Amstrad Plc a business overview.

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Table of Contents

Title……………………………………………………………….Page

Table of Contents……………………………………………….1

Introduction………………………………………………………..2

Organisational Structure and Culture…………………3

Management and Leadership……………………………..5

Motivational Theories………………………………………….5

Working with others…………………………………………….6

Conclusion and Recommendation.………………………7

Appendix………………………………………………………………8

Bibliography……………………………………………………….13

AMSTRAD PLC

Introduction

“Strategy is concerned with matching a firm’s resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment (Grant, 1998).”

Good strategy is of special interest to all organisations. With good strategy a business has to look at its marketing mix. The marketing mix is designed to meet its customers needs. This assignment will look at the strategy and marketing mix by Amstrad Plc with reference to data collected from Amstrad’s website and other books.

Amstrad Plc is a manufacturer and supplier of Telecoms, Audio, TV, Video and Digital Satellite products. The company currently operates in Easter Asia and Western Europe.

The products and services offered to the citizens in the mentioned areas include the first ever Amstrad PC, the CPC-464 and the first ever satellite dish for Sky, SPX-100. Amstrad went on to launch other products like their Audio and Video range, the First all-in-one Fax Machine and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. More recent product are E- m@iler Telephones and the digital Sky Satellite Recorders and Receivers.

Amstrad was founded by the present Chairman Alan Sugar, trading in electrical goods in 1968. His first manufacturing venture embarked in 1970, where lower prices were achieved by injection moulding plastic hi-fi turntable covers, severely under cutting competition that used the vacuum forming process. In 1980 Amstrad listed on the London Stock Exchange, and thereafter doubled in size each year during the early 1980’s. Appendix 1 shows the history of Amstrad from 1968 to 2006, to give the reader a better knowledge of Amstrad and its history. An important year for Amstrad was 1986, when they launched the first mass market IBM compatible PC. At £399 this unit was less than a quarter of the price of established market leaders. Within six months of its launch Amstrad captured 25% of the European personal computer market, and bought international recognition of its brand in the home and business computer sectors. In 1989 Amstrad launched the first mass market Satellite Receiver/Dish package for Sky TV and became the European number one supplier of satellite receivers. In the same year, Amstrad launched the first combined fax, telephone and answering machine acquiring 52% of the personal fax market. In most recent years Amstrad is leading the way in the digital satellite business.

Most of the information came from  and other books.

Organisational Structure an Culture

Structure

The basic “artefact” of organizational structure is written documentation—constitutions and bylaws. Usually these documents begin with the broad goals and purposes of the organization, reflecting the core values and interests of the membership, constituency, or clientele.

Structural documentation may also spell out the organization’s main resource base. For instance, many organizations ordinarily define their “classes” of membership in their constitutions or bylaws, sometimes even specifying the amount of annual dues for each. Similarly, the documentation defines formal offices or positions in the organization. But this isn’t the same as labor division, that is, as specifying who does what actual work. The documentation may also limit tax-exemption alternatives.

Understandings about decision-making arrangements are set out in structural documentation. There are five general types of organizational decisions: structural, policy, management, supervision, and adjudication. To take one example, bylaws and constitutions define the actors and methods for making changes in the structure itself: in most grassroots organizations the total membership, meeting in annual assembly or congress, is solely empowered to change the basic structure. Policy matters are typically left to leadership bodies meeting more frequently. And management is often delegated to staff.

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Culture

Sociocultural- “The sociocultural environment is of particular concern to marketers as it has a direct effect on their understanding of customers and what drives them. Not only does it addrsss the demographic structure of markets, but it also looks at the way in which attitudes and opinions are being formed and how they are evolving.” (Brassington & Pettitt)

For Amstrad, they will have to consider changes in demographics, culture, attitudes and current issues. Amstrad previously use to make games and games console, but they are out of this market. Children wanted better games, more functions etc. Amstrad ...

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