Business

The word Google has been more than just a brand name for the market it has also become a verb to define a specific action. People use the word Google not only to specify a website or a service in the computer Google became a very important word in the modern dictionary. Everyday, billions of people around the world browse the net and the global market could see how Google had dominated the globe with its numerous products and services. The company was also able to develop numerous products that would answer the demands of people from different market segments.
Rivalry
    Despite the success of Google in the market, the competition is still the greatest threat that the company faces today. Among the competitors of Google are the Yahoo.com, MSN, AOL, and Ask Jeeves. Yahoo, the companys greatest competitor, constantly introduces new features for the customers in order to reach the market share of Google. Yahoo even released new features that offer free template websites for small businesses to gain local customers. This product made critics conclude that Yahoo is working harder to understand the needs of small businesses than Google is. Apparently, the significance of providing better service and options for listings and placements is overridden by the importance of search market share (Goodman, 2005).
    The dominance of Google in the market makes the customers invest and use Google products than focusing on better services of the competitors. Basically, the Internet had already taught the market that the most visited web page is definitely the best site to use regardless of the cost-per-click rate or the less possibility of meeting the right consumers for a specific product. Google has undeniably a bigger market share and the businesses disregard the amount of money being paid to the company just to promote their products on-line. 
Threat of Substitutes
    The fact that competitors continuously develop new products to increase their market shares could be a threat to the company. Competitors work harder to gain more clients despite the success of Google as the worlds leading brand today. Google must have already evaluated the potential substitutes for the business, which made them developed new services in order to give the customers a wide variety of services to choose from. Google developed new search domains including Desktop Search and Base that allow the consumers to download an application on personal computers and provided free service that accepted submissions on on-line and off-line database content (Eisenmann et al, 2006). Undeniably, Google has already built an empire in the World Wide Web and as of today, the company is ensured of greater opportunities in the future due to its uncontrollable success in the market.
Buyer Power
    In the case of Google, everyone would agree that the buyer power is weak. Unlike other services in the net, the company has the power to set the price and even manipulate the traffic of a specific website. Banner and pop up advertisements undeniably expand not only the profit of the company but also of the customers who consistently advertise with Google. The power of Google over its customers had been felt when some of the biggest advertisers of the company backed out because of the corporations alleged negligence and unresponsiveness. Even foreign governments stated that they are having a problem in operating with Google however, the dominance of the company in the Internet has somehow challenged the capacity of other competitors in promoting the former clients of the Google (Eisenmann et al, 2006). For the customers, aside from Google, there is no other way of gaining the level of anticipated success in the market. The company therefore has the power to set the price as well as the rules for the customers worldwide.
Supplier Power
    The Google Company must have gathered and collected every possible supplier under one corporation. From labor to soft wares, Google has the authority to control them. The supplier power is definitely not a big deal for a well-established and growth oriented company like Google. The company has even adopted unconventional approaches for managing innovation (Eisenmann et al, 2006). The engineers have the choice which projects they would like to work on to and allowed the employees to voice their ideas for the betterment of the operation and the business as a whole.  Due to seemingly endless ideas and concepts, the company needs to allocate more engineering efforts and designate more technical staff to focus on the programs and continue to develop products for the wide target customers. Each Google product has a high market share and the companys profit continuously boost everyday.
    In a huge corporation like Google, the management will definitely be willing to invest in promising products regardless of the time and amount needed for the development of the product. Google is eager to expand the business well and the entire corporation is willing to take a risk on high reward projects. In general, the raw materials for Google products do not greatly affect the decision of the management as long as it shows potential for companys success.
Barriers to Entry
    New corporation in business environment always threat the existing one. In todays technology, everyone is capable of inventing and developing a product in the marketplace. Larry Page and Sergey Brins success in introduction of Google to the world might even open an opportunity for other people. Some companies may try to penetrate the industry by conceptualizing new ideas that would compete with the products of Google however, the status and financial capabilities of Google today may only provide more risks for the new corporations. Google is a leading brand in the market and the existence of its competitors does not even affect the companys business. Therefore, the corporations that would be interested to penetrate the search engine industry need to have an exceptional concept that would beat the empire of Google Company.

Part I Background Summary

The golf equipments industry registered very intensive competition among the key suppliers in 2005 and USGA came under intense pressure to enhance its business strategic approaches. During that year planning and management functions in companies plying their trade in the golf equipment industry were designed to optimize resource allocation and competitive advantage relative to rationality, maximization of profits and market responsiveness (Kotler  Keller 99). The preliminary strategic planning processes in the companies were therefore perfected through analytic review of the inherent situation in the internal and external environments of the companies. The case study reviews the effectiveness of the competitive strategies adopted by companies in the golf equipment industry in 2005.    

Part II Problem Identification

The difficulties to accurately predict the likely outcomes and the subsequent implications of the strategic plans and decisions arise from the susceptibility of long term planning to unforeseen constraints and adverse effects on the economic outlook. The management team in USGA must acknowledge the possible setbacks in the implementation and achievement of projected growth in sales as expressed in the strategic plan (USGA Website). The key aspects of marketing communications mix in an organization include product features, price strategy, promotions and current performance.  Despite the adoption of these strategies, it remains to be seen if USGA achieved long term competitive advantage over its key competitors.

Part III Researching Internal and External Factors

The competitive analysis of the USGA brand is based on SWOT analysis and the five forces that constitute organizational micro-environment namely the threat of substitute products the threat of the entry of new competitors the intensity of competitive rivalry the bargaining power of customers and the bargaining power of suppliers (Porter 36, 1985). The important aspects of driving forces behind the intensified competition among companies in the golf equipments industry was the motivated by the need of the companies to achieve competitive advantage through expanded turnover, growth of market share by percentage, increase net revenues, enhanced customer care, efficiency in distribution of products and services, and efficient utility of financial resources.
Indeed, the value of the adopted strategic planning models lies in the ability of the management team of a company to fully pursue effective and objective representation of the companys internal and external environments but also the managements viability in focusing minds and helping the companys stakeholders take particular actions from informed perspectives (Kotler  Keller 101, 2009). So far, it is evident that competitive factors bear very significant influence over the strategic approaches towards marketing and planning in USGA. This demonstrates how important it is for the company to take into account all the important aspects of the environment whenever undertaking organizational planning and competitive advantage audits. Each and every element of the organizational competitive strategies should always be accorded full attention in order to ensure successful achievement of the set goals and objectives (Aaker, 2008). Factors such as the stakeholders, partnerships and industry life cycles are tailored to suit the strategic needs in USGA as situations may demand.
Competitive advantage plays a major role in the golf equipments industry. As the largest golf equipments suppliers in the US, USGA definitely portrays advanced and well thought out market positioning strategies that are designed to see the company remain a leading player in the golf equipments industry. The company is using differentiation strategies to capture a wide consumer base through the offering of numerous product lines (Porter, 1985). USGA is further favored by its flexible pricing because of its stable financial infrastructure which can accommodated such conditions without hurting its productions activities and financial standings. Moreover, USGA draws competitive advantages from the massive nature of its large market research projects which many companies in the golf companies find difficult to achieve (USGA Website, 2009).
The company enjoys a strong brand name, a competitive advantage that ultimately places the company above its competitors. The mere recognition of a brand name may go a long way in providing a company with the much needed favors in penetrating the market segments (Kotler  Keller 102). Good governance practices and performance parameters too are good indicators for winning over customers in the golf equipments industry. Just like any other kind of business commitments, golf equipments production and distribution presents as much risks as benefits, and only those companies with sound resource and management capacities stand to rip most from their competitive elements. Golf equipments industry has in place advanced RD programs that have enabled the company to set a fast pace in the discovery and adoption of new production technologies to reach out to a wide range of golfing enthusiasts.
The five forces determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market and any changes to any of these forces would require a company to re-assess the market place (Porter 37). The golf equipments industry exists as a deregulated sector, a situation which however, if combined with the relatively high fixed costs compared to other industries, makes it difficult for new players to make entry. The high barriers to entry (Kotler  Keller 102, 2009) make the golf equipments distribution business a favorable industry for both the USGA brand. Barriers to exit serve as indicators on how easily a company can exit the market, and USGA is characterized by high barriers to exit because company has wide network of distribution channels and highly specialized equipments that cannot be sold off easily. Customer buying power represents the level of power that buyers have over products (Robbins  Judge 79, 2004). The demand for USGA golf equipments in the short run is inelastic and therefore customers have much of options for other golf equipment brands and sports utility options. As such, customers have high buying power relative to the USGA brand because buyers can freely switch brand on service and cost preferential grounds. Threats of substitute products are therefore very high given that there are several the golf equipment production companies in the US, most of which have impact in the market and so far pose no threats to the market shares of USGA.
Competitive rivalry is the ability of a product to match the performance of the existing products in the market and evidently, the USGA brand faces high competitive intensity in most of its target market in the US. The environment is best mirrored by the McKinsey 7 S model which stipulates that organizations are not single structures, but rather constituencies of seven different elements namely structures, strategies, systems, shared values, styles, skills and staff. The McKinsey 7 S model (Daft 66, 2001) further suggests that the seven different elements can further be split into soft Ss and hard Ss. Hard Ss is a category that consists of factors such as systems, structure and strategy and they are considered to be conspicuous in the organization and are traceable to the mission statements, strategy plans, corporate structures and routine documents of organizations.     
Part IV Information of Analysis

USGA competitive strategies are designed to achieve increased marginal utility for its golf equipment products. Indeed, the marginal utility of any commodity is set to increase when more and more units of that commodity are consumed (Aaker 272, 2008), as described by the backward sloping demand curve.

The following is the demand curve for golf equipment that is supported by the above marginal utility curve for golf equipment sales

The backward sloping demand curve has great significance in marketing strategies because it enables companies to determine the effectiveness of their marketing strategies, because successful marketing strategies will be demonstrated by increased consumption of that product that will hence increase the marginal utility of the product (Daft 67, 2001). Once the marginal utility of the product increases, more units of the product will be sold with increase in prices of the product (Kotler  Keller 101, 2009). The backward sloping demand curve is also of significance to marketers owing to the fact that marketers can strive to make a product so popular with the aim of making people to become ignorant of other products such that an increase in the price of such a product would lead to an increase in demand of the product.
It is also necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis of USGA to understand the relative strengths and weaknesses of the company in order to identify the potential opportunities for USGA and estimate the threats that are prevailing in the market

Strengths
The relative strength of USGA in the market is its brand image and marketing perception in the eyes of its consumers. The constant marketing strategies over the years have made USGA into a synonym for high-quality golf equipment. There have been very few instances of bad cases and thus, the company has enjoyed unstipulated growth in its brand equity. This is further seconded by the proximity of the company to its customers. Research indicates that a high percentage of the population of USGAs customers are situated nearby and thus USGA is their first choice  for customers who are not great fans of USGA, they prefer to but from USGA because of the proximity factor.

Weaknesses
    The supply chain factors are the biggest weakness in the case of USGA. Its distance from its suppliers is magnified due to its distance from the international airport. USGA incurs not only the cost of importing from its suppliers, but also faces the excessive cost of transport from the international airport that is situated a great distance away. The reduction in this weakness can be done in the form of a warehouse in between, however, that again would be a tradeoff.

Opportunities
    USGA has the opportunity to expand vertically into the market. It currently offers a wide range of golf equipment however, USGA can focus on equipment that can target the segment of the population that is unable to play golf. USGA can invest in simulators of golf to target the senior most segment of the golf-loving population. These simulation games will definitely sell at premiums and can be a significant revenue factor for USGA in the short run itself.
    Another opportunity in the market lies to target the youngest segment of the market. Aiming to become future golf players, USGA should introduce a different variety of products for this segment of the population ensuring that their brand is registered in the minds of young consumers  a potential advantage considering the future benefits of such a strategy.

Threats
    The threat of potential competitors in the industry owing to the natural competitive structure of the market always looms there. USGA should identify its main competitors and work towards differentiating its products. Though USGA has had no direct competitor head fight, it has had to ensure that its products have been distinctive and of the highest quality.
    USGA also faces a critical quality assurance problem reliance on its suppliers for quality means that a great deal of the quality assurance is not in the hands of USGA. Thus, maintenance of the same quality over time is a threat that could virtually lead to USGA losing its loyal clientele.
Part V Possible Solutions

Imperatively, the management of USGA needs to acknowledge that strategic planning cannot be achieved in isolation given forecasts are susceptible to inherent uncertainties. Therefore, creative and innovative approaches will be adopted in the design of the strategic plan.
According to the complexity theory, dynamism in any organization is typified in multi-directional relationship across systems, with interactions among different elements of a particular system resulting into the emergence of new norms and behavior (Kotler  Keller 53, 2009).
Effectively, the complexity theory acknowledges the need for the management team of USGA to match any normative changes with convincing efforts to promote an understanding of the emerging norms and ensure that interactions between localized parts of the complex organizational system are not interfered with. This would require the management of USGA to further undertake comprehensive reviews of current operational structures and processes to identify areas of weaknesses and improvements. Factors such as the stakeholders, partnerships and industry life cycles must always be tailored to suit the strategic needs in company as situations may demand. To this end, USGA must streamline its strategic plan to reflect realistic and achievable objectives (USGA Website, 2009).

Part VI Recommendation

Like any other kind of business commitments, the golf equipments industry presents as much risks as benefits. USGA stands to rip most from its competitive advantages through the adoption of sound resource and management capacities. The company should enhance its RD programs so as to set a fast pace in the discovery and adoption of new production technologies and reach out to a wide range of golf players and fans.
The bottom line is that USGA should focus on strategic planning as an investment rather than an expense. This perceptual difference will entail a competitive advantage for USGA and will eventually be the major differentiating factor enabling the Association to expand its enrolment considerably.
Based on the SWOT analysis, it is imperative for USGA to address the threats and weaknesses that are encroaching the business in the short and long run. While competition is always a natural factor, the critical quality assurance issues are somewhat of a more serious nature that should be addressed by USGA. Further, USGA could look towards capitalizing on the opportunities mentioned earlier. It should begin with the youngsters targeting strategy as it has a much larger and longer payoff than the senior segment targeting strategy. This will be the first step towards a comprehensive optimization system that would be the foundation stone for USGA building its global change management and competitive strategy  a step that is entirely necessary in this era of globalization where competition has marked the business environment significantly (Keller  Kotler, 2009).

Enron was founded in the year 1985 by Kenneth Lay following a merger of Internorth and Houston natural gas. After the merger, the company had an ownership of 37.000 miles of interstate and intra state pipelines which were being used to transport natural gas. This company grew and established itself as an international company through out the 1990s. However, towards the closure of year 2000, the company began to experience financial crisis leading to its bankruptcy in the year 2001 (Healy  Palepu, 2003).
Where and why did Enron go wrong
    Things at Enron Company began going wrong in the year 2000 when it recorded losses of over 638 million, a factor that made its market share to drop by 44. Earlier, its chief executive officer Jeffrey Skilling had quit unexpectedly citing personal reasons. There were many reasons that led to the fall of Enron Company ranging from legal to governance problems. The legal and regulatory structure of the United States was a major contributor towards the fall of Enron Company. The SEC regulations and laws permits companies such as Arthur Andersen to offer consulting services to entities while at the same time offering auditing report on financial reports pertaining to consulting activities. This is a major flow in the legal systems that contributed to the failure of Enron Company (Healy  Palepu, 2003).
Arthur Andersen was the external auditing firm of the company as well as its consulting firms. This in turn had led to conflict of interest thus hindering effective and transparent auditing activities. Lack of autonomy of external auditors made it difficult for Arthur Andersen to accurately review and assess the accounting processes of the company. Investigations revealed that Enron Company had previously misrepresented its true financial reports with an aim of attracting and retaining investors. Inadequacies in the regulatory and legal structures created loopholes for Enron Company eventually leading to its failure in the year 2001.
How did Enrons corporate governance fail to prevent their collapse
    The governance of Enron Company had a big stake towards the demise of this company. Enron corporate governance wanted to continue operation even when they knew the company was in great financial problem. The flaws in the accounting system allowed the company to take advantage of the limitation to hide its financial status. Arthur Andersen had subsequently reported about the inefficiencies of the accounting process as well as the risk susceptibility of the company to internal auditors who are said to have passed on the concern to the management team. However, the top management is not reported to have taken any corrective measure for this. Instead, the company had hidden such information from investors to ensure that they did not withdraw their investment. Had the corporate governance of this company taken earlier reform measures, the company could have not failed (Healy  Palepu, 2003).
    Also, the mode of compensation that the company was using had raised several questions with analysts. The managements stock options were used to heavily compensate the management of Enron Company. This mode of compensation has the ability of motivating managers into making decisions that lead to short term performance of stocks that have no ability of creating long term or even medium term value to an organization. At Enron Company, compensation based on stock options was the major form of motivating employees and this had adverse effects on the company since no long term value was being added. Though corporate governance had been warned on this, it did little to correct it thus leading to failure of the company.
What ethical considerations did Enrons executives violate
    One of the greatest violations of ethics on part of executives of Enron Company is failure to disclose the true financial information or status of the company to its investors and potential investors. Enron Company was using market to market accounting systems that allowed it to convert future cash flows to current market flows. While this method of accounting is allowed, making projections that are unrealistic so as to attract investors is unethical. This was what executives of Enron did during most of the contracts they were entering into.
    It is also reported that the companys executives never used to give full details while engaging in Special Purpose Entities. Enron had used many Special Purpose Entities to purchase contracts but only very little information was disclosed for accounting purposes. These entities were vital in assessing the true worth of the business and the executives failed to disclose such details. This was unethical of them and a violation of ethical consideration (Healy  Palepu, 2003).
    Failure to reveal the true financial status of the company was another violation of ethical consideration on the side of Enrons executive branch. Employees especially those in accounting department had warned the top management on the inadequacies of accounting procedures. Executives were overestimating the balance sheet of the company so as to entice investors. This was a violation of accounting standards and ethical considerations by executives.

Tools for Effective Leadership
Leadership refers to a process through which an individual influences others to accomplish a goal(s) and directs the group or organization in a way that makes it more cohesive as well as coherent (Clifton, 2006). There are various leadership attributes that enable a leader to carry out his or her duties effectively. These include believes, values, skills, and knowledge among others. Any group, be it social, political or business organization would require an effective leadership to achieve its objectives.
Effective leadership is certainly one of the key factors that would determine the success of a group or an organization. For instance, the leadership of a business organization would largely influence its success or failure. Indeed, it is the leadership that would determine the performance of employees in any business organization (Parvis, 2003). In the business world, an effective leadership is crucial for the survival of the business, especially in the market place. It calls for an effective leadership to maintain a large customer base. This paper examines various tools that make an effective leadership and their contribution to the success of groups and business organization.
First, an effective leadership should be result oriented (Clifton, 2006). While an effective leadership should have good attributes such as skills, and knowledge, it is only by the end result of a group or an organization that would define the efficiency of its leadership. Result-based leadership defines the meaning and importance of leadership. Leadership must endeavor to achieve the objectives of the organization. Certainly, an effective leadership must demonstrate good leadership attributes and achieve results. It should be able to lead by example.  For instance, business organizations are profit oriented. Therefore, an effective leadership should be able yield and sustain profitability (Parvis, 2003).
Second are excellent communication skills. What and how leaders communicate can either build or damage the relationship between the group members and the leadership (Clifton, 2006). Indeed, studies have shown that effective communication by between the leadership and employees plays a key to the success and profitability of a business organization. Basically, an effective communication is two-way. Listening openly to others is a key ingredient of an effective leadership.  An effective leader should be able to comfortably conduct meeting with the group members as well as make proper presentations. He or she should be able to convey effectively the subject at hand to the rest of the members of an organization (Parvis, 2003). Certainly, effective communication skills are a key tool for conflict resolution at workplace as well as enhancing good decision making by the leadership.  
Third, effective leadership should endeavor to effectively develop teamwork by inspiring the team members. Studies have shown that an effective leadership not only calls for a common vision but also values the human resources of the team or an organization (Wasburn  Ncube, 2006). It provides an environment that enhances individual contributions to the organizations daily work. Indeed, collaborative relationships between the leader and the organizations members ensure the shared goals are attained. Effective leadership supports team efforts, nature the skills required by the team and individual members of the organization in order to ensure its success. For instance, in a business organization, an effective leadership would ensure that the employees have access to in-service training to improve on their skills and knowledge required in their area or duty (Clifton, 2006). Additionally, an effective leadership in a business organization enhances employee engagement, which calls for full integration of the employees into organizations work, such that they appreciate their work and devotedly work to ensure success and profitability of the organization. Basically, employees satisfaction in a business organization is a factor that plays a key role in their performance rate (Wasburn  Ncube, 2006). With effective employee engagement measures put in place by the leadership, the employees would be highly motivated, and thus boost their performance.
Fourth, rewards and recognition extended to group or organization members by their leadership would go a long way in motivating them. An effective leadership shows appreciation of other members contributions. It should believe in its members, and ensure that the hardworking team members are rewarded or complimented for their good work. For instance, in a business organization rewarding employees would range from a word of compliment to an increase of their pay (Wasburn,  Ncube, 2006). On the other hand, an effective leadership would recognize a good performance of an employee by a promotion. This is a source of motivation to the employees, and would drive the organization to profitability.
Lastly, a leadership is constantly providing feedback to its members. How it provides this feedback will often determine the success or failure of an organizations members. Therefore, a constructive feedback is crucial to the success of the organization. Effective leadership should give advice on what is required of each and every member in the organization. Clear guidelines would improve the members confidence and the relationship with the leadership setting. Positive reinforcement is key tool of an effective leadership. These makes the members feel appreciated and thus motivates them. Indeed, when a leadership fails to give response to its members or even makes criticisms when trying to stop unwanted behavior, these may demoralize the member.
All in all, an effective leadership should lead by example. Acknowledge the other members ideas as well as endeavor to foster teamwork. Indeed, business organizations can be best run by teamwork. Communication across all levels of employees plays a key role plays a key role to the success of any business organization.

My parents brought me up into this world nicely. They taught me everything I needed to learn about the world. I owe them my life and my knowledge. But here, I will be talking about a time when I went beyond what was defined, established or expected from me.
My family was more into arts and crafts. Consequently, they expected me to follow what they want for me and that is to become jewelers since both my parents are jewelers. Its actually a great thing that my parents think that I can be like them. They brought me up letting me know that I should follow their footsteps. They did everything possible to prepare me for the day that I will become a jeweler. Also, it is only practical that they want me to follow their footsteps since they could teach me everything they know and they can guide me properly. They can even help me establish relationships with the important people in this line of work.
I really tried hard to do follow what my parents wanted of me and I hate to disappoint my parents but the truth is I really didnt like to become a jeweler. Whenever I try to practice what they teach me, it always feels like I am doing something wrong. I was more interested in business, particularly economics and management. It was also hard for my parents to accept that I want to tread a path different from theirs but they still agreed and I am thankful for that. They understand that I must decide myself what career I would like to pursue so I went on to study economics and management.
Initially, it was difficult because no one was there to personally guide me. While my parents showed overwhelming support, I was all to myself when studying but I persevered. I have no regrets because I know this is what I really want. I felt that the decision was the most important choice I have made. I feel that it is very important to listen to your heart and understand what exactly YOU want to do and what career YOU want to choose. I had a chance to do it, I strived for it and that is why I feel that I have a complete life.

Right now, I believe it is the perfect time to pursue an MBA. I have finally decided to take the next step to reach my very ambitious career goals. With all the education and experience that I have so far, I am confident that I am now very much ready to take this next big step.

I have had a prolific career. I have been through a lot of challenges and I believe I surpassed each and every one of these challenges with flying colors. As a student before, I was always studious and even as I was working, I was learning through practice. I was always reading a lot of books about business to further enhance my knowledge especially since I believe that learning does not end at school. It is a continuous process. I also believe that it is best that I decide to get an MBA earlier because this will open me to better career opportunities and professional development.

This really is the perfect time for me as I have gained a broader perspective of business concepts with the years if experience working with businessmen. I am now flexible enough to understand the changing dynamics and culture of international business. I should wait to get older to get an MBA education since I am now at my prime of career and the only way to go up is to get an MBA. It may also become harder to adopt and adapt to new knowledge if I let this opportunity slip.

 Downsizing is a strategy that is used by many organizations to improve their financial position by reducing the number of their workforce.  As Bronwyn Fryer wrote about layoff in his Harvard Business Review case about Robin Astrigo, who is nervous about dismissing his employees and talks   about layoffs as why isnt it taught as a subject at business school This business tactic today is used by many organizations around the globe. But today it is considered by managers as a tactic to improve its organizational performance, as for them it is seen as a solution to the organizational problems, when the organizations costs are rising, their sales are decreasing and there exists a lot of economic uncertainty. Managers feel rightsizing is downsizing and that an organization should have less people, because they believe by downsizing they are increasing the flexibility of the organization, it can respond to the new trends and needs quickly. Rightsizing    leads to outsourcing .i.e. to use the outside firms for providing necessary products and services.
Downsizing and Layoff   
    Many people differentiate downsizing from a layoff, where downsizing is seen as a permanent downscaling, layoff is seen as a temporary strategy to dismiss people and then rehire them again. The some of the techniques involved in downsizing, is to provide incentives to the employees in order to encourage early retirement, or transfer them to other subsidiary companies. But the simplest technique used by them is to dismiss a certain number of people. But the pervasiveness of downsizing has pushed them out of favour, to the back burner, and the risk is that they will be considered when it is too late, if at all. To carry out downsizing is itself a very difficult task for the managers. They may feel awkward and helpless when laying off people. Cost reduction is sometimes not the sole reason for downsizing, but sometimes management fail to provide an appropriate standardized answer for carrying out downsizing.
How to handle the two strategies
    Whether it is a layoff or downsizing, management has to carry out with respect and consideration, because the employees the organization is carrying out are their own employees who have committed themselves in serving the organization. There are some tips to minimize the negative impact of this strategy. They are as follows
Should follow a clear communication strategy (viewed as a process not an event) The management should consider a clear communication strategy when implementing the strategy. They should look at their employees, carry out a swot analysis. Undermine the people to be affected and then decided how they will communicate their message to them. Basically managers have to listen and talk to their employees before carrying out the strategy.
Treat employees with respect Downsizing will not just start by moving the persons belonging or terminating his employment contract or taking the office belonging from him. But it should be more like having a straight forward conversation with their employees and letting them know about it personally.
Importance of employee assistance program (EAP) sometimes when news of their dismissal is given to the employees, they may feel totally devasted and may get emotionally hurt. So it is the utmost priority of management to provide the employees with counseling through EAP programmes. And the after effects of downsizing are also very hard for the employees who survive it. They may have lost their friends and good coworkers, and may feel terrible without them. These employees should also get good counseling from Employee assistance programmes.
Who to lay off first
     Lay off is seen by many as the last resort for organization transition. Usually it is the incompetent employees or employees who are on contracts that are terminated in the first layoff. But before considering a layoff, business should look at both the sides of the coin, and then make its decision. According to some, last in first out is the best policy to follow when following a layoff strategy. But it is not good, because by doing this management is driving out new blood, energy, creativity and innovation from the organization.  Sometimes, employees lose their jobs at the expense of their gross misconduct. But before the manager fire the employee, he has to give him a 3-day suspension as you look into the claim. It is not that only his first misconduct should drive him out of the organization, but he should be given more chances before he is terminated. In some cases a proper exit interview should be conducted, and employees dignity should not be harmed.
Alternatives to downsizing and Layoff
       There are many alternatives to downsizing and layoff that can be considered by the organizations. As said by the authors of Organizational downsizing Constraining, cloning, learning downsizing is not a cost reduction strategy at all but, there is considerable evidence that downsizing does not reduce expenses but carrying out downsizing may increase the companys costs.  Many argue that, the extent to which the organization start cutting the jobs, the more their performance is affected negatively and deteriorated. Employees are valuable assets of a company they are the companys investment. A company has to take care of its long term investments,  and realize that in the past,   they have cope up  in the with the same employees and these employees will again help them in the dark times. In downsizing, the company is not just reducing the quantity of their employees but also the quality of their employees. By undergoing downsizing, the management creates an environment of uncertainty where the survivors will always think about the first layoff and how they lost their closed ones. Many will lose interest in their work and become de-motivated.
      The most immediate and effective alternative to layoff is restructuring. Restructuring involves include things such as closing of obsolete plants or branches, administrative overhauls, selling of non-core operations, or improving internal processes.  This may help the organization in managing its cost profile and look better. Besides restructuring, an organization can review its problems and try to fix it. The organization can introduce a new compensation plan, which may make it easier for them to share costs.  In the periods of downturn, all the employees of the organization can collectively take part in cutting of a little cost from their pay. Also when the employees are working overtime, they should not think about their overtime bonuses but feel more focus on increasing the productivity of the organization. Another approach that can be taken by the organization is, instead of outsourcing work they can carry out the specified tasks themselves. And then the products and services that they produce internally can be then sold to external customers. By this way the organization can increase their net income and also improve its productivity. Management can also start a rotation programme, and shift employees from one department from another. This way employees skills and competencies are improves, and by doing this the organization is indirectly training its employees.  Also another method an organization can use is to make use of employees sick leaves, sabbaticals and other leaves. They can send some of its employees on leaves for some time and after a certain period they can ask them to come back. The best way to control downsizing is to stop hiring new people and put a freezing on its hiring.