Global Forces and the European Brewing Industry – by Mitchell Formica

The mid 2000’s saw some major shifts in the European brewing industry. At the time, Europe was inundated with drunk-driving accidents and many people were succumbing to health and fitness complications due to excessive alcohol consumption.This led to the government campaigning against the people’s predisposition to drink beer in restaurants and pubs resulting in the on-trade sales of beer (bars and pubs) shifting to off-trade sales (retail). This caused changes in the brewing industry landscape that meant brewers had to re-think their sales, marketing, branding and distribution strategies in reaction to the changing conditions and a significant increase in the import of specialty beers. At the same time, other brewers were producing premium lagers to combat the falling sales in beer products and this was placing further pressures on Heineken’s sales.

This essay uses the Pestel analysis methodology, Porter’s Five Forces and a SWOT analysis to explore how Heineken adapted its business strategies to become the world leading brewing company that it is today.

Pestel Analysis 

Political/Legal

Governments tend to regulate the brewing industry for four reasons. “(a) Taxation; (b) protection of local brewers' interests; (c) market power concerns; (p.349) and (d) health concerns”. (Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2011, Pg. 349). Working against Heineken was the government’s agenda to campaign against alcohol consumption to reduce drink driving incidents and health related problems. To counter this, Heineken had to re-think their marketing and distribution strategies to combat the government’s campaign against alcohol consumption in public places by introducing a premium lager.

Economic

By 2006 Heineken also experienced an 11% increase in the cost of packaging. To reduce costs they took on different markets globally and this helped to increase their economies of scale. They also outsourced beer to other countries, such as China or Brazil, where labour is cheaper and drinking beer was still considered socially acceptable. They also undertook acquisitions, alliances and take overs in order to be more profitable and to compete. (Mark Blee, Richard Whittington, Global Forces and the European Brewing Industry, pg. 90).

Heineken is now the biggest European brewery with three quarters of its sales coming from the region. It has also expanded its sales operations into the Asia Pacific and American markets and this, combined with the increase in imported beers, as evidenced by the graph below, Heineken now has a global market. 

  

Technological/Socio-Cultural/Environmental

All the while, due to social pressures, Heineken’s customer base shifted from restaurants to supermarkets where people could purchase cheaper beers and then consume it at home, abiding by the government’s wishes. Heineken’s growth also relied on its technological advances. One of the company’s four priorities was to accelerate revenue by improving efficiency, accomplished by implementing machinery and robotics.

Heineken has also been affected by environmental changes. “Heineken, the world’s third-biggest brewer, said poor spring weather in Europe led to weak second-quarter revenue and predicted that earnings this year won’t grow as consumers in the region curb spending”. (Clementine Fletcher, Bloomberg, 2013). To reverse this, they used the acquisitions of small businesses to use local beer labels as a means of distributing and expanding sales of Heineken’s beer in other regions.


References:

Clementine Fletcher, Bloomberg, Heineken Sees Weak Europe Beer Consumption Weighing on Sales, august 21, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-21/heineken-expects-annual-profit-in-line-amid-european-struggles.html

Johan F.M Swinnen, 2011, The Economics of Beer, pg. 249 http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693801.001.0001/acprof-9780199693801

Mark Blee, Richard Whittington, Global Forces and the European Brewing Industry, pg. 90

Car Park Innovation - By Mitchell Formica & Alana Cuce

The Car Parking industry is a relatively old one, however, there is room for innovation through the use of mobile technology we have create a way for people to find parking spots easily. Whilst the demand for car spots is increasing we are hoping to get in early on a slowly developing industry so we can build up our company before others enter the market. (Parking Association of Australia Inc, History of the Parking Association, 2012).

The car parking industry involves the implication of technology to easily access and obtain information on car parking facilities so that you can locate and acquire a car parking spot. This innovation uses the subscription based business model which allows people to enter in their details so that they can be later used to further help develop our business. This vital information people are giving us is ultimately used for car parking purposes but has other useful uses.

The cost for innovation is small in the car parking industry as there isn’t a lot of technological implementations, this is good as there won’t be much spending or investments needed but also bad because there are little barriers to entry and any company could take us over.  The innovation is unlike any on the market and will fill a gap or a niche that people can utilise. The use of E-business today is a vital part of communication within and between business, as it allows more information and knowledge to pass through on to others that might be interested in the given industry. This enhances investments and ultimately allows for collaboration and more ideas. (Berthon, et al, 2008).

With this we hopefully aim to increase the company’s market share and long term think of other cities that we distribute our product to, Australia is our oyster and we need to branch out into new areas and try to get our product into more people’s pockets and phones. Through the use of E-business by using the technology to communicate with others around us it will help our product get out there onto the market, while also open up the idea of collaboration with business partners and geographically distribute our product. (Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, January-March 2011).

Reference list:

Berthon, Pierre, Pitt, Leyland, Berthon, Jean-Paul, Campbell, Colin, Thwaites, Des,  Industrial Marketing Management. Jan 2008, Vol. 37 Issue 1, p83-91. 9p.

Parking Association of Australia Inc, 2012, History of the Parking Association, viewed 29 August 2013

Communications of the ACM. Jul2012, Vol. 55 Issue 7, p22-24. 3p. 1 Color Photograph.

Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations; Jan-Mar2011, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p17-37, 21p, 1 Diagram, 1 Graph

Managing bullying and harassment in the workplace - By Mitchell Formica

Our early days as a child on the playground may unearth memories of bullying and harassment by our peers; those memories are now being re-lived by a new bullying and harassment phenomenon that is making its way into the workplace. Nowadays it is estimated that “as many as 53 per cent of UK employees have been bullied at work at some point during their working life”, (Anas Khan, Riad Khan, 2012), and others have estimated more. On top of this, “some studies have revealed that nearly 95% of employees have had some exposure to general bullying behaviours in the workplace over a 5 year period” (A.-K. Samnani, P. Singh, 2012). This profound evidence demonstrates the seriousness for action and a growing problem that is emerging in the work environment for all employees. The issue needs to be recognised in the workplace as a serious problem and one that needs to be dealt with in a number of ways. This will help to ultimately stop bullying and harassment in all forms of working life. 

Bullying and harassment comes in many forms. It may be through the use of emails, social networking, day to day communication with peers, and may even arise from autocratic management styles, all of which can be seen as an issue in today’s business world. Simple interactions with other co-workers can cause bullying and harassment issues. But what is bullying and harassment and how can we stop it? These are the un-answered questions that need to be identified before we can start to solve the issues. Bullying “involves negative acts that occur repeatedly, regularly (systematically) and over a period of time, and the person targeted has difficulties in defending him/herself. In some definitions, the aim of harming the target or intentionality of the behaviour is included”. (Maarit Vartia-Väänänen, 2013). Bullying and harassment are much the same in many ways, although harassment differs from bullying in some instances. Bullying mainly refers to the negative acts by co-workers, supervisors or managers or subordinates, while harassment arises when one or more worker or manager are repeatedly and deliberately abused, threatened or humiliated in circumstances relating to work. So how do we manage workplace bullying and harassment and what are the rules that clearly define where they are taking place?  These are the underlining factors that need addressing in every workplace today.

The role of the Human Resource Manager is to undertake the management of the employees that make up the organisation. “Soft HRM places an emphasis on managing employees as humans instead of resources, suggesting that employees need to be treated with “consideration and a personal touch” in order to attain favourable outcomes” (Carson, 2005; Truss et al., 1997).

“It emphasizes the ability of HRM to satisfy employees’ needs, which is hypothesized to generate favorable HRM outcomes (e.g. commitment) and subsequently improved organizational performance" (Elise Marescaux, Sophie De Winne, Luc Sels, 2013). Employees can use this human resource as a way of speaking out about an issue in the workplace.

In the case of John McPhilbin who appeared in the article “A Slow Poison” by Jane Faure-Brac, workplace bullying is an everyday activity. (Jane Faure-Brac, 2012) John spends his day talking to people like him that are victims of workplace bullying and harassment, he tries to get an understanding of their situation and help them in any way he can. McPhilbin was bullied at work and knows how these people feel, he can associate himself with them and tries to get an understanding of their issues and helps them in any way he can. Although John’s efforts seem admirable, the reality is that “Roughly one in three employees in the workplace has experienced some form of bullying or poor behaviour and one in two has witnessed it” (Jane Faure-Brac, 2012). As a result, more and more people are becoming increasingly aware of the issue in the workplace and are implementing strategies to combat it.

In today’s global economy, managers are gathering employees from all parts of the world, with different cultures and characteristics. While this may seem like a bad thing, in reality, diversity has impacted the workplace in a positive manner. Diversity allows for a change in the vibe of the workplace, it exposes people to new cultures and beliefs for people to understand and accept. It also encourages a fair working environment where all employees can work together towards a common goal. On the negative side, sometimes different characteristics can make people stand out and thereby create a target for others to perpetrate their bullying tendencies towards.

An “employee experiencing the status inconsistency can become either a perpetrator or a target”; “researchers have found that the feeling of uncertainty resulting from status inconsistency can produce aggression in employees” (A.-K. Samnani, P. Singh (2012). This leads to workplace bullying or harassment and for the targets this means that they are consequently bullied because of a difference in characteristic or personality. For effective diversity workplace practices to be successful there needs to be policies and practices in place for the employees so that rules can be follow accordingly. This will help to prevent people from becoming the perpetrator or the target in any given situation. These policies and practices will shape the culture of an organisation and provide employees with the guidelines for proper etiquette in the workplace.

While the business world today may have a greater understanding of the effects on people that are bullied or harassed, there is still a lot of work to be done on the issue. The overall awareness of the problem has not filtered into every industry, with some HR departments not even bothering to look into and follow up on employee’s complaints. Larger organisations are taking on board this issue as a serious matter as they see the value of cultural differences and how they can help with the survival of their business. These organisations are generally watched more closely by the public and therefore would suffer negatively if unsafe environments were provided. Smaller business are more likely to be able to ignore disgruntled employees and may choose to ignore bullying or harassment complaints as they are less exposed to public opinion. If there is going to be a change for the future, it will require all employers and employees to gain knowledge of the detrimental effects of bullying and harassment in the workplace and to see how they can work together to solve this important issue.

Reference list:

Jane Faure-Brac, 2012, A Slow Poison, http://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/05%20About%20Parliament/53%20HoR/537%20About%20the%20House%20magazine/46/PDF/Poison1.ashx

A.-K. Samnani, P. Singh / Aggression and Violent Behaviour 17 (2012) 581–589http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1359178912000912/1-s2.0-S1359178912000912-main.pdf?_tid=0481b1ce-0f7e-11e3-bef6-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1377652146_d28eea41c15dd5d3dba6c587d8fed152

Anas Khan and Riad Khan, 2012, Understanding and managing workplace bullying, pg. 85 http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/journals.htm?issn=0019-7858&volume=44&issue=2&articleid=17019188&show=html&PHPSESSID=6q6c74vnjlq086ketaa6fm7d94

Maarit Vartia-Väänänen, 2013, Workplace Bullying and Harassment in the EU and Finland http://www.jil.go.jp/english/reports/documents/jilpt-reports/no.12.pdf

Elise Marescaux, Sophie De Winne, Luc Sels, (2013) "HR practices and HRM outcomes: the role of basic need satisfaction", Personnel Review, Vol. 42 Iss: 1, pp.4 – 27 http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/journals.htm?issn=0048-3486&volume=42&issue=1&articleid=17068391&show=html

Truss, C., Gratton, L., Hope-Hailey, V., McGovern, P., Stiles, P. (1997), "Soft and hard models of human resource management: a reappraisal", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 34 No.1,.

pp.53-73

Swatch Segmentation - By Mitchell Formica

The Overall Market

The overall market of watches in Australia is comprised of five different buyer groups that are all interested in the different types of watches found in the market. The First type of buyer is the young impulsive consumers, who are the first to purchase a new line of watch that is deemed to be the next hot product on the market.  The Second type of buyer are the ones who follow trends and just buy what every else is because it’s the latest thing on the market. Thirdly there’s the older group who simply have good taste and a sense of style and after that there’s the university students and college students who can afford wealthier brands of watches on the market,and finally there are the fashionable senior citizens who wear the next best thing on the market. (Bplans, 2012).

In Recent times Australia has seen a growth in the luxury watch marketincreasing to ‘25% from 2010 to 2012’. This staggering amount is due to the increase in wealth and the need for a high social status among people. However,this increase is still behind the rest of world although the need for watches will always be there as they are finding new and better ways to make and innovate watches today. (Stephen Lacey, 2013).

Segmenting the Watch Market

The segmentation of Watches in general is broken down into twomain parts. Demographic and Behavioural aspects that companies like Swatch and Rolex use to target and go to market with. When looking at thedemographicsegment for watches we focus on age and gender as they are the two main key areas. Age is an important variable when trying to match the style and look of the watch with the buyer and the age of a buyer can sometimes determine what their buying habits are like. For example a younger person would be more so attracted to a coloured watch and might have impulsive habits where-as an older person might like an more conservative look and might not want to buy it upon first look. The style and price of the watch is a key aspect nowadays, as a larger number of younger people are purchasing watch brands.  Gender is also a major aspect for manufacturers as they have to very different demographics to market towards. Male and female traditional watches are very different in style but nowadays watches can sometimes only be determined male or female by the colour. This is easy for manufacturers as they don’t have to change a lot on the design for both demographics. 

In the market today many organisations are changing the way they see the market, from a timeless keepsake to a more fashionable accessory. The watch industry has changed overtime due to the needs and wants of the buyers. Manufacturers are segmenting the market more diversely these days due to a larger population of possible targets. These targets or differences in people such as age, gender, behaviour or even psychographic needs are the reasons for a wider more diversified market. Nowadays we don’t just see the plain old business man wearing a stylish watch, but we also see the young hip culture wearing their own brands of watches too.

Manufacturers like Rolex and Swatch are finding it hard to compete with china’s watch market. China produces on average 663,000,000 million watches annually as compared to Swiss watches 29,200,000 million however, the Swiss watch makers still hold the largest percentage of market share as their watches are sold for $739 as compared to China’s watch price of $3 (Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry 2013).

‘Nowadays, Swatch is familiar with the fact that specialization in a chosen market is more profitable than trying to reach all consumers in the market. Therefore, the choice of its target market was made very carefully’ (Marketing Report Revised, 2010).The target customer of Swatch is from 18 to 30, even extends to middle-aged who advocated young mentality.  (Smiled, C et al, 2014). However, Swatch predominantly targets towards younger segments, primarily because of its youngish style (Dvog, 2012). Swatch focuses on both men and women. The colourful watches and different designs are sufficient to satiate the needs of customers. For example, men can choose the black watch and women can choose the pink one. There are also neutral styles for both men and women. (Smiled, C et al, 2014). I think Swatch should stay where they are in the segmentation strategy as they have clearly found a target market that suits their product, their segmentation strategy which comprised of opening up to a new market that watches has no previously marketed towards allowed them to find a gap in the market. This new gap created a stream of attention when Swatch made this decision in the mid-80s. ‘Their main goal was to produce an artistic, low-cost and high-tech watch. This turned out to be a very successful concept and they became the world’s largest watch producer. This position made it possible to extend their range of products and to use a differentiated strategy’ (Marketing Report Revised, 2010).Theirmain audience are enthusiastic and positive toward new product releases and will come back and buy the latest and best on the market(Dvog, 2012).People buy a Swatch because it is economical and in good quality, furthermore they buy it for fashionable decoration. Swatch breaks through the single functions of watch, using the combination of style and gorgeous colours to catch consumer’s eyes. (Smiled, C et al, 2014).

References:

Bplans, 2012, “Export Watch Manufacturer Business Plan”, Grutzen Watches, viewed 12 May 2014. http://www.bplans.com/export_watch_manufacturer_business_plan/market_analysis_summary_fc.php

Dvog 2012, “Swatch/Business and Industry”, Papercamp, viewed 12 May 2014

http://www.papercamp.com/essay/64290/Swatch

Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry 2013, “Wrist Watch Industry Statistics”, StatisticsBrain, viewed 12 May 2014

http://www.statisticbrain.com/wrist-watch-industry-statistics/

Marketing Report Revised 2010, English 2/Blogger, viewed 12 May 2014

http://english2pcs.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/marketing-report-revised.html

Smiled, C Lu, Z Cloud, G 2014, “The Segmentation Analysis of Rolex and Swatch”, Baidu, viewed 12 May 2014

http://wenku.baidu.com/view/9222daa6dd3383c4bb4cd24d.html

Stephen Lacey 2013, “Luxury watch sales are booming in Australia as $650,000 timepiece finds a home/Time Is Money”, Traveller, viewed 12 May 2014 http://www.smh.com.au/travel/experiences/luxury/time-is-money-20130419-2i4c8.html

Copyright.

The external marketing environment (Socio-cultural) - By Mitchell Formica

Socio-cultural and the environment it encompasses involves a number of different factors such as the beliefs, customs, practices and behaviour within a population. We perceive forces in society and culture as influences on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. For some people drinking beer is an activity that encourages good feelings and it is their belief that they it must be a part of their everyday life.

The link between the socio-cultural environment and the consumption of beer is a part of our every day’s lives. ‘The pub and bar have been geographically widespread social settings in many societies, symbolically as well as physically and socially central to popular culture, and yet in many ways they are unique leisure locations, warranting more attention than the sparse research to date’, (Northcote, J, 2011). Nowadays more and more places are accepting BYO beer and allowing consumers a wider range of beer products available for purchase. This change in society is due to a demand for the product, as more and more people are starting to drink socially the businesses that don’t cater for this are at a disadvantage and may even lose customers.

In today’s society there are many festivals and public activities like markets that involve beer in their social circle. It is becoming a part of our culture to incorporate whatever we are doing with alcohol. Opportunities such as these will envelope the beer products within our society as not a bad health risk but a more of a social pleasure that can be consumed without risk.

However in future there may be more opportunities for beer as technology changes and through automation and robotics we could see the beer industry redevelop itself in-terms of producing the overall product.

There have always been threats for the beer industry as they are seen as a bad health risk for consumers. Ad campaigns for beer have recently moved away from promoting their product with perfect videos of the beer just sitting there, to a different setting that involves younger diverse groups sipping away on a nice beach somewhere with the sunset in the background. This change is due to negative influences on beer and the ad campaigns are trying to move away from promoting the beer to instead promoting a place that you would rather be in with a beer.  

References

Northcote, J, 2011, ‘Young adults’ decision making surrounding heavy drinking: A multi-staged model of planned behaviour’, Vol.72 (12), pp.2020-2025.

Copyright.

The external marketing environment (Demographic) - By Mitchell Formica

The external marketing environment is made up of many different factors such as, social, demographic, economic, technological, political and legal. These elements categorise people and help marketers to segment and target an audience that they want to advertise to (Polonsky, M J, 2011).

The two environments I have chosen are demographic and socio-cultural. Within the beer industry there are many different types of brands that cater to different needs and wants. The beer market is mainly divided up into two different categories, gender and age. Beer is seen as a more mainly type of product so gender roles are a key factor when marketing beer toward a consumer. Also age is another determinate factor as there is a changing demographic and socio-cultural behaviour toward drinking beer.

The demographic environment is what makes up the characteristics of a consumer, it is based upon influences such as: ‘age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment’ (Investopedia, 2014).  Demographics in marketing help to segment a market into different categories so that any given organisation can target towards a certain population. What organisations have learnt through demographics is that not all people are the same and they have different needs and wants that correspond to the same product. To combat this business’s market the same product in different ways with small variations like colour or size. In the beer industry there are normally two distinct categories that people get grouped into when being marketed, the wealthy and the average. These categories are based on income levels and using this edge marketers can appeal to whichever population they like. 

Simmons Market Research Bureau undertook a Study of Media and Markets in the article ‘The demographics of beer’, it is stated that the percentage of drinkers by age and gender for domestic regular beer like Budweiser is 72.1% of males and 27.9% for females. Imported beers such as Corona and Heineken have similar results ranging from 61.9% for men and 38.1% for women that drink corona and 68.4% for men and 31.6% for women that drink Heineken. Whilst in the age category between the ages of 25-34 the percentage of drinkers is only 28.2% for Corona and 24.8% for Heineken. As compared to an older age group that of 55-64 who drink much less with only 8.8% that consume Corona and 10.1% that drink Heineken (Beverage Dynamics July-Aug. 2005).

The opportunities for beer demographically are changing throughout time. Traditionally lower class men were the biggest consumers of beer as they would leave from there hard day of work to go to the pub. Nowadays there are more and more people drinking socially and it is becoming more prevalent in daily activities despite harsh laws on public drunkenness.

The opportunities for beer to spread over all demographics is becoming a reality as more and more people take part in the social leisure.

In recent years wine and spirits have become more prevalent in the alcohol market taking over the need for beer. However there is still a strong demand for beer products although breweries are finding it hard to promote new products and market to new audiences. The change from beer owning the majority of the alcohol market to wine and spirits taking over is due to younger and older generations that are drinking more wine and finding it easier to buy a shot of alcohol instead of drinking a whole beer. 

References

‘The demographics of beer’, Beverage Dynamics July-Aug 2005, Academic OneFile, Web, 26 Mar 2014.

Polonsky, M J, 10 Jan 2011, ‘Journal of Strategic Marketing, The incorporation of an interactive external environment: an extended model of marketing relationships, Vol 7, Issue 1, pp.41-55. 

Encyclopaedia, 2014, Demographics, Definition of ‘Demographics', Investopedia, Wednesday 26 march 2014, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/demographics.asp.

Copyright.

Economics, Demand & Supply, & Perfect Competition, oligopolies, and Monopolies – By Mitchell Formica

Demand and supply can be seen in almost every market. To understand demand and supply we have to understand exactly what they are and what they do in a market. Demand concerns the person who is purchasing a product or service. The buyer has a certain need toward buying, the greater the need the more likely he/she will purchasing it. The biggest factor here is price, if a product that normally sells for $10 is sold at $15 the person will probably not want to buy it, as there is less of a demand due to the increase cost of the item. However, if the product that is normally sold at $10 is sold at $5 then there is a greater demand because the product is cheaper to buy. Supply on the other hand concerns the company that is selling a product or service. A hospital sells health care to patients, in this case the hospital would be the supply and the patient would be the demand. Although, the demand would be very high because people would rarely not pay for health care.

In different markets there are different types of demand and supply. For example in the apple market there is perfect competition. If there is a few fruit shops in the same area that are all selling apples at $3 each then for all shops to benefit from them they should all keep the price the same. This is because the people buying the apples would not be influenced by price and therefore be reluctant to go to any store. However, if one store changes the price from $3 to $2 then that store will earn more sales because the people will want to buy the cheaper apples. This situation is best known as perfect competition in which there are many firms that are all selling the same thing at the same price. There are to other types of markets I would like to talk about. Monopolies and Oligopolies.

A monopoly, like the board game is a market structure built around one big player that owns the full market share. The best way to picture a monopoly is to think of the board game, the aim of the game is to buy out the other players and own everything. Well just like in the game the market is based around one sole company that sells at its own price because there is no other competition. There is large barriers to enter the market which means that you will need power and wealth in order to take over in the market. This is normally hard as in most monopolies there is government approval needed and also a large customer base and big machines that are used by the companies. These are all things that are hard to come by which make it hard for other companies to enter the market. An example of a monopoly is the Saudi Arabian government’s ownership over the oil companies.

Oligopolies are like monopolies but have a small number of companies that own the market share. The best way to understand how an oligopoly works is to look at a situation in which oligopolies are present. Banks are a good example of an oligopoly because there are normally lots of little banks but only a few big ones that make up most of the market. These big banks are oligopolies just like airplane companies and oil companies are. They all have the same characteristics which are that they all sell the same thing and all have large barriers to entry. These companies normally try to balance the price however, if one does lower the price then the others will normally follow because they want an equal demand from the public.

The Changing Face of Organisations - by Mitchell Formica

In recent years the culture of organisations have moved from a well-structured and ridged layout to a widely diverse and open environment. These changes are due to the ever changing environment in which we live in. We are bound by nature, but we also are bound by society and with that comes certain responsibilities and obligations for organisations. Firstly we look at the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and its impacts on the culture of a business and whether or not an economic crisis would affect the workplace balance and conditions. The answer is yes. When the financial crisis hit in July 2007, there was a quick turn of action by business’s to cut back on costs where possible. This meant tightening the belt for most if not all affected economies and cutting loose jobs that were not as important to stay afloat. In Australia alone it is estimated that 223,900 jobs have been lost due to the financial crisis (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014).

The stresses of retrenchment have evidently lowered morale across the board and made it hard for the everyday working citizen to feel comfortable and stable in their position in the business. The change in culture toward a more fluid, diverse and flexible setting in most large organisations today have alleviated some stresses however, there is still the uncertainty of the business’s decisions. Today, companies like to see them-selves as big families that take care of their employees and give them opportunities to put forth ideas and excel in their work environment. The concentration of wealth and profit is still a top priority for all businesses however, public image and culture are regarded among the top ten priorities for a sustainable organisation and are seen as the life and blood of an organisation. Without the workers there wouldn’t be an organisation.

Recently work culture has seen a total re-vamp since IBM owned the largest proportion of market share for computers. Since then companies have totally re-structured their business to fit a more employee friendly layout. Instead of the autocratic manager we recognise as our boss and not our mentor we see different styles of managers like persuasive and consultative bringing forth new improvements like giving the employees a chance to have their say and opinions on things, leading to higher levels of motivation.  

(Tuesday, 20 May 2014).