Business Environment and Organizational Purpose
The organization for the interview is Accenture. It is a management consulting, outsourcing and technology services company. It operates in the Czech Republic and other 120 countries on the globe (Bakalova, 2011). It has been selected for the interview since it has a wide operation base across the world. In addition, it’s traded publicly, which means that it deals with a variety of stakeholders. The global presence of Accenture implies that it has applied some effective strategies in line with its mission. To obtain the information, the public relations manager of Accenture was interviewed. The report is in the third section of this paper, which is a report of the findings.
Research for the second company
The other company that has been chosen is Czech Airlines. It is a different industry, and its choice is meant to give information on the dynamics and strategies of the airline industry as compared to the management consulting industry. This company has a mission of becoming a stable company in the airline industry that provides world class travel and cargo services (Hill & Calton, 2012). One of the values of Czech Airlines is attracting best people. This value is nurtured through a collaborative business environment for attraction and retention of the best talent. The other value for the airline company is the valuation of diversity. In this case, Czech Airlines, values unique contributions from employees. An inclusive business environment has been fostered through these initiatives.
Major stakeholders for Czech Airlines are customers, shareholders and the government (Czech Airlines, 2012). To meet their concerns, this airline consults some industry experts in order to balance their needs. Customers, for example, wish to be charged fairly. However, shareholders wish to obtain maximum dividends. On the other hand, the government demands that this company follows industrial regulations. Therefore, Czech Airlines has to make operational and strategic decisions by factoring these elements.
One strategy that has been employed by this airline company is e-commerce organizational unit. This strategy has improved efficiency in processing of tickets. As a result, sales have increased while expenses have reduced (Cole & Edwardson, 2013). The other strategy is a high level checking and examination of travel documents. This strategy has reduced the number of customers with incomplete or forged travel documents. However, executing these strategies has been met with challenges such as high costs. In transforming the ticket booking and payment system, Czech Airlines had to incur an equivalent of $ 97,000 in IT equipment and the requisite personnel (Czech Airlines, 2012).
The other challenge is the regulatory framework. In document verification for instance, the airline has been taking action on the parties involved. Confining such individuals has been seen as unlawful since the airline does not possess such powers. Corporate social responsibilities for Czech Airlines revolve around promoting environmental awareness. In this case, the company sponsors NGOs that deal with environmental conservation (Hill & Calton, 2012).
Report on the target company
Customers, shareholders and the government are the major stakeholders for Accenture. To meet the concerns of these stakeholders, Accenture has been balancing its operational decisions across the spectrum. For the customers, this multinational has been offering exceptional services despite huge costs such as high staff compensation. This puts it against the shareholder concerns of low costs for high profitability. Accenture is forced to convince the shareholders that quality, but costly services will improve the customer experience and hence profitability. For the Czech Republic government, its concerns revolve around tax returns and regulations. Accenture addresses these concerns by filing its tax returns on time and following corporate regulations in the country.
Application of effective strategies has been instrumental in transforming Accenture into its multinational status. One of the strategies is growth and innovation. Innovation of operations to improve efficiency has contributed to the growth of Accenture. The public relations manager highlighted that this multinational has automated its customer care system to allow for 24/7 support. This strategy had an additional benefit of saving payroll costs. Another strategy for Accenture is global operations model. This strategy involves setting standardized and top notch strategies across its global operations, including the Czech Republic. These efforts are meant to improve profitability and give room for sustainable cost management.
The interviewee revealed that Accenture faces several strategies in executing its strategies. One of the challenges is standardizing its international operations against country specific challenges. This is due to different business practices across countries. For instance, the public relations manager observed that the culture of hugs to the customer was unacceptable in some countries. Despite such behaviors being deemed as customer friendly efforts, their misinterpretation could reduce revenues. The other challenge is the bureaucracy that comes with international operations. Since regional and country managers have to report to the headquarters, executing some changes takes excess time hence reducing Accenture’s competitiveness. In the Czech Republic, this is a major concern owing to high competition in the management consultation business in this country.
According to the interviewee, Accenture has the responsibility of ensuring that it meets customer expectations and that its staff members are satisfied and motivated. Therefore, it emphasizes on customer value creation for customer satisfaction in management consulting. Highly skilled and dynamic employees are required in this field. Accenture motivates them through competitive compensation. For corporate social responsibility, Accenture uses partnership with other organizations. In the Czech Republic, Accenture partners with Junior Achievement Young Enterprise. Through this initiative, these two organizations educate the youth on entrepreneurship and skills for employability in a practical manner.
The comparison for these two companies reveals that they have similar stakeholders. Both of them make efforts to meet stakeholders’ needs. The contrast is that Accenture has the values of stewardship, client value creation and one global network while Czech Airlines has values of attracting the best people and valuing diversity. Another contrast is that Accenture employs strategies of growth and innovation and automation of the customer care system. However, Czech Airlines uses strategies of e-commerce and application of high level examination of travel documents.
Critical analysis and evaluation of the target company
Accenture is meeting its stakeholder concerns. This is evidenced by its efforts to adjust its operations in line with stakeholders’ needs. Critically, Accenture is meeting its stakeholder concerns, although improvements should be made. In order to meet customer needs further, it should differentiate its products by region and intensity (London & Hart, 2011). For instance, management advice in the Czech Republic should incorporate the economic trends of that country specifically.
References
Bakalova, E., 2011. Accenture’s Aggressive Growth Strategy and Successful Recovery of all of its Operating Groups Leads to Growth. The New York Times, VI(7), pp. 44-47.
Cole, A. & Edwardson, S., 2013. Czech Airlines - A Top Company in Prague. Journal of Finance, III(4), pp. 112-115.
Czech Airlines, 2012. Corporate Overview. Czech Republic Annual Report, I(1), pp. 5-7.
Hill, M. & Calton, S., 2012. Czech Airlines Revolutionary Strategies. Businessweek, IV(2), pp. 55-58.
London, T. & Hart, S. L., 2011. Next Generation Business Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid: New Opportunities for Building Mutual Value. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Appendix
Questionnaire
1. Accenture has a wide footprint on the globe, what is the mission of this multinational?
2. This multinational has been witnessing corporate success, what are the values that are observed at Accenture?
3. Who are your major stakeholders?
4. What efforts are made by Accenture management to meet the stakeholders’ concerns?
5. In order to achieve the success that Accenture has today, what are the strategies that have been used?
6. Which are the challenges that Accenture has faced in executing these strategies?
7. At a corporate level, what are the responsibilities of Accenture?
8. Does Accenture have any corporate social responsibilities? What steps have been taken?
