VCAA Business Management Business foundations

A public listed company is an incorporated business with many shareholders that is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The owners of Blue Berry Juice may wish to change from a partnership to a public listed company to pay company tax on revenue, which is usually taxed at a lower rate than personal income tax, which is what revenues for partnerships are taxed on, thus, to maximise Blue Berry Juice’s profits. Another advantage is Blue Berry Juice may receive increased funding from the Australian public purchasing company shares, which was impossible as a partnership. Hence, Blue Berry Juice could raise more money to facilitate the business’s expansion into overseas markets. Another advantage is public listed companies are incorporated with limited liability, meaning the owners of Blue Berry Juice are not personally responsible for all business debts, which is not the case for partnerships, hence benefits the owners.

Porter’s differentiation strategy involves Blue Berry Juice offering a unique service or product feature, that is of perceived value to customers, and thus they are able to charge higher prices for it. For example, Blue Berry Juice could offer healthy fruit juices that have unique flavours that other competitors don’t sell, such as ‘Boost Juice’. This would not [be] available at other competitors. Because they are able to charge premium prices, this can increase Blue Berry Juice’s revenue, and thus their profit. This ultimately gives them more money to pay their shareholders (owners) regular sums of money in the form of dividends, which can also increase the value of the shares over time in capital gain due to increased popularity, meeting their shareholders expectations.

A stakeholder is a group, individual or organisation who has a vested interest in the business. This means they are affected directly or indirectly with the Australian Software Business (ASB). Someone who has a vested interest in Fran’s ASB is the shareholders, as it is a public listed company.

One area of management responsibility is Human Resources, which is the area responsible for developing and maintaining the relationship between employees and a business. This includes aspects such as hiring and termination of employees within the business. This area can help contribute to business objectives as the human resource manager can apply motivational strategies and theories to help boost staff morale and drive within employees. Employees within a business such as the Australian Software Business can improve overall performance if they have increased motivation, as they may be more inclined to work to the best of their ability to increase customer satisfaction via improving their customer service. This as a result could lead to increased profits for businesses such as Fran’s software business, due to human resources motivating employees.

A management style is the way managers organise tasks and interact with employees to achieve business objectives.
A manager with an autocratic style may impose change on the business based on their judgments and opinions only. This style ensures the decision to change is made quickly, and the change commences without the involvement of staff.
A manager with a democratic style will drive change that responds to the wishes and judgments of their staff. The open communication associated with this style will ensure the need for change is clear and all are involved.

All businesses have corporate culture in which all employees are a part of and contribute to. Corporate culture is the values, ideas, beliefs and expectations that employees hold within a business. There are two forms of corporate culture. Firstly there is official corporate culture. This is the culture that the business wishes to achieve, and it is set in policies and procedures and from the outer of a business, official corporate culture is all that can be seen. However, there is real corporate culture too. This is the corporate culture that actually occurs within a business, despite policies and procedures, and it can be observed in how employees interact with one another and how communication and social aspects are carried out.

A management strategy for developing a corporate culture that promotes the achievement of business objectives is recognition programs. This is where employees are recognised by the business by displaying exemplar work and behaviour. This would positively impact corporate culture as not only is it very motivational for the recognised employee, but for surrounding coworkers. The recognised employee will see a relationship between their hard work and a reward, and will feel inspired and motivated to continue working toward being rewarded and recognised. This also helps an employee to feel valued by the business, making them want to be as helpful and productive towards the business in achieving objectives. This recognition program is also motivational to coworkers as they will see that coworker being acknowledged and want that for themselves. A recognition program could be hosted as an event, which promotes social gathering and an overall ambience of positive corporate culture, hence, leading to a cascade effect on employees wanting to also achieve business objectives and be recognised.

Another management strategy for developing good corporate culture is a change of management style. Some management styles are too harsh, such as an autocratic approach, which allows for no employee contribution, and in some cases resentment. Having a management style, such as consultative, where there is an open communication channel, and employees are empowered to come up with ideas and better the business promotes positive corporate culture, and a collaborative approach in achieving business objectives, as there is a much larger pool of talent to draw upon in decision making. Hence this management style will promote positive corporate culture through collaboration and empowerment, that will promote the achievement of business objectives.

A business objective is a goal which an organisation sets out to achieve in a given time period. A business objective may include to ‘increase profit’ or to ‘fulfil a social need’.

An autocratic style refers to when management have centralised decision-making and communication authorities. Most commonly mangers provide employees with clear directions to complete a task, and regularly check in on employee performance. An advantage of John using this style is that he is able to make quick decisions in his bakery, since decision-making is centralised. This will mean that less time is spent making a decision, leading to less time of a low productivity. If productivity isn’t affected, John’s more likely to achieve his objective of increasing net profit by 10%. Another advantage of this style is that John can provide his employees with clear directives to complete a task, meaning that employees will know how to complete a task with higher competence, since they won’t be confused (because of clear directions). However, a disadvantage of this style is that John’s employees will experience a low morale, since they are delegated tasks, and have no inputs at John’s Bakery. This may lead to staff continuing to be absent, decreasing the likeliness of the bakery achieving objectives. Another disadvantage is that this style doesn’t allow for a large pool of ideas from employees, as the manager makes decisions with no input. This may result in a lower quality decision being made if John is using his ideas/creativity when making a decision. Overall, John should not utilise the autocratic style because employees will experience a low morale as they do not provide any input, leading to most feeling underappreciated. This is because staff feeling like this are more likely to work at a lower productivity, resulting in the objectives of the bakery not being met.

John may use staff training as a management strategy in response to the key performance indicator ‘staff absenteeism’. By improving the skills and knowledge of employees at the bakery so that they are able to perform more efficiently and effectively in their role, they will feel valued as an asset at the bakery. As John invests time and money enhancing their abilities, their job satisfaction will improve, and they will feel more competent to work to the best of their ability. In turn, they will be more likely to attend work as they feel both competent in their abilities and satisfied/valued at work, reducing staff absenteeism.

Answer(s) could include:

Skilled communicator:

• process or ability to exchange information accurately and timely, active listening
• more difficult in a cross-cultural setting due to language barriers
• Harrison will need to work on his communication and adapt to a more open style of communication.

Socially aware:

• an awareness of relationships, thus leading to the ability to understand the needs of team members
• the ability to understand other social and cultural customs leads to the ability to establish trust and long-lasting business relationships
• Harrison needs to be aware of the social norms in Singapore in order to not offend any employees.

Skilled decision-maker:

• knows when to make decisions quickly if required, but also able to balance the risk in decision-making to avoid damage to the business
• needed in a new cross-cultural setting as there is no history of past actions and performance to follow or provide advice
• Harrison is highly skilled in the production process and will be able to make decisions in a timely manner.

Future thinker:

• has a long-term vision of where the business is headed, so incremental planning can take place and the business is pro-active, rather than reactive in its responses
• can see the larger global picture, implement the vision on a global scale
• Quinn needs to develop a long-term vision regarding the direction of Laffitaya so he can be pro-active not reactive.

Self-discipline:

• able to control own emotions and have intelligence in dealing with a crisis or adverse situations
• a self-disciplined leader understands the impact that their actions and decisions may have in a cross-cultural setting, as it helps to provide greater certainty for staff
• Harrison may need to adapt his direct communication style to ensure that he controls his emotions in high pressure situations.

Responsible:

• ability to be independent, accountable, accept authority and be more aware that actions have consequences
• needed in a new cross-cultural setting to understand pre-established ideas, to understand where adaptation or new ideas are required, to demonstrate they can think for themselves, often seeing new perspectives, real purpose and outcomes
• Harrison must have the ability to take control and be answerable in a new cross-cultural setting.

Motivational:

• ability to use psychological forces/motivate people to strive for certain goals rather than simply act on orders
• Quinn needs to be aware in a new cross-cultural setting to provide motivation, direction and support for staff while recognising differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, rewards and punishments in different cultural settings.

Answer(s) could include:

• Autocratic leaders are typically bossy and dictatorship-like style may put new workers offside and cause resentment. Changing to situational leadership, Harrison can be more democratic which could develop positive relationships with employees, recognising their success and adding to their motivation.
• Autocratic style limits creativity and ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking – a highly structured, rigid leadership style might not fit the culture of the global workplace, hence changing the leadership style to suit the situation can help improve creativity and innovation.
• Harrison normally makes all the decisions – this may not be wise when not understanding the culture or new business landscape and does not allow for skilled workers to contribute ideas. Harrison can adapt his style by listening to team members and taking on feedback which can be beneficial for the business.
• Harrison currently uses one-way communication – this may upset new team members and does not foster good teamwork and relationships, and this can limit performance. He can adapt this to an open communication style, encouraging feedback from employees.

Answer(s) could include:

Managerial inertia:

• This may occur due to the pressure from staff being reluctant due to factors such as unfamiliarity, lack of understanding, dislike of disruptions or uncertainty, lack of security, costs or the process of change itself.
• Adapting to technology can be a factor of managerial inertia. Laffitaya may be forced to change the way it operates the business. This could be in the way they communicate, use technology to transfer data or finance, or the way that they conduct their marketing and/or distribution.
• The lack of communication from Laffitaya to management about the benefits and improvements of the merger can cause resistance to the change.

Financial costs:

• This could result in Laffitaya staff fearing job losses due to new technologies, processes or equipment being costly.
• Employees may be concerned they will be made redundant due to outsourcing functions and/or combining jobs with ExNex Outdoors.
• Employees at Laffitaya may have to undergo significant and costly training and development, which they may resist so that the business does not reap the reward of these costs.

Answer(s) could include:

Step 4: Communicate the vision

• Quinn must ensure that employees throughout the workplace understand what is happening by understanding the vision of the business.
• Clear and regular communication is important to deal with fears and concerns about the change.
• Quinn can hold meetings, talk to individuals, give regular updates and seek feedback about how the change is progressing.

Step 5: Remove obstacles

• Planning for change includes anticipating what could go wrong or delay success.
• Quinn will need to identify obstacles blocking change and identify how to remove them.
• Quinn can reward people for making change happen and identify people who are resisting change and try to convince them of its importance.
• Quinn needs to address the staff regarding their concerns, as this obstacle could block the success of the merger.

Advice to Quinn about how Laffitaya could build on the change:

• Long term success is dependent on changing the workplace culture. Therefore, providing opportunities for employees at Laffitaya and ExNex Outdoors to learn about the new policies and procedures and leadership restructure.
• Quinn needs to ensure the employees at both Laffitaya and ExNex Outdoors believe in the benefits of the merger and how it will assist the company be successful. If the employees believe in the change, it is more likely to be a success.
• Quinn also needs to continue to review and improve its policies and processes to ensure the change is working.
• Quinn and Harrison need to ensure all policies and procedures and instructions are updated and communicated to all staff clearly.
• Quinn and Harrison also need to seek feedback from employees at both ExNex Outdoors and Laffitaya in order to build on the change and adapt as necessary.
• Quinn and Harrison also need to identify where the new policies are not being followed and manage any new issues that arise due to the changes.

A government business enterprise is owned by the government, acting as a source of government revenue. Thus, the government business enterprise, such as Australia Post, main objective is maximising profits in order to generate revenues collected by the government.

One entitlement issue for a redundant employee is to receive a redundancy package. This refers to a sum of money paid to redundant employees typically based on years of service to FilmsAU. Redundancy packages are a legal requirement and can also be used to encourage voluntary redundancy in certain situations. Another entitlement issue is to receive accrued wages are owed as a result of work that has been completed prior to the day on which the employee becomes redundant. This will be part of the broader process of finalising the payments owing to the employee that will also include unpaid long service leave and unused annual leave.

The human resources manager could employ a persuasive management style when making the decision on who is to become redundant and communicating with them. This is appropriate because this is where the manager would try to provide additional information to those filmmaker employees as to why they have been made redundant, in order to ‘sell’ the decision to them. This may help lead to better understanding within the redundant filmmakers, and could lower any resentment that they may have during the period when they lose their job. As this features the use of centralised decision making it means that the human resources manager is directly responsible for making the decision as to who becomes redundant, as it may be inappropriate for employees to provide input as to who should lose their jobs as a result of their positions no longer existing. Moreover, it sees the usage for one-way communication / top down communication, meaning that those employees who have been made redundant are not allowed to have input or question the decision, which makes decision making faster for the human resources manager, potentially saving them time when deciding who should be made redundant if no input is given, so that they can start expanding overseas faster.

Therefore, a persuasive management style is appropriate, as through the use of centralised decision making and one way communication they are able to make decisions on who is to become redundant quickly and directly communicate to the filmmakers losing their jobs and becoming redundant, without wasted time.

Decision making is the skill of having a goal or objective and making a selection from a range of alternatives to try and achieve that goal. Sam has used this by recognising that costs could have increased due to wages or salaries for her instructors, thus she had to make the decision to change the roster and reduce the number of hours of work for most instructors. As a persuasive manager, Sam would have used a centralised decision-making process.

One dispute resolution process that Perfecto Pilates may use to resolve the dispute at the pilates and yoga studio is arbitration. This is a dispute resolution process which involves an independent third party such as the Fair Work Commission hearing the arguments of the disputing parties and making a legally binding decision. The employees and the managers would each have an opportunity to speak about the impact of changing the rosters in a way that reduces overall working hours for staff. Arbitration is a more formal dispute resolution process which often takes place in a court-like setting with the aim of providing a final decision at Perfecto Pilates to resolve the dispute that is currently occurring.

To improve the corporate culture, the manager at Perfecto Pilates could change from using a persuasive management style to using a consultative management style. Shifting from one-way communication would help staff to voice their concerns to Sam directly before decisions are made, helping to avoid lengthy disputes and building a culture of openness and honesty. Moreover, this would help staff to feel more valued so instead of being resentful, interactions would be more positive and inclusive, helping to build a culture that values trust and social relationships at Perfecto Pilates. The consultative management style's centralised decision making would still allow Sam to retain authority while enhancing the quality of the decisions that are made, helping to build an innovative and positive culture.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business' commitment to going above and beyond their legal obligations to address social, environmental and economic concerns.

It is important to consider elements of CSR when implementing change as, for instance, Sam communicating the change to employees allows them to feel recognised by management and, despite the dispute, this could still ensure that employees have a greater understanding of the need for the new roster. This might increase their motivation and support for the change. Additionally, without considering CSR elements such as the local employment concerns of the general community by decreasing hours of work, businesses such as Perfecto Pilates will have a negative reputation. This could mean that the change fails or is viewed in a negative way.

Conversely, by demonstrating CSR considerations when implementing change, the change is more likely to succeed as key stakeholders will believe that their views have been considered. Therefore, CSR considerations are important when implementing change as they help to determine the way in which the change will be perceived.

Answers could include:

• consistency: enables Giacomo and Chris's business to communicate a consistent message to customers in all markets, resulting in stronger brand awareness and positioning
• low risk: Giacomo and Chris could use marketing strategies, such as promotion and advertising
• lower cost: Giacomo and Chris's business will be able to achieve economies of scale by using the same advertising and packaging. Multiple teams for research and marketing strategy will not be needed, a centralised team of people will develop marketing strategies for all markets, thus saving time and money
• easier to manage: Giacomo and Chris should use a standardised approach which will be less complex than working with multiple advertising agencies, marketing teams and different strategies
• better differentiation: Giacomo and Chris should use a consistent global brand for their business so it will stand out from the competition as consumers will see the same logo, colours, product name and advertising.

Answers could include:

Adaptation:

• means Giacomo and Chris could modify their existing business slogan to better suit the needs of the target audience or to reflect changes in the business's brand identity or values
• should be done carefully by Giacomo and Chris to ensure that the modified version still maintains the essence of the original slogan of their business, while reflecting the changes that have occurred
• Giacomo and Chris's business should ensure that the adapted slogan is consistent with the rest of the brand identity and messaging, including visual elements, tone of voice, and brand personality
• can be a useful strategy for keeping Giacomo and Chris's business's brand fresh and relevant, and for maintaining a strong connection with the target audience over time.

Answers could include :

Level of demand by consumers:

• ability and number of Giacomo and Chris's business's potential customers, including frequency of purchase
• Giacomo and Chris's business's potential customers must be able to afford the product
• the lack of interest may limit Giacomo and Chris's business's products and/or size of other potential markets
• Giacomo and Chris's business would need to have sufficient potential customers to warrant investment of expansion.

Consumption patterns:

• Giacomo and Chris need to be aware of the changing trends of consumers and that consumers may be searching out more authentic cultural experiences
• consumers may be looking for more alternative regimes/treatments when it comes to wellness treatments
• wealthier countries may consume more luxury or 'wants' and this may be beneficial for Giacomo and Chris's wellness business
• Giacomo and Chris need to be aware that consumption patterns may change depending on a country's economic conditions.

Competitor activity:

• refers to the number of competitors in the market and their market share
• an analysis of Giacomo and Chris's business's competitors should include importers, local businesses and any online sellers
• competitor activity that will support Giacomo and Chris's market entry could include few competitors and the unavailability of wellness centres
• competitor activity that will hinder Giacomo and Chris's market entry could include many competitors and the presence of well-established wellness centres.

Answers could include:

Skilled communicator:

• it is important for Giacomo to identify the best method of communication in the different markets, situations and people
• Giacomo needs to process and have the ability to exchange information accurately and timely, and to actively listen
• Giacomo needs to understand that it is more difficult in a cross-cultural setting due to language barriers, but if multiple languages can be spoken to convey messages this is an important advantage.

Socially aware:

• Giacomo needs to have an awareness of relationships, thus leading to the ability to understand the needs of his team members
• Giacomo needs to develop an understanding of other social and cultural customs which will enable him to establish trust and long-lasting business relationships
• Giacomo needs to use his emotional intelligence to be able to perceive and understand complex emotions and to regulate his own emotions to communicate well in new markets.

Skilled decision maker:

• it is essential for Giacomo to know when to make decisions quickly if required, but also be able to balance the risk in decision making to avoid damage to the business
• this trait is needed in a new cross-cultural setting as there is no history of past actions and performance to follow or provide advice
• the situation/cross-cultural context is new/different/more complex; therefore, Giacomo will often be required to make decisions quickly, and often in the absence of full or limited available information.

Future thinker:

• Giacomo needs to have a long-term vision of where the business is headed, so incremental planning can take place and the business is proactive, rather than reactive in its responses
• the ability for Giacomo to see the larger global picture, implement the vision on a global scale, and being open to possibilities which would provide an inclusive work environment required in a new cross-cultural setting
• Giacomo needs to be able to motivate people by explaining to them how their daily achievements or setbacks will contribute to the future success of the business.

Responsible:

• Giacomo needs to be independent, accountable, accept authority and be more aware that actions have consequences
• this trait is needed in a new cross-cultural setting to understand where pre-established ideas or the 'same old' consensual view of reality cannot be relied upon, to understand where adaptation or new ideas are required, and to demonstrate that they can think for themselves, often seeing new perspectives, real purpose and outcomes
• Giacomo needs to have the ability to take control and be answerable in a new cross-cultural setting.

Operations management focuses on the coordination of transforming inputs (resources) into outputs (finished products), responsible for the level of efficiency and effectiveness of operations. Big Construction’s objective to fulfil a market need highlights the business wants to satisfy the market by potentially filling market spaces with their products that are demanded but not entirely available in the existing market. Operations management must ensure that resources such as timber are sourced from reliable and high-quality suppliers in order to facilitate the process of building new houses. Fulfilling a market need could also (be) an objective that underlines an increase in the quantity demanded for new houses. Thus, operations management is responsible in ensuring employees and relevant materials are adequate, along with adopting strategies to improve the productivity of operations and efficiency of resources. Hence, this should augment the level of labour productivity or productivity as a whole, where more outputs produced with minimum inputs (is) used. Thereby successfully satisfying the objective of fulfilling a market need.

The rate of productivity growth KPI measures the amount of inputs used in relation to outputs sold over a specific period of time. At BIG Construction, the inputs would be the timber and capital construction equipment, with the output being the actual construction service (or time to produce construction) and houses built. Thus, if BIG Construction is unable to source the correct building materials, they may see delays, and see an unfavourable decrease in productivity growth because inputs such as time to complete scheduled tasks and cost of storing idle equipment or paying for idle labour will increase relative to the output (how much construction is actually being done).

Therefore the KPI of productivity growth is negatively impacted by halts to production due to not enough building materials, because less is being built and produced in longer periods and at higher costs.

A strategy BIG Construction could use is diversifying. This refers to expanding the product range sold by the business under the same name. BIG Construction could do this by diversifying to sell/build commercial buildings / skyscrapers as well as construction / house building services.

An advantage of this is that it would open up new markets for BIG Construction to provide their building services to, allowing them to possibly expand their customer base, as they would be able to sell their construction services to a greater amount of people, and complete other jobs than just ‘new houses’. Possibly helping to improve their sales relative to competitors, and improve their percentage of market share, helping them seize new domestic opportunities.

Another advantage is that by providing high quality commercial services as part of their diversification, this could possibly attract more customers to their original services of building ‘new houses’. Thus, this could possibly lead to a greater customer base, and a greater number of sales, helping increase their profit and helping them to expand domestically.

Answers could include:

Socially aware:

• allows the leader to acknowledge the differences between cultures and respect respective values
• appropriate to build long-term relationships where everyone works harmoniously alongside each other
• helps with addressing and resolving conflicts arising from cultural misunderstandings.

Future thinker:

• allows the leader to anticipate future challenges and opportunities in a global and culturally diverse context. This is an asset in the process of strategic planning for a business
• helps leaders develop strategies that consider long-term cultural shifts and trends
• encourages a forward-thinking mindset to adapt to evolving cultural landscapes.

Self-discipline:

• allows the leader to set a standard for discipline and professionalism for everyone to follow regardless of cultural background. This builds a fair ground for all staff to be treated equally
• a leader with self-discipline earns staff's trust easily and creates a sense of certainty for staff who are culturally different from one another
• tends to result in consistent behaviour and decision-making, providing stability in a culturally diverse environment.

Answers could include:

Autocratic is the leadership style in which leaders make all decisions and direct the group without the input of their employees.

Discussion:

• autocratic leaders have centralised decision-making so the decision-makers have to be culturally sensitive in a cross-cultural setting. Leaders should recognise and respect cultural differences in decision-making processes, communication styles, and hierarchical structures. Leaders should display cultural sensitivity and adapt their style accordingly
• since the autocratic leadership style can be top-heavy, clear communication with staff and stakeholders to overcome language and cultural barriers is needed. Leaders should create a culture where employees feel comfortable in expressing their opinions and concerns
• although autocratic leaders make all decisions, they should make flexible cultural adjustments, considering cultural nuances. Leaders need to be flexible and adaptable in their approach and recognise that what works in one cultural context may not work in another. They need to adjust their leadership style and behaviours based on cultural norms and preferences
• they should attempt to incorporate some employee input, especially in regard to cultural adaptations. Leaders should invest time in building relationships with employees across different cultures. They need to understand their employees' different backgrounds and values and display empathy and respect in all interactions.

In operations management, quality refers to achieving a standard of excellence in a finished good or service that is provided or delivered to an end customer, e.g. at Surf ‘n Stuff they want to improve the quality in the standard of excellence of their finished product of swimwear by reducing defective outputs. Less defective outputs improves quality as more outputs achieve a standard of excellence.

Effectiveness refers to meeting goals and objectives whereas efficiency refers to the best use of resources. Operations management is the business of producing desired goods and services to satisfy customer needs so effectiveness can refer to set objectives in sales/quality, whereas efficiency refers to elements such as reducing waste or increasing productivity. On the other hand, the two terms are similar in that they can both be used to frame business objectives. For example, a business might set the objective of improving efficiency by 5%, and they can also set an objective of improving effectiveness by reducing wastage by 3%.

Computer aided design is the use of technology by a firm to create and design products which may be then made. At Surf n’ Stuff they would be able to use computer aided design to create different swimwear products and new surfboard shapes using technology. This would be able to design boards with correct sizing and volume. Such as it may be able to create a longboard with the height of 9,2 and the correct volume and dimensions all through the use of technology. This then allows them to see whether this board will look good and whether it needs to be produced Rather than simply producing it and then realising it is not a good product which would be extremely inefficient. Instead using computer aided design will benefit Surf n’ Stuff even potentially allowing for individual customer orders to be created online. Which they can then show to customers what their board will look like to ensure the utmost level of satisfaction. As efficiency is the ability to increase outputs with the same or less inputs. The use of computer aided design will reduce inputs in the production process as less is wasted due to being able to pre check designs online rather than producing them and hoping they are up to standard. This then lowers inputs and can even save time for the same amount of outputs. Thus, increasing their efficiency as a result.

Surf ‘n Stuff could use the principle personal mastery to create a positive culture for change because it’s where an individual (employee) is committed to self-improvement and becomes a lifelong learner. For example, workers at Surf ‘n Stuff could take additional training to develop their skills and knowledge regarding the sale of surfing equipment. This may lead to employees feeling more confident in their abilities and skills at Surf n’ Stuff. Thus, creating a positive culture to change, as the employees will be more open and accepting of change (e.g. new product lines) if they feel as though they are equipped to deal with it.

Surf ‘n Stuff can also use the principle systems thinking as it involves evaluating the performance of a business as a whole, and as a part of the wider environment, rather than as separate units. This may lead to integrating different parts of Surf ‘n Stuff such as operations finance, human resources etc. together. Thus, creating a positive for change as elements at Surf ‘n Stuff will be working together and supporting each other to improve whole business performance, making them more accepting of change as they are all working together.

Answers could include:

Skilled communicator
This trait enables a leader to effectively encode messages that transcend language
and cultural barriers. The communication itself has to be incredibly nuanced in that it
adheres to the cultural norms of people who receive the message. As well as
adhering to cultural norms, the message itself must be clear enough for a message to
be understood.

Socially aware
Cultures are socially constructed so an effective leader must understand the social
dynamics of a particular type of culture if they are to be able to be accepted within
various cultural groups, such as ethnic cultures and popular sub-cultures. A leader
who understands the way relationships are formed and maintained can help to create
a positive and effective workplace.

Skilled decision-maker
When someone makes a decision, they take action from a series of options. They
assume the implications of each decision and follow a well thought-out and
reasonable rationale as to the decision itself, despite any inherit risk. This rationale
must be in-tune with what is happening on a cultural level within an organisation
because the way in which a decision is made can be the results of one’s own cultural
values.

Future thinker
A leader who is a future thinker is someone who is able to anticipate, predict and
imagine opportunities and challenges. They can do this by investigating trends and
using their intuition to uncover potential areas of business growth. Future thinking can
also enable a leader to establish shared visions among fellow staff. Future thinking
can be the catalyst for motivation in the workplace. Thinking about the future can be
something that transcends cultural boundaries, however, there may also be variations
on the level of importance different cultures place on the future.

Self-discipline
This refers to being able to control yourself in terms of how you feel and act in
particular situations, especially ones in which there is a temptation to do (or not to do)
something else. In a cross-cultural setting this could mean being able to keep your
emotions under control, especially if there is some sort of miscommunication or
misunderstanding between people from different cultures. As a leader, it could also
mean being able to stand outside your cultural comfort zone and be able to make a
determined effort to apply and embrace cultural norms.

Responsible
The ability to be independent, accountable, accept authority and be more aware that
actions have consequences. The need in a new cross-cultural setting to understand
pre-established ideas, to understand where adaptation or new ideas are required, to
demonstrate they can think for themselves, often seeing new perspectives, real
purpose and outcomes.

Motivational
The ability to use psychological forces/motivate people to strive for certain goals
rather than simply act on orders. Leaders need to be aware in a new cross-cultural
setting to provide motivation, direction and support for staff while recognising
differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, rewards and punishments in different
cultural settings.

Answers could include:

• E-commerce is the performance of transactions (buying and selling of products and services) electronically over the internet.
• Money and data are transferred online electronically between buyer and seller. The internet (with e-commerce) has provided an opportunity for local businesses to reach new markets and access a potentially wider geographic market segment.
• Websites/apps can be designed in a way that makes it easy for customers to purchase from mobile devices, as well as laptop and desktop computers.
• Local businesses create dynamic websites that have e-commerce facilities where customers can select and pay for a product/service. Their transaction facilities are usually through credit cards and, therefore, there are efforts by vendors to make these as cyber-secure as possible. As a result, consumers can purchase products and services from anywhere in the world.