Introduction
In this essay, reference is made to Dow Jones and Company that is a large publicly traded news corporation for which I would like to work. The company is one of the largest and most prominent companies that provide business and financial news in the world. Dow Jones and Company was established in the year 1896 by Charles Dow, Edward T. Jones, and Charles Bergstresser. The same trio also founded The Wall Street Journal, which is among the top most influential publications on business issues in the globe (Investopedia Staff, 2005).
The Impact of the Company’s Mission, Vision, and Primary Stakeholders on its Success
The mission of the Dow Jones and Company is designed in a way that it inspires the engagement of employees and the customers which are critical in enhancing the performance of any company. Together with the vision, Dow Jones has clearly defined what its operations stand for and the reason for which it exists. Such has enabled the company also to make it known that it stands to make a difference in the world meaning that it operates with a clear focus and drive. Through the above definitions, Dow Jones and company can improve its organizational performance that in turn results in profitability that is vital for success.
The mission and vision define the roles of the employees and the different stakeholders. Through the mission and vision statements, the employees of the company can operate beyond the basics of job engagement with a clear goal in mind to drive their operations. They can, therefore, have a broad view of how their actions contribute to the profitability of the organization. With such a wide view, productivity increases because each person wants to contribute as much to the company’s growth that later translate to success. Additionally, Dow Jones and Company define its responsibility to the community which takes care of its social care responsibility. Such consideration of the community in its operations makes it possible for the constant attraction of new customers and primary stakeholders and the retaining of old ones that make a business successful.
The 5 Forces of Competition
The Porte’s five forces of competition are; the threat of new entrants, buyers’ bargaining power, suppliers’ bargaining power, the threat of substitute products or services, and rivalry among existing competitors (Rachapila & Jansirisak, 2013). Dow Jones and Company operates in the news sector that has many similar products being developed by its competitors. The similarity in the goods and services offered, therefore, makes it easy for stakeholders and customers to switch their loyalty without experiencing a significant impact on the quality of the goods and services. Moreover, Dow Jones and Company has big competitors such as Financial Times Group Limited, Thompson Reuters Corporation, and Bloomberg L.P. even with the fierce competition it faces, Dow Jones and Company still enjoys a high bargaining power with its suppliers. This is because the company is large and quite prominent in the industry that makes it enjoy significant economies of scale and purchasing.
Also, the diversity of products makes Dow Jones and company increase its market control share that accounts for higher revenue when compared to the competitors. When considering the threat of new entrants, Dow Jones and company faces fierce competition. However, the company has utilized the advantage of the segmented nature of the news industry and ventured into various aspects that relate to informational products and services. For example, the portfolio of newspapers with big names that the company covers is quite stable. Also, the company produces the country’s first ranked newspaper journal that is “The wall street journal” that enjoys a circulation of more than 2.3 million.
Such a broad base of readership and subscription by customers and stakeholders all over the world has also enabled the company to prevent competition from its major market competitors. Such is because it has concentrated on making its products major brands in the world that also lower the threats posed by substitutes. However, the company has to get up to date through constant market research so as to keep pace with the needs of the market. The bargaining power of the buyers is also high because the news market has stiff competition resulting from the nature by which products and services are not differentiated. Therefore, Dow Jones and Company has had to put in place technological and customer service trends that are superior to help in attracting and retaining customers.
Through market research, the company ensures that it fulfills the needs of its clientele. Dow Jones and Company overcome industry rivalry through innovation, fierce advertisements, and powerful strategies for competition. Such plans mean that the company has to invest heavily in its operations to stay ahead of the competition with the existing industry rivals.
SWOT Analysis for Dow Jones and Company
The strengths of Dow Jones and company include its comprehensive portfolio of products that has a broad base of customers and stakeholders all over the world. The company also has a strong financial base that results from revenues accrued from the sale of its various products. The company also has a higher responsiveness to the needs of the market and can sell the products directly to its clients. Dow Jones and Company also keeps its costs below that of its competitors which give it substantial market control muscle. The weaknesses of the company include the lack of partnerships, the lack of a comprehensive structure for operational costs, absences in some segments of the market, and productivity.
The opportunities for the company include new acquisitions, a new range of products and services, ability to penetrate the global market, and sustained profitability and rate of growth. Further opportunities are the use of information technology for marketing and the involvement of consumers in designing the products and services that suit their needs. The threats are the competition from strong brand names, strong relationships between the competitors with retailers, challenges that relate to technological advances, and the increase in the costs of labor.
Capitalizing on the SWOT Analysis.
Through the above analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Dow Jones and Company, the results can get capitalized on to better the business performance. The strengths of Dow Jones and Company indicate that is it able to bring forth unique services and products to the market. Therefore, such capabilities and resources need to be employed for the engagement in economic value generating activities. Because of the diversity of products, the company needs to provide high-quality services to enable its presence in retail markets that its competitors are currently exploiting. The most efficient strategy that the corporation can use to capitalize on the above SWOT analysis includes the matching of its internal strengths with the available external opportunities.
The organization can also widen the scope of available opportunities by the efficient use of available resources for market expansion. The company also needs to review its internal weaknesses and compare them to the available external opportunities. Such will enable it to turn the weaknesses into strengths so that the competitors do not take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the market. Another strategy is to match the internal strengths with the external threats so that the company maintains an approach that is defensive of its share of the market. Such a strategy involves neutralizing the opportunities that are available for the competitors through the efficient use of available resources to minimize the threats.
Furthermore, the company can capitalize on the weaknesses and threats by strengthening its current opportunities and strengths by matching the weaknesses and the threats presented by the current business environment. Dow Jones and Company should involve the customers and the primary stakeholders to help highlight the areas that need improvement so that products and services are tailored to the needs of the customers. The involvement of clients and stakeholders is an important strategy for conducting market research.
Levels and Types of Strategies for Maximizing Competitiveness and Profitability
The firm can adopt corporate level, business level, and functional level strategies to maximize its profitability and competitiveness. Strategies at the corporate level entail Dow Jones and Company addressing the entire scope of the enterprise. The types of strategies at this level with therefore include making decisions on the products and services and the geographic areas to in which to compete. This strategy can also get achieved through the efficient allocation of resources and the diversification of goods and services as explained by (Way, 2016). In this level, strategies for growth such as product mix and market share are important in helping the firm gain greater market penetration.
Business level strategies entail the focusing on the overall performance of a particular product in its target market by Dow Jones and company. The firm then develops a specific unique factor for the identified product that gives it a competitive advantage over rival products. The firm can also adopt functional level strategies to gain market control for competitiveness and profitability. This entails the coordination of the marketing, finance, human resource, production, research, and development department of the company so that each segment contributes to product establishment (Saeed & Arshad, 2012). Because of the size and level of business conducted by the Dow Jones and company it can adopt effective corporate social responsibility activities to markets its presence for the achievement of market control. According to Saeed & Arshad (2012), corporate social responsibility is an important tool for the generation of support networks, relationships, and using the reputational capital to manage perceptions ultimately resulting in more profits.
Because the business sector in which Dow Jones and Company operates is majorly undifferentiated, the firm can adopt differentiation measures for its products for increased profits. Dow Jones and Company can differentiate itself and give services and products that are high quality to gain the ability to command higher prices in the market as explained by Way (2016). However, differentiation of products is only useful for companies with a targeted segment of the market in which customers are less sensitive. Also, Dow Jones and company can gain a competitive advantage by adopting measures to control costs. Such measures are effective if the costs of operation are at a constant low to accommodate the decline in prices in the market as well as economic downturns (Way, 2016). Other methods include maintaining market share and using the low price strategy to attract buyers.
Communication Plan
The communication plan for the dissemination of information regarding the strategies for maximizing competitiveness and profitability needs to adopt both formal and informal methods. Such an approach serves to reach both the stakeholders within and those outside of the firm. Additionally, various channels will be employed to increase the chances of the information being relayed to as many stakeholders as possible. The plan for formal communication will entail meetings, conference calls, newsletters, electronic mail, and posters. The informal plan of communication will involve unofficial hallway conversations, lunch meetings, sporting events, and voice mails. The program of communication needs to be aligned with the goals and objective of the firm in a manner that only the most relevant information is communicated to the stakeholders. Moreover, advertisements in both electronic and print are critical in ensuring that the information reaches the most number of stakeholders possible.
The Corporate Governance Mechanisms
The corporate governance mechanisms adopted by Dow Jones and company are the external mechanisms and the internal mechanisms. The internal mechanisms of corporate governance used at Dow Jones and Company are controls that ensure corrective measures for operational processes within the organization. These approaches put a check on the smooth operations of the employees, managers, and the internal stakeholders of the firm. The internal mechanisms take care of ensuring continuous operations, clear lines of communication, and the measurement of performance. According to Healy (2011), the internal approaches of corporate governance are essential in controlling the internal business environment of a company. Furthermore, through the strategies of corporate governance the firm has oversight over the management, conducts internal audits, and the development of policy. The external corporate governance mechanism entails Dow Jones and company having external stakeholders, government regulations, financial institutions, as well as trade unions controlling its business operations. Healy (2011), explained that external corporate governance approaches come in the form of regulations and union contracts to ensure best practice. These two approaches are useful in ensuring that managerial duties at Dow Jones and company take into account the requirements of both internal and external stakeholders. There are however instances where contracts and expectations get breached resulting in court trials.
The Effectiveness of Leadership
First and foremost, the continued success of the Dow Jones and Company over the years proves a structure of leadership that is active in the designing of the processes of operation. Also, the leadership structure of the firm is efficient because it has continued to enjoy the position of a market leader even though it faces major competition from companies such as Financial Times Group Limited, Thompson Reuters Corporation, and Bloomberg L.P. However, there have been relatively many changes to the structure of leadership in the company over the recent years that threaten to destabilize the business’s market stability. Also, there is not a lot that the corporation can show for its efforts toward the wellbeing of the community that is a direct role of the leaders.
Furthermore, even though the organization enjoys substantial market control in the United States, its products have not changed over the years despite the emergence of new corporations that threaten its current position in the industry. Therefore, the leadership needs to devise ways by which products get segmented so that the output is different from that of the competitors. The firm also needs to have a stable and consistent structure of leadership to facilitate continuity in the designing of processes for the achievement of goals and objectives.
Efforts towards Ethical Responsibility
The Dow Jones and Company has a policy of lawfulness and social responsibility for all the business operations that make it an ethical corporation. The policy expects that the employees learn and comply with the terms of their employment so that they are responsible for their actions. This is an example of the efforts taken by the firm to ensure that its operations do not breach the law. Also, the code of business conduct by Dow Jones and Company has a summary of the principles of ethics and policies that address issues like bribery, involvement in politics, opportunities for employment, and health and safety. The firm’s policy on workplace safety ensures that workers are protected from injury. The policy also provides appropriate medical attention to employees who sustain injuries at work.
Albeit minimally, the firm also participates in activities that guarantee the well-being of the community through its corporate social actives. Such social corporate activities have contributed to the company’s profitability by attracting new clients to its brand. The compliance with various government regulations has also ensured that the environment of operation is friendly to facilitate profitability.
Conclusion
Dow Jones and Company is a market leader among the publicly traded news corporations in the world. Its success is a result of adherence to regulatory provisions by the government as well as continued marketing strategies that can get viewed as unique from those of the competitors. The corporation, however, needs to adopt to new leadership and commercialization strategies for continued success regarding profitability. Effective communication and ethical approaches are necessary for the continued market leadership position that the firm enjoys.
References
Healy, J. (2011). The Effectiveness of Internal and External Mechanisms of Corporate Control. International Business & Economic Research Journal, 1(7).
Investopedia Staff. (2005). Who or what is Dow Jones? | Investopedia. Investopedia. Retrieved 2 June 2016, from http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/03/062603.asp
Rachapila, T. & Jansirisak, S. (2013). Using Porter’s Five Forces Model for Analyzing the Competitive Environment of Thailand’s Sweet Corn Industry. International Journal of Business and Social Research, 3(3), 1.
Saeed, M. & Arshad, F. (2012). Corporate Social Responsibility as a Source of Competitive Advantage: The Mediating Role of Social Capital and Reputational Capital. The Journal of Database Marketing and Customer Strategy Management, 9(4), 219-232.
Way, J. (2016). What Steps Do Companies Take to Maximize Profit or Minimize Loss? Chron. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/steps-companies-maximize-profit-minimize-loss-41526.htmlhttp://smallbusiness.chron.com/steps-companies-maximize-profit-minimize-loss-41526.html
