Management Strategy Perspectives and Paradoxes Essay

Management Strategy Perspectives and Paradoxes - Essay Example In such environ, it is important for an organisation to find a 'differential aspect' of its product or service in order to survive the market competencies, otherwise the organisation will be driven out of the business ruthlessly. "Having a competitive advantage is like having a gun in knife fight". The paper explores this statement and illustrates the key factors through which a firm can attain this competitive gun while all the competitors remain fighting with their competitive knives. It goes for a gross understanding of the term 'competitive advantage', realising how it can be interpreted as 'a gun in the knife fight', plus analysing and examining a bunch of important issues underlying this concept. The focus of this paper remains to be the factors that need to be addressed by an organisation in its quest to dig out a competitive advantage to create and maintain its position in the market that is unbeatable for its competitors in a specific point in time. There happen to be several areas where a firm can manage to obtain a competitive advantage against its competitors. These areas are discussed in this paper with the help of the literature available on the given subject. "Having a competitive advantage is like having a gun in a knife fight". Consider a fight in which everybody has got a knife as weapon and using it in all ways to win the battle. During this fight, one of the fighters manages to acquire a gun. A gun in a knife fight implies having a weapon or an advantage through which any battle or competition could be won in way that nobody else could be able to claim victory for a long time. In the context of businesses, this statement entails having a competitive advantage or that aspect of an organisation, which can be utilised to fight the battle of competition and gain a superior weapon over other competitors. An exploration of this statement first of all lies in a profound understanding of the term competitive advantage and the necessary issues associated with it. The statement will be explored further in the paper after an illustration of what actually is meant by the term 'competitive advantage'. A competitive advantage is simply an aspect of the organisation that it possesses or offers to the customers. In order for an organisational aspect to constitute as a 'competitive advantage', it has to be unique in the market not adopted by any other current or potential firm in the market. This phenomenon can also be understood in the words of Barney (1991, p102) as, "a firm is said to have competitive advantage when it is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors". This value strategy can be in any form, as long as it is providing benefit to the customers and the organisation directly or indirectly. For instance, if a firm manages to produce its products at a lower cost than all other firms in the market, it is a direct benefit to the customer in the form of reduced prices and an indirect benefit to the organisation in the shape of enhanced sales. This can only become possible when the firm has identified uni que ways to lower the product costs, either unknown or inapplicable to other firms. Porter (1985, p3) illustrates the conception of competitive advantage as the ability of a firm to create value for its customers in a way that proposes more benefit

Hard Treatment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hard Treatment - Assignment Example The eighteenth century corporal punishment was done through the offender’s body. In the nineteenth century, the imprisonment move was merged with other penalties that prompted the decrease of the human rights. This was a response to the wrongdoers. In that case, Kleinig views imprisonment as a form of reforming ones villainous character or immoral habit. Below are the some of positive and negative constraints according to the kleinig’s point of view of the prisoners subjected to punishments. Kleinig has found that cruelty inflicts physical pain on the prisoners. This has been extremely exaggerated to the general suffering of these people. He argues that such actions which come in with cruelty are imposed to these people to cause aguish and fear in them for the respect of the department stuff. Some of these cruel activities done to the prisoners may end up to injuries either mentally or physically. Kleinig believe that both individuals and institutions are cruel to the p risoners. According to the research, many deaths that are reported from the prisons are caused by the prisoners themselves. In that case, he has notified that though punishments are given to rectify and rehabilitate the wrongdoers, being cruelty would be excessive punishment which would not be helpful but only destroying. This would also limit the people to achieving the goals that are accepted in the social life. According to Kleinig, both cruelties to sentient and rational sentient is an act of dehumanizing. On the other hand, the cruelty suffering undergone by the prisoners tends to undermine their human distinctiveness which acts as their capacity for appraisal. On the other hand, many individuals and institutions tent to give unusual punishments such as boiling them in oil, quartering or drawing them or burning them on their stakes. In such case, kleinig has found such act to be unusual and cruel hence dehumanizing. According to Klenig, though the prisoners should adhere to the punishments given to them, they should be permitted to have the human dignity. Even though are not given the time to exercise their human rights, human dignity is fundamental to all human beings. In that chase, he argues that the prison institutions should express the non humiliation which is so common among the prison institutions, in order to avoid prisoners’ rejection from the human common wealth. Kleinig also tackles chaining of the prisoners. He says that this is humiliating them and expresses in humane. On the other hand, Kleinig, touches the sentencing of a prisoner. He says that giving a long sentence to the prisoners is contrary with the myth of correcting and rehabilitating the prisoners. Instead, they lose their human dignity and have less time to enjoy their lives. In that case, they face various challenges such as being chained from the wrist to the ankle, perform hard and tiresome labor, being under life surveillance and be denied to receive any assistance from the outside. Kleinig says that when one is forced in to such life style, various opportunities are disqualified. Firstly, they do not perform their parental responsibility. This is because; the long term imprisonment punishment does not allow one to interact with his or her family. Secondly, a man would not be able to enjoy his marital authority. In continuation, Kleinig, gives in humanness as another constraint that leads to hard treatment. In that case, according to him, inhumane is the act of disregarding the human sensibility as human beings.