mohanad

Al Maya Group

2006-03-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

Al Maya group had different strategies in order to expand their market locally and internationally (Globally). We can see that Hamel frame work can apply perfectly to Al Maya actions under the element of core strategy component. We can see in the article that Al Maya Group is trying to reach new geographical places which lead in approaching new customers. Also we can see the factor of product market scope, the company planning to open fashion retail stores and the first British Home Store (BHS) in Poland, by taking this action; the company will be targeting new customers and will offer a new area of product retailing. Moreover, the product market scope can be noticed when the company refused to enter the hypermarket business, this means that the firm has their own strategy of competing and they have to stick to it when they do their operations.
The hypermarket sector can be viewed as a new entrant under the five forces of porter, and it affected the market share of Al Maya group, but still Al Maya group didn’t enter this new market since they still maintain a good market share.
Finally we can see that the increase in oil and fuel prices which is considered a non market issue, played as a big advantage to Al Maya Group, their different locations will be absorbing more customers since they are known for their perfect locations which is a main reason for many customers to shop at their shops, and ultimately, customers will be saving time and money.

taking 12% slice of air traffic between London and Dubai

2006-03-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt, it took Virgin Atlantic airlines lot courage in deciding to operate in Dubai and competing with Emirates airline. As mentioned in the article, Virgin airlines are looking forward of getting 10% to 12% slice of the air traffic between Dubai and London. Considering Virgin Atlantic as a new entrant in the Dubai Airlines market, we can easily tell that a huge rivalry between these two big companies will occur. Emirates airline is one of fastest growing airlines in the world, so the question is how Virgin Atlantic airline can compete with such Airline? Well, we should analyze the value of resources and capabilities behind Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic operates under the concept of traveling and having fun at the same time. Boredom while flying with such airline is close to impossible, every kind of entertainment is provided with Virgin even in short distance flights. Moreover this can be considered as a rare source and capability (concept of fun) when we compare to other Airlines companies. Why is Virgin airline unique? Traveling with an economy class Ticket can be really outstanding compared to other airline flights. Different options of food and beverages is offered, each passenger has a TV with the option of choosing what to watch, all this goes under the economy class, we can leave other classes to our imagination. It is a far fetched idea to apply the concept of fun when it comes to maintenance and other operational performances. Virgin Airline is fun, unique and accurate, is Richard Branson going to accomplish his goal (10%to12% of air traffic between Dubai and London)?

MBA programs and Job opportunities

2006-02-16T03:58:00.000-08:00

As mentioned by the article, fresh graduates from universities that cannot find a job are going for masters. They think that MBA programs will be really useful in sense of finding easy job opportunities. According to what is mentioned, we can see that students are willing to do MBA programs for the wrong reason; they think it is a matter of enhancing their CVs. Having a master degree doesn’t necessarily mean finding the magic job, employers are looking beyond the knowledge of concepts and formulas, employers are seeking experience.
Moreover, having an MBA degree is really something with a value, but in other economies and markets. Under the conditions mentioned in the article we can see that a huge number of fresh graduates are seeking for masters and MBA programs, so the rareness factor is gone as the number of students with MBA degrees increased.
The only solution of such issue can be only solved through some unique university programs. Such programs should be useful in a way that provides students with good experience of the real working life. For instance, it is mentioned in the article Fuqua students are being assessed by Fuqua community in order to find good jobs after graduating, and such campaign has worked, the evidence is 56% increase in job opportunities.
Finally, we can consider AUS; it is offering many programs in order to make students prepared for the real working life, we can see that through different business seminars, study tours, and requirement of internships.

Danish and the boycott

2006-02-08T03:59:00.000-08:00

According to the conflict that happened between Saudi customers and Danish products that caused the boycott of Danish products because of the depicting of profit Mohammad (peace upon him), we can easily see the buying power of Saudi customers. Fist of all, such dairy products are not differentiated, which means that buyers of Danish products can find other suppliers of dairy products. Secondly, there are no switching costs if customers decided to switch to other dairy products. Moreover, such boycott caused a threat, a manager of a flag ship supermarket mentioned that the sales went down 5%, and Danish company was afraid that the boycott will spread all over Saudi Arabia.
Moving to the customer interface, in this issue we can realize the fulfillment and support factor, SADAFCO became a 100% Saudi company and it announced that it has nothing to do with Danish products though they were connected before, in order to reach the market without the old suppliers and support their customers. Moreover the Panda Shop announced that Danish products are canceled, and some supermarkets allowed customers to return back products they bought plus getting a refund. Also the Saudi dairy and Foodstuff Company mentioned that they became 100% Saudi, including all factors like shareholders, partners and individuals including the founding investors.
Finally, considering the strategic resources, we can notice that strategic assets play a big part, when the boycott of dairy products took place in the Saudi market we see that Saudi companies like SADAFCO started producing their products with a 100% Saudi raw materials and expertise in order to overcome such boycott, basically they started to exploit their products in new ways in order to provide the Saudi customers with the value they want, which is 100% Saudi products.

Google is destined to fail in China and Porter/ mohanad jaradat,@ 7315

2006-02-01T03:20:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt, the nature of such failure by Google in the Chinese market is that Google is a foreign company not a Chinese company. In my opinion, since Google is considered to be a new entrant, it faced two big barriers that caused its failure in the Chinese market among big Chinese companies.
The first barrier can be related to product differentiation, China is an independent country, they have their own services and people in a way are attached to them. Customers or in other words users of search engines are used and loyal to the Chinese companies due to advertising or simply being the first in the Chinese market (search engines).
Moreover, the second barrier that heavily affected the entrance of Google in the Chinese market is the expected retaliation. Chinese companies fought Google in a condensed way in order to deter Google out of the market and they won. Nevertheless, Chinese companies have such history of retaliation to foreign entrants, and they have good substantial resources to fight back.
Finally, the environment structure in the Chinese market doesn’t suit Google in any way. For example, Sohu.com fired its top executives at once and this doesn’t happen in the American market. Sina.com had a big lawsuit that in similar conditions in the states it would get much attention than in China.

test post

2006-01-28T04:34:00.000-08:00

test post for mgt406 at aus