Executive Summary
Companies are seeking means of investing in lucrative business deals that bring about sustainable profits to secure a stable business existence and financial stability. Any business or a strategy that emerges within an existing business requires a systematic analysis to ensure safe entry into competitive business environments. Tech-Shield aims at introducing a new business into the market, and its recent agenda is to identify a worthy investment to sustain its progressive operations.
As an emerging business with low financial capacity and unstable or still inexperienced management system, considering the strategies placed by other successful organizations may be imperative before venturing into the intended business. This report selected Toshiba since it is among the most successful technology ventures across the world. Emulating important practices integrated and practiced by the Toshiba Company will assist Tech-Shield to examine important business strategies that would assist it in venturing into the worthy investment and sustaining its progressive ambition.
Introduction
Since modern organizations struggle to permeate into the very competitive markets, the development of strategies to initiate a new business is normally imperative. As business competition intensifies, strong and relentless investment is one of the approaches that make firms expansive and productive across boundaries (Falshaw, Glaister, and Tatoglu12). Nonetheless, identifying a worthwhile investment that would bring about lucrative returns to investors is a frequent dilemma that affects firms. Strategic management makes an emerging business fundamentally competitive and less exposed to the risk of collapse, especially when straightforward thinking exists among the management team (Falshaw, Glaister, and Tatoglu 12). Tech-Shield aims at introducing a new business into the market, and its recent agenda is to identify a worthy investment to sustain its progressive operations. Since modern and enlightened companies consider learning techniques from others to progress, this report intends to analyze business strategies of Toshiba Company to find an appropriate technique that Tech-Shield can strategically adapt to initiate the intended investment.
Business Strategy
Business strategy refers to the techniques, actions, or approaches that the company employs to enhance its corporate performance relative to its closest rivals. Toshiba Corporation has its business strategy that entails setting aims, business principles, mission, and vision statements, and outlining core values that business espouses (Toshiba par. 2). The company has a business strategy based on the notion that aspects of creativity and innovation are the foremost success components that any modern business organization must embrace. Toshiba aims at achieving uninterrupted growth by ensuring high creativity and innovation in its business operations.
The company values three important strategic pillars of its operations, which include energy, data storage, and healthcare (Toshiba par. 2). To make the three pillars a breakthrough in progressive development, Toshiba Company has a business philosophy that encourages product and service quality, operational efficiency, high-speed productions, and enhanced productivity.
Quality Control Practices
Firms are struggling to ensure that they produce quality products that appeal to customers, durable, and meet the preferences and desires of customers (Falshaw, Glaister, and Tatoglu 12). As Toshiba remains committed to its people and its future, the production quality is essential. Quality of products offers a competitive advantage to a business and makes the company maintain a good market reputation and gain trust from its clientele.
Toshiba has been ensuring that quality receives the foremost priority in the production of products and the provision of services (Toshiba par. 5). Toshiba respects the copyright laws and regulations associated with the production of home appliances, computer devices, electronic products, and infrastructure systems. Innovation and creativity are the two important components of generating new business ideas, new product designs, and new service provision techniques (Toshiba par. 5). The company abolishes piracy and sets quality control regulations using the strategy of Total Quality Management integrated into the business structure.
Corporate Labor Practices
One of the most important issues in business is the manner in which corporate organizations attract, employ, and retain workers to strengthen their operations (Falshaw, Glaister, and Tatoglu 18). Toshiba is a big employer across many nations in Europe, America, Asia, and Middle East. Toshiba has remained committed to serve all its stakeholders, including attracting, retaining, training, and developing new talents to strengthen its workforce capabilities in ensuring the organization meets its performance targets (Toshiba par. 3). The company dwells on the notion that different people have different abilities in critical thinking and thus employment of people in a just manner enhances innovation and creativity. Employee recognition is growing in Toshiba, as they believe that “companies are people, individuals working together” (Toshiba Par. 5). The company believes in teamwork and cooperation among the workforce to enable the organization meet goals and fight challenges accordingly.
Business Ethics
The success of a business depends on the way a corporation considers ethical principles. Managers of Toshiba have been embracing ethical leadership that includes understanding the importance of ethical concerns among the employees, customers and other relevant stakeholders (Toshiba par. 5). Toshiba has a set of principles and standards for providing services and producing goods. Important ethical concerns that Toshiba accomplishes include enforcement of ethical principles governing customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction in Toshiba involves providing high value products, systems, and services that follow the preferences and comments of customers.
Toshiba has stipulations governing engineering ethics that guides experts to undertake technology activities while highly observing engineering ethics, comply with all regulations, laws, and contracts applicable to the practice (Toshiba par.12). Generally, Toshiba Company has ethical principles controlling the practice of quality assurance, product marketing and sales, corporate procurement, environmental protection, export control, and competition law (Toshiba par. 8). Additionally, there are ethical principles governing government transactions, intellectual property rights, accounting activities, corporate communications, human resource management, and advertising.
Business Marketing and Advertising Strategies
Advertising and promotion are amongst the most important product marketing strategies that modern firms utilize to avail product information to their demanding customers (Teece 187). Toshiba and all its subsidiary companies use advertising activities as part of their marketing strategy, which purposely aims to create public awareness, increase public trust, connect with potential buyers, and create close relations with its business associates (Toshiba par. 14).
Toshiba regularly utilizes two media of advertising in creating extensive awareness of its products and services across the world. Toshiba uses internet advertising and telecommunication devices, especially televisions in advertising and promoting its products and services (Toshiba par. 10). The company advertises its products and services through its mainstream website, other recognized websites under the Toshiba information systems. The sales and marketing team of Toshiba Company ensures that their website is functioning well, as they believe that websites makes advertising easy, reliable, convenient and fast (Toshiba par. 7). The company also advertises through televisions, which they believe creates effective public trust and product awareness.
Research and Development
One of the most effective business marketing strategies that helps firms to analyze markets and introduce solutions is through market research and development strategies (Teece 189). According to Teece, persistent and effective market research and development enables firms to investigate raw materials, emerging technologies, market competitions, market population, consumption trends, and human resource essentials (190).
To respond efficiently and timely to the constantly changing technological environment, Toshiba and all its employees work towards promoting research and development activities. These research and development practices about advanced technologies, services, and products normally aim at identifying mistakes in the current production and marketing strategies, and recommending possible interventions (Toshiba par. 4). A skilled team of research and development under the full support of the management enables Toshiba to analyze market issues, situations in emerging markets, new technological innovations, new business proposals, demand and supply issues and consumption trends on their services and products (Toshiba par. 13). Such market investigations help the top management to make effective decisions.
Corporate Social Responsibility
An important practice that makes a corporate organization survive is the manner in which the management considers its surrounding societies. Toshiba has been practicing corporate social responsibility (CRS) to all its organizations operating in different nations across the world. CRS is among the management policies of Toshiba (Toshiba par. 3). Toshiba has a set of integrity principles that the entire management system makes a close follow up. The integrity principles require the organization to meet all its responsibilities to the societies around them and contribute to the social issues proactively with positive solutions (Toshiba par. 12). Internally, the organization maintains CSR by ensuring sound management practices and finance control and stability. Its management practices accord human life and safety the highest priority to ensure continued trust from the society.
Based on the corporate principles of the company, a Corporate Environment Management Committee ensures that the corporate practices respect the industrial environmental standards of each nation where a subsidiary company operates (Toshiba par. 5). Toshiba business philosophies ensure that CSR lies within an established relationship with surrounding communities. Toshiba has been supporting the Japan government to recover from the destructive earthquake, has helped to ensure the safety of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station (Toshiba par. 7). The CSR management system has responsibility of building and strengthening partnerships with its suppliers and ensuring cooperation with suppliers to respect and uphold safety standards as part of commitment towards improving working conditions
Technology Advancement
Technology is currently the leading source of innovation in several modern organizations at it enhances efficiency in business operations. The management of Toshiba has been in the forefront in ensuring that technology and innovation are part of the most important facets of organizational productivity (Toshiba par. 8). The company fosters integration and use of sophisticated technologies to enable consumers to enjoy high tech products and services that seem requisite for the modern consumers (Toshiba par. 3). Coupled with a competent research and development system, information technology has grown rapidly since the two departments mutually resolve corporate problems. Through its telecommunications research laboratory, Toshiba maintains a strong research to unveil the secrets behind new technologies, attracts innovative workforce to foster technology, and constantly seeks means of improving its production techniques through technology.
Conclusion
An emerging business or an emergent strategy in an established business needs to consider a number of important corporate practices that enable the strategy to maneuver in the increasingly competitive business environment. While introducing a new business strategy into the organization, Tech-Shield, as an emerging business organization, must emulate some important practices of established organizations such as Toshiba. While introducing the new business strategy, Tech-Shield should integrate corporate practices like Toshiba.
Works Cited
Falshaw, Richard, Keith Glaister, and Ekrem Tatoglu. “Evidence on formal strategic planning and company performance.” Management Decision 44.1 (2006): 9-30. Print.
Teece, David. “Business Models, Business Strategy, and Innovation.” Long Range Planning 43.1 (2010): 172-194. Print.
Toshiba. About Toshiba: Corporate Information. 2014. Web.