Comparative Review Of Telstra And McKinsey Quarterly Business Reports

Summary and Analysis of the Report Content

Compare and critically review two business reports of Telstra Australian Telecommunication information organization and McKinsey Quarterly.

The business report are evaluated for breaking the information provided on the basis of rationale, important key aspects, techniques and further findings or conclusion of the proposed report. Moreover, any un-discussed facts can be identified that are mentioned in the report. In the current report, sustainability aspects of Telstra which is an Australian Telecommunication information organization will be discussed. On the other hand, business strategy will be highlighted which is proposed by McKinsey Quarterly. Therefore, all the relevant aspects will be reviewed in order to understand the feasibility of the report published by the organizations to know whether it is fulfilling its purpose or not.

Analytical Summary of main findings

The main purpose of the report of Telstra was to bequeath with the information relating to issue of sustainability towards the industry which will be effective for the business to make investment decision. The report has been developed following the standards of industry and sustainability such as Global Reporting Initiative G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, UN Global Compact Communication on Progress and Account Ability’s AA100 Principles Standard 2008 and Telecommunications Sector Supplement. On the other hand, sustainability scorecard section discusses about the major performance indicators score gained in 2012-2013. Therefore, the scores have been compared with last two period performances.

Further, the sustainability section explained the steps adopted for performing the business in ethical way in order to develop more effective work environment and provide more efficient service to customers. Moreover, the company made commitments to majorly focus on the aspects of sustainability. Therefore, in commitment and approach part, all the important commitments formulated at start of 2012-2013 were outlined in lieu with the approaches adopted to attain it. On the other hand, it has been understood that environmental leadership, employee involvement and linking each strategy are the major center which will help in developing a value for the company and for stakeholders too. Moreover, the engagement of shareholders explains about the major stakeholders associated with Telstra. The stakeholders are customers, government, employees, Australian Communities, industry, suppliers, union and media. Further, the key issue part discusses about process for prioritizing aspect of sustainability and challenges possessed by organization. The initiative relating to voluntary assurance and sustainability policy has been mentioned in transparency and accountability part.

In the case of McKinsey Quarterly, the first heading of the report discuss about the changes in the business strategy that has been studied over the years. Moreover, the framework of strategy has been mentioned and the way the industries are diversifying their strategy to match up the environmental or market changes. On the other hand, what are the expectations of the industries from the strategy has been outlined so that it can provide large benefit to the business and personally. Apart from that, social side relating to strategy has been outlined which focus on the importance of non-rational issues in planning the strategy. Therefore, this particular report revolves around the strategies in order to align and organize the business and gain higher benefit from the market and getting competitive advantage over other business.

Strengths and Usefulness of Report

A sustainability report will turn effective if the report comprises sustainability performances in regards to negative and positive inputs of the reporting institution over the specific period (Bovee and Thill, 2013). Therefore, in case of Telstra report provides all relevant information about their commitments and approach adopted by them to attain commitments. Moreover, they also mentioned the top priorities and problems they faced last year. Therefore, it can be mentioned that report provides balanced information which be taken as strengths of report. Further, the report included all the materiality aspects along with environmental sustainability, innovation and product use, community involvement, stakeholder engagement, etc. On the other hand, in context to priorities, involvement of employee in report was one top priority of Telstra. Moreover, the environmental leadership and building connection with other individual Australian is other priority to be sustainable. The report of Telstra has included the major industry standard and sustainability standard to meet their goals. Therefore, all the above mentioned points are strength of the sustainability report presented by the Telstra.

Apart from that, the building a strategy report requires mentioning all the relevant information to largely benefit the company or individual. The report of McKinsey Quarterly effectively mentioned the phases of changes in the strategies that took place over the years. Moreover, the report discussed the importance of tools and frameworks for the leaders to formulate the winning strategies. The different industries example has been outlined to provide understanding of the adopted strategy and changes in the followed up strategy. Therefore, it helps in clear insight of the strategies and understanding the importance of building strong strategies for future as well as current benefit (Kaufman, 2012). On the other hand, the number of professor has pointed their thoughts regarding strategy frameworks for meeting the environment changes by adopting advanced tools and frameworks. The importance of Michael Porter’s five forces has been mentioned in the report so that readers can focus on it before formulating strategies. Apart from that, role of globalization, urbanization, technologies, etc has significant impact on strategy change. Therefore, it has been clearly outlined in the report. Thus, the all above discussed points are major strengths of the report and need for strategy and development of new framework is valuable for the business growth.

The sustainability report issued by Telstra includes certain strengths but there are some limitations which arise in the report. The sustainability report that is published by Telstra involved the aspects of stakeholder engagement but the report only mentioned the stakeholders that are associated with the organization. The report fails in explaining the procedure for engaging the different stakeholders within the activities of the company. On the other hand, the report did not provided sufficient information to have a clear understanding regarding the perspective of the each stakeholder within the operation of organization. Therefore, it can be discussed that from the viewpoint of the external individual that sustainability report is less feasible for them (Harzing et al. 2013). Apart from that, the sustainability report did not supply enough information in context to distribution channel and in utilization by the end consumers. Furthermore, the Telstra sustainability report did not highlighted effectively on the issues relating to social responsibility. Therefore, it can be considered that due to such limitation the report lacks some feasibility.

Weakness or Limitations of the Report

Apart from the report of Telstra, the report of McKinsey Quarterly holds strengths along with some weaknesses which limit the acceptability of the report to some extent. The report mentioned about the strategy practice but it did not explained in brief manner to have clear understanding that what strategy practice should be adopted to gain higher benefit (Farley and Smith, 2012). On the other hand, the report is not arranged effectively which is difficult to have effective insight of the report. Apart from that the view from the different professors are not aligned which makes difficult to understand what they are saying. The report mentioned about the frameworks and core concepts of strategy but it did not provide any example so that better view or knowledge can be gained from it. Moreover, the report talks about the business strategy but there is no mentioned about the process of developing an effective strategy. Therefore, the above mentioned points are some limitations that are associated with the report of McKinsey Quarterly.

Conclusion

From the whole report, it can be understood that preparing a report is critical task. The sustainability report of Telstra has been prepared by following the standard of industry along with the standard of sustainability. On the other hand, the different components have been outlined in the particular report in order to explore the sustainability aspect of the company in long term. Apart from that, report of McKinsey Quarterly discuss about the business strategy and its transformation over the time in the organizations. The report involved number of professors to present their viewpoint about the strategy and frameworks for the strategy. Both the provided report includes strength as well as some limitations which tell about their feasibility. Apart from that, overall material in both the reports provided effective information whether it is related to sustainable practice or business strategy practice. The report provided valuable information to the users of report and they can make decision on the basis of report. Moreover, the limitation associated in the both the report can be addressed easily as they are not a great issue. Therefore, the report publishing organizations has to provide all the complete details so that it can be well accepted by the readers. The sustainability report of Telstra will be beneficial for other organizations to improve their performance and engage large number of stakeholders with their service. Further, the report of McKinsey Quarterly will be effective large number of business houses to build effective business strategy and get help from the points mentioned by the professors. Therefore, it can be concluded that both the report consider on their limitation then a perfect report can be gained.

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