Question

submit an analysis of the macro environment and industry structure of manufacturing. As well as an analysis of the resources, capabilities and activities of a company.

Answer 1

The analysis of the macro environment and industry structure of manufacturing industry can be discussed in various factors as follows:

1.Political Factors:

The political factors affect the performance of the manufacturing industry to a great extent. The political factors can affect the manufacturing industry by the ways such as imposition of trade sanctions on imports, custom duties, etc.

2. Sociocultural Factors:

The sociocultural factors affect the manufacturing industry dramatically, as the changes in social setup grasps the information in different ways, thereby learning new ways of product usage and consumption patterns.Which ultimately exposes the manufacturing units to be quite adaptive in order to cater the needs of society.

3. Economic Factors:

These factors affect the manufacturing industry more than any other factor prevailing in the macro environment, as these factors influence the consumers' consumption and expenditure patterns if the economy is facing crisis which will result in increment of unemployment and decrement of disposable income to people and hence expenditure volumes will be reduced.

4. Technological Factors:

The impact of technological factors is pretty significant in the manufacturing industry, as the enhancements and development in the field of technology has improved the entire gamut of manufacturing procedures, methods, techniques, etc. which in turn has increased production quality and quantity with minimal costs. But, adopting new ways is always challenging, as it requires knowledge and skills to operate the machines and utilize the information resources.

5. Environmental Factors:

These factors also play a significant impact on manufacturing industry, as environmental issues can thwart the industry's success, if not handled properly throughout the entire manufacturing process.

6. Legislation/ Legal Factors:

These factors include laws and regulations, licencing, consumer safety, etc. to which the manufacturing industry is subjected to. Therefore, firm has to indulge in smooth process in order to remain alive for longer period.

The industry structure or key functional areas of manufacturing units include:

1. Production Department for the manufacturing of goods and services. Therefore, its impact is pretty vital to the manufacturing unit.

2. Purchasing Department has also a great impact in manufacturing industry as this department is utterly concerned with the purchase of raw materials for manufacturing goods and keeping inventory of stocks, in order to prevent the firm from stockouts.

3. Marketing Department is also vital in a manufacturing industry, as it promotes the finished goods in the markets and brings customers to the industry. This department is also concerned with customer service and feedback.

4. Technical Department is concerned with updating technical skills, procedures, and equipments that are required for the production of quality goods. Therefore, the firm should fancy its fortunes in this field.

5. Accounts Department keeps all the records of expenditures, costs, revenues, profits, losses, etc. in order to let the firm know whether its manufacturing process is profitable or not.Therefore, it should be given prompt importance.

6. Human Resource Department is concerned with the human element of manufacturing industry I.e, the employees that are working in the organization and concerned with manufacturing of goods. This department should be focused as humans are the only resources that can perform all other operations of the manufacturing units.

The analysis of resources and capabilities and activities of a manufacturing industry is concerned with the effective planning of all the manufacturing resources required by the industry. Therefore, it focuses on operational and financial resources planning, as these impact the success of the manufacturing units. It coordinates human, technical, financial, raw material and marketing resources in order to provide timely access to manufacturing process by keeping track of all these resources effectively. In order to produce the goods uninterruptedly and smoothly the firm should enhance its capabilities and utilize its resources optimally, so that the activities of manufacturing units should experience a seamless move. Therefore, all these factors should be taken care of in order to be effective and efficient in manufacturing the goods on a timely and profitable note.