Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Performance of MNC at Amazon
Performance of MNC at Amazon
INTRODUCTION
1
INTRODUCTION
An MNC is an organisation doing business in one or more countries. These are
international firms, having headquarters, (decision-making centres) in one country
and sales offices and, in most cases, manufacturing facilities in many countries. They
usually define their scope of operation as global. MNCs are not only large, but they
are growing as well. The MNC is the only organization which has the resources and
scope to think, to plan, and to act with worldwide planning of markets and resources.
Many international opportunities require capital and technology at a scale only large
MNCs can supply.
The globalization of markets was perhaps the most important theme of business
strategy in the 1980s. The creation of the United States of Europe (in the form of the
single European market) may be another great achievement of the 1990s. These two
events and many others will make global management a topic of great interest to all.
To achieve long-term business success, organizations must successfully adapt to a
competitive environment based on worldwide competition.
MNC Decision:
The decision to go international is no doubt a major one.
2
Products or services to be marketed:
In general, MNCs select those products (or services) that have performed well in their
domestic market and introduce them into their chosen global market. This is known as
the shot-in-the-dark method. Other firms utilise a phased internationalization
approach, i.e., many utilise more analytical and ‘ desperate approaches to product or
service selection. Marketing measures travel to the selected host country and conduct
product market research to determine consumer needs in the overall product area in
which the company does business. Then the managers coming back have with them
research and designs or product that fits the consumers’ needs. The new product
(often some variation of the company’s product line) is then introduced into the host
country.
Mode of Entry:
After selecting the market and product (or service) for international expansion an
organisation must decide specifically how it will enter its selected market illustrates
the three basic sequential strategies involved in market entry. These strategies are
different but they have one thing in common: each strategy increases commitment to
the international venture
3
NEED OF THE STUDY
The study has been carried out from the data available in the organization.
Performance of MNC can significantly help in identifying the training needs
of the employees.
Performance management helps to reveal the differences and discrepancies in
the desired and the actual performance of the employees.
The causes of the discrepancies are also found whether they are due to the lack
of adequate training or not. The employee can also tell about his training
requirements (if any) in his self appraisal.
A performance management after the training program can also help in
judging the effectiveness of the program:
Identify the deficiencies
Determine where employees lacking
Benchmark for evaluation of training
Makes sure training is provided to the right people
Increases the motivation of training
4
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To review the performance of the employees over a given period of time.
To identify the reward system to improve the performance of individuals and
teams.
To help the management in exercising organizational control.
To identify their business concerns and to develop their skills and competency
To identify the knowledge and skills for performing the job efficiently.
5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The sample size is 50 employees. The study has been carried out by covering
all the departments of amazon .
The scope of any performance management should include the following
provide employees with a better understanding of their role and
responsibilities;
Increase confidence through recognizing strengths while identifying training
needs to improve weaknesses; improve working relationships and
communication between supervisors and subordinates; increase commitment
to organizational goals; develop employees into future supervisors; assist
In personnel decisions such as promotions or allocating rewards; and allow
time for self-reflection, self-appraisal and personal goal setting.
It brings together many of the elements that make up the practice of People
management, including in particular learning and development.
6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sample Design
A Sample Design is the conceptual structure within which research would be conducted. The
function of the research design is to provide for the collection of relevant evidence with
minimum expenditure of efforts, time and money. The suitable design is the one that
minimizes bias and maximizes the reliability of the data collected and analyzed.
Research Analysis is the computation of certain indices or measures along with searching for
patterns of relationships that suits among the date groups. Statistical tools such as percentages
& averages are used. The information gathered is represented in the form of table so that
interpretation should be precise.
Collection of Data
The data is collected through primary and secondary sources
Primary Data
The primary data is collected from the respondents belonging to the different departments.
The primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time and thus to be
original in character. The primary data will be collected through
Questionnaires
This method has been chosen keeping in view its simplicity. And in case of
few questions, the respondents are free to present their own views, opinions
and suggestions.
Sample Tool
Closed & Open-ended questionnaire
Secondary Data
The secondary data are is that which has already been collected by someone else and which
has already been passed through statistical process. In this case the secondary data will be
collected from
Newsletters
Magazines
Books of various authors and Websites of the company & others
Type of sampling:
The sample selected from the records of the data is based on “Convenience Sampling”.
Sample Size - 50
Duration of the study - 45 days
7
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Most often the experience of performance management is not an amazing one;
when someone else manages others or is being managed by another person; it
is stressful and lengthy.
Performance Management has both positive and negative aspects and bad
performance management affects both the employees and the managers.
Likewise, the proper performance management is always pleasing to both the
employees and the manager; the Performance in MNC is created for
appraising the competence, output and contribution of all the workers.
In this way the managers can control the functioning of their companies and
guide the employees to work in accordance to the demands and requirements
of the companies.
It helps to decide and produce a definite number of goods per unit of time,
which will be most favourable to the business and growth of the company
8
CHAPTER – 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
9
Multinational Companies and Subsidiaries
There is no standard definition for MNC, and it varies depending on whether the research
subject is globalization, performance management or something else. For example, A.
Lazarus describes MNC as “a business organization whose activities are located in more
than two countries and is the organizational form that defines foreign direct investment”
(Lazarus, 2001),(Columbia Business School). On the other hand, Miller defines it as an
organization that has a headquarter in one country, at the same time, has operations
in one or more different countries. (Miller, 1979)
This definition is suitable for globalization research. When it comes to financial research,
D. K. Fieldhouse suggests defining MNCs as “a business enterprise which owns and
controls income-generating assets in more than one country.” (Fieldhouse, 1986)
The operations, in this case, will refer to the production, promotion, and selling. The
existence of multinational enterprises is enabled by the free market system and economic
liberalism. Through venturing into international markets, companies are always seeking
ways through which they can enhance their sources of revenue after they exhaust local
markets. (Dunning, 2009)
Another definition for an MNC is given by Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD). It says that multinationals are companies or other entities that can
have public, private, or mixed ownership registered in two or more countries and related
to each other in such a way that they are able to organize their activities in different ways.
Although one or more of these entities can have a considerable effect on others’ functions,
their autonomy degree with the entire organization may vary a lot. (OECD, 2008)
Several other authors say that an MNC is a company that with the help of its foreign
subsidiaries in various countries provides, distributes and ensures its products. These
subsidiaries are controlled and managed by headquarters from a global perspective. While
other authors add that the development of MNCs is linked with the volume of production
overseas and not only their export sales. (ProQuest, 2003)
MNC can also be defined based on the volume of foreign investments. For example,
according to Victor Priel an organization can be defined as an MNC if more than 20% of
its total assets are abroad. (Priel, 1974) In contrast, other authors state that to be
considered as an MNC, the company should obtain more than 35% of its sales and profit
overseas. (Report of International Business) In fact, the biggest portion of popular
companies worldwide are multinational companies, and people can quickly identify them
as their names, products and services are very trendy. According to the statistics given
by United Nation, there are over
10
MNCs in the world. However, the biggest impact has Top 500 of them. These 500
companies do eighty percent of the whole foreign direct investments (FDI)
worldwide. According to the 2003 data, most of them are based in the US (189 of
them) and EU (153 of them).
From all these definitions made by different authors, it becomes clear that an MNC is an
organization that operates subsidiaries in more than one country and through them
produces and sells goods and services out of its production.
To describe MNCs, two famous indexes can be used. One of them is TNI index (the
Transnationality index). It indicates the level of internationality and can be achieved
using the following three shares: (Štrach, 2009)
The share of foreign assets to total assets,
The ratio of foreign sales to total sales and
The ratio of foreign workers in the total numbers of employees.
The second index is the internationalization index that can be calculated by dividing the
number of foreign subsidiaries to the total number of branches. (www.eujournal.org)
Enterprises that are involved in oligopolistic markets are always observed to be the most
active in foreign market investments. It is because they are always looking to make sure
that they can be able to take advantage of the available and untapped foreign markets after
exhausting the local ones. For highly competitive markets it is usually of high importance
to remain ahead of competitors basically by being able to enter more markets and sell
more units thus being able to be flexible and competitive enough. Therefore, it can be said
that multinational enterprises have an escape route from saturated local markets.
(Dunning, 2009)
Indeed, it is very complex and costly proposition to run MNC. It is necessary to
employ the best managers and experts to be sure that the laws and other regulations of
numerous foreign countries are followed and be able to embrace when the laws change.
Certainly there should be opponents and proponents of MNCs. Opponents are unhappy
with the fact that MNCs are too big and have extremely large power. Besides, they claim
that multinational companies sometimes block the development of less developed
countries and instead, are a huge boost for developed countries. (Priel, 1974, p. 57)
Proponents, on the other hand, call the fact that MNCs provide with a magnificent amount
of job places, which helps developing countries improve and increases their living
standards. (Report of International Business, p. 57) It seems striking, but some Top 100
MNCs have such a big budget that even eclipses the budgets of modest countries. (UN,
2013)
11
Subsidiary is an entity based in another place from the HQ. It can be located in a
foreign country or even in the same country, however, in another city. It belongs to
the parent company which is in the control of the most of the shares. The HQ
assigns the CEO of the subsidiary. (Gray, 1972) According to Rossini, a
subsidiary can be defined as: “A subsidiary is a corporation owned by 50% or
more by another company. The owning organization is usually called the parent or
holding company. A company that is 100% owned and controlled by a holding
company is known as a wholly owned subsidiary. “ (Christine Rossini, 1998) It is
interesting, but the subsidiaries can have entirely different goals and activities
from what do the parent company. So, subsidiaries are different from mergers, and
while creating a subsidiary, there is no need for the approval of the stockholders
which is a must thing during merging with another company. (DePamphilis, 2007)
Companies open or purchase subsidiaries for different reasons. The most important
reasons are making their brand known in foreign markets, seeking new growth
opportunities
and isolating risks. As subsidiaries are separate legal entities, parent companies are not
automatically affected from the losses of the subsidiaries. The risks inborn in the
subsidiary stay within it and do not transfer to the parent company. This gives great
opportunities for more diversifications and improved efficiencies for the home company
and a subsidiary. Furthermore, the CEO and high-level managers do not need to engage in
daily operational activities of the subsidiary. (Rating Parent/Holding Companies and
Their Subsidiaries, 2010)
For sure, subsidiaries have disadvantages as well. Worth to be mentioned the fact that
parent companies are obliged to pay for the debts of their subsidiaries because lending
institutions usually ask for guarantees from parent companies before lending to
subsidiaries. They have to pay, otherwise parent companies will risk their reputation and
will have problems. Another disadvantage is that, if the parent company does not own one
hundred percent of the shares of the subsidiary, it will not have full access to the cash
flow of the subsidiary. (Rating Parent/Holding Companies and Their Subsidiaries, 2010)
Major driver for companies’ decision to go global is relocation of its plants, factories and
offices to geographically profitable locations. The reasons could be either cheap
production or workforce, entrance to a new market or desire to widen product range.
(Biggs, 2013)
Therefore, in the next chapter we will discuss the reasons for going international in order
to understand better why companies decide to become multinationals.
12
Reasons for Going International
All companies go international for various reasons- some of them reactive (defensive) and
others proactive (aggressive). In this fast growing world, in order to remain competitive,
companies who adopt aggressive global strategy want to move quickly to make stronger
positions in the world’s markets with products or services tailored to the demand of highly
distinct and huge amount of customers. (Deresky, 2011)
Reactive reasons (Deresky, 2011)
Globalization of competitors
Most popular reason that pushes a company to go international is global competition or
as it is also known – globalization of competitors. Can you imagine what will happen if
companies stopped going “overseas” for some period? In that case, other enterprises that
already have international operations or investments will become so powerful and rich in
foreign markets that it will become extremely challenging for other companies to enter
some time later. Furthermore, these global companies will also have domestic advantages
over their local competitors. However, we understand that nowadays, the process
mentioned above is extremely rare, as we live in an era of globalization where all big,
ambitious companies want to run better and run simple. Remember this motto, as we will
come to it in the practical part. Authors Rugman and Collinson add to this also so-called
“follow the competitor” strategy, when companies evolve into multinationals trying to
save their share in the home market in response to enhanced foreign competition. These
companies get two outcomes. Firstly, they enter the markets of their competitors and start
to conquer their businesses by offering better products or services for customers. And
secondly, by this way, they make the competitors
aware that if they have in mind to take away their businesses, they will always attack in
response. (Rugman & Collinson, 2006)
Trade barriers
During the recent years, different types of trade agreements have been made amongst
particular countries ( NAFTA, EU,…). Nevertheless, there are a lot of cases when because
of restrictive trade barriers of some countries companies usually are changing from
exporting to overseas manufacturing. This is another reactive reason example.
Regulations and restrictions
With the case of regulations and restrictions as well, domestic government policies may
become so unbearable and high-cost that companies will start to do business outside of
their home countries looking for less restrictive places and more suitable business
environments.
13
Customer demands
Sometimes foreign customers, for instance, can be highly interested in having their
supplier company operate in their country in order to have better regulations over their
supplies. (Deresky, 2011)
Proactive reasons (Deresky, 2011)
Economies of scale
Companies who have long-term strategy planning are sometimes forced to go
international for proactive reasons. Only by this way they can benefit from economies of
scale. For example, the high prices of research, such as in the medical sphere, along with
the cost of going on with the new technologies, can often be refunded only with the help
of global sales.
Growth opportunities
There are various low speed growing economies in the world where domestic growth is
stable or even declines. Because of this, opportunities that can be found overseas look
much more engaging. It even becomes easier due to the Internet which gives the
opportunity to easily link to contacts in foreign countries. Rugman also adds that the
reason is to use the advantages of a quickly growing market where there is a huge demand
for goods and services. Usually, the examples of such countries have a large population
and, at the same time, high income per capita or high GDP level. The best example is the
USA. (Rugman & Collinson, 2006)
Resource access and cost savings
The opportunity of having the required raw materials and other resources offers fewer
costs for transportation and more inputs control. Another important factor is having lower
labor costs.
In some cases, just the fact of “going overseas” enhances competitiveness at home. This
reason is also mentioned by Rugman and Collinson. According to them, one of the
reasons of becoming an MNC is to cut down the costs. This strategy is known as
“internalization of control” in the MNC. The idea is to be closer to the foreign customer,
therefore, to avoid delivery delays or other issues related to customer needs, use the
advantages of the local country such as low wages or taxes and so on. (Rugman &
Collinson, 2006)
Incetives
Governments of various countries – mainly developing ones - looking forward to have
new capital, know-how and technology are more than ready to provide incentives. These
can be in forms of loans, tax exemptions, subsidies, and property use. Unsurprisingly,
these incentives are proactive for MNEs. (Deresky, 2011)
14
International diversification
Authors Rugman and Collinson add to these reasons also so-called international
diversification reason. While diversifying themselves against the risks that can happen in
the home country, companies launch operations in other countries, hence, diminishing the
unfavorable effects of economic fluctuations in the home state. This model is extensively
used by Japanese MNCs. (Rugman & Collinson, 2006)
In addition, other authors such as Barlett and Ghoshal also differentiate decisions about
entering foreign markets and the reasons related to them. According to them, the first step
in the procedure is the management decision about expansion into foreign markets.
Companies enter foreign markets for many reasons which can be characterized as
defensive and offensive approaches. Defensive approach means responding the situation
caused by external factors and the effort to solve it ex-post. (Barlett & Ghoshal, 2002)
Defensive reasons can include:
o Trade barriers, regulations, restrictions
o Demand and customer requirements
Offensive approach is characterized by the improvement of the ex-ante solution and
proactive decision making.
Offensive reasons can include:
o Economies of scale, cost savings
o Access to international markets and to limited resources
o The growth possibility
Looking at the statements made by authors above, it can be concluded that the
reasons for going abroad are more or less characterized in a similar way. So, they can be
defensive or reactive and offensive or proactive.
Thus, there are a lot of reasons to become an MNC, and companies should take
into account all these factors and decide what is the best option for the whole company.
As previously mentioned, if companies want to go overseas, they are required to
have a good knowledge of foreign market, well organized managerial system in order to
control various office branches from headquarters. (Biggs, 2013) That is why
multinational enterprises develop strategies and follow structures suitable for international
operations, which are different from those employed at domestic market. The next
chapters are devoted to these fields in order to make it clear for us which structure and
strategy will be the most suitable and appropriate to use for the chosen company used in
the practical part.
15
Foreign Market Entry Strategies
The form of entry into foreign markets is one of the most important decisions in the
process of internationalization. The strategy which the company chooses has a significant
impact on the overall organizational structure. Entry strategy is affected by the investment
demands of foreign markets and business competitiveness in the market. Entry forms are
distinguished according to whether production takes place in the home country or abroad,
and also if the entry associated with an investment or not. Figure 1 shows these
relationships of entry strategies regarding to the amount of capital and management
situated at home and overseas for each strategy.
Figure 1: Entry strategies- Capital and Management in the home country and overseas
As we can see, there are various entry and ownership strategies that companies
seeking to become international can choose from. This is not an easy decision as
managers should carefully investigate the new countries, markets, risks and critical
environmental factors related to their entry strategies. Ownership and entry strategies
include exporting, franchising, licensing, off-shoring, contract manufacturing, service-
sector outsourcing, turnkey operations, management contracts, joint ventures, fully-
owned subsidiaries set up by the firm, and e-business. (Deresky, 2011)
16
An important thing to keep in mind is that these strategies can be used at the
same time – they are not mutually exclusive. These strategies are also can be divided into
two modes. (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003)
Non-equity modes
- Exporting
- Licensing
- Franchising
- Contract Manufacturing and
service provision Equity modes
- Joint ventures
- Fully
owned
subsidiaries Let’s
investigate one-
by-one.
Exporting
Undoubtedly, this alternative contains the lowest risk for the companies who want to
begin international expansion or just to test what means to go overseas. As huge capital is
not prerequisite for exporting, it is the main entry strategy used by SMEs to contend on an
international level. (Deresky, 2011)
Franchising
As exporting, franchising also involves comparably low risks. The franchise gives a
license for its brand, products and services to the franchisee for a basic amount of money.
The most popular franchises are in the fast food industry such as Pizza Hut. This strategy
also can be quite useful for small business as outlets require little investment in
capital, advertising or such other issues. Critical success factors for franchising are
quality control of franchisee and franchise operations. (Deresky, 2011)
Licensing
Similar to franchising, licensing involves low risks as well. An international licensing
agreement gives the legitimacy to a firm in the host side the rights to produce or sell a
product, or both. According to the contract, the rights to patents, technology, trademarks
transfer for some time of period in return for a fee that the licensee has to pay.(Deresky,
2011)
17
Offshoring
The process during which a company moves one or all of its branches or factories from
the home country to another place is known as offshoring. The main benefit of
offshoring is that it gives the company the opportunity to have access to outside markets
at the same time avoiding trade barriers. Furthermore, they usually have lower costs of
production, too. (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003)
Contract Manufacturing
Contract Manufacturing is also sometimes called outsourcing which involves making
agreements with foreign companies for the production of finished goods, raw materials or
component parts. After production, these materials are moved to the home country or to
other destinations, for assembly or sale. However, they can be sold in the host country as
well. If managers are able to secure the quality and reliability of the producer, this strategy
can be a fascinating entry into a country requiring not a high capital investment and no
problems related to local ownership. (Deresky, 2011)
Turnkey Operations
The process when a firm designs and opens a facility overseas (e.g. different types of
plants), trains local employees, and after turns the key over to home country management
for some amount of money, for sure, is known as a turnkey operations. (Deresky, 2011)
Management contracts
During the management contract strategy, foreign companies have the authority to
manage day-to-day activities of a company, but not make decisions related to financing,
ownership, or policy and strategic changes . Often management contracts are used with
other agreements such as joint ventures. (Deresky, 2011)
International Joint Ventures
As we go ahead, with explaining strategies, the risks related with them become
higher. International Joint Venture ( IJV ) is considered to be more risky strategy and
requires higher level of investment. It involves a process when two or more companies
agree to produce a product or service together. In IJV the ownership is shared, usually
one part is MNC, and another owner is a local partner. With the help of this strategy,
MNCs can have an opportunity of quick entry to new foreign markets using the
partner’s abilities, connections and power. Furthermore, it provides MNCs a chance to
achieve economic of scales, overthrown trade barriers, spread the risks and much more.
(Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003)
18
Fully Owned Subsidiaries
This strategy is considered as the most risky and expensive entry mode. There are even
some countries where fully owned subsidiaries are prohibited by law. With this strategy,
an MNC seeking to have an absolute control of its operations can launch its own product
or service business from zero, or as it usually happens, it can purchase an existing
company in another country. (Gooderham & Nordhaug, 2003)
E-business
E-business is an entry strategy at the local market. The example of E-business can be the
purchase of Arabic-Language web portal in 2009 by Yahoo. The advantages of E-business
are rapid entry into new markets and relatively low risks. (Deresky, 2011)
Doing international business does not always mean to become an MNC. This is
the last point of going abroad. (Rugman & Collinson, 2006)The figure below shows
different foreign market entry strategies. As we can see, Rugman and Collinson
differentiate entry strategies in another way compared to Deresky, Nordhaug and
Gooderham. Licensing has the lowest depth of involvement in foreign markets and the
least time required. Other entry strategy modes are different from the ones suggested
earlier by other authors. In order to understand better, let’s investigate them deeper
19
Export via agent or distributor
Sometimes companies prefer to sell their product themselves and export it overseas using
a local agent or distribution in order to get access to the foreign market easily. It can
happen that a company exports to a particular market just once or twice. However, if the
business turns out to be profitable, the companies start thinking about setting up their own
sales representatives in those markets which is the next level of internationalization
process.
Export through own sales representative or sales subsidiary
At this level, companies realize the importance of establishing sales subsidiaries.
Furthermore, they launch a separate export department to be able to maintain sales and
production in foreign markets.
Local packaging
When the company learns the local market better and realizes the uncertainty related to
entering the particular foreign market is conquered, it usually sets up a foreign production
procedure. Firstly, the firm may use local labor force in order to better get involved in the
new environment, deal with wage rate, cultural traits, employees expectations and so on.
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI)
In the last step of becoming a truly MNC, a company considers a foreign direct
investment activity. FDI has the biggest depth of involvement in foreign markets and
requires the most time. As a result, the firm establishes a subsidiary where it may produce
its services or products in the host country and sell the output in the local market or even
export to other countries. The decision of re-exporting depends on the costs of the host
country. For instance, if the company launches its subsidiary in the country where the
labor force is inexpensive to
maintain (India, Vietnam) more exporting is highly possible than from expensive
countries. (Rugman & Collinson, 2006) Other authors such as Davidson (1932) and Root
(1987) generally focus on the following three specific modes showing that control level
for these entry modes varies a lot: licensing, joint venturing, wholly owned
subsidiaries. In terms of control should be understood the level of authority on
operational and strategic decisions. For example, in the case of wholly owned subsidiaries
the level of control is comparably higher than for licensing agreements. According to
Hwang and Kim (1990) the control level of joint ventures varies over time, however, it is
somewhere between the control level of wholly owned subsidiaries and licensing
agreements. (Journal of International Business Studies 2006, ProQuest European
Business, p.29, 2006)
20
The choice of the entry strategies, which can be one or the combinations of the several
strategies, will depend on the strategic evaluation of cons and pros of each entry strategy
taking into account the potential of the firm, environmental factors, and the impacts and
benefits the chosen strategy would have on the global mission, vision and goals of the
company. (Deresky, 2011)
Performance
Performance is recognized as a typical measure of achievements of individuals or groups.
The basis is how the inputs in the finished goods or services are evaluated. (Veber, 2011)
Also, performance is considered as a management tool that helps achieve concrete goals.
(Lebas, 1995). Other authors define organization’s performance as the progress of
indicators and information collection in order to illustrate and analyze performance.
(Marshall, Wray, Epstein, & Grifel, 1999).
Typically, in order to evaluate the performance, it is needed to look at if the organization
accomplished the goals set and how successfully the achievements were done.
The evaluation of the performance is done not only for managers or the CEO. Different
people highly demand this information for various reasons. For example, stakeholders and
managers need to have it in order to be aware of whether the resources are being used
effectively, and whether there is a need to make further investments or amend
something in the company. On the other hand, banks, investment companies and
insurance companies are interested in the results of operations related to the provision of
their services. Also, suppliers need to be sure that their customers are financially stable
since for them having a customer whose financial performance is not in a satisfying level
is a real risk. Similarly, customers are interested in the financial situation of its suppliers
to ensure smooth operation of the production. Other examples can be financial authorities
and rating organizations that use information of the performance of companies very often.
(Veber, 2011)
The Importance of Performance Evaluation
In most of MNCs, value chain activities are spread throughout the world. (Porter, 1986).
Foreign subsidiaries have the most part in making the value within and for the
multinational companies. Although some MNEs are familiar how their subsidiaries
commit to the whole performance, others have an unclear understanding of the input of
performance of subsidiaries. Yet, performance evaluation stays as one of the most
fundamental aspects in management. (Schmid & Kretschmer, 2009). To make important
strategic selections on international extension, HQ management should be aware how
their subsidiaries operate. ( Chung et al. 2002, p.112). Besides, managers have to look at
subsidiary performance ahead of strategy implementation. As an example can be adjusting
21
strategy with systems and structures. ( Wolf and Egelhoff 2001, p. 122-127). Evaluation
of performance is crucial in favor of exposing correct image of activities of subsidiaries. It
can notify HQ of fruitful development, as well as unfortunate ones. Outstanding practices
can be deducted when the result of evaluation is good, and initial warnings may be a
consequence of negative evaluations ( Choi and Czechowicz 1983; Rolander et al. 1989).
Moreover, performance evaluation is needed for motivation and inspiration of
subsidiaries, and especially for subsidiary managers. ( Abdallah 1984 ) So, performance
evaluation participates in the process of coordination and control within multinational
companies. ( Egelhoff 1984)
The objective of the performance evaluation of subsidiaries is finding out the financial
and non-financial situation of the developing subsidiary and where profit comes from.
(Jingna et al., 2011). Some authors think that the purpose of it is the evaluation and
monitoring the accomplishment of strategic goals and implementation of corporate
strategy in the subsidiary. The MNC gains a complete picture of all subsidiary activities
and determines spaces where it profitably developed them or vice versa - identifies not
successful areas where could be managed higher efficiency. The purpose of evaluation
can also be local managers’ performance evaluation and motivation of employees in the
subsidiary. (Schmid & Kretschmer, 2009).
Evaluation of performance is essential not only in case of each subsidiary but also
at the level of multinational companies, where it can play as a consolidating and
coordinating tool for the company as it adds value to consistent actions. (Chang and
Taylor, 1999 ). Additionally, in the concept of performance evaluation, subsidiaries can
be compared based on distinct criteria that, as a result, may be indispensable for
navigating resource allocation in the MNC. ( Watty and Terzioglu, 1999).
Performance Management Definition
Performance management is often connected to employee performance evaluation,
however, in the case company, employee performance is part of overall subsidiary
performance evaluation. Performance management is a process of active communication
between the supervisor, or, in this thesis case, the HQ office, and an employee or
subsidiary. The process is ongoing throughout the year and is aimed to support
accomplishment of strategic objectives of an organization. The communication consists of
various parts and can be implemented throughout different methods, including the setting
of objectives, identification of goals, receiving and providing feedback and analysis of the
results. (Berkeley.edu)
In order to understand whether the objectives have been met, companies use different
ways of performance evaluation which will be described in the following chapter.
22
Performance Measurement Methods
When talking about performance measurement, it is essential to mention the source of
performance measurement: it can be either subjective or objective, where subjective
stands for primary source of data and objective for secondary. Literature review on the
subject has shown that researchers tend to use subjective data in their articles. However,
papers that assess the financial dimension usually use objective data. (Ramsey, Bahia
2013 )
MNCs base their offices and plants in a number of host countries, controlling the
production facilities from the headquarters. Depending on the style of operations,
different performance evaluation systems will suit different companies.( Pun & White,
2005 )
Different performance measures do exist that have been classified in various ways by
numerous authors. The most regularly used and globally accepted is the division between
quantitative and qualitative measures of performance. Often quantitative measures are
recognized as objectively measured. On the other hand, qualitative measures suggest a
certain amount of subjectivity. Generally, qualitative criteria are more challenging to
measure than in the case of quantitative. ( Pun & White, 2005 )
Quantitative measures are usually based on financial or non-financial data. (
Fisher, 1992 ). For financial measures, two groups are frequently identified. Firstly,
traditional accounting based measures are distinguished, for example, profit and ROI
(return on investment). The second group includes measures based on value like EVA
(economic value added) or CFROI ( cash flow return on investment). Similarly, non-
financial measures are also known to be distinguished into two groups: internally
determined or externally determined measures. (Neely, 2000) For example,
productivity is an internal non-financial measure, but market share is considered to
be externally determined measure. Qualitative principles used for performance
evaluation can also be categorized into either internal ( e.g. employee satisfaction) or
external ( e.g. customer loyalty) qualitative criteria.(Gregory, 1993 ) One of the most
often used performance evaluation methods is using the financial analysis. In this
case, the evaluation is done by accounting based financial indicators. These indicators
are known as financial indicators. (Jingna et al., 2011). Starting from not long ago
MNCs are using non-financial indicators as well because sometimes financial indicators
are not sufficient. As a result, the use of non-financial indicators is increasing
rapidly and is almost the same as financial indicators. Non-financial indicators
supplement the financial indicators and highlight the difference between performance
of MNC and performance of subsidiaries as a service (Domanovice and Bogicevic,
23
2009). As well as, they commit to the implementation of the strategy of the MNC, to a
bigger understanding of those strategies and superior allotment of resources and tasks.
The outcome shows that non-financial indicators are beneficial for the communication,
cooperation and sharing of knowledge among HQ and subsidiaries, and these factors
are a real improvement (Dossi and Patelli, 2010). By using non-financial indicators,
organizations can also avoid issues related to indicators showed in foreign currency.
The practical part of the thesis is more concentrated on non-financial indicators and its
improvement suggestions than on financial indicators. Financial analysis illustrates a
standardized analyzes of captured data generally involved in financial statements.
Therefore, financial analyzes include the evaluation of the firm’s present, past and
forecasting of future financial situation. The major objective of the analysis is to present
data that will be a guide for the company’s managers while making essential decisions
about the functioning of the organization. Moreover, financial analyzes has a significant
influence on the whole organization besides being an important element of financial
management. This analyzes is considered to be a famous instrument for the assessment of
the organization’s financial situation. (Brealey, Myers, Stewart, & Marcus, 2001)
Sources of information
The information can be obtained from the external and internal sources.
External information involves the data collected not only from the company, but also
outside of it including local and foreign environment. The examples of external
information sources are International Analysis, Statistics or Marketing Reports. It can
also include non-financial
external sources of information which includes the financial position or rating of
competitors, the company’s market position or the quality management (QM).
Internal – Internal information deals only with the specific organization that is being
analyzed. However, some of the information is internal or confidential and unreachable
for public. Public information can be found in the financial statement of the company
which contains Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flows and some others.
The information users are also divided into external and internal users. The members of
external users are investors, shareholders, business partners, managers, commercial banks,
government, etc. Meanwhile, internal users include managers, staff, and trade unions.
(Zalesakova, 2010)
The obtained information from external or internal sources should be both with high
quality and easy to understand. Financial statements are considered to be the
abbreviation of the financial information proposed to be used by managers and
24
stakeholders. According to Fabozzi, a financial statement is the data formulated in
accordance with logical and accounting process.
Balance Sheet is the short statement of the main points of all company transactions
registered in the accounting and hence it gives important information required by financial
management regarding the financial situation of an accounting item.
Income (P/L) Statement presents information about the performance of the organization
through an accounting period. An essential element of the statement is “net income on
operating activities”So, the main difference between these two statements is that the
balance sheet provides information about assets and liabilities for a particular moment,
whereas the income statement is the overview of occurring transactions through some
period of time
Statement of cash flows - The main idea of the statement of cash flows is to present
information about the situation of financial resources at the start and at the end of some
accounting period. (Peterson & Fabozzi, 2003)
Methods of Financial Analysis
According to Veber and Kislingerova there are two methods of Financial Analysis:
Analysis of Absolute Indicators and Subtractive Indicators. The first method uses direct
information included in financial statements for evaluating and following a particular
company’s financial situation. The examples of analysis of Absolute Indicators are
horizontal analysis and vertical analysis (Kislingerová, 2007). On the other hand, analysis
of subtractive indicators is more oriented to the liquidity of the organization while
analyzing financial situation of the company. Net working capital in considered as the
most essential subtractive indicator. It is the difference between Total Current Assets and
Total Current Liabilities. (Veber, 2000)
However, Sedláček (2005, p. 171 - 202) also adds two other methods for financial
analysis: Analysis of Ratio Indicators and Analysis of Cumulative Indicators.
The analysis of Ratio Indicators Include:
Profitability Ratios (evaluate the company’s usage of its assets and
managing its expenditure to produce a satisfactory rate of return).
Activity Ratios (evaluate the agility of converting non-cash assets
to cash assets by a company)
Liquidity Ratios (evaluate the possibility of paying the debt by cash
when it’s needed).
Debt Ratios (evaluate the company’s capability to pay back long-term
debt).
25
Capital Market Ratios (evaluate the cost of releasing a stock and an
investor’s reaction to possessing a firm’s stock).
Whereas the components of the analysis of Cumulative Indicators are:
Kralicek Quick Test
Altman’s (Z-score) Model
Du Point Analysis
The aim of financial analysis is to evaluate an organization’s operating performance and
financial situation. Analysts can have access to the most essential financial information
about a company with the help of quarterly and annual financial statements prepared by
the company.
Cash Flows (Brealey, Myers, Stewart, & Marcus, 2001)
Cash flows are considered as important elements for the valuation process because a
company’s current value is the present value of the cash flows that are expected to be in
the future.
So, when the financial analyst figures out past and present cash flows, it may be a great
hint for future cash flows’ forecasting, and, as a result, in the determination of the
organization’s value. Furthermore, the ability to understand cash flow helps the analyst
evaluate the company’s capability to retain current dividends and its policy for capital
expenditure without counting on the financing from external sources.
One of the simplest examples of calculating of cash flow of the company is:
Estimated cash flow = Net income + (depreciation + amortization)
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization) is considered as
another way of cash flow estimation which is easy to calculate. However, it does not
include taxes and interest that can be generous cash outflows for some organizations.
The two estimates of cash flow mentioned above are practically useful because of their
simplicity and broad usage before the announcement of much more thorough information
in the cash flow statement.
Financial ratios are assessment tools applied in the financial analysis. They help
understand the relationship between specific items or data included in the financial
statements of a company. With the help of financial ratios it’s easy to understand the
financial situation, health and performance of a particular organization, also be aware of
risks, returns and be able to compare the company with other organizations. As mentioned
above, there are 5 different types of financial ratios that are classified in accordance with
the financial aspects they describe and their construction way. Let’s investigate them one
by one.
26
Profitability ratios (Brealey, Myers, Stewart, & Marcus, 2001)
Financial tools or measurements used to evaluate a company’s capability to produce
earnings taking into account the expenses and other costs acquired through a particular
period of time. In case of Profitability Ratios, when we get a value that is more than
competitor’s
ratio or at least the same ratio as it was in the last period means that the firm is in a good
shape. In order to calculate these ratios, a relevant data from the balance sheet and income
statement is required. They are effective in fundamental analysis that scrutinizes the
financial health of organizations.
Profitability ratios are useful in fundamental analysis which investigates the financial
health of companies. (Sulak and Vacík, 2005). Below is shown the examples of most
popular Profitability Ratios.
Basic earning power ratio indicates the success of the company using its assets
in its activities
𝐸𝐵𝐼𝑇
Basic earning power ratio=
∑ 𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑡𝑠
Return on Assets (ROA) evaluates the overall efficiency of the firm, profit-making
ability and production power. ROA illustrates the capability and effectiveness of a firm in
creating total earnings. As ROA calculates profit (from all types of activities) including
total invested assets, no matter where the sources of financing come from (external or
equity), it makes possible to compare organizations that have distinctive financial
structures. ROA indicator is considered to be the best and the most truthful indicator for
sophisticated evaluation of invested resources.
27
CHAPTER – III
INDUSTRY & COMPANY
PROFILE
28
INDUSTRY PROFILE
As part of our deep commitment to social causes, For the Indian investors, the year
belonged to stock markets, which have been shining bright when it comes to
generating wealth, while the glitter of gold and silver faded for the second straight
year in 2013.
Measured by BSE Sensex, stock market has generated a positive return of about 9 per
cent for investors in 2013, while gold prices fell by about three per cent and its poorer
cousin silver plummeted close to 24 per cent. After outperforming stock market for
more than a decade, gold has been on back foot for two consecutive years now vis-a-
vis equities, shows an analysis of their price movements.
"Gold's under-performance was mainly due to prices falling in dollar terms amid
anticipated tapering over last several months combined with FII investment in Indian
stocks.
"This movement has been equally true for global markets as 2013 saw gold losing its
shine and markets coming back with a bang," said Jayant Manglik, President Retail
Distribution, Religare Securities.
"As always, gold and stock prices follow opposite trends and this year was no
different except that both changed direction," he said.
In 2012, the Sensex had gained over 25 per cent, which was nearly double the gain of
about 12.95 per cent in gold. The appreciation in silver was at about 12.84 per last
year.
According to Hiren Dhakan, Associate Fund Manager, Bonanza Portfolio, "Markets
have particularly shown great strength post July-August 2013 when RBI took some
strong measures to control the steeply depreciating rupee."
"When the US Fed gave indications that it might taper its stimulus programme given
the economy shows improvement, a knee-jerk correction was seen in most risky
assets, including stocks in Indian markets. However, assurance by the Fed about
29
planned and staggered tapering in stimulus once again proved to be a catalyst for the
markets."
"External factors affecting Indian stocks seem to be negative for the first half of 2014
due to continued strength of the US dollar and benign in the second half. By that time,
elections too would have taken place. A combination of domestic and international
factors point to a bumper closing of Indian markets in 2014 with double-digit
percentage growth," he said. Stock market segment mid-cap and small-cap indices
have fallen by about 10 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, in 2013. Foreign
Institutional Investors have bought shares worth over Rs 1.1 lakh crore (nearly USD
20 billion) till December 19. In 2012, they had pumped in Rs 1.28 lakh crore (USD
24.37 billion).
Evolution:
Indian Stock Markets are one of the oldest in Asia. Its history dates back to nearly 200
years ago. The earliest records of security dealings in India are meager and obscure.
The East India Company was the dominant institution in those days and business in its
loan securities used to be transacted towards the close of the eighteenth century.
By 1830's business on corporate stocks and shares in Bank and Cotton presses took
place in Bombay. Though the trading list was broader in 1839, there were only half a
dozen brokers recognized by banks and merchants during 1840 and 1850.
In 1860-61 the American Civil War broke out and cotton supply from United States of
Europe was stopped; thus, the 'Share Mania' in India begun. The number of brokers
increased to about 200 to 250. However, at the end of the American Civil War, in
30
1865, a disastrous slump began (for example, Bank of Bombay Share which had
touched Rs 2850 could only be sold at Rs. 87).
At the end of the American Civil War, the brokers who thrived out of Civil War in
1874, found a place in a street (now appropriately called as Dalal Street) where they
would conveniently assemble and transact business. In 1887, they formally
established in Bombay, the "Native Share and Stock Brokers' Association" (which is
alternatively known as " The Stock Exchange "). In 1895, the Stock Exchange
acquired a premise in the same street and it was inaugurated in 1899. Thus, the Stock
Exchange at Bombay was consolidated.
Ahmadabad gained importance next to Bombay with respect to cotton textile industry.
After 1880, many mills originated from Ahmadabad and rapidly forged ahead. As
new mills were floated, the need for a Stock Exchange at Ahmadabad was realized
and in 1894 the brokers formed "The Ahmadabad Share and Stock Brokers'
Association".
What the cotton textile industry was to Bombay and Ahmadabad, the jute industry
was to Calcutta. Also tea and coal industries were the other major industrial groups in
Calcutta. After the Share Mania in 1861-65, in the 1870's there was a sharp boom in
jute shares, which was followed by a boom in tea shares in the 1880's and 1890's; and
a coal boom between 1904 and 1908. On June 1908, some leading brokers formed
"The Calcutta Stock Exchange Association".
In the beginning of the twentieth century, the industrial revolution was on the way in
India with the Swadeshi Movement; and with the inauguration of the Tata Iron and
Steel Company Limited in 1907, an important stage in industrial advancement under
Indian enterprise was reached.
Indian cotton and jute textiles, steel, sugar, paper and flour mills and all companies
generally enjoyed phenomenal prosperity, due to the First World War
31
In 1920, the then demure city of Madras had the maiden thrill of a stock exchange
functioning in its midst, under the name and style of "The Madras Stock Exchange"
with 100 members. However, when boom faded, the number of members stood
reduced from 100 to 3, by 1923, and so it went out of existence.
In 1935, the stock market activity improved, especially in South India where there
was a rapid increase in the number of textile mills and many plantation companies
were floated. In 1937, a stock exchange was once again organized in Madras - Madras
Stock Exchange Association (Pvt) Limited. (In 1957 the name was changed to Madras
Stock Exchange Limited).
Lahore Stock Exchange was formed in 1934 and it had a brief life. It was merged with
the Punjab Stock Exchange Limited, which was incorporated in 1936.
The Second World War broke out in 1939. It gave a sharp boom which was followed
by a slump. But, in 1943, the situation changed radically, when India was fully
mobilized as a supply base.
On account of the restrictive controls on cotton, bullion, seeds and other commodities,
those dealing in them found in the stock market as the only outlet for their activities.
They were anxious to join the trade and their number was swelled by numerous
others. Many new associations were constituted for the purpose and Stock Exchanges
in all parts of the country were floated.
The Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange Limited (1940), Nagpur Stock Exchange Limited
(1940) and Hyderabad Stock Exchange Limited (1944) were incorporated.
In Delhi two stock exchanges - Delhi Stock and Share Brokers' Association Limited
and the Delhi Stocks and Shares Exchange Limited - were floated and later in June
1947, amalgamated into the Delhi Stock Exchnage Association Limited.
32
COMPANY PROFILE
Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan,
China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to certain other
countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language
versions of the German Amazon website were launched.
In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States
by market capitalization, and was in the third quarter of 2016 the fourth most valuable
public company.
History
The company was founded in 1994, spurred by what Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
called his "regret minimization framework," which described his efforts to fend off
any regrets for not participating sooner in the Internet business boom during that time.
33
In 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co., a Wall
Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a business plan for what would
eventually become Amazon.com.
Bezos incorporated the company as "Cadabra" on July 5, 1994. Bezos changed the
name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as "cadaver".
In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless.com and briefly considered
naming his online store Relentless, but friends told him the name sounded a bit
sinister. The domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The
company went online as Amazon.com in 1995.
Bezos selected the name Amazon by looking through the dictionary and settled on
"Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different" just as he envisioned
for his Internet enterprise; the Amazon river, he noted was by far the "biggest" river in
the world and he planned to make his store the biggest in the world. Bezos placed a
premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, "There's nothing
about our model that can't be copied over time. But you know, McDonald's got
copied. And it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down
to the brand name. Brand names are more important online than they are in the
physical world." Additionally, a name beginning with "A" was preferential due to the
probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized.
Since June 19, 2000, Amazon's logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A
to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow
shaped like a smile.
After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web
commerce growth at 2,300%, Bezos created a list of 20 products that could be
marketed online. He narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising
products, which included: compact discs, computer hardware, computer software,
videos and books. Bezos finally decided that his new business would sell books
34
online, due to the large worldwide demand for literature, the low price points for
books, along with the huge number of titles available in print. Amazon was founded
in the garage of Bezos' home in Bellevue, Washington.
The company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with
John Ingram of Ingram Book (now called Ingram Content Group), along with Keyur
Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at
wholesale from Ingram. In the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50
states and over 45 countries. Within two months, Amazon's sales were up to
$20,000/week. While the largest brick and mortar bookstores and mail order catalogs
might offer 200,000 titles, an online bookstore could "carry" several times more, since
it would have a practically unlimited virtual (not actual) warehouse: those of the
actual product makers/suppliers.
Amazon was incorporated in 1994, in the state of Washington. In July 1995, the
company began service and sold its first book on Amazon.com: Douglas Hofstadter's
Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental
Mechanisms of Thought. In October 1995, the company announced itself to the
public. In 1996, it was reincorporated in Delaware. Amazon issued its initial public
offering of stock on May 15, 1997, trading under the NASDAQ stock exchange
symbol AMZN, at a price of US$18.00 per share ($1.50 after three stock splits in the
late 1990s).
Amazon's initial business plan was unusual; it did not expect to make a profit for four
to five years. This "slow" growth caused stockholders to complain about the company
not reaching profitability fast enough to justify investing in, or to even survive in the
long-term. When the dot-com bubble burst at the start of the 21st century, destroying
many e-companies in the process, Amazon survived and grew on past the bubble burst
to become a huge player in online sales. It finally turned its first profit in the fourth
quarter of 2001: $5 million (i.e., 1¢ per share), on revenues of more than $1 billion.
This profit margin, though extremely modest, proved to skeptics that Bezos'
35
unconventional business model could succeed. In 1999, Time magazine named Bezos
the Person of the Year, recognizing the company's success in popularizing online
shopping.
Barnes & Noble sued Amazon on May 12, 1997, alleging that Amazon's claim to be
"the world's largest bookstore" was false because it "...isn't a bookstore at all. It's a
book broker." The suit was later settled out of court and Amazon continued to make
the same claim. Walmart sued Amazon on October 16, 1998, alleging that Amazon
had stolen Walmart's trade secrets by hiring former Walmart executives. Although
this suit was also settled out of court, it caused Amazon to implement internal
restrictions and the reassignment of the former Walmart executives.
On October 11, 2016, Amazon announced plans to build convenience stores and
develop curbside pickup locations for food. In December 2016, the Amazon Go store
was opened to Amazon employees in Seattle. The store uses a variety of sensors and
automatically charges a shopper's Amazon account as they walk out of the store,
therefore there are no checkout lines. The store is planned to open for the general
public in early 2017. In 2011, Amazon had 30,000 full-time employees in the USA
and by the end of 2016, it had 180,000 employees. The company employs 306,800
people worldwide in full and part-time jobs.[45]
Investment
36
Subsidiaries
Board of directors
Until June 30, 2006, typing ToysRUs.com into a browser would bring up
Amazon.com's "Toys & Games" tab; however, this relationship was terminated due to
37
a lawsuit.[58] Amazon also hosted and managed the website for Borders bookstores but
this ceased in 2008. From 2001 until August 2011, Amazon hosted the retail website
for Target.
Amazon.com operates retail websites for Sears Canada, bebe Stores, Marks &
Spencer, Mothercare and Lacoste. For a growing number of enterprise clients,
including the UK merchants Marks & Spencer, Benefit Cosmetics' UK entity,
edeals.com and Mothercare, Amazon provides a unified multichannel platform where
a customer can interact with the retail website, standalone in-store terminals, or
phone-based customer service agents. Amazon Web Services also powers AOL's
Shop@AOL.
On October 18, 2011, Amazon.com announced a partnership with DC Comics for the
exclusive digital rights to many popular comics, including Superman, Batman, Green
Lantern, The Sandman and Watchmen. The partnership has caused well-known
bookstores like Barnes & Noble to remove these titles from their shelves. On
November 2013, Amazon.com announced a partnership with the United States Postal
Service to begin delivering orders on Sundays. The service, included in Amazon’s
standard shipping rates, initiated in metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and New York
due to the high-volume and inability to deliver timely, with plans to expand into
Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Phoenix by 2014. On July 2016, Amazon.com
announced a partnership with the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority to test some of the
technologies and may use delivery service via prime air drone in the future.
Main article: List of Amazon.com products and services Amazon.com's product lines
available at its website include several media (books, DVDs, music CDs, videotapes
and software), apparel, baby products, consumer electronics, beauty products,
gourmet food, groceries, health and personal-care items, industrial & scientific
supplies, kitchen items, jewelry, watches, lawn and garden items, musical
instruments, sporting goods, tools, automotive items and toys & games.
In India, Amazon is now gearing up to play a role in the grocery retail sector aimed at
delivering customer needs.
38
Amazon.com has a number of products and services available, including but not
limited to:
AmazonFresh
Amazon Prime
Amazon Web Services
Alexa
Appstore
Amazon Drive
Echo
Kindle
Fire tablets
Fire TV
Video
Kindle Store
Music
Music Unlimited
Amazon Digital Game Store
Amazon Studios
AmazonWireless
Subsidiaries
Audible.com
Audible headquarters
39
production arm, Audible Studios, Audible has also become the world's largest
producer of downloadable audiobooks. On January 31, 2008, Amazon announced it
would buy Audible for about $300 million. The deal closed in March 2008 and
Audible became a subsidiary of Amazon.
Brilliance Audio
In 1984, Brilliance Audio invented a technique for recording twice as much on the
same cassette. The technique involved recording on each of the two channels of each
stereo track. It has been credited with revolutionizing the burgeoning audiobook
market in the mid-1980s since it made unabridged books affordable.
ComiXology
ComiXology is a cloud-based digital comics platform with over 200 million comic
downloads as of September 2013. It offers a selection of more than 40,000 comic
books and graphic novels across Android, iOS, Fire OS and Windows 8 devices and
over a web browser. Amazon bought the company in April 2014.
Goodreads
40
650,000 members and over 10,000,000 books had been added. Amazon bought the
company in March 2013.
Shelfari
Shelfari is a social cataloging website for books. Shelfari users build virtual
bookshelves of the titles which they own or have read and they can rate, review, tag
and discuss their books. Users can also create groups that other members may join,
create discussions and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations can be
sent to friends on the site for what books to read. Amazon bought the company in
August 2008. Shelfari continued to function as an independent book social network
within the Amazon until January 2016, when Amazon announced that it would be
merging Shelfari with Goodreads and closing down Shelfari.
Amazon 40' container turnpike double, a Long Combination Vehicle Beijing Century
Joyo Courier Services is a subsidiary of Amazon and it applied for a Freight
forwarding license with the US Maritime Commission. Amazon is also building out
its logistics in trucking and air freight to potentially compete with UPS and FedEx.
Website
The domain amazon.com attracted at least 615 million visitors annually by 2008.
Amazon attracts over 130 million customers to its US website per month by the start
of 2016. The company has also invested heavily on a massive amount of server
capacity for its website, especially to handle the excessive traffic during the
December Christmas holiday season. Results generated by Amazon's search engine
are partly determined by promotional fees.
Amazon's localized storefronts, which differ in selection and prices, are differentiated
by top-level domain and country code:
41
Region Sovereignty Domain name
China amazon.cn
Japan amazon.co.jp
France amazon.fr
Germany amazon.de
Italy amazon.it
Europe
Netherlands amazon.nl
Spain amazon.es
Canada amazon.ca
Reviews
42
source of Internet consumer reviews. When publishers asked Bezos why Amazon
would publish negative reviews, he defended the practice by claiming that
Amazon.com was "taking a different approach ... we want to make every book
available—the good, the bad and the ugly ... to let truth loose".
Although reviews are attributed to the credit card name of the reviewer, there have
been cases of positive reviews being written and posted by a public relations company
on behalf of its clients, and instances of writers using pseudonyms to leave negative
reviews of their rivals' works. Following the listing of Untouchable: The Strange Life
and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson, a disparaging biography of Michael Jackson by
Randall Sullivan, his fans, organized via social media as "Michael Jackson's Rapid
Response Team to Media Attacks", bombarded Amazon with negative reviews and
negative ratings of positive reviews.
Content search
"Search Inside the Book" is a feature which allows customers to search for keywords
in the full text of many books in the catalog. The feature started with 120,000 titles (or
33 million pages of text) on October 23, 2003. There are about 300,000 books in the
program. Amazon has cooperated with around 130 publishers to allow users to
perform these searches.To avoid copyright violations, Amazon does not return the
computer-readable text of the book. Instead, it returns a picture of the matching page,
instructs the web browser to disable printing and puts limits on the number of pages in
a book a single user can access. Additionally, customers can purchase online access to
some of the same books via the "Amazon Upgrade" program.
Third-party sellers
Amazon derives many of its sales from third-party sellers who sell products on
Amazon (around 40% in 2008). Associates receive a commission for referring
customers to Amazon by placing links to Amazon on their websites if the referral
results in a sale. Worldwide, Amazon has "over 900,000 members" in its affiliate
programs. In the middle of 2014, the Amazon Affiliate Program is used by 1.2% of all
websites and it is the second most popular advertising network after Google Ads. [91] It
is frequently used by websites and non-profits to provide a way for supporters to earn
them commission. Amazon reported over 1.3 million sellers sold products through
43
Amazon's websites in 2007. Unlike eBay, Amazon sellers do not have to maintain
separate payment accounts; all payments are handled by Amazon.Associates can
access the Amazon catalog directly on their websites by using the Amazon Web
Services (AWS) XML service. A new affiliate product, aStore, allows Associates to
embed a subset of Amazon products within another website, or linked to another
website. In June 2010, Amazon Seller Product Suggestions was launched (rumored to
be internally called "Project Genesis") to provide more transparency to sellers by
recommending specific products to third-party sellers to sell on Amazon. Products
suggested are based on customers' browsing history.
The Amazon sales rank (ASR) provides an indication of the popularity of a product
sold on any Amazon locale. It is a relative indicator of popularity that is updated
hourly. Effectively, it is a "best sellers list" for the millions of products stocked by
Amazon. While the ASR has no direct effect on the sales of a product, it is used by
Amazon to determine which products to include in its best-sellers lists. Products that
appear in these lists enjoy additional exposure on the Amazon website and this may
lead to an increase in sales. In particular, products that experience large jumps (up or
down) in their sales ranks may be included within Amazon's lists of "movers and
shakers"; such a listing provides additional exposure that might lead to an increase in
sales. For competitive reasons, Amazon does not release actual sales figures to the
public. However, Amazon has now begun to release point of sale data via the Nielsen
BookScan service to verified authors.[96] While the ASR has been the source of much
speculation by publishers, manufacturers and marketers, Amazon itself does not
release the details of its sales rank calculation algorithm. Some companies have
analyzed Amazon sales data to generate sales estimates based on the ASR, though
Amazon states:
Please keep in mind that our sales rank figures are simply meant to be a guide of
general interest for the customer and not definitive sales information for publishers—
we assume you have this information regularly from your distribution sources
44
CHAPTER – 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION
45
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.1
16%
36%
allways
never
sometimes
28% very rare
20%
Interpretation:
36% of the respondents say yes for participating in decision making or goal setting in their
organization.28% respondents say somehow they are given a chance to participate in goal
setting and decision making in the organization. Very rare about 16% respondents participate
in decision making and goal setting. 20% individuals are never given an opportunity to take
part in goal setting and decision making in their organization.
46
Q2 Do you think self rating is very useful for Performance in MNC ?
Table 2.2
No. Of
Options respondents Percentage
Yes 16 32%
No 8 16%
Somehow 18 36%
Fig 2.2
16%
32%
Yes
NO
SOMEHOW
CANT SAY
36%
16%
Interpretation:
32% respondednts believe that self rating is very useful for Performance in MNC .16% say no
self rating is not useful in Performance in MNC .36%employees say somehow self rating is
useful for Performance in MNC .16% cant'say self rating can br useful or not for
Performance in MNC .
47
Q3) Are you satisfied with the current Performance in MNC in your organization?
Table 4.3
no. of
Options respondents percentage
Yes 9 18%
No 18 36%
Somehow 16 32%
cant ‘say 7 14%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.3
14%
18%
yes
no
somehow
32% cant'say
36%
Interpretation:
18% of the respondents are satisfied by current Performance in MNC in their organization.
About 36% say no they are not satisfied by current Performance in MNC 32% say they are
somehow been satisfied by current Performance in MNC of their organization.14% of
respondents can’t say about Performance in MNC is satisfied in the organization or not.
48
Q4Is Performance in MNC according to you is very useful for career planning?
Table 4.4
No. of
Options respondents Percentage
Yes 18 36%
No 10 20%
Somehow 12 24%
can’t say 10 20%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.4
20%
36%
Yes
No
Somehow
cantsay
24%
20%
Interpretation:
36% respondents say Performance in MNC is very useful career planning in their
organization.20% respondents say no Performance in MNC is not useful for career planning.
24% respondents say somehow Performance in MNC is useful for career planning.20%
individuals can’t say about career planning based on PMS is preferred or not
49
Q5) Lack of proper implementation of Performance in MNC is directly related to employee
turnover?
Table 4.5
Options no. of respondents Percentage
Yes 18 36%
No 10 20%
Somehow 5 10%
cant’ say 17 34%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.5
34% 36%
yes
no
somehow
cant'say
10%
20%
Interpretation:
36% respondents say due to lack of Performance in MNC result to employee turn over.20%
respondents say employee turnover is due to lack of PMS.10% say somehow may be
employee turnover depends upon poor Performance in MNC 34% can’t say and have no idea
about it this employee turnover issue is due to Performance in MNC .
50
Q6) What is the single and most compelling factor of employee turnover?
Table 4.6
Options no.of respondents Percentage
Fig4.6
18% 20%
41%
Interpretation:
The most single compelling factor for employee turnover is 20% say it is due to unclear job
role.41% respondents say poor recruitment standard is one factor. 21% respondents say less
growth can be one factor in their organization.18% respondents are not satisfied with the pay
due to which they feel it results to employee turnover.
51
Q7 What According to you is the best strategy for reducing the employee turnover especially
among the high performers?
Table 4.7
NO. Of
Options respondents Percentage
Increase benefit 20 40%
Recognition for work 20 40%
specify 5 10%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.7
10%
40%
Interpretation:
40% of respondents say employee turn over’s among high performers is due to increase
benefit. 40% say it is due to recognition of work can be best strategy to reduce employee turn
over.10% respondents believe it is due to freedom for work where employeeturnover can be
reduced.10% specified many others reasons for reducing employee turnover.
52
Q8 How well are target goals communicated to you at work?
Table 4.8
Options no. of respondents percentage
Definite 16 32%
Indefinite 10 20%
Somewhat 17 34%
can’t say 7 14%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.8
14%
32%
Definte
Indefinte
Somewhat
cant say
34%
20%
Interpretation:
32% of employees say target goals are communicated definitely by them in their organization.
34% of employees say somewhat goals are been communicated to them
20% employees responded as indefinitely it is been communicated to them.14% can’t say
about how the targeted goals are communicated definitely to employees in their organization.
53
Q9 Do you have any of the following issues in this organization?
Table 4.9
Percentag
Options No. Of respondents e
Work burden 15 30%
Criticism from superior’s 11 22%
less work for appreciation 18 36%
Less support from
subordinate 6 12%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.9
12%
22%
Interpretation:
30% of the respondents say issues in organization is due to work burden in their
organization.22% respondents criticism from superiors is also an issue in their organization.
36% respondents say less work for appreciation in their organization is also an issue.12%
respondents say less support form subordinate is a major issue in their organization.
54
Q10 Are you given a proper training when and wherever required?
Table 4.10
Options no.of respondents percentage
Yes 17 34%
insufficient 15 30%
training 9 18%
somehow manageable 9 18%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.10
18%
34%
yes
insufficient
18% training
somehow manageable
30%
Interpretation:
34% respondents say yes training is provided when required in their organization. 30%
respondents say that insufficient training is provided in their organization when required.18%.
Respondents say Training is provided when required in the organization.18% respondents
somehow manageable without training in their organization
55
Q11) Does your performance have significant impact on your salary?
Table 4.11
Percentag
Options no. of respondents e
agree 17 34%
disagree 11 22%
strongly agree 16 32%
strongly disagree 6 12%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.11
12%
34%
agree
disagree
strongly agree
32% strongly disagree
22%
Interpretation:
34% respondents say performance is impacted on salary in their organization.22%
respondent’s respond that they disagree the fact that performance impact on salary in their
organization. 32% respondents strongly agreed by that performance is important for salary in
their organization.12% respondents strongly disagreed by salary impact due to performance in
their organization.
56
Q12) Do you think Performance in MNC is clearly defined in your organization?
Table 4.12
options No. of respondents Percentage
Yes 13 26%
No 20 40%
somewhat 7 14%
can’t say 10 18%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.12
18%
27%
yes
no
14% somewhat
cantsay
41%
Interpretation:
27% respondents responded to the fact that Performance in MNC is defined in their
organization.41% respondent’s say no performance management is not defined in the
organization. 14% respondents say somewhat performance management is defined in their
organization.18% respondents can’t say about performance management is defined or not in
the organization.
57
Q13) Do you think your leadership and interpersonal skills are developed due to Performance
in MNC at your organization?
Table 4.13
Options No. of respondents Percentage
yes, very much 19 38%
not at all 16 32%
to some extent 7 14%
can't say 8 16%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.13
16%
38%
yes,verymuch
14% not at all
to some extent
can't say
32%
Interpretation:
38% respondents respond that leadership and interpersonal skills due to Performance in MNC
. 32%. Respondents Not at all are satisfied with the fact that leadership and interpersonal
skills are due to Performance in MNC 14% respondents to some extent have the interpersonal
skills due to Performance in MNC .16% respondents can’t say about leadership and
interpersonal skills are due to Performance in MNC .
58
Q14) how is appraisal system done at your organization?
Table 4.14
Percentag
Options no. of respondents e
self appraisal 14 28%
360 appraisal 9 18%
paired comparison 18 36%
ranking method 9 18%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.14
18%
28%
self appraisal
360 appraisal
paired comparison
ranking method
36% 18%
Interpretation:
28%. Respondents say that self appraisal is been done in their organization.18% respondents
say360 appraisal is been done in their organization. 36%respondents say that Paired
comparison method is been used as an appraisal system in their organization. 18%.
Respondents say the type of appraisal system is ranking method according to them in their
organization.
59
Q15) How is your performance review often done in your organization?
Table 4.15
percentag
Options No. Of respondents e
yearly 3 6%
monthly 12 24%
weekly 30 60%
daily 5 10%
Total 50 100%
Fig 4.15
10% 6%
24% yearly
monthly
weekly
daily
60%
Interpretation:
6% respondents say performance review is done in their organization. 24% respondents say
performance review is done monthly in their organization. 60% respondents say the
performance review is been done weekly in their organization and 10% respondents say the
performance review is done daily in the organization.
60
CHAPTER – V
FINDINGS,
SUGGESTIONS
&
CONCLUSIONS
61
FINDINGS
The study was conducted to find out the effectiveness of the Performance in
MNC at AMAZON . The following findings have been derived from the
study of primary data and secondary data:
Firstly, 36% of the employees had been given an authority to participate in
decision making and goal setting in their organization and rest are either not
at all included or sometimes been given an opportunity.
From the study it is observed that for 68% respondents self rating is very much
useful in Performance in MNC and other employees can’t say about it .This
shows that self rating is beneficial for Performance in MNC in the
organization.
Most of the 50% employees are satisfied by the current Performance in MNC
of the organization. Whereas other employees are not very much satisfied with
the work place conditions.
62
SUGGESTIONS
The performance review and discussion should be made more exhaustive to cover in
detail the past performance and future goals. This will make performance planning
more effective.
The concept and importance of goals of an organization should frequently be
communicated to employees
The Organization can adopt new methods for more accuracy.
Encourage Self-Appraisal.
Start the process by reminding the employee of the purpose of the discussion,
stressing that this done not to dwell unduly on the past but look to the future.
The company should introduce individual as well as team rewards on the basis of
performance appraisal in order to inculcate on culture of achievement and
excellence in the organization.
Employees should not be manage by fear. Help people feel secure in their jobs.
Spend more money on training. Send your managers and staff to classes in effective
client service, leadership training, teamwork, and conflict-resolution.
Employees should be given more control. When employees feel more in
control over their work experience, they don’t sweat the small stuff and feel
less helpless during times of uncertainty. Control is earned through trust and
should not be taken advantage of or abused.
63
CONCLUSION
The Performance in MNC Followed at AMAZON is effective and satisfactory. The HR
Department plans the process very well and also deals the problem very efficiently and
effectively. The HR Department sees that the employees belonging to different levels are
satisfied with the decisions it takes. Regular training for the required employees is
provided. The Organization is adopting new training methods such as transaction
analysis, which is about Ego management, and spiritual training where the employees
obtain mental peace and then perform their duties well. My experience in the HR
Department at AMAZON taught many things. Especially dealing with employees who
differed in their thinking, tasks, responsibilities etc. HR person is the one who actually
motivates the people in the Organization. It is the duty of the HR person to convince the
employees and then get the work done. Apart from the study done, auditing checked the
new employee’s files for the documents that were mentioned in the checklist. This
actually helped me to identify the requirements for the jobs that the employees are
performing.
64
BIBLIOGRAPHY
65
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Grote, Dick. The Complete Guide to Performance Management .New York:
AMA-COM.1996
Guinn, Kathleen. “Performance Management: Not Just an Annual Appraisal
“Training, Lakewood Publications, Minneapolis, Minnesota Haynes, Marion
E. Managing Performance: A Comprehensive Guide to Effective Supervision
Menlo Park, California, 1990. Kushel, Gerald. Reaching the Peak Performance
Zone .New York: AMACON, 1994. Arthur, Diane. The Recruitment and
Retention Handbook. New York: AMACOM, 2001.
Websites
http://work911.com/performace%mnc
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/mnc
http://www.tlrp.org/project%20sites/Learningaswork/High%20Performance
%20Management.pdf
66