FINAL ASSESSMENT.
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Final Assessment.
Assessment Task One (1)
Innovation and Technology
Innovation involves coming up with new ideas or imaginations to provide more desirable solutions that address the market’s needs and requirements. The technology applies scientific information, skills, and techniques in areas such as industries to produce goods. Therefore, technological innovation enhances business by improving or making new products through various technical aspects. A business can make innovations in three areas; the process, product, and business model sectors. Changes in products utilize new technologies to form a completely new product or introduce new features to an existing commodity. An example includes mobile phones, which are ever being upgraded to better forms. Process innovation improves the means of production of a product by incorporating various technologies, for example, in car manufacturing industries. Business model innovations encompass changes that impact almost all areas of an organization, including the good and its prices.
Examples of innovations and technology that have led to economic growth
The significant growth of a country’s economy has been witnessed through various technological innovations. Growth is achieved when the number of inputs is increased to produce more outputs or when a change is made to the same contribution to yield better output—taking an example of television in the United States, which was developed after the radio had become very popular. Many people doubted the success of television in America since they did not think that it could outdo the radio. Today, TV is considered to be among the most significant innovations since it has become necessary in almost every household, thus improving America’s economy. Besides, the replacement of steam engines with electricity that could attach machines to different motors increased the flexibility of work in a factory. It improved the productivity and thus increased the American economy. Innovations are always occurring in computers, and nowadays everything is becoming computerized. Changes have been made from its size, which previously was too big, making it importable, to an increased speed, which is highly efficient. Hence, computers have come to be widely used, including in learning institutions and thus increasing the economy.
New technologies in business operations
Businesses are incorporating new technologies to improve their operations. For example, the innovations in the mobile phone have greatly improved communication in industries. Nowadays, many people own a mobile phone, thanks to changes that made it a small, portable, and affordable gadget. The employees in a particular organisation are using phones to keep in touch even when not in the workplace area. Smartphones which have become the order of the day, provides internet and email services. This has enhanced quick responses to customer inquiries. Also, businesses are using social media platform to market their products and services.
Through internet, web conferencing is bringing business people together helping them to work online. They can share the same document making everyone to actively take part in the meeting. The cost and time to be used while travelling, is thus reduced. The project management software is being used in business organizations. The software helps in allocating specific tasks to employees and updates about the work is posted there. Managers can even supervise the work being done by the employees through the system. Mobile barcode scanning software is an innovation that businesses are using to collect analyse and control their stock. As such, the time to be spent by employees while collecting and analysing their data is used in other activities.
Assessment Task One (2)
Aston Martin Lagonda is a car manufacturing company in Britain which was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Since the 1950s and 1960s, the company has become well known with manufacturing lavish cars. In 1964, the famous actor James Bond used one of the DB5 model in the movie Goldfinger, making the company more reknown. The company is a British icon and it has more than one hundred and fifty dealerships in approximately fifty countries. The sites of production are based in Gaydon and England. Examples of the car models includes, Aston Martin DB2, Aston Martin V12 Zagato and Aston Martin CC100. Recently, Aston Martin brand has ventured into other fields such as bicycle, boats and airplanes.
Technological innovations in cars are bringing new and improved models to the market. New designs are being formulated since technology has provided more freedom to designers. Aston Martin Lagonda has incorporated technological innovations which in turn has positively affected the sales of the company. The making of electrified cars was among their greatest innovations. It was a vision that was turned to reality. When comparing fuel cells to electric batteries, the weight of the fuel one is redundant. In Britain, the electric Aston Martin RapidE was the first electric car. Rapid E comprised of two electric motors that could make it cover zero to sixty miles per hour within four seconds and fifty to seventy miles per hour in one and a half seconds. In less than thirty five minutes, the car charges to up to eighty per cent.
Other innovations included in the car include a control system that detects voice and gestures. Woollen and silk protective clothing have replaced the leather ones which had lesser longevity. The cars have cameras integrated that enhance proper security. Innovations on the door systems enhance accessibility even on the rear of the car. The front and back part of the car laser lighting increasing the safety. Rapid E has advanced sound systems and the car can automatically sense temperature changes.
Another innovation is the Mobileiron Cloud which impacted the Information Technology department in Aston Martin Lagonda. The company is using Mobileiron Cloud to manage its cars globally. This innovation enables aplications to be installed in mobile devices including anroid smartphones and iPhones. They can then track the location of all their devices, enhancing better security. In the case there could be a change of employees, it will be easy to just wipe data relating to the former employee and reset the device with details of the incoming employee, saving the cost that could be used when buying another one.
Aston Martin Lagonda success has been greatly contributed by the innovation of mobile phones applications. For instance, the development of mobile Skype replaced the need for employees to use landline phones for communication. These conferencing applications connected employees around the world since they could effectively work and hold online meetings. As such, the costs that could have been incurred while travelling are saved. The company is also able to reach its customers through videos that show their presentations about the car specifications. The interested parties can then provide their contacts where they will always be kept updated on events.
Sales and profits of Aston Martin Lagonda company
Statistics reflect doubling of the company’s profits through the years with the coming of new innovations. Looking at the annual revenue of Aston Martin Lagonda company, in 2015, the company had made five hundred and ten million. In 2016, the sales increased to five hundred and ninety three million. The revenue tremendously rose to eight hundred and seventy six million in 2017 and one million, ninety seven million in 2018. Comparing the revenues from the sports cars, in 2013, the company earned $301.4 million. The sales reduced to $213 million in 2014 and increased again to $239.1 million in 2015. In 2016, the sales were $215.7 million and 2017 recorded the highest amount of purchase, $455.5 million. The revenue decreased to $421.0 million in 2018 and $ 269.6 million in 2019.
From the data above, it is evident that the sales were increasing especially around 2017. An increased market due the various technological innovations could have been the contributing factor.
Assessment Task Two (1)
Corporate Governance
Corporate governance is a system that outlines the rules that will help directors to effectively manage and govern the company. It is based on transparency, accountability and security. Good corporate governance leads to the success of the company as the outlined goals will be achieved while a poor one can lead to financial losses and eventually the company might fall.
History of corporate governance in the United Kingdom
Corporate governance started in the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It commenced with the Cadbury Report of the aspects of the company’s finances. Attached were codes of practice that reflected behaviour and ethics. The City and Stock Exchange later implemented these codes in their boardroom as a guide to good practices. Greenbury then added rules that focused on the payment of executive directors. Hampel report then joined the two to come up with a combined code in 1998. One year after Hampell’s report, Turnbull gave its report that was focusing on risk management.
In the year 2002, Derek Higgs was granted a chance to analyse corporate governance and come up with one code only. Derek’s report was realised in 2003, however, it faced a lot of criticism as most companies claimed that the duties of the chairperson were marginalised and non-executive members had been overburdened. This led the report to be forwarded to the council of financial reporting and after further consultations, a code was realised. Updates of the code were made in June 2006 and an up to date version was to be implemented on 1st November, 2006.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a management concept that improves the company’s accountability to the public. The company becomes cautious of their impacts towards the society. Corporate Social Responsibility is also known as corporate citizenship. It is vital for a company to run in ways that enhance social responsibility as it contributes to the success of the company. Customers usually purchase from companies that are ethically managed.
Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility promotes a good public image. For instance, members of Aston Martin Lagonda could volunteer to take part in charity work such as feeding the hungry and participating in cleaning programs. This could show the public that our company is committed to charity making the company to outdo many others and hence, consumers would opt to buy luxury cars from Aston Martin Company.
CSR makes the company to be more recognised by the public. When Aston Martin is ethically governed, the public will talk more about the company. The media will also focus on the company making more people be aware of such a company called Aston Martin.
A company that embraces Corporate Social Responsibility gets to be more advantaged than its competitors. CSR make a company to stand out since it establishes that the company values environmental and social considerations. Aston Martin company will always be more preferred in the market.
CSR not only benefit the company but also the employees. The staff working in a company that incorporates CSR will feel the positivity of the workplace and thus the productivity will be increased. Through activities like volunteering in charity work, personal growth of the employees will be established. Besides the work environment will encourage the employees of Aston Martin Company to freely relate with one another. In case of innovative ideas, employees will not hesitate to share with others since they have the best interests of the company at heart.
Assessment Two (2)
Archie Carrol’s Pyramid of CSR
Archie Carrol developed a pyramid showing four vital responsibilities of a company. They include economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities.
Economic responsibilities
Organisations have an economic responsibility to the public. This is because the society expects a given company to produce products that will meet or exceed their needs. Looking at it in a broader view, the society permits corporates to make profits and as such, the only way to increase profits would be producing commodities that are desirable to the customer. Profits generally reward the owners of a company and they help the business to grow since some profits are returned back to the business. The economic responsibilities of a business are usually directed to strategies that increase the finances of a business. For instance, in Aston Martin Lagonda Company, the investors will focus on the revenues, good marketing and operation strategies that will enhance its success for a long term period. Aston Martin could recycle products or use cheaper materials when manufacturing the cars. This could in turn maximize their profits. Therefore economic responsibilities should be among the top most considerations in a business company.
Legal responsibilities
The government has formulated rules and regulations called “codified ethics” that businesses are expected to follow. These rules include those that advocate for fair practices in businesses in accordance with the lawmakers. Compliance officers are nowadays given high positions to ensure that companies comply with these outlined laws. The Aston Martin Company can ensure that legal responsibilities are met by manufacturing cars that satisfy the legal requirements. The company’s investors, staff and company ambassadors should also ensure that they conduct themselves in appropriate ways by abiding with the law. This will ensure that the company’s public image is at its best. Aston Martin should comply with the state’s regulations and they must execute their legal duties to their stakeholders. Even when the laws are being ignored, Aston Martin Lagonda Company should always work in accordance with the law to avoid fines that might later be imposed.
Ethical responsibilities
Our society feels that laws are important but not adequate enough. Inasmuch as they expect businesses to comply with the rules and regulations, the public requires companies to conduct themselves in an ethical manner. Ethical responsibilities are those practices and standards that are mentioned in law but rather they need to be incorporated in every business. These responsibilities allow businesses to be carried out in a fair manner even when the law has not outlined how to do it or the consequences of not doing it. In Aston Martin Lagonda company, these duties will ensure that the company embraces the required values and principles that are termed to be morally right by the society. To uphold ethical responsibilities, Aston Martin company should avoid compromising ethical norms in order to maximize their profits. They must also acknowledge that integrity and ethical values require much more than just abiding with the regulations. For instance, since many mining areas are subjecting children to child labour, the company can decide to obtain its materials such as cobalt from other mining areas. For instance, in 2014, UNICEF published that DRC Congo had around forty thousand children working in those mining areas. Besides, the company could provide fair conditions of work to all employees. This includes equally paying them for wan equal work done.
Philanthropic responsibilities
Philanthropic responsibilities encompass voluntary activities from an organization. These giving activities are not necessarily responsibilities, however, the public requires businesses give back to them by participating in such practices. They may include monetary donations, volunteering in community development activities and donations of products. The companies may give due to various reasons such as their urge to do what is right and expected from them by the society in order to exercise good citizenship. They may also give, not due to self-sacrifice but rather to improve the company’s public image and reputation. Aston Martin company can as well practice their philanthropic responsibilities by forming voluntary programs to sponsor students in their education as seen in the Bill Gate’s foundation where Bill Gates donated 1.5 billion. The company can also focus on donating masks and hand sanitizers during this Covid 19 epidemic. Other instances could be donating food to the hunger stricken families and even sponsoring car racing events.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from the above discussion, technological innovations have positively impacted the economy. In Aston Martin Lagonda company, the invention of the electric car was among the greatest innovations. Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility haave proved to maintain a good public image of the company. Archie Carroll’s pyramid of the four responsibilities of business organizations has set guidelines which allows businesses to be carried out in ethical and lawful ways.