Business Performance and Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Business Performance and Strategy - Essay Example Details of the global market share by percentage are given in the figure below. In terms of revenue measure, GSK’s global rating as of the end of midyear 2014 was given as 6th largest pharmaceutical company (Palmer, 2014). This was accounted for with average annual revenue of  £25.602 billion. The company’s operating income for 2014 was given as  £7.771 billion, of which  £5.237 billion was realised as net income (Palmer, 2014). The major need for a competitive strategy at GSK can largely be said to be based on an ever increasing global competitiveness which has always made the company a 4th force in terms of market share and market capital. This situation is better exemplified in the table below which shows the direct competitor comparison of GSK since 2005. For the past ten years, GSK has strived to either maintain its market position or improve on it. This need is what has informed the use of a peculiar strategy that seeks to make the company competitive and set it apart from its major competitors. An important area of the strategy has been the need for the company to become economically sustainable. This is because the extent to which the company can competitively participate in the global pharmaceutical industry is largely dependent on its capital force (Flyvbjerg, 2003). In the following section of the paper, what has gone into the company’s strategy in the past 10 years and how the strategy can be explained by theories of positioning and resources are analysed. Based on theory, GSK’s current strategy can be said to have been selected based on the application of Bowman’s strategy clock. This is because the strategy clock outlines 8 major competitive positions that may be used by companies in gaining competitive advantage (Barton, 2004). On the whole, the competitive positions can be said to be largely focused on pricing, segmentation and value

Migration Policy of United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Migration Policy of United Kingdom - Essay Example The applicant work experience, higher academic achievement such as a bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees, English language ability which requires that an applicant should have a bachelors degree taught in English - will be given more merits and consideration. Migrants must also pass the International English Language Testing System requirement. The government will also deem the employment of illegal workers a criminal offence carrying a punishment of up to two years imprisonment. The new system also calls for the termination of 'chain migration', which means that there will be no instantaneous rights for a family member to bring in more relatives into the country. In addition, the new rules call for the automatic termination of right for residency for some categories of migrants and calls for an introduction of new mechanisms for an enhanced migration control. Although research on migration suggests that economic migration had given the UK economic advantage as migration is not detrimental to employment opportunities or responsible for depressing wages, some policymakers contended that the low cost of labour only benefited employers, but not the unskilled workers, composed mainly of many migrant workers. Immigration to the United Kingdom has increased considerably during the previous and the current decade. With continued economic development and historically low unemployment figures causing increased demand for migrant labourers, immigration figures have augmented to an unparalleled number (Pinkerton, 2005). As a result of this of rising immigration figures which caused apprehensions not only to the policy makers but also to the populations - 60 percent of the populace, according to a recent survey, believe that there are too many immigrants in Britain - lawmakers have tried to create efficient policies to handle migration (MORI Survey, 2006). One important part of the UK debate on migration is the question of how to control the flow of workers from the 10 new members of the European Union joined in May 2004. Under the EU terms, existing members of the EU had the alternative to put provisional limitations on the migrant workers from the Central and Eastern European countries. This was devised to alleviate any possible 'labor market shocks' which will occur as a result of the economic differences between existing and new EU member countries. In the months that followed, many other existing member countries began to put restrictions on the surge of workers from these countries with the exception of UK, Ireland, and Sweden. In effect, the UK government came under enormous pressure to put restrictions and devise plans to control labor migration (Shaw, 2004). Amid these new migration policies, new studies show that migrant workers have contributed as much 36.7 billion - or 3% - to the United Kingdom's economy since 1997 and more than one-third of that amount spawned since the appointment of 10 countries to form the EU-25 in May 2004. Nonetheless, the report, from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, stated the benefits had not been allocated uniformly, and had most likely added to an increase in unemployment among the unskilled laborers. Furthermore, the institute stated that about 5% of the existing workers has arrived in the country since 1997 - one third of those since 2004 - and that the latest migrants comprise 4.5% of the national wage bill. Recent research