CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Every business has a set of objectives which it sets out to achieve. These objectives are stated or defined in their policy or mission statement. In order to achieve the set goals, management ensures that all operations, transactions and activities of the business conform with established guides. The established guidelines formulated after an analysis of all internal and external factors that can affect a forms objective, operations and plans is called cooperate policy. Azhar (2003) for efficient performance, a standard operational procedure must be followed and this, apparently, defines the boundary which decision can be made (Alli, 2011). If one decision provides help for decision in other situations, it is said to be a policy decision because it set a precedence and provides a guide to future decision making. Thus, an important characteristic of a policy is that it provides a guide and a reference point for decision making by sub- ordinates.
Clear policies encourage the delegation of decision making authority (Jenkins, 2001). In cooperate business, a number of important issues require or calls for top management decisions. These decisions will define the fundamental business policies which arise from the objectives set to be achieved and are related to the functional areas. These areas are procurement, production, marketing, finance, personnel, research and development. (Hanson 2008). Top management has to provide guiding principles to action of lower management in these functional areas. For instance, these should be a guiding principles on how and where raw materials should be procured, what to produce and production technique to be adopted and what marketing strategies to adopt concluding pricing in order to include method of financing as well as research and development. Policies are guides to carry out strategy; they set boundaries and actions which are to be taken. They are the result of institutionalizing and operationalizing the chosen strategy and of getting the organization into a position of being able to execute the policies effectively and efficiently. Nwatu (2008) refers to the term policy as the organizational methods, procedures and rules and practices associated with implementing and executing strategies. For effective performance and co-ordination of activities, a standard operating procedure must be followed. Since business policies is said to be a broad general guide to action which constrains or directs goal attainment, every organization must have a well-defined rules and regulation called policies to direct actions in order to achieve greater prominence. In contrast, the study of business policy, with its integrative orientation, tends to look inward. By focusing on the efficient utilization of a company’s assets, it thus emphasizes the formulation of general outlines that will better enhance organizational performance.
Management experts believes that organizational performance to a large extent depends on how judiciously these decisions are implemented as corporate policies performance indications includes employee’s productivity, efficiency, product quality, competitive advantage, etc. (Aniebong, 2005). Corporate policies affect these variables. Today, it has become obvious that business activities have to be conducted within the framework of guiding principles if the organization should perform efficiently and effectively. The main aim of setting up an organization is for profit making and sometimes the organization fails to meet up the needs of that and this can be attributed to the way by which the organization is been managed.
Each organization will always strive to achieve the desired goals. Goal is the end result being pursued through the existence of company and its operations, such as sustainability, profitability, efficiency, satisfaction, and employee development, quality of products or services to consumers, market leadership, and so forth (Glueck and Jauch, 2011). Generally, the concept of organizational performance is based on idea that company is a collection of productive assets, including human resources, physical resources and capital, to achieve a common goal (Carton and Hofer, 2006). Business performance, beside become a reflection of organization success or failure, can also describe the results achieved by organization of series of implementation of work function or activity in a given period (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011). In a study of small and medium enterprises, the performance appraisal is done by using the financial and non-financial approach to measure the extent a business achieves its goals (Chong, 2008). The statement supports the suggestions for future studies of Parnell (2000) which states that a comprehensive performance assessment is important to do to get comprehensive information about organizational performance. Hence, the researcher is interested in examining the effect of corporate policy on organizational performance in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The major scenario observed is that many business organizations find it hard to succeed and continue in business after a period of time, one of the reasons is that they do not have clearly defined policies regarding personnel, marketing, production, etc. apparently, lack of clearly defined and effectively implemented business policies could hamper the performance of the organizations. Many organizations that do not have clearly defined business objectives have continued to operate under the harsh business environment prevalent in our economy.
Implementing policy is not an easy exercise, its energy usurping and time consuming. Those who are frequently involved in it concur that is better to involve in a policy formulation exercise than to put it in motion. Putting policy into motion and getting the organization aligned working together towards a common goal takes a unique set of managerial skills. According to Cole (2006), transferred business policy implementation comes across numerous challenges especially in the turbulent environment, which need to be tackled continuously in order to attain the long-term objectives of the organization. To this end the researcher sort to examine the effect of corporate policy on organizational performance in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of corporate policy on organizations performance in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna. Specifically, the study seeks to:
To ascertain the effect of personnel policy on employees’ productivity in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
To examine the effect of production policy on product quality in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
To examine the effect of marketing policy on profitability and growth in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
To ascertain the effect of research and development policy on the competitive advantage of Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna.
1.4 Research Questions
How does personnel policy affect employees’ productivity in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State?
To what extent does production policy affect product quality in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State?
To what extent does marketing policy affect profitability and growth in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State?
To what extent does research and development policy affect the competitive advantage of Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna?
1.5 Statement of Hypothesis
H01: There is no significant effect of personnel policy on employee’s productivity in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
H02: There is no significant effect of production policy on product quality in Jubilee
Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
H03: There is no significant effect of marketing policy on profitability and growth in Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company, Onna, Akwa Ibom State.
H04: There is no significant effect of research and development on the competitive advantage of Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The research hopes that at the completion of this study, it will contribute immensely to the existing literature on business policy and Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited in particular towards advancement of knowledge in the area of corporate policy. This research work also intends to serve as a good reference material for learning among students of various higher institutions, and other researches in the area of corporate policy in the field of business administration and management which is the bank of economic development of the country. The findings of this study can be used for further studies.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This research work is concerned with corporate policy and organizations performance with respect to Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna. The study sought to examine the effect of corporate policy and organizations performance with respect to Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna. Corporate policy components of personnel policy, marketing policy, production policy and research and development policy are the independent variables and the organizational performance is the dependent variable.
Limitation of the Study
The study experienced an initial slow response from the respondents consisting of the entire staff of Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Limited, Onna but this was mitigated by having constant follow up on phones and the physical visits to the respondents’ offices by use of research assistants. Time given for the research work was short couple with other academic activities and lack of finance to run the research properly. The study however overcame the limitations by having a letter of introduction from the university to assure the respondents that the information provided would be used for academic purposes only and would thereby be treated with confidentiality.
Definition of Terms
Business: It refers to organized efforts and activities of individuals or groups to produce and sell goods and service for profile
Policy: It is defined policy as the objectives, the mode of thought and the body of principle underlying the activities of an organization.
Corporate policy: A documented set of board guideline, formulated after an analysis of all a internal and external factors that can affect a firms objectives, operations and plans.
Organization: A group of people who work together in an organized way for a share purpose.
Performances: the accomplishment of a given task measured against preset standards of accuracy, cost, speed.
