Management Across Cultures

Introduction

Today's business world has many global requirements as a result of the bad need for internationalization. In many business organizations today, culture has become a main issue that can be considered a benefit or a challenge as international organizations that have many different cultures among employees and managers can find this issue of facing culture a very important one. This made it important for many business organizations to train their managers to be efficient cross-cultural managers and be able to deal with culture effectively. The successful manager is that one who is able to motivate his employees and push them to work better and perform well with a high efficiency in dealing with the cultural diversity. The current paper is discussing some relevant issues to culture and across cultural management as it discusses how culture influences the working styles, different management styles and the importance of training managers to be inter-culturally competent.

Discussion

According to Wilson, (2005), culture leaves different influences on working styles as most business organizations today have overseas businesses and work with people from different cultures which can affect the work performance and this effect may be passive or negative. This was affirmed by Muenjohn  and Armstrong, (2007) who added that both individualism and collectivism can be associating factors for the cultural influence in business organizations as based on the policy of the host country where the business is; foreign employees can adopt individualism and be only interested in their own benefits and welfare which is passive influence for culture or they follow collectivism and be more cooperative and supportive for the business organization they work for. This view can be seen from another point of view based on the study of Vecchi and Brernann, (2009) who confirmed that culture can have influence on the employees' interaction in the workplace as employees and managers may find difficulty in understanding others' beliefs, values or behaviors when they belong to a different culture or this can be caused by the work environment and its conditions that may lead employees from different cultures find difficulty in communication and in understanding each other. This is true as some factors such as the leadership style or uniformity of practice can affect such matters and make culture either an advantage or a disadvantage for the organization.  Mohammed and White, (2008)discussed how culture requires a professional management that is able to be flexible enough to deal with people from different cultures effectively and can manage the conflicts that may be resulting from different cultural backgrounds in the workplace. Management style can be changed to face such conflicts as there are different models for dealing with conflicts by managers such as Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument as if managers ignored conflicts, this will lead to poor productivity and low business outcomes which make the multinational organization fail in dealing with the cultural diversity or make use of it. Hoang, (2008) explained how cultures can influence the different working styles of employees and managers as well through the cultural aspects that affect people's way of working including the corporate culture, ethnic culture, gender culture, communication styles and national culture as these factors can affect people's attitudes and make them change their working styles; for example, if the host country treats its expatriate employees in a sever unfair way; this in turn will make them follow individualism and be selfish which reduces the productivity and the efficiency of the work outcomes. He confirmed also that there should be an interest given for employees' values, beliefs, concepts and behaviors that are associated with their cultural backgrounds as they need to be respected and understood by others from different cultures.

Job Satisfaction

Introduction

Job satisfaction is very important in the different business organization in Oman and high salaries people working in Oman reflects the desire of organizations to satisfy their employees,  retain them and reduce their turnover rates but high salaries are not the only factors that help in motivating employees and maintain their job satisfaction. There are other factors that are used in business organizations working in Oman to maintain employees' job satisfaction; among them are the work environment, employees' recognition, different opportunities presented for employees by the organizations they work for and the empowerment of employees and different types of performance and reward management systems. (The report, 2016) The current report is discussing how far job satisfaction is important for employees working in companies of Oman either they are foreign employees or native Omani as job satisfaction is one of the most important human resource management issues that leaves its impact over many areas of the business such as productivity, performance and profitability. The research is investigating how employees can be job satisfied and how far this is related to high salaries and other factors as to satisfy employees, there are different methods that should be applied to satisfy employees and before applying them; management has to understand employees and to identify the most suitable method for each of them. This is applied via a questionnaire distributed on different employees in companies working in Oman from both public and private sectors and the questionnaire contains 10 questions related to the issue of job satisfaction and its relationship to salaries. The questionnaire is provided for employees from both sexes males and females and for people from different ages and different nationalities.

Literature Review

According to Raziqa and Maulabakhsh, (2015) job satisfaction can be referred to as an orientation of employees feelings towards a specific role or task they have to perform in the work place. It is a very important element in motivating employees and encouraging them to perform better and raise productivity. There are a number of factors affecting employees' job satisfaction such as the work environment, motivation, employee empowerment and salaries. There are many ways for raising employees' morale and encouraging them to have job satisfaction such as regarding all different needs of employees and trying to meet them, communication with employees, effective leadership style, training, environmental conditions, physical and psychological needs and empowering of employees. Waqas et al,(2014) explained the importance of having satisfied employees in the workplace referring to the high productivity that is associated with high rates of satisfaction in the workplace, high job satisfaction can also lead to high employees' retention and high success rates. Employees who are not satisfied on the contrary can cause different conflicts and stress in the workplace, they can affect other employees and cause different problems, they will be so lazy and disappointed that they can't provide the company with any positive outcomes. Employees job satisfaction can turn a lazy employee to an active one who is happy and feeling well towards the place where he lives.

There is a great impact of reward and recognition on satisfying employees which can improve their performance and retain them into the organization. Management should give high interest in systems for reward and performance appraisal and it should find out which systems are more suitable to the needs of its employees and then to apply them. Motivation is an important factor that can help employees be satisfied; this can be through monetary rewards such as raising salaries and giving employees more pay or non-monetary rewards such as recognizing the best employees and the most effective ones in the company, making parties and events for special employees to appreciate them and giving them certificates for appreciation. There are different activities and processes that are involved within motivation to raise employees' morale and job satisfaction through affecting their behaviors and raising their sense of belonging to the organization. Effective leadership should focus on motivating employees by addressing different needs they have. Danish and Usman, (2010) explained this referring to the Maslow hierarchy of needs and confirmed that each employee or group of employees can be addressed through a need from such hierarchy that should be studied by the managers. 

The level of organizational communication with employees can affect their job satisfaction. Managerial communication can help employees engage more in the workplace, perform better and achieve both personal and organizational goals. To raise employees' job satisfaction; it is important for management to focus on communication as based on the goal setting theory, the managers can communicate the organizational goals with employees and they can make these goals difficult to improve employees' abilities to solve problems, they can also motivate employees by rewards and recognition towards achieving the goals that should involve their personal goals as well. Farahbod et al, (2013) Organizational communication can help understand problems of employees, their conflicts and psychological and physical sufferings in order to meet them and satisfy employees. Managers' responsibilities should include focusing on employees' complaints and realizing their needs related to their career such as the need for training and promotion and those individual needs such as financial needs. Then the company should prepare a suitable development plan for employees as training them and developing their skills and experiences can satisfy their career needs and those who are more effective than others can be also motivated by rewards to encourage others to be like them. Hanaysha et al, (2016)

Analysis

Analyzing the data got from the questionnaire will help in realizing how far job satisfaction is important for employees and how they can be job satisfied. Sample of participants were students and teachers from Majan college.

Q1How far you are satisfied with your job at the company?

-Satisfied

-Not satisfied

-Neutral

Q1	Teacher	Male	Female
A	45%	35%	20%
B
C

Answers show that 45% of teachers were satisfied 35% of males and 20% of females were satisfied. This shows that employees need more techniques for making them satisfied.

Q2Job satisfaction is good because:

-It helps you work better.

-it improves work environment.

-It creates good relations between staff.

Q2	TEACHER	Male	Female
A	60 %
B		35%
C			5%

Answers show that most teachers see that job satisfaction helps them work better 60% and males 35% finds it improves the work environment and only 5% of females think it creates good relations between staff.

This means that satisfied employees are able to work better and that job satisfaction can improve the work environment.

Q3Is there good communication between management and staff?

-Most of the time

-Sometimes

-Rarely

Q3	Teachers	MALES	Females
A	33%
B		24%
C			43%

Answers show that there are 33% of teachers agree that there is communication between management and staff most of the time, 24% sometimes of males and 43% of females rarely.

This gives an idea about lack of effective communication between management and staff in many of the Omani business organizations and the need to more communication to satisfy employees.

Q4Is your work appreciated by management?

-Always

-Frequently

-Occasionally

Q4	Teachers	Males	Females
A	20%
B		20%
C			60%

 Answers show that many of teachers are not always appreciated by managers as only 20% are. 20% of males are frequently appreciated and 60% of females are occasionally appreciated.

This tells that there is a problem in management as low appreciation makes employees not satisfied.

Q5Does the organization provide you with training to improve your performance?

-Yes

-No

-Sometimes

Q5	Teachers	Males	Females
A	33%
B		24%
C			56%

20% of teachers agreed their organizations provide them with training while 24% of males refused and 56% of females said sometimes.

This means that there should be more training for Omani employees by their organizations to improve their performance and satisfy them.

Q6 Are you satisfied with the salary and benefits provided by the organization?

-Very satisfied.

-Somewhat satisfied.

-Not at all satisfied.

Q6	Very Satisfied	Somewhat satisfied	Not at all satisfied
A	40%
B		50%
C			10%

Answers show that 40% of teachers are satisfied with salaries and 50% of males are somewhat satisfied and 10% of females not at all satisfied. This tells that salaries in Oman are satisfying to a good extent but there could be other reasons for job satisfaction.

Q7Does the management reward you for your good work?

-Always.

-Sometimes

-Never

Q7	Teachers	Males	Females
A	33%
B		33%
C			34%

Answers tell that 33% of teachers are always rewarded for good work, 33% males are sometimes rewarded and 34% females are never. This shows that there should be more reward systems.

Q8What is the possibility for you looking for another job?

-Most likely.

-Not very likely.

-Not at all.

Q8	Teachers	Males	Females
A	50%
B		44%
C			6%

Half teachers 50% are most likely look for another job, 44% males not very likely and 6% females not at all. This reflects high dissatisfaction with jobs.

Q9 what changes that can be brought about do you recommend to ensure improvement in your job?

Answers included changing the leadership styles, training systems and performance appraisal systems.

Q10 how can the organization ensure the staff are satisfied?

Answers reflected a need for tools to evaluate performance and reward and recognize employees.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is important to focus on the need for having satisfied employees and to communicate with them to realize how far they are satisfied and to understand reasons for their dissatisfaction. This can be done by applying different techniques for rewarding and appraising employees.

Natural Heritage and Culture -The Blue Mountain

Introduction

       According to Dorfman, (2011)There are different types of heritage which could be natural. Natural heritage can be defined as total biodiversity elements gathered in a place that is naturally blessed with flora and fauna elements which are considered parts of the ecosystem in addition to including some geological features. Australia is a country and a continent that lies in the southern hemisphere and its capital is Canberra. Australia is famous for its natural heritage as there are many natural inherited places which are very famous and important such as the Blue Mountains. To reach the Blue Mountains, people go to the west of Sydney at less than an hour by car. The area covered by the Blue Mountain is about 1436 square kilometers with population that estimated in 2006 with 76,080 persons. The blue mountain is a major destination for tourism especially ecotourism and there are some other areas around it and are considered tourist attractions that attract tourists from all over the world. The mountain is surrounded by many beautiful areas such as Oberon, Lithgow, Richmond and Penrith. According to the World Heritage Listing, (2015), The Blue Mountain of Australia is considered among the world Heritage Area as it is the 14th on the world level; this was declared in November 2000. As the Blue Mountain is among the world heritage areas, it has an outstanding value to humanity and nature so it has been added to the World Heritage list in order to be known for all as an international landmark representing natural heritage. The current research is discussing the Blue Mountain through analyzing the approaches of planning, protection and conservation for it by heritage sites whether local or international, natural cultural or mixed.

Dissection

       Many approaches are used for planning, protection and conservation of natural heritage areas such as the proactive approach which is used in order to protect these areas and keep them away of harm and damage. The Blue Mountain is an area where there is a variety of geography and geomorphology features such as waterfalls and cliffs that are of great biological value resulting from the high biodiversity they include and the cultural values of the post European settlement, it has also a variety of water production and natural beauty of wilderness that are very common to be found there. (Mylne et al 2010) Understanding the nature of the area  with its cultural context makes it better in protecting the area's integrity  According to (the Blue Mountain Conservation Society 2015)Protecting the area of the Blue Mountain which is called the GBMA referring to The Great Blue Mountain Area includes the governmental role of the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of New South Wales as they set legislations and laws that tend to protect natural heritage areas as the Australian government issues acts of law that are prepared t protect these natural areas from harm and dangers such as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 which was and still a tool for Australia's obligations to be implemented according to some environmental agreements which are multilateral and are interested in the world heritage protection. The responsible minister of consideration is the person who is in responsible for applying the law on any action that has an impact on the values of natural heritage. He is to apply the required penalties for any breaching actions to the set laws and legislations that protect the area.  Breaching this legislation is considered a crime and the laws can deal with someone who meant to breach these laws. (nsw 2015)

       Another approach is integrated approach that includes all relevant aspects regarding the preservation of areas with natural heritage such as the Blue Mountain. Many organizations which are meant to adopt such approach in order to cover all areas of interest and care with the Blue Mountain and other natural heritage areas. (dnr 2015) Among these organizations is the Blue Mountain conservation Society which has many integrated activities such as helping the poor, preservation activities, nursery and bush care in addition to caring for the Great Blue Mountain Area. This organization is adopting an integrated approach in protecting the Blue Mountain which are protecting the national parks that contain animal species that are endangered as the towns that are all around the Blue Mountain area contain national parks which are integrated within the production area. The organization is following an integrity approach that includes monitoring the work of acts to be applied on those who breach the laws regarding the natural heritage areas, it also includes monitoring people's behavior in these areas, community consultation and it also provides the local government with the chance to work with them and then the government can provide the society preservation projects with the needed fund to make them work. The organization is trying to raise the land that national parks and reserves are covering by making environmental projects that tend to implement projects such as the Public Lands Rationalization which is meant to preserve the lands and other projects regarding nature and the environment. National parks, wilderness, reserves and natural areas are all integrated within the projects adopted by the society in addition to provide new innovative ideas in natural heritage care such as weed management project. As the place is full of animal species that are rare and valuable, the society tends to provide them with care and control in order to protect the animals from excessive hunting through applying programs that provide these animals with protection and raise the public's awareness regarding dangers of excessive hunting. As the society is following an integrity approach, all means of protection are included such as studying the new legislations issued by the NSW Parliament in order to put tourism in a new development scheme that cares for natural heritage. Risk management is also involved within this approach as there could be some risks on the animals and plants of the area so this is also taken into consideration by many organizations. (Blue Mountain Conservation Society 2015)

    

     

       The conventional approach is adopted by many governmental and nongovernmental organizations through raising people's awareness regarding how to reserve the natural heritage of areas as the Blue Mountain where there are many valuable things such as the wilderness, waterfalls, plants and animals. There are many management challenges that are meant to be taught to tourists who visit the place as they may commit mistakes that can endanger the place and lead it to have risky accidents. This is also included within the integrity approach as risk management and education are both connected t each other. Organizations such as the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage which is a governmental organization sees that it is important to provide tourists with education about how to set fire, take photos and hunt because they endanger the rare species of animals to die out and they make fires in the bushes. There are many visitors to Australia from all over the world and this makes it urgent to provide them with the needed education about how to keep the natural heritage safe. The organization has a strategic plan about how to make a philosophical base for managing the area and setting many policies and strategies to protect it according to the World Heritage Convention and its Operational Guidelines and the Australian World Heritage management principles that are ensured by the Australian government regulations such as the Biodiversity Conservation Act.  (Environment 2015)

According to environment 2015, as the Blue Mountain is an area that has many valuables and that valuables need to be appreciated by others so the value lead approach is followed by organizations such as The Blue Mountain City Councils which is an organization of the government and it is concerned with how to raise the value of the Blue Mountain area to people who never visits the place or to those who are used to visiting it through applying certain programs based on a value lead approach as such programs and publications that show how far the place is important to natural heritage. (ShortCuts 2011)The organization is following some processes such as the dynamic process which is prepared in order to protect the landscape by raising its value so the organization is setting conferences and meetings that are about the history of the place and why it is important to be on the world's heritage list. This can declare how much is the place valuable and why people should keep it with its details. The organization is keeping the area's eucalypt-dominated ecosystems which is very important for ecotourism and scientists. The value of the site is also in its primitive species of plants and animals that may die out soon and need to be valued. The organization also gives interest to the plant families that are also endangered to extinct. (Bmcc 2015).    

            The inclusive approach is used by many organizations that tend to protect the Blue Mountain area and manage its relevant issues such as managing diversity within the area and this is not a simple task as it needs high professionalism in order to study the cultural heritage of the place in order to set a reasonable plan for improving it. (Hall 2014) The place includes a great variety of animal diversity and plant diversity which leads organizations to think of solutions of management for the places' services. The diversity is also included within the ecosystem. Some non  governmental organizations try to protect and preserve the place by marketing for it to get benefits and to make a great value for the place in addition to attract tourists from all over the world to enjoy coming to it. Marketing for the place depends on attracting tourists interested to be eco friendly in order to bring them in the Blue Mountain and enjoy the fantastic landscape it has. (Hall &Page 2014) According to the Global Tourism and Leisure Pty, (2009) The local tourism (LGA) organizations give great interest in focusing on the Blue Mountains as a major destination for ecosystem all over the world, they try to identify the tourists' needs and build strategies based on meeting these needs and at the same time preserving the natural heritage of the place. They work hard to market for the place and maximize the tourist revenues  and provide advice regarding local tourism for all tourist companies in Australia.  Managing the tourism industry in the Blue Mountain is very important and needs much more care from both governmental and non governmental organizations. (Howard and Papayannis 2013)

       The authenticity approach is followed by organizations that try to keep the natural heritage sites such as the Blue Mountains as these organizations try to keep the natural heritage of the place without change or harm. Among these organizations are local associations and international associations that tend to assert the value of the place through following certain activities and apply them then to make assessment for these activities and evaluate results in order to measure whether or not they succeeded in raising the public awareness regarding the natural heritage importance.(Boyd 2012) Examples on these associations are the Katoomba RSL Club which is established on the basis that environment is very important for life of people and that Australia is a major tourism destination that has a great natural heritage that needs to be preserved. Another one is the Blue Mountain Netball Association which is also based on basics of environmental care and as it is founded in the Blue Mountains, it gives more interest to Blue Mountain activities and then assessment and evaluation is done through many ways such as surveys, online surveys, observation and questionnaires. These small organizations have greater effect than any other organizations because they are near the public, affecting them and learning about their needs as most people in Australia respect the natural heritage of it yet they don't really know how to keep this heritage and that is the role of such simple organizations and associations that should be given much interest from the government that should help them and fund them. (Bluemts 2015)    

       Sustainability is a major factor that helps countries keep their natural heritage and get the best benefits from the landmarks and great natural marvels in them such as the Blue Mountain, for example, as it is considered one of the Australian great landmarks and a symbol of its natural heritage so sustainability is needed to be performed to keep its natural elements and improve them as well. According to  Sustainability, (2015)the Blue Mountain which is famous for its beautiful landscapes, waterfalls and cliffs that are not found any other way in the world, is a precious place that needs efforts to be exerted from different societies and organizations to increase people's information about the site, the most interesting places and the most interesting activities to be practiced. Among these organizations are the small local clubs that are mainly established by the youth and most of them are on the internet as social media pages or forums. These societies are able to keep sustainability of the Blue Mountain as a site and as a natural heritage of Australia.  They keep the place's sustainability by building a wide audience sharing the same environmental ideas on social media sites or on their own sites that witness millions and millions of people in order to make sure they are aware of all relevant issues regarding keep natural elements and how to follow this.  Among these clubs, associatesand sites on the internet are: Blue Mountains Bird Observers www.bmbirding.com.au/bmbo/index.html , Blue Mountains Bushcare www.weedsbluemountains.org.au, Blue Mountains Aboriginal Cultural and Resource Centre and others.

Conclusion

Keeping natural heritage is a very important process that all countries with a natural heritage consider and give due care. There are many approaches that are set to keep the natural heritage of an area such as the integrity approach and the inclusive and others. These approaches are practiced by both governmental organizations and non governmental organizations in order to reach sustainability in preserving the natural resources such as the Blue Mountain which is found in Australia and is considered a basic landmark of natural heritage as it is listed the 14th among the whole world heritage list. Many stakeholders are involved in the process of keeping the natural heritage as the native people of the place, visitors, tourguides, researchers, tourists, governors and businessmen are all considered stakeholders involved within the process of keeping the Blue Mountain natural heritage. There are many different types of organizations that are concerned in keeping the sustainability of natural heritage and they are ranging from huge governmental organizations and those of the small sites on the web and both are concerned in raising the value of natural heritage such as raising the value of the Blue Mountain. This paper is discussing the Blue Mountain and how many approaches can be used by companies and business owners in order to attain sustainability and keeping the natural heritage without changes.  The Blue Mountain is a marvelous place that should receive more interest from the government and local communities in order to maintain its sustainability. Australia, (2015)

Business Plan Oman Inforrmation Center

2. Executive Summary 

(You must  to  a brief description about key element on this OIC.com)When the reader read must to interest, While appearing first, this section is written last. It summarizes the key elements of the entire business plan. The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. Because if it doesn’t interest readers, they’ll never even get to the rest of your plan

Start your executive summary with a brief and concise explanation of what your company does. Next, explain why your company is uniquely qualified to succeed. For example, does your management team have unique competencies? Do you have any patents? Are you the first mover in your market? Does a huge, unmet market opportunity exist? Etc.Finally, include a synopsis of your financial projections in your Executive Summary. Specifically, include your expected revenues, expenses and profits for each of the next five years, how much funding you are seeking, and the key uses of these funds.

It should sum up the following areas:

Purpose of the plan, Product or service and its advantages, Market opportunity. Management team, Track record, if any, Financial projections and Funding requirements

3. Oman Information Centre is a special site online that will present special types of service for online customers of Oman. It will present information about Oman in term of   attraction places and areas in Oman as restaurants, hotels and resorts, mall , ministry, museum schools , Park ,Heritage and natural site and so on  .In additional it includes companies' sales in terms of promotion ,offered, event ,festival and so on that be related to tourism sectors and other sectors . The site also sells products  from famous store and local business in Oman and delivers the goods at homes of customers. The site is designed to make online buying easy for online customers. All people can use it such as Omani citizens or  tourists  and foreign residents, who want to reach places and hotels in Oman. The site is made to provide services that can cope the age of globalization and technology.  Furthermore, ,people can rents their items to other through money. This  website gain profit by combine department ,business and other thing on one websites, it could easers to use it rather than to search through internet to get relevant fact of information. There are other store on Oman don’t have online selling can sale through this website. 
   Company Overview

OIC.com is an online site that presents services of information and purchasing for people live in Oman as it has information about places where people can have dinner as restaurants and places where people can stay as hotels. It also sells goods and delivers them to the homes of customers who are registered in the site such as clothes, shoes, perfumes, make up, kitchen ware, scarves and children wear and souvenir items. It made for making buying from online sites an easy thing. The company is considered an e-commerce company, which is a type of commerce that has been widely used recently.

1. Mission Statement

To be alternates online store that resident and foreign  find easy to use and interesting.

2. Company Goals and Objectives

The company has the following goals and objectives

1. To provide Omani customers with information service that make reaching anywhere easy for them.
2. To get revenues and profits from the site.
3. To make a good name in the Omani society.
4. To attract many online purchasers for buying from the site.
5. To have a wide range of customers from Omani people and from tourists.

3. Business Philosophy

This business is based upon attracting online surfers who wish to find a site that joins providing services for them and selling items online. The current age is representing an age of globalization and online life made selling and buying an easy process which affect competition among all online sites.

4. Describe Industry

Online trade or e commerce became a great industry today which requires high care from the business owners in order to reach competitive advantage as online business today is more handy by people as most people buy and sell online today. Online shopping and tourism and hospitality sector  are now one of the most trade methods people prefer as the online readers send e- mails to those customers in order to make them know the sales and offers that big companies provide and also they send them the promotions of the famous brands. Online trade today has made buying and selling easier than the past because you don’t have to open a store and spend too much money on it but a website and good administrators for the website are good to manage the project. (Strauss, 2014).  It also save customer time and money.

5. Most Important Company Strengths and Core Competencies

The company strengths and core competencies are as follows:

1. Quality content: the site contains high quality content about places in Oman where tourists can visit and information about places for shopping and the site provides extra services that most sites don't present such as the service of selling items and delivering them home and the payment can be according to the customers' desire either by cash on delivery or by mastercard online.
2. Marketing: the site is prepared according to an effective marketing plan that depends on many promotions and strategies for making the site famous online through social media sites, forums and emails.
3. Expenses: the site is prepared on low expenses which makes great opportunities for profit.
4. Mixing between two services which are information and selling services. 
5. Office: At the begging have small office for customer if there have   any inquires and to do contrast with other organization  to rent their business, advertising  and events.

6. Legal from Ownership

OIC.com is a sole proprietorship, operated, founded and owned by independent.

4. Industry Analysis

An overview of the industry sector that your business will be a part of, including industry trends, major players in the industry, and estimated industry sales; this section will also include a summary of your business's place within the industry.

OIC.com is including the e commerce industry which includes selling services and goods online for purchasers who are registered on the site. This industry is a fast growing one as it is a retailing industry which now faces the challenges of online retailing as many customers now prefer online buying because they can pay at home and receive the goods at home. The industry analysis section includes two main parts as follows:

1. Market Overview

The Market Overview section discusses the size and characteristics of your market. For example, if you are a restaurant, you would include the size of the restaurant market, a brief discussion of sectors (e.g., fast food versus fine dining) and market trends.

Omani retailing market is a very busy one, which depends on many branches of retailing such as stores and online sites. The retailing business in Oman is increasing greatly as news tells that about 57% of Omani expect that the retailing market will improve and their profits as customers of Oman have strong activity especially online. Oman retailing market tells that most people today prefer online purchasing than store buying processes. This raises the company's opportunity in making profits in this field. (Oxford business group, 2013)

2. Relevant Market Size

The relevant market size is a much more specific calculation of your market size. It is the annual revenue your company could attain if it attained 100% market share. Your relevant market size is calculated by multiplying 1) the number of customers who might be interested in purchasing your products and/or services each year and 2) the amount these customers might be willing to spend, on an annual basis, on your products and/or services

Basic Questions

1) What products/services are you (will you be) selling? 

2) What are the features and benefits of what you sell?

3) What position do you have (or want to have) in the market?

4) How do your products/services differ from the competition?

5) What makes your products unique and desirable?

6) Why do (will) customers buy from you?

Oman market for retailing is a developed market with great size that attracts retailers from all over the world as the AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index in 2012 has ranked Oman as the eighth emerging retailing market in the world and refers to its retailing market as a stable one. Oman economy is growing because the customers have confidence in it. This sector was expected to grow more to 29% in the next years. Among the Middle East countries, Oman is ranked the fifth related to customers' confidence. The total value of wholesale and retail trade in 2011 was set at OR1.95bn ($5.08bn) by The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI). (Oxford business group, 2015)

5. Customer Analysis

1. Target Customer

Your Target Customers section precisely identifies your current and/or intended customers. Include as much demographic data on your target customers as possible, such as their gender, age, salary, geography, marital status and education.

OIC.COM is targeting specific customers who are residents of Oman from all ages and sexes because the site is presenting two main services which are providing the online service of providing the people with information about places for tourism in Oman and those may be citizens or tourists and another service which is selling products online and delivering them home so those customers are residents in Oman in all cities and areas of Oman. Customers from the site can be at any age or from any sex. In addition is target student employees who related to tourism and hospitality and enterpunership of business man and woment.

2. Customer Needs

In this section of your business plan, specify why customers want or need your products and/or services. For example, do customers care most about speed, quality, location, reliability, comfort, price, value, etc.?

Questions for Existing Businesses:

1) Who are your current customers? (List largest customers or categories)

2) What do they buy from you?

3) Why do they buy from you? (Quality, Price, Reputation, etc?)

OIC.com customers have basic needs which are finding places of entertainment in Oman such as hotels and restaurants and knowing their information such as address and phone numbers. Customers; needs also include finding the goods they want to buy from a variety of goods related to the retailing market such as clothes, kitchen machines and foot wear. They need the site to be working properly, registration process is easy and flexible and they need their products to come at homes safely, to come exactly as they wanted and the price to be the same and time is not very long to receive the goods.

6. Competitive Analysis

1. Direct Competitors

Direct competitors are companies that fill the same customer need you fill with the same solution. For example, if you operate an Italian restaurant, other Italian restaurants would be direct competitors.In this section of your business plan, outline who your direct competitors are, and their strengths and weaknesses

The site has direct competitors such as the sites found online for online purchasing in Oman and information sites in Oman such as the following ones:

1. Namshioman.com
2. Sukar.com
3. Souq.com
4. Muscat ads

2. Indirect Competitors

Indirect competitors are companies that fill the same customer need you fill with a different solution. For example, if you operate an Italian restaurant, a French restaurant would be an indirect competitor.In this section of your business plan, outline who your indirect competitors are, and their strengths and weaknesses

OIC has indirect competitors such as the retailers, which are having stores in Oman such as Salman stores and Sultan centre. These competitors are indirect because they are not having online stores.

3. Competitive Advantages

Importantly, identify your Competitive Advantages in this section. Specifically, state what is it about your company that will allow you to effectively compete (and win) against both direct and indirect competitors.Basic Questions:

1) Who are (will be) your largest competitors? List them.

2) How will your operation be better (and worse) than your competitors?

3) How are competitors doing? What are their sales and profits?

4) (If Start-Up) How will competition respond to your market entry?

An overview of the industry sector that your business will be a part of, including industry trends, major players in the industry, and estimated industry sales; this section will also include a summary of your business's place within the industry. Your Industry Analysis section has two sub-sections as follows

OIC.com has many competitive advantages such as:

1. Mixing between being an information site and a site for online purchasing.
2. Providing fast delivery services.
3. Having a very simple site with a clear interesting user face that has a simple sign  in way using emails or Facebook information.
4. Having a simple advertising plan depends on social media sites.
5. Having a unique interesting web design for the site.

7. Marketing Plan

1. Market History

Information on historical development and growth.  By investigating past trends, it is often possible to anticipate future opportunities in the market

Oman retailing market has a great history represented by the great demand of customers and the growth throughout time and the high demographic factors and the technology systems that added too much amendments on the industry Online marketing began as since the beginning of the 21st century, online trade was very common as many people began their online businesses as having their online sites and the trade became more famous till it took a great position now. The tourism industry has a great position in Oman today and this raised the importance for having online sites that provides information for those tourists about hotels and restaurants and other important places where tourists can go. In the past tourists used to use maps and investigate tourism offices for finding information, which was very difficult and tiring. Online trade and e commerce businesses provided solutions for many problems that people and tourists suffered in the past. As online trade evolved and more advancement had been added to it, this industry of online retailing became very important and lead to a great market competition that increases every day. (Gorvet, 2015)

2. Target Market/ Segment Characteristics

1. Geographic ( location, population size or climate)

Oman is the target geographic area prepared by the site as the area is focused on because the information provided in the site is all about places in Oman as many tourists visit this area yearly. Oman is one of the Gulf countries that attracts many customers to purchase from online sites. The great size of the country provides a better chance for the site to spread.

2. Demographic(age, gender, family size, family life cycle or income)

Population of Oman are estimated as 4, 157,783 persons as about half of them live in Muscat and the rest are distributed on Omani cities. The site is specifically targeting youth more than other age because the young people are more interested in online sites and they use their mobiles and laptops for online purchasing too much. Income of Omani people is good and suitable for online purchasing processes. The Omani society likes to buy from the internet, which gives good opportunities to OIC.com. (World population review, 2015) .The office will located on city centre   Muscat , because willayat Al-Seeb is have a huge population in Oman  and this mall have crowed around the year. Or may be located at Oman Tourism College or ministry of tourism  to support  independent    through marally.

3. Psychographic (social class, lifestyle, motivation or personality)

Oman's people prefers buying and shopping than any other activity while they have free time and some money, they also like the internet too much so the best thing is to make an online site for providing them with all what they like of activities. The Omani taste is considered when the site was designed. Opinions of visitors are asked to be put on answering some questions on the site.

4. Behavioural(product benefits, frequency of use or brand loyalty)

The benefits that the site is expecting are based on the way Omani people purchasing their products online as the rate of their usage to internet stores as online shopping became a part of the Gulf people shopping behaviours. A survey was done in Oman showed that more than one of the participants in the survey made online purchasing in a past three months, which tells that online purchasing became very ready to buy online. This also declares that Omani people can be loyal to a specific site when they feel happy using it and that they can buy not even on holidays but all times of the year. 

3. 7P’s of marketing mix which are following

Figure 1- 7’P’s of Marketing Mix

Source: (Professional academy, 2015)

1. Product

In this section you need to thoroughly describe your product or service, along with any proprietary features and future development plans.

Describe your proposed products or services (technical specifications, drawings, photos, sales brochures, and other bulky items belong in Appendices).

For each product or service:

• Describe the most important features. What is special about it?

• Describe the benefits. That is, what will the product do for the customer?

What factors will give you competitive advantages or disadvantages? Examples include level of quality or unique or proprietary features.

The product the site is focusing on is mainly information and retailing goods, information are those databases present for providing the customers and tourists with the information about the places and all they want to know in Oman. The site is also focusing on retailing products manufactured by big companies with good brands such as clothes, footwear, accessories and kitchenware and so on. The product quality is the main objective of the site as the products are of very good quality. The customer can choose as many products as he wishes and then make the order to buy them after registration process. 

2. Pricing

Detail your pricing here. In particular, discuss how your pricing relates to competition. For example, are you the premium brand? Or the low cost brand?

For most small businesses, having the lowest price is not a good policy. It robs you of needed profit margin; customers may not care as much about price as you think; and large competitors can underprice you anyway. Usually you will do better to have average prices and compete on quality and service.

·        Discuss your expected branding based on your chosen pricing model.

·        Discuss the pricing strategy and policy for your product or service.  Show how your pricing approach will enable you to:  penetrate the market, maintain and increase market share in a competitive environment, and make a profit.

·        Explain your method or methods of setting prices.

·        Does your pricing strategy fit with what was revealed in your competitive analysis?

   Compare your prices with those of the competition. Are they higher, lower, the same? Why? How important is price as a competitive factor?

·        Do your intended customers really make their purchase decisions mostly on price?

·        What will be your customer service and credit policies?

·        Explain markup policies.

Pricing policy is made according to the market needs and limits as the role of the site is to take a commission from companies that put their products on the site. Sales revenues are based upon the price so only valued products are sold with high prices and the prices are reasonable as the site chooses products from companies that have good reputation in the market and a good brand. Some less valued products are found on the site in low prices such as second hand product, which are used products, but in good condition.

3. Place-Proposed Location

Probably you do not have a precise location picked out yet. This is the time to think about what you want and need in a location. Many startups run successfully from home for a while.

·        Analyze your location criteria as they will affect your customer

·        Is your location important to your customers? If yes, how?

·        If customers come to your place of business: Is it convenient? Parking? Interior spaces? Not out of the way? Is it consistent with your image?

·        What is it customers want and expect? Where is the competition located? Is it better for you to be near them (like car dealers or fast food restaurants) or distant (like convenience food stores)?

The site is basically based in Oman which is a country in the Gulf countries and it is found in Asia. Oman country is proposed for this project for many reasons such as its richness in cultural issues and famous places tourists seek so the site can present the place in a way that attracts tourists and encourage visitors of the site to come again. The place is also proposed due to the big area of it and the diversity of places found in it. Products are chosen according to the demands of the place and its nature

 

 . The office will located on city centre   Muscat , because willayat Al-Seeb is have a huge population in Oman.