Internship Report
As far as I am an intern in the company, the learning process has taken the course as I have had two field trips to collect data about customer views of the company’s products. Being new to this place has been a challenge but am happy about the teamwork. All employees that I have had an encounter with have proved that they are ready to learn from others. This makes them friendly to me as an intern. They help where necessary for the good of the company. Learning is a process and has already taken the course. Various marketing strategies that I had learned in class are indeed applied here. The data collected will help management to improve the four P strategy. The primary objective of the data was to analyze competitors’ prices so that the company can regulate the cost and best offer a competitive price that assures the company good returns.
The expectation that I have from this internship include understanding the revenue that the company is making with the current marketing strategies. Assessing the current market situation so that I find out how best the company can place its products for better revenues forms a fundamental expectation that I have. Through the marketing department, the expectation is seeing proper data recording and keeping the market. Through this internship, there is an expectation of developing a product that best suit customer needs. There is also an expectation of doing marketing research so that I can come up with a current SWOT analysis for the company. As learned in class, marketing is the process that involves the means through which goods and services use to reach customers. Therefore, the four Ps in marketing remain critical. In the marketing department, I expect to understand how best the management is making the use of this marketing strategy for its products.
Choosing Promit Company is a privilege to acquire the most relevant information as it deals with consumer goods. These products operate in a highly competitive environment. It is the mandate of the marketing department of any firm that operates in consumer goods industry to be unique for continued survival in this market. At the company, employees report to their supervisors that the management has put in place to lead various groups during business operation. The administration has created a chance for graduates to learn how the company operates. Through the interactions with different interns, new ideas come up that help the company survive and improve performance. Since my service to the company is bringing profits, I expect to receive some payment worth services offered. With the allowances, as a staff of the company, the aspect of motivation comes in hence providing the best to the business is my priority. As an intern, a lot of knowledge learned in class is fresh in my mind. The expectation is that the business will make use of this knowledge creating a mutual benefit between the company and the interns.
Having a mutual benefit between the company and the intern allows one to have something that they can use for upkeep as they work. The company wants interns to be all round thus they all report to the human resource supervisor appointed by the human resource manager to the enterprise. The supervisor helps people the HR department to know where they can place interns. With the supervisor, the interns have to jot down the progress of the tasks allocated to them. The welfare of the interns is the work of HR through the supervisor in charge. These supervisors are all round employees who have a vast knowledge about the company. The interns are placed in the best hands where they put the theoretical knowledge into practical use.
Company Analysis
Promit Company is well-established manufacturing company that deals with production, marketing and selling of gadgets like pens, shavers, hats, notebooks, key rings, lighters among other stationaries. It lies in the consumer goods industry. Marketing students have the best experience with the company. This is evident in the kind of marketing department that they have put in place. The strategies that the management has put in place allow employee consultation in decision-making. Through this strategy, the ideas that employees offer to the management are considered after analysis of the impact they would bring to the company. Two meetings are held every week where the administration engages the employees on their take on various issues. Through this culture, one will find improvement in production and innovativeness on the goods that the company offers.
Management
The administration of any company mandates the power and authority to ensure that there is efficiency in utilization of company resources for the good of different stakeholders. The company management is decentralized. This means that decision-making is not coming from one central position but rather originates from the current management team of the enterprise (Thomas, Robert, and Chrysanthos 7). The branches that the company operates with at different locations do not report to one person; they solely make decisions for the firm. The paramount merit that this system offers the company is the ability to outsource decisions for the enterprise. In management, when the manager has the power to outsource a decision. This brings along several advantages to different stakeholders. The managers can incorporate employee motivations and creativity when making decisions for the enterprise.
The system could allow the management in place to save on potential costs that could be involved if the company went for the centralized management system. This is evident in the quick decision-making process. There is no need of wasting time waiting for approval of a decision from above. It is easy to manage risk and quality with the decentralized system as the company can share knowledge effectively. In consumer goods industry, the decision-making process demands quick response so that customers can feel satisfied all the time by the products that a firm is offering in the market.
Malone (259) argued that decentralized management system may not be desirable where coordination of command is critical. In consumer goods industry, this argument is null and void because the kind of response that companies make is related to the consumer directly. The power and ownership in a decentralized system are equally distributed among different stakeholders. This makes every individual to feel honored and more so part of the company. Moreover, the devolution of power has helped employees and management to work as a team for the good of the business at heart. Through this system, the hierarchy of power is just with the company where there is the top management, middle-level, and lower-level management. The system of the authority that exists empowers employees and fully engages them in company’s operations.
Company Culture and Competition
The culture of the company is teamwork and knowledge oriented. Different stakeholders including employees are involved in making decisions for the enterprise. Any sound idea that an individual has in mind is encouraged not for personal gain but the good of the entire firm. The system has various benefits for the company, which can be termed as the advantages of the management system that the company has adopted. The benefits can be classified as economic and non-economic. According to Davenport and Prusak (153-154), the company is in a position to reduce the costs that the company incurs to make a single decision. They further added that the success of any business is likely to be high of the enterprise adopts different ideas of stakeholders while making decisions. The structure will allow passing a decision guided by the market factor rather than a central control system.
Additionally, the management is capable of outsourcing management decisions due to the flexibility involved. The products that the company is offering have a short life cycle allowing internal control as the best option. There is increased expertise among different stakeholders because of teamwork. Flexibility allows the company to have the highest knowledge of the product and the market the company is dealing with (Watts 10). The weakness of this type of structure is that the time involved establishing an efficient process within the company is indeed a big problem. Through trying which option is effective, the valuable resource time is wasted. If the company can establish the best alternative that is efficient within the shortest time possible will improve this weakness. More time is committed in monitoring and developing the criteria of performance measuring.
The knowledge-oriented culture at Promit Company allows the company execute its mission of “Becoming the leader in production and sales of stationery and related consumer products.” Various teams have combined their ideas together and shown much innovation for the company. Interns are fresh graduates that have bright ideas and through the program of contracting these individuals has helped improve the performance of the company. Learners mainly consume the different products that the corporation deals with hence offering them a chance to work with the company makes them happy. They feel like part of the company and see the need to increase their knowledge. The culture involves competitions between various schools where the company best markets its products.
The main competitor to Promit Company is the BIC Company. The company offered the same products and had a wider market base than Promit. The competitor has gone global, yet Promit is a small firm that is known region-wide. With the marketing firm that Promit has established in the UK, the company is indeed bringing stiff competition to BIC. The competitor has been on the market for quite a long time since its establishment in 1945. With longer period in the market means that the experience that the company has is vast as compared to new establishing companies like Promit (Weill et al. 31). A combination of product differentiation and price competition keeping in mind quality is the only way the Promit can gain market value in the contest with BIC Ball Pen Company. Promotional activities involving the target customers will improve performance. If the products are serving the customers well, satisfaction and customer loyalty will be evident. This means increased performance regarding revenues.
Self-Reflection
The reflection that I have about the company can be classified as what the company culture demands and the qualities that a person has as far as marketing knowledge is concerned. The company culture can be categorized as the best alternative for the enterprise. It makes employees creative to offer solutions for the problems that the firm is facing. In the market world, the companies that can adopt students pursuing courses with marketing aspect need unique qualities from candidates that they are recruiting. The culture of Promit Company does not allow employees to keep knowledge for themselves. It motivates employees to share this knowledge for the good of the company at large. According to Hersey, Kenneth, and Johnson (13), the culture will always help the business achieve its objectives through proved productivity.
The company is making the use of business analytics in making decisions. This aspect will not only assure the company increased returns but also offer reduced costs as decisions are based on the available information. A Certain percentage of production reduces the cost involved in all the processes that the company takes part of the management structure. The company structure, as identified before is decentralized giving the company the advantage of cost reduction specifically communication costs. Ganesan and Aric (17) argued that when the mode of communication is face-to-face, the management is far much better than when it is receiving directions. The face-to-face communication allows managers to interact with employees directly hence acquiring most from them.
The qualities that one needs to possess so that they can best fit in this company include excellent communication skills, marketing knowledge so as to help in strategy formulation, innovativeness and intense research about the company’s products. When one is fully equipped with the knowledge that the company has, he or she is always aware of the current situation facing the company. It is a good experience to land in this company as they are practical and offers employees the opportunity to feel part of the enterprise. As management theory puts it, the practice helps the company to have minimal employee turnover. Continuous working of similar employees increases expertise. It helps bring more customers to the company as one is committed to offering the best to the company. Loyal employees will always bring more customers to the enterprise.
The company is a potential employer as so far the learning that I have acquired from the company is enough to allow me to make decisions that place the company a better position that where it is currently placed. As an intern, I was in a learning process, yet the company could afford to offer good allowances for my upkeep. This shows that the corporation as an employer provides the payment that is indeed a motivation to the employees to remain as a staff of the enterprise. The company is experiencing increasing returns hence there are plans to establish other production plants, marketing channels and retail outlets for its products so that it can be termed a global company. To meet these obligations, the company needs personnel to work with offering an opportunity to work with them.
Works Cited
Davenport, T., and Prusak L. Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Harvard Business Press, (2008): 129-182.
Ganesan, Alan, and Aric Rindfleisch. "Does distance still matter? Geographic proximity and new product development." International Retail and Marketing Review 8.1 (2012): 1-23.
Hersey, Paul, Kenneth H. Blanchard, and Johnson E. Dewey. Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources. (2011): 7-31.
Thomas W., Robert Laubacher, and Chrysanthos Dellarocas. Harnessing Crowds: Mapping the Genome of Collective Intelligence. (2009): 1-8.
Weill, Peter et al. Do some business models perform better than others? A study of the 1000 largest US firms. MIT Center for Coordination Science working paper 226 (2005): 13-37.
Malone, Thomas W. The future of work. Audio-Tech Business Book Summaries, Incorporated. (2011): 256-270.
Watts, Duncan J. Six Degrees: The science of a connected age in marketing. Promit Company, (2014): 3-19.
