business interests are also communicated implicitly: ‘our goal is simple: to balance the interests and concerns of our customers’ private information with their interest in receiving quality service and information about useful new products. ’ Alternatively, one company mentions only one weight of the balance, without saying what the other weight is: ‘that we are striking the right balance for our customers’ and ‘to reach balanced results. ’ The discourse of balance is a manifestation of the companies’ power, given that it is they who decide when this balance is reached. Interestingly, this kind of discourse has nothing to do with the motivations they express.Two companies, for example, have voiced moral motives, but also engage in this discourse of balance, as does the one company that has indicated an instrumental motive. It is also worth noting that not a single European company in the sample engages in this discourse of balance. Discussion The literature review has highlighted that users are concerned about privacy and that companies do not respond in a manner that eases stakeholder concerns. The companies chosen for this study are all active in the hardware, software, or telecommunications industries, in which data play a crucial role. Thus, information privacy, and in particular online privacy, is a central issue in their business conduct.The content analysis has revealed that only a small proportion of the largest IT companies comprehensively address privacy as a social responsibility. In the sample, we ? nd both companies that have taken a number of relevant actions to address user privacy and companies that have only taken one or two concrete measures, but nevertheless present privacy as part of their CSR program. A substantial proportion of the measures they have taken fall into the area of compliance and employee condu ct (e. g. guidelines, policies, monitoring, and reporting), while measures that stimulate a stakeholder dialogue or represent corporate social innovation are found less frequently.Further, some companies reveal that they seek to strike a balance between their own business interests and their stakeholders’ privacy needs. The sample even contains companies that 98 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 voice moral motives for framing online privacy as a CSR, while at the same time indicating that they are interested in striking a balance between users’ privacy interests and their own business interests. We have also seen that some of the privacy measures are actually intended to ful? ll legal responsibilities rather than ethical ones.Thus, some companies in the sample voice concerns and a commitment to help, but do not take privacy to the level of an ethical responsibility (cf. Carroll 1991). At the same time, companies load their privacy discourse with emotive terms suggesting concern, commitment, and a desire to help. While this kind of language is typical of CSR messages and can almost be expected (cf. Pollach 2003), it is still in contrast to the results of the content analysis, which has shown that comprehensive privacy programs are for the most part non-existent. The ? ndings also indicate that companies have chosen a wide variety of approaches to information privacy. In fact, many of the different measures denti? ed were taken by one, two, or three companies only. Thus, little mimicry and no institutionalized practices have emerged yet. In uncertain environments, companies have a tendency to model themselves after other companies that are more successful or more respected. This mimicry leads to institutionalized practices that help companies to obtain legitimacy (DiMaggio & Powell 1983). The environment in which the sample compan ies operate can be characterized as uncertain, as there is no comprehensive privacy legislation as yet and privacy is, to some extent, at each company’s discretion. For mimicry behavior to occur, it must be clear to the ? m that adopting a certain practice brings competitive advantages (DiMaggio & Powell 1983). In the case of privacy, an institutionalization of voluntary privacy practices could mean that privacy regulation is preempted. However, as not every company in the sample, and maybe in the industry as a whole, is pro self-regulation, some companies may decide not to adopt privacy practices voluntarily, despite the fact that they care about user privacy. Privacy may be on its way to mature from the ethics/compliance focus to a more responsive, proactive focus, but at the moment, it plays a minor role as a CSR. This point is also re? ected in the ? nding that companies address primarily consumer oncerns and step up employee training, while all other stakeholder groups i n privacy play a subordinate role. Companies may not have recognized the bene? ts to be gained from engaging with secondary stakeholder groups, e. g. from cooperating with industry partners. At the same time, companies may have been too occupied with implementing privacy standards internally, so that their privacy efforts do not involve secondary stakeholders as yet. These internal compliance measures are clearly the sine qua non for a company’s external privacy activities, such as participation in industry initiatives. This study is not without limitations. One clear limitation is that the data stem from corporate selfreports, which are problematic (cf.Podsakoff & Organ 1986) in that they are based on what the company reveals rather than what is actually true. This could mean that companies overstate their activities. At the same time, companies may not have mentioned the particular measures they have taken, because they did not consider them important enough. Also, the samp le size could have been larger, but the small sample size also serves to illustrate that privacy is just about to begin to play a role in CSR programs of technology-oriented companies. 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Nestle: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility

01What are the responsibilities of companies in this or similar situation? Nestle. The world's leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company. Its mission of â€Å"GoodFood, Good Life† is to provide  consumers with the best tasting, most nutritious choices ina wide range of food and beverage categories and eating occasions, from morning tonight. The Company was founded in 1866 by Henri Nestle in Vevey, Switzerland, where itsheadquarters are still located today. Nestle employ around 280 000 people and havefactories or operations in almost every country in the world. Nestle sales for 2010 werealmost CHF 110 bn. Current controversyIn this particular case, the issue was that Nestle Alimentana, one of the world’s largestfood-processing companies had been the subject of an international boycott as a result of  the accusations that the company was directly or indirectly responsible for the death of  Third World infants. The charges were based on the sale of infant feedin g formula, whichsupposedly caused the mass deaths of  babies in the Third World. Corporate social responsibility of the company Corporate Social Responsibility refers to operating a business in a manner thataccounts for the social and environmental impact created by the business.It signifiees acommitment to developing policies that  integrate responsible practices into daily businessoperations, and to reporting on  progress made toward implementing these practices. Responsibilities are as follows 01)  Every multinational company like Nestle has a prudent Business policy whichcomes after deep scrutiny about the environmental, cultural impact of their activities. For  example  nestles  principles  are  no  advertisement  to  general  public,  no  sampling  tomothers , no use of commission or bonus for sales ,no point of sale advertisement , nofinancial and material inducement to promote products etc.So, every company shouldstick on their policy. 02)Arou nd the world every country countries has own law to protect its people fromillegal or illogical operation of companies. In this case every company should respectcountry’s law and they also should play their production and marketing activities withconsidering these laws. 1. What are the responsibilities of companies in this or similar situations? Any industry or company, in its attempt to expand operations and explore opportunities, employ marketing strategies that ultimately lead to one thing- sales objective/ target achievement.And many times over, this mindset resorted to different marketing/ promotional schemes, regardless of culture, lifestyle, beliefs, etc. across the globe. Marketing jargons like â€Å"scare tactics†, (eg Whitehall's Incremin: lack or iron among children can lead to death†, source: Health Today Philippine edition) â€Å"premium offers† (Bisolvon's â€Å"win a car, join†¦.. , source: Mercury Drug branch), â€Å"free if you buyà ¢â‚¬  (bundling of Colgate-Palmolive , shampoo + toothpaste) â€Å"save† ( Unilever's shampoos 33% savings in a bigger sachet pack) , are examples of this â€Å"mind-conditioning† among consumers.Nestle's case proved one point- we cannot undermine the marginalized sector of the society and use them to gain profits and increase market share. One case-in-point was how milk was promoted in the mid- 70's: Lactogen (Nestle) : â€Å"When breastmilk fails choose Lactogen† (ad in Sierra Leone) Klim (Nestle): † The child is going to die, because the mother's breast has given out, Mama o Mama the child cries, if you want your child to get well, give it KLIM milk (a radio ad in Africa) Another industry that remains controversial up to this time is the cigarette/ tobacco industry.For many years, issue on responsible marketing is challenged by several sectors. Despite the inclusion â€Å"smoking is dangerous to your health† in cigarette packs and the ongoing de bate † freedom of choice† – that consumers' will do what pleases them, incidence of lung cancer continue to rise in developing countries. Responsibilities of companies facing the same issue include the following: (1) Adhere to the policies set by regulating companies. For milk companies, follow the guideline stipulated in the â€Å"International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk substitutes† For cigarette ompanies, adhere to the Master Settlement Agreement† which stipulates the do's and don'ts in cigarette advertising. This can save the company in any potential threat or problem(2) Changing the culture or local practice doesn't happen overnight, add to that is the huge investment needed to teach how people should behave in a manner large companies want them to be. It is important to respect age-old practices and understand local dynamics (3) To say that third-world countries are a dumping ground of large multinationals maybe subjective because there are companies who conduct business ethically.In any respect, companies, big or small, should be responsible in educating its target market, be able to answer consumers' inquiries (Hotline is one good example), and begin to think the long-term benefits of each action to avoid damaging the equity of their company. 2. What could have Nestle done to have avoided the accusations â€Å"Killing Third World Babies† and still market its product? Nestle understandably wanted to come out strong in supporting its milk product line, especially that they have the muscle and money to hold different marketing programs.But rather than contradict age- old practice of breastfeeding and resort to scary campaigns â€Å"breastfeeding is not good at all†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , they should have concentrated on the additional nutrients breastfeeding moms can give to their children. The advertising hyped so much on the inefficiency of breastmilk. And its advertising campaign came out to be a desperate act of win ning new sets of customers. Misinformation also put Nestle in a bad light. With advertising comes responsibility to educate the consumers, no matter which country you are in.Another thing mentioned in the case is the inability of Nestle to comply with the implementing guidelines which provoked the consumers to continue rallying against Nestle. Reality is, even in the local setting, practices mentioned in the case (such as sampling todoctors, sponsorship in medical societies, direct advertising to consumers) is still evident. Legal pursuits can be avoided if Nestle abided with the guidelines. All in all, this problem could have been avoided if: †¢ Nestle concentrated on the nutritional benefits of infant formula, with proper clinical substantiation to back up its claim †¢ Uphold best ethical practices.Being one of the leading companies worldwide, they should set ethical standards and do not resort to cheap gimmickry to entice consumers †¢ Employ a wholistic approach. E ducate all perceived target group- doctors, mothers, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, nurses and midwives. By doing an integrated approach, it will uphold its commitment to deliver quality products to its market and be a reliable healthcare partner as well 3. After Nestle's experience, how do you suggest it, or any other company, can protect itself in the future? The recurring issue â€Å"to create the need or address the need† remains a challenge to most companies.Nestle is no exception. It wants to be a pioneer in changing the lifestyle and mindset of consumers during the early-mid `70s, coupled with their desire to expand operations to third world and developing countries to sustain its business growth. In this case, they are changing the practice (traditional breastfeeding) drastically and tried to create the need (infant formula) which is not highly present yet when they launched the campaign. Below are some ideas that can help protect other companies: †¢ Understandi ng the ever-changing consumer trends and practice is one way to

Mis at Tata Motors Essay Example

Mis at Tata Motors Essay Example Mis at Tata Motors Paper Mis at Tata Motors Paper Tata Motors Profile Established in 1945, Tata Motors is Indias largest automobile company, with revenues of Rs 24,000 crore (USD 5. 5 billion) in 2005-06. The company began manufacturing commercial vehicles in 1954 with a 15-year collaboration agreement with Daimler Benz of Germany. It is the leader by far in commercial vehicles in each segment, and the second-largest in the passenger vehicles market with winning products in the compact, midsize and utility vehicle segments. The company is the worlds fifth-largest medium and heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer. Areas of business Tata Motors product range covers passenger cars, multi-utility vehicles as well as light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for goods and passenger transport. Seven out of 10 medium and heavy commercial vehicles in India bear the trusted Tata mark. The company developed Indias first indigenously developed light commercial vehicle, Indias first sports utility vehicle and, in 1998, the Tata Indica - Indias first indigenously manufactured passenger car. Within two years of launch, Tata Indica became Indias largest selling car in its segment. Commercial vehicle business unit The company has over 130 models of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles ranging from two tonnes to forty tonnes, buses ranging from 12-seaters to 60-seaters, tippers, special purpose vehicles, off-road vehicles and defence vehicles. Passenger car business unit The companys passenger car range comprises the compact car Indica, the midsize Indigo and Indigo Marina in both petrol and diesel versions. The Tata Sumo, the Tata Safari and its variants are the companys multi-utility vehicle offerings. In addition to the growth opportunities in the domestic market, the company is pursuing growth through acquisitions. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, Koreas second-largest truck maker, now named Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company. In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21-per cent stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, with an option to acquire the remaining stake as well. Research and development Tata Motors invests approximately up to 2 per cent of its annual turnover on research and development, with an emphasis on new product / aggregates development and technology upgradation. Its Engineering Research Centre in Pune employs over 1,400 scientists and engineers and has Indias only certified crash-test facility and hemi-anechoic chamber for testing of noise and vibration. The company also draws on the resources of leading international design and styling houses like the Institute of Development in Automotive Engineering, SPA, Italy, and Stile Bertoni, Italy. The company has also been implementing several environmentally sensitive technologies in manufacturing processes and uses some of the worlds most advanced equipment for emission checking and control. Environmental responsibility Tata Motors has led the Indian automobile industrys anti-pollution efforts through a series of initiatives in effluent and emission control. The company introduced emission control engines in its vehicles in India before the norm was made statutory. All its products meet required emission standards in the relevant geographies. Modern effluent treatment facilities, soil and water conservation programmes and tree plantation drives at its plant locations contribute to the protection of the environment and the creation of green belts. Exports Tata Motors vehicles are exported primarily to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South and South East Asia and Australia. The company also has assembly operations in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Kenya and Russia. Over the years, the company has received more than 50 awards from the government of Indias Engineering Export Promotion Council, for its export initiatives. While currently about 14 per cent (as on March 31, 2005) of its revenues are from its international business, the company intends to increase its international business through organic and inorganic growth routes. Associates Tata Motors has made substantial investments in building associate and subsidiary companies that complement and support its business activities. These include: Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, manufactures heavy trucks ranging from 15T GVW to 45T GVW. Tata Motors acquired this company in March 2004. Tata Cummins, a joint venture with Cummins, USA, manufactures Cummins engines for Tata Motors. Telco Construction Equipment Company, a joint venture with Hitachi Machinery Company, Japan, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of earthmoving machinery and construction equipment such as hydraulic excavators, cranes and wheel-loaders. Tata Technologies, provides IT support in the areas of engineering design, development and validation, business information systems and ERP systems. HV Axles, manufactures axles for Tata Motors medium and heavy commercial vehicles. HV Transmissions, supplies gearboxes for the companys medium and heavy commercial vehicles. Tata Holset, a joint venture between Holset Engineering Company, UK, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cummins Engine Company, USA and the Tatas (Tata Motors, Tata International and Tata Industries are shareholders). Incorporated in 1994, this company manufactures turbochargers for engines made by Tata Cummins as well as other auto manufacturers. TAL Manufacturing Solutions, manufactures painting systems, welding lines, material handling systems and robotics. It also develops factory automation solutions and provides consultancy services in the field of manufacturing processes and factory layouts. Concorde Motors (India): Retails Tata Motors range of passenger vehicles. Tata Precision Industries, Singapore and Tata Engineering Services, Singapore, are engaged in the manufacture of high precision tooling and spare parts, and warehousing, respectively. Nita Company, Bangladesh, is engaged in the assembly of Tata vehicles for the Bangladesh market. Awards Tata Motors has been chosen as Indias Most Trusted Brand in cars in a Readers Digest-AC Nielsen consumer survey in 2006. Tata Motors mini-truck, Ace, which has created an all-new category in the commercial vehicles market, received the BBC-Top Gear Design of the Year 2006. The companys Starbus low-floor city bus and the Novus heavy truck were adjudged second and third respectively. For the second consecutive year, Tata Motors was rated by Auto Monitor as the Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer of the Year for 2006. The Commercial Vehicle Business Unit won the CII-Exim Bank Award for 2005 for Business Excellence, for being a role model of excellence in management. The award particularly recognises excellence in the management of quality as a fundamental process. The two divisions of the company also won the Tata Groups JRD QV Awards for Business Excellence in 2005. The Jamshedpur plant and the car plant at Pune received the Union Ministry of Powers National Energy Conservation Award, which recognise significant initiatives to reduce energy intensity and improve energy efficiency. The Jamshedpur plant won the award for the fourth year in a row. The Commercial Vehicle Business Unit and the Passenger Car Business Unit also received the CIIs National Award for excellence in energy management. The Foundry Division at the Pune plant received the Gargi Huttenes Albertus Green Foundry of the Year Award. Locations Tata Motors has manufacturing plants at Jamshedpur (eastern India), Pune (west), and Lucknow (north) as well as a nation-wide sales, service and spare parts network focused on providing users with easy-access service solutions. Source: tatanagar. com/about-city/industries/tata-motors. html The companys growing pains. TATA Motors use a manual dealer management system, where every dealer managed details. With legacy-based systems, the environment produced inconsistent data, making interpretations difficult and resulting in inefficient planning for capacity and spare parts. The basic challenge was to provide a Dealer Management System (DMS) solution. All in all, TATA Motors required a standardised solution that would provide them with: Increase in sales and profitability by easy management. Improved accuracy of dealer-captured information. Collaboration between vehicle manufacturers and dealers. A strong feedback mechanism and interface for communicating with customers. The IBM solution. TATA Motors chose IBM as its partner to provide an infrastructure solution. IBM created a Siebel solution to provide a DMS solution for TATA Motors and then provided a reliable and scalable IT infrastructure for developing and deploying its DMS application. The result Motoring is childs play. The IBM solution has simplified the IT infrastructure for TATA Motors. The benefits include low total cost of ownership, a more comprehensive view of customers, enhanced customer experiences and improved loyalty. With reengineered business process, the company can also analyse customer interactions and other information more accurately, improve capacity planning and increase profitability. The new infrastructure from IBM also gives the company a foundation to accommodate rapid future growth and ever-changing demands from the market place. Source: http://www-07. ibm. com/in/casestudies/case_tata_motors. html | October 2007 | Dhruv Tanwar| Where relationships matter| By making a success of connecting to dealers and customers, Tata Motors has got into cruise control in a critical sphere of its business| ; p; Given that the customer is king (or queen), it would be logical to presume that establishing - and nurturing - a relationship with such royalty is a priority for enterprises looking to sell a product or service. Fact is, it may be a priority but organisations rarely pay more than lip service to what goes by the grandiose nomenclature of customer relationship management. For Tata Motors, though, this has always been an imperative. It made eminent sense for India’s premier automobile company - with over 1 million customers, 22,000 employees and a geographically fragmented business that operates out of 1,600 locations in a notoriously cyclic business environment - to put many eggs in the relationship management basket. But this was an idea cooked in the cauldron of adversity. Tata Motors got started on what it has tagged the customer relationship management-dealer management system (CRM-DMS) at the turn of the millennium, when it was battling to regain relevance at a difficult time in its history. That’s when it realised that survival in the auto business depended on managing its relationships with its customers, dealers and anyone else who had a deep connection with the mother company. This was no mean task, considering the scale and complexity of the issues involved. Two parameters - customers, and their interface with the company, the dealers - were the critical links in a complex chain that Tata Motors had to deal with. The solution led to the emergence of Tata Motors’ integrated CRM-DMS, which is today the largest such application in the automobile industry worldwide, linking to more than 1,200 dealers across India and tracking the needs of some 25,000 customers. Tata Motors had no standard or benchmark to model its solution on when the relationship concept was first considered, back in 2002. The company realised that it had to look at the business in a fundamentally different way. Instead of selling to the customer, Tata Motors embarked on an ambitious programme to make its extended organisation get into the customer’s shoes and envision each little detail as if it was meant to serve him. | The challenge was taken on by over 40 cross-functional teams, comprising one member each from design, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and service. Based on the output of this ‘quality functional deployment’ exercise and customer satisfaction surveys, Tata Motors came up with the top 25 issues that it needed to address from the customer’s point of view. To standardise the sales process, the company broke it up into a four-part cycle: enquiry, warm prospect, hot prospect (industry terminology for potential buyers), and completion of sale and vehicle delivery. Using statistical analysis on the segmented data, the company was now able to predict its sales patterns. Once standardisation was carried out across the dealer network, results were visible almost immediately. Accurate sales forecasts, reduced inventory for the company and the dealer, and better production scheduling were only some of the benefits. A shorter delivery cycle for the customer was an important fringe advantage. Tata Motors then embarked on implementing a solution that also facilitated the free flow of information across the enterprise. It put in place a robust information technology platform in the form of an innovative dealer management system, which automated sales processes for its 1,600 dealer locations, allowing them more time to focus on the customer. Tata Motors chose Siebel for its CRM programme, which with its user-friendly interface simplified the process of training the company’s 15,000-plus dealer sales force. To support each dealer - who is actually a business partner representing the company with the end customer - Tata Motors involved dealers throughout the configuration and deployment process. | â€Å"Integrating the Siebel Automotive CRM with our system ensured that our dealers would immediately see the value in the solution,† says KR Sreenivasan, head of CRM and DMS. â€Å"This helped us overcome the usual resistance to change and gain rapid acceptance from our dealers. Its CRM-DMS initiative, which has cost Tata Motors about Rs35 crore to date, has enabled the company to connect with 1,200 dealers online (the number is expected to rise to 1,600 in the next few months) and has allowed it to monitor finances and inventory at the dealer level, and services, spares and complaints at the customer end. CRM-DMS has helped Tata Motors enormously in getting a firmer handle on its business. The system was implemented in three phases, the objective being to achieve success in one bef ore moving on to the next: * Phase 1 focused on capturing customer and vehicle data and automating routine tasks. In phase 2 this data was used to improve customer interactions and streamline product development and planning. * Phase 3, now underway, concentrates on tuning the system and delivering additional value-added services to customers. The CRM-DMS platform has been integrated with a wide array of back-office applications, including inventory management, fulfilment and parts location. Pricing and tax calculations can now be adjusted for each dealer’s requirements. The comprehensive sales and reporting functionality built into the Siebel solution allows Tata Motors to distribute sales targets directly to its dealers and roll up sales numbers across the country in real time. Tata Motors dealers are a happy lot, too. The dealer management system has meant a gross reduction in the amount of working capital needed to run their businesses. Transactions between the company and dealers, which earlier took up to 60 days, are now completed online and sealed in under seven days. Even the service bays at the workshops have happy stories to tell. The system-based job card enables the mechanic to follow a checklist and diagnose faults through a process of elimination of probable causes, slashing diagnosis time. Simultaneously, the stores manager uses the system-based job card to assort a basket of the spare parts needed to fix the fault, and they are ready for pickup even before the mechanic walks into the stores. With zero waiting times built into the service process, the system generates a dashboard for the workshop supervisor, indicating idle capacity and process times, and highlighting bottlenecks to optimise the use of service bays. The recent implementation of an SMS capability means that the system directly pings the customer when the job card is closed on the system and his vehicle is ready. The company can also now track each vehicle right through its operating lifetime, giving it valuable insights on product performance over time (earlier this was limited to the warranty period, after which scant information was forthcoming). â€Å"Overall, we have transformed our organisation and made it truly customer-centric,† says Sreenivasan. One of our first dealers to install the system doubled his sales volume in three months without the need for additional manpower. Another said that he can, for the first time, view his entire stock of vehicles and see how his inventory was ageing. †But, as the old cliche goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The real reward comes from the customer. With a product line spanning commercial, utility, and passenger vehicles, Tata Motors is on the road to forgin g ever stronger relationships with the people who have bet their money on the company’s products. Source: tata. com/company/Articles/inside. aspx? artid=SZAxi/HHEQ4= Tata Motors supes up operations With rapid growth in both its domestic and international business, the vehicle manufacturer wanted to introduce a slew of products to cater to burgeoning demand. With a supplier relationship system that lacked transparency, accountability and was unable to scale- it was time for a change. Implementing a supplier relationship management system has helped Tata Motors fix things says Akhtar Pasha Probir Mitra, Senior General Manager-IT, Tata Motors could not stop smiling as his team recently won the SAP Award for Customer Excellence (ACE) 2007 for the best automotive sector implementation (Large Enterprises) for Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and Warehouse Management. The implementation has redefined supplier processes and leveraged technology applications in warehouse operations conferring operating benefits. The project has helped the company increase the overall efficiency of its operations helping it expand into new markets- around the world and at home with new product rollouts. Mitra said, â€Å"IT is not desirable. IT is essential.† While SAP ERP was the foundation for the company’s transactional systems, it has built a strong platform and the SRM and Warehouse Management solution have helped it reach the market faster. Let’s look at the ERP implementation first in order to better understand the SRM and Warehouse Management solution and get a 360 degree snapshot of the entire implementation. The SRM system has helped reduce processing time for vendor payments from 48 to 24 hours. This reduction in vendor payment cycle time has enabled Tata Motors to get better terms and cash discounts in purchases- Probir Mitra Senior General Manager-IT, Tata Motors| The company’s manufacturing base is spread across Jamshedpur, Pune and Lucknow, supported by a nation-wide dealership, sales, services and spare parts network comprising over 2,000 touch points. Tata Motors was using functional and location-specific solutions developed in house. These solutions were built based upon local and individual perceptions and therein lay the rub. For example the Materials Management and Sales and Finance functions were on three different systems at Jamshedpur, Pune and Lucknow. Even the databases were different. Since these systems had been developed over long periods of time, they were on multiple platforms and therefore it was difficult to consolidate the data and merge it. Mitra explained, â€Å"Common and rationalized processes and practices across all organizational units were not enforced. Therefore, managing functions like HR, sales and finance across three manufacturing units spread across the country and their corporate office was tedious and time-consuming. Integrated functions like materials management and payment processing were separate entities, causing delays in individual transactions. This led to an unnecessary increase in overhead costs and duplicated efforts at each unit. † Tata Motors soon understood that it needed a unified real-time database that gave up-to-date information to all of its stakeholders- both internal and external. It had to move from legacy decentralized platforms to a consolidated enterprise platform and rationalize business processes across various units. This would give it an enterprise-wide perspective across process and IT infrastructure. The company could then serve its customers much better and faster, all the while reducing operational costs and cutting manufacturing cycle times. The company took the strategic decision to go in for a SAP ERP Solution with the goal of lowering customization and upgrade costs. Risks, which emanate from attrition or change of guard in the company, would also be minimized. â€Å"SAP has clear superiority in the market. It had a large presence, so we chose the SAP ERP R/3 solutions for our company. The results have definitely exceeded our expectations,† said Mitra. Tata Motors outsources its IT to Tata Technologies, which is a 100 percent subsidiary of the former. Tata Technologies became the implementation partner. In 1997, when the seed of implementation was sown, the WAN infrastructure in India did not permit a single server implementation. Hence a distributed server implementation was done in stages over a period of two years between 1998 and 2000. The SAP version used was 3. 1H. In August 2003, the company moved from SAP 3. 1H to 4. 6C on a single server platform. Today, there are 3,500 users across the country. Once R/3 was implemented, extensive rationalization of processes took place. Various business processes like materials, finance, logistics, etc. ere stripped down to their basic components and a lot of re-engineering had to be done, as all these processes became location-independent. Tata Motors also opted for the standard cost functionality, which was a significant business process change for the company. With the SAP ERP Solution in place, Tata Motors has experienced significant benefits in terms of productivity and cost control. The number of servers as well as the number of diff erent applications that run on them has been greatly reduced. Disaster recovery management is being done only for one entity rather than for every application. Non-value-add activities have been put on the back burner. The implementation of a single SAP instance forced a much required change in the organization. There is a significant reduction in inventories and better control over receivables and other forms of credit control. A shared services platform has also been created for IT and shared financial services. The financial consolidation time has been reduced to almost two weeks. The statutory compliance of quarterly closing of books and audit has been largely facilitated by SAP. Compliance activities have become more structured and easier to manage. SRM for accountability and efficiency Rapid growth in its domestic and international business led to the introduction of many new products. During the past four years, Tata Motors has launched about 55 new products in the commercial vehicle space alone. The company found itself supporting about 1,500 plus product variants, consequently transaction volumes increased exponentially. The increase in transaction volume strained and overstretched the infrastructure and human resources. The existing VCM system (Value chain Management; a homegrown Win dows-based system using an Oracle database) that managed supplier relationships could not scale up to meet the diversifying demands of the function as VSM was old technology. Mitra said, â€Å"The number of Goods Receipts Notes (GRN) increased significantly from 6,000 to 16,000. The time required for new projects is heavily dependent upon supplier collaboration. † For any tenders it took 20 to 60 days for approval of quotations from suppliers because a number of processes had to followed, there would be much iteration before a tender was cleared. As supplier management was fragmented it was difficult to do global spend analysis for all our plants and give advice to suppliers on total volumes. Additionally the vendor (supplier) bill payment system was not in place. Suppliers used to do 15,000 to 20,000 transactions per day and 80 percent of these were covered under the Bill Market Scheme (BMS), which was a invoice verification program that had to be complied manually. The vendor payment window was long (48 hours) and the company wanted to shrink this process. Now with SAP SRM, bill payment is done electronically. Scheduling agreement is done in R3 and schedule lines are created through MRP and transferred to the SRM system. A vendor accepts schedule lines and sends a confirmation through the SRM system and creates invoice details and the same are uploaded as ASN (Advance Shipping Notification) in the system. The ASNs are grouped by vendor into one or multiple consignment numbers with bar codes having consignment numbers and item details. The consignment is converted to inbound delivery in R/3 from the SRM. The vendor physically brings goods along with a consignment barcode printout to the gate of Tata Motors. For a given consignment, GRS will be created for the included ASNs. Stores are updated and quality checks carried out. Invoice verification is done by authorized users and those that match the Purchase Order and vendor invoice are directly posted and a payment list generated based upon payment terms. Mitra said, â€Å"The SRM system has helped reduce processing time for vendor payments from 48 to 24 hours. This reduction in vendor payment cycle time has enabled Tata Motors to get better terms and cash discounts in purchases. It has consequently reduced the manpower required for processing vendor payments in Tata Motors. The manual work has gone down by 60 percent. † For e. g. there has been a significant reduction in manpower deployed in the Materials Receiving function. A single bar code enables multiple supplier shipments reducing the goods receipt cycle time at the entry gate leading to a reduction in turnaround time for vehicles by 50 percent. The SAP solution has helped Tata Motors serve its customers better and meet all their needs. Since information is now available in real-time, they are able to respond quickly to their customers, vendors and suppliers. Previously, you had to pick up data from four different locations and consolidate it before you could update your customer. Now, we have up-to-date information about the customer right up to his last transaction,† said Mitra. The project began in November 2004 and went live in April 2005 for 1,100 vendors. The solution was rolled out to other vendors in all locations from April to June 2005 adding up to a total of 1,700 vendors. F lexibility in floor space; optimizing warehouse costs The company’s Spare Parts Division operates a number of warehouses across the country- it has regional warehouses in Gurgaon, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore. The spare parts business is considered a strategic part of the company’s business. A study of the warehouse operations revealed that customer satisfaction levels were low because of poor order fulfillment. Many a time the customer was either under or over served and sometimes with the wrong products. To raise efficiency levels and revenue, the decision was taken to implement a RF-based Warehouse Management Solution (WMS). There were a couple of issues that the company wanted to sort out with a proper WMS. It’s goal was to reduce errors in order fulfillment, increase warehouse output and eliminate potential loss of sale. Mitra added, â€Å"We were wasting floor space and we wanted to optimize our warehouse costs. For example, we had to keep dedicated bins to stock all the materials in different locations within the warehouse. † If Tata Motors had 11,000 items, each of these had to be kept at a fixed location. In other words, if the company had 11,000 items then it would require that many locations to store them. Even if 40 percent of those items had zero stock a separate bin was allocated- leading to space being wasted. â€Å"We wanted a flexible approach for optimizing the floor space. With SAP WMS the fill rates are higher leading to less storage space [being required]. We have increased the throughput of warehouses by 40 percent. There is 100 percent accuracy in physical inventory. We are using Radio Frequency enabled Dynamic Binning (Put Away) that has eliminated manual procedures for tracking inventories,† added Mitra. The WMS project kicked off in January 2006 and went live that April. The Tata Technologies team that implemented the solution consisted of three functional consultants, one ABAP consultant and one Project Manager. The business team from Tata Motors comprised of a Project Manager and a Business Process Owner. The ASAP methodology was followed for this project. The SRM deployment has resulted in seamless integration with suppliers and streamlined the warehouse management at Tata Motors. The biggest benefit has been the creation of a large, unified database for the entire company. â€Å"Now anyone across the enterprise can just look in and easily find out what customers we have, who our suppliers and vendors are, what prices we offer, etc. It brought a synergy in purchasing by strategically sourcing critical components for the entire organization. This has resulted in strategic partnering with vendors with volume discounts,† concluded Mitra. Source: expresscomputeronline. com/20071029/management01. shtml In the Fast Lane IT usage in the auto sector is not just limited to MIS reports and financial accounting, but providing real time manufacturing support | Of late, technology has become imperative to run any decent-sized automotive industry; Whether it is a vehicle manufacturer or an auto components upplier, IT has found widespread usage in the sector. As one of the most mature verticals, the Indian automotive industry has for long used IT in various facets since the 1960s when IT usage was limited to data processing and technology including accounts processing, maintaining inventory transactions, records and related MIS. The focus then was on Batch Mode of operations. As one of the earliest adopters of IT, the a utomobile sector has always deployed the latest cutting-edge technology right from projecting the costs involved in doing business to using IT as an important tool to counter competition. The key drivers responsible for the increased adoption of technology in the automotive sector are the two Cscustomer and competition. The customer is the king here and the two Cs indicate the responsiveness toward the customer, whether proactive or reactive. For instance, if a company needs to be proactive, it also needs to understand the customer pain points and collate data from primary sourcesdealers and customers. A strong method of data collection is required, ie, when the customer walks into a showroom, it is imperative that all the relevant information is captured, which can be used later to define the customer requirements, says Hilal Isar Khan, CIO, Honda Motors. And this data collection can only be done with the enablement of systems to collect data in order to play with data to arrive at the management information system. This enables the management to chalk out a strategy in terms of product launch and product positioning. The second important driver is competition, ie, reducing the time to market. With growing cutthroat competition, companies are feeling the heat to penetrate newer markets. And this can only be achieved by shortening the product lifecycle, which, in turn, is possible if data is collated from suppliers in time. Cost reduction, too, is an important element in an industry where material costs assume a huge proportion of the total cost; it is the customer value which drives IT deployment. And this customer value, meanwhile, is linked to the changing expectations of the customer in an environment where he has a choice, says N Chandrasekaran, special director, Information Management Systems, Ashok Leyland. Driving IT Adoption The T of IT has found a place on the shop floor through control systems used with plant machinery while the I has been deployed in the back-office stage. In the early stages of IT infiltration, organizations used computers for payroll processing, financial accounting, resource management, procurement, and IT enabled MRP followed by integrated ERP, says N Chandrasekaran. Technology is an important tool to capture data from end-to-end transaction and this data is then used in supply chain, dealer, and finance management. | | | | I believe that benefits are much more than cost reduction and automationArvind Tawde, Group CIO, Mahindra Mahindra| We are able to design products much faster and are developing complex and advanced products using ITManish Gupta, head IT, Tata Motors| Agility is the name of the game and as an automotive company we constantly need to work on increasing agility Rajesh Uppal, CIO, Maruti Udyog| Customer value drives IT, and is linked to the changing expectations of the customerN Chandrasekaran, special director, Information Management Systems, Ashok Leyland | The key requirement in the automotive sector originates from the shop floor, which requires a lot of system support in terms of material planning, production planning, and quality control. But, most importantly, technology is used to define business strategy in such a way that business objectives are met and at the same time product quality is not compromised. Usage of technology is not just limited to offices generating a few MIS reports and doing the financial accounting but for providing real time manufacturing support for tracking inventory; planning procurement, planning production on the shop floor; tracking quality-related issues like vendor rejections, shop floor rejections, jigs and fixture tracking, defect analysis and quality improvement support systems, says Prabhakar Deosthali, consulting head, IT Solutions, Kinetic Communications (the IT arm of Kinetic Group). The demand of the automotive segment in terms of IT solutions can be broadly divided into three categoriesend-to-end ERP package for complete coverage of transactions within the enterprise; extended system for the ecosystem and partners like dealers (dealer management system) and suppliers (supplier collaboration system) and a supply chain management; and specific technology solutions that go into the manufacturing of cars, like Telematics solutions, navigation system, air bag system, key-less entry system, etc. Any automotive unit would also require IT support in terms of various systems including product development, manufacturing resources planning, inventory control, depot and branch operations, integration of the system with dealers and service centers, business intelligence systems for market analysis, real time interaction between the plant systems, and the business and MIS systems at the head office. Benefiting from IT Complex supply chain and end-to-end processeswith suppliers at one end and dealers, customers at the otherare seamlessly integrated and effectively manage using IT. I believe that these benefits are much more than cost reduction and automation, says Arvind Tawde, Group CIO, Mahindra Mahindra. The initial wave of IT adoption involved getting the end-to-end basic transaction systems in place, essentially the ERP. The opening up of the organizations boundaries to include partners like dealers and suppliers followed this up. The earliest IT initiatives were related to the optimization required on the shop floor. These initiatives, known as MRP (manufacturing resources planning), resulted in IT systems vendors offering solutions called MRP-I and MRP-II, says Deosthali. Even as dealers and suppliers have been connected individually to the companys enterprise system through dealer management system and material transaction system, the two (dealer and ERP and supplier and ERP) have been disjointed from each other. The focus is now on integrating dealers, suppliers, and enterprise systems into a seamless system and creating a real-time Web-based end-to-end system. Tata Motors, for instance, even connected its dealers online for all sales transactions including after-sales, thereby achieving greater market-related efficiency and higher customer satisfaction. Significantly, Tata Motors is the only company in the world where dealers work online on a common database shared with the OEM. It helps us capture market demand on a real-time basis and align supply chain accordingly, says Manish Gupta, head, IT, Tata Motors. Ashok Leyland, too, is not far behind when it comes to using the online medium for better dealer-supplier coordination with the main unit. While a Web-based portal is in place for supplier performance management, dealers can order their part requirements via the Web, says N Chandrasekaran. The dealer management systems are in the process of moving from a decentralized to a centralized architecture. Most of the auto companies are now looking at a common system hosted at their website with the availability of real-time dealer data so that inventories, back orders of dealers, transportation, and dispatch details can be done effectively. Manufacturing processes have come out of the boundaries of the organization and have extended much beyond it. With suppliers and service providers becoming partners in manufacturing, the challenge is to manage business partners effectively and efficiently. The increasing complexity of products and processes is also becoming a key challenge, says Tawde of MM. The other area where IT is increasingly finding usage is product designing. Gupta of Tata Motors believes that automotive companies are able to design products much faster and are developing complex and advanced products using IT. The complete design can be simulated using IT, which enables auto companies to crash the time to market and bring in better design quality. So, for instance, if you have a good drawing system, you have the ability to interact with the principal and the supplier, thus bringing in the benefits of both time and cost. Increasingly, a majority of auto companies are now beginning to use IT in providing improved customer experience. With customers being the kings here, the product has become an important part of the overall customer offering. Other aspects like after sales service, product presentation, and customer interaction form an integral part of the customer experience. On the Horizon Technology in an automotive company has moved from its initial stages when it was seen as a cost of doing business; at that time one needed to provide systems for function processes. This stage also included integrating all these diverse processes since it was advisable to have minimum islands of applications for ease of integration. The second stage was when IT was used as a medium of growth; in this stage, automotive companies started using the data gathered because of system enablement for business understanding. The current stage is using technology more as a strategic tool for gaining the required edge in the market on the basis of data gathered under which automotive companies are doing dashboard solution and analytics, says Rajesh Uppal, CIO, Maruti Udyog. Agrees Gupta that IT has moved from basic back office functions like ERP to manufacturing, design, and customer care. Moreover, automotive companies are looking to strengthen their manufacturing and design processes and deploy solutions to engage customers, he adds. The technology trends in the segment are on par with, or even ahead, of global trends. The competitive environment, customer expectations, need for faster turn-around time in bringing new products, and infrastructure development are all making the auto sector look at global sourcing, lean development, lean manufacturing, supplier collaboration, extensive MES deployment and integration, engineering research, embedded vehicle intelligence. IT has gone beyond the conventional ERP, and IT solutions are increasingly becoming a strategic need rather than playing the support role, says Ashok Leyland. Essentially IT in the automotive segment is all about how fast a company can adjust to the market requirements and bring about the resultant change on the shop floor. Agility is the name of the game and as an automotive company we constantly need to work on increasing agility, says Uppal. In the coming times, the trend for IT solutions would be tilted more toward integration on the shop floor such as interfacing the plant automation systems and the supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA) along with IT systems for job shop scheduling and planning processes. On the business front, there could be dependency on business intelligence for market analysis, product mix strategies, and sales forecasting. Source: http://dqindia. ciol. com/content/verticals/2008/108060901. asp Tata Motors Transforms I. T. Organization with BMC Software and Business Service Management Sophisticated, efficient BMC IT processes and solutions add power to Tata Motors business initiatives BMC Remedy IT Service Management increases service quality and availability Combination of BMC solutions, ITIL best practices and ISO-20000 certification deliver robust culture of continuous IT improvement HOUSTON, January 21, 2008 – BMC Software (NYSE: BMC) today announced that Tata Motors Limited (NYSE: TTM), Indias largest automobile company, has selected BMC’s Business Service Management (BSM) to assist and empower Tata Motor’s IT initiatives to support the company’s business goals. â€Å"The goal of our IT organization is to be strategic to the business, and proactively help drive business goals, rather than reactively respond to IT outages and service issues,† said Probir Mitra, chief information officer, Tata Motors. â€Å"BMC’s BSM approach enables us to align our IT services with business needs and proactively manage the availability of business services powered by IT components. In the past few years, Tata Motors has expanded its footprint in the automotive industry both nationally and internationally through new business initiatives and strategic alliances, The recent unveiling of NANO, the $2500 people’s car and the impendin g acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover are some significant milestones. With rapid growth and increasing demands on the IT organization, Tata Motors looked to streamline IT services delivery and ensure that its systems and infrastructure are agile and aligned consistently, with business needs and objectives. To do this, Tata Motors required a solution that standardizes, governs and controls support processes while providing greater visibility and measurement of service level agreements and performance. Mapped to IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes, the BMC Remedy ITSM solution aligns IT with business by managing assets to optimize business value and increasing responsiveness and reducing downtime. It offers in-depth visibility into the IT infrastructure to provide the highest level of service quality, and improving customer satisfaction with a greater understanding of the business’ IT needs. Tata Motors will also leverage BMC solutions, as the foundation for implementing ITIL best practices and for achieving certification on the global standards and processes outlined in ISO 20000. â€Å"In our highly competitive industry, it is important to provide the highest service levels possible to our customers and seek continual quality improvement. With ITIL and ISO 20000, we want to create a culture of continual improvement and best practices. BMC has in-depth knowledge about ITIL and provides automated solutions mapped to ITIL processes that will help us achieve ISO-20000 certification,† Mitra continued. â€Å"Companies have become increasingly aware that any IT disruptions, however major or minor, have the potential to cause significant losses in sales and customer service that can affect a company’s bottom line,† said Pankaj Dhume, general manager, BMC Software India. â€Å"As the leading provider of BSM and ITIL-aligned solutions, we are committed to ensuring Tata Motors’ IT organization not only supports the business, but is a strategic business advantage delivering the highest levels of service quality and availability. † Source: bmc. com/news/press-releases/2008-archive/101472953-4341. html