Bidvest Sa Essay

2947 words - 12 pages

Introduction
The Bidvest Group Limited is the largest service company and one of the largest industrial companies by market capitalisation on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa. In 2002 Bidvest was announced the overall five year growth award winner. The Bidvest Group is proud to have been recognised and ranked first among the companies that are making a significant contribution to growing South Africa's economy and intends to continue doing so. The group comprises of three umbrella divisions namely: The services Division, The Foodservice Products Division and The Commercial Products Division. Bidserv’s structure has been widened to include office automation, procurement services and ...view middle of the document...

Fraud, corruption, intimidation and dishonesty are ever increasing problems.
Social responsibility – Allowing employees to apply their social conscience in business decisions and to try to develop green initiatives.
HIV/Aids - Research is conducted in the various companies under the Bidvest umbrella to develop more effective programs to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Training and development - To attract and to retain senior level management as part of addressing the skills shortage.
Education – Schools in South Africa have shifted the focus away from important subjects such as mathematics, science and technology. Bidvest has formed partnerships with the government and other stakeholders to develop the sciences and mathematics again.
IT - Improving the collection, utilisation and storage of manipulation of data.
BEE – How to deal effectively with the various BEE requirements.
Gender issues – To allow women and men the same opportunities for advancement.
Privatisation – The challenges of balancing local interest with international interest.
Political – Decisions made by government impacts directly on the bottom line.
Changing demographics – The move to by the population to urbanise at any cost.
Diversity – Diversity in South Africa has many facets including ethnic diversity.
Cultural values and norms – Certain groups refusing to participate in the modern economy.

Swot analysis of the macroenvironment that Bidvest competes in.
Strengths Weaknesses
• . Dedicated staff.
• . Strong brand name.
• . International network of businesses.
• Vast financial resources.
• Gender equity policies.
• BEE programme.
• Ongoing HIV/AIDS research.
• Strong management teams in the different divisions.
• Highly profitable.
• Respects cultural differences.
• Investing in education and training.
• Processes, systems and IT are continuously improved.
•
• Not enough aggressive marketing is done to reach the emerging non white middle class.
• The sheer size of the business makes it virtually impossible to monitor those corporate policies and ethics are adhered to.
• More investigative research must be done in relation to the environment and their competitors.
• Too much corporate culture is a disadvantage because it resulted in arrogance of the employees. This resulted in lost business opportunities.
Opportunities Threats
• More aggressive marketing must be done to reach the emerging non-white middle class here in SA.
• Buy out competitors that operate in profitable niche markets.
• Form more partnerships with the government in business as well as education.
• Ensure that the environmental lobby groups are part of any new projects.
• Expand international markets.
• Using the opportunities that exist in the housing and building markets.
• Competitors will recognise and play on the fact that the company is too big and cannot satisfy individual customer needs.
• If the South African government introduces any laws...

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