Free Management Dissertations - Master’s Dissertation Proposal the Case Study Of Marconi abstract The
Master’s Dissertation Proposal
The Case Study of Marconi
ABSTRACT
The following dissertation proposal previews and scouts ahead the major issues and themes involved in an exploratory study of the management failure of successful companies: in particular, the company Marconi. The central investigation of the proposal is this: how can a multi-billion pound companies like Marconi (similarly Enron, Parmalat, Bearings Bank etc.,) collapse so spectacularly and catastrophically. To what extent, and in what ways, did the management team of Marconi contribute to the collapse of the company? Which factors were decisive for failure: leadership, strategic errors, technological incompetence, public image mishandling? The proposal suggests a possible methodology according to which to a detailed investigation of the failures of Marconi may be explored; this methodology centres upon interviews and questionnaires undertaken with former Marconi staff and other management professionals. Further, the dissertation proposal reviews and suggests the key literature that should form the base of this exploratory investigation. Moreover, the literature review delimits the major theoretical and practical principals of management that emerge from the literature and asks how these might be applied most usefully to an understanding of the management failures of Marconi. A provisional bibliography is supplied as the basis for the full dissertation and investigation. The dissertation proposal suggests that results from these investigations should be analysed using PSS data analysis, graphs, charts, data-sheets and a variety of other forms of representation. Finally, the dissertation proposal suggests a conclusion section in which will be discussed possible implications of this Marconi investigation and the avenues for future research that it might open up.
CONTENTS PAGE
( Abstract
( Contents Page
( Section 1: Marconi Introduction
( Section 2: Research Question
( Section 3: Research Aims & Objectives
( Section 4: Methodology
( Section 5: Literature Review
( Section 6: Discussion & Analysis
( Section 7: Bibliography
( Section 8: Conclusion
Section 1: Marconi Introduction
In 2001, at the height of the ‘internet boom’, Marconi was worth £34 billion, its shares £12.5 each, and it employed more than 90,000 staff; one year later the company was worth less than £50 million, its shares 3.6p each, and it employed less than 3,000 staff (Brody & Dunstan, 2004). The obvious question: what engendered the calamitous collapse of one of Britain’s most respected and successful companies? To what extent were the management of Marconi responsible for the plummet of the company share-price? What was the role of leadership of the company, headed by Lord Simpson, in the free-fall of Marconi’s value? What were the key strategic errors that brought about the collapse?
