The Enterprise System In The Innovation Era

Di International Management School

Kaizen, skills, integration: three words that 20 years ago didn't mean anything, today they mean a lot. Our economy and society rotate around these concepts. Which role do they play in our life?

Furthermore, we all know that the globalization is making our system changing so fast that we literally have to run! And who wins the marathon at the end? The business with the best players. The most motivated, the most skilled-matching team. There is no enterprise without people. Obvious. Human resources represent the strength of the business, the engine that allows to keep up with the marathon, to be competitive. We have to focus on the performance of the people, of our team.

During the years, indeed, the market have kept evolving very fast and also the 'marketing concept' has changed. The product is not anymore the beginning and the end of the business cycle, but the customer is. This process starts from the customers because nowadays people are more important than products. That's why marketing has become so important so far. What is marketing then?

Marketing is putting the right product, in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. How does a company do that? Creating a successful marketing mix strategy.

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market.

• Lingua: Italiano
• Editore: Youcanprint
• Data di uscita: 5 feb 2021
• ISBN: 9791220318259

Anteprima del libro

2020

1. THE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM

He is a businessman who is professionally engaged in an economic activity organized in order to produce or exchange goods or services. (Article 2082 Civil Law)

From the definition of entrepreneur shows that the company is the direct activities to generate new wealth through the production or exchange of goods or services. The company also is characterized by three fundamental aspects: professionalism, ie the asset must be stable and professionally managed by the entrepreneur; affordability, and then it applies the inexpensive method for which revenues cover the costs; and organization by the entrepreneur the use of inputs.

These are the pillars, the foundation underpinning of every company. In the past, however, years, companies have found themselves operating in a general context in continuous evolution, determining and imposing greater flexibility and speed of response to the market. This is due to several factors, including:

Globalization and saturation market, which determines the tightening of international competition;

Development of demand, Determines the reduction of the life cycle of products and, therefore, the need to differentiate;

Continuous innovation technology, which has influenced the way we produce and sell (e-commerce);

Sensitivity towards sustainable development to protect the environment, partly by law and partly accentuated by the companies themselves for a return of image.

How to survive? How can you be better than others and to get space in an increasingly tight market? The answer is competitiveness. Being competitive means being able to compete in the market, reducing costs and improving products and services to customers. The entrepreneur must anticipate the needs and consumer demands; must make the company an open system able to continuously deal with change, with the aim to take advantage of this and to earn over time.

We see, therefore, how the guidelines of the Italian companies have evolved over time.

During the 50's and 60 businesses were product-oriented. They studied only the technical aspects of its products and organization to improve production efficiency and reduce costs. Later, in the 70s, the companies aim to increase sales to achieve economies of scale (orientation to sales). However, under conditions of saturation of the consumer market must be stimulated by means of purchase sales techniques such as advertising and promotional activities. The market does not respond and businesses perceive the need to evolve: do not start from the product, but by consumers. There is talk of marketing orientation, which studies the needs of consumers to meet them through goods and services. The products are created to measure. The goal is customer satisfaction, the customer is at the center! This was the final breakthrough and revolutionary: customer orientation. It moves from mass marketing to relationship marketing, thanks to the IT channel and the emergence of social networks.

As mentioned above, the customer plays a leading role in the market. The system of any company reflects the structure of the market: people are at the center.

We can therefore imagine our enterprise like a Russian doll: we distinguish three sets, one inside the other. We start from the container: The 3rd level is the macro environment, which is the cultural, political, economic, social and legislative environment in which the company is inserted. It is worth pointing out that laws can generate a positive or negative impact on the development of the company, as well as the uses, customs and traditions. It is interesting to observe how the culture of a people affect the economy of a country (for example, it will be difficult to sell pork in the Arab countries, because of the Muslim religion). Without the shell, we come face to face with the 2nd level, that is, with the reference system of the company environment. This includes inputs and outputs, respectively everything that enters and exits a production company, including people with their wealth of knowledge and expertise. Also, are part of the stakeholders, for example the main interlocutors and stakeholders (customers, suppliers, competitors, banks, research centers and universities). Now we come to the heart of this system, analyzing the composition. The 1st level consists of several factors closely linked, including structure, technology, strategy, operational and integrative mechanisms and, as already said, people. research centers and universities). Now we come to the heart of this system, analyzing the composition. The 1st level consists of several factors closely linked, including structure, technology, strategy, operational and integrative mechanisms and, as already said, people. research centers and universities). Now we come to the heart of this system, analyzing the composition. The 1st level consists of several factors closely linked, including structure, technology, strategy, operational and integrative mechanisms and, as already said, people.

Let us dwell once again on the latter factor. There is no business without workers. Simple, almost obvious. Each worker plays a precise role and performs certain tasks. But this is not enough. The so-called Human Resources represent the strength of a company, the engine that allows it to progress by creating space between the competition. There is talk of people as a critical success factor, as it is their performance to make possible the achievement of corporate objectives. People, however, are not always puppets who repeat mechanically the same job, it would be untenable indeed given the flux in which the company is subject. To address this situation, the company must invest in the most important asset that: the people themselves. They will organize, therefore, training sessions aimed at the enhancement and development of them, encouraging the dynamism required by the market, increasing their wealth of skills and motivating them. In this regard, Herzberg teaches us that the motivating factors in the workplace lead to a higher yield and allow to grow professionally.

The desire to do is not enough. In fact, even by placing the motivation equal to 10, if the powers are equal to 0, or vice versa, the performance of a worker will be zero.

Performance = Motivation x Skills

The company is like a play: its success will depend on the performances of all the actors.

And what are the skills?

From a theoretical point of view, the skills include knowledge, skills, and interpersonal skills. Concretely, the know are the personal knowledge; the know-how are the specialized technical skills; the interpersonal skills are transferable skills, ie skills and organizational behaviors that all business stakeholders must have. It is innovation and change, the ability to adapt to different situations and to bring out the spirit of initiative, like many young people are doing through the famous start-up. Other soft skills are collaboration within the corporate organizational context; the operational management in view of the objectives; managing relationships with customers and suppliers; the ability to organize and deal with employees, in order to develop their skills. There are, finally, PLUS skills. They are all personal knowledge to which is added the wealth of work experience in companies x, y and z.

STORE MANAGER

Let's look at an individual case, specifying what skills a corporate actor: the Store Manager. It is an established professional recently and still little known, whose task is to enhance the store entrusted, through customer loyalty and following company policies.

In practice, the store manager (SM) manages a point of sales department of a department store at 360 °, following both the business side that the administrative one. Its duties include the organization of plans and sales campaigns; The staff selection; anything concerning the goods, as the assortment and return of stocks; relationships with suppliers for the acquisition of goods in relation to the real needs of the store; understand the strategies of management and implement them with the collaboration of the entire company staff. His proves a very delicate role, because it must be able to balance optimally the needs of consumers with those of the company, so as to best achieve the fixed objectives. We can therefore assimilate the skills of store managers to those of the commercial , at least at first,

The know-how covers all the tasks mentioned above in the description of the SM role, which, as can be seen, in part correspond to the tasks of the post of Commercial business. In fact, a good MS must have expertise in economic management (budgets and budget), marketing (marketing strategies), logistics (warehouse and goods) and recruitment (creating a great team).

The interpersonal skills, however, are so-called soft skills, organizational behavior: the aptitude for teamwork, organizational skills, problem solving, Creativity and resistance to stress. Knowledge of one or more foreign languages is an added value that becomes essential in the case of multinational companies or international customers. Indispensable are also marketing and leadership skills, interpersonal and verbal communication and not, as the SM plays a front line role. Active listening is another essential skill that MS must develop to meet the needs of the client and be able to sell what they need.

FOCUS: STORE MANAGER & BRAND AMBASSADOR

Once upon a time there were only workers and owners, but then the age of the manager dawned and even if you don't actually manage anyone, your title pretends you do. A conductor is a train manager. An administrator is an office manager. A technician is an IT manager. The person who run a shop is called Store Manager.

What is a manager then? What does he/she do? It must have something to do with the management.

I did a little research and I found that at the end of the 19th Century an engineer from Philadelphia came along with a very clear idea of what management was all about: efficiency. He believed that for any given process, there was one best way to do it, and a manager should have been able to figure it out.

During the years, though, the market have kept evolving very fast and also the ‘marketing concept’ has changed. The product is not anymore the beginning and the end of the business cycle, but the customer is. This process starts from the customers because nowadays people are more important than products. That’s why marketing has become so important so far. What is marketing then?

To put it simply, Marketing is putting the right product, in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. How does a company do that? Creating a successful marketing mix strategy.

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market. It was made up of 4 traditional