B301A

As a rule of thumb, any startup business needs to express its own strategy in order to set its objectives and inspirations for the future both internally and externally. To accomplish such objectives, the company needs to set a strategy that reflects its different logistics and tactics. According to Porter, strategic decision making process is the basis of the company strategy that focus on reaching better competitive position while still sustaining implemented performance. In our current paper, we will focus our attention towards the four strategic theories and how far they are relevant to the contemporary business environment by making a comparison between similarities and differences between these theories.

Q1: Characteristics of strategic theories

Strategic theories or approaches are distinguished by different features; they include four basic approaches, processual perspective theory, classical perspective theory, evolutionary perspective theory, and systemic theory. Each theory is distinguished by its own features which can be helpful to strategic decision makers or the top management to use as a reference in business strategy formulation.

Beginning with the classic theory, top management try to set a rational strategy that sounds logical in terms of the defined objectives. They tend to see the future logically by reviewing all potential situations that may affect their decisions. This perspective is not applicable to small businesses or startups. Let's have an example of the American economy in the last few decades of the twentieth century; it was then known with the strongest and most stable marketing environment that supported huge companies in taking decisions appropriate to the lack of competing challenges. Moreover, stability extended to specific industries, such as the automotive industry that flourished to a large extent in this era. Profit maximization was then the main objective that large companies working in the field of vehicle production, like General Motors, sought to achieve; this perhaps uncover the first characteristics of this classical theory which is the focus on internal procedures performed by decision makers or top management. In this later example of General Motors, the company had a target of maximizing profit by gaining a competitive advantage over other competitors in the same market. Let's have another example from the Middle East, we will find that some companies working in the telecommunication market, like Zain for instance, adopt the classical perspective by having the objective of obtaining a competitive advantage involved in implementing its telecommunication services provided to both current and potential customers, by providing lower price offers or service packages from time to time, to gain the loyalty of its current customers and attract the attention of other prospects.

The second theory is processual perspective which decision makers depend on adopting crafted strategies to handle market fluctuations. This perspective was first adopted in 1970s to handle oil crisis which in turn, participated in raising fuel price. Negotiations and policies are the tools used in this theory to deal with market challenges and fluctuations, which requires immediate modification in business policy. All startup companies adopt this theory at the beginning of their activity, as the theory implies the dependence on taking decisions that support later experiences. Decision makers in small companies tend to apply this perspective because they still need time to understand the marketing environment. They tend to set a strategy that can help them achieve their successful accomplishment in the middle of a new business environment which is not completely obvious for them.

The third perspective is the evolutionary perspective; it was first adopted in the United Kingdom in the eighties of the last century. Business survival is the main target of this theory, which implies the focus on performance enhancement. For instance, the UK government desired to invade the social economy so it adopted system privatization. Strong entities took this chance to show up, locally and internationally, due to advanced technology in telecommunication. Telecommunication companies began to open new branches for itself everywhere, so they can better survive. External investing became the target of decision makers who desired to stay in competition in different markets. This perspective resembles the Darwinian Theory as it is based on looking for investment chance everywhere for the purpose of business survival. No matter where to invest, no matter how many branches we will posses, the main and most important objective is to be able to survive. This, therefore, let to a strategy that tends to orienting investments in different fields in order to gain a strong trademark and a better reputation. Example from Kuwait is Kuwait Finance House (KFH) which is a bank that invests in different areas, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Malaysia, the Cayman Islands and Turkey. Investments include market shares and other types of securities that the business tends to incorporate in order to enlarge its marketing capabilities, and so it can posses a better position in the area.

The fourth and last theory is the systemic theory which considers the firm strategy as a part of its objectives, this makes this perspectives based mainly on embedded strategies that can be run in local environment. It focuses mainly on community and society, which makes it appropriate to social corporations, not-for-profit organization and educational organizations, such as schools and universities, like Kuwait University (KU) for instance. This type of organization focuses mainly on the purpose of its existence. Companies and organizations that tend to adopt this perspective use it for the purpose of supporting their local position in the market among different competitors, while maintaining customer satisfaction. Nokia Company, for instance, tends to produce mobile appliances at lower price and medium quality so it can make a large scale of population satisfied to the product it offer to them, in terms of both quality and price. Customer satisfaction is not an easy equation to solve; lower prices however are not always the best choice for each customer, when a customer take the decision to purchase certain product, each one sets his/her own preferences which are not always based on prices and/or quality only. In this perspective, the norms that guide company strategy are based on cultural rules in the local community.

Q2: Four theories of strategy are relevant to 21st century

Some researchers believe that the four theories or perspectives mentioned above are not the best choice to be used in the twenty first century. However, most or perhaps all businesses and organizations all over the world adopt these four perspectives in their process of strategy formation. These four approaches may be used separately by different companies or can be used all at the same time by one organization in setting its different strategies and policies. This is not a declaration that any company can use to inform the community of its perspective, we can find out which theory used, instead, by analyzing different decisions and policies the company issued. Work and environment differences can be the reason of using different approaches by various companies, which is affected mostly by the market nature and work environment.

If we take the example of Kuwait Finance House, we will notice that this bank follows the evolutionary perspective in defining its marketing strategies, with an objective of raising shares sales and increase profits. Top management in this bank decided to run researches and surveys in order to learn about different ways they can adopt to achieve the company objective. They went through deep marketing researching and analysis to learn every detail pertaining to customers' preferences and market environment. They became capable using the information received from these researches to set definite strategies that tend to raise profit and shares sale inside and outside Kuwait. Enhanced relationships between this company and other external factors, such as market suppliers and bargainers, were good factors that helped the company achieve its goals and objectives. The company relied on its good relations to maximize profit so it can guarantee a more stable position in the money market among other competitors. This example gives us a clear idea about how important to maintain better relationships with suppliers and other external factors, in some industries it is a good way to secure perpetual source of raw material. A matter of question for different companies in this regard focuses on the availability of raw materials or supplies source and how important would it be to locate it near the manufacturing facility. Power stations, for instance, need to be build near coal mines and other fossil energy sources as a manner to reduce transportation costs. Semi-processed food factories also must be built near farmlands so we can get fresh vegetables and fruits from the farmland to the manufacturing facility directly. So, it is better to keep distribution and supplies channels close to factories to lower costs and raise quality which in turns raise profitability.

In some national companies in Kuwait, top management focus on adopting evolutionary theory to be able to survive while still preserving their trademarks and maintain the stability of its market position among other competitors of Kuwait or outside it. They tend to adopt a strategy that is based on the evolutionary perspective; they tend to enlarge the scale of their business in different marketing fields and areas, such as vehicle sales, advertising, real estate, and security trading, like the example we mentioned above of Kuwait Finance House. Some other companies tend to focus its activities towards transportations and logistics, industrial production, nutrition processing, and tourism sector. The company strategy is the denominator of all these companies, whatever the activity it excel; the chosen strategy should seek to hunt different opportunities in order to achieve company stability and business survival within an extremely complex marketing environment.

Furthermore, mobile phone businesses, such as Nokia, adopt the evolutionary theory in setting its strategies and policies. Nokia, for instance, tend to make product updates frequently based on analyzing customer needs and expectation, which in turns will enhance its market position that will help it achieve the survival objective. Facing strong competitors, like Sony, in the mobile phone market sounds like a challenge in itself that Nokia need to take different precautions in order to be ready to deal with perpetually. Other competitors like Samsung and Panasonic are strong enough to work as a challenge for Nokia. If any one of these companies develops a new cell phone appliance the other competitors will tend to follow the same pathway in order to save its position in the market. A good example is the Galaxy series of Samsung which was a natural reaction to the IPhone series of Apple. To maintain your position you need to keep an eye on other competitors and their activities, to finally be able to survive. For Samsung products, we may notice that they target middle-aged ABC1 business men and women, features like hand free, speaker, touch screen and other hundreds of cell phone appliances features can be targeted to specific population segment. This is called product differentiation according to different market segmentations. In this regards, appears the role of R&D department in any company to exploit every new technology to enhance products and services provided by the company, so it appears like Research and Development department in any company plays a key role in adopting evolutionary strategy of the company; this department gives the company the chance to launch new products or product updates which can enhance its position in the market.

For the Processual perspective, different businesses adopt it everywhere in the globe. By adopting this perspective, top management tries to use different available scenarios that can be a tool for a successful future for the company. The company learns from past experiences and this will help decision makers to take the most favorable decisions. At time of world crisis, like in 2009, in the Middle East unplanned decisions may be taken as a result of unstable economic conditions; this may lead small businesses to fold and small entrepreneurs to leave the market in a specific country based on their fears from potential losses. Some other investors may decide to take the risk and try to modify the current strategies and implementations. Costs reduction is an example of strategy modification as a way to decrease potential losses and raise profits slightly. In 2009 crisis, many strong businesses working in the automotive industry, like General Motors, adopted the processual theory to face the financial crisis that they were an integral part of it. There is a strong point of views that support the adoption of the processual perspective by small businesses and startups in taking strategic decisions, because they still experience the business life and learn from the market fluctuations and from their own mistakes. They can set their internal strategies aiming to make frequent modifications of both decisions and internal policies in a way that can cut out large portion of costs and expenses. The target will be focused towards reducing operational expenses dramatically, so many companies during the 2009 crisis adopted the costs downsizing approach by retiring a large portion of labor to reduce wages and training costs. Another approach proposes to fold some branches in remote areas. This other solution will reduce different kinds of costs, like transportation, wages and training, raw materials, and other similar costs and expenses. These proposed solutions or approaches can help a company, like General Motors, in time of financial crisis to better handle economic disappointments and market fluctuations.

Some other companies tend to adopt the systemic theory or perspective. Educational and social organizations are the obvious examples of companies following systemic approach. For profit educational institutions, like universities, AUC for instance, are business entities that have for objective to raise its funds and cut costs to its minimal. They focus their strategic objectives towards educational inspirations and students culturing. Top management, therefore, is mostly interested in achieving satisfaction of social needs of parents and other elements in society interested in education and how far it is beneficial to students. This will imply the necessity that these organizations need to follow the systemic perspective in setting up their strategies and in taking different strategic decisions, either internally or externally. There are other types of organizations that tend to adopt this systemic approach, such as banks that tend to serve the society locally by fulfilling local social needs of the community. Examples of these banks in Kuwait are NBK bank and KFH bank; there is a long list of similar powerful banks and institutions that tend to follow the same scenario of these banks in the area. They have a purpose of supporting society needs by supporting the performance of its members, which in turns can be a good tool towards future success of this bank or organization, or an incentive to community members to turn their attention towards this bank or organization.

Q3: Comparing two strategic theories

In order to define the aspects of differences and similarities between these theories, we need to run a comparison between two of them. We will choose the classic and evolutionary perspectives for this comparison. Both of them have aspects of differences and aspects of similarities. Beginning with the classic approach, in determining its policies and objectives, it tends to set a formal strategy. On the other hand, the evolutionary perspective the strategy needs to be good enough to handle market fluctuations. Another characteristic that is obvious for the classic theory is its rationality; the decision maker follows logic in the process of strategy formulation. Contrarily, rationality is not a clear characteristic for the evolutionary theory, because it targets the enhancement of a better position in the market perpetually, which is the pathway for survival. Speaking about goals setting in both theories, we find that the main goal of the top management that adopts the classic approach of strategic planning is to maximize profit to highest levels while minimizing costs to its lowest levels. This goal can be achieved by maintaining a better competitive advantage in terms of quality, price or any other similar factor, such as using the latest technology to update the product or create a new product line. These ways can lead to ameliorate the product quality which in turns raises sales of the product or service provided. For the evolutionary approach, decision makers focus on the external market environment in the process of strategy formulation. This implies that enhancing the company position in the market implies the sophisticated search for potential market opportunities and threats. Top management will decide then to make benefit of the available opportunities, such as the lack of strong competitors or the low quality of the competing products, and/or to handle potential threats, such as the increasing numbers of entrants or governmental limitations and regulations. These steps will lead decision makers to achieve survival as the targeted goal of the organization. Some large scale organizations solve the question of survival by being existent in different markets and opening branches in different areas all over the world. However, according to the classic perspective, the top management tends to make extensive analysis of the market believing that this will affect how the strategy will be formulated. Decision makers, in this scenario, set objectives aiming at enhancing organizational performance as a pathway to support the company marketing position. Making the strategy according to this evolutionary approach resembles the Darwinian Theory as a way of investment that depends on catching and hunting any possible chance in the market. According to this strategic thinking, the organization needs to be ready to catch any available opportunity in the market. This can be obvious in the organizations that tend to invest in different areas and have more than one product line in different areas; this can also be related to the distribution map of the organization that can be extended locally and internationally. The evolutionary approach refers to the possibility to modify the working manner the company follows and extend to the business nature as a way to have a better position among other competitors in the market.

In summary, it is a rule of thumb that any organization needs to formulate a good strategy as a way to ameliorate and maintain its position in the market, and be capable of dealing with different challenges that may face it. It is helpful for any company to adopt a specific perspective or theory in its preparation of the strategy, in order to be able to understand it. In this paper we discussed the four strategic theories and how far they can be valuable to businesses and market environment in the 21st century, by running a comparison between tow of them that revealed the aspects of similarities and differences between them.

 

References

1. Samsung, new product development, 2014, at: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/samsung/launching-high-end-technology-products/brand-building.html#axzz3GyqOgide, passed: 2014-10-22
2. Joseph B., 1994, Comeback: The Fall and Rise of the American Automobile Industry , New York: Simon and Schuster
3. Bhushan, N. and Rai, K. (2004). Strategic decision making. London: Springer.
4. Dawson, P. (2003). Reshaping change. London [u.a.]: Routledge.
5. Jagdev, H., Brennan, A. and Browne, J. (2004). Strategic decision making in modern manufacturing. Boston: Kluwer Academic.
6. Stead, W. and Stead, J. (1992). Management for a small planet. Newberry Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Heart failure

Heart failure has been given much interest in healthcare field as chronic heart failure is a disease that threatens life as about 300,000 persons in Australia are affected with it( Heart Foundation, 2014), it affects more than 25 million persons worldwide and more than 5 millions in America (American Heart Association, 2014) and in KSA there is a percentage of 22% of total deaths resulting from heart failure yearly most occurring in older ages. (Saudi Heart Failure Group, 2013) The current assignment is going to present a critical discussion for nursing role in providing care for chronic heart failure patients to be self caring and the role of the multidisciplinary team in supporting chronic illness patients. Some key terms related with heart failure will be presented within this assignment such as self care management, multidisciplinary team and chronic illness in addition to explaining chronic illness characteristics and how it affects patients to be dependent in life.

According to Van Cleave et al. (2010) Chronic illness could be defined as a case of illness that lasts for a long period of time which could be more than three months and the treatment provided to a chronic illness patient lasts for a long term, such case of chronic illness is always accompanied with pathological symptoms which are difficult to stop without medical interfering and it is not sure to bring the full recovery for this case or symptoms. Chronic Heart failure is an example of such chronic illness that requires special care and treatment on long terms. A multidisciplinary team (MDT) is defined as a team of professionals from different specialties who work in the field of healthcare to deliver the best service to patients as they should be skilled and with the needed expert physically and psychologically and it can include physicians, nurses, nurse managers, psychologists, physical therapists, social workers, chemists, dietarian  and others and each member has a role that is done by the interaction and communication with other members to produce the best quality of care using a group of methods and strategies which are evidence bases to provide the utmost healthcare services to patients with chronic illness. ( Dziegielewski, 2010) Self care management is very necessary for heart failure patients as they need to learn how to cope with the illness by themselves as self care management can be defined as to care for oneself and follow actions learned from a physician and nursing staff in order to promote one's health by coping with the illness and to act properly with other members of family so as to co operate with them to reach the best results physically and mentally in addition to fight the disease conditions and prevent complications that patients may suffer and managing difficulties that hinder their nature lives in order to survive the illness and live happily. (  Goodacre and McArthur, 2013)

Chronic illness has various characteristics such as being prolonged lasting for long periods of time with little chance of spontaneous cure or complete one, it is always accompanied with deviations from the normal state which is usually continuous in addition to beyond repair changes, disabilities and serious psychological effects, it requires special self care management in addition to special nursing programs and a program of reformation.(Lewis, 2014) Example of chronic illness is Chronic Heart Failure affects patients when the patient's heart has no ability on pumping the required blood amount that the body needs as this occurs when the strength of the heart to pump becomes weak. (Greenberg et al, 2011) The impacts chronic illnesses leave on chronic patients are great on both physical and emotional sides as they affect the patients' capabilities to be dependent. Among these impacts is the social isolation when a nurse can diagnose it by finding a patient who wishes to engage with others but lacking the ability to do this and suffering loneliness feelings. Social stigma is another impact that lies as a burden on both the patient of a chronic illness and the family as trying to enjoy public meetings becomes a problem for the patient due to others comments, inquiries and showing over sympathy which results in staying at home and being unable to trust one's abilities and being dependence. (Larsen and Lubkin, 2011) Chronic illness affects the patient physically to the extent of having disability and being unable to do everyday simple actions as praying, eating, work and move. It also affects the patient's quality of life and psychological state. (Collingwood, 2010)

Nurses have an important role in strengthening chronic heart failure patients' self caring and controlling the symptoms of chronic heart failure as they have to relieve complications by telling patients to stop doing hard efforts, stop smoking and stop drinking alcohol. A nurse's role includes educating the patient with chronic heart failure about diet that limits sodium intake, includes the needed supplements of within small numerous meals everyday, keeping the patient on the right calories and cholesterol percentages specially when there is excessive weight or hypertension. A nurse has to follow the patients drug intake, teach the patient what symptoms and signs related to each stage of the illnesss, monitor blood pressure, make schedules of the patients meals and medications, help patients get rid of depression and anxiety, keep comfortable circumstances, keep the patient in the right position and educate the patients family about diet and rest for the patient. (Stanfield, 2010) A nurse has to monitor and detect any complications that could occur by keeping measuring the pulse rate of the patient, respiratory rate and give the patient a time for resting prior to and pre all activities. Nursing interventions should include strategies for relaxation, teaching patients and families how to monitor patients well , teach them ways of pulse rate measuring, measure patients retention of fluids, teach a patient and a family the right way a patient should stay in bed as legs should be rested in a position to be above the levels of the heart, explain how medications and drugs work and train patients on the required exercises methods. (Moyet and Juall, 2009) Management chronic illness depends on good healthcare services that depend on high quality of care levels and providing the best care services to patients in order to improve patient's outcomes, wellbeing and quality of life, this includes stressing the importance of the multidisciplinary team in helping chronically ill patients progress and have good self care. There must be a staff of specialists who are skilled in many fields to make sure of providing the required service of care in a communicative co operative attitude among all members of the multidisciplinary team. The team has to prepare a plan of care based on each patient's case and such a team that is set mainly for chronic illness patients such as chronic heart failure must include a good nursing staff, physicians, a social worker and a specialist dietarian who work together for the purpose of supporting the patients and controlling their conditions symptoms to prevent or reduce disease complications. A nursing staff that should include nurse practitioners with high levels of experience and skills is responsible for managing the patients' daily, education tasks, monitoring intakes of patients, managing timed missions, following up consults of physicians, keeping good hospitalization, doing reports of patients' progress and preparing the patients physically and psychologically for receiving medications and treatments. Nurses are also responsible for keeping collaboration among the team members by the right communicative approaches. (Bisognano, 2009) The multidisciplinary team should have physicians who make decision of consultation, diagnose the case, prescribe the medications, perform the required treatments, do physical tests and is ready for patients and families enquiries. A dietarian is also an important member of the team as a dietarian has a very important task of  providing the team with the diet plan and guidelines for the diet, meal times, contents and number.( NICE, 2014) A social worker is also a very important element in a multidisciplinary team for chronically ill patients such as those with heart failure as a social worker can learn about patients conditions whether financially, socially or legally and do the required tasks to help patients overcome the social stigma they may suffer by teaching the whole family basics of dealing with society when they have a chronic illness patient.(Chang , 2014)

Conclusion

Chronic illness is a main cause of most today worldwide death rates as chronic illness is a case that requires treatments on the long run due to its continuous nature for a long period of time. Heart failure is an example of chronic illness, it requires special healthcare treatment to be presented for patients through a pre set plan by a well prepared experienced multidisciplinary team consisting of members as a nursing practitioners, physicians, social worker and a dietarian. Good care services must include the work of the multidisciplinary team so as to focus on helping patients how to practice self care basics, self management while being dependent as a result of having a chronic illness. A care plan is vital when dealing with patients with chronic illness as it should be done by a co operation strategy from a collaborative multidisciplinary team.  

References

1. American Heart Association, 2014. www.americanheart.org

2. Bisognano, D. Baker, L. Early, B. (2009) Manual of Heart Failure Management. Springer Science & Business Medi.

3. Chang, E. Johnson, A. (2014) Chronic Illness and Disability: Principles for Nursing Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences

4. Collingwood, J. (2010). The Relationship Between Mental and Physical Health. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 19, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-relationship-between-mental-and-physical-health/0002949

5. Dziegielewski, S. (2010). DSM-IV-TR in Action (p. 624). John Wiley & Sons.

6. Goodacre, L. (2013). Rheumatology practice in occupational therapy promoting lifestyle management. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

7. Greenberg, B, (2011).  Barnard, D. Narayan, S. Teerlink, J. Management of Heart Failure. Wiley and Sons.

8. Heart Foundation, 2014. Living Well with Chronic Heart Failure. http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/information-for-professionals/Clinical-Information/Pages/heart-failure.aspx

9. Juall, L , Moyet. C. (2009). Nursing Care Plans & Documentation: Nursing Diagnoses and Collaborative Problems. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

10. Lewis, S. (2014). Medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems (9th ed.). St. Louis (Missouri): Elsevier, Mosby.

11. Morof Lubkin, I., & Larsen, P. (2011). Chronic Illness: Impact and Intervention (p. 70-104). Jones & Bartlett.

12. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2014) Services for people with chronic heart failure. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2014. http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cmg39/chapter/42-specifying-the-multidisciplinary-management-of-chronic-heart-failure

13. Saudi Heart Failure Group, 2013. http://www.saudi-heart.com/?q=saudi-heart-failure-group

14. Stanfield, (2010). S. Peggy. Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Self-Instructional Approaches. Jones and Bartlette Publishers. 

15. Van Cleave J, Gortmaker SL, Perrin JM. 2010. Dynamics of obesity and chronic health conditions among children and youth: JAMA; 303:623–630.

Nursing care for mentally ill patients

It is not easy for a nurse to provide nursing care for mentally ill patients as it is a complex process that has special requirements. Great understanding for human minds and behaviors is needed by a nurse who has a therapeutic relationship with a mentally ill patient. (NHS, 2014) The current assignment is a personal reflection about an experience I had in the mental illness department at a hospital as training.  It reflects a therapeutic relationship with a patient who is mentally ill receiving the care. The assignment is reflecting the skills and experiences I gained through providing a holistic care for a patient in the mental health setting in the hospital in addition to reflecting the challenges and boundaries I faced through having such a therapeutic relationship with the patient. There will also be a discussion for the used strategies in developing a therapeutic relationship with the mental illness patient.

Patients in mental health setting are not easy to deal with as other settings' patients due to what they suffer of mental and psychological problems and due to their unexpected reactions that may surprise a nurse dealing with them, shock her and perhaps make her frightened of treating such patients. Yet a therapeutic relationship between a nurse and a patient with mental illness is very important. My experience was in the setting of mental health in a hospital, I was at first hesitated and not very brave to deal with the patients there as a result of the background I had about strange actions of patients with mental illness but sooner I had some self confidence and I encouraged myself . I entered the ward with my colleagues who made some noise that seemed to annoy the patient female in the mental health ward as one of them suddenly shouted at my face as I was in the front of other colleagues, this scared me but after a moment, the patient laughed loudly and I also encouraged myself and entered. I then realized that voices of my colleagues disturbed the patients so this one shouted at us and laughed to alarm us not to make noise again. This made me understand that mental health patients must be dealt with great care, understanding and respect. I met another patient who was silent and straying but looked calm and decent. I smiled at her, she didn't smile at first then I smiled again gently and then she smiled to me. I got some information about her Ms. Jane was a 28 years old Saudi female who has schizophrenia for five years and was always alone, with aggressive attitudes. It was difficult for me to build a therapeutic nurse patient relationship with her, perhaps I did not have enough skills or experiences about how to break the ice with a mental illness patient. I tried talking with her by asking her about her name, age and family. She did not reply to me and then she said that "life is not a garden for children because it is not quiet" so I understand that she didn't want me to speak too much. I noticed that she needed to talk so I showed to her that I am listening to her carefully and she began talking freely. Hence I was sure that listening to the mentally ill patient is very important for a nurse to build a therapeutic relationship with a patient with mental illness in order to let the patient feel that the nurse is caring and interested in helping the patient and then to trust the nurse and talk which helps provide the proper nursing care for the patient. Ms. Jane is the only girl for her mother and father, she was never married before and her education level was mediate. The case began to suffer since past five years but her childhood history tells that she had epileptic seizures but she followed a mental therapy then seizures disappeared but she rarely has them now. 

According to (Fortinash, 2008)mental illness is referred to as an illness which leaves effects on the person's abilities whether cognitive, social or emotional ones and hence the patient is in risk of causing harms to oneself and to other people, symptoms associated with it are such as irrational behaviors, hallucinations, delusions, mood disturbance and strange thought form. It can be diagnosed as depression, schizophrenia or others according to the symptoms. The relationship between a nurse and a client which must be a therapeutic one can be defined as an interaction that occurs between the nurse and the patient and it aims to provide a healing atmosphere that helps the patient by learning about his or her basic needs and limit any other further illness or complications and psychiatric mental health is mainly based upon such successful relationship. (Jakopac and Patel, 2011)

I tried to make an interaction with my patient through learning about her needs and encouraging her to express herself. There are stages involved and required for a nurse client therapeutic relationship such as the orientation stage when assessment is very important to be done by the nurse as it involves introducing the nurse to the patient and explaining goal of care. (Ostendorf et al, 2013)I told Ms. Jane about my name and told her that I am the nurse to care for her, I also intended to use nonverbal communication methods with her as smiling and simple hand signs. I tried to assess her behaviors and reactions to recognize her needs as I collected as much information as possible about her. According to (Ballard et al, 2012), working stage follows that of orientation stage in the nurse patient relationship. The nurse has to spend enough time to convince the patient to talk and nonverbal communication is very important to do this, a nurse has to show respect and interest to the patient to raise levels of trust and relieve stress. (Rogers et al, 2012)  I gave X, my patient, a flower and then she smiled and I began some simple discussions with her as she expressed some fear of light and when I closed it, she relaxed and talked a little about herself. I assessed her readiness to communicate with me, her language and her desire and ability to talk. I noticed that the patient stopped talking when I tried to interrupt her or when I talked too much so I realized I shouldn't have done this. According to (Basavanthappa, 2011), the resolution stage comes next to the working stage in a nurse client therapeutic relationship. The last stage which is the termination stage or the resolution stage involves the nurse's review for patient's progress and relief of symptoms, evaluation for goals achievement, setting possible problems the patient may encounter after discharge and thanking the patient with promises of more interventions. (Videbeck, 2011). I thanked Ms. Jane and promised her to come again then I assessed my goals achieving, reviewed the progress of patient as she was very communicative when she trusted me and told many important points about her feelings and needs and I suggested that she might face problems of anxiety, loneliness and depression after discharge if her life circumstances did not change. (Craig and Davies, 2009) 

The interpersonal relationship between a nurse and a patient with mental illness can be faced with challenges that may work as obstacles against the nurse's role in providing care within a client centered therapy. (Nizette et al, 2012)During my work with X, I faced many challenges such as encouraging her to speak as at first, she resisted to talk with me but I exerted great efforts to encourage her. Her language was not very clear when she talked as some words were not understood by me.  I also found some difficulties with dealing with the patient's family, they refused to confess she is mentally ill and her mother said she does not have to talk about her daughter's life. It seemed to me that culture and traditions of the family prevent them from confessing that they have a patient who is mentally ill. Among the challenges I faced was working in a noisy and busy environment as the room was not having enough quietness in addition to the existence of many persons around me. I also faced another challenge which was shortage of time as I didn't stay with my patient enough time due to many reasons as she had to take her medications. Another challenge was my lack of enough listening skills as sometimes I interrupted the patient which made her angry and stopped talking. Another challenge was that the patient's profile lacked some important information about the patient and her physician was very busy to provide me with the information I needed.

I learnt many things through this experience such as learning that a nurse has a very important role in mental care as a caregiver but not to do her tasks only without deep assessment. (Boyd, 2008) I learned how to care for a patient with mental illness, how to communicate with the patient, nursing skills and many techniques of therapeutic communication such as how to build a successful client nurse relationship. According to (Lain et al, 2013), therapeutic communication is a very vital step for a nurse dealing with a mental illness patient as there are signs and body language that should be used with the patients and a good nurse should avoid any thing that can make the patient angry or nervous. I learned many skills and strategies of assessing the patient from many sides regarding her illness history, current physical state, violent attitudes, communication, needs and medication following. I also learnt to make self assessment for my work. According to (Varcarolis, 2010)assessment is a main step a nurse should process with patients with mental illness in order to learn about patients' suicide attitudes, depression, physical health and feelings of the patient in order to focus on the patient's problem leading her to have the illness. I learned to face any challenges that hindered my work and frustrated me as according to (Bonham et al, 2013) nurses can change work challenges to opportunities such as making good use of the limited time by specifying everything to be done with the patient before beginning the work. I didn't have good plan before beginning my work. I also learnt many things about how to deal with the patient's family and not to address them as having a mental patient if they cannot cope with this but to be careful when dealing with them to encourage them to help in the care process. According to(Shives, 2008), the family helps a lot in improving the state of patients who have psychiatric disorders because the family members can support the patient to overcome the illness and respond to treatment.

Conclusion

Nursing care provided for patients with mental illness require many strategies and procedures that nurses have to be acquainted with in order to provide a care that helps improving the patients' quality of life. A nurse's role is a major one that needs many skills to be learnt and it also needs to be assessed and evaluated by the nurse herself. There are many challenges that a nurse may face during providing the care in the mental illness setting but a good nurse needs to learn strategies to overcome such challenges so as not to work against care processes the nurse provides as being a major caregiver.      

  

References

1. Ballard, K., Kennedy, W., & Kennedy, M.S.N., R.N, W. (2012). Efolio: Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. Jones & Bartlett Pub (ma).
2. Basavanthappa, B. (2011). Essentials of Mental Health Nursing. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Pub.
3. Bonham, P., Felton, A., & Stacey, G. (2012). Placement Learning in Mental Health Nursing,A guide for students in practice,1: Placement Learning in Mental Health Nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
4. Boyd, M. (2008). Psychiatric nursing: Contemporary practice (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
5. Craig, T., & Davies, T. (2009). ABC of mental health (2nd ed.). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell/BMJ Books.
6. Fortinash, K. (2008). Psychiatric mental health nursing (4th ed.). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby Elsevier.
7. Lain, Ryrie, Ian, Norman. The Art And Science Of Mental Health Nursing: Principles And Practice: A Textbook of Principles and Practice. (2013). McGraw-Hill International.
8. NHS, 2014. Mental health nursing.

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/nursing/careers-in-nursing/mental-+health-nursing/

9. Nizette, Elder and Evans, 2012. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 3E Elsevier Health Solutions APAC (123 SlideShares)

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnekeElsevier/psychiatric-and-mental-health-nursing-3e-by-elder-evans-nizette

10. Ostendorf, W., Potter, P., & Perry, A. (2013). Clinical Nursing Skills and Techniques. Elsevier Health Sciences.
11. Patel, S., & Jakopac, K. (2011). Manual of Psychiatric Nursing Skills. Jones & Bartlett.
12. Rogers, V., Fitzpatrick, D., & Jones, D. (2012). Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: An Interpersonal Approach. Springer Publishing Company.
13. Shives, L. (2008). Basic Concepts of Psychiatric-mental Health Nursing. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
14. Varcarolis, E. (2010). Manual of Psychiatric Nursing Care Planning: Assessment Guides, Diagnoses, Psychopharmacology (4th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences.
15. Videbeck, S. (2011). Psychiatric-mental health nursing (5th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

reflection barriers in nursing

It is important to use reflection in nursing despite barriers that could hinder reflection use in the nursing field. In this assignment, three barriers that may face nurses when using reflection professionally will be presented as well as three suggested solutions for such barriers. There will be a definition for reflection, a discussion for reflection value in nursing will be made in addition to presenting reflection methods.

Nursing profession is a field of practice that includes various care experiences. Reflection in action can be defined as rethinking of a current situation and makes changes to find solutions for this problem while reflection on action is a process of thinking of the used practices after an event is finished and choose the best changes for future use. (Scott, 2007) In nursing, reflection is of great value for professional life. According to (Caballero et al, 2012) reflection is vital for nursing practice due to reasons such as helping nurses recognize and concentrate on the sides of behavioral acts, information, skills and experiences needed for promoting their clinical care practices to provide the best practice. A nurse who knows reflection can learn about her personal weaknesses and strong sides in order to promote future practices  and it provides nurses with self confidence when dealing with others within the care environment and achieve better communication. It provides the opportunity for self assessment that strengthens the lifelong learning techniques. Reflection can raise a sense of competition among nurses via giving them the chance for learning from each other, having a good level of clinical awareness and face challenges. (Elder et al, 2009)

Reflection has many models including specific principles which differ in each model according to details only. Among those models are Gibbs' Reflective Cycle (1988)as he has set his cycle of reflection to be a reference for care practitioners to follow its six steps that starts with event describing and at last a plan for amendments to improve future practice. In 1993, a framework for reflection was presented by Atkins and Murphy with more details than the one Gibbs presented with its main used skills during reflection. (Brooker and Waugh, 2013)

According to (Boud and Walker, 1993) there are barriers to reflection use in nursing which could be external or internal. Internal barriers include personal barriers and emotional ones, external barriers include environmental barriers. Personal barriers nurses face come from the practitioner insider such as past passive experiences, lack of self preparation for the practice situation or not realizing one's real abilities, weakness or strengths. Emotional barriers include having a low emotional response with the nursing practice, not appreciated by others, exaggeration in sympathy feelings or suffering a low emotional level towards specific nursing practices. External barriers include being in a stressful environment, cultural diversity of the people in the nursing situation such as different languages or accents, lack of communication skills among people in the care environment or lack of good supervision for the practitioner during clinical practices. Such barriers could be overcome by the practitioner's good command of many points, barriers can be overcome by oneself, by a facilitator's aid or by a group help. To face barriers by oneself, a nurse must confess them at first, identify them and study them for deep understanding then to test a personal way to deal with them directly. A practitioner can face barriers to reflection by the accurate monitoring for the group in which he or she is engaged, avoid others' errors, enjoy the motivation in the group and ask for support when needed. A trustful facilitator can be asked for proper help in facing the barriers to reflection in nursing practice.( Newton,1997)

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to focus on the great importance for reflection in nursing as it provides a good background of skills and experiences for nursing practitioners through discussing and studying the nursing situations whether those past ones or the current in which a practitioner is involved in and reflection can help a nurse provide patients with the best clinical care.

References

• Scott, Ian, Ely, Christine. 2007. Essential Study Skills for Nursing. Elsevier Limited.
• Caballero, Catherine, Creed, Fiona , Gochmanski,  Clare, Lovegrove, Jane. 2012. Nursing OSCEs: A Complete Guide to Exam Succes. Oxford University Press.
• Elder, Ruth, Evans, Katie, Nizette, Debra. 2009. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Elsevier Australia
• Boud, D and Walker, D (1993) Barriers to reflection on experience. In D Boud et al. (eds) Using experience for learning. Buckingham, SRHE and Open University Press.
• Newton, Rita.  1997. Getting to grips with barriers to reflection. University College Salford
• Brooker, Chris, Waugh, Anne. 2013. Foundations of Nursing Practice: Fundamentals of Holistic Care. Elsevier Health Sciences

language

Introduction

People always use language in different ways according to the different situations languages are used in. Style oneself using languages is a technique used by most people in order to behave as if coming from a special social class or to appear as having a special education or cultural background. In this assignment, using language to style people's characters within interactions in society will be discussed according to personal experiences and according to views of authors and linguists as well as mentioning some examples from real life situations. The assignment is a human research for learning about people's techniques to use languages in communities for social styling purposes. 

Body

Languages in interactions have their specific methods to be presented through according to the people using the language as the way a language is expressed differs from a person to another and each person can use the same language in many different contexts according to the situation, the receiver, the community , the inner purposes and desires or the time a language is used. Language users can use the language as a tool for affecting others in meeting, parties or whatever occasions that include people. They tend to leave specific impressions on others by the help of  a specific style of the language that could serve them. An example for this is when a teacher uses a very formal language in class with specific words in order to leave an impression of seriousness and respect on the students who are considered his or her audience. This teacher can void calling the students with "kids", "guys" or girls. Once we had a teacher who used to call us:" Ladies and gentlemen". This is a technique for leaving specific influence on the recipients to control them. Speakers can attract the listeners attention by using specific performance gathered with a good appearance and language can be a way of taking attention of the audience. An example is when a father advises his young sons and daughters beginning with words as :"my sweetheart', "my dear" or" my beloved son, I have something good for you", here the son will soon be attracted thinking of the good thing his father has. (Arab Open University, The Art of English: literary creativity, Chapter 3)

As it is found by (Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet, 1999) Language and social life are related to each other as people use languages to suit their identities and they may choose some speaking styles that signify such identities. Speaking style is decided by individuals as there are people who use certain dialects of their own native languages in order to pretend a specific identity, there are also people who engage English words and sentences within the context of their speech in order to convince the listeners with specific ideas about themselves. They could do this in a different way each time so as to be having more than one identity according to their choice. Language is not just a way for communication, it is a social representative of people from different places and social classes. An example is a girl who tries to look as coming from an upper social class but a word se says shows that she is not. When someone is engaged within a group of people, his or her language is affected that others can notice different pronunciations in his or her language or even new words and expressions. This also occurs when there is a heterogeneous society that carries different people from different cultures and identities like the society of Kuwait where there are words said by Kuwait which are coming from English but being mixed within the Kuwait accent such as "shaek" which means to check and "lait" which refers to the "light" and others. (Arab Open University, The Art of English: literary creativity, Chapter 3)

Speaking styles of females are not the same as those of males specially when they tell jokes, quarrel, confess or even lie. Even in the most civilized societies, male try to dominate conversations and guide the speech lines towards what proves their male identities in spite of the fact that women are more talkative. Male's speaking styles still stronger and more aggressive at sometimes specially with each other in the presence of women as every man tries to prove he is the stronger in all presenting men. (Tannen, 1991) An example for this occurred when we were young and young male family members directed the speech to be about football and all young female were upset but the boys thought their speech would admire girls and each one tried to show that he knew more about football heroes. Women speech is different as although it could be delicate and soft, it can carry heavy strong meanings hidden within words and women always use messages and hints that are more dangerous than the tough words of men. According to Eckert, category membership and gender have a relationship as girls jokes are softer than those of boys and they are always in non-standard forms and girls are often conservative when they tell jokes. Eckert suggests that there are two main styles speaker use the language through which are the suburban style versus the urban one and each style is characterized with the speakers' certain use of grammar and pronunciation. (Eckert and Rickford, 2001) This also occurs among youth groups as each specific group has its own style of language, for example, the language of nerd students is serious and conservative but the language of cool funny peer groups could be loose and bear some slang words or even insults, such cool groups do not give much interest to grammar rules, correct spelling or correct pronunciation but nerd groups respect the language more.(Bucholtz, 2010) 

People switch the language styles to affirm specific identities which could be switched along with the language switching. An example for this is what a friend who invited us for her birthday party did as she greeted us at the door, welcomed us and introduced us to her husband and sisters, then when her husband and sisters went away, she used simpler language with us, she said:" hey, go and enjoy yourselves with the food", as Arabs, it is preferable to provide guests with the food but here our friend's identity became less formal and she began to use a local language which shows her friend identity but before going away, she insisted on shaking hands with us and saying goodbye to confirm her hostess identity and to show how generous and loving she is. There are some views suggest that language is related to ethnicity as each person is born with a specific dialect that even if changed, it has some significant features on the person that shows his or her origin such as Rampton who also mentions that language style involves language crossing which is integrated with the individual's performance as someone could read a quote of another person, imitate him or her through the quote and use a specific voice tone to convey a specific impression of the person. An example on this is a friend of me who is used to imitate teachers and of course to add personal impressions on the quotes of the teachers while imitating them. Language styles could be used to bear two meanings specially when sexual matters re addressed and in an Arabic society, such matters are mentioned through hints and hidden meanings, an example for this is a conversation I once heard in a store for home appliances as a young girl was buying a stove and the seller who was flirting was telling her that the stove is too hot but she would like it and that she would never leave it before she enjoys its delicious food. The conversation may seem normal but the facial expressions of the two persons showed shyness by the girl whose face was going red all the time. (Arab Open University, The Art of English: literary creativity, Chapter 3)

Conclusion

Language style is a technique used by people everywhere and in every society classes as this is a technique for using language to introduce people's identities, ideas, wishes and desires. Many linguists discussed this topic due to its importance in understanding people's performance through language styles as presented in this essay. Language accents and dialects represent the social background of individuals and groups and the origins of people sometimes. It is good to research how linguists saw this matter academically and how they analyzed it which was presented in this assignment.

B203B

Managing business is a process that needs skills and qualities which are of high ranks as a company like Marks & Spenser which is an international company as its branches are everywhere in the world requires good management systems to be able to race others in the market. This essay is dealing with management issues through presenting a brief of what managers should be as the commercial manager and the financial managers with giving a glance on their duties and skills, the requirements of the commercial manager are presented through an example on McDonald's case study.

Explain three of main duties of the financial manager in a retail setting.

Various duties lies upon any financial manager in retailing setting field, at first, he has to watch up the organization performance regarding retailing missions as this provides support for the organization financially. Here a financial manager's role is broaden to support costs which are direct and indirect according to the way they are identified within the sales volume. As in the company of Marks & Spenser, this occurs for indirect costs as phone calls costs, electricity consumption, security and stationary expenses where direct costs refer to costs spent on staff, bags and food. The management purposes here include making a reduction for the operational costs via controlling strategies that the financial manager performs as in Marks & Spenser.

Second duty of a financial manager is the financial planning applying which is connected with retailing as by this mission a financial manager is asked to apply plans for many things within the organization concerning retailing as for example to apply plans for addressing issues of security through profit statements and new systems implementations plans and others. Thinking about ways for bringing more profits to the store is also among a financial manager duties. Accurate data which is always updated can insure the achievement of strong planning techniques and the efficient store management.  (University of Washington, 2014)

Third duty of a financial manager is problem solving which addresses the manager's capabilities of comprehending variables relationships that have some complexity and the problems that may once appear. The problems may vary to be as feasibility issues when the manager is needed to provide advice regarding Sundays costs and how to get benefits from Sundays or times when stores open and close according to pre set plans in order t achieve profits.

Explain the difference between a financial plan and a budget. Evaluate how a budget can contribute to a business achieving its aims.

It is not true that there are no difference between a budget and a financial plan but they differ in many points as a budget is itself a financial plan pre set for future settings on the short run which should not exceed one year but less than this period, on the other side, a financial plan covering more time periods' goals that could extend for five years or more than this. Tactics are within budget's main goals but strategies of the company are within goals of the financial plan. (Yale University, 2014)

Goal and aims of any business can be achieved if budget's role was well enhanced and this can be reached by studying, analyzing and preparing the budget which is a way of studying and controlling performance as any budget has its own items that could be compared with real done results for measuring how different they are by using an analysis for variances. Budgets help the business in addition to helping managers themselves to recognize the problems of the business, create new methods for solving them, controlling the system using new methods and thinking creatively towards future achievements. Forecast profit is another mission that a budget is responsible for as well as loss predicting and these predictions are based upon a view in the previous years results of sales, profits and loss so as to make a new future overview of what could really be achieved and for costs and profits. Controllable costs such as costs of employees, workers, security, light, gas and uniforms are also included within budget accounts for loss and profit. Among what could be achieved and gained through planning a good budget with forecasting missions is that such budget can make a chance for comparing different activities results as happening in Marks & Spenser company with its wide variation of stores and branches as evaluating results improves performance and enables decision maker to recognize the best practices. (A Marks & Spenser case study, 2014)

 Imagine you have just taken a new job as the commercial manager at a retailer such as Marks & Spencer. Discuss in some detail five key qualities or skills that you should have in order to succeed in this position. Analyze why these qualities or skills are important for your job.

Working in a company like McDonald's provides many good chances for managers to show how excellent they are as I am doing my best as a commercial manager there supported with my management knowledge, experiences and skills as sales experience is one of my qualities as well as having a good performance among employees and having supervising skills when needed. A commercial manager in McDonald's must be aware of communication importance as this will help him with other employees in all branches and with loving customers who always expect the best communicative approaches from a manager. Persuasiveness skills are also an asset of the job as customers are in need to be taught and persuaded about offers, new products and prices in a professional manner which makes sales at the best highest levels. A commercial manager abilities must include those of leadership with sales assistant whom he must held meetings with to learn their needs, complains and for suggesting new strategies for increasing sales. Strategic thinking and excellent planning are two features needed for a commercial  manager in McDonald's who aspire raising the business quality, sales and in turn profits. Loss should be reduced by decreasing costs and wastes with the help of all human resources.In McDonald's, the restaurant is based on a strategy for customers relaxation as there are places for families and parties for children to make the customers feel at home as this atmosphere and technique attract customers to have more time everyday. Food meals are various there and customers have an updated variety of menus to choose from everyday. There are tests and questionnaires presented for customers to measure how far they are satisfied with tastes, new meals and placing. Analytics are skills that each commercial manager have to be good at to learn about what was expected from the work and employees compared with already done facts and measure loss percentages in a way that aims at reducing loss to the least extent. Operational costs can be also at its least percentages to save more costs. Human resources are an asset which must be invested in as in McDonald's a commercial manager discusses the employees requests and complaints, then makes a study and analysis for them finding the suitable solutions. This ensures good employees performance which raises sales in turn.(McDonald's case study, 2014)

In conclusion, it is a good point in a financial manager to be acknowledged with all the duties asked by him as in Marks & Spenser company that has worldwide spread with its various branches. A budget is important for business progress. A commercial manager tasks must be enhanced with skills and job acknowledgements specially if the business was broad and strong as McDonald's.

References

• University of Washington, 2014. Financial Roles and Responsibilities. http://f2.washington.edu/fm/fmat/responsibilities
• A Marks & Spenser case study, 2014, business case studies, at: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/marks-and-spencer/financial-management-in-a-retail-setting/financial-planning.html#axzz3GtAHY1Sh, passed: 2014-10-22
• Yale University, 2014. Planning and Budgeting. http://finance.yale.edu/planning-budgeting
• McDonald's case study, 2014. Managing stock to meet customer needs. http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/mcdonalds-restaurants/#axzz3HicceAUU

B301A

Firm's strategy is an essential element it must set carefully so it can express its inspirations and goals and express what is needed from the company to do in order to reach these goals. Strategic decisions are the formulation factors of the strategy, they can define the firm's competitive advantage and highlight how much important are these strategies for the company, no matter its type would be. In this paper, our focus will e oriented towards investigating the four strategic perspectives, define how much they can e suitable to the market environment in the 21 century and finally discuss the aspects of similarity and difference among two of these theories. (Marketing strategies and market research, 2014)

Q1: Characteristics of strategic theories

In analyzing different strategic perspectives, we will find that each of them has its own distinguishing characteristics. The four strategic theories include the classical theory, evolutionary theory, systemic theory and lastly the processual theory. We can distinguish them from each other based on the different features and qualities they posses which are considered as the reference for decision makers in the process of establishing their business strategies. (Strategic management, 2013)

Beginning with the classic theory or perspective, we may notice that this perspective or theory is more appropriate to large and mature businesses. Strategists focus on how to deal with futuristic issues of the company in light of logic; this can be performed through a thorough analysis of all the aspects that require decision making. They tend to rely on both logic and rationality when they formulate the strategy of the company. During the latter half of the last century, with the lack of threatening market challenges, large scale companies found it suitable to take firm and stable decisions that were for the sake of their business success. They benefited from the strong economic environment in USA at this period to follow the classical approach and take successful decisions. They benefited from the demand stability for certain products, like cars, in taking the decision to formulate strong strategies that have for objective to raise profit and reduce costs. (Management control systems, 1984)

Some companies like Chevrolet turned its attention to ameliorate internal strategies as a manner to raise profit levels by gaining competitive advantage among other competitors. The competitive advantage for automotive industries focus on providing a high quality product with a good price compared to other competing products in the market. Companies tend to lower prices by performing dramatic cost reduction; they reduce potential operational expenses so overall costs can be diminished to its minimum. Wataniya Telecom, for instance, is a telecommunication company in Kuwait, it seeks to enhance its competitive advantage by providing strong database for its clients, the company found this way suitable to reach customers satisfactions and exceed their expectations. (Data analysis and decision support, 2005)

 The second perspective is the processual perspective which relies mainly on crafted strategies as a way to deal with market fluctuations. It was first issued in the seventies of the last century at the time of fuel crisis and oil scarcity that was the reason behind raising oil price. Unlike the classic perspective, it does not focus on logic or rationality. According to this perspective, decision makers face market challenges by forming policies and setting plans that can be used to react to different market crisis and handle market fluctuations. Dealing new changes requires from decision makers to modify the current strategies and policies applied by the company. This approach is always adopted by new startups because at the beginning of their work they may need to have a thorough understanding of the nature of the marketing environment. (Strategic management, 2013)

After one decade of the issuance of the processual theory, a new perspective called the evolutionary perspective appeared to be applied y most companies at this period of time. Decision makers who adopted this theory focused on achieving survival through performance enhancement. Good examples of the adoption of this perspective can be found among electronic companies, like Samsung, Sony, Erickson, and other companies specialized in manufacturing mobile phone appliances. To reach the goal of survival, these companies tend to distribute its activity in different areas by opening more branches all over the world while differentiating the current products or services. External investments, thereby, can be the suitable decision that top management can take to achieve the goal of survival. This way can enhance the firm position among other competitors in the market. This approach relies on the Darwinian thinking style in taking decisions, because the decision makers tend to hunt any possible investing chances in the market as a way to achieve survival goal. This way, the company can maintain its position in the market while enhancing its trademark and image in the customers mind. Some companies tend to offer different services and products in the market, like Harrods, which provide different types of products and services like beauty and makeup, appliances, food and wine, children products and cloths. (Decision making in manufacturing environment using graph theory and fuzzy multiple attribute decision making methods, 2013)

Another perspective is the systemic perspective which is based on embedded strategies, considering the company goals as an integral complement of the company strategy. Educational and social organizations are the most obvious companies that adopt this theory, like AUC University for instance, because the focus of this approach is the society. The usefulness of this perspective is focused on how much helpful can the strategy e for the society. Small and large companies use this perspective to maintain its marketing position, with the goal of exceeding customers expectations. For instance, Apple Company tends to satisfy a certain segment of population who look for high quality products and strong brand name. The Iphone series of mobile devices helped the company to maintain customer loyalty by the incomparable level of product quality it offers to them. However, price can be another competitive advantage that companies need to pay attention to as not all customers look for high quality product; some may prefer to purchase a medium quality product with lower price. (Strategic management, 2013)

Q2: Four theories of strategy are relevant to 21st century

Now we need to answer an important question, are the four theories appropriate for adoption by the contemporary companies in the 21st century? Some researchers implies that these theories are not the best choice these days, however, they are not quite right, because all business organizations now adopt these four perspective in the process of formation of their strategies. However, these companies implicitly adopted the four perspectives without declaring the adoption to the public or interested parties. The decisions and policies made by the company are the factors that can reflect which perspective is adopted. They may adopt one or more perspective at the same time according to work settings and market nature. (Strategic management, 2013)

Let's take an example of a company that depends on the classical theory for instance, like Kellogg Corporation, which has for purpose to raise profits and downsize costs. This is a British company that works in the field of nutrition manufacturing, which decided to focus its market analysis and research on finding new ways to achieve profit maximization principle by spreading the product distribution to different customers’ segmentations so many people can learn about the products it sells. Thorough market analysis was the tool used by Kellogg to define how to render positive impact on customers. Decision makers in this company used the results of these researches to learn everything about customers taste and preferences. As a strong UK company, distribution areas included other European countries in addition to UK. The top management in this company used a popular way in rising their profits my enhancing their relationships with suppliers, so they can reach more raw materials, like wheat and milk for instance, easily and with abundant amounts and low price at the same time. They adopted the classic theory to maximize its profit by keeping the loyalty of not only their customers but also their suppliers. Another important factor that can e helpful in raising profits is the geographical area used to build the plant, which must be close enough to material supplies facilities. In our example of Kellogg, the plant must be close to wheat farm so transportation costs can be reduced. Nevertheless, distribution areas also must be near enough to the plant so products can be easily delivered to customers while downsizing the delivery costs. (Kellogg case study, 2014)

Let us have an example from Kuwait, like National Industries Group Holding for instance, the top management in this company focus their capabilities on achieving survival by adopting the evolutionary perspective as a way to maintain the company position in Kuwait market. Decision makers of this company extend their investments in different business fields such as oil industries, cement production, and building materials manufacturing. The company sets its strategy according to the evolutionary perspective to be able to hunt all possible investing chances in its surrounding market environment for the purpose of company survival. (Arabian Business, 2014)

Moreover, we can find a plenty of examples of similar companies adopting the evolutionary theory in mobile appliances manufacturing companies. Sony, for instance, follows product updating strategy by launching new products frequently. This can help the company maintain its trademark and achieve the objective of survival. Sony faces strong competitors who constitute a sort of threat for it in the market; other companies like Apple, Samsung and other similar companies. To deal with these threats, the company needed to innovate its current products and make new mobile phones with extra feature while keeping the price a it lower than other strong competing products. The company top management tends to face greater competition by initiating new products that can maintain their current customers’ loyalty while attracting new potential customers to try the new products. New TV sets and new mobile appliances with new features, the strategy focuses on achieving company survival within an extremely competing market. (Mootee.typepad.com, 2014)

The next perspective is the processual strategic perspective which can be seen everywhere around the globe. This perspective relies on knocking every possible door in order to have a better position in the market. This can lead the company to learn from its faulty experiences so eventually it can formulate the perfect strategy that is based on its past experiences. In 2009, during the economic crisis, the Middle East economy may not seem clear enough to forecast success for investors. This led to the withdrawal of several investors from the market because of potential losses they tend to avoid. However, some other small firms took the decision to continue in their investments, they saw that they can modify their current policies and strategies instead on complete withdrawal from the market. They found that they can reduce costs to its minimum level so they can achieve profit maximization principle which is related to the processual perspective. These small companies formulated plans and internal strategies based on their mistakes experience while dealing with the market. On the other hand, many strong companies working in the field of car manufacturing, like Ford, adopted processual perspective as a way to face the financial crisis of 2009; their focus was to maximize profit by minimize costs. There could be several ways to reduce costs such as decreasing the number of workers to reduce labor cost, in terms of training and salaries. Another way is to reduce the number of branches or fold those branches that render lower profit margins. All these strategies have the objective of enhancing the company position in the market and apply to the processual perspective. (Strategic management, 2013)

Another perspective is the systemic perspective or approach that many companies tend to adopt in their business strategies. Companies that tend to follow this approach are those company interested in society welfare, like educational and social organization. These organizations can be either for-profit or not-for-profit organizations. British University, for instance, is one example of these companies that act as a business entity to set its strategy for purposes like generating profits and/or enhancing educational environment for the sake of society welfare. Social needs satisfaction is the main focus or target of decision makers and top management in these organizations. These objectives need to be reflected in the company strategy, which is formulated using the systemic perspective or approach. Other entities in the field of finance, like banks, tend to follow this systemic approach is setting their strategies; in addition to the profit generation objective, they aim to enhance social requirements of the community and try to satisfy them. In Kuwait, the National Bank of Kuwait is a good example of these organizations that use the systemic approach to develop their strategies. The use society needs as a basis to define how to shape their strategies and how to apply it, both in the short run and long run. This approach guarantees a more successful future for the company as it creates a strong relationship between the company’s interests. A better reputation and acceptance from the society will be the intangible reward from society members who will see the bank in a different way than just considering it as a financial entity. (Management control systems, 1984)

Q3: Comparing two strategic theories

Now, let us make a comparison between two perspectives of these four perspectives we discussed above, so we can define the aspects of similarity and differences among them. We will compare the classic approach and the evolutionary approach using examples of companies mentioned above. The classical approach is distinguished by being more formal so determining goals and objectives sounds like a direct process. The classic approach is also characterized by rationality as a thinking style in forming strategies. On the other hand, the evolutionary approach sounds related more to logic; it tends to handle market fluctuations more efficiently. Rationality is not an obvious feature of this approach, contrary to the classic approach, because decision makers have a specific objective to achieve is to let the company survive and hunt every possible chance they can find in the market. Decision maker who adopt the classic approach, however, have a direct objective to maximize profits and reduce costs. They can achieve this target by getting a competitive advantage that can distinguish their products or services, this can be achieved by exploiting a state of the art technology that can enhance product quality and support the supply chain which in turn can raise revenues and sales of a specific product. They also can downsize the operational expenses, like salaries expenses, so profit maximization goal can be achieved. (Management control systems, 1984)

Decision makers in both approaches need to exploit all available opportunities in the market, while try to face and handle all potential threats. New technologies, fewer competitors and decreased trade regulations are examples of market opportunities that decision makers need to hunt as soon as they can. On the other hand, governmental regulations, large scale economies and raised number of new entrances are good examples of threats that decision makers need to put in their consideration when they formulate the company strategy, no matter the approach they follow, no matter the products or services they provide. In both scenarios, the top management must consider to maintain the company position in the market as an objective to be considered when it set and formulate the company strategy. (Data analysis and decision support, 2005)

Concluding the above discussion, we can say that the top management in any organization need to enhance and support the image and position of the company among other competitors in the market, this can be done by setting a strong strategy that reflect the company’s mission and vision and enhance the achievement of its targets using one of the four perspectives we discussed in this paper. (Management control systems, 1984)

 

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