Business Practices Faced By Richard Branson Commerce Essay

melodic phrase Practices Faced By Richard Branson Commerce EssayThis is where it all began, Richard Branson, scoop k directlyn for his stark(a) high society is of over 400 companies. Born in July 18, 1950 destined to become iodin of the best known British entrepreneurs. start at the age of 16 with his first successful channel suppose publishing Student clipping, beginning his string of successes. Richard Branson is now the 212th richest person in the world.Estimated a net worth of approximately 4 Billion a dollars honoured for his degree of Doctor of Technology, knighted for his services to entrepreneurship, becoming on the greatest British citizen and most influential people in the world by BBC and beat Magazine. Being an ad endangerr Branson is, he never hesitates to fill up risks and experiment with spick-and-span ventures, now genius of the most recognized brands in the world.The Comp whatsoever(prenominal) ismTry recent things, branch out, and when you ratt fi nd success with peerless venture, you evidently move on to the nextSir Richard Bransons philosophy above simply puts consummate(a) classify into prospective. The utter(a) concourse was founded by Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson in 1970 started one of his many an(prenominal) entrepreneurial ventures at the age of 16, when he started a magazine titled Student in 1968. Later in 1970, Richard launched a put up order record caller-out called sodding(a), which was excessively a success, and soon subsequently a chain of perfect(a) record stores hook up withed. In 1973, Branson entered into the medicine put down business and went on to sign artists such as the Rolling Stones.However, that did not satisfy Bransons entrepreneurial quest and he was looking for opportunities to shine his business. Hence, in 1984 he ventured into the air disembowel industry with thoroughgoing(a) Atlantic, which went on to become the guerrilla largest airline in Britain. The perfect(a) gr oup then continued to strand so forth forth with the launch of utter(a) Publishing, stark(a) Radio, Virgin Cola, Virgin Direct and Virgin Rail. Nevertheless, the Virgin Group was not al trends free of failures. One major(ip) stage setback for Virgin was the acquisition of Virgin Records by EMI in 1992. The different road bumps for Virgin were duds like Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Cinemas, Virgin Cars and Virgin Cosmetics that were not very successful ventures sign of a true entrepreneur. But that does not mean that Virgin gives quantity to a greater extent priority over quality. Every business venture is c ar plenteousy cargonful and analyzed keeping in mind the market demand, customer demand and innovation of productions and services.Today, Virgin group is a leading branded venture capital organization and consists of more than 300 companies worldwide with products and services ranging from music, telecommunications, beverages, airlines, media and finance.The onto genesis strategy of Virgin Group is based on the concept of licensing and franchising the Virgin brand name and being problematical in the establishment of the ventures from shine rather than acquiring and buying out existing businesses. The Virgin blade is ever expanding and diversifying and Branson always elevates innovation and the wide range of products and services offered to a lower place the Virgin brand name exemplifies that. In the future years the strategical plan of Virgin is to launch two more ventures Virgin displace (Cheaper, more efficient eco-friendly fuel), Virgin Galactic (Suborbital Space flights which be set to revolutionize the business world).Brief Timeline1970 With the success of Virgin Records, Virgin Group was founded, a catalyst for this creation.1999 Virgin Atlantic was developed, a British turn back service.2002 Virgin entered the fluent phone business, Virgin Mobile, straight-from-the-shouldering similar mobile ventures in Britain, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.2004 The independent charitable arm of the Virgin Group was established as Virgin Unite.2005 Virgin Comics launched.2006 Virgin Holidays established with a very econ friendly view by using all its wage in research and development of sustainable sources of energy.2008 Virgin Radio rebranded.2009 Virgin Group launches Digital Help Company in New York and in the UK.2010 Unveiling of Virgin Gaming, an online destination for emulous console gamers.2011+ Virgin open fire Virgin GalacticSectors that Virgin Group diversifies intoThe Virgin group has been diversifying for a long date now. The social inn is occupied in different typecasts of sectors and before long has around 240 or even more corporations. Richard Branson to a fault ventured into the wildest sectors-Virgin Space Port. The draw below lists the conglomerate sectors that the Virgin Group is change into CUsersalwardiDesktopVMS.jpg wherefore we chose this particular business over o pposites?Virgin Megastores atomic number 18 known worldwide about its products and services. Every time you pass by the store you ar curious much to know if they view any sunrise(prenominal) products. At times you captivate surprised by seeing some movies and music albums that atomic number 18 yet to be released in America.Virgin mega store is a place where you can go for eitherthing that involves entertainment. It has a sense of youth in the store that awakens the young sprit. As for the ply are mostly youngsters. Virgin gives them the opportunity and flexibility to cope in the midst of work and studies. This gives a earnest reflection about Virgin brand.There products varies from educational to entertainment. It used to be lonesome(prenominal) entertainment but after diversification it serves all ages.When you uprise any Virgin employee and ask them about any specific product they would be very confident and explain everything. In addition other information that conce rns the past and current status of the products.Advantages and Disadvantages of such a BusinessEach and every business has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each and every plane section has its own ways. Thus, every department differs. In general these are the advantages and disadvantagesAdvantagesVirgin Megastores Bahrain pay off a no competition with other brands. As its the however one in the country that sells everything that you occupy from a pencil to a laptop. There is nothing like staring(a) in Bahrain when you enter clear-cut for something you can easily find it. When you compare the Middle East and join States of America there is a major difference. Over there are other companies and stores that offer the like type of business but the halfway east Virgin Megastores is one of a kind and the first.DisadvantagesHowever, the use of cyberspace these days has increased significantly and copying of the original music and movies too. As Virgin Megastores has a wide r ange of music CDs and movies the sales are reduced due to piracy illegally downloading materials from the internet. So consumer view wherefore should I buy something that I can get easily free. Thus, create a major loss to Companies like arrant(a). To add on, Virgin Megastores are diversified into many departments example music, movies, books, etc. This drivings some complications that your focus is not only on one thing but several things at the same time.LeadershipLeadership can be delineate as the art of influencing other people to achieve the companys goals and objectives in a way to defecate it more consistent and cohesive. (Hubpages, 2010)Leading people in the recompense path processes attractionship in order to accomplish a crude goal. Leadership ensures that the organization works successfully in accomplishing its desired goals. satisfactory fill outrs are characterized by their leadership skills and experience for the aim in getting high performed and well organ ized company. They are the backbone of the company to increase their productivity at the same time create harmony amidst employees which results to better outcome and efficiency. Only leaders have the ability to encourage their employees to work efficiently toward achieving the companys best interest. (WIR,2010)Types of leadershipLeadership style is the method and come near used by leaders to achieve objectives, provide mode and prompts people when working with others. It is the manner in which leaders interact with their subordinates. abandoned below are the different ways leadership styles have been definedTransactional Leaders this type of leadership involves a process of exchange between the leader and the follower (subordinate). The leader tends to obtain compliance on one hand by offering incentive on exploit and on the other hand, by offering threats or punishment for bad performance and non-compliance.Transformational leaders this type of leadership style is more mi ntary and inspirational in approach. The leaders here have a tendency to give the axe intense emotion and communicate a clear and acceptable vision and goals with which the subordinates can easily identify.Autocratic leaders here, the leaders are the finding makers and have total role. This type of leadership style is used for employees that take up close supervision to perform certain tasks. (Lewin, Lippitt White, 1939)Democratic leaders this type of leader always listens to his teams ideas and analysis them, but he/she allow make the final decision. Here the team players contribute to the final decision do and therefore, employee satisfaction increases. (Lewin, Lippitt White, 1939)Laissez-faire leader this type of leadership provides no constant supervision, as the employees are highly experienced and do not require much supervision.Leadership at Virgin-The person who made Virgin Group an outstanding business empire by changing and diversifying the business from a magazin e to a range of companies at the present time is one of the worlds most effective leader and risk taker Mr. Richard Branson. This effective leader now owns 360 companies worldwide, which operate, now in eight different sectors, from music to transportation, media, propel, etc. (AUV, 2010).There are many effective methods used by Mr. Richard Branson in conditions of leading his employees. Mr Richard Branson has all the features every good leader as he adopts his own personal style of care. He maintained a very good birth with the media, as he was known for his charisma. His leadership indicator motivated his employees as he supported them by monetary incentives. away from the financial incentives given to his employees, he has his own way of motivating his employees by sharing with them stories of how he succeeded in spiritedness and shares his enthusiasm to help others by establishing various non-profit organizations in order to support young entrepreneurs.His introduction of new green technologies in the business was one of his major investments towards the safety and health of the environment made his leadership strategies different from others (VSD.2010)Richard Branson follows both the democratic as well as the Laissez-faire leadership style, as his employees are involved in decision making indicating the decentralization technique used by him allowing his employees to participate in leadership. Applying his supportive leadership style where he bulk large his employees to become friendly and caring. His employees are allowed to have an open communication with the top-level management without any restrictions. (Hill. McShane, 2008)Richard Branson leadership approach has resulted to a significant achievement for the perfect(a) group. Branson had been demonstrated conceivably enhanced than any other investor for the past 30 years worldwide. (BAG, 2010)Strategies of the Virgin GroupVirgin group played a very important role in Mr. Richard Bransons lif e it not only transformed the company, but also transformed himself as known now to be a person who is willing to take risk at any time and a daring man. According to him, no was never the right answer now was it a solution. With the help of the strategies he had adopted, every opportunity, which came knocking on his door, was accepted. Not all of the strategies used by Mr Branson to diversify the company were successful the strategies had their pros and cons. below are few strategies that are utilise in virgin group in general regardless to the various sectors they are diversified intoSince the word NO is one of Bransons favorite words, the company uses Risk Management as their core strategy to capture any idea. Risk management is the method used by the company to manage and control risks and threats that comes to their way. The philosophy used by the virgin group is by separating the risks into various segments so that if any loss occurs, the whole group will not go down at once. At any crises point, this approach guarantees the company that only a tiny proportion of the company is affected.The virgin group also applied the Unrelated Diversification strategy. As seen today, Mr. Branson has expand his company, diversified it and also invested money in different sectors yet, still uses the same brand name. He moved from sectors like Virgin Airlines to Virgin travel and tourism, Virgin Media and Virgin Cola. There are about 200 companies carrying the scratch name virgin. (VGA, 2010)Virgin stores are known for their lenient administration towards their employees. decentralization is one of the strategies used by the company. Here the decision-making authority is transferred to the subordinates. Virgin group is a semi formal organization and work together as a big happy family. Here, the staff are empowered with many rights and responsibilities and are considered the strength of the company. Flow of information is very flexible and savorless so as the manageme nt (Pravab, 2010)Corporate social right, a new strategy applied to the virgin group that emerges them to move towards social office and to invest money towards a safe and healthy environment for the costumers. The Virgin Green fund project was created and invested into various sectors such as alternative efficiency and renewable energy. (VSD, 2010)Employee motivationWhat is motivation? Motivation is the combination of forces that moves individuals to take certain actions and avoid others in pursuit of individual objectives. Motivation is the sympathy or reasons for getting involved in certain behaviour, especially valet behaviour.There are many theories of motivation but to concentrate more on Virgin Megastores they follow McGregors Assumptions which are divided into two groups system X and conjecture Y. The two groups are completely different from separately other. As for Virgin Megastores they go with surmisal Y which is a very positive way to interact with employees. A short definition of Theory Y is that autobusial assumption that employees enjoy meaningful work, are by nature committed to certain goals, are capable of creativity, and seek out responsibility under the right conditions. The assumptions rear end theory Y emphasize product and self-direction. Theory Y oriented managers seek to motivate employees through intrinsic rewards. As for Theory X managerial assumption that employees are irresponsible, are unambitious, and dislike work and that mangers must use force, control, or threats to motivate them. The assumptions behind Theory X emphasize authority.The evidence that proofs that Virgin Megastores follow Theory Y is that when you enter the store you can see one of the staff members heading towards you and asking you if you need any assistance. Mangers at Virgin motivate them psychologically by different means. They give them the freedom to dress up in their own way as if they were going to a centre of attention with friends and not in formal suites. In addition, all of virgin Megastores employees are in their 20s and are youth. The mangers have asked them to be themselves when coming to virgin full of youth sprit that catches customer attention. Competitions between employees are also done so that they love their work more and have more personal achievements.If any complications happen they highlight the mistakes personally to the employee and show them the correct way on t overcome these problems.What type of Company is Virgin Mega Store?It is a Private limited business.What is the difference between a limited and inexhaustible business?Limited companyA limited company can be defined as a business that has been registered in such a manner to ensure its owners to have limited liability. The owners would lose the appreciate of their investment if company declares bankruptcy (farlex financial dictionary, 2010)http//financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Limited+Company straight-out companyAn oceanic comp any is company were the liabilities of the shareholders are not limited. The owners have unlimited obligations to meet any insufficiency in the assets of the company in the event of any bankruptcy. (Wikipedia, 2011)http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlimited_companyPublic companyA public company is a company that had issued securities all through an offering and which is traded in an open market. (webfinance, 2010)http//www.investorwords.com/3932/public_company.htmlPrivate limitedPrivate limited company is a company whose shares cannot be traded in the stock market. It can only pass to other person with the shareholders agreement. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)MARKETING STRATEGYTheoryA selling strategy can be defined in financial terms as the process of allowing an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the major opportunities to increase sales and attain sustainable development and competitive advantage. The main concept of merchandising strategy is consumer satisfaction. It serves as the foundation of the selling plan. (Wikipedia, 2001-2006) .It is most effective when it becomes an integral part of the corporate strategy as it clearly defines how the organization will successfully engage costumers, prospects and competitors in the marketing field. The key component of the marketing strategy is to keep a line with the companys overarching mission statements.Marketing strategies in virgin groupAfter a research done on Virgin group, Bahrain the sales manager of virgin megastore, Mr. Kevin Koswette stated that virgin group as known now has diversified into various sectors and have around 240 companies. It is very difficult for the company to gestate attention to its marketing strategies, as each sector is different from the other. The companies gestate the virgin group to market their products for example Yamaha musical instruments are sell in virgin megastores as well as Arsenal sports club items. The marketing strategy of each produc t/service differs from the other as they are from various sectors that the company is diversifies into. For example marketing strategy for Virgin music cannot be applied to the marketing strategy of virgin airlines.RecommendationsWe have notice that Virgin group involves its employees into their decision making which leads to decentralization of authority in the organization in our opinion, high decentralization whitethorn also lead to loss of authority in the company and may also result to confidential leakage.The leniency in the workforce allows employees to dress up informally as they have the freedom to style their hair unsuitably that may influence youngsters who consider them as role models. Also it may not be acceptable socially in the community.We also noticed in our research about the company, that Mr. Richard Branson- the leader behind this company is a man with great charisma and loves the media exposure. In our opinion, the media exposure can cause negative impacts like scandals and false information about his personal life as well as the company.The flexibility in the workforce, friendly relationship and kindness of the leader- Mr Branson with his employees may result to dishonesty in the workforce and employees major power take advantage of this leniency in terms of achieving their objective.Findings of the projectTo get information about all the required details we had an interview with Mr. Kevin Koswatte, who is the Manager at Virgin Megastores Bahrain. Here are the questionsQuestionsIn your opinion what are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of business?What type of leadership style do you follow?What are the techniques used to motivate your staff?Is it limited or unlimited? Private or Public?Can you explain to us the marketing strategies followed by the company? Is it effective or not?