Accenture Case Study

Accenture

Accenture is a management conuslitng, technology services and outsourcing company in Ireland and across the world.The company has more than 244,00 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Accenture's high performance business strategy builds on the company's expertise in consulting, technology and outsourcing to help clients perform at the highest levels enabling them to create sustainable value for their customers and shareholders. With this approach we are able to help clients in every part of the business, from strategic planning to technology implementation to running day-to-day operations.

At Accenture we are always aware of the changing patterns of bussiness which enables us to help our clients achieve high performance. Accenture views high performance business as those that effectively balance today's needs with tomorrows opportunities. Accentures's objective is to assist our clients around the world to attain and maintain high performance status.

Accenture provides the same excellence in management consulting, technology services and outsourcing to the Irish market as it does internationally. Our business in Ireland is one of the top performers in Accenture's European organisation.

The company generated net revenues of US $25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.

Political and economic policies being followed by China

In October 2012 it was announced that there was a rise in China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures by 7.4%. This was the seventh quarter in a row where the country's GDP growth has dropped leading to some people suggesting that China's economy was on a "Slowdown". This is a sign of China's great rise as any of the world's other major economies could only dream of a growth of 7.4%. The global financial crisis has effected all major economies however China has experienced more than 9% annual average growth during the four years of the financial crisis.

(Graph from WorldBank.org showing GDP level in the last 9 years)

China's rise to becoming the world's second largest economy, they are now only behind the United States, began in 1978. Its economy has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector. The Chinese government invested heavily in infrastructure and as a result there was a vast improvement in areas such as railways, highways, communication, ports and airports. The improvement in the country's infrastructure coupled with low salaries made China an attractive option for Foreign Direct Investment. For the past number of years China has been the second largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment in the world, only behind the United States, however in the first 6 months of 2012 China overtook the United States. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) China took in $59.1 billion in foreign direct investment in the first six months, down slightly from $60.9 billion a year earlier. The United States took in $57.4 billion in the first 6 months of 2012, down 39% from a year earlier (1).

This upsurge is Foreign Direct Investment into China over the past three decades has benefited China in a number of ways. Here are a few

1. Foreign Direct Investment has allowed for the integration of new technology into the country. This means that the consumers have a better product and domestic competition has increased

2. The Chinese work force gets the opportunity to develop new skills with regard to production as well as the running of the new businesses. This has of course led to human development in China

3. One of the most obvious benefits of Foreign Direct Investment for China is that profits earned contribute to Tax revenues.

However just like every other major world economy China faces a challenge dealing with the global recession but China is better placed than most to deal with these challenges.

1. China's foreign exchange reserves are valued at more than $3 trillion. This is the highest foreign exchange reserve held by any country in the world and it far exceeds the reserves of the next largest holder Japan whose reserves are valued at just over $1 trillion.

(Graph from WorldBank.org showing levels of Foreign Exchange Reserves held in the last 9 years)

2. Due to its population of 1.3 billion people China has great scope to expand domestically and therefore any decline in foreign demand can be counteracted by the domestic market.

Ireland and other members of The European Union have not stimulated their economies, instead they have adopted the austerity approach which means they have implemented severe cuts on government spending. The result has been that the EU's economy shrank by 2% over the four years of the financial crisis. China has taken a very different approach and has implemented a number of stimulus measures aimed at increasing domestic expenditure and increasing growth. The Chinese Central Bank has lowered the level of funds that banks need to keep on hand three times this year in order to increase the level of lending by banks. The Chinese Central Bank has also cut interest rates twice since June in order to reduce the burden on businesses and borrowers.

In July 2011 The Chinese government announced their 12th 5 year plan and this included a number of other stimulus packages. The government selected the fabric, steel, metal, car manufacturing, petrochemical, shipping, electronics, communications, and light industries as the beneficiaries of its extensive stimulus package. It plans to provide support in various forms, such as export and value added tax reduction; support for expansion into overseas markets; and expansion of government purchases.

Although China is a very attractive destination for companies to invest in due to its low labour costs and even perhaps its weak environment laws, which many multinationals see as a means of cost reduction and therefore maintain a different environmental standards in China than they would in their own countries, there are a number of issues that firms should be cautious about. There is a serious problem in China over the protection of Intellectual property. This has recently lead to Microsoft asking the Chinese Government itself to stop using pirated copies as it found that some state