工商管理专业外文文献翻译
工商管理专业英语有关英语论文及翻译
Benchmarking of human resource management in thePu b lic sector: Prospects, pro blems and challengesDavidM AkinnusiOrganisational/Industrial Psychology and Human ResourcesManagementNorth West UniversitySouth AfricaCorrespondence to: David M Akinnusie-mail: david.akinnusi@nwu.ac.zaABSTRACTThis paper reviews the role of humanresource management(HRM)which, today, plays a strategic partnership role in management. The focus of the paper is on HRM in the public sector, where much hope rests on HRM as a meansof transforming the public service and achieving muchneeded service delivery. However, a critical evaluation of HRM practices in the public sector reveals that these services leave much to be desired. The paper suggests the adoption of benchmarking as a process to revamp HRM in the public sector so that it is able to deliver on its promises. It describes the nature and process of benchmarking and highlights the inherent difficulties in applying benchmarking in HRM. It concludes with some suggestions for a plan of action. The process of identifying “best ” practices in HRM requires the best collaborative efforts of HRM practitioners and academicians. If used creatively, benchmarking has the potential to bring about radical and positive changes in HRMin the public sector. The adoption of the benchmarking process is, in itself, a litmus test of the extent to which HRM in the public sector has grown professionally.Keywords: benchmarking, benchmarking process, human resource management,public sector, public sector managementIn any organised human activity, human beings naturally take precedence over other resources, as it is they and they alone who are capable of directing and utilising other resources. Effective human resource management(HRM) has, therefore, becomecrucial and critical to the achievement of individual, organisational, community, national and international goals and objectives. Ironically, even though humanbeings are widely considered as the most important assets of any organisation or nation, their development, motivation and utilisation have not always occupied the central place in management(Bendix, 1996, p. 4-10). In the history of management hought, the neglect of the humanside of enterprise brought the scientific school of management to its knees and led to the rise of the humanrelations and the behavioural schools of thought which firmly succeeded in putting human beings as the core of management (Carrell, Elbert & Hartfield, 1995). In the practical world, the commodification or de-personalisation of human beings during the industrial revolution was also associated with the rise of trade union movements, leading to government interventions and regulations and the emergence of labour relations and personnel administration as fields of study (Bendix, 1995, p. 7). In the 1990s, personnel management metamorphosed into humanresource managementin clear recognition of its strategic role in the overall performance of organisations (Authur, 1994; Cascio, 1995; Huselid, 1995; Gerber, Nel & van Dyk, 1998).THE STATE OF HRM IN SOUTH AFRICAThe history of South Africa, rising from the ashes of the apartheid regime, is replete with cases of poor HRM, to the point of constrictingits development more than a decade after its independence (Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, 2006). The Deputy President while launching the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) remarked that:Nothing short of a skills revolution by a nation united will extricate us from the crises we face. Weare addressing logjams, some ofwhich are systemic and therefore in some cases entrenched even in post-apartheid South Africa. The systemic nature of someof our challenges undermine our excellent new policies, at least in the short term, hence the need for interventions such as JIPSAto enhance implementation of our policies(.za/speeches/2006/06032810451001.htm)Historically, South Africa has performed very poorly in practically all the criteria on the liability side of human resources balance sheet as measured by the World Competitiveness Ratings (1998, 1999). Some of these include equal opportunity, skilled labour, Aids, worker motivation, brain drain, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse, values of the society, illiteracy, dependency ratio, human development index and competent managers. The field of labour relations (LR), like its human resources counterpart, reflects the country 's socio -political history which wascharacterised by deep divisions along racial and political lines, discrimination, unfair labour practices and gross distortions in the labour market systems, resulting in serious confrontations between the social partners and perennial industrial unrest (Bendix, 1996, p. 71-104).These stark realities have prompted the democratic government to enact a series of laws designed to bring radical changes in the areas of HRM and labour relations. Some of these include:• Occupational Health and Safety Act No 85 of 1993• Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 and Labour Relations AmendmentAct No 127 of 1998• South African Qualifications Act No 58 of 1995• Basic Conditions of Employment Act No 104 of 1997• Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998• Skills Development Act No 97 of 1998• Skills Development Levies Act No. 9 of 1999• Promotion of Equality and the Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 • White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service, 2000The intention of these Acts was to create a healthy, humane, justand equitable workplace or society, free from discrimination and oppression and in which people and workers are educated and continuously trained to meet the challenges of nationaldevelopment and globalisation in a peaceful industrial climate. In 2006, the nation launched the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) to develop skills that are most urgently needed as part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA), which was to propel South Africa at a development trajectory of6%GDPby 2010. The implementation and the realisation of these Acts and initiatives require, among other things, managers and, especially, human resource professionals, whose responsibility it is to effectively manage the human resources of their organisations. For its own part, the South African Board of Personnel Practice has proposed a bill, the HumanResource Profession Bill (2005), which intends to professionalise the practice of HRM in South Africa.The focus of this paper is on HRM in the public sector, where the challenges are most acutely felt. The Government White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (2000) notes that national departments and provincial administrations employ approximately 1,2 million people, who account for more than 50%of all public expenditure.It declares that “people are therefore the Public Service 's most valuable asset, and managing human resources effectively and strategically must be the cornerstone of the wider transformation of the Public Service ”. Appropriately, Government has embraced the shift offocus from personnel administration to HRM. Therefore, Government 'svision of HRMin the Public Service is that it will “result in a diverse, competent and well-managed workforce, capable of, and committed to, deliveri ng high quality services to the people of South Africa ”. Itfurther stressed that the practice of HRM would be underpinned by the following values which derive from the Constitution: fairness, accessibility, transparency, accountability, participation and professionalism.However, the White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (2000) was quick to point out the inadequacies and out-dated practices of HRM in the public sector, describing various aspects of it in the following ways: (It is) over-centralised, excessively bureaucratic and rule-bound. It is focused on form rather than substance and results. Human resource planning is weak; post-filling and promotion criteria over-emphasize educational qualifications and seniority and little or no emphasis is placed on the requirements of the job to be done. Performance management is also underdeveloped.All these inadequacies and the racial imbalance simply mean that Government's avowed desire to transform public service delivery by putting people first (via the “Batho Pele principles ”) would be greatly frustrated by an inefficient and ineffective management, in general, and lacklustre state of human resource management, in particular.More than a decade after independence, the state of HRM in SouthAfrica has not changed as drastically as expected at either the macro ormicro level. This is due to a number of factors including the following(Gerber, Nel and van Dyk, 1998; Bowmaker-Falconer, Horwitz, Jain & Taggar, 1998; White Paper on HRM,2000; Horwilt, Browning, Jain & Steenkamp, 2002;/ipp/guardian/2008/05/27/115219.html):1. Reluctance by corporations to embrace transformation and major changes impliedor required by the various legislations.2. Reluctance on the part of trade unions to buy into the perceived capitalist agendaof the newgovernment, leading to a shaky alliance between government and itsalliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African Communist Party (SACP).3. Fear of reverse discrimination by whites, sparking off emigrationin large numbers and leading to only modest gains in the area of employment equity and diversity management.In short, although South Africa is armed with formidable legislative armoury to create a humane society and organisational environments conducive to HRM, the fact remains that it will take many more years to undo the legacy of apartheid in “creating structural inequalities in the acquisition of education, work skills and access to managerial, professional and occupational positions ” (Horwitz, Browning, Jain & Steenkamp, 2002). This situation, therefore, calls for innovative practices such as benchmarking, the focus of this studyAIMS AND STRUCTURE OF THE PAPERThe role of benchmarking will be discussed in the context of the above concerns. The aim of this paper is to advocate the adoption of benchmarking as a tool to revamp, in order for Government to be able to deliver on its promises. The objectives are to describe the nature and process of benchmarking, to highlight the inherent difficulties in applying benchmarking in HRMand to suggest a plan of action. Accordingly, the restof this paper is structured, first, to highlight the nature and process of benchmarking and then to review the literature on benchmarking as applied to the HRM function. The problems and prospects of benchmarking in HRM are highlighted and discussed. In conclusion, approaches andsuggestions for using benchmarking to improve HRMpractices in the public sector are made.BENCHMARKING OF HRMBest practice in the case of HRM refers to high performance work practices such as recruitment, selection, performance management and training that mayin turn have an impact on the institution 's performance and, ultimately, on the competitive advantage of an organisation (Huselid, 1995; Schuler & MacMillan, 1984). The search for the best practice in HRM is driven by two major considerations. The first is the fact that labour costs are generally high everywhere and South Africa is not an exception. The second is that evidence highlighting the value of HRM to an organisation mayhelp the humanresource function to gain strategic status (Torrington & Hall, 1996).A range of HRM practices often incorporated into these analyses includes the following: incentive plans, training and development, recruitment and selection, compensation, industrial relations and performance appraisals. These have been identified as high-performance work practices that can lead to lower employee turnover, greater productivity and better corporate financial performance (Huselid, 1995; Huselid & Becker, 1996). Other potential best practices are occupational health and safety (Nelson, 1994) and enterprise bargaining, reflecting management quality and Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA) policies as indicators of human resource utilisation. The ultimate benefit of strategic HRMto an organisation isits ability to facilitate HRM's contribution to the organisation in theacquisition and maintenance of a sustainable competitive advantage (Teo, 1998). One way to achieve improvements in competitiveness, which is the focus of this paper, is through benchmarking HRM best practices.The Rodwell, Lam and Fastenau (2000) paper is a significant contribution to benchmarking for two major reasons. Firstly, it is an attempt by academics to seek the“best ” set of HRM practices which distinguishes poor from better performing organisations. In this respect, their example is worth emulation, as the set of best practices is contingent on the nature of the industry and the environment investigated. Rodwell et al's (2000) study surveyed the financeindustry in Australia where, they found, counter-intuitively, that a lack of written policies on health and safety was one of the major “best ”practices. It is immediately apparent that the findings of this study are not only limited to the industry and the country studied, but also cannot be generalised to the finance industry of another country, say South Africa, where the issue of safety has taken on dramatic importance in that industry in the era of bombings of ATM cash points and cash-in-transit heists that are a daily occurrence in South Africa, with Crime Statistics reporting a 74% rise in cash-in-transit heists in June 2008(/stories/200609280232.html, accessed in July 13, 2008). SUGGESTIONS FOR BENCHMARKING HRM IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR Benchmarking presents managers of public sector institutions in South Africa with the challenge of venturing to compare their functions, not only internally among themselves, but also against other best-run government departments or best-run companies in South Africa. Admittedly, there are differences in the ethos and cultures of public and private sector organisations; nevertheless, the call for the public service to be more results oriented can only be met by understanding and learning frompractices of their private sector counterparts and initiating creative and appropriate changes. Benchmarking is no longer the monopoly of the private sector. Publicsector institutions in most of Western countries are using benchmarking to meet the enduring challenge to provide maximum value for money —i.e. highest quality at least cost (see, also Sedgwick, 1995; and Dorsch & Yasin, 1998).As for HRM managers in public sector institutions in South Africa, benchmarking presents them with the challenge of moving out of their cocoons. Benchmarkingpresents HRM professionals in the public sector with a golden opportunity to improve their image and deliver on the Government hope that: “Human resourcemanagement in the Public Service should become a model of excellenee, …..The management of people should be regarded as a significant task for those who havebeen charged with the responsibility a nd should be conducted in a professional manner ” (White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service, 2000; italicised for emphasis)Research results have clearly indicated that investments in human resources are a potential source of competitive advantage, with increase in overall HRM effectiveness leading to increase in the performance of the institutions concerned (Huselid, et. al., 1997). The practical implication of this is that improving HRM efficiency and effectiveness will hold off the threat of downsizing, increase job satisfaction and servicedelivery. Benchmarking may be the technique which could bring about a true revolution in HRMin the public service. For this to happen, the following suggestions are made:1. Human resource managers in the public service must improve their skills instrategic human resource, since the adoption of benchmarking should focuson strategic rather than operationalobjectives, if it is to succeed.2. Academics in collaboration with public sector HR managers should searchfor the “best ” combination of HRM practices in theirrespective sectors.3. Meanwhile, there are benchmarking tools such as peer reviews, excellentmodels or even Investors in People, which could be adopted as ways ofstimulating creative changes in the human resource arenas.4. The Government of South Africa should follow the American, European,Canadian and Australian 's examples of instituting national awards for bestpractices in public sector managementin general or in HRM in particular.It is hoped that HRMdirectors and managers in national, provincial and municipal councils would embrace the challenge of benchmarking in order to make the desired impact on service delivery, productivity and job satisfaction of their employees. This challenge is enormous , considering the desperate state of human resource management problems enumerated at the beginning of this paper. It is aprocess of a guided tour and fundamental change. The adoption of the benchmarking process is, in itself, a litmus test of the extent to which HRM managers have grown professionally by implementing a set of internally consistent policies and practices, ensuring that the institution 's humancapital contributes to the achieve of government's objectivesREFERENCES[1] Arthur, J. B. (1994). The effects of human resources management systems onmanufacturing performance and turnover. Academyof ManagementJournal , 37(3), 670-687.[2] Auluck , R. (2002). Benchmarking: Atool for facilitatingorganisational learning.Public Administration and Development, 22(2), 109-2002.[3] Bendix, S. (1996). Industrial Relations in the new South Africa . Third Edition. CapeTown: Juta & Co.[4] Bowmaker-Falconer, A., Horwitz, F. A. Jain, H. & Taggar, S. (1998).Employment Programmes in South Africa: Current Trends. Industrial RelationsJournal, 29(3), 222-233.[5] Camp, R. C. (1989). Benchmarking: The search for industry best practices that leadto superior performance . Milwaukee: ASQC Quality Press.[6] Camp, R. C. (1992). Learning from the best leads to superior performance. Journal ofBusiness Strategy , 13(3), 3-6.[7] Lema, N. & Price A. (1995). Benchmarking - performanee improvement towardcompetitive advantage. Journal of Management Engineering , 11(1), 28-37.[8] Loffler, E. (2001). Quality awards as a public sector benchmarking concept in OECDmembercountries: some guidelines for quality award organizers.Public Administration and Development , 21(1), 27-40.[9] Republic of South Africa (1995). South African Qualifications Act No 58of 1995. Retrieved July 15, 2008, from the World Wide Web:http://llnw.creamermedia.co.za/articles/attachments/02709_saqualauth act58.pdf [10] Republic of South Africa (1998), Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998,Government Gazette No 19370, 19 October 1998.[11] Republic of South Africa (1998), Skills Development Act No 97 of 1998, RetrievedJuly 15, 2008, from the World Wide Web:http://llnw.creamermedia.co.za/articles/attachments/03387_sklldevac9 7.pdf [12] R epublic of South Africa (1999), Skills Development Levies Act No. 9 of 1999,Government Gazette No 1984, 30 April 1999.[13] Teo, S. T. T. (1998). Changing roles of Australian HRM practitioners.Research and Practice in Human Resources Management , 6(1), 67-84.[14] Torrington, D. & Hall, L. (1996). Chasing the rainbow: how seeking status thoughstrategy misses the point of the personnel function. Employee Relations, 18(6), 87-97.[15] Treadwell, J. & Maguire, J. (1995). Benchmarking corporate services:ASouth Australian publicsector case study. Australian Journal of PublicAdministration , 54(3), 408-514.[16] Watson, G. H. (1993). Strategic Benchmarking: Howto measure company'sperformance against the world 's best. Wiley: Chichester.[17] Zairi, M. & Ahmed, P. (1999). Benchmarking maturity as we approach the nextmillennium. Total Quality Management Journal , 4(5), 810-816.。
工商管理文献翻译
Understanding Customer Requirements1 Listening to Customers Through Research1.1Using Marketing Research to Understand Customer ExpectationsFinding out what customers expect is essential to providing service quality, and marketing research is a key vehicle for understanding customer expectations and perceptions of services, In services, as with any offering, a firm that does no marketing research at all is unlikely to understand its customers. A firm that does marketing research, but not on the topic of customer expectations, may also fail to know what is needed to stay in tune with changing customer requirements. Marketing research must focus on service issues such as what features are most important to customers, what levels of these features customers expect, and what customers think the company can and should do when problems occur in service delivery. Even when a service firm is small and has limited resources to conduct research, avenues are open to explore what customers expect.One of the biggest challenges facing a marketing researcher is converting a complex set of data to a form that can be read and understood quickly by executives, managers, and other employees who will make decisions from the research. For example, database management is being adopted as a strategic initiative by many firms, but merely having a sophisticated database does not ensure that the findings will be useful to managers. Many of the people who use marketing research findings have not been trained in statistics and have neither the time nor the expertise to analyze computer printouts and other technical research information. The goal in this stage of the marketing research process is to communicate information clearly to the right people in a timely fashion. Among considerations are the following: Who gets this information? Why do the need it? How will they use it? Does it mean the same thing across cultures? When users feel confident that they understand the data, they are far more likely to apply it appropriately. When managers do not understand how to interpret the data, or when they lack confidence in the research, the investment of time, skill, and effort will be lost.1.2 Using Marketing Research InformationConducting research about customer expectations is only the first part of understanding the customer, even if the research is appropriately designed, executed, and presented. A service firm must also use the research findings in a meaningfulway–to drive change or improvement in the way service is delivered. The misuse(or even nonuse)of research data can lead to a large gap in understanding customer expectations. When managers do not read research reports because they are too busy dealing with the day-to-day challenges of the business, companies fail to use the resources available to them. And when customers participate in marketing research studies but never see changes in the way the company does business, they fell frustrated and annoyed with the company. Understanding how to make the best use of research – to apply what has been learned to the business – is a key way to close the gap between customer expectations and management perceptions of customer expectations. Managers must learn to turn research information and insights into action, to recognize that the purpose of research is to drive improvement and customer satisfaction.The research plan should specify the mechanism by which customer data will be used. The research should be actionable: timely, specific, and credible. It can also have a mechanism that allows a company to respond to dissatisfied customers immediately.1.3Upward CommunicationIn some service firms, especially small and localized firms, owners or managers may be in constant contact with customers, thereby gaining firsthand knowledge of customer expectations and perceptions. But in large service organizations, managers do not always get the opportunity to experience firsthand what their customers want.The larger a company is, the more difficult it will be for managers to interact directly with the customer and the less firsthand information they will have about customer expectations. Even when they read and digest research reports, managers can lose the reality of the customer if they never get the opportunity to experience the actual service. A theoretical view of how things are supposed to work cannot provide the richness of the service encounter. To truly understand customer needs, management benefits form hands-on knowledge of what really happens in stores, on customer service telephone lines, in service queues, and in face-to-face service encounters. If gap 1 is to be closed managers in large firms need some form of customer contact.2Building Customer Relationships2.1Relationship MarketingRelationship marketing essentially represents a paradigm shift within marketing –away from an acquisitions/transaction focus toward a retention/relationship focus.Relationship marketing (or relationship management) is a philosophy of doing business, a strategic orientation, that focus on keeping and improving relationships with current customers rather than on acquiring new customers. This philosophy assumes that many consumers and business customers prefer to have an ongoing relationship with one organization than to switch continually among providers in their search for value. Building on this assumption and the fact that it is usually much cheaper to keep a current customer than to attract a new one, successful marketers are working on effective strategies for retaining customers.It has been suggested that firms frequently focus on attracting customer (the “first act”) but then pay little attention to what they should do to keep them (the “second act”). Ideas expressed in an interview with James L. Schorr, then executive vice president of marketing at Holiday Inns, illustrate this point. In the interview he stated that he was famous at Holiday Inns for what is called the “bucket theory of marketing.” By this he meant that marketing can be thought of as a big bucket: It is what sales, advertising, and promotion programs do that pours business into the top of the bucket. As long as these programs are effective, the bucket stays full. However, “There’s only one problem,”he said, “there’s a hole in the bucket,”When the business is running well and the hotel is delivering on its promises, the hole is small and few customers are leaving. When the operation is weak and customers are not satisfied with what they get, however, people start falling out of the bucket through the holes faster than they can be poured in through the top.The bucket theory illustrates why a relationship strategy that focuses on plugging the holes in the bucket makes so much sense. Historically, marketers have been more concerned with acquisition of customers, so a shift to a relationship strategy often represents changes in mind set, organizational culture, and employee reward systems. For example, the sales incentive systems in many organizations are set up to reward bringing in new customers. There are often fewer(or not) rewards for retaining current accounts. Thus, even when people see the logic of customer retention, the existing organizational systems may not support its implementation.Relationship value of a concept or calculation that looks at customers from the point of view of their lifetime revenue and/or profitability contributions to a company.The lifetime or relationship value of a customer is influenced by the length of an average “lifetime,” the average revenues generated per relevant time period over the lifetime, sales of additional products and services over time, referrals generated by the customer over time, and costs associated with serving the customer. Lifetime value sometimes refers to lifetime revenue stream only; but most often when costs are considered, lifetime value truly means “lifetime profitability.”If companies knew how much it really costs to lose a customer, they would be able to accurately evaluate investments designed to retain customer. One way of documenting the dollar value of loyal customers is to estimate the increased value or profits that accrue for each additional customer who remains loyal to the company rather than defecting to the competition. This is what Bain & Co. has done for a number of industries, The percentage of increase in total firm profits when the retention or loyalty rate rises by 5 percentage points. The increases are dramatic, ranging from 35 to 95 percent. These increases were calculated by comparing the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at current retention rates with the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at 5 percent higher retention rates.With sophisticated accounting systems to document actual costs and revenue streams over time, a firm can be quite precise in documenting the dollar value and costs of retaining customers. These systems attempt to estimate the dollar value of all the benefits and costs associated with a loyal customer, not just the long-term revenue stream. The value of word-of-mouth advertising, employee retention, and declining account maintenance costs can also enter into the calculation.The emphasis on estimating the relationship value of customers has increased substantially in the past decade. Part of this emphasis has resulted from an increased appreciation of the economic benefits that firms accrue with the retention of loyal customer. (Our Strategy Insight for this chapter describes ways that firms explicitly demonstrate this appreciation to customer.) Interestingly, recent research suggests that customer retention has a large impact on firm value and that relationship value calculations can also provide a useful proxy for assessing the value of a firm. That is, a firm’s market value can be roughly determined by carefully calculating customer lifetime value. The approach is straightforward: Estimate the relationship value of a customer, forecast the future growth of the number of customers, and use these figures to determine the value of a company’s current and future base. To the extent that the customer base forms a large part of a company’s overall value, such a calculation can provide an estimate of a firm’s value —a particularly useful figure for young, high-growth firms for which traditional financial methods(e.g., discounted cash flow) do not work well.2.2Customer Profitability SegmentsCompanies may want to treat all customers with excellent service, but they generally find that customers differ in their relationship value and that it may be neither practical nor profitable to meet (and certainly not to exceed) all customers’expectations. Federal Express Corporation, for example, has categorized its customers internally as the good, the bad, and the ugly ––based on their profitability. Ratherthan treating all its customers the same, the company pays particular attention to enhancing their relationship with the good, tries to move the bad to the good, and discourages the ugly. Other companies also try to identify segments —or, more appropriately, tiers of customers — that differ in current and/or future profitability to a firm. This approach goes beyond usage or volume segmentation because it tracks costs and revenues for segments of customers, thereby capturing their financial worth to companies. After identifying profitability bands, the firm offers service and service levels in line with the identifying segments. Building a high-loyalty customer base of the right customers increases profits.Although some people may view the FedEx grouping of customers into “the good, the bad, and the ugly” as negative, descriptive labels of the tiers can be very useful internally. Labels are especially valuable if they help the company keep track of which customers are profitable.Virtually all firms are aware at some level that their customers differ in profitability, in particular, that a minority of their customers accounts for the highest proportion of sales or profit. This finding has often been called the “80/20 rule”— 20 percent of customers produce 80 percent of sales or profit.In this version of tiering, 20 percent of the customers constitute the top tier, those who can be identified as the most profitable in the company. The rest are indistinguishable from each other but differ from the top tier in profitability. Most companies realize that there are differences among customers within this tier but do not possess the data or capabilities to analyze the distinctions. The 80/20 two-tier scheme assumes that consumers within the two tiers are similar, just as conventional market segmentation schemes typically assume that consumers within segments are similar.However, more than two tiers are likely and can be used if the company has sufficient data to analyze customer tiers more precisely. Different systems and labels can be helpful. One useful four-tier system, includes the following:1.The platinum tier describes the company’s most profitable customer, typicallythose who are heavy users of the product, are not overly price sensitive, are willing to invest in and try new offerings, and are committed customers of the firm.2.The gold tier differs from the platinum tier in that profitability levels are not ashigh, perhaps because the customers want price discounts that limit margins or are not as loyal. The may be heavy users who minimize risk by working with multiple vendors rather than just the focal company.3.The iron tier contains essential customers who provide the volume needed toutilize the firm’s capacity, but their spending levels, loyalty, and profitability are not substantial enough for special treatment.4.The lead tier consists of customers who are costing the company money. Theydemand more attention than they are due given their spending and profitability and are sometimes problem customers —complaining about the firm to others and tying up the firm’s resources.Not that this classification is superficially reminiscent of, but very different from, traditional usage segmentation performed by airlines such as American Airlines. Two differences are obvious. First, in the customer pyramid profitability rather than usage defines all levels. Second, the lower levels actually articulate classes of customers who require a different sort of attention. The firm must work either to change the customers’ behavior — to make them more profitable through increases in revenue —or to change the firm’s cost structure to make them more profitable through decreases in costs.Examples of effective use of the customer pyramid approach exist in a number of business contexts. Financial services firms are leading the way, perhaps because of the vast amounts of data already housed in those firms. In 1994 Bank One realized that all financial institutions had grossly overcharged their best customers to subsidize others who were not paying their way. Determined to grow its top-profit customers, who were vulnerable because they were being underserved, Bank One implemented a set of measures to focus resources on their most productive use. Next it identified the profit drivers in this top segment and thereby stabilized its relationships with key customers.Once a system has been established for categorizing customers, the multiple levels can be identified, motivated, served, and expected to deliver differential levels of profit. Companies improve their opportunities for profit when they increase shares of purchases by customers who either have the greatest need for the services or show the greatest loyalty to a single provider. By strengthening relationships with the loyal customers, increasing sales with existing customers, and increasing the profitability on each sale opportunity, companies thereby increase the potential of each customer.Whereas profitability tiers make sense from the company’s point of view, customers are not always understanding, nor do they appreciate being categorized into a less desirable segment. For example, at home companies the top clients have their own individual account representative whom they can contact personally. The next tier of clients may be handled by representatives who each have 100 clients. Meanwhile, most clients are served by an 800 number, an automated voice response system, or referral to a website. Customers are aware of this unequal treatment, and many resist and resent it. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective, but customers are often disappointed in the level of service they receive and give firms poor marks for quality as a result.Therefore, it is increasingly important that firms communicate with customers so they understand the level of service they can expect and what they would need to do or pay to receive faster or more personalized service. The most significant issues result when customers do not understand, believe they have been singled out for poor service, or feel that the system is unfair. Although many customers refuse to pay for quality service, they react negatively if they believe it has been taken away from themunfairly.The ability to segment customers narrowly based on profitability implications also raises questions of privacy for customers. In order to know who is profitable and who is not, companies must collect large amounts of individualized behavioral and personal data on consumers. Many consumers today resent what they perceive as an intrusion into their lives in this way, especially when it results in differential treatment that they perceive is unfair.Prudent business managers are well aware that past customer purchase behavior, although useful in making predictions, can be misleading. What a customer spends today, or has spend in the past, may not necessarily be reflective of what he or she will do(or be worth) in the future. Banks serving college students know this well — a typical college student generally has minimal financial services needs ( i.e., a checking account) and tends to not have a high level of deposits. However, within a few years that student may embark on a professional career, start a family, and/or purchase a house, and thus require several financial services and become a potentially very profitable customer to the bank. Generally speaking, a firm would like to keep its consistent big spenders and lose the erratic small spenders. But all too often a firm also has two other groups they must consider: erratic big spenders and consistent small spenders. So, in some situations where consistent cash flow is a concern, it may be helpful to a firm to have a portfolio of customers that includes steady customers, even if they have a history of being less profitable. Some service providers have actually been quite successful in targeting customers who were previously considered to be unworthy of another firm’s marketing efforts. Paychex, a payroll processing company, became very successful in serving small business that the major companies in this industry did not think were large enough to profitably serve. Similarly, Progressive Insurance became very successful in selling automobile insurance to undesirable customers — young drivers and those with poor driving records — that most of the competition did not feel had a sufficient relationship value. Firms, therefore, need to be cautious in blindly applying customer value calculations without thinking carefully about the implications.2.3Relationship ChallengesGiven the many benefits of long-term customer relationships, it would seem that a company would not want to refuse or terminate a relationship with any customer. Yet, situations arise in which either the firm, the customer, or both want to end (or have to end) their relationship.The assumption that all customers are good customers is very compatible with the belief that “the customer is always right,” an almost sacrosanct tenet of business. Yet any service worker can tell you that this statement is not always true, and in some cases it may be preferable for the firm and the customer to not continue their relationship.A company cannot target its services to all customers; some segments will bemore appropriate than others. It would not be beneficial to either the company or the customer for a company to establish a relationship with a customer whose needs the company cannot meet. For example, a school offering a lock-step, daytime MBA program would not encourage full-time working people to apply for its program, nor would a law firm specializing in government issues establish a relationship with individuals seeking advice on trusts and estates. There examples seem obvious. Yet firms frequently do give in to the temptation to make a sale by agreeing to serve a customer who would be better served by someone else.Similarly, it would not be wise to forge relationships simultaneously with incompatible market segments. In many service businesses(such as restaurants, hotels, tour package operators, entertainment, and education), customers experience the service t ogether and can influence each other’s perceptions about value received. Thus, to maximize service to core segment, an organization may choose to turn away marginally profitable segments that would be incompatible. For example, a conference hotel may find that mixing executives in town for a serious educational program with students in town for a regional track meet may not be wise. If the executive group is a key long-term customer, the hotel may choose to pass up the sports group in the interest of retaining the executives.3 Service Recovery3.1 The Impact Of Service Failure And RecoveryService recovery refers to the actions taken by an organization in response to a service. Failures occur for all kinds of reasons —the service may be unavailable when promised, it may be delivered late or too slowly, the outcome may be incorrect or poorly executed, or employees may be rude or uncaring. All these types of failures bring about negative feelings and responses from customers. Left unfixed, they can result in customers leaving, telling other customers about their negative experiences, and even challenging the organization through consumer rights organizations or legal channels.Research has shown that resolving customer problems effectively has a strong impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, word-of-mouth communication, and bottom-line performance. That is, customers who experience service failures but who are ultimately satisfied based on recovery efforts by the firm, will be more loyal than those whose problems are not resolved. That loyalty translates into profitability, Customers who complain and have their problems resolved quickly are much more likely to repurchase than are those whose complaints are not resolved. Those who never complain are least likely to repurchase.Similar results were reported in a study 720 HMO members in which researchers found that those who were not satisfied with service recovery were much more likelyto switch to a different health care provider than were those who happy with how their problems were addressed. The study also found that satisfaction with service recovery was the second most important factor out of 11 service attributes in predicting overall customer satisfaction. The most important, not surprisingly, was perceived medical outcome.An effective service recovery strategy has multiple potential impacts. It can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and generate positive word-of-mouth communication. A well-designed, well-documented service recovery strategy also provides information that can be used to improve service as part of a continuous improvement effort. By making adjustments to service processes, systems, and outcomes based on previous service recovery experiences, companies increase the likelihood of “doing it right the right the first time.”In turn, this reduces costs of failures and increases initial customer satisfaction.Unfortunately, many firms do not employ effective strategies. A recent study suggests that 50 percent of customer who experienced a serious problem received no response from the firm. There are tremendous downsides to having no service recovery strategies. Poor recovery following a bad service experience a service failure, they talk about it to others no matter what the outcome. That recent study also found that customers who were satisfied with a firm’s recovery efforts3.2How Customer Respond To Service FailuresSome customers are more likely to complain than others for a variety of reasons. These consumers believe that positive consequences may occur and that there are social benefits of complaining, and their personal norms support their complaining behavior. They believe they should and will be provided compensation for the service failure in some form. They believe that fair treatment and good service are their due, and that in cases of service failure, someone should make good. In some cases they feel a social obligation to complain —to help others avoid similar situations or to punish the service provider. A very small number of consumers have “complaining”personalities — they just like to complain or cause trouble.Consumers who are unlikely to take any action hold the opposite beliefs. They often see complaining as a waste of their time and effort. They do not believe anything positive will occur for them or others based on their actions. Sometimes they do not know how to complain —they do not understand the process or may not realize that avenues are open to them to voice their complaints. In some cases noncomplainers may engage in “emotion-focused coping” to deal with their negative experiences. This type of coping involves self-blame, denial, and possibly seeking social support. They may feel that the failure was somehow their fault and that they do not deserve redress.Personal relevance of the failure can also influence whether people complain. If the service failure is really important, if the failure has critical consequences for theconsumer, or if the consumer has much ego involvement in the service experience, then he or she is the more likely to complain. Consumers are more likely to complain about services that are expensive, high risk, and ego involving (like vacation packages, airline travel, and medical services) than they are about less expensive, frequently purchased services (fast-food drive-through service, a cab ride, a call to a customer service help line). There latter services are simply not important enough to warrant the time to complain. Unfortunately, even though the experience may not be important to the consumer at the moment, a dissatisfying encounter can still drive him or her to a competitor next time the service is needed.If customers initiate actions following service failure, the action can be of various types. A dissatisfied customer can choose to complain on the spot to the service provider, giving the company the opportunity to respond immediately. This reaction is often the best-case scenario for the company because it has a second chance right at that moment to satisfy the customer, keep his or her business in the future, and potentially avoid any negative word of mouth. Customers who do not complain immediately may choose to complain later to the provider by phone, in writing, or via the Internet. Again, the company has a chance to recover. Researchers refer to these proactive types of complaining behavior as voice responses or seeking redress.Some customers choose not to complain directly to the provider but rather spread negative word of mouth about the company to friends, relatives, and coworkers. This negative word-of-mouth communication can be extremely detrimental because it can reinforce the customer’s feelings of negativism and spread that negative impression to others as well. Further, the company has no chance to recover unless the negative word of mouth is accompanied by a complaint directly to the company. In recent years, customers have taken to complaining via the Internet. A variety of websites, including web-based consumer opinion platforms, have been created to facilitate customer complaints and, in doing so, have provided customers with the possibility of spreading negative word-of-mouth communication to a much broader audience. Some customers become so dissatisfied with a product or service failure that they construct websites targeting the firm’s current and prospective customers. On these sites, angry customers convey their grievances against the firm in ways designed to convince other consumers of the firm’s incompetence an evil.Finally, customers may choose to complain to third parties such as the Better Business Bureau, to consumer affairs arms of the government, to a licensing authority, to a professional association, or potentially to a private attorney. No matter the action (or inaction), ultimately the customers determine whether to patronize the service provider again or to switch to another provider.3.3Customers’ Recovery ExpectationsWhen they take the time and effort to complain, customers generally have high expectations. They expect the firm to be accountable. They expect to be helped。
工商管理外文文献及翻译
工商管理外文文献及翻译The Contractor's Role in Building Cost Reduction AfterDesignAuthor：Waddle,T odd W.Nationality：UKDerivation：Cost Engineering; Feb2008, Vol. 50 Issue 2, p14-21It has become evident from recent news articles that inflationary pressures and increased construction activity are causing many building projects to come in well over owner's budgets. This trend has increased dramatically over the past few years, as much of the construction industry has been impacted by an unprecedented increase in the cost of construction. The historical rate of increase in construction cost has been under five percent per year, as reported by the Engineering News Record. Over the last few years, the industry has seen a significant increase from historical escalation rates, up to 10-15 percent per year in many regions of the US. These increases have been caused by a variety of factors, including the following.Shortage of steel resulting from rapid growth in China.Demand for materials in the US resulting from increased hur ricane damage. ? Rising oil prices leading to higher manufacturing and transportation cost. ? Rising labor cost because of increased construction activity .To be successful in having over budget projects awarded, the building contractor has had to take a proactive role in working with owners and design teams to reduce project cost to amounts that owners are able to award. This cost reduction is normally accomplished through the following methods.value engineering;scope reduction;Value EngineeringValue engineering (VE) has been defined as a systematic method to improve the value of goods and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be increased by either improving the function or reducing the cost.It is a primary tenet of value engineering that quality not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements . VE is a process originating at General Electric Company (GE) during World War II. Because of shortages of skilled labor, raw materials, and component parts, engineers at GElooked for acceptable alternates and often found substitutions that resulted in reduced costs and/or product improvement.GE developed a systematic process that they called value analysis. Over the years the name gradually changed to VE. The basic steps of VE include the following：Information gathering: project requirements defined, function analysis.Alternates: various ways of meeting the requirements and functions.Evaluation: asses sment of alternates on how well they meet requirements and costs savings.Presentation: selection of best alternatives to be presented to client for decisions.True VE evaluates life cycle costs such as initial cost, maintenance cost, operational cost, life span, time value of money, replacement cost, and frequency of replacement. VE canbe undertaken at any stage of the building design process; however, it is most effective in the early stages, since it is less costly to make changes to preliminary documents .Scope ReductionScope reduction involves identifying areas of the project scope of work that can be reduced in quality, quantity, or both in a manner that is acceptable to the owner.Scope reduction items of work often consist of material or equipment substitutions that lower the cost of the project, but may not be an equal substitute. An example of quantity scope reduction would be to reduce the guttering system on a pitched roof from the entire roof perimeter to entrances only. A quality scope reduction example would be to provide vinyl composition floor tiles (VCT) in lieu of ceramic floor tiles.After a project has been determined to be out of budget because of high bids, the project is normally either cancelled, redesigned and re-bid, or negotiations are held with the low bidder to reach an acceptable contract amount. For the building contractor that is selected for negotiations, this is an opportunity to move toward project award and to also build a relationship of trust and openness with the owner and design team that could lead to future projects.First, the building contractor should meet with the owner and design team to fully understand the owners project requirements, priorities, life cycle considerations, and budget.Next, the building contractor's role is to use his estimating and construction expertise to analyze various components and systems within the project for alternate solutions. The contractor should also bring in key subcontractors and suppliers who are often able to identify alternate materials and/or systems withintheir specialties. Each division of work should be examined and evaluated for VE solutions. In past years, this process and service was considered part of the building contractors overhead. However, in today's market, some contractors will negotiate rates and be reimbursed for the time and effort that they spend in this process in the event that theproject is not awarded to them.The work breakdown structure (WBS) can be a helpful tool to the building contractor in analyzing the various components and systems within a building project. The WBS is a tree-type structure of functional systems used to classify the project on a level-by-level basis . This breakdown structure facilitates the evaluation of each system of the project from the building foundations to the completed sitework.Questions to Ask or Areas and/to Consider by WBSThis section provides a list of areas for the building contractor to examine and/or questions to ask in the WBS system level format for cost saving alternatives. Some of these changes can be accomplishedwithout major re-design cost and incorporated into the construction documents in the form of an addendum. Other changes listed would require extensive re-design and time delays.SUBSTRUCTURE—Have alternate types of foundation system been considered?wood piles in lieu of precast;drilled caissons vs. piles;mat foundations in place of piles or caissons.—Evaluate sand base in place of gravel or stone under slab on grade. SUPERSTRUCTURE—Have alternate types of building structures been evaluated?structural steel, precast concrete, cast in place concrete, light gauge steel framing or wood framing systems.—Compare Alternate Stair Systems.steel pan stairs vs. precast concrete or cast in place concrete.EXTERIOR CLOSURE—Evaluate exterior wall systems.Light gauge metal framing in lieu of reinforced concrete masonry units.Can wall widths or gauges be reduced?—Compare sheathing systems.Fiber sheathings in place of cement boards.—Review alternate wall insulation systems.Batt insulations, rigid insulation materials, loose fill block insulation.—Consider alternate exterior wall veneers.Conventional stucco versus exterior insulation finish system.Brick or precast in lieu of stone.—Evaluate alternate glazing systems.Can exterior glazed areas be reduced?Storefronts in lieu of curtainwalls if code allows.Painted aluminum in lieu of stainless steel or brass framing.—Review exterior entrances.Manual entrance doors in place of automatic entrances.Automatic entrances in lieu of revolving doors.Cedar entrance doors rather than mahogany.—Examine exterior railing systems.aluminum or cable systems in lieu of glass;standard designs in place of custom elements;ROOFING—Evaluate the specified roofing with alternative materials.Combined metal decking/insulation systems in lieu of separate systems.Interior batt insulation in place of rigid roof insulation.Built-up roofing vs. single ply membranes.Fib erglass or concrete tiles in lieu of clay tiles.Painted metals in place of copper.Can the specified gauge of metal roofing be lowered?Eliminate or reduce the guttering system?Can skylights be reduced or styles changed?Are standard warranties specified?INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION—Examine interior wall systems.Can light gauge metal-framed walls be used in lieu of concrete masonry units?Can wall thicknesses or gauges be reduced?Are drywall systems being used in lieu of plaster? Examine inte rior doors and hardware.Are the specified doors standard sizes or custom?Have alternate wood door species been considered?Have alternate hardware styles or manufacturers been compared?Can manual doors be used in lieu of automatic?Are the doo rs pre-machined for hardware installation?Compare pre-finishing doors with finishing on-site.—Review interior specialties.Have alternate types of toilet partitions been considered?Prefinished metals vs. plastic laminates.Can vinyl corner guard s be used rather than metal?Metal lockers vs. wood.Have special partitions been evaluated?Plastic veneers in lieu of wood.Can the sound rating be reduced?Defer installation?Has the access flooring system been evaluated?Standard floor f inishes rather than custom?INTERIOR FINISHES—Evaluate interior wall finishes.Painted wall finishes in lieu of wallcovering.Epoxy coatings in place of tile finishes.FRP instead of stainless steel.Are textured drywall systems being used rather than plaster?—Examine interior floor finishes.Resilient flooring vs. ceramic or wood.Ceramic flooring in lieu of stone.Tile or stone in place of terrazzo.Alternate carpet manufacturers.—Review alternate ceiling finishes.Standard ceiling vs. custom.Fiber ceiling vs. metal.CONVEYING SYSTEMS—Review specified elevators and escalators.Have alternate manufacturers been considered?Are standard interior elevator cab finishes specified or custom?Can glass walls be eliminated?Are sta ndard warranties specified?SITE PREPARATIONHas a site work analysis been performed to balance cuts and fills.SITE IMPROVEMENTSCan paved areas be reduced or more economical paving materials used?? Has resurfacing existing parking areas been conside red rather than new parking construction?Have alternate types of enclosure walls been considered?Have landscaping alternatives or substitutions been considered?Seeding in place of sodding.Reduce or change tree and plant materials.Use existin g trees and other existing landscaping.SITE CIVIL/MECHANICAL UTILITIESHave alternate utility piping materials been evaluated?Can existing site utilities be abandoned rather than removed?SITE ELECTRICAL UTILITIESHave alternate exterior lighting p ackages been compared?Have alternate utility piping materials been evaluated?CONTRACTOR OVERHEAD AND PROFITCan phasing be reduced to shorten the project duration?Can the start of the project be timed to avoid cost impact of winter conditions?F or high-rise projects; have crane and hoisting options been compared? ? Can the Owner include the Builders Risk policy?.Breaking down and analyzing the components of a building project through the work breakdown structure can aid in reduction summaries also reveal that the mechanical, electrical and plumbing(MEP) systems typically offer the greatest opportunity for cost savings due to their total significance to a project. The MEP systems normally make up between 30 to 50 percent of a building project's cost.The owners of the illustrated projects accepted cost reducing changes ranging from 6 to 14 percent of the original low bids. These reductions allowed themto meet their particular budgets and have their projects constructed by incorporating the changes into addendums. Some projects may be so far over budget that substantial structural and/or building redesigns are unavoidable. However, building contractors can play a major role in bringing projects into budget—using their past experience along with their subcontractor and supplier networks to develop cost reduction alternatives that may not have been previously considered by owners and/or design teams.设计阶段后承包商在降低施工成本方面所扮演的角色作者：Waddle,Todd W.国籍：英国出处：营销的智慧与计划2008.11.05，第14-21页从最近的新闻报道中可以明显的看出，通货膨胀的压力和建筑产业的不断发展使很多工程项目超出了业主的预算。
工商管理文献翻译
工商管理文献翻译Understanding Customer Requirements1 Listening to Customers Through Research1.1Using Marketing Research to Understand Customer ExpectationsFinding out what customers expect is essential to providing service quality, and marketing research is a key vehicle for understanding customer expectations and perceptions of services, In services, as with any offering, a firm that does no marketing research at all is unlikely to understand its customers.A firm that does marketing research, but not on the topic of customer expectations, may also fail to know what is needed to stay in tune with changing customer requirements. Marketing research must focus on service issues such as what features are most important to customers, what levels of these features customers expect, and what customers think the company can and should do when problems occur in service delivery. Even when a service firm is small and has limited resources to conduct research, avenues are open to explore what customers expect.One of the biggest challenges facing a marketing researcher is converting a complex set of data to a form that can be read and understood quickly by executives, managers, and other employees who will make decisions from the research. For example, database management is being adopted as a strategic initiative by many firms, but merely having a sophisticated database does not ensure that the findings will be useful to managers. Many of the people who use marketing research findings have not been trained in statistics and have neither the time nor the expertise to analyze computer printouts and othertechnical research information. The goal in this stage of the marketing research process is to communicate information clearly to the right people in a timely fashion. Among considerations are the following: Who gets this information? Why do the need it? How will they use it? Does it mean the same thing across cultures? When users feel confident that they understand the data, they are far more likely to apply it appropriately. When managers do not understand how to interpret the data, or when they lack confidence in the research, the investment of time, skill, and effort will be lost.1.2 Using Marketing Research InformationConducting research about customer expectations is only the first part of understanding the customer, even if the research is appropriately designed, executed, and presented. A service firm must also use the research findings in a meaningful way–to drive change or improvement in the way service is delivered. The misuse(or even nonuse)of research data can lead to a large gap in understanding customer expectations. When managers do not read research reports because they are too busy dealing with the day-to-day challenges of the business, companies fail to use the resources available to them. And when customers participate in marketing research studies but never see changes in the way the company does business, they fell frustrated and annoyed with the company. Understanding how to make the best use of research –to apply what has been learned to the business – is a key way to close the gap between customer expectations and management perceptions of customer expectations. Managers must learn to turn research information and insights into action, to recognize that the purpose of research is to drive improvement and customersatisfaction.The research plan should specify the mechanism by which customer data will be used. The research should be actionable: timely, specific, and credible. It can also have a mechanism that allows a company to respond to dissatisfied customers immediately.1.3Upward CommunicationIn some service firms, especially small and localized firms, owners or managers may be in constant contact with customers, thereby gaining firsthand knowledge of customer expectations and perceptions. But in large service organizations, managers do not always get the opportunity to experience firsthand what their customers want.The larger a company is, the more difficult it will be for managers to interact directly with the customer and the less firsthand information they will have about customer expectations. Even when they read and digest research reports, managers can lose the reality of the customer if they never get the opportunity to experience the actual service. A theoretical view of how things are supposed to work cannot provide the richness of the service encounter. To truly understand customer needs, management benefits form hands-on knowledge of what really happens in stores, on customer service telephone lines, in service queues, and in face-to-face service encounters. If gap 1 is to be closed managers in large firms need some form of customer contact.2Building Customer Relationships2.1Relationship MarketingRelationship marketing essentially represents a paradigm shift within marketing –away from an acquisitions/transaction focus toward a retention/relationship focus.Relationship marketing (or relationship management) is a philosophy of doing business, a strategic orientation, that focus on keeping and improving relationships with current customers rather than on acquiring new customers. This philosophy assumes that many consumers and business customers prefer to have an ongoing relationship with one organization than to switch continually among providers in their search for value. Building on this assumption and the fact that it is usually much cheaper to keep a current customer than to attract a new one, successful marketers are working on effective strategies for retaining customers.It has been suggested that firms frequently focus on attracting customer (the “first act”) but then pay little attention to what they should do to keep them (the “second act”). Ideas expressed in an interview with James L. Schorr, then executive vice president of marketing at Holiday Inns, illustrate this point. In the interview he stated that he was famous at Holiday Inns for what is called the “bucket theory of marketing.” By this he meant that marketing can be thought of as a big bucket: It is what sales, advertising, and promotion programs do that pours business into the top of the bucket. As long as these programs are effective, the bucket stays full. However, “There’s only one problem,”he said, “there’s a hole in the bucket,”When the business is running well and the hotel is delivering on its promises, the hole is small and few customers are leaving. When the operation is weak and customers are not satisfied with what they get, however, people start falling out of the bucket through the holes faster than they can be poured in through the top.The bucket theory illustrates why a relationship strategy that focuses on plugging the holes in the bucket makes so muchsense. Historically, marketers have been more concerned with acquisition of customers, so a shift to a relationship strategy often represents changes in mind set, organizational culture, and employee reward systems. For example, the sales incentive systems in many organizations are set up to reward bringing in new customers. There are often fewer(or not) rewards for retaining current accounts. Thus, even when people see the logic of customer retention, the existing organizational systems may not support its implementation.Relationship value of a concept or calculation that looks at customers from the point of view of their lifetime revenue and/or profitability contributions to a company.The lifetime or relationship value of a customer is influenced by the length of an average “lifetime,” the average revenues generated per relevant time period over the lifetime, sales of additional products and services over time, referrals generated by the customer over time, and costs associated with serving the customer. Lifetime value sometimes refers to lifetime revenue stream only; but most often when costs are considered, lifetime value truly means “lifetime profitability.”If companies knew how much it really costs to lose a customer, they would be able to accurately evaluate investments designed to retain customer. One way of documenting the dollar value of loyal customers is to estimate the increased value or profits that accrue for each additional customer who remains loyal to the company rather than defecting to the competition. This is what Bain & Co. has done for a number of industries, The percentage of increase in total firm profits when the retention or loyalty rate rises by 5 percentage points. The increases are dramatic, ranging from 35 to 95 percent. These increases werecalculated by comparing the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at current retention rates with the net present values of the profit streams for the average customer life at 5 percent higher retention rates.With sophisticated accounting systems to document actual costs and revenue streams over time, a firm can be quite precise in documenting the dollar value and costs of retaining customers. These systems attempt to estimate the dollar value of all the benefits and costs associated with a loyal customer, not just the long-term revenue stream. The value of word-of-mouth advertising, employee retention, and declining account maintenance costs can also enter into the calculation.The emphasis on estimating the relationship value of customers has increased substantially in the past decade. Part of this emphasis has resulted from an increased appreciation of the economic benefits that firms accrue with the retention of loyal customer. (Our Strategy Insight for this chapter describes ways that firms explicitly demonstrate this appreciation to customer.) Interestingly, recent research suggests that customer retention has a large impact on firm value and that relationship value calculations can also provide a useful proxy for assessing the value of a fir m. That is, a firm’s market value can be roughly determined by carefully calculating customer lifetime value. The approach is straightforward: Estimate the relationship value of a customer, forecast the future growth of the number of customers, and use the se figures to determine the value of a company’s current and future base. To the extent that the customer base forms a large part of a company’s overall value, such a calculation can provide an estimate of a firm’s value —a particularly useful figure for young, high-growth firms for whichtraditional financial methods(e.g., discounted cash flow) do not work well.2.2Customer Profitability SegmentsCompanies may want to treat all customers with excellent service, but they generally find that customers differ in their relationship value and that it may be neither practical nor profitable to meet (and certainly not to exceed) all customers’expectations. Federal Express Corporation, for example, has categorized its customers internally as the good, the bad, and the ugly ––based on their profitability. Rather than treating all its customers the same, the company pays particular attention to enhancing their relationship with the good, tries to move the bad to the good, and discourages the ugly. Other companies also try to identify segments —or, more appropriately, tiers of customers — that differ in current and/or future profitability to a firm. This approach goes beyond usage or volume segmentation because it tracks costs and revenues for segments of customers, thereby capturing their financial worth to companies. After identifying profitability bands, the firm offers service and service levels in line with the identifying segments. Building a high-loyalty customer base of the right customers increases profits.Although some people may view the FedEx grouping of customers into “the good, the bad, and the ugly” as negative, descriptive labels of the tiers can be very useful internally. Labels are especially valuable if they help the company keep track of which customers are profitable.Virtually all firms are aware at some level that their customers differ in profitability, in particular, that a minority of their customers accounts for the highest proportion of sales or profit.This finding has often been called the “80/20 rule”—20 percent of customers produce 80 percent of sales or profit.In this version of tiering, 20 percent of the customers constitute the top tier, those who can be identified as the most profitable in the company. The rest are indistinguishable from each other but differ from the top tier in profitability. Most companies realize that there are differences among customers within this tier but do not possess the data or capabilities to analyze the distinctions. The 80/20 two-tier scheme assumes that consumers within the two tiers are similar, just as conventional market segmentation schemes typically assume that consumers within segments are similar.However, more than two tiers are likely and can be used if the company has sufficient data to analyze customer tiers more precisely. Different systems and labels can be helpful. One useful four-tier system, includes the following:1.The platinum tier describes the company’s most profitable customer, typicallythose who are heavy users of the product, are not overly price sensitive, are willing to invest in and try new offerings, and are committed customers of the firm.2.The gold tier differs from the platinum tier in that profitability levels are not ashigh, perhaps because the customers want price discounts that limit margins or are not as loyal. The may be heavy users who minimize risk by working with multiple vendors rather than just the focal company.3.The iron tier contains essential customers who provide the volume needed toutilize the firm’s capac ity, but their spending levels, loyalty,and profitability are not substantial enough for special treatment.4.The lead tier consists of customers who are costing the company money. Theydemand more attention than they are due given their spending and profitability and are sometimes problem customers —complaining about the firm to others and tying up the firm’s resources.Not that this classification is superficially reminiscent of, but very different from, traditional usage segmentation performed by airlines such as American Airlines. Two differences are obvious. First, in the customer pyramid profitability rather than usage defines all levels. Second, the lower levels actually articulate classes of customers who require a different sort of attention. The f irm must work either to change the customers’ behavior — to make them more profitable through increases in revenue —or to change the firm’s cost structure to make them more profitable through decreases in costs.Examples of effective use of the customer pyramid approach exist in a number of business contexts. Financial services firms are leading the way, perhaps because of the vast amounts of data already housed in those firms. In 1994 Bank One realized that all financial institutions had grossly overcharged their best customers to subsidize others who were not paying their way. Determined to grow its top-profit customers, who were vulnerable because they were being underserved, Bank One implemented a set of measures to focus resources on their most productive use. Next it identified the profit drivers in this top segment and thereby stabilized its relationships with key customers.Once a system has been established for categorizingcustomers, the multiple levels can be identified, motivated, served, and expected to deliver differential levels of profit. Companies improve their opportunities for profit when they increase shares of purchases by customers who either have the greatest need for the services or show the greatest loyalty to a single provider. By strengthening relationships with the loyal customers, increasing sales with existing customers, and increasing the profitability on each sale opportunity, companies thereby increase the potential of each customer.Whereas profitability tiers make sense from t he company’s point of view, customers are not always understanding, nor do they appreciate being categorized into a less desirable segment. For example, at home companies the top clients have their own individual account representative whom they can contact personally. The next tier of clients may be handled by representatives who each have 100 clients. Meanwhile, most clients are served by an 800 number, an automated voice response system, or referral to a website. Customers are aware of this unequal treatment, and many resist and resent it. It makes perfect sense from a business perspective, but customers are often disappointed in the level of service they receive and give firms poor marks for quality as a result.Therefore, it is increasingly important that firms communicate with customers so they understand the level of service they can expect and what they would need to do or pay to receive faster or more personalized service. The most significant issues result when customers do not understand, believe they have been singled out for poor service, or feel that the system is unfair. Although many customers refuse to pay for quality service, they react negatively if they believe it has beentaken away from themunfairly.The ability to segment customers narrowly based on profitability implications also raises questions of privacy for customers. In order to know who is profitable and who is not, companies must collect large amounts of individualized behavioral and personal data on consumers. Many consumers today resent what they perceive as an intrusion into their lives in this way, especially when it results in differential treatment that they perceive is unfair.Prudent business managers are well aware that past customer purchase behavior, although useful in making predictions, can be misleading. What a customer spends today, or has spend in the past, may not necessarily be reflective of what he or she will do(or be worth) in the future. Banks serving college students know this well — a typical college student generally has minimal financial services needs ( i.e., a checking account) and tends to not have a high level of deposits. However, within a few years that student may embark on a professional career, start a family, and/or purchase a house, and thus require several financial services and become a potentially very profitable customer to the bank. Generally speaking, a firm would like to keep its consistent big spenders and lose the erratic small spenders. But all too often a firm also has two other groups they must consider: erratic big spenders and consistent small spenders. So, in some situations where consistent cash flow is a concern, it may be helpful to a firm to have a portfolio of customers that includes steady customers, even if they have a history of being less profitable. Some service providers have actually been quite successful in targeting customers who werepreviously considered to be unworthy of another firm’s marketing efforts. Paychex, a payroll processing company, became very successful in serving small business that the major companies in this industry did not think were large enough to profitably serve. Similarly, Progressive Insurance became very successful in selling automobile insurance to undesirable customers — young drivers and those with poor driving records —that most of the competition did not feel had a sufficient relationship value. Firms, therefore, need to be cautious in blindly applying customer value calculations without thinking carefully about the implications.2.3Relationship ChallengesGiven the many benefits of long-term customer relationships, it would seem that a company would not want to refuse or terminate a relationship with any customer. Yet, situations arise in which either the firm, the customer, or both want to end (or have to end) their relationship.The assumption that all customers are good customers is very compatible with the belief that “the customer is always right,” an almost sacrosanct tenet of business. Yet any service worker can tell you that this statement is not always true, and in some cases it may be preferable for the firm and the customer to not continue their relationship.A company cannot target its services to all customers; some segments will bemore appropriate than others. It would not be beneficial to either the company or the customer for a company to establish a relationship with a customer whose needs the company cannot meet. For example, a school offering a lock-step, daytime MBA program would not encourage full-time working people to applyfor its program, nor would a law firm specializing in government issues establish a relationship with individuals seeking advice on trusts and estates. There examples seem obvious. Yet firms frequently do give in to the temptation to make a sale by agreeing to serve a customer who would be better served by someone else.Similarly, it would not be wise to forge relationships simultaneously with incompatible market segments. In many service businesses(such as restaurants, hotels, tour package operators, entertainment, and education), customers experience the service t ogether and can influence each other’s perceptions about value received. Thus, to maximize service to core segment, an organization may choose to turn away marginally profitable segments that would be incompatible. For example, a conference hotel may find that mixing executives in town for a serious educational program with students in town for a regional track meet may not be wise. If the executive group is a key long-term customer, the hotel may choose to pass up the sports group in the interest of retaining the executives.3 Service Recovery3.1 The Impact Of Service Failure And RecoveryService recovery refers to the actions taken by an organization in response to a service. Failures occur for all kinds of reasons —the service may be unavailable when promised, it may be delivered late or too slowly, the outcome may be incorrect or poorly executed, or employees may be rude or uncaring. All these types of failures bring about negative feelings and responses from customers. Left unfixed, they can result in customers leaving, telling other customers about their negative experiences, and even challenging the organization throughconsumer rights organizations or legal channels.Research has shown that resolving customer problems effectively has a strong impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty, word-of-mouth communication, and bottom-line performance. That is, customers who experience service failures but who are ultimately satisfied based on recovery efforts by the firm, will be more loyal than those whose problems are not resolved. That loyalty translates into profitability, Customers who complain and have their problems resolved quickly are much more likely to repurchase than are those whose complaints are not resolved. Those who never complain are least likely to repurchase.Similar results were reported in a study 720 HMO members in which researchers found that those who were not satisfied with service recovery were much more likelyto switch to a different health care provider than were those who happy with how their problems were addressed. The study also found that satisfaction with service recovery was the second most important factor out of 11 service attributes in predicting overall customer satisfaction. The most important, not surprisingly, was perceived medical outcome.An effective service recovery strategy has multiple potential impacts. It can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and generate positive word-of-mouth communication. A well-designed, well-documented service recovery strategy also provides information that can be used to improve service as part of a continuous improvement effort. By making adjustments to service processes, systems, and outcomes based on previous service recovery experiences, companies increase the likelihood of “doing it right the right the first time.”In turn, this reduces costs of failures and increases initial customer satisfaction.Unfortunately, many firms do not employ effective strategies.A recent study suggests that 50 percent of customer who experienced a serious problem received no response from the firm. There are tremendous downsides to having no service recovery strategies. Poor recovery following a bad service experience a service failure, they talk about it to others no matter what the outcome. That recent study also found that customers who were satisfied with a firm’s recovery efforts3.2How Customer Respond T o Service FailuresSome customers are more likely to complain than others for a variety of reasons. These consumers believe that positive consequences may occur and that there are social benefits of complaining, and their personal norms support their complaining behavior. They believe they should and will be provided compensation for the service failure in some form. They believe that fair treatment and good service are their due, and that in cases of service failure, someone should make good. In some cases they feel a social obligation to complain —to help others avoid similar situations or to punish the service provider.A very small number of consumers have “complaining”personalities —they just like to complain or cause trouble.Consumers who are unlikely to take any action hold the opposite beliefs. They often see complaining as a waste of their time and effort. They do not believe anything positive will occur for them or others based on their actions. Sometimes they do not know how to complain —they do not understand the process or may not realize that avenues are open to them to voice their complaints. In some cases noncomplainers may engage in “emotion-focused coping” to deal with their negativeexperiences. This type of coping involves self-blame, denial, and possibly seeking social support. They may feel that the failure was somehow their fault and that they do not deserve redress.Personal relevance of the failure can also influence whether people complain. If the service failure is really important, if the failure has critical consequences for theconsumer, or if the consumer has much ego involvement in the service experience, then he or she is the more likely to complain. Consumers are more likely to complain about services that are expensive, high risk, and ego involving (like vacation packages, airline travel, and medical services) than they are about less expensive, frequently purchased services (fast-food drive-through service, a cab ride, a call to a customer service help line). There latter services are simply not important enough to warrant the time to complain. Unfortunately, even though the experience may not be important to the consumer at the moment, a dissatisfying encounter can still drive him or her to a competitor next time the service is needed.If customers initiate actions following service failure, the action can be of various types. A dissatisfied customer can choose to complain on the spot to the service provider, giving the company the opportunity to respond immediately. This reaction is often the best-case scenario for the company because it has a second chance right at that moment to satisfy the customer, keep his or her business in the future, and potentially avoid any negative word of mouth. Customers who do not complain immediately may choose to complain later to the provider by phone, in writing, or via the Internet. Again, the company has a chance to recover. Researchers refer to these proactive types of complaining behavior as voice responses orseeking redress.Some customers choose not to complain directly to the provider but rather spread negative word of mouth about the company to friends, relatives, and coworkers. This negative word-of-mouth communication can be extremely detrimental because it can reinforce the customer’s feelings of negativism and spread that negative impression to others as well. Further, the company has no chance to recover unless the negative word of mouth is accompanied by a complaint directly to the company. In recent years, customers have taken to complaining via the Internet. A variety of websites, including web-based consumer opinion platforms, have been created to facilitate customer complaints and, in doing so, have provided customers with the possibility of spreading negative word-of-mouth communication to a much broader audience. Some customers become so dissatisfied with a product or service failure that they construct websites targeting the firm’s current and prospective customers. On these sites, angry customers convey their grievances against the firm in ways designed to convince other consumers of the firm’s inc ompetence an evil.Finally, customers may choose to complain to third parties such as the Better Business Bureau, to consumer affairs arms of the government, to a licensing authority, to a professional association, or potentially to a private attorney. No matter the action (or inaction), ultimately the customers determine whether to patronize the service provider again or to switch to another provider.3.3Customers’ Recovery ExpectationsWhen they take the time and effort to complain, customers generally have high expectations. They expect the firm to be。
工商管理专业企业薪酬管理中英文对照外文翻译文献
企业薪酬管理中英文对照外文翻译文献(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)Enterprise Salary Reward Management Salary the overall function of function and the management of human resource that rewards is consistent also for is can attract and encourage the human resource needed by enterprise from labor economy angle speak salary reward have 3 great merits can: guarantee function, encourage function and regulation function. Referring to the angle of the management of human resource salary reward should embody and play mainly it's encourage function the salary with reasonable establishment reward management system is every problem that enterprise needs solve. In recent years, as enterprise manages , mechanism change and establish modern enterprise system step by step needs, the built-in wages degree of assignment system of enterprise the self who changes enterprise into gradually from government behavior. Therefore how to meet market needs establish with modern enterprise system appearance the supplemental salary, that suits enterprise self development reward management system and distribution scheme, high limit land development enterprise human resource Ian can, become every important program of current Chinese enterprise.Salary the substance that rewarded , it is that enterprise, for employee, is the contribution done by enterprise that function and purpose salary reward , include realization Jig effect , the corresponding repayment and that effort, time, knowledge, ability, experience and creation pay that paid out or thank. Essentially, it is a kind of fair distribution principle that exchanges or trades and has embodied socialist market economy. And according to contribution distribution for implicit the meaning of the exchange of equal value of intrinsic, have reflected the law of value of the market of labor force.Salary the overall function of function and the management of human resource that rewards is consistent, it is also to be able to attract and encourage the human resource needed by enterprise. Say from labor economy angle, salary reward have 3 great merits can ─ guarantee function, encourage function and regulation function. Referring to the angle of the management of human resource salary reward should embody and play mainly it's encourage function.The existent problem of the traditional wages degree of assignment system is internal to lack fair sense, the external income degree of assignment system that lacks the traditional state-owned enterprise of competition ability major special Zhen is implement planned instruction and policy regulation, wages management system from in the restriction that gets planned economy , employee Ian can reality play will not often arouse the notice of people, so, the distribution of wages is major to wait according to standing, educational background, title and administrative rank, and overlook as every employee does , work analysis, do not more consider the discrepancy of working post and the contribution of employee.For realizing enterprise goal fully. It is very fair that this kind of system look , but actually is for working value negate , is hard to embody trunk the good dry difference of bad, horizontal difference in degree, its result can only be the "everybody eating from the same pot" of equalitarianism. Therefore under market economic condition continue this kind of practice Hour fruit is enterprise recruit do not enter person also reserve do not live person, is internal to lack fair sense , is external to lack competition ability.Salary reward is the contribution that enterprise does for employee for enterprise, include realization Jig effect, the time, knowledge, ability, experience and creation and effort that paid out are corresponding as paying to repay or thank , are a kind of fair distribution principle that exchanges or trades and has embodied socialist market economy essentially, and according to contribution distribution for implicit the meaning of the exchange of equal value of intrinsic, have reflected the law of value of the market of labor force.On knowledge with the mistake district in operation pass , the function understanding that rewarded for salary on pass frequently in quite, notice salary only the function of health protection that rewards , and have overlooked salary reward encourage function. No matter going to work , do not perform duty from time to tome , have to enterprise to make contribution, " go to work to take money" have become perfectly justified; Bonus in considerable level on have lost the meaning of award, become regular additional wages. What enterprise employee accumulates for a long period is that inertia and safe sense make salary reward and have lost, should be some to encourage function. Though along with enterprise, being thorough as reforming , the manager of human resource also begins to explore new method on salary rewards system , but when designing distribution scheme often lack for modern salary reward the knowledge of theoretical and design method, make scheme deviate from the law of value of the market of labor force.Now, in the wages system of state-owned enterprise and the most of domestic joint stock companies, do not consider that outside and the internal balance of distribution are balanced. The management of human resource replace labor personnel management not the simpledisplacement of noun, it signifies that from thought and theory, the method of arriving is basic as utilizing to change. Thus each manager must meet the development of socioeconomic culture; system accepts new management thought, theory and method, sets up the brand-new management concept of human resource.Design salary scientifically to reward the distribution scheme Japanese economic friendship association of central section encourage condition for the first big small and medium sized business to third production department carry out investigation, show as a result: In initiating vigor factor wages the only row position of 8th, and in weakening vigor factor, wages row is in the first place. It is been wages high that this explains and can not initiate vigor, and wages low definite reduction, vigor, therefore the difference in degree of pay for promote employee enthusiasm aspect influence great. Now a lot of western companies in salary reward aspect the experience of having explored some successes , share for example profit , profit share , stock option, employee holds share plan ( EOSP ) , is balanced to tally to block , key Jig effect index and group team spirit, and when establishing salary to reward policy, have considered the relation of short period, mid-term and long-term pay fully , and design for special talent " special salary reward scheme ", purpose is to make salary reward distribution scheme with encourage machine made , arouse creativity and the working enthusiasm of employee group team fully.Reward salary to fit into market economic category manage will salary reward fit into market economic category manage , from the distribution mechanism, 3 distribution management big aspects and degree of assignment system, carry out bold innovation. The degree innovation of assignment system is basic, distribution machine made innovation is crucial, management innovation is basic.Establish in order to press Lao distribution is main part. According to the salary the distribution of factor of production reward distribution structure establishment press Lao distribution with press factor of production distribution combination get up salary reward the degree of assignment system, it is the inevitable requirement of the development of socialist market economy, therefore modern enterprise salary reward distribution structure should be with press Lao distribution is main part , press Lao distribution with press factor of production the basic general layout distribution. Part is the income degree of assignment system in the row in cost, part is in tax Hour the degree of essential factor of assignment system of row in profit, make salary reward the technical, knowledge capital profit of distribution scheme design and employee labor income and employee appearance suit.Lead into market distribution mechanism, make the market and price of labor force conform the market price of labor force is the market labor rate that forms through marketcompetition, is decided by the supply demand relations of labor force. Therefore when designing salary to reward distribution scheme, will consider the market price of labor force, establish the price system of labor force of different post, post and related enterprise, regard it as the basic salary of enterprise inside to reward San shine standard, with the fully embodiment value of labor force, guide the reasonably floating and optimization disposition of labor force.Consider both enterprise benefit, establish the high benefit capital of senior engineer, the distribution idea of low being it low wages press Lao distribution must be the benefit distribution that created according to labor, if a product that worker offers (service) the needs that can not satisfy society, that Me him can not get the labor pay that reflects with market price, therefore must consider both the economic benefits of enterprise.According to employee working ability and accomplishment, pull open distribution gap reasonably, hang pay and contribution ability finger working complete level, through the goal reached or the effect realized, the latent ability that reflects and has denotes knowledge with ability synthesize to gr asp level as well as experience accumulation level. Salary the role that rewards for is will encourage employee all abilities of having self play, but these abilities must be level and the knowledge of place post first needs. Work accomplishmentwork Jig the size of effect, from the difference in ability can difference. Therefore the pay that worker gets should not be also identical. It is for enterprise, what is beneficial to it really is that the actual labor accomplishment of worker, therefore contribute big have to serve move should get higher pay.Establishment the salary " found on people " reward the system Japanese Hamburg shop of McDonald’s can give employee family members every year always the bonus of a considerable number; When they pass birthday, can send person to send last fresh flower. American chain hospital company in salary reward payment in much a extra bonus ─ " have oxygen sport challenge plan ", employee must reach every month minimum standard as jog 30 miles, play wall ball for 15 hours above etc., can be just qualified bonus. Haier in salary reward the system design of payment aspect is difference " the horse in 1000 the competitive platform " it is not same to put up and have built " ", as ordinary employee carries out , " 3 works coexist , development conversion " ─ excellent worker, qualified worker and trial worker, enter factory worker all recently have certain probation period , expire acceptable turn for qualified worker, otherwise, excellent worker turns probably because of working fault, is qualified worker or trial worker. It is 4 level development checks that according to excellent middle-level administrator, what Haier carry out is taking regularly check result as basis, it is " give your a ship, advance or retreat to float Sheen lean self " to design for the base salary ofbrainpower, according to the commission of economic benefits that new product gets in the market, get salary to reward.It is identical that the effect of leading work depends on the campaign in subordinate mainly, but each subordinate does not let in the aspects such as ability and wishes. Therefore leader must so implement different leading way as subordinate is going to analyze and find out discrepancy carefully , then can get the leading effect of the best. It is also such toreward systematic design for salad rye, employee demand has discrepancy, different employee or same employee in not at the same time wait demand possible difference. Forlow wages crowd, the role of bonus is very important; For taking in higher crowd especially knowledge share is with management cadre , promote post , respect personality, appointment title and encouragement the freely degree etc. of innovation and work look more important; For being engage in , it is heavy, dangerous. The physical labor with bad environment staff, the possibilities such as labor protection, labor condition and post subsidy are effective. Therefore to make salary reward system to develop larger effect, first want the needs for employee have ample understanding. If leader wants to make encouraging level for subordinate reach the biggest demand that melts and must value them, knows the variation of demand and makes positive reaction, embody really found on people thought.企业薪酬管理薪酬管理的功能和人力资源管理的功能总体来说是一致的。
工商管理专业外文翻译--企业公民的阶段
外文原文Stages of Corporate CitizenshipBusiness leaders throughout the world are making corporate citizenship a key priority for their companies.1 Some are updating policies and revising programs; others are forming citizenship steering committees, measuring their environmental and social performance, and issuing public reports. Select firms are striving to align staff functions responsible for citizenship and move responsibility—and accountability—into lines of business. Vanguard companies are trying to create a broader market for citizenship and offer products and services that aim explicitly to both make money and make a better world.Amid the flurry of activity, many executives wonder what’s going on and worry whether or not their myriad citizenship initiatives make sense. Is their company prepared to take appropriate and effective actions on transparency, governance, community economic development, work-family balance, environmental sustainability, human rights protection, and ethical investor relationships?Is there any connection between, say, efforts in risk management, corporate branding, stakeholder engagement, supplier certification, cause related marketing, and employee diversity? Should there be? Studies conducted by the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College suggest that the balance between confusion and coherence depends very much on what stage a company is in its development of corporate citizenship.Comparative neophytes, for instance, often lack understanding of these many aspects of corporate citizenship and have neither the expertise nor the machinery to respond to so many diverse interests and demands. Their chief challenges are to put citizenship firmly on the corporate agenda, get better informed about stakeholders’ concerns, and take some sensible initial steps.At the other extreme are companies that have already made a full-blown foray into citizenship. Their CEO is typically leading the firm’s position on social and environmental issues, and their Board is fully informed about company practices. Should these firms want to move forward, they might next try to connect citizenship to corporate branding and everyday employees through a “live the brand” campaign like those at IBM and Novo Nordisk or establish citizenship objectives for line managers, as DuPont and UBS have done.When it comes to making sense of corporate citizenship, much depends on what acompany has accomplished to date and how far it wants (and has to) go. The Center’s surveys of a random sample of American businesses find that roughly ten percent of company leaders don’t understand what corporate citizenship is all about. On the other end of the spectrum, not quite as many firms have integrated programs and are setting new standards of performance. In the vast majority in between, there is a wide range of companies in transition whose knowledge, attitudes, structures, and practices represent different degrees of understanding of and sophistication about corporate citizenship.Knowing at what stage a company is, and what challenges it faces in advancing citizenship, can clear up an executive’s confusion about where things stand, frame strategic choices about where to go, aid in setting benchmarks and goals, and perhaps speed movement forward.Stages of DevelopmentWhat does it mean that a company is at a “stage” of corporate citizenship?The general idea—found in the study of children, groups, and systems of all types, including business organizations—is that there are distinct patterns of activity at different points of development. Typically, these activities become more complex and sophisticated as development progresses and therefore capacities to respond to environmental challenges increase in kind. Piaget’s developmental theory, for example, has children progress through stages that entail more complex thinking and finer judgments about how to negotiate the social world outside of themselves. Similarly, groups mature along a developmental path as they confront emotional and task challenges that require more socially sensitive interaction and sophisticated problem solving.Greiner, in his groundbreaking study of organizational growth, found that companies also develop more complex ways of doing things at different stages of growth. They must, over time, find more direction after their creative start-up phase, develop an infrastructure and systems to take on more responsibilities, and then “work through” the challenges of over-control and red-tape through coordination and later collaboration across work units and levels.Development of CitizenshipThere are a number of models of “stages” of corporate citizenship. On a macro scale, for example, scholars have tracked changing conceptions of the role of business in society as advanced by business leaders, governments, academics, and multi-sectorassociations. They document how increasingly elaborate and inclusive definitions of social responsibility, environmental protection, and corporate ethics and governance have developed over recent decades that enlarge the role of business in society. Others have looked into the spread of these ideas into industry and society in the form of social and professional movements.At the level of the firm, Post and Altman have shown how environmental policies progressively broaden and deepen as companies encounter more demanding expectations and build their capability to meet them. In turn, Zadek’s case study of Nike’s response to challenges in its supply chain highlights stages in the development of attitudes about social responsibilities in companies and in corporate responsiveness to social issues. Both of these studies emphasize the role of organizational learning as conceptions of company responsibilities become more complex at successive stages of development, action requirements are more demanding, and the organizational structures, processes, and systems used to manage citizenship are more elaborate and comprehensive.What such firm-level frameworks have not fully addressed are the generative logic and mechanisms that drive the development of citizenship within organizations. Here we consider the development of citizenship as a stage-by-stage process where a combination of internal capabilities applied to environmental challenges propels development forward in a m ore or less “normal” or normative logic.Greiner’s model of organizational growth illustrates this normative trajectory. In his terms, the development of an organization is punctuated by a series of predictable crises that trigger responses that move the organization forward. What are the triggering mechanisms? They are tensions between current practices and the problems they produce that demand a new response from a firm. For instance, creativity, the entrepreneurial fire in companies in their first stage, also generates confusion and a loss of focus that can stall growth. This poses a “crisis of leadership” that is resolved—and a stage of orderly growth results—once the firm gains direction, often under new leadership and with more formal structures. A later tension between delegation and its consequences, sub-optimization and inter-group conflict, triggers a “crisis of control” and moves toward coordination. In development language, companies in effect “master” these challenges by devising progressively more effective and elaborate responses to them.The model presented here is also normative in that it posits a series of stages in thedevelopment of corporate citizenship. The triggers for movement are challenges that call for a fresh response. These challenges center initially on a firm’s credibility as a corporate citizen, then its capacities to meet expectations, the coherence of its many subsequent efforts, and, finally, its commitment to institutionalize citizenship in its business strategies and culture.Movement along a single development path is not fixed nor is attaining a penultimate “end state” a logical conclusion. This means that the arc of citizenship within any particular firm is shaped by the socio-economic, environmental, and institutional forces impinging on the enterprise. This effect is well documented by Vogel’s analysis of the “market for virtue” where he finds considerable variability in the business case for citizenship across firms and industries and thus limits to its marketp lace rewards. Notwithstanding, a company’s response to these market forces also varies based on the attitudes and outlooks of its leaders, the design and management of its citizenship agenda, and firmspecific learning. Thus, there are “companies with a conscience” that have a more expansive citizenship profile and firms that create a market for their good works.Dimensions of CitizenshipTo track the developmental path of citizenship in companies, we focus on seven dimensions of citizenship that vary at each stage:Citizenship Concept: How is citizenship defined? How comprehensive is it? Definitions of corporate citizenship are many and varied. The Center’s concept of citizenship considers the total actions of a corporation (commercial and philanthropic). Bettignies makes the point that terms such as citizenship and sustainability incorporate notions of ethics, philanthropy, stakeholder management, and social and environmental responsibilities into an integrative framework that guides corporate action.Strategic Intent: What is the purpose of citizenship in a company? What it is trying to achieve through citizenship? Smith observes that few companies embrace a strictly moral commitment to citizenship; instead most consider specific reputational risks and benefits in the market and society and thereby establish a business case for their efforts. Rochlin and Googins, in turn,see increasing interest in an “inside-out” framing where a value proposition for citizenship guides actions and investments. Leadership: Do top leaders support citizenship? Do they lead the effort? Visible, active, top level leadership appears on every survey as the number one factor drivingcitizenship in a corporation. How well informed are top leaders are about citizenship, how much leadership do they exercise, and to what extent do they “walk the talk”? Structure: How are responsibilities for citizenship managed? A three-year indepth study of eight companies in the Center’s Executive Forum on Corporate Citizenship found that many progressed from managing citizenship from functional “islands” to cross-functional committees and that a few had begun to achieve more formal integration through a combination of structures, processes, and systems.Issues Management: How does a company deal with citizenship issues that arise? Scholars have mapped the evolution of the public affairs office in corporations and stages in the management of public issues. How responsive a company is in terms of citizenship policies, programs, and performance?Stakeholder Relationships: How does a company engage its stakeholders? A wide range of trends—from increased social activism by shareholders to an increase in the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world—has driven major changes in the ways companies communicate with and engage their stakeholders.Transparency: How “open” is a company about its financial, social, and environmental performance? The web sites of upwards of 80% of Fortune 500 companies address social and environmental issues and roughly half of the companies today issue a public report on their activities.Citizenship at Each StageThe model in Figure 1 presents the stages in the development of corporate citizenship along these seven dimensions. We illustrate each stage with selected examples of corporate practice. (Note, however, that we are not implying that these companies currently operate at that stage; rather, at the times noted, they were illustrative of citizenship at that development stage.) A close inspection of these companies reveals instances where they had a leading-edge practice in some dimensions but were less developed in others. This should come as no surprise. For example, the pace of a child’s physical, mental, and emotional development is seldom uniform. One facet typically develops faster than another. In the same way, the development of group and organizational capabilities is uneven. Firm-specific forces in society, industry dynamics, and other environmental influences feature in how citizenship develops within a firm.Stage 1. ElementaryAt this base stage, citizenship activity in a company is episodic and its programs are undeveloped. The reasons are straightforward: scant awareness of what corporate citizenship is all about, uninterested or indifferent top management, and limited or one-way interactions with external stakeholders, particularly in the social and environmental sectors. The mindset in these companies, and associated policies and practices, often centers on simple compliance with laws and industry standards.Responsibilities for handling matters of compliance in these firms are usually assigned to the functional heads of human resources, the legal department, investor relations, public relations, and community affairs. The job of these functional managers is to make sure that the company obeys the law and to keep problems that might arise from harming the firm’s reputation. In many cases, they take a defensive stance toward outside pressures—e.g., Nike’s dealings with labor activists in the early 1990s.Some corporate leaders, for example, have espoused economist Milton Friedman’s notion that their company’s obligations to society are solely to“make a profit, pay taxes, and provide jobs.”20 Others, particularly those heading smaller and mid-size businesses, comply willingly with employment and health, safety, and environmental regulations but have neither the resources nor the wherewithal to do much more for their employees, communities, or society.Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch is an exemplar of this principled big-business view. “A CEO’s primary social responsibility is to assure the financial success of the company,” he says. “Only a healthy, winning company has the resources and capability to do the right thing.”21GE’s financial success over the past two decades is unquestioned. However, the company’s reputation suffered toward the end of Welch’s tenure when it was revealed that that one of its business units had discharged tons of the toxic chemical PCB into the Hudson River. When challenged, Welch was defensive and pointed out that GE had fully complied with then existing environmental protection laws.This illustrates one of the triggers that move a company forward into a new stage of citizenship. Welch’s sta nce was plainly out of touch with changing expectations of corporate responsibilities and the contradiction between GE’s success at wealth creation and loss of reputation was palpable. Welch’s successor,Jeffrey Immelt, reversed this course, accepted at least partial financial responsibility for the clean up, and thereafter reprioritized citizenship on the company’s agenda.中文译文企业公民的阶段全世界的商界领袖都认为企业公民是他们公司的一个优先环节。
工商管理外文参考文献翻译
工商管理外文参考文献翻译外文参考文献翻译题目: 城市之星客户服务管理浅析学院: 经济管理学院专业:工商管理班级: 0601学号: 200607080130学生姓名: 雷月茜导师姓名: 胡琳完成日期: 2010年04月23日一、外文参考文献原文All too often, marketers of homogenous products fail to identifytheir competitive advantage, resulting in dismal results. Similarly, SME participants find it difficult to identify such competitive advantages. Fortunately, the Franchise Model facilitates the notion of ‘ being in business for yourself, but not on your own’. The reason for this caseis to facilitatecompetitive advantage within a Home Entertainment SME Franchise environment, enabling participants to successfully compete with thecorporate environment. The outcome is to identify and implement Service Profit Chain (Heskett et al, 1997) initiatives, linking customer service to long term profitability and growth.The home video industry is a product of technology. Prior to the introduction of the home VCR in 1976, there was no way to watch movies at home, except as shown on broadcast television, and no one had thought of a retail store where movies could be rented for the night. In the course of the past quarter-century, those VCR's and those video rental stores became the foundation for a US$ 17 billion industry.This study researches the Home Entertainment Video Rental industry, consisting predominantly of SME home entertainment outlets. The particular analysis is in a leading South African Franchise system, consisting of family owned ‘Franchisees’.The service profit chain will centre on analysis from the 'gurus' on the topic, specific reference to " The Service Profit Chain- how Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value, as depicted by Heskett. J, Sasser. W, Schlesinger. L, (1997). Concepts, models and frameworks will also be researched from leading customer service oriented organizations, including Southwest Airlines, Xerox, Wal-mart, Taco Bell, Au Bon Pain Restaurants, British Airways, and other relevant leaders in their respective fields.The service profit chainwill be analysed from the above sources, whereby customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer value are linked to the long term profitability and growth of Blockbusters Video.CRM systems have become the rule for customer service centers. Now managers are taking the next step; to arm their agents with a knowledge base that can deliver fast, accurate answers. They are reaping the benefits of integrating a true knowledge management system with CRM - such as decreasing escalation rates, shorter call times and increased first call resolution.Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have been widely accepted by1global enterprises seeking to improve customer satisfaction and retention. But it takes more than just technology to maintain customer relationships. It takes improved business processes and a method for providing customers with the information that they demand in anefficient and effective manner. This is where knowledge management (KM) comes in to play in the customer interaction center.Today, industry experts recommend customer service and support knowledge bases as a critical component of successful CRM. According to Tim Hickernell, senior analyst with the META Group, "Service strategies that include knowledge bases, accessible to both agents and customers across all deployed points of interaction, can optimize cost of service and increase customer satisfaction by providing a more consistent customer experience." META concludes that by 2004, companies seeking customer service superiority will add cross-channel knowledge bases and escalation capabilities .Knowledge management is often an enterprisewide initiative...a discipline that encompasses managing and sharing knowledge across all departments within an organization. However, quite often organizations choose to kick-off KM on a departmental basis. With customersatisfaction as a mission-critical driver for all businesses, especially today when repeat business from existing customers can make or break a company, many companies are choosing to invest in knowledge managementfor their customer contact centers. Other common implementations occur within IT help desks, human resources departments and sales organizations. It's important to remember that organizations must tailor KM processes and tools to the specific needs and goals of each department.Today, knowledge management is not just for agents accessing a knowledge base. Allowing customer access to self-service knowledge bases is a must. The bonus of Web self-service (also referred to as e-service or online self-help) is that customers are happier with your company if they can quickly and easily find answers without having to contact the call center, and companies can reduce operating expenses by deflecting queries to the Web.It's not enough, however, to put the information on the Web and ask your customer to go find it. You need to make the information timely, accurate, easy to find and in the format that most customers want. By knowledge-enabling your online customer service, you empower customersto find answers quickly through dynamic FAQs or knowledge search engines.Both FAQs and search engines must generate dynamic responses in order to be useful, meaning that they must learn and adapt from usage. This type of technology is referred to as a self-learning2search engine. To be considered a true self-learning search, the system must learn from previous experiences had by customers withsimilar issues. It must be self-organizing, in that it is always moving the most relevant information to the top of the search results. It also must be tied into a reporting system that monitors knowledge usage - which items in the knowledge base are being used most frequently and which are not being accessed.At its simplest, customer service is being influenced andrevitalized by information technology. Regardless of how one visualizes customer service, either from a logistics or marketing perspective, information technology now assumes an important role in customer service. Information technology is a powerful tool or enabler in the arena of customer service. Information technology is essentially in the processof migration, from the support function to the front-line functions where the customer is served, as indeed is customer service itself.In particular, the degree of marketing orientation and itsrelationship to both customer service and information technologyrequires further quantitative measurement. A greater understanding would facilitate marketing managers in identifying other areas in which information technology may be of use.One of the most remarkable features of the debate on workplaceskills over the last few years has been the increasing emphasis placedon soft skills and attitudes. In part this is because work itself is changing. The rise of the service sector has meant that increasing numbers of people in employment are (at least in part) delivering a service and are themselves part of the process being sold. This is perhaps most dramatically apparent where the ‘service’ is itself entertainment. In Disneyworld staff are expected to be physically attractive, friendly, helpful, smiling and able to follow scripted exchanges (Van Maanen, 1991). But these dramatic elements and the emphasis on aesthetic and emotional ‘skills’ are not restricted to the entertainment industry, rather they are increasingly accepted as a‘normal’ aspect of servicework (Hancock and Tyler, 2000). So staff in restaurants, bars and hotels are hired on (and groomed in) aspects of their looks (Nickson et al., 2001); flight attendants are monitored onlooks, weight and consistent helpfulness (Hochschild, 1983); andcall centre workers are expected to infuse their voice with appropriate emotions (Callaghan and Thompson, 2002; Wray-Bliss, 2001; Taylor andT yler, 2000). Even official reviews of the state of the nation’s skills emphasis personal qualities and attributes (Skills Task Force). Work, it seems, is increasingly about appearing, being andfeeling as well as doing.The picture presented in these organisations is not one of opening the public sector to3market forces or responsiveness to customers but of confusion. Here additional levels of monitoring and new performance measures are introduced and customer service was emphasised often over areas where those serving have little control. As might be predicted, the implications for employee skills are also mixed. At one level training, at least in areas relevant to customer service, is increasing at others technical skills still needed to complete the work are not being reproduced and it is difficult to see, rhetorical or structurally, many incentives for them to be developed in the future.Most chief executives say that customer satisfaction is a number-one priority for their companies. Given a little background information on what has really transpired in their companies, however, many will admit that pressures for short-term results create thinking processes and decisions that often negatively impacts customer service. Management needs to carefully and critically assess how their companies have performed at developing and implementing a customer-focused service strategy.Too many companies limp along with less than top-notch customer service.Well-intentioned goals to achieve and sustain a high level of customer service often exist. Yet, customer service is often one ofthose perpetual problems in the process of being solved, but without measurable results. Executive management is often very frustrated with the seeming inability to solve the customer service competitive dilemma once and for all.Customer service is a competitive weapon that can easilydifferentiate one supplier from another. A lot of talk today is centered on quality, new processes and systems, continuous improvement and the like, b ut it must be aimed at customer satisfaction or it isn’t worth muchover the longer term. The same old way of doing business is just not good enough; the complex job of redefining and implementing new processes, policies, systems and measurement are mandatory to solidify your company’s future.In most industries, customers have become more sophisticated and demanding of their supply chains. Suppliers that offer the most in customer-defined quality products, pricing and quickorder turnaroundwill outperform their competitors and easily gain more marketshare in the future as customers clamor for more. For management, a high level of customer service must become a measurable result.The discipline to adhere to a good customer service and operational strategy can create substantial rewards. A notable example of effective strategy and disciplined adherence is Dell Computer. Dell provides its customers with a quality product, flexible product configurations,4quick response and a reasonable price. The marketplace responded by buying more and more product from Dell and its stock went up 10.000 percent over the past five years.World class companies have taken more market share by providing notably better customer service. Executives know that to stand out in a crowded field of competitors, customer service is a very critical component in achieving and maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. When pressures move the organization to meet only performance goals and measurements such as overhead absorption, shipping dollar targets, labor efficiency, purchase price variance and the like, however, customer service often takes a back seat to these other concerns. The result can be a plunge in customer satisfaction and ultimately, if allowed to continue, an erosion in market share.Finally, and in broad terms, the evolution and revolution of customer service will continue and therefore deserves further investigation. Specifically, empirical research should aim tocrystallize the transitional process and variables necessary for an organization to broaden its definition and understanding of customer transaction service to customer relationship service. This should assist marketing academics and managers face the competitive challenges of a new century.二、外文参考文献翻译很多时候，营销的同质产品不能确定自己的竞争优势，在令人沮丧的结果产生。
外文文献翻译-工商管理企业管理创新
外文翻译Analysis of enterprise management innovation measures FORM:Elliott Renwick.Analysis of enterprise management innovation measures[J].Journal of Enterprise Reform and Management,2016(08):180-182. Abstract：The effective management of the scientific enterprise is an important factor in the development of enterprises and innovation. Now with the continuous improvement and development of the international market economy, China's enterprises in the development of continuous innovation and change. How to improve the ability of management innovation, how to promote the development of enterprises is an important issue in the development of enterprises at present. This article from the aspects of how to carry out the innovation of enterprise management is analyzed, to provide a scientific theoretical basis for enterprise management, make a contribution to the innovation of enterprise management.Keyword：enterprise management; innovation; measures;浅析企业管理创新的措施来源：Elliott Renwick.浅析企业管理创新的措施[J].企业改革与管理杂志，2016(08):180-182.摘要：企业科学有效的管理是企业发展和创新的重要因素。
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Project Budget Monitor and ControlAuthor：Yin Guo-liNationality：AmericanDerivation：Management Science and Engineering. Montreal: Mar 20, 2010 .With the marketing competitiveness growing, it is more and more critical in budget control of each project. This paper discusses that in the construction phase, how can a project manager be successful in budget control. There are many methods discussed in this paper, it reveals that to be successful, the project manager must concern all this methods.1. INTRODUCTIONThe survey shows that most projects encounter cost over-runs (Williams Ackermann, Eden, 2002,pl92). According to Wright (1997)'s research, a good rule of thumb is to add a minimum of 50% to the first estimate of the budget (Gardiner and Stewart, 1998, p251). It indicates that project is very complex and full of challenge. Many unexpected issues will lead the project cost over-runs. Therefore, many technologies and methods are developed for successful monitoring and control to lead the project to success. In this article, we will discuss in the construction phase, how can a project manager to be successful budget control.2. THE CONCEPT AND THE PURPOSE OF PROJECT CONTROL AND MONITORErel and Raz (2000) state that the project control cycle consists of measuring the status of the project, comparing to the plan, analysis of the deviations, and implementing any appropriate corrective actions. When a project reach the construction phase, monitor and control is critical to deliver the project success. Project monitoring exists to establish the need to take corrective action, whilst there is still time to take action. Through monitoring the activities, the project team can analyze the deviations and decide what to do and actually do it. The purpose of monitor and control is to support the implementation of corrective actions, ensure projects stay on target or get project back on target once it has gone off target。
3. SETTING UP AN EFFICIENT CONTROL SYSTEMFor the purpose of achieving cost target, the manager need to set up an efficient management framework including: reporting structure, assessing progress, and communication system. The employees' responsibility and authority need to be defined in the reporting structure. The formal and informal assessing progress can help getting a general perspective between reality and target. It is significant to help identify what is the risk and should be monitored and controlled. Project success is strongly linked to communication. The efficient communication system benefit for teamwork and facilitate problem solving ( Diallo and Thuillier, 2005 ).4. COST MONITOR AND CONTROL4.1 Ranking the priority of monitoringIn construction phase, many activities are carried out based on the original plan. It is need to know what kind of activities or things are most likely to lead the project delay and disruption. Therefore, the first step is ranking the priority of the activities. Because the duration of a project is determined by the total time of activities on critical path, any delay in an activity on the critical path will cause a delay in the completion date for the project (Ackermann Eden, Howick and Williams,2000,p295). Therefore, the activities on critical path should firstly to be monitored and controlled. Secondly, monitoring the activities with no free float remaining, a delay in any activity with no free float will delay some subsequent activity inevitably. These subsequent delays will discomfit the resource schedule significantly. Some resources are unavailable because they are committed elsewhere. Thirdly, monitoring the activities with less than a specified float, because if an activity has very little float, it might use up the time before control decision is made once such an activities has a variance with the target. Fourthly, managers should monitor high risky activities. High risky activities are most likely to overspend. Fifthly, managers should monitor the activities using critical resource. Some resource is critical because they are very expensive or limited (Cotterell and Hughes, 1995).4.2Methods of cost controlThe main cost of a project includes staff cost, material cost and delay cost. To control these cost, managers should first set up a cost control system to: a) Allocate responsibilities for administration and analysis of financial datab) Ensure all costs are properly allocated against project codesc) Ensure all costs are genuinely in pursuit of project activitiesd) Check that other projects are not using the budget.Then, managers should monitor and control change to the project budget. It means the following things:a) Concerned with key factors that cause changes to the budgetb) Controlling actual cost changes as they occur- Monitor cost performance to detect variances- Record all appropriate changes accurately in the cost baseline- Preventing incorrect, unauthorized changes being included in the cost baseline- Determine positive and negative variances- Integrated with all other control processes (scope, change, schedule, quality) As a project is dynamic, sometimes the project managers know the project is going out off target by monitoring, but don't know the best action to take. In this circumstance, net present value (NPV) should be used as an ongoing monitor and control mechanism, because NPV takes account of the time element and discounts future cash flows, it is the result of the time effect on cash4.3 Change monitor and controlVoropajev (1998) states that dynamic changes of project environment will influence the process of project implementation, the project itself and may cause heightened risk. When carried out some activities, the methods different from that in the original plan must be used to keep the process moving forward (as experienced under practice). Therefore, changes are inevitable and need to be managed during project life-cycle (Voropajev. 1998,p 16- 17) .An effective change control system should be established to ensure change procedure is clear and unambiguous and easy for employee to request a change. And the following things need to be concerned:a) Monitoring and forecasting most probable changes Key factors that generate change to ensure good results; make sure that change must be checked by suitable person.b) Changes should take place once it is approved and be monitored to check whether it worked as expectedc) All changes in project should be recorded in the project documentation (Voropajev, 1998,pl8).5. CONCLUSIONThis article shows the best methods of budget control. First, an efficient control system must be set up. Secondly, It is required to recognize and rank the important factors affecting budget target. Thirdly, manager should combine different control techniques to reach the success of a project.项目成本减少与控制作者：Yin Guo-li国籍：美国出处：管理科学与工程．2010.03.20随着市场竞争的激烈性越来越大，在每一个项目中，进行成本控制越发重要。