¶ … Bigger Budget
To remain relevant in today's highly competitive business environment, entities must be ready to take decisive steps aimed at enhancing their competitiveness. For instance, a firm may seek to replace its existing management with a more experienced or knowledgeable cast of leaders. In my opinion, I am convinced that a bigger budget would be in the best interests of the company I work for.
Why a Bigger Budget is in the Best Interests of the Firm
It is important to note from the onset that in my view, the future progress and competitiveness of the company I work for will be hinged on three main factors. These factors include new technology, continuous improvement as well as research and development initiatives. However, all these factors are in one way or the other capital intensive thus the need for a bigger budget allocation. To get a better understanding of the need for a bigger budget, we need to look at each factor in isolation and its budget needs.
To begin with, the relevance of embracing emerging technology amongst firms operating in the global arena cannot be overstated. However, as Pride, Hughes and Kapoor (2011) note, though automation has a low operating cost, its initial acquisition cost could be relatively high. In that regard, the acquisition of new technology in the case of the company I work for could end up being capital intensive hence effectively calling for a higher budgetary allocation....
The benefits of automation are many and varied. First, as I have already noted, it brings down operating costs (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 2011). Hence in the end, the company I work for could enhance its bottom line by cutting down on its costs through automation. Further, new technology and automation would enhance the company's level of efficiency. In this case, embracing new technology could be occasioned by replacing the existing personal computers with newer brands, enhancement of the production process by acquiring new and more efficient machinery etc.
Secondly, a bigger budget could go a long way into enabling the company I work for to enhance its research and development (R&D) efforts. According to Hill and Jones (2008), "research and development is concerned with the design of products and production processes." It can be noted that in the case of the company I work for, research and development could help in the enhancement of product functionality in a way that adds value to such products. With value addition, such products could become more attractive to clients and in that regard, sales could be impacted positively. Hence in my opinion, a larger budget should be allocated so as to cover research and development costs given the potentially costly investigative nature of the undertaking. As Hill and Jones (2008) note, R&D can in a way also help in the enhancement of the production processes hence effectively bringing down the various costs…
