Sample Research Proposal on The Five Factors or Forces Affecting Competition in an Industry

Porter   The most dominant strategic management paradigm in recent years is known as the strategies model (Fredrickson 1991). Porter (1998) claims that the intensity of competition in an industry is neither a matter of coincidence or bad luck. Rather, competition in bank industry is rooted in its underlying economic structure and goes well beyond the behaviour of current competitors. Figure 1 - The Five Factors or Forces Affecting Competition in an Industry[1] The study of Porter (1985) has concentrated on the strategies that would be able the companies to gain competitive advantage. In addition, in order for organisations to develop a strategy that can provide superior performance, these organisations must achieve and sustain competitive advantage.  In order for these organisations to survive in the highly competitive market, it has been suggested to develop some degree of competitive advantage. In the case wherein the products and services are virtually identical, advantage is minimal and organisations in these market struggle to remain profitable and grow. In the case of a convenience store or a gasoline station, competitive advantage would as simple as having a favorable location.  However, in many industries, competitive advantage would be more complex. Competitive advantage is derived from the combination of product appeal, pricing, marketing practices, distribution capability, and many others.             The Balance Scorecard (BSC)             As industries placed significant recognition and interest in performance indicators, several performance frameworks have risen. One of which is the Balance Scorecard (BSC). The balanced scorecard is an innovative performance measurement process that builds on the notion that reliance on traditional (particularly short-term) financial measures is no longer adequate for organisations competing under knowledge-based strategies that derive value from the management of intangible assets (Kaplan and Norton 2001a, 2001b). Financial measures are outcome measures based on historical results. As such, these lag indicators generally focus management's attention on past actions and short-term performance related to the management of tangible assets. In contrast, non-financial measures, categorised as lead indicators, tend to focus attention on actions that drive future results, creating value for the long-term from such intangible assets as human capital, customer relations, innovation in products/services, and highly efficient operating systems (Kaplan and Norton 1996, 2001a). A balanced scorecard combines measures in such a way that management has access to key financial and non-financial information that they need, while not being inundated with abundance of information. Robert Kaplan and David Norton of Harvard University are widely credited for creating the distinct characteristics of the balance scorecard approach. They have demonstrated that using a scorecard helps companies translate vision and strategy into action and high performance. The scorecard model they most frequently describe contains four perspectives. Within each of these perspectives companies develop objectives, measures, targets, and finally initiatives. Kaplan and Norton make a critical distinction between strategic and diagnostic measures, and as a consequence suggest that a scorecard should contain a limited number of objectives and measures, typically 15 to 25 (Barkdoll, 2000). The balance scorecard approach is founded by four main perspectives: customer/clients, internal organisation processes, learning and growth and financial. The focus of the customer perspective is on the external environment, which aims to discover, understand and stress on customer needs. Common measure used in this perspective includes customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and customer retention (Moore, Rowe and Widener, 2002). The internal organisation processes perspective concentrates on the internal environment along a value chain encompassing operations, post-sale service and innovation processes. Common measures used for this perspective are expenditures on research and development, new product sales, cycle time, throughput efficiency and productivity. Alternatively, the learning and growth perspective provides the infrastructure or foundation required to meet the goals of the other two operational perspectives. The common indicators are employee satisfaction, voluntary turnover and dollars spent on training.  Lastly, the financial perspective is focused on shareholders. According to Kaplan and Norton (1996), every measure within the balance scorecard should be casually linked that leads to financial measures. In this indicator, common measures include return on investment, economic value added and net income. In general, balance score cards are advantageous as it help create management mechanism, which enhances the success of the organisation. Specifically, balance scorecards help in the creation of a commonly understood and precisely identified strategy within the management team. It also provides an incorporated view of the strategy within all sectors of the organisations. Balance scorecards also encourage the participation and contribution of the employees as well as present a balanced combination of measurement, which enable easier management towards success.  Like other systems of performance measurement, many companies have applied BSC into their operations. One good example is Subaru-Isuzu, a joint Japanese automotive manufacturing venture between Fuji Heavy Industries and Isuzu Motors Limited (Business Performance Advantage, 2003). In 1996, the company had recognised that their performance measurement system based on historical data is not sufficient enough. Due to this system, the company was not able to forecast targets and establish objectives. Hence, in 1998, the company decided to adapt the balance scorecard approach to measure its performance. After much brainstorming, the company decided to adapt the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. In this way, the selected performance measures can be classified under one of seven organisation performance objectives. These objectives include strategic planning, leadership, customer and market focus, human resource focus, information and analysis project management and results. Through BSC, Subaru/Isuzu ultimately reduced the seven down to five major categories that best represented the venture's key organisation performance goals.   UK Higher Education Along with the right to vote the right to education is a freedom which populations throughout history and across the world have struggled to achieve. In the UK at the turn of the 19th century a university education was a privilege enjoyed almost exclusively by the sons of the rich. Undergraduates made up less than 1 per cent of the population and included only a handful of women. There were only 10 universities and these were dominated by the traditions and values of Oxbridge. Now over 30 per cent of young people embark on some kind of higher education and over half of university students are women. Opportunities for adults to return to study have increased and many universities make provision for part-time study and other flexible forms of delivery. However, participation rates of those from working class backgrounds and some ethnic groups remains very low. Currently about 70 per cent of young people from professional families go on to university as compared to 13 per cent from unskilled manual backgrounds (Social Trends, 2000). Education is one of the necessities and the rights of each individual in the world. Parents or guardians have the responsibility of providing education to their children, as this serves as the foundation of learning and knowledge. This is why at an early age, students are sent to school to start and establish a good way of looking at things and gathering knowledge. Through knowledge and education, children can become involved to different activities, which do not only develop their mental abilities, but their personalities as well.              Khan (2006) reports that education is the knowledge of putting a person's potential to maximum use, and is important for training the human mind, which makes man a right thinker and it tells one to think and make decisions. Without education, man is as though a closed room, but through education, he finds himself in a room with all its windows open towards outside world (Khan 2006). With this importance, it is always better to provide some changes and improvement to the system of education particularly to higher education. School improvement programs must be planned effectively and implemented efficiently to help the development of the curriculum, for the enhancement of the learning process of each student. Moreover, school change or improvement programs will also help the teachers improve on their understanding on their subject matter, and thus, enhance their teaching skills.   International Student Normally, forthcoming international students are required to take a language test, such as IELTS or TOEFL, before they are admitted. Tests despite, while some international students already have an outstanding dominion of the local language upon coming, some discover their language capability, measured brilliant locally, insufficient for the function of understanding lectures, and of turning over oneself smoothly in swift conversations. Most nations force international students to pay higher tuition than people of the country. This unfairness is frequently vindicated by the argument that the students' parents do not pay the taxes of the country. The idea that a bulk number of international students choose to settle in the country in which they are studying and turn out to be prolific citizens is, however, overlooked in such cases. In regards to international students, the mark of a good learner has been covered in their capabilities to learn. As it will be presented in the consequent parts of this chapter a lot of works have focused more on the specific characteristics of the learner. Some have established factors such as age and intelligence as among the rather unchanging elements in their discussion. (Rubin, 1975) In the same manner, there is also a considerable body of works that take on the specific personality factors that are present in a good learner. The work of Naiman, Frohlich, Stern and Todesco (1978) claimed that on a normal basis, in order for someone to know is a person is indeed a good learner, what they have to do is simply allow the said individual to acknowledge whether he/she is one or not. They claimed that the individual is inherently aware of the capabilities and whether he/she had the necessary faculties to be considered a good learner. However, when one analyses this claim, the use of such method is not quite reliable as Naiman et al (1978) deemed. Knowing the beliefs and practices that an individual takes on established has been the foundation of the said study. Another issue that comes to mind when looking into the fact that the Naiman study focused on the "good" ones instead of looking for the reasons why there are those who in some way underachieved in their pursuit of learning. The response provided by the said study indicated that in studying how these good learners take on their organisation in language acquisition, the less successful ones will be assisted considerably since they are able to adapt the method which has been proven to be effective by the good learners.