Capitalism

Copied in its entirety from Introduction to Business

In recent years, more countries have shifted toward free-market economic systems and away from planned economies. Sometimes, as was the case of the former East Germany, the transition to capitalism was painful but fairly quick. In other countries, such as Russia, the movement has been characterized by false starts and backsliding. Capitalism, also known as the private enterprise system, is based on competition in the marketplace and private ownership of the factors of production (resources). In a competitive economic system, a large number of people and businesses buy and sell products freely in the marketplace. In pure capitalism, all the factors of production are owned privately, and the government does not try to set prices or coordinate economic activity.

A capitalist system guarantees certain economic rights: the right to own property, the right to make a profit, the right to make free choices, and the right to compete. The right to own property is central to capitalism. The main incentive in this system is profit, which encourages entrepreneurship. Profit is also necessary for producing goods and services, building manufacturing plants, paying dividends and taxes, and creating jobs. The freedom to choose whether to become an entrepreneur or to work for someone else means that people have the right to decide what they want to do on the basis of their own drive, interest, and training. The government does not create job quotas for each industry or give people tests to determine what they will do.

Competition is good for both businesses and consumers in a capitalist system. It leads to better and more diverse products, keeps prices stable, and increases the efficiency of producers. Companies try to produce their goods and services at the lowest possible cost and sell them at the highest possible price. But when profits are high, more businesses enter the market to seek a share of those profits. The resulting competition among companies tends to lower prices. Companies must then find new ways of operating more efficiently if they are to keep making a profit—and stay in business.

Strategic Orientation and Performance of SMEs in Malaysia

The primary objective of this study is to critically examine the effect of strategic orientation on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. Three most comprehensive constructs, namely, entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and interaction orientation were adopted to present a holistic picture of the effect of strategic orientation on firm performance. This study adopts a cross-sectional design and uses the stratified random sampling method to select the potential respondents. The complete data were collected from 473 entrepreneurs who operate in the service sector in Malaysia. Findings of this study show that entrepreneurial and market orientations have a positive effect on superior firm performance. As entrepreneurial orientation is shown to be the construct sharing a positive relationship with all the other constructs in the model, it has been identified as the most significant strategic orientation. SMEs in Malaysia should therefore focus on adopting strategies in market orientation by appropriate marketing efforts, and in entrepreneurial orientation where the entrepreneur needs to adopt a proactive stance to counter challenges in the market of new products and changing customer preferences >>ClickHere>>>

Building the Competitive Advantage of a Business Entity through Brand Development

The starting point of this paper is the idea of brand. Its aim is to define the role of a brand with the purpose of the establishment of future contributions in the scope of this area, that is its influence on purchase stimulation and the establishment of a competitive advantage for a business entity in regard to other market actors. Furthermore, a brief theoretical explanation of the term brand is provided, i.e. the history of brand’s emergence, as well as a review of its elements. The many complexities during the establishment of brand are also explained. Brand has emerged as a consequence of market globalization, as well as the existence of numerous products that satisfy the same need. Its main purpose is the differentiation of products and the attempt to draw potential consumers’ attention in order to influence them to decide on the purchase of a brand product as quickly as possible. Business entities that realize the importance of creating a brand, its development and management will create all preconditions for successful, i.e. profitable operation. This way of deliberation and brand management represents the key to the business success of every business entity. It is generally considered that the market power of a brand can also be treated as an asset >>ClickHere>>>

Assessing the value and market attractiveness of the accessible tourism industry in Europe: a focus on major travel and leisure companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the accessible tourism market potential, alongside the implications of operating in the accessible tourism market and an assessment of major travel and leisure company involvement. The research focused on providing a market value forecast using historic data from 2005 and extrapolating this to 2025. An examination of the reasons for and against major travel and leisure company involvement in the accessible tourism market was accompanied by an analysis of managerial perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – The exploration of travel patterns of disabled tourists, in particular spend per head per holiday, was used to measure the value of the demand side of accessible tourism. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with employees of major travel and leisure companies in managerial positions. Findings – The study indicates that the accessible tourism market is a distinct sector, possessing the capacity for extensive future growth, and thus presents major travel providers with a potentially substantial and lucrative market, generating potential revenues of £88.6 billion by 2025. Research limitations/implications – Due to a lack of existing data an assumption had to be made on the evolution of travel spend per head per holiday. However, the formula used, using GDP/Capita growth, is a recognised way of forecasting this kind of data in the travel and leisure industry. Originality/value – This is the first paper to provide an examination of the reasons for and against major travel and leisure company involvement in the accessible tourism market, as well providing a forecast of the market value up to 2025 >>ClickHere>>>

Business Opportunities in India for Polish Entrepreneurs

The objective of this paper is to evaluate attractiveness of Indian market and to assess the gap between potential profit opportunities and the current value of Polish exports to India. The originality of this work lies in in-depth analysis of key aspects of Polish investment on Indian market, revealing the conservative attitude of Polish entrepreneurs towards Indo-Polish trade cooperation.>>ClickHere>>>

Market Segmentation of Arab Banks

The aim of this paper is to conduct market segmentation of Arab banks and suggest a model to classify them into cohesive segments on the basis of their financial ratios as a guideline for future consolidation. Twelve financial ratios taken from Bankscope Database have been retrieved for 92 Arab banks for the year 2015. In view of the sensitivity of multivariate analysis to the normality assumption, it was decided to use the common log transformation. Factor analysis is used as a data reduction technique to find twelve financial ratios. Cluster analysis is then used to separate the 92 Arab banks into five different performance groups (segments). Multi-discriminant statistical analysis is used to answer the question: can a combination of financial ratios be used to predict bank’s group membership? Findings of the study show that multidiscriminant analysis reveals that coverage ratio, profitability and efficiency separate the groups more widely than other financial ratios. The classification matrix shows that 98.9% of original banks are correctly classified. What’s more, to go after a more efficient risk policy, this paper recommends merging big banks with small Arab banks that are less profitable, less efficient, and in weaker condition than their non-acquired peers in addition to merging huge banks operating in different Arab countries. Results of this study should provide insight for future researchers. Also, this piece of research bridges the gap between financial ratio analysis and multivariate statistical analysis for Arab banks.>>ClickHere>>>

Research and Suggestions on Declining Market Shares of Ibis Budget Hotels

With the development of global economy, people have more and more disposal incomes and accelerate the strong growth in tourism. According to a study from Folkestone, international visitor numbers increased 7% in FY15 to a new high of 6.6 million visitors. Therefore, as necessities of traveling, hotel industry booms as well. Especially budget hotels (provides basic-needs services with very low prices) is becoming more and more popular with visitors because it can help visitors reduce budgets. Thus, some famous budget hotels like ibis should seize this opportunity to increase their revenues as well as market shares. This paper mainly conducts research through investigation, literature research and other methods, aiming to provide a right tool for ibis budget hotels to use in their strategy to solve its declining market shares problem based on Australian Market>>ClickHere>>>

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