CEMEX Strategic Management

Introduction

Any business organization that seeks success should give much interest to its strategies and strategic management in order to boost other business rivals and increase its competitive advantages. (Gates, 2010) CEMEX is a big cement company established by a Mexican family. The company's strategy to be among the leaders companies in that field globally depends on three major orbits which are strengthening its existence in Mexico, focusing on internationalization and focusing on the global market. The company that began as a simple local business in 1906 in Mexico grew to be interested in many fields including oil, mining and tourism to be listed on the stock exchange of Mexico but cement was focused on to be its main business. CEMEX had good international opportunities in the mid 1980s but the chairman focused more in Mexico and then went globally by investing the company's noncore assets to be the best cement producer in Mexico first and then to internationalize the business. The company succeeded in Europe as in Spain and then Asia as in Philippine, Thailand and Indonesia. The company's production capacity raises in 2005 to be a global company with a current international network but there are still two main markets where CEMEX is still absent from which are China and India. The current paper is aiming at discussing the strategic management of CEMEX and its critically analyzing its future state and aspiration explaining its competitive advantage in addition to designing an alternative strategic plan for CEMEX to sustain growth in Oman market and face the challenges in it.

Analysis

Organizational vision, mission, objectives and strategic capabilities

CEMEX has a vision that depends on serving the requirements and needs of buildings for customers on a global level in addition to building a strong value for all the company's stakeholders via building a worldwide brand that reflects the most  profitable and efficient business and cement company. CEMEX is having a commitment for raising the effectiveness of the cement industry to be a partner in building nations with producing high quality cement. CEMEX mission is based on promoting the cement industry to be a key partner in the economic growth of nations and in building the infrastructures of countries and developing them. The company's mission includes having an effective advocate for all members of international cement and construction industry in addition being a responsive organization for the various issues relevant to the industry globally as well as establishing better stakeholders' relationships. (Husted and Alan, 2010) The company has organizational goals including making the company a global leader in cement industry, producing high quality products ensuring corporate social responsibility shown in many areas such as being environment friendly and helping for the world society, ensuring safety and security for all stakeholders, reaching higher levels of profitability and competitiveness in the field of cement production and ensuring sustainability in all activities and processes relevant to the business. The company also aims at invading new markets in the near future such as India and China, raising its human resources job satisfaction and retention rates and being a leader in the charity and helpful activities for the local and global societies. (CEMEX, 2016)The company has a number of strategic abilities that are used on a very professional level such as its capabilities in using technology for modernizing the techniques used in manufacturing and distributing its products and its capabilities un having strong human resources with different skills that are well used by the company to boost the global market yet the company should maintain some more core competencies that can be used for invading new markets such as India and China as these markets require new core competencies to be maintained by the company that are not found in other cement companies in these areas. (Ahlstrom and Bruton, 2009) 

Evaluation of the organization's Strategic management implications

Strategic management implications of CEMEX can be evaluated according to the international market expansion and the risk management processes. CEMEX has different strategic management processes as the company creates an environment that depends on making strategic alliances with the company's stakeholders especially shareholders who are well acknowledged with all the companies activities and policies, there are also the company's human resources who are given high interest to reduce turnover rates and retain them as the company invests in them in addition to other stakeholders including the world and local societies as CEMEX shares in many charity projects and sponsorship activates.(Harrison and John, 2007) CEMEX also tries to create value by establishing a global portfolio that includes many different activities related to integrated cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete as the company makes sure of many steps such as valuing people who are the company's main competitive advantage as it helps customers succeed, help purchasers have long term profitability opportunities and ensuring sustainability to be fully embedded. (cemex, 2016) Yet the company should consider more risk management processes in order to consider risk as a core competency that can raise its competitive advantage as according to Lucia and Lessard, (2006), CEMEX has focused on two areas in risk management processes which are at first: growing in a very strong market and a strong institutional environment , CEMEX had the ability to succeed in markets that more powerful competitors didn't dare to enter. CEMEX has been famous for achieving many risky processes rather than avoidance of them which is a valued core competency for the company such as entering new markets in Asia and Europe; the second risk process is that CEMEX tried to make risk management as everyday activity of the company and nit as a separated process of the company's business as it became part of its cultural and organizational fabric. CEMEX includes risky decisions in the strategic planning of the company and align them with needs of the market and customers as it follows new innovative techniques in production and distribution of cement around the world. The biggest strategic risk CEMEX faced and succeeded in managing it is when its economic viability was threatened by the Mexican economy opening and the cement industry globalization as the company reacted to this threat by setting a stronger global scale and at the same time narrowing its product focus to cement and concrete only but the company has to develop new capabilities that can cope with new emerging risks in its field globally such as studying the demand risks in markets as India and China .

Explanation of competitive capabilities in improving trade margin and focus

CEMEX has competitive capabilities in improving trade margin and focus as the company focused on diversifying its geographic distribution areas to reach many new areas in addition to focusing only on cement as a main product of the company which raised its profit margin. In end of 2005, CEMEX got profits estimated with 1.5 million dollars out of its projects focusing on poor people in Mexico and although the trade margin of the company wasn't that high but it was improved by the company's capabilities in sharing in CSR projects in poor countries as Mexico and others in Asia and Africa which raised the trade margin as a result of improving the company's image at the countries where such projects were made and in other global countries based on such profitable partnerships with such countries. (Werhane et al, 2009). CEMEX is making deep analysis for the industry and this is among its competitive capabilities as the company has strong analysts who are able to study the market before entering it in addition to measuring loss and profit via different types of cost benefit analysis that can tell how much the company can gain from a specific market as for example, CEMEX is improving its trade margin by making good business in the USA as  the reasonable low price of portland cement and clinker the American companies import from CEMEX has made CEMEX get a disproportionate share of the U.S. market but at the same time this caused CEMEX problems such as the complaints of the  U.S. producers who accused CEMEX of selling its portland cement and clinker in prices that are less than the fair market value in which they described as predatory. (Bowman, 2010) According to Bovet, Martha and Consulting, (2000), margins of CEMEX are improving aligning with the strategy of CEMEX for paying down debt via selling off some of its real estate. As a way for investment; Cemex focused on its $520m contribution to its 2015 EBITDA from higher pricing policy and predicted a greater contribution in the year 2016. Debt reduction is a capability of CEMEX that is followed to raise trade market. CEMEX is also following a value before volume strategy that is able to raise its profitability and was followed for the past three years as the company's contribution was raised to $520m in 2015 after it was below $400m in years 2013 and 2014 at $395m and $390m.

Alternative strategic plan for CEMEX 's challenges and growth sustainability in Oman

Oman is a big market that all international businesses seek to inter and make business in due to many reasons such as the vivid investment conditions and supportive business environment as the government gives good opportunities to businessmen in related to taxation systems and import and export policies and tariffs. According to Hegazy and Doust, (2016) Oman is a main country of the Middle East where CEMEX is focusing as it has a large population and different industries that all requires construction projects for both housing and manufacturing needs. CEMEX needs to have an alternative strategic plan for facing any challenges in Oman and in improving the business there as the plan should be built on main goals of increasing the products distributed in Oman and perhaps there should be special plants for the company and this depends on the relationships between CEMEX and Oman government as the company can find many good opportunities for cement manufacturing in Oman with its different deserts and nature. The plan can be short term or long term as this depends on the size and volume of investment s set to be practiced by the company in Oman. CEMEX can also make deep analysis for the needs of the Omani market and how to control prices in the country and then to expand the business in other Gulf countries such as KSA and Kuwait where there are many construction projects. CEMEX should change its plans in Oman from those in other developing countries as Oman is not in that need for CSR via building homes for the poor but the company can be a sponsor for many sport activities such as football and others which improves the company's image at its customers' eyes. Oman also needs the company to make different advertising campaigns for manufacturing the product in Oman because the people in Oman needs to learn more about how powerful and effective CEMEX cement is in order to increase profitability and success in a country such as Oman that is a great opportunity to any business to invest in.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to refer to how CEMEX became in such a successful position in the market of cement today as the company began simply in Mexico but with great efforts to focus only on cement and the different risk policies maintained by the company and how the company is applying them; the company was able to get a very high position in the world as there were three basic orbits the company focused on since its start as they are: the local market, international markets and global ones. As CEMEX has succeeded a lot in that field, it seems that it gives much interest to all stakeholders as the company is keen on making shareholders acknowledged with all about the business and its profits and the human resources are highly regarded by the company in addition to the different activities such as charity and others the company is sharing in them. CEMEX tries to have strong strategic capabilities that enable it to boost the international market such as being risky and taking risk decisions after deep analysis as when CEMEX makes such analysis; the company is also successful in improving its trade market by pricing policies, CSR projects and other ways. The company was also successful in taking serious decisions like focusing on cement only as a main product. The company is recommended to take more risks to reach markets such as India and China. CEMEX has also to put a different alternative strategic planning that can depends on goals and objectives that can share for raising the company's profitability and trade margin.

Change Management Australian Coral Mine

Introduction

Change management is a process that depends on tools, techniques and methods for managing the way people are changing in the business organization and that change is meant for achieving certain business goals and outcomes. Change management uses organizational tools to help employees pass the different stages of change in order to apply it at last the way the organization desires. (Creasey, 2007) Business environments of today are so dynamic to the extent that they require organizational change as a main component of the organizational success which makes having organizational change and its relevant tools and methods is a need for the organization's stability and achievement of required transformation that helps reach better competitive advantage. The nature of the business and the market control the way the organization is managing change and the people who are responsible for achieving it and this is also related with the degree of understanding change by people in the organization. The current case discusses how change can be resisted by employees if it is not understood by employees as miner identities at the Australian colliery affected their acceptance to the change program as they view it as an attack on their dignity as it breaks their normative expectations and the current working relationships. Managers' prerogative attitudes in management and in applying the performance management system made miners face it with a resistance as it challenged their share miner identity and then change was refused. The current paper is discussing change management according to the case and it aims at explaining how to manage change effectively and managing resistance to change and realize the reasons that make change fail in the business organization. It also aims at analyzing the case critically in order to understand how managers made mistakes in applying change and how they can lead change effectively and face resistance to change.

Analysis

Critical analysis and evaluation of change initiated by the CEO of the Australian coal mine with relevant application of change and leadership theory

The CEO of the Australian coal mine applied a new system of appraising work performance and he didn't make any consultation before applying the change which lead to implement a performance appraisal system that is so simple and lacks main components relevant to HRM such as pay, performance and others. Miners were in need for a union official and this should have been regarded by the CEO and other managers as the miners should be job satisfied in order to do well at work as the lack of their needs made them refuse such change and just accept it by law and by force. This lead to reduced productivity and low performance as according to Wittig, (2012) the lack of understanding the occupational culture by managers can lead to not regarding the needs of workers which occurred with miners, the rating process also wasn't fair and was not accepted by miners. Lack of regarding needs and complaints of miners lead to their feeling of a lack of respecting them. Miners feel that they are abused by such appraisal system as they need to feel safe which is lacked in such a system. Another problem is that miners complained of being unfairly scored as this lead miners to work harder but not smarter which reduced the level of performance. Miners identities and the culture forming them were not understood by the CEO before applying the change which lead to problems and refuse to change as legitimating the process of change implementation lead to isolating miners and making them perform without the correct supervision of managers.  Pryor et al, (2008) discussed the reasons that make change fail referring to theories of change management such as using the change model that is suitable to the organization needs and nature of employees and their needs as they discussed organizational change versus organizational transformation; they explained that change should pass some steps in order to succeed as there should be a transformation not a change to occur, this was confirmed by Nickols, (2016) who added that preparing for the change is a very important stage and that change should be studied well and tried before its last implementation as employees' reactions to change should be studied and their needs must be considered when applying the change. Cummings and Worley, (2014) discussed how Lewin's model of change can be effective when it is applied by management as it consists of three stages that are unfreezing which includes preparing for the change and then change which refers to implementing it and refreezing which means to stress the change in the organization, this is useful as it can help managers adapt and modify the change in the unfreezing phase to the needs of employees and the nature of the organization to improve performance as a main goal. This was confirmed by Hiatt, (2006) who referred to ADKAR model of change that involves five phases or main components for implementing the change which are awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement.

Critical explanation and analysis of miners' general views

Miners views show that they have fears of threats to their occupational community as one of the miners said that he had a problem with the rating process as he thought that he is rated without real understanding for his work abilities, performance and outcomes as he mentioned that he is rated before he goes into the rating room and there is no chance for changing the score he gets; this leads to reduction in the level of miners' performance as according to Thomas, (2014), effective leadership is the one that regards employees' needs and complaints about any new change otherwise they will resist change and find ways to work against the organizational goals. This occurred in the current case and many miners feel threatened in such work environment as a miner commented that the place they work in is dangerous and that leadership doesn't consider safety measurements for miners as if their safety is not regarded by the organization or managers. Adamshick, (2007) explained how risky work environment are in need for safety measurement applications rather than any other work environment as safety climate can raise the employees' morale and make them feel appreciated and respected by the work organization and managers which in turn can improve performance and productivity. Samuel, (2013) explained that change management is a crucial process that leaders and managers should understand before implementing any change as they should realize how far employees regard change and if they have different needs that change can't apply because this can lead to making the needed change instead of a change that will lead to passive results and negative outcomes in relation to performance. In the current case, one miner explained that he was very proud that he expressed his opinion to the manager and that he was able to change his score which tells how far the work environment in threatening to employees and may lead to high turnover rates because it lacks effective communication as it is clear that when one employee had negotiated a problem and was able to communicate it with the manager, he sees this is a great thing to do and not a common thing. This is very dangerous as it makes employees feel not respected or regarded by managers which was another opinion of another miner. Another opinion of miners show that change is not fairly implemented in the organization as some miners are low rated while others are highly rated without clear explanations for reasons for such unequal rating system as the miner expressed that he will react as other miners who work smarter not harder in a hint of not correct actions with managers. Farell, (2009) discussed this problem and he referred to equal and fair implementation for rating systems that can bring in the best results in performance of employees; this was confirmed by Mone and London, (2014) who stressed the need for avoiding errors of rating by managers via using successful rating systems that can satisfy all employees and really measure their performance.

Communication plan  

Erskine, (2013) confirmed the importance of communication plans in change management as he focused on two types of communication which are the communication that can discuss the change with employees and the communication that can get information when needed either from employees or managers. This was confirmed by Newton, (2012) who added that communication plans can help in managing change step by step.

Communication type	Objectives	Medium	Frequency	Audience	Owner	Deliverable
Meetings with managers	To make managers understand how to apply change with a model	Face to face	Weekly	Manager	Trainers and consultants	Agenda
Project team meetings	To make employees understand change and express opinions	Face to face By reports By e-mail	Weekly	Miners	Trainers and managers	Agenda
Reports about miners' satisfaction by managers	Realizing needs of miners and modify change to them	Written Reports Questionnaire Interviews	Monthly	miners	Managers consultants	Performance Reports
Reports about managers' performance	Monitoring managers implication for change	Written reports	Monthly	Managers	Supervisors and consultants	Performance reports

Source: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/187430/Research-Office-Communications-Plan.pdf

The plan can be achieved according to what was reported by Biech, (2016) as he reported that change management needs training for both employees and managers and this can be reached by implementing a communication plan for managing change and as confirmed by Attong and Metz, (2016) who asserted that to make a business change succeed, there should be a communication plan that can be updated to match the needs of the project applied as a change.

The current communication plan is set to focus on both managers and miners as managers are in need for understanding the process of change and to realize that it needs to pass different stages before implementing and there are right ways for the correct implementation of change. The plan has four types of communication which are meetings with managers, project team meetings, reports about miners' satisfaction by managers and reports about managers' performance in applying change. This can be done by the help of some trainers, consultants and supervisors who can provide managers with training needed for change implementation in order not to fall in errors as the occurred before. Supervisors and consultants can monitor managers' performance and report it in order to be estimated and to evaluate change. Miners' opinions and complaints should be listened to by the reports or via the meetings with them that can strengthen the communication process between miners and managers. The plan can be adapted and updated according to the needs of the miners, managers and the organization. The communication plan can be effective when needs of miners are met and when they have a supportive performance appraisal system that can help them have their rights, feel better and perform better in the work which can raise productivity and profitability as well as raising miners' moral which ensures better work environment as the communication process will reveal many opinions and complaints the miners may have which is helpful in meeting their needs and making them job satisfied.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to refer to the importance of understanding change management process and how to implement change properly in the business organization. As seen above, the CEO of the coal mines in Australia has committed mistakes as he didn't prepare for the change or make analysis for miners' needs which resulted in great failure and resistance to change as well as a reduction in the level of miners' performance that reflected on the organizational productivity. The organization should give much interest to miners' opinions in order to raise their morale and make them job satisfied and this can be applied by implementing a communication plan that focuses on both managers and miners in order to establish a work environment where communication is well applied as this will help in recognizing needs and complaints of miners and apply a new change that can satisfy them.

Strategic Management Oman Alluminium Rolling Company

Analysis of the industry and the firm

Oman Aluminium Rolling Company LLC (OARC) is one of the leading companies in the field of Aluminum rolling in Oman and in the Gulf area as its start was in 2011 as it began to be a green field aluminum rolling mill plant based in Sohar Industrial Estate. The company was established for purposes of producing products of aluminum by processing aluminum metal to make the required rolled products in the Gulf and Omani markets. The plant has actual capacity estimated with 140,000 metric tons per annum of multi-purpose Aluminum sheets that are marketed in the local and the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America markets. The company follows very modern strategies in production and marketing of such products based on the needs of the market as according to the Aluminum association, (2007), the aluminum rolling industry requires high efficiency in managing the different relevant operations such as the sheet rolling operations, the sheet finishing and the quality and process control. The OARC focuses on the rolling processing operations with the help of other companies contracted with it such as the Sohar Aluminum company to smelt the material directly and produce enough amounts of aluminum coils and products. The company is trying to make different expansions to include more operations as in 2014 it built a new aluminum Coil Coating Unit for its existed units with a capacity of 25,000 ton per annum as an expansion to the company's existing OARC rolling mill located in the Sohar Industrial Estate (SIE) in Oman. The plant is able to provide customers with different aluminum products as the Coil Coating Line is the first of its kind in Oman. The Plant was established for meeting safety and environmental standards, and it is equipped with high industrial technologies relevant to the aluminum coating industry. Due to the high safety standards of the plant, it exceeded 5 million accident-free man-hours in its construction phase. OARC is keen on producing the best quality aluminum products as it is following national and international standards to meet the needs of the market and to reach a high level of customers’ satisfaction aligning with its quality policies and sustainable improvement. The Company looks forward to being a world-leader in the field of rolled aluminum production. Among the company's goals is to be a part of the Takamul project and is adapting its objectives for developing the mineral, metal and petrochemical projects as Takamul is developing an aluminum downstream park that is known as the Metal Park and it includes a number of projects that will be able to convert the liquid aluminum from the smelter to the semi-finished as well as the finished aluminum products. Takamul project is a subsidiary of the OOC which is a completely Government owned company located in the Sultanate of Oman.

According to United States, Bureau of the Census, (2001), the aluminum industry is one of the most important metal manufacturing industries in the world which makes it a good chance to establish a plant for manufacturing aluminum and produce different types of it via rolling and other processing methods; the aluminum industry can be one of the income resources for a country and it can provide many job opportunities but this industry requires specific levels of quality that can raise sales and lead to more profitability as this industry can meet the market demands of different products including food packages, finished coil products, semi finished coil products  and other different products. OARC has a vision that depends on making the company an organization of a world class that is able to support the Omani economy and ensuring job opportunities for its youth. Its mission is to provide safe work environment for its society and keep it without harms on both environmental and industrial levels with a customer focus in order to meet customers' expectations with a product that is of high quality and to ensure the highest market productivity that results from its efficiency and capabilities. The company depends on a concept of value creation that ensures the continuous creation of values in relation to production and services. ORAC has a business strategy that applies many principles that can benefit the country's economy and raise more profits such as Omanization as the company tries to nationalize its policy of employment and it follows employing Omani young people who are trustworthy and talented in strategic positions in the company to build a strong future of employees who are loyal to the company and reduce the ratios of turnover in the organization to gain them as valuable assets that help in the growth and development of the organization. The organization of OARC supports the creative initiatives that develop and retain local Omani talents and consider Omanization as one of the organization's “Corporate Social Responsibility” concepts. Omanization aims at ensuring a sustainable increase in the competency among Omani Employees at all the different levels of the Company. OARC has an internship program that applies basics of corporate social responsibility principles and tries to develop the students of Omani universities by offering them an internship program that provides them with opportunities for practicing their educated material and understand how rolling aluminum industry works on in real life with a presentation for the different used techniques, machinery and technologies in the plant of ORAC as students have the chance to acquire skills and experiences in addition to practical knowledge about the functions applied within the rolling aluminum industry. (Oman-arc, 2016) 

The aluminum rolling industry requires innovative strategies and developed techniques in all its practices in order to compete the market and boost other rivals as aluminum rolling mills require updated different solutions in order to produce higher quality products everyday; it is a great challenge for a company as OARC to maintain sustainable plant productivity and quality rolled products. Due to the international economic growth, the company is faced with severe competition from other countries in areas as Asia that has witnessed great economic growth and success in the aluminum rolling field as many plants there have been developed and grew so it is important for OARC to have continuous optimizing for the different aluminum rolling processes so as to keep competitive. There should be higher rolling speeds as well as raised plant productivity which are the best key factors for securing the company's position in the market. Regarding such industry; there are many different strategies that can improve and develop its current position as flexibility is important as the company has to be flexible in its products and amounts according to the needs of the customers and the plants should be adapted to such changes as this may require fast production, different delivery times or other relevant decisions that a strategy can suggest. The changes in products locally and internationally should also be regarded and put into consideration by the strategy as there should be logistic design as a part of the company's plant solutions; another important factor in the aluminum rolling industry is to cut operating costs and increase quality in order to increase profits. (w3.siemens, 2016)

Identification of the possible scenarios

According to Burn, Marshal and Barnett, (2007),  any business organization that seeks success and competitiveness should depend on its strategic management techniques that need to be developed and improved along with the advancement and developments occurring in the industry and to choose the best business and corporate strategies that help in improving its efficiency and profitability. This requires the company to make the needed analysis that help in identifying the best strategies and this PESTLE analysis can be helpful in this:

1. Political

The political environment where OARC works is a safe environment as Oman is one of the countries that is advantaged with a stable political climate as the country enjoys peace without conflicts or wars with other countries or inside Oman. The government of Oman also gives many opportunities for its businessmen who establish great projects as ORAC and gives them many opportunities and facilities to develop and help its economy.

2. Economic:

ORAC enjoys being established in a country with a stable economic conditions as there is good economic conditions for the company to be established and flourished with a welcoming public audience of customers who prefer Omani products rather than others. The country is also advantaged with providing its citizens with high individual incomes which encourage any businessmen to build its own business with a trust in profit.

3. Social:

OARC is established in a country with a peaceful and interactive social life as Oman is one of the Arabian Gulf countries that is characterized with vivid changing nature and it is full of different people from different areas of the world who come to work and get privileges of Oman. The Omani society is an active changing one that bears welcoming for any innovative ideas and new industries and new businessmen who have the ability to improve the economy of Oman. The Omani society has changed to be a basic user of rolled aluminum products as they are widely used in machines, kitchens, restaurants, homes and everywhere due to its easiness, cleanliness and being friendly to the environment which makes the opportunities for a company such as OARC  great and available in a society such as the Omani one.

4. Technological:

Oman is a country that is characterized with following the latest technologies in all fields as most plants and factories follow the latest technologies in machinery, production and marketing in order to improve the service as well as the products and this technological trends are used in all areas of Oman which makes OARC keen on developing its facilities, plants and machinery in order to compete other market rivals locally and internationally and raise its profitability and success levels.

5. Legal:

The legal system of Oman is characterized with being clear supportive legal system for businesses and other different activities relevant to the market as the legal system has many laws that make businesses establishment in Oman flexible and receive many governmental and legal facilitations which makes OARC has good chances for development.

6. Environmental:

Oman is characterized with a safe environment with a desert climate but this environment has accepted many new life styles such as using aluminum products everywhere due to the easiness for its usage and the cheap prices of such products so the company has good opportunities to market its products in such environment. (BBC, 2016)

Porter theory

According to Constanta-Nicoleta, (2016), business organizations look forward to reaching competitive advantage through developments done for their strategies on both business and corporate levels as they try to reach higher productivity and profitability by developing their strategies and find the most suitable ones to be implemented. According to Porter, (2011), discussed the different possible strategies that can be helpful for any business organization and should be followed or chosen from by the organization; he referred to main three strategies which are cost leadership, differentiation strategy and the focus strategy and that each of them can be used according to the needs and nature of the business and how far profits are needed and related to the business strategies. As to OARC, it is an organization that looks for profitability and each of the three strategies can be effective with it as it can use the cost leadership strategy for reducing production and distribution costs or use the differentiation strategy in order to present new different services and products for its customers and beat the aluminum market with innovative high quality products or to use the focus strategy for focusing on some basic products and increase the production of these products to present them to the market with higher quality and better prices in order to attract more customers.

Cost Leadership strategy:

The cost leadership strategy is based on cost reduction through applying many techniques as it helps in raising the market share of the company and let it make more profits. Eldring, (2009) discussed Porter's generic strategies and explained how each strategy of the three can be effective and useful for business organizations, he discussed how the cost leadership strategy can be helpful for companies that need to save of its costs in production or other processes and operations in order to make more profits as the strategy depends on keeping a specific level of quality; this can be applied to OARC as the company can reduce costs of producing specific foil products and to make them less in selling prices to sell more but this needs the company to make different types of analysis to realize if prices reduction will affect its position in the market and if quality will not be affected by cost reduction of production.

The Differentiation Strategy

Lewis et al, (2006) explained how Porter's differentiation strategy can be effective when used by a leadership team of an organization either it was meant for raising profits or for satisfying customers and enhancing the company's name in the market as they stated that this strategy enables the company to add differentiation to its products to make them unique and innovative through applying differentiation on any feature of the product such as durability, functionality or others. This can be applied on OARC as it can present new innovative different product made of rolled aluminum or to improve a current product made of the aluminum to make it more durable for more usage time or for heat or to add more features for the service of delivering its products. This strategy can be effective in beating the market if the company succeeded in choosing the product or the feature but it requires high risk taking abilities and deep analysis from the company. Yet it seems to be suitable for OARC as it can bring in more success and profitability in addition to enabling the company to open new markets. 

The Focus Strategy

Moon, (2010) discussed the focus strategy as one of the three generic strategies of Porter and explained that this type of strategies is used when the organization tries to focus on a specific niche or a specific product and find new ideas for it regarding production, marketing, distribution or other practices in order to provide customers with a specific product with specific interest. As for OARC, this strategy may need much effort to be done with a specific product after studying all products and its effect on the market and its customers.

Evaluation of the strategy and recommendations

The differentiation strategy

Daft, Murphy and Willmott, (2010) discussed in their book the Porter's differentiation strategy and explained that this strategy can be applied on any type of organizations either it was established for profits as a main purpose or even governmental organizations or others. It is based on the concept of making the product different and unique by working on the product and make it ready for competitiveness against other products in the market, as to OARC; the company can employ its leadership to apply such strategy on products such as gauges in order to make them distinguished and qualified for stronger conditions and to be more durable and be different from other products in the market. The company can also differentiate its services and open new markets in other areas than the Gulf area such as the North Africa or in KSA in order to get more fame and make its products more needed in these markets. Daft, Murphy and Willmott, (2010) explained that this strategy can be effective with big organizations that produce many types of products and can choose some of them to make them differentiated by adding features of quality to the products such as reroll light and heavy gauges in order to improve the way they can be used by customers who will be more satisfied and happy with the new differentiation; this can help the company make more profits out of selling more of the product. The company can also applies new services for reaching more customer satisfaction and can reach more areas in Oman. By using the PESTLE analysis, it can be clear that the company has a good opportunity to work in Oman and can find new opportunities by differentiating its products in Oman at first and then to go out Oman and open new markets in other areas but as Oman is a rich country with peaceful political and social condition, the company can differentiate in many things such as the technology used in manufacturing its products as it can add advanced machines and developed technologies in manufacturing the products which fastens the process of manufacturing and produces better and higher quality products with big numbers and huge amounts in order to fill the Omani market with such innovative products and then to enter new neighboring markets. The requires the company to make a number of different analysis including a cost benefit analysis to calculate the cost of new advanced machines and the change that will occur in the product and to compare this with the profits gained from selling more products and attracting more customers in order to make more profits. The company can also deliver new aluminum products to the market that can be used easily at homes and offices such as kitchen appliances and parts of furniture that are suitable to offices and can be cheap in price and at the same time high in quality in order to beat the local market with local products that are better than imported products which will help the company make more profits and at the same time help the Omani economy to flourish and master the rolled aluminum market locally and perhaps internationally.  Abdelkafi, (2008) discussed how the Porter's topology is important in developing the business organization strategic management by applying strategies such as the differentiating strategy and the need to fill any gaps that can be found at time of implementing the strategy such as realizing the company's situation in the market, understanding the financial needs for the change, the market needs and the company's chances compared with other companies in the market; this means that the company has to investigate its situation before implementing the change and the differentiation strategy. These views were discussed by Porter, Magretta and Kramer, (2014) as they checked methods for implementing differentiation strategy in large business organizations such as OARC and explained that there should be analysis for the company's internal and external environments and identify any problems or difficulties that may face the leadership of the organization while implementing the strategy.

OARC has to regard many points before implementing the differentiation strategy based on the company's needs and situation in the market locally and internationally as the company is recommended to analyze the internal and external environments with all the operations and processes occurring for producing and marketing the products as they have to be adapted to suit the new products, machines have to be innovated and employees are in need to be trained for the new operations and systems of work; employees have also to be asked about the changes that will occur and their opinions should be regarded and considered as this can be done through holding meetings with employees and identifying their opinions, special analysts should be asked to give reports about the market and the needed products and how to compete the market locally and internationally. Dealings with suppliers and customers have to be update and developed in order to suit the new differentiation applied on the products. Services should also be developed to suit the new products and be suitable for encouraging the purchasers to ask for the new products. Advertisements should also be developed in order to make the market of Oman acknowledged about the new products and be encouraged to learn more about them and purchase them.  

Recommendation criteria

Any business organization that is trying to succeed has to identify its strategies and strategic management and check if they are useful or not in order to find new strategies to be applied and update the current strategy to find more suitable ones. In the case of OARC; the company is asked to follow the differentiation strategy to update its current products and develop its techniques in producing and processing rolled aluminum. The company can use the PESTLE analysis to investigate its position in the Omani market and then to use it for investigating its position in other countries or markets before entering such markets. As a big company, OARC can benefit greatly from the differentiation strategy according to the market needs in order to compete with other companies in the market and beat them. OARC is recommended to ask consultants in analysis and get advice from them about the best products to be developed via applying the differentiation strategy in order to reach the best results. The company is also asked to make the needed types of analysis that show the areas in Oman and the products that can suit applying the differentiation strategy and the methods that can be used in this in order to succeed and make the utmost  benefit out of it. 

Impact of leadership on the success of the organization using Graves seven vMems

First produce an assessment of how varying leadership styles impact an entire organization and its personnel. Describe the impact your organization's Values and Leadership System and Structure has on leadership, management and staff.

Many researchers have discussed the leadership style that is chosen by business organizations in order to have specific business environment and control and improve the workforce commitment as according to Germano, (2016), the effective leadership in a business organizatin can choose the leadership style that is suitable to the needs of the organization and that can help leadership implment the organizational goals and objectives such as strenghtening the organization's position in the market and raising its profits and reach higher levels of organizational success and have better market position. A successful business leadership style is that style that can bring in profits and reduce costs according to the requirements of the current stage and the needs of the market. My organization can choose any of the available leadership styles to it in order to apply it bassed on the work environemnt it has and market segmentation it relates its activity to. According to Swamy and Swamy, (2014) There are main six leadership styles which are the coaching style, comanding style, democratic style, affiliate style, visionary style and pacesetting style. Each of these styles can be used for specific purposes rather than the others as the proper choosing for the leadership style can make the leadership of the organization is more able to achieve the organizational goals. There are other theories that explain other styles of leadership such as those discussed by Lumbasi, (2015) an example is the supporting style that is high in support and low in direction, another one is the coaching style that is low in motivation and competency and high in direction. These leadership styles can be chosen and used according to the organizational objectives and the orientations of the company's leadership that should be clear to leaders as well as employees.   

There are many studies in this regard that suggest that the best leadership style is that one which is able to motivate employees for presenting their best to the organization and that can help them perform well and do their tasks as needed for their welfare and the welfare of the organization. This was assured by () who added that a good leader is that leader who is able to guide employees towards achieivng the organizational goals on the long run as well as the short run. There are different leadership styles that can be used in a business organization such as the transactional and transformational leadership styles and each of them has its own characteristics and requirements to reach organizational change. 

When the leader is able to choose the right leadership style to its organization, he then can find out the right leadership value system that can make a good image of the company among other competitors in the market. Professional managemnt has made it important in modern economies to use the leadership values system in order to improve the current and future position of an organization. The table below shows the number of leadership value systems that can be available for my business organization:

Beige

Yellow

turquoise

red

Green

Orange

Purple

Blue

Value systems of my company Figure 1

In my business organization, there are two main leaderdship value systems which are colored blue and purple. The purple color is the most dominant one as the company uses it to get best benefits on the company's various levels and this level is used to apply the transformational leadership style. The purple is good for the organization because it can make its current position stronger and can add many competitive advantages to it in areas such as work quality and time delivery in addition to providing a wider space for motivation and communication for employees. This can make schedules and deadlines are better achieved and delivered. This can help employees work hard to make the company succeed and reach a higher image in the market in addition to attract more people to deal with it and trust in its services. The purple system can make the company advanced and well prepared with good trained employees who are motivated to guide it forward and to make it more trustworthy by more adequate deadlines and better time schedules. The company mixes the purple with the blue in order to keep employees motivated and also enjoying a good work environment as the organization is making different improvements in its environment that make employees more relaxed such as changing furniture and developing its technology systems. When employees are relaxed and feeling better and comfortable, they are able to provide their best to the organization and improve its organizational performance.   

The organization's depending on the purple and blue systems can change at any time it sees this suitable and when it turns from a level to another of change. There are other colors that can be used by the business organization such as green, red, yellow and others whenever the organization is trying a different leadership strategy. The company can use the red color for example in order to apply a strict leadership system or the yellow for example to apply some critical modifications to the company. There is also the turquoise that can be helpful when a more global technique is going to be applied by the organization. The current transformational leadership style can also be used with the orange and the green value systems. The leader can also use a specific value system with his leadership style he applies and he can also changes from a color to another according to the needs of the leadership style he follows. For example, in our organization the leaders can change from transformational to transactional leadership styles based on the needs of the work environment and they can use the orange value system for motivating employees and they can also use the green one in order to train employees and develop their skills to be better and gain more skills. The leaders in my organizations apply transformational leadership style currently in order to provide employees with more time for communication and make them more flexible to receive criticism and training. This is helpful to apply the needed organizational change required for development.

Second now that you understand your company and leadership Value System dynamic (culture, structures, behaviors, actions, etc.) choose one specific Leadership issue/problem/challenge to solve and recommend a solution. The solution could be to improve change the Leadership Value System or Structure or make an important strategic decision.

Transformational leadership style is well applied in my organization and this makes it face different challenges that hinder the progression of the company. These challenges can be handled by applying the Meme stacks because they are able to help the organization achieve the desired organizational change it needs and this can be via applying a specific leadership style that is desired and suitable for the business organization. The main task of the Meme stacks is to face the challenges and providing the best solutions for them before the challenges lead to real problems. In my organization, the leadership is applying the purple and blue value systems of the Memes in order to make it reach better levels of competitive advantage and keep it well controlled at the same time using the blue level. My company is related to the worldwide marketplace of human rights and public services which makes it in need for continuouse development of ideas and innovations of services and it is in need for a leadership style that can raise its position and reputation as a trustworthy organnization in this field. In my organization, there should be specific modifications that are mainly related to the environmental regulations of the organization as they reflect the organization's vision related to its services and they have to show that the organization is keen on providing its services for all people equally without regard to color, sex, religion or other racial conditions. The organization is in need to develop its work environment in order to be more communicative and encouraging for innovation and creativity as there are many blcoks to them. This can be used by applying the yellow Meme stack that encourages the use of technology and development at work and the orange color in order to focus more on training and motivating employees and leaders to be more creative and innovative.

My organization is also facing different challenges that are related to its global work as a human rights organization as it deals with different people around the world and it attends different projects and conferences around the world. This makes it important for the organization to apply other Memes such as the green one and the turquoise inorder to give much more interest for different corporate social responsibility evenets around the world and different issues relevant to the protection of the environment, eco-friendly systems and other global issues in order to show how they are related to human rights and how human rights organizations can be effective in dealing with these matters locally and globally. This makes it important for the organization to be engaged locally and internationally into events such as planting and keeping the Earth safe from different wastes and harms that work against human rights. The orgaization here can seek specialists in these fields and trainers who can train employes to be able to use the environment and  the relevant issues safely and provide the local and international society with the needed services and share into these events effectively. The organziation can also apply certain events of its own to protect animals and other environemnt factors aiming at protecting huamn rights and supporting people livign on Earth locally and internationally. The turquoise color of the Meme systems can be effective in this regard and can help the organization develop itself locally and internationally.

This makes it improtant for the company to deal with the Meme systems and realize them effectively through understanding them and realizing the uses of each color and how they can be suited and then applied on the activities and services of the organization. This requires the organization leadership to have its own specialists and trainers who can help employees understand the changes in using the Meme value systems and the benefits that can be gained from them to the employees and the organization. Researchers show that there is always a peack for change and it can be seen on the long run and that it can change from time to time and let other peak to appear based on the requirements and needs of the phase of change. This peak can be represented currently in my organization by the purple and then the blue colors based on the needs of the organization and soon the leadership can turn to have another peak such as the yellow or the turquoise.The turquoise color can also be a peak on the long run to include global issues within issues relevant to the huam rights in Oman and globally or to the yellow color to focus on innovations and technology for development of the organization.  

Produce a reflection assessing your leadership capabilities and a plan for CPD development

For reflecting and assessing my leadership abilities, I need to depend on a number of measurements and hints that tell me how far I changed and developed my own leadership skills and abilities. Observation and taking notes are good tools to tell me how I was before the module and now. I also should make a comparison between the personal objectives I had and what I really achieved. In fact I think I am aquite good leader as I prefer the transformational leadership style and I like to make effective communications with the people and the team I lead. I also prefer to make effective discussions with the members of the team and exchange information with them. I like to study any decision before I take it as this study makes me realize the reason why I take the decision and the know the exact time I have to take the decision. When I am faced by a problems and a challenge I prefer to think deeply in it before trying to find a solution but in fact this takes too much time of me and this time waste affects my decision and sometimes I see that I take the wrong decisions due to  time waste. I prefer to be innovative and creative as a leader and engage others in new supportive projects where they can express themselves and their ideas freely and directly without fears. Sometimes I try to be more strict as a leader and I change from a transformational leader to a trnasactional one who prefers the team members to apply the rules and be adequate to controls and rules. I think that the value systems can be used by any leader who thinks that there are changes in his organization that need to be done and that the current phase is completely different from other past or future phases. The value Memes can be used to face different challneges and blocks in the organization and this is base on the needs of the organization. I find myself good as a leader who can motivate employees and guide them and push them towards applying the different ideas they can have and I envourage them to work in a comfortable loving work environment. As my organization is a human rights organization, as a leader I myself prefer to be very human with the members of my teams, I respect them and raise the concepts of fair, judge and dignity among them. I don't tell lies and when I promise I do what I promised. As a leader, I am honest and I try to give opportunities to all people and team members equally as this is among the huamn rights they need to receive. I think I can handle conflicts effectively and I am a good manager but I think I need to relax more and be more patient. I try to set good effective plans that have reasonable and achievable goals and then try hard to apply them on time schedules but I think I need to manage time better and be able to deliver work on deadlines better than now. I am keen on keeping the environment clean, save energy and save rights of animals in the community where I live and work, I also try to do different researches regarding the local and international requirements of life and try to be coping with the international events related to huamn rights and leadership at the same time. I try to let all team members to participate in decision making but sometimes I can't find time to make more discussions about decisions which makes me take the decisions quickly and without enough thinking.

A Plan for CDP development

To make a CDP plan for myself, it is important to set a number of objectives suchas the following:

1.      Reaching a better level of leadership.

2.      Being able to use the Meme values effectively.

3.      Reaching a higher level of success with working with my team.

4.      Managing time effectively.

5.      Making the work environment better.

6.      Delivering work on time.

7.      Being more adequate.

8.      Reaching better job positions.

9.      Being more creative and innovative and apply my creative ideas and ideas of the team members.

10.  Helping my organization reach better level in applying its services.

This can be reached by hard work on myself and my abilities as I should study more and read more about leadership theories and the Value Memes in particular as this can help me understand each level of the Memes effectively and apply it properly. This can also help me develop my own leadership and management knolwedge and information. Another important thing is that I have to compare other organizations in the local community that provide services related to the services of our organization in order to try to add competitive advantage to the organization. I should work more with teams and find more opportunties to engage others within my teams. I should work on a time plan that is well managed and prepared and let spaces of time in order to keep time adequate and effective. I need also to add education programs to my career in order to deserve promotions and reach higher job positions. I need also to share in different environmental projects and events locally and internationally. I should also to be more patient in decision making and try to be more dare in taking the right decisions in order to save time.