Companies performance looking at newspaper articles.
...r amount of foreign liabilities. However internally, these actions have led to greater unemployment. Article Number Three. Title: Software that's just the ticket. Source: BRW. Date: 22-28 November 2001. Summary: Onerail, an Australian company, purchased software from IBM last year that enables railway systems to work more efficiently. Onerail has altered the software by adding new features to meet the requirements of the three companies it has won contracts with. This program enables railway companies to speed up the processes and efficiency of reservation systems thus reducing costs and hence increasing revenue. With the right management Onerail is profiting from this new innovation. Linkage with outcomes: H1.1: The newly developed program has created a "global technology business". The software developed has "won contracts with three of the world's leading railway operators: Orient Express Trains & Cruises in London, Amtrak in the United States, and VIA Rail in Canada." This Australian Company has a very promising future having raised "$22 million in private funding since July last year". Despite this, the global environment of business is beckoning Australia to move its head office to Ireland from Sydney. This way the company will be closer to its customers in Europe and the US. "[Rail Operators] do not like working with you if you don’t have a European Union presence." In fact, for the sake of business success, Onerail has not made any contracts in its homeland (Australia) because our transport sector is very small. H2.1 Onerail is an Australian company that assists railway systems in countries around the world to work more speed and efficiency. The software that they have innovated has impressed world leading railway operators and the company is expecting to earn $15.39 million over three years. Onerail has also signed a $5.58 million contract with Orient Express Trains & Cruise in London. Since these major contracts are located in Europe and the US, Onerail will be moving its operation head office to Ireland next year. Being closer to its customers will allow them to increase their level of business success. "If that is where the business is, you cannot operate via remote control from Australia." Onerail is considering stockmarket listing and that to will be situated in Europe and not Australia. H2.2 Onerail is essentially in a global business. It provides software to large railway systems to improve their reservation transactions and other high-tech features that allow plans of carriages to be seen online, allowing companies to increase efficiency and reduce costs. In its process to be successful globally, the Australian Company will be moving its operations offshore to be closer to its customers in Europe and the US. (Please refer to previous two outcomes for more detail) H3.1 Strategies of investing, improving and marketing has proven successful for Onerail. Having bought the software off IBM, it altered it by adding new functions and features to suit the needs of its customers. It has now sold it to 3 large railway companies with attached property rights. The business has thus expanded with investors like the venture-capital firms Quadrant Capital and Venture capital partners and the Onerail co-founders, holding majority of the shares. A theory that the company is headstrong about is of is of its overseas business orientation. Grant Holmes the chief executive, intents to move to Ireland to be closer to the European customers as " you cannot operate via remote control from Australia." He believes management would be more affective and efficient this way. H3.3 Public transport will become more efficient as it takes less time to make bookings and customers are also able to see plans of carriages with details such as the number of seats, non-smoking areas etc. This may result in greater usage of public transport, which will reduce the burden on roads and in turn reduce pollution and traffic congestion. The business will also prove profitable to shareholders and as the business expands employment may increase. However, in the short term, some people may lose their jobs since "the booking process is faster and requires fewer staff to manage it." new employees with skills to manage the new technology may lead to unemployment for some and training and employment for others. Also since the head office is being moved to Ireland, many workers will also be moved to the new location requiring time and effort to adapt to the new settings. H4.2 Production costs from employment by any company is always costly and this internal factor may have been part of the reason of installing this software. The software that Onerail offers will allow the Railway Company to reduce its amount of employment. This will lead to greater unemployment in the economy. Article Number Four. Title: Coles promise 20pc growth. Date: 28th November 2001. Source: Sydney Morning Herald. Summary: Coles Myer is using various tactics to modify the errors within its company to achieve a more efficient and stabilised company. John Fletcher, the new chief executive has been rebuilding Coles Myer by sorting out discrepancies and faults, which is estimated to take about two years. Already there seems to be some improvement, with the share prices rising high as it has jumped up 41c to $8.03 which is the highest since January 2000. Coles Myer owns other companies such as K-mart, Grace-Bros etc. Fletcher states that "better pricing at K-mart has brought back customers." Linkage with outcomes: H2.1 Coles Myer is a large chain supermarket store that provides a range of goods from food to toys. Coles Myer consists of Supermarkets and liquor stores. Coles Myer includes general merchandises like K-mart, Target, and Grace Bros. where Gras Bros. is considered the middle and upper range, and target and K-mart is based on house brand. Coles Myer's businesses function globally with that cover all type of communities. Operations such as "better pricing", "has brought back customers." The new chief executive John Fletcher believes that this is a "beginning of a "big swing" in the troublesome general merchandise", it is: the start of the rebuild phase in general merchandise." The Coles Myer stock has jumped 41c which is now $8.03 that is the "highest since January 2000." H2.2 The transformation of Coles Myer to increase net profits by 20% is expected to be completed in two years. At the moment Coles Myer seems to be disordered as stated by Chief executive John Fletcher. The process of sorting out the business must not be hurried, as there may be mistakes if it is rushed but this would allow the business' structure to expand with maximising profits in the global business. H3.1 As a management strategy used is "to gradually reduce costs and inventories", after noticing that customers were coming back because of better pricing at Kmart. Sorting out the faults and discrepancies is estimated to take two years. Coles Myer has promised a "20 percent increase in underlying profit this financial year" and recently indications shoe that "its arduous turnaround strategy is working." Fletcher also states that since they cannot look at the growth of food sales to bring about the 20% increase in net profits that they are looking for, they will have to concentrate on general merchandise. H3.3 The shareholders are in fury, critising the board for lack of judgement and experience as the board failed to take duty of the shareholders. There seems to be some misunderstanding with the shareholders but now "investors seemed comfortable," with the new flow of things. Consumers are also benefiting since the costs of goods have been reduced and that means less income out of the pocket to pay for daily expenses. H4.2 Internally, as a result of poor management skills of Coles Myer's internal structure is disorganised and disorientated. Necessary changes are being made to stabilise the company and to expand the business. As Coles Myer has declared that they will continue to reduce costs this will attract customers and gain more revenue. Article Number Five. Title: MIM refines its turnaround Date: 22-28, 2001. Source: BRW. Summary: MIM's shares have been rising steadily for the past few months, it has risen 10 percent which has pushed its market capitalisaion to $1.9 billion. This is despite the fact that other mining companies are experiencing downfalls. The performance of MIM is incredible, moving out of the "$50 million loss in 1998-99 to a profit of $104.8 million in 2000-01." The market is very competitive so MIM must have a competitive advantage to stand out from the pack, they are doing this by expanding their mining industry, such as coal prosduction, rather than reducing it like most of the other companies. Gauci, the managing director believes focusing on improving the performance is more important than reducing the costs, as there will be job that he believes are unnecessary. Analysts are giving Gauci credit for his work, as this would be improving the business performance as well as being profitable whilst not negatively affecting its employees to any great extend. Linkage with outcomes: H1.1 Although the other copper industries seem to be failing dramatically MIM hasn't been affected as much. MIM is coping very well by surviving from getting their resources mostly from other minerals like coal. The global industry may be going down but the others aren't pulling down MIM as they are taking new challenges by opening new doors for success. The opportunities they are pulling towards them are expanding the structure of business. H2.1 The reason this business isn't falling down as much as the other businesses is because they are taking risks. Instead of cutting back on resources they are finding more reserves to mine. Also instead of lowering prices they are focusing on "improving operational performance." Unlike other large companies such as Phelps Dodger and BHP Billion who are cutting down on costs by reducing production or cutting down the number of employees, MIM is exploring for more resources. H2.2 By using the right techniques and strategies MIM (a mining industry for coal, copper, lead, and zinc) is maximising their profits running from losses to a large amount of profits. Threes years ago MIM was going on with a loss of $50 million then transformed during 2000 to 20001 earning the profit of $104.8 million which means that it has made $154.8 million throughout four years. It had also been losing money five years ago but now is the second-biggest earner. The production of coal had risen 10 million in one year and Gauci is expected another rise of "two million tones this year." Analysts believe the expansion of coal mines from decisions made by Gauci will benefit this company. MIM is expected to be "the next biggest Australian mining stock." H3.1 Even though they would "produce more coal, copper, lead and zinc at lower cost", it will be beneficial in the long term as every other mining company is afraid of falling costs and are thus cutting down their resources. MIM has decided to be a risk taker and usually the risk takers are those who succeed. Gauci, the company's group executor has reasons to these decisions where analysts are congratulating him for the great job he is doing. Gauci believes that the employees should not suffer, as they haven't done anything wrong so even if they go into a loss it doesn’t worry Gauci. H3.3 The internal stakeholders would find this decision extremely humble as "Gauci says the focus is on improving operational performance rather than just reducing costs." "Miners would "slash and burn" when prices fall", but Gauci says "everyone is working towards continuing to improve our business, then we are not going to take draconian measures." This conveys to the audience as well as employees how much he understands and cares about their position and situation of employees as he does not want them to suffer for the business' faults and lack of management. Gauci's believes "the way we have endeavored to manage MIM, is to gain the confidence of the people," in order to succeed this is a vital factor in the business' well being. Some external stakeholders such as societies protecting the environment would find it is a serious matter in damaging the environment but it may be damaging the environment but it is pushing up the Australia's economy as mining since mining is 50 percent of Australia's exports. H4.2 Due to the tragic incident of on September 11 many businesses are greatly effected. The copper industry is going through a downfall, as there is also a global recession. In order for a business to survive, a business must increase revenue whilst reducing costs. However, MIM isn't following the packs that are reducing costs. They are broadening their business in order to survive. The risks are taken within this business by maximising productivity in order to increase revenue. Article Number Six. Title: Austar in cost-cutting drive. Date: Tuesday 5 December 2001. Source: the Australian Financial review. Summary: The regional pay-TV group Austar is undergoing major restructuring in its $400 million facility. Their debt ratios must be met before December 31. They have made a deal with COMindico that is a Packer and Murdoch-backed telecommunications company, so that there would be a dramatic boost "its access to customers and providing COMindico with its first significant wholesale capacity agreement." Austar has had a loss of $93 million last month for the three months to September 30 and also having a loss of $79.8 million the same time last year. Linkage with outcomes: H2.1 Austar is a regional pay-TV group as well as a dial up internet company. From looking at the graph displayed in the article we are able to notice the drastic downfall of the share prices. It states in the article that the share rose 2c, which is 7.5 percent, this shows that the shares are only worth $0.27. Reducing costs is the number one priority of businesses. Austar has negotiations with the "SingTel-owned Optus, which may lead to a merger of the two group's pay-television businesses." Austar plans to transform its dial-up company into a COMindico network in order to attract more customers and increase profits. H2.2 Austar is a regional Pay-TV Company as well as being a dial up Internet business. Austar has a deal with Packer and Murdoch's telecommunications company, COMindico to restructure their business into a COMindico network instead of a dial-up internet service. However, UnitedGlobalCom Inc holds 8.3 percent of the Austar groups, that means that any decisions made must be approved by UnitedGlobalCom. However, Austar has yet made this proposal to UnitedGlobalCom. H3.1 The management strategies made by the business's group is to reduce in corporate overheads and to have job cuts in the customer management, technical services and internet businesses to save about $90 million a year. The transformation from a dial-up Internet business to the COMindico network is another approach taken to maximise profits. H3.3 There is expected to be an announcement of "job cuts across its customer management, technical services and internet business," which would increase unemployment, if they are unable to find a job especially because of the on-coming recession this would cause further social and financial problems. The customers using the dial-up Internet with the business, they would either have to change companies or pay extra in using COMindico. H4.2 Due to the downfall of the share prices along with the increase of losses this year, their management strategy is to decrease the amount of costs involved in the business which involves job cuts but would also reduce the company's loss. Internally, to attract more customers Austar plans to convert its "dial-up Internet business, onto the COMindico network, dramatically boosting its access to customers." Article Number Seven. Title: BHP Billiton invests in new mine Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2001 Source: Financial Review Summary: BHP Billition has invested a large amount of money for a new coal mine, which would be replacing the current Elouera Colliery. This will reduce costs and increase productivity, as it would be easier to access a larger amount of coal than Elouera Colliery. Dendrobium mine, the new coal mine, has the "capacity of 5.2 million tons of coal a year." Although this is metallurgical coal unlike the coal they mined before which as either raw coal or clean coal, the metallurgical coal can be used for domestic steel and also for exporting. Linkage with outcomes: H1.1 Due to the global recession, BHP Billition had extreme difficulties coping with the downfall in demand. Mining Dendrobium will benefit the BHP Billiton as there are less costs will be involved and also having an increase in productivity. The new operation will broaden the business structure, as they will need to employ many people. H2.1 The replacement of the new mine will help them in their success as cost will be reduced but the production will be increased. As the Dendrobium mine will have a "capacity of 5.2 million tons a year of metallurgical coal," where as Elouera Colliery is producing "about 2 million tons a year of raw coal, or 1.4 million tons a year of clean coal." H2.2 BHP Billiton is a mining company that operates globally with mines all around the world. Its current investment has been in New South Wales. "BHP said this has the potential to inject more than $400 million into the regional economy," since Australia's profits mainly come from mining this will increase the economy just like BHP predicted. H3.1 The BHP Billition has been searching for strategies in reducing costs but not reducing productivity, the Dendrobium has been the answer. One of their management strategies is "designed to further move Illawarra coal's operation into the lower-cost quartile while being able to continue the supply of premium coking coal to customers." Their other strategy is to move from the Elouera Colliery to the Dendrobium mine to reduce cost and increase productivity. Dendrobium coal produces "metallurgical coal which is blended into coking coal for domestic steel produces such as the BHP steel Port Kembla steelworks and for expect markets." H3.3 The decisions made by the BHP Billiton will benefit many stakeholders. This is quite positive to the stakeholders, as there will be 170 people employed for the new project with "and additional 1,000 direct and indirect jobs." H4.2 As a consequence of making these decisions which are to employ more people and changing mine's, the economy will benefit as this means there will be more coal produced with more exports. Article Number Eight. Title: The singularly successful Giorgio Armani Date: 22-28, 2001 Source: BRW. Summary: The stylish 67 year old, Giorgio Armani started off from a "store-window dresser who became a dress designer", and then transformed into a billion-air owning 251 outlets in 34 countries. His products range from eyewear to furniture and houseware, under a range of brand names such as Armani Collezioni and Emporio Armani. Giorgio has " the last stand-alone business in the sector", as he wants to keep his independence. Linkage with outcomes: H1.1 Giorgio Armani has 251 outlets in 34 countries so the global business environment effects the business however Armani was the "one of the few luxury-goods marketers not to have been crunched since September 11." Sales in Japan, Britain and Germany have picked up extremely quickly. Male and female Hollywood stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Richard Gere crave f...