R/508/0486 - Contemporary Drives Of Changes Within Whirlpool Corporation

TASK

Discuss and evaluate the impact and response of the key dynamic forces in the contemporary business world

The 21^st century is the environment of business changes and modifications which results into creation of number of issues and challenges due to presence of several factors and elements. It is very much necessary to examine all dynamic forces that impact the management procedure in several ways. Business organisations have to carry out their functions and working process in external business environment that is beyond the control but have to take into consideration in order to maintain its sustainability and image (Brammer, Hoejmose and Marchant, 2012).

Some dynamic forces that have a direct impact on Whirlpool are described below:

• Globalisation process: It is considering one of the crucial concepts in which whirlpool having to face number of threats and opportunities. There are several key areas that are included in this concept like technology, lifestyle, government rules and regulations that have to be considering while carrying out the working process. Whirlpool has to face financial issues that comprises of mobilization of capital consideration, strategic alliances and many others. Globalisation is a process of investing or expanding business outside the domestic country. The Electronic appliance business has seen a very good surge in the recent past. Businesses around the world are going global and so in order to compete effectively as well as efficiently within market it has become important to have a global exposure and recognition.
• Political Factors: There are several political forces that have a direct impact on functioning of Whirlpool but have to take into consideration while carrying out their working process. Technical standards, policies for reduction of trade barriers that is faced by the companies operating internationally, issues related to intellectual property rights. All these factors pose a huge impact on business organisation system. Company has to face various political turmoil while operating on a global level, be it changes in any legal rules or regulations or a change in policies regarding the sector etc.
• Economic Factors: Whirlpool is operating in several places that are located in different countries. Hence, there are number of economical conditions which pose a direct impact on the functioning of business organisation. There is dynamic and complex global competition process that is beyond the control and has to be properly managed. Other factors involve conditions of financial markets, other market forces (Burritt, Schaltegger and Zvezdov, 2011). The economic condition of different countries directly affects the health of the company in terms of sales and profitability. It is thus quite important to have proper business policies and procedures which will allow company to face any headwind in the economic factors that may arise.
• Technological Factors: Whirlpool deals in home appliances products and has to work in accordance to the technological conditions that are prevailing in that particular country. Hence, company have to consider factors of evaluation system, industrialization etc. Electronic appliances industry can only survive through a continuous innovation in technology; hence company will have to walk with recent trends and changes that are taking place in terms of technology etc.
• Social factors: This is a dynamic force that has to be properly conducted by the Whirlpool in accordance to the economy in which it is operating. It is very much important to consider the customer's preferences and taste so that only those products and services could be established. This force involve number of aspects like customers taste, preferences, education and skill level as company have to make decision considering all this in effective manner. If the company will take care of these issues, it will open door of opportunities for company as there will be new customer base to whom the company supply its goods and gain profits. The main aim is to target consumers on the basis of their social categories.
• Corporate social responsibilities (CSR): It involves carrying out several activities that focuses on uplifting the society level. Hence, Whirlpool has to direct their working activities that focus on delivering aid to the people of society. Whirlpool conducts several charity events or programs that concentrate on contemporary issue. They also focus on adopting several actions of environmental protection (Weiss, 2014.). The company shall make sure that their acts are not harming the environment in which it is operating in any way. It shall implement global CSR practices within its management to operate on a global level consistently.

Response of the key dynamic forces

From the above discussion various dynamic forces have been observed that have to be faced by business organisation hence, company have to respond it effectively so that negative impacts can be minimized and set results could be accomplished (Parsaei and Sullivan,  2012).

• Technological Forces: Various changes and modifications that are taken place have to be adopted by Whirlpool proper so that their operations do not hinder. Management have to adopt digitalisation process into their working system so that they could able to make their competitive edge in current market position Technology keeps on updating in each day, therefore adaption of modern and advanced technological process helps in achieving high growth and gains. The company will have to incur large expenditure on its research and development; this will bring necessary innovation within goods and services of the company and will help company to compete effectively on a global level at a consistent basis.
•  Culture: Every company exits to provide high quality products and services to the customers that are present in market place. It is essential top carry out evaluation process in order to gain the knowledge of customer's' nature and preferences so that proper decisions can be taken place (Chatterjee, 2014). It pose a huge challenge in front of whirlpool as every customer's demands are different from each other and therefore, it is  not easy task for the management to face all these issues. Commoditization is a key response to face this dynamic force in effective and adequate manner. The company should closely keep an eye on the cultural changes that is taking place within the country, this will allow company and its management to grasp any demand shift way before then it is actually happening, hence cultural factors do have an equal weightage in terms of the dynamic forces that affect business. The company is operating on a global level and is making sure that the environment within company remains a blend of all the cultural aspects of various countries in which it operates and not specifically a culture of one or two countries.  
• Globalisation process: globalisation results in integration of several factors and concepts that leads to the generation of several challenges and issues that arise due to this process. In order to face all these barriers company have to frame various strategies in response to it. Whirlpool is a big brand name in the electronic appliances industry and therefore it becomes far easier for this company to gain global recognition in various other countries. The company is focusing on venturing into various other nations with the same brand name and is hopeful that it will be able to capture necessary Market share that will allow it to grow and prosper over period of time.

It is very much necessary for the business organisation to align their vision and mission with external drivers in order to create their sustainable image. There are several situations in which company ignores the change that take place thus, have to face several issues in response to it. The management have to frame proper strategies so that they could respond to these changes properly and effectively (Flanagan and Harrison eds., 2012).

Decision making tools to address contemporary drivers

It is important to make effective decisions by the management so that contemporary issues and challenges can be faced effectually. Some decision making tools are illustrated below:

• Decision matrix: This tool enables the Whirlpool company to evaluate number of options and study all elements that affect it directly and indirectly. Hence, this helps the business organisation to select the most appropriate one and apply into their business operations. Through this stole a company can effectively manage its resources and apply them in the most profitable way possible, therefore management of whirlpool consistently use this decision matrix strategy to overcome problems and Issues related to their business and resource allocation.         
• Marketing Research: This is a most commonly used technique through which company can take proper decisions. There are number of aspects through which data and information can be gathered. For instance, information related to customer's preferences, strategies of competitors have to be properly examined so that proper decisions could be taken (Child, 2015). It is a very common concept that is being developed by business people, under this the management of the company which wants to operate on a global level will conduct or ask someone to conduct a study or a research about the marketing aspects of the country in which the company wants to enter. This research will enable company to decide whether to enter into a market and if yes what is strategy should be adopted so that the venture could be profitable over longer period of time           

SWOT Analysis: There are several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that have to be adopted to allocate in correct manner. There are number of threats that have to be faced by them so that proper decisions can be taken place. Whirlpool can create their SWOT analysis and get several information related to their capabilities and other areas that need continuous improvements. It is an analysis of internal