University : The Independent Institute of Education -IIE- UniLearnO is not sponsored or endorsed by this college or university.
Subject Code : BUMA221
Assignment Task:

Question 1:
Managers follow a specific process in order to do their jobs. All managers (top, middle and first-line managers) perform four fundamental management functions: 
1. Planning  
2. Organising 
3. Leading 
4. Controlling  
 
Write an essay whereby you discuss each of the four fundamental management functions listed above.

Question 2:
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow. 

Williams & Company 
 
Williams & Company (known as WC) is a South African-based management consulting firm. WC is a medium-sized business that has been in existence for 20 years. The firm provides consulting services to corporations including business optimisation consulting, project management, productivity improvement training and improvement measurement systems. 
 
In the last decade the business environment, locally and internationally, shifted drastically. WC had to contend with the following changes: 

• A worldwide economic downturn which resulted in large businesses going down. The financial services industry took serious strain as lending practices were confronted by governments and regulatory bodies. This led to the institution of new compliance, governance and risk management policies. 

• Certain countries headed towards bankruptcy which required international intervention and assistance provided by the world bank. 

• The market generally, across industry sectors, became much more cost-sensitive. A trend emerged where the start-up rate of new small and medium-sized enterprises (SME businesses) diminished. Liquidation in the SME sector increased at an alarming rate. 

• Due to corporate restructurings and down-sizing, and greater risks for entrepreneurs in the SME sector, retrenchments became the order of the day, and new employment creation stagnated. 

• The management consulting industry was not unaffected. Business models changed, and consultancies merged and formed joint ventures to achieve greater market share and drive competition out. Consultancies also expanded into new markets particularly in Africa and Asia in response to limited growth opportunities in existing markets. The utilisation of new technologies particularly in information management became a priority in order to create more cost-effective structures and to gain the advantage in greater access to market intelligence. 

• In the South African context, the government initiated a more aggressive push towards Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE). This changed the ownership profile of businesses, as well as procurement and supply policies and practices. The drive towards employment equity became sharper, and labour legislation became much stricter concerning resourcing and employee relations. Furthermore, employee development became regulated in terms of skills development legislation. The financial services industry became more regulated as far as credit supply was concerned. 

• Moreover, substantial increases in fuel prices in South Africa, driven by the oil price, and energy supply capacity challenges and the consequent increase in cost of electricity, had a major inflationary impact across the economy. 

• Instability in commodity prices and worsening industrial relations strained the resource sector, a major contributor to the South African economy.   
 
WC launched several initiatives to respond to the changes in the business environment. A major strategic movement was to form a business partnership with a global consultancy to ensure access into Africa and to achieve market consolidation. The cost of royalties paid to their international partner became an issue because of exchange rate volatility and a weakening Rand. This affected WC’s cost of sales significantly. 
 

This BUMA221: Business Assignment has been solved by our Business Experts at UniLearnO. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.

Eureka! You've stumped our genius minds (for now)! This exciting new question has our experts buzzing with curiosity. We can't wait to craft a fresh solution just for you!

  • Uploaded By : Alex Cerry
  • Posted on : March 17th, 2019

Whatsapp Tap to ChatGet instant assistance