Business At Work.

. Take-over – whereby a company attempts to gain control of another company by buying a majority proportion of the voting shares

. Mergers – a situation when two companies agree to integrate together in order to become more efficient and profitable

“With prime contractorship of some of the world’s most advanced future missile systems and with a strong base, our ambition is to make MBDA the world leader in missile and missile systems.”

(Fabrice Bregier, Chief Executive Officer)

This aim to become the world leader will take continual development and investment in terms of expansion in order to become the market leader.

Revenues will have to be increased and expenditures will have to be decreased in order to achieve the long-term aim, as the increased investment in information technology would increase both efficiency and productivity combined with reduced expenditure in terms of labour costs.

(4) Loss Making

A large group of companies, most of which make very high profits might be prepared to continue with a loss making Member Company for two reasons:

1. The high profits earned by the other members will be heavily taxed and the loss maker will help to lower the tax burden on the group as a whole

2. The loss maker might provide goods or services which the other need and which would cost more if they had to be bought in from an external supplier

This is an aim for MBDA’s parent company BAe SYSTEMS in order to reduce the tax burden bared by the company huge profits it would continue with a loss making company or heavy investment project.

MBDA has other various objectives such as social benefits through the maintenance of peace by supplying western industrial societies namely the British government, in the wake of September 11th terrorist attacks. MBDA promotes the maintenance of peace as a social benefit although as with any profit motive organisation its primary objective is to increase turnover and with it profit.

MBDA’S aim is also to have a first class training programme, as MBDA requires a highly skilled workforce in order to keep up and anticipate advances in technology, as the business they are in is very technologically orientated. As no expense is spared this will ensure quality training is received by its workforce, which should result in an increase in motivation, innovative ideas and increased profitability again linked with this aim.

MBDA obtains feedback from customers, the company does regular tests to analyse the efficiency and effectiveness of the missiles. Verification of turnover figures is also important to ensure the organisational objectives are achieved.

Vigilant scrutiny of the order book which is documentation which confirms the quantity of orders of particular products requested by customers with their desired specifications to ensure orders are amplified and not reduced.

Finally, MBDA monitors market share in order to observe the progress of MBDA in terms of achieving being market leader and 1st in the world in missile and missile systems, this illustrates MBDA’s primary long term aim to eventually overtake RAYTHEON.

The current market leader sequentially all this information being collected will primarily be used to maintain quality control and to judge how well it is in achieving certain objectives.

MBDA is currently 2nd in the world only to American giant RAYTHEON although MBDA are increasingly on an annual basis gaining in terms of market share edging ever closer towards being the world leader missiles and missile systems.

MBDA is quite successful in achieving their objectives as the company’s aggregate turnover was 2.05billion euros and more than 10,000 employees were employed throughout the world in year2000.

MBDA’s parent company BAe SYSTEMS had a turnover of 18.58billion euros, 110,000 employees worldwide and was the world’s second largest defence prime contractor and systems integrator.

MBDA in my opinion is exceptionally successful in the business sense of achieving organisational aims and objectives, the entire organisation as a whole is a relatively efficient and cohesive unit that allows MBDA to achieve annual turnover objectives.

Greater company profitability, improvements in technological advancement regarding product development have also contributed to MBDA’s success.

A significant boost in the overall value of the order book increasing turnover figures substantially.

Also finally the improved market position of MBDA year after year progressively more closer to achieving Market leader and 1st in the world in missile and missile systems which is highlighted as MBDA’s primary aim.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

According to the information from the MBDA management committee chart it indicates Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier at the top, who makes strategic decisions on the company’s future development based on the organisational objectives including profit, turnover increases and the company’s main aim to be the world leader in missile and missile systems.

Joint Operating Officers Alan Garwood and Mario di Donato allocate responsibility and departmental objectives to all relevant departments.

Head of MBDA UK Guy Griffiths oversees the business operations in the United Kingdom.

Head of Sales & Marketing Jean-Pierre Talamoni is responsible for the group’s sales objectives ensuring that they are met and also for such aspects as selling, market research, product aesthetics, advertising and distribution. He determines how the consumers view the company’s products through marketing campaigns.

Head of Technical Jean – Paul Genest advises the technical team on the technological efficiency of the organisations’ products.

Head of MBDA Italia Sandro Pazzini oversees the company’s operations in Italy the second of the three main countries MBDA produces in. This is division horizontally and geographically by where the company operates.

Head of Business Development Francois Desprairies endeavours to fulfil the multinational’s primary aim to become the world leader in missile and missile systems, which is achieved through continual product development and sustained expansion through the globe. This department is divided by function, as its sole purpose is its objectives and not the objectives of the other departments.

Head of Engineering & Operations Mike Sharland is more concerned with the technical side of the organisation in terms of implementing new designs in product advancement and production of the various developments.

All these departments are functional areas which means that the organisation is divided into particular departments that each have particular objectives in ensuring the overall success of MBDA’s activities.

MBDA’s structure is mainly divided by two ways, firstly, geographically which is division horizontally and applies to heads of the groups countries operations.

Secondly by function which is division horizontally and applies to each various heads of departments.

Head of MBDA France Pierre Dubois oversees the group’s activities in France.

Head of Human Resources and Business Improvement Paul Chesworth is primarily responsible in sustaining good industrial relations with the workforce through training and morale boosting programmes.

Although another major duty is that he and his team must continually come up with innovative ideas and aspirations on how MBDA can increase productivity and profitability and at the same time sustain a highly co-operative workforce.

Head of Procurement Franco Lucidi ensures that the MBDA conducts its activities and operations in an efficient and ethical manner minimizing the detrimental effects most multinational organisations cause to their surrounding environment.

Chief Financial Officer Julian Whitehead has the responsibility of obtaining, recording, controlling and analysing the funds of MBDA. This particular department is integral in the organisations’ quest in achieving the set aims and objectives.

Although most of the functional departments are interdependent meaning that they rely on each other’s success in order to function efficiently most departments rely on the important accounting function as all other departments depend on funds distributed by the finance department.

Head of Strategy & Planning Guiseppe Snider oversees the company’s progress in terms of the strategic decisions set out by the management committee.

All the positions mentioned above have various teams and delegated managers in order to assist in terms of ideas and efficiency planning although each department’s head will make the final decision as to how that particular department is run and managed.

Certain organisational structures suit particular business cultures and management styles e.g. a tall hierarchical structure is normally associated with a role culture and autocratic or consultative management style.

These all affect the day-to-day operations of the business and the efficiency of company’s performance overall. A tall hierarchical structure involves an enormous reliance on rules and procedures, whereby job roles and tasks are clearly defined and all employees are well aware of their position and behave accordingly.  

MBDA has a tall hierarchical structure that has a long chain of command, whereby the route of decisions travelling through the organisation is extensive; and a small span of control, which is the number of workers directly controlled by one person, is minimal.

MBDA’s tall hierarchical organisational structure is a very formal structure, with lines of communication carefully arranged. A company that uses a structure such as this utilizes many official rules and procedures in order to operate efficiently.

Although a tall hierarchical structure is normally associated with an autocratic management style, which results in all decisions being made by senior staff, MBDA has adopted both autocratic and democratic as it allows decisions of all kinds strategic, tactical and operational to be efficiently and effectively co-ordinated.

There exists an autocratic management style at junior levels, which requires essential clerical and routine tasks to be done, and so, efficient use of company time and resources are not wasted in pointless discussion regarding simple jobs.

There is also a democratic management style, which operates at more senior positions throughout the organisation where co-operation and interaction between various departments are required in order for progression of new technologies and efficiency.

At some levels MBDA has adopted an autocratic approach that allows managers to make all decisions without any consultation with the employees, in turn the workers must obey without question. This particular management style is often de-motivating and may make the employees feel alienated.

The autocratic management style disadvantages MBDA by allowing its senior management to make all decisions without any consultation with employees although, routine workers need to do necessary jobs quickly and effectively with out much questions.

Also workers may become unhappy due to the lack of harmony in the company atmosphere and view the management as the “enemy” possibly resulting in a less efficient workforce.

An advantage of this management style is that decisions are made immediately with little time wasted on discussion.

The autocratic management style may produce an extrinsic worker, that is one that only works for the money and not for the job itself this management style is illustrated as follows, for example; routine clerical workers who are employed to keep administration up-to-date who are not delegated much authority or responsibility.

However, design team leaders are frequently delegated the authority to run their teams as they see fit as long as they are proactive in producing new ideas for future company development.

MBDA having a tall hierarchical structure supports its role culture whereby, senior managers and the elite are recognised throughout the organisation. The technological culture as well allowing delegation of authority and responsibility to designated team leaders.

MBDA’s hierarchical structure, autocratic-democratic management style interrelates with its organisational culture that is in between Role culture, which is power, authority, and respect that is obtained via the individual’s position or role within the company’s hierarchy; and Technological culture that puts a great emphasis and focus on the development of technology excellence. This is essential as routine jobs are necessary and the advancements in technology are pivotal in MBDA’s drive for market dominance.

Other, types of structures such as the matrix structure or team project work requires a task culture as the task or project based work is based and there is no formal hierarchy with clearly defined positions.

Another structure could include a company with a dominant chairman or authoritarian senior management figure, this certain individual has a certain charismatic personality or undisputable persuasive trait.

This associates and corresponds with the power culture comprising of a strong central figure, whereby strategic and all other major decisions affecting the organisation are taken at the top.

Another less common structure consists of professionals such as architects and entertainment stars. This associates and goes with a person-orientated culture where there is no formal hierarchy.

There are two main alternative management styles, which could be adopted even though they are not implemented by MBDA they are as follows:

1. Consultative

This is when managers discuss most issues with their staff but retain overall control. Managers will listen to what their team has to say but will usually make the decisions themselves.

2. Laissez faire

Managers who adopt a Laissez faire style have delegated all their responsibility to their team. They believe that the team are capable of making all the necessary decisions themselves. The manager then concentrates on co-ordinating the team’s activities and representing the team in its communication with other teams and senior management.

MBDA has a mostly democratic management style, whereby employees are encouraged to participate in decision making as their views are heard and taken on board by their departmental managers, they will in turn relay this feedback to the head of the department. This encourages the employees and makes them feel as though they are real stakeholders in the business.

Another positive factor of this management style is the contribution made by the workers at different levels. As MBDA development of missile and missile systems relies on innovative input from employees to ensure continuous improvement in the company’s products this makes it extremely important to make the entire workforce fully aware of the organisation’s aims and objectives.

There are various other types of business culture such as:

1. Customer Driven Culture

This involves the organisation being dedicated at all levels to satisfying customers. Attention is focused on improving all aspects of the production process down to the smallest detail for the customers’ benefit.

2. Task Culture

This involves project-orientation, where all attention is focused on the completion of the task, with all individuals expected to be flexible according to the needs of the organisation.

3. Power Culture

This type of culture will mean that the organisation will be centralised, with the power and control exerted by a strong senior management team directing operations.

4. Risk Averse Culture

This involves employees and management are naturally suspicious of change and undertake careful planning before making decisions.

5. Competitive Culture

This is when there is tremendous rivalry between employees, competing for attention, recognition or advancement. This business culture can lead to friction between employees.

6. Positive Culture

This as the name suggests indicates that the working environment is a relaxed and constructive, with manager and workers alike cooperating and being supportive of each other’s contributions and efforts, and consider many issues as opportunities rather than threats.

7. Negative Culture

This contrasts the positive culture approach with mutual distrust of workers and managers. There is a lack of enthusiasm for change irrespective of possible consequences.

8. Person Culture

This involves managers and employees being genuinely supportive of each other’s personal development and progress.

9. Bureaucratic Culture

A bureaucratic culture involves a strict conformance to established formal rules and communication channels, with clearly defined chains of command and authority.

The democratic management style allows employees to participate in decision-making this also motivates the workers although, is much more difficult to implement. In order to enable the employees to take part fully in decision-making, they must be well informed about the company, its aims and objectives, and its plans.

This is not such a great problem for MBDA as one of its objectives is to have a first class training programme producing a more effective and efficient workforce fully aware of the organisation’s long term ambition to become World Leader and number one in missile and missile systems.

MBDA is a forward-looking multinational looking for innovative and dynamic ideas for sustained future development.

Ideas and suggestions from all levels in the firm are positively encouraged as MBDA’s long term ambition is to eventually displace RAYTHEON as world leader in missile and missile systems this can only be achieved by developing technology more advanced that the competition.

MBDA’s hierarchical structure, role/technological culture and autocratic/democratic management style are all-interdependent on each other meaning that one directly affects the other.

MBDA’s hierarchical structure, role/technological culture and autocratic/democratic management style has led MBDA:

. Employing more than 10,000 employees with this increasing year after year

. Turnover in excess of 2billiion Euros (approximately $US 2billion)

. Only company in its sector able to design and produce guided weapon systems for land-based, naval and airborne requirements

. An order book of more than 13billion Euros

. Over 70 customers in the world

As set out above all the factors all integrate together through consensus to allow MBDA to improve company turnover levels, reduce labour turnover levels, increase the value of an ever increasing order book, a prestige position in the missile and missile systems industry by being unique in a particular field only being done by themselves, more and more employees with their first-class training programme in constant use in developing employees with potential.

A hierarchical structure indicates an organisation with formal rules and procedures of conduct. Also it connects with a role culture, which clearly sets out hierarchical positions with certain responsibilities and duties, but as MBDA relies on technological advancement this has meant implementation and usage of dual business cultures.

This has also applied to MBDA’s management styles as well of utilizing both autocratic management style at lower levels for positions without much authority and responsibilities and democratic style, which allows consultation and input from senior positions within the organisation.

In my opinion the organisational structure, culture and management style all work together in affecting company performance. This can be seen to be an integral part of MBDA’s infrastructure stabilisation of company morale and motivation.

All three give both internal and external stakeholders the image and company direction and the current standing of the company as a whole.

Although, there are other external and internal factors, which will inevitably affect all businesses not only MBDA, these include:

Demand

The demand for MBDA’s products will affect MBDA by the amount available for research and development and the profitability of the company as a whole.

Monetary Policy

This affects the economy by changing the amount of money that people have to spend. It does this in two ways:

. Changing the interest rate

. Controlling the ability of banks and other lenders to lend money

The Bank of England controls monetary policy. It decides what the interest rate will be and how much money banks can lend.

This directly affects MBDA, as most multinationals require vast sums for expansion and continuous development.

Budgetary Constraints

This is the amount made available by the finance division within the company for each particular department and will affect MBDA by limiting how much it can achieve in each department.

World Current Events

The September 11th terrorist although a major catastrophe benefited defence companies and contractors by increasing the necessity of every country need for defence.

All organisational objectives have been mostly achieved. The fact that every year MBDA is edging ever closer to becoming world number one and market leader overtaking RAYTHEON reiterates the contribution the business structure, culture and management style has had upon company performance.

The current situation regarding the potential war in Iraq and the current uncertain political climate and stabilisation of the middle east conflict involving both Palestinians and Israelis, in some ways benefits companies such as MBDA as the need for the wealthier countries to safeguard against likely terrorist attacks has led most western countries increasing defence budgets with greater expenditure on military technologies and weaponry.

The president of The United States Of America has also announced a radical plan for a nicknamed “Star Wars” defence shield to counteract a potential missile attack from a rogue state or nation. This would require co-operation from numerous political, as well as military allies of America entailing much military and other such technology to be established consequently resulting in inevitably essential orders to MBDA and other major suppliers of military equipment such as missiles and missile systems.

IMPACT OF ICT

MBDA is a company that is technologically exceptionally advanced; this is essential in the business’s commercial and production activities.

This is reinforced by the advances in information and communication technology that the majority of large organisations have incorporated and utilize in order for increased efficiency and productivity in achieving company aims and objectives

MBDA uses both internal and external communications.

Internal communication is defined as sending information and receiving feedback within the business.

External communications are the ways in which a business communicates with other organisations, and with individuals outside the business.

Both internal and external communication can be oral, paper-based or electronic.

Oral communication includes communication by word of mouth, which can be face-to-face, by telephone, through meetings and conferences and by presentations.

Paper-based communication includes informal notes, internal memoranda, formal business letters and business reports.

Downward communication, which is a system whereby information is diffused throughout the business from senior management to lower positioned employees.

The management inform the employees about company policy and the decisions made in the form of an operational plan. MBDA’s management will consult employees and discuss a decision before making decisions.

Upward communication is a system that allows workers to communicate effectively with senior management it is used in MBDA and most other organisations.

This particular channel of communication gives the workforce a chance to express their views and opinions, ask for clarification and participate to some extent the way in which the organisation is operated.

In both upward and downward communication, the methods vary from formal to informal. Both the upward and downward channels of communication are known as vertical, as the information passed from the top to the bottom of the organisational hierarchy, or from the bottom to the top.

The majority of communications used is electronical communication as new technology has made it necessary to use this form of business contact essential in order for the efficient day-to-day running of the entire organisation. There are the following methods used by MBDA on a daily operating basis:

1. Facsimile Machine

This is also known, as a “fax” machine, which enables sending and receiving fax messages, and is easy, fast and inexpensive. It also has the advantages of the message sent being recorded (unlike a telephone conversation) in the sense that there is a written record that can be proved to be true, and the possibility of transmitting it even when the recipient is not available.

This is a form of electronic communication the “fax” machine has advanced information technology by increasing the rate at which information is sent i.e. recipients all over the world can receive faxes.

2. E-Mail

The impact of “electronic mail” or e-mail has resulted in an international communication tool used by MBDA and almost all organisations and individuals.

This information can either be formal or informal communication depending on the content of the document.

3. Enhanced Telephone Systems

The introduction of fibre optics technology has allowed new lines, which are able to carry significantly more information than ever before.

New technology has allowed MBDA to such facilities such as:

Videoconferencing

Members of different organisations on all sides of the globe are able to view and hold conversations without having to meet in one location. Time and expenses are saved which is an additional advantage.

MIS (management information service)

All the up-to-date statistical information which management requires, including all financial data, can be obtained quickly and accurately.

The Internet

The innovation of the World Wide Web has resulted in allowing organisations to link with the global community, to inform potential customers of its products and organisational information.

Although the effects of information technology have had a dramatic effect on the way communication takes place throughout the business world there both advantages and disadvantages of this technological advancement.

The positive effects of changes in communication technology:

        . Improved Speed-information about any aspect of the organisation or its activities can now be sorted, analysed and retrieved almost immediately

        . Information can be transmitted to or received from thousands of organisations within minutes

        . Improved access-vast amounts of data can be stored on computers, providing companies with easy access to a wealth of details

. Wider Audiences-the Internet and satellite communication networks reach many more people than had ever been possible before

The negative effects of changes in communication technology:

        . Cost-initial investment in hardware and software can be very substantial and on-going expenses are also elevated. A small company may find the purchase of a computer and software excessively high in terms of cost while installing new systems in a large organisation requires a large sum of initial capital with hefty instalments on the maintenance of such advanced technology.

For MBDA this implementation of increased technological capability is essential for continual organisational competitiveness and profitability.

        . Incompatible equipment-this can be a serious problem with information technology as different manufacturers produce different product, both as hardware and, in particular software.

        . Threats to security concerning hackers and viruses as private information may be retrieved by hackers who enter the company’s computer mainframe accessing all restricted data and viruses such as the “I LOVE YOU” virus which started in the Philippines in May2000 causing billions of pounds of damage both to commercial and government organisations

Another form of internal communication is the lateral, or sideways channel. This refers to information or instructions passed from department to department, or between members of staff who are on the same level in the company.

There are two different types of communication formal and informal.

Formal communication is usually transmitted through established channels usually written form such as:

. Job descriptions and specifications, the conditions of employment and the contract

. Company policies regarding equal opportunities, grievance procedure, complaints procedure and matters regarding health & safety

. Decisions reached by the management committee

. Job appraisal procedure

. Reports

. Consultative documents

Informal communication is unofficial, outside formal channels such as through company lunches, social occasions. Feedback from employees is also a form of informal communication as even though the workforce’s views and opinions are listened to the main judgment lies with delegated managers.

MBDA uses restricted and open communication channels as the business they are in would result in global catastrophe should a terrorist organisation or hacker become privy to the valuable missile capability MBDA has acquired through years of development and creativity.

This is why MBDA keeps top secret information solely on written documents as they can only be obtained by radical extremists by penetrating high security compounds which MBDA has state of the art security systems and personnel guarding all development and organisational sites.

All open information such as company accounts are available to public inspection through the company website and organisational literature.

Overall technological advances have increased MBDA’s reliance on computer technology that is now vital in a multinationals survival in an extremely competitive global market.

PRODUCTION

Production refers to the manufacture of the company’s product or service. There are two ways in which a business can add value to their product or service.

Firstly, it is the difference between the cost of producing the product or service and its eventual selling price.

Secondly, it can provide additional benefits offered to the customer, e.g. the increased quality that persuades them to purchase.

The aim of the production process is to “add value” to the goods or services being supplied so that they can be sold at an ever greater profit.

Production is primarily about adding value to the product or service, in order to increase its monetary value. It is the process of utilizing all four factors of production land, capital, labour and enterprise to produce a return such as profit or the finished product.

MBDA will add value through the continuous development and numerous testing exercises of the missile and missile systems in order to ensure its present and potential customers are clear about the products’ capabilities and reliability.

MBDA has implemented various ways of adding value to their products such as reliability, which is of great significance to MBDA as millions are spent on advancements in the products that are sold.

MBDA sees the customer’s perception of the company’s products quality as a most important factor in deciding whether the product or service, and also the business’s thriving financial performances are maintained.

Another main way of adding value that is implemented by MBDA is providing good service. It is very important in gaining contracts from mainly government defence departments as MBDA rely on supplying western governments such as France, Italy and The United States of America missiles and missiles systems for the national security of each respective country.

MBDA aims to establish good customer relationships, as then this will encourage the current client to remain with MBDA purchasing products, which are required instead of switching to rivals, a sense of product, or brand loyalty it can seem to be.

MBDA’s relationships with customers are built and maintained by an attentive after sales service such as technical and methodical support. The excellent service provided by MBDA will further enhance value by creating a favourable impression of both the product and the company.

Advertising which would play a considerable part in the majority of profit-motive organisations, is not necessary for MBDA as experimental tests of innovative or developing missiles will be tested in order to test quality and reliability are all that are required to substantiate quality control.

Customers who perceive MBDA’s products as quality is not enough for MBDA, the company as a whole functions rigorously in providing quality and reliability in missile and missile systems as they recognize the sensitive situations these products may be used such as a military operation on a suspected “rogue” state.

MBDA seeks ever-increasing profits but conclude that the option of raising prices in order to increase profitability is not a realistic possibility. This has resulted in MBDA striving to improve efficiency and resulting in greater productivity to meet the order book that is the demand the company has to satisfy in order to achieve the organisation’s turnover targets.

There has been an increased demand in the market for missile and missile systems mainly as a consequence of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

This greater requirement in MBDA’s products is highlighted by the fact that president George .W. Bush has requested from the senate substantial finances to fund America’s crusade or “War on Terrorism”.

The senate granted the president in excess of $50Billion as a war chest mainly for military mobilisation, weapons purchase and development.

This course of action pursued by The United States Of America has set off a chain reaction of many other western governments either increasing national security and or increasing defence budgets.

This is relatively good information for MBDA and other defence contractors. MBDA being the 2nd largest defence contractor in the world has a huge market to aim at, essentially to achieve a larger market share and greater profitability and also to boost the organisation’s capability to surpass world 1st and market leader RAYTHEON.  

One effective and efficient method of production is the just in time (JIT) this method originated in the Japanese car company Toyota. The method developed throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. Many other Japanese manufacturers introduced this production technique and it was recognised by the West as part of the explanation for Japan’s thriving economy.

The just in time approach aims to reduce production costs by keeping stocks of material, components, and work-in-progress at minimum levels, and to produce finished goods just before they are due to be sold.

Although a disadvantage may be that should a customer make an additional order, giving short notice the company operating with a JIT system may experience difficulties in obtaining the amount of supplies needed to meet the required order. The customer may then also purchase from a competitor.

MBDA uses lean production, as it’s main production method, which requires precision planning, which is economically and efficiently sound that needs only the resources to produce the final product.

MBDA perceives quality as an important factor in the production process, the company endeavours to produce reliable goods to specification and to provide a reputable and reliable service as MBDA acknowledges that should they experience a moment of complacency it would consequently lead to existing customers diverting into rivals hands.

Quality has currently overwhelmingly increased in importance in the mind of consumers as they now expect a very high degree of reliability in the products and services they purchase. This has resulted in MBDA implementing two quality control systems quality assurance and total quality management.

There are three main quality systems implemented by businesses and organisations:

1. Quality Control

This type of quality system is mainly utilized by manufacturing and service organisations. The quality control approach to reliability is based on a business accepting that errors are bound to happen when goods are produced and that it is the responsibility of the company’s inspection department to locate and remove faulty products before they are dispatched to the customer. This process takes place after the product has been produced and so capital has already been expended to produce flawed merchandise.

2. Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance takes quality control to an important step further by trying to prevent faults from occurring in the first place. This quality system aims at producing zero defects whereas, quality control only aims to limit defects to an acceptable percentage.

This is done by a dedicated team of trained engineers building and developing prototypes to spot and detect any defects before actually produce the finished product, extensive research and development must be conducted for an analytical purpose to continual improve technological advancement.

By implementing this quality system MBDA places responsibility for quality on the entire organisational workforce, particularly the front-line operators who actually make the finished product.

MBDA depends on subcontractors to supply the company with essential raw materials for producing and developing missile and missile systems. This dependency requires that the materials being supplied are of a high standard and so, should the supply be of unsatisfactory standard the end product has little possibility to be a quality product.

MBDA having many subcontractors will recognize that repercussions will occur with the subcontractor as failure to supply correctly well maintained materials will jeopardise the entire production process, with severe consequences for the company, subcontractors and the company’s customers due to the sensitive business MBDA is in producing and developing missile and missile systems.

3. Total Quality Management

Quality Circles form an important part of MBDA’s programme of continuous improvement and makes a positive contribution to the goal of total quality management.

The main features of quality circles are summarised as follows:

        -They are a small group of workers who meet voluntarily and appoint their own group leader

        -They meet on a regular basis, often after work

        -They usually work in the same department

        -Their purpose is to identify, investigate, analyse, and solve work-related problems

        -They present their solutions to the management

        -They are actively involved in implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of the suggested solutions

By employing quality circles into the company MBDA has noticed an increase in the correction of faults and the increased reliability of its products and services.

MBDA uses the International Standards Organisation (ISO 9000) in applying quality circles that is a study group of volunteers (5-15 people) who meet on a regular basis to work on a variety of operational and employee problems or difficulties.

MBDA utilizes standard ISO 9001 this model is specifically for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation, and servicing. These are all aspects in which MBDA requires assistance and continuous improvement in order to achieve the long-term primary aim of being the World number one and Market Leader in missile and missile systems.

Two alternative approaches to quality control or quality assurance are:

(1) Training & Development

Quality is all about continuous improvement in an organisation, it necessarily involves ongoing training and development for all staff.

Employees of modern organisations need to be trained in approaches to quality such as total quality management and benchmarking.

If individuals are going to be best able to contribute to helping the organisation continually to improve, they need to be fully in tune with the organisation’s objectives. At the same time, the organisation needs to understand the development objectives of the people who work for it.

(2) Best Practice Benchmarking (BPB)

This is a method many organisations use to help them to discover the “Best” methods of carrying out processes available and then using them in their own organisations. An organisation can benchmark internally to find out best practice within the organisation, or externally by looking at other organisations.

Many organisations will set themselves the objective of becoming “The Benchmark For The Industry”.

BPB involves:

. What customers consider excellent practice to be

. Setting standards for business processes based on best practice

. Finding out how the best companies create best practice

. Creating standards within an organisation that meet or exceed the best currently available

This particular alternative approach to the quality control or quality assurance systems would allow MBDA to compare its functional departments functions with the view to judging which performs more efficiently and effectively and the reasons why there is this difference in performance.

Although it may be viewed as an unrealistic approach as this would mean having to know what other companies which produce substantially better corporate results than MBDA modes of operation concerning product development and functional departments performances. This is not possible as technological practices and modes of operation would not be made available to competitors and would definitely hand over the advantage to the company that has come into possession of such privy intricate company information.