1.Business Communications 1 Business Communications Final Project The Internal and ExternalGroup Members: Communication Processes of Tetra ArslanAftab PakAsimLiaquatMuhammad BilalMuhammad WaleedUsmanSakinaMannanSalman IrshadLahore School of EconomicsSubmitted to: Ms. Amna Mustafa

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Business Communications 2ContentsAcknowledgment .......................................................................................................................................... 4Synopsis ........................................................................................................................................................ 5Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 6Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 7History of the Company: ............................................................................................................................... 7Vision and Mission Statement: ..................................................................................................................... 7Policy and Goals of the Company................................................................................................................. 8Ownership ..................................................................................................................................................... 8Products ........................................................................................................................................................ 8Organization Structure .................................................................................................................................. 8Customers ..................................................................................................................................................... 8Competitors ................................................................................................................................................... 9The overall Communication Processes ......................................................................................................... 9 Emphasis on communication at Tetra Pak: ............................................................................................... 9 Updating of the employees: .................................................................................................................... 10 Communication Process at Tetra Pak ..................................................................................................... 10 Formal Communication Network ....................................................................................................... 10 Informal Communication Network ..................................................................................................... 11 Preferred Media and Channels at Tetra Pak............................................................................................ 11 Confidentiality Policy at Tetra Pak ......................................................................................................... 11 Role of MIS (Management Information System) to facilitate Communication Process ........................ 12 Culture of Tetra Pak ................................................................................................................................ 12 Reward and Appreciation at Tetra Pak ................................................................................................... 13 Delivery of Bad News ............................................................................................................................. 13 The format of the E-mails and Reports ................................................................................................... 14 Color ....................................................................................................................................................... 16 Public Relations Department .................................................................................................................. 16 Team and Groups .................................................................................................................................... 16 Preparation of proposals at Tetra Pak ..................................................................................................... 16Internal And External Communication In Marketing Department ............................................................. 17 Internal Communication ......................................................................................................................... 17 3. Business Communications3 External Communication ........................................................................................................................ 17 TOWERS WATTSON............................................................................................................................ 17 Competitive Advantage .......................................................................................................................... 18 B To B Communication .......................................................................................................................... 18 B To C Communication .......................................................................................................................... 18 Consumer Awareness.............................................................................................................................. 19 Emotional Communication ..................................................................................................................... 19Supply Chain............................................................................................................................................... 20 Communication Process in Supply Chain at Tetra Pak ........................................................................... 21 Communication Channels ....................................................................................................................... 21Human Resource Management .................................................................................................................. 23 Newspapers Ads...................................................................................................................................... 23 Headhunter ............................................................................................................................................. 24 Online Website ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Communication with other Department ................................................................................................ 25 4. Business Communications 4AcknowledgmentWe would like to thank first and foremost, to our teacher, Ms. Amna Mustafa, for giving us thisopportunity to work on this project, for providing us guidelines throughout the project as how tocollect the data and how to work on our project. It is due to her continuous efforts and supportthat we are able to complete this project in a very comprehensive manner. This project hashelped us to broaden our horizons in the field of business communications.We cannot fully express our gratitude to Mr. Anjum Jamal- the finance executive of Tetra Pak-for fully cooperating with us and sending us the sample mails for the purpose of analysis. He hasprovided us continuous support and information to throughout the project, from data gathering toreport writing. Without him, we would have been unable to complete this report.And at last, but not the least, we are truly grateful to Mr. RaufHameed- the communicationmanager of Tetra Pak- for giving us ample time out of his busy schedule for the interview. Hehas provided us with all the necessary and reliable information that we needed to complete thisproject. 5. Business Communications 5SynopsisThis report is on the internal and external communication processes of Tetra Pak. The reportgives a detailed overview of the overall communication processes of Tetra Pak. It describes whatkind of culture Tetra Pak has and what are its core value. Moreover, it elaborates in a detailedmanner what kind of communication channels Tetra Pak uses.The report also gives an overview about the Human Resource Management Department of TetraPak and explains how it communicates with internal and external audiences. It explains how theemployees are recruited and how work in assigned to each employees of the within thedepartment.The Supply Chain is also discussed in the report. It tells why the company is unable to use latesttechnology to coordinate with its suppliers. Further, it explains how coordination with theexternal business partners takes place.Most importantly, the report sheds light on the key communication processes of marketingdepartment. Different media and channels are discussed in a detailed manner and the reasonswhy the company uses them. Furthermore, it tells why the company has decided to startcommunicating to the end-consumers directly. 6. Business Communications 6Executive SummaryTetra Pak has a unique business model and it is one of the worlds leading food processing andpackaging solutions company. It was started in 1950 in Sweden and currently it has 74 salesoffices across the world. In Pakistan, it doesnt face direct competition from any company and itmajor customers are Engro Foods, Haleeb Foods and Nestle.Overall Communication ProcessTetra Pak puts a lot of emphasis on communication to its internal as well as external audiences. Ituses all kinds of communication channels and it is making full use of MIS to facilitate thecommunication processes. It has an enriched culture and it treats all employees like familymembers. It has a confidentiality policy to safeguard it valuable information. Furthermore, it usesdirect approach to deliver bad news to its employeesHRM Communication ProcessHRM department works effectively to communicate with the external audience. It uses internet,newspapers and head-hunting services to recruit people to its organization. The work is assignedto people in the department in a team and a team leader is selected to lead the team.Supply Chain Communication ProcessSupply chain is unable to communicate with its vendors using latest technology and MIS becauseof the fact the vendors are not fully equipped with the latest technology. Furthermore, thesuppliers of the company dont have the know-how to communicate through moderncommunication tools. Al though, different channels of communication are used to coordinatewith the major customers of the companyMarketing Department Communication ProcessThe marketing Department uses all means of communication channels to communicate with itsinternal and external audiences which include billboards, Television commercials, newspapersand internet. It has made a contract with a company Towers Perrin to get feedback from itscustomers and employees from across the world. Previously, it used to only use Business-to-Business Communication but now it has started putting emphasis to Business-to-CustomerCommunication. The marketing department is working successfully on the new advertisingcampaign Strike your Balance. 7. Business Communications7IntroductionTetra Pak is one of the worlds leading food processing and packaging solutions company.Working closely with its customers and suppliers, it provides safe, innovative andenvironmentally sound products that each day meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people.It has a unique business model through which they create new brands with its business partners.In Pakistan the major customers of Tetra Pak are Nestle, Engro Corporation and Haleeb Foods. Itis known for its 6 layers technology and for its environmental-friendly nature and products. Abrief overview of the companys history is given below:History of the Company:Tetra Pak began in the early 1950s as one of the first packaging companies for liquid milk. Sincethen, it has become one of the worlds largest suppliers of packaging systems for milk, fruitjuices and drinks, and many other products.In 1991, Tetra Pak expanded into liquid food processing equipment, plant engineering, andcheese manufacturing equipment. Today, it is the only international company in the world able toprovide integrated processing, packaging, and distribution line and plant solutions for foodmanufacturing. This means that its customers enjoy the advantage of being able to get multi-product solutions from a single source, with matching equipment at every stage.Currently, there are 41 Tetra Pak market companies and 74 sales offices across the world, 43plants for packaging material and closures and 10 packaging machine assembly factories. Thecompany has approximately 21,640 employees and achieved in 2008 net sales of 8,825 millionEuro. The net sales figures are increasing every year. Tetra Pak products are sold in more than150 markets.Vision and Mission Statement:Vision: We commit to making food safe and available, everywhereMission: We work for and with our customers to provide preferred processing and packagingsolutions for food.We apply our commitment to innovation, our understanding of consumer needs and ourrelationships with suppliers to deliver these solutions, wherever and whenever food is consumed.We believe in responsible industry leadership, creating profitable growth in harmony withenvironmental sustainability and good corporate citizenship. 8. Business Communications 8Policy and Goals of the Company: The Company has made a commitment to run its operationin an environmental sound and sustainable manner. This is the reason why it has madepartnership with the WWF global environmental conservation organization, UN GlobalCompact and GAIN Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. It sets goals for continuousgrowth and improvement in development, sourcing, manufacturing and transportation activities.It is companys policy to openly communicate with its stakeholders and to report on theperformance on a regular basis.Ownership: Tetra Pak is a private limited company and it is owned by a Sweden Family. It isone of three companies in the Tetra Laval Group a private group that started in Sweden. Theother two companies are DeLaval and Sidel. Tetra Laval is headquartered in Switzerland.Products: Tetra Pak supplies everything one needs for processing, packaging, and distributingbeverages and foods. It has a vast experience in foods technology which guarantees efficientperformance, un-interrupted operations and environmental friendly packaging solution. On aglobal scale, it provides 2,359 types of packaging for different companies.Organization Structure: According to Maira Ahmad, who is the HR manager of Tetra Pak theorganization has the following structure.Customers: In Pakistan its major customers are Nestle, Haleed Foods and Engro Corporations.The company provides these customers its 6 layers technology mainly for the packing of Juicesand Milk. But it is expanding its horizons to new areas to have a larger market share. Itcustomers have approximately 83 per cent of the market share and this 83 per cent is as follows: 9. Business Communications 9MarkChart Title et Others share17%of lpers O 22%MilkPack Heleeb36%25%Competitors:As mentioned earlier that Tetra Pak isworlds leading food processing andpackaging solutions company. Around the world it has been facing a competition and there arecompanies which has a business model as unique as Tetra Pak. In Pakistan, Tetra Pak doesntface any competition and ruling as a market leader. However, it faces a little competition fromsome small local Packaging companies. There are some small packaging companies which wecall NSS Niche Small Suppliers, says Mr. Anjum Jamal (Finance Executive of Tetra Pak)The overall Communication ProcessesIn this section we will be discussing about the overall external and internal communicationprocesses. The main characteristics that will be covered in this section are mentioned below. How much emphasis is put on the communication process How the employees stay abreast of the companys daily activities. Which medium of communication are preferred. How the work is assigned to the employees. How proposals are made. How the interdepartmental communication takes place. How effectively its making use of latest MIS (Management Information System). How employees are rewarded. How the direction of the company is set. How a bad news is delivered to the employees. What kind of culture the company has. What format is used in the reports and mails to communicate What the core values of Tetra Pak are What is the color of the organization What is the role of PREmphasis on communication at Tetra Pak:It is the business policy of Tetra Pak to openly and continuously communicate with theiremployees and to report on the performance of the company.Tetra Pak puts a lot of emphasis on Communication Mr. RaufHameed (CommunicationManager of Tetra Pak) 10. Business Communications 10Tetra Pak have internal as well as external communication. They have devised methods as howto communicate with their internal audiences and external audiences. It is considered veryimportant that all the key messages are delivered to the external audience and especially, to theinternal employees through all kinds of channels and mediums.Updating of the employees:Tetra Pak updates its employees in a very systematic manner. All the employees are updated onregular basis through a meeting with the managing director of the company. These meetings takeplace quarterly in which managing director of the company addresses the employees. He givesall the employees the business update. This business updates comprise the progress of each andevery project and assignment of each department. For instance, if they have started a newmarketing campaign the Managing director will address to the employees and tell them howgood or how bad the response was for the new campaign. If the response was good, themarketing department and its main players would be appreciated through some reward that is notnecessarily a monetary reward and if the response was bad the marketing department would begiven a constructive feedback as what mistakes they did.Furthermore, the Board of Directors of the company has their own meetings. These meetingstake place, usually, after every week. In this meeting they make plans and decide the direction ofthe company and decide which new projects the company should go for. Moreover, in thismeeting different technical aspects are discussed and the production analysis takes place.Communication Process at Tetra Pak:The communication process of Tetra Pak is very much aligned with what an ideal businesscommunication process is ought to be. It has both formal as well as informal communicationnetworks.Formal Communication Network:Tetra Pak, like any other big organization, has a formal communication network. In this networkdifferent information is transferred or delivered from each hierarchy level to another hierarchylevel. At tetra Pak the information flows in three directions. These three directions are asfollows:I. Downward Communication: It is the flow of communication from a higher hierarchy to a lower hierarchy level i.e., from executives to employees. Mostly the executives it includes executives decisions and commands that helps employees do their job. II. Upward Communication: It is the flow of communication from a lower hierarchy to a higher hierarchy i.e., from the employees to the executives. It basically includes all the information regarding any difficulties in the project or progress of any project.III. Horizontal Communication: It is the flow of information from one department to another department or to put in another way it is a flow within a hierarchy level. This interdepartmental flow of information helps employee to coordinate tasks and solve complex problems. 11. Business Communications 11Informal Communication Network:The informal communication network of Tetra Pak is very unique. It is very much similar to theformal communication network because of the fact that Tetra Pak has a very Family-like culture.The informal communication takes place in Cafeteria and through the intranet system of thecompany. Employees can coordinate with each other by using Instant messages (IM) or bydirectly going to the office or cabin to the other employees. Further, employees can call or texteach other to share information.Preferred Media and Channels at Tetra Pak:Tetra Pak uses all kind of Channels and Media to deliver/ send its message across. It uses allkinds of media i.e., written, visual and electronic forms. Plus it uses all kind of channels tocommunicate i.e., Emails, Face-to-face conversation, Internet, Television, Newspapers, Eventsetc.Key messages are sent through all kinds of channels. Which includes E-mail, Face-to-facemeeting, Events, Awards RaufHameed( Communication Manager)Like any other large and big organization it has set some preferred channels to communicatewith its internal as well as external audience. The most preferred way to communicate is Face-to-face meetings because it is the most interactive of all. The most reliable channel tocommunicate is face-to-face meeting, says Mr. RaufHameed. The second most preferred way tocommunicate is E-mail (Electronic Mail). They use Microsoft outlook to communicate within oroutside the organization. Microsoft outlook is the premium business and personal e-mailmanagement tool and calendar software. There are three main reasons as to why they useMicrosoft Outlook for communication which are as follows: i. Saves time viewing, creating and managing e-mailii. Gets easier access to right tools iii. Accesses vital information anytime, anywhere.Confidentiality Policy at Tetra Pak:Tetra Pak is a Multi-national organization. The information generated at Tetra Pak is veryvaluable. The leakage of this valuable information could translate into losses of millions ofrupees. That is why, Packages has a confidential policy which protect and safeguards thevaluable information from any internal as well as external threats. The information anddocuments produced at packages and pre-labeled before they move around within theorganization. Each document is labeled as strictly confidential, highly confidential, moderatelyconfidential and confidential. Where the strictly confidential being the highest confidentialdocument while, the confidential being the least confidential document. The following graphgives an idea about the confidentiality level of the documents. 12. Business Communications 12 100%50% 0%StrictlyHighly Moderately ConfidentialConfidentialConfidential ConfidentialRole of MIS (Management Information System) to facilitate Communication Process:As mentioned earlier, that Tetra Pak uses all means of communication to send its messageacross. Tetra Pak is equipped with latest technologies and information system that helps it fostercommunication process. We have a very advanced MIS, says Mr. RaufHameed. The latesttechnologies are used at Tetra Pak are as follows:Video Conferencing: All the international meetings are mostly conducted through videoconferencing which helps the company save a lot of travelling cost. It provides the same benefitas an in-person meeting. Video-conferencing enables the participants in the conference room tovirtually present at another location, to see and hear everyone the other party while being seenand heard by the other party. It not only enables two parties to participate in a conference butnow with latest technology more than two parties from different location can participate in oneconference room at one point in time. Such a realistic interaction makes a meeting moreproductive and cost-efficient. Tetra Pak uses video conferencing in both room system;specialized conference rooms facilities with large-screen displays, and desktop systems; whichtypically uses a webcam attached to each participant computer.Intranet: Tetra Pak has a wide and effective intranet system; a private computer network thatsimplifies information sharing within the company. Intranet handles the company informationlike Instant Messaging (IM), e-mail, websites, and internet phone calls. This internet is shieldedand safeguarded from public access to ensure safety of the company valuable information.The company doesnt use extranets to communicate with its external business partners andsuppliers because of the fact that most of the suppliers of the company are not comfortable withthe use of latest technology of extranets.Culture of Tetra Pak:Tetra Pak has an enriched culture. Its corporate culture has all the features and characteristics ofan Ideal corporate culture. It is a private limited company and owned by a Swedish Family.Consequently, it has a very family-like culture. All the employees are considered to be a part ofthe family and are treated with equal respect.Once people join this company they never leave it or at least take a part of it with them towhichever organization they go to Mr. RaufHameed (Communication manager) 13. Business Communications13The above quote shows that how an employee feels a part of the family of Tetra Pak once he /she join it. Furthermore, a lot of emphasis is put on the core values of the company. The corevalues of the company play a vital role for each and every employee. They decide how andemployee should work as a team member. The core values begin from the vision of thecompany; to commit to making food safe and available, everywhere. Each and every employeetakes care and respect of the vision of the company and contribute on his part for theachievement of the vision. Moreover, the vision of the company decides what the strategicpriorities of the company should be and what direction it should take in the near future. Thevision and mission statement are the integral part of the culture of the company and they decidewhat the projects that the company has to try are.Tetra Pak, unlike many large organizations which are tending to be informal, has more of aformal culture in the organization. An employee is supposed to wear proper attire all the time inthe company and there is a decorum set for the meetings which all the employees have to follow.The decorum of the meetings is largely guided by the common sense and is very much similar tothe normal human interaction. There are no proper guidelines or structure as how one should sitand talk. Mostly the formality of the communication process depends on the flow ofcommunication. The upward communication tends to be more formal than the downwardcommunication flow.One unique feature of culture of Tetra Pak is that, they celebrate each and every little thing.Celebration is a part of their culture. Even a slightest success in celebrated with great energy andenthusiasm. All the successes are celebrated not only on organization level but also atdepartment level.Celebration is a part of our Culture RaufHameed (Communication Manager)Reward and Appreciation at Tetra Pak:We all know that it is the nature of the human beings that we need something in return for whatwe do. The appreciation and reward system of a company keeps the employees motivated andfocused toward their goals and assignments. In Tetra Pak, when an employee manages to achievehis/ her goals or be successful in their project, they are rewarded and appreciated. Usually ameeting is called in which that employee gets a reward. Further, a proper round of applause isgiven to him/ her. Everybody is informed about his/ her achievement and this way he is givenrecognition in the company. The rewards that are provided to the employees are sometimesmonetary and sometimes non-monetary. Such reward and appraisal system is part of the corevalues of the culture of the organization.Delivery of Bad News:The bad news such as failure of a project, failure of a campaign, firing of an employee etc, ismostly delivered through face-to-face meetings. Face-to-face meetings are more interactive andreliable. They do not use indirect approach for the delivery of bad news they rather use a directapproach to deliver a bad news. The company tends to admit its mistake and try to be honestabout it. The delivery of bad news is really very straight-forward, says Mr. RaufHameed. 14. Business Communications 14The format of the E-mails and Reports:The company follows a very standard format for mails, reports. The brand and graphic standardsof the company are very detailed. The guidelines as to where to put pictures are present. Thecompany uses the Power Point template for the making of slides. This template is followed bythe 2200 thousand employees of Tetra Pak all over the world. A sample of the E-mail that hasbeen sent by the Mr. Anjum Jamal, Finance Executive of Tetra Pak, is shown belowWe can see that the company somewhat uses the letter format for the sending routine and officiale-mails. The sample e-mail tells us that the company doesnt use a standard format for proposalsand invitations. However, it does use a letter head while communicating to the internal andexternal audience. We can see that at the end of the e-mail, there is an e-mail signature. Eachemployee of the company has its own e-mail signature which includes the designation of theemployee, mailing address of the company, e-mail ID of the employee and the web-site addressof the company. Further, there is an end-note at the end of the mail which states that if the mail isintended for a specific person and if it has been delivered to a wrong person it is requested thatyou do not review the content of the e-mail.Further we can also see that there is an excessive use of you attitude in the mail which impliesthat the employees does make a use of you attitude toward their audience. 15. Business Communications 15Further, the format used for the report is enriched and includes are forms of material that couldhelp the reader comprehend the message. A sample of the report regarding the Pakistani Marketof Liquid Dairy Products (LDP) is given below:In this report, we can clearly see that different types of aids are used to help reader comprehendthe message. The report includes the following items: A page no. at the end The report topic at the top-left corner The country name at bottom-right corner The main heading and subheadings Visual aid such as graphs 16. Business Communications16 Side note which is giving even more detailsWe can analyze that the report is a little over-crowded but still it provides but it is only because itprovides all the necessary details to the readers.Color:The company associates itself with Blue color. The brand color of the Tetra Pak is Blue. Fromthe company logo the e-mail signatures it uses blue color. The annual reports and proposals alluses the Blue color aggressively. The few items that depicts the blue color of Tetra Pak are asfollowsThis way the company Tetra Pak is associating emotionally as a peaceful, trusting, cool andsoothing brand.Public Relations Department:The Public relations department communicates with its external audience to build and maintainits reputation. This campaign is run by Mr. RaufHameed who is the communication Manager ofTetra Pak. Further, the marketing department takes the responsibility of building relationshipwith the customers. The PR will be explained in a detail manner in the Marketing Section.Team and Groups:Working in a team and a group is part of the work methodology of Tetra Pak. Even theemployees are recruited on the basis that how good they are working in a group and a team. Butevery work is not necessarily assigned to a team; some assignments are assigned individually toeach employee belonging to a certain department. Each work is assigned according to the scopeof the project and activities. After that, it is determined who is most appropriate for a certain joband work. Further, each team has a leader who coordinates with everybody and lead the team.Preparation of proposals at Tetra Pak:Tetra Pak uses the standard techniques of making business proposals. To prepare a proposal, ameeting is called in which all the employees who are related to the work plan participate. In thismeeting a brain storming session takes place in which all the people belonging to differentdepartment pool in their different ideas. After that, some of the most practical and creative ideas 17. Business Communications 17are picked and work assignments are made. When the proposal is approved, each task and workis assigned to each team and the guidelines are provided as to how they should go about carryingout the assignment.Internal And External Communication In Marketing DepartmentOne of the many important roles and functions of a marketing department is to communicateinternally and externally. The marketing department is always responsible for creatingmeaningful messages with the help of ideas, words, etc. More important is, that these messagesare communicated effectively. The marketing department of Tetra Pak efficiently communicatesat both levels; internal and external.Internal Communication:Talking about their internal communication first, Mr. RaufHameed, communication manager atTetra Pak, Pakistan, discussed different ways used for internal communication. He informed thatface to face communication within the marketing department and with other departments ispracticed at large. There are regular scheduled meetings in which marketing department updatestheir employees along with the employees of other departments. In order to communicate ondaily basis, e-mails (outlook) are exchanged. The marketing department of tetra Pak is alsoresponsible to arrange business reviews, awards, events, so on and so forth. These are all few ofmany ways any marketing department can use to communicate internally. Internalcommunication is very important for the motivation of employees because it keeps them in loopas to what new plans and projects are coming up. Internal communication also gives anopportunity to recognize good/bad work done by different employees and strategies forimprovement could be communicated at different levels.External Communication:The marketing department of tetra Pak has meticulous and effective methods to communicateexternally. Firstly, they have a public relationship plan. This plan is annually revised and itdiscusses in detail how to deal with different stakeholders, customers, audiences, creditors,suppliers, so on and so forth. The relationship management pprlan highlights how to improverelationships with the external market from one level to another. Moreover, the marketingdepartment at tetra Pak also chalks out its external communication with the help of outdooradvertisement (billboards), TVCs, radio, print media (news papers, magazines, etc), websitesand all various possible channels.TOWERS WATTSON:Moving on, tetra Pak goes an extra mile by making the effort to obtain customer feedback. Thisdepartment is called, Relationship satisfaction feedback service. For this purpose, Tetra Pakhas invested a significant amount of time and cost in the only globally recognized company forgathering customer feedback. The name of this company is Towers Perrin and it works by 18. Business Communications 18sending its agents across the globe to collect information on customer feedback. The team atTowers Perrin then gives analytical shape to the data collected and presents it to their clientssuch as Tetra Pak. Online resources state that, Towers Perrin is a global professional servicesfirm that helps organizations improve performance through effective people, risk and financialmanagement. The firm provides innovative solutions in the areas of human capital strategy,program design and management, and in the areas of risk and capital management, insuranceand reinsurance intermediary services, and actuarial consulting. However, in January 2010,Towers Perrin merged with Watson Wyatt, hoping to achieve better standards, altogether. It isnow known as Towers Wattson.Competitive Advantage:While communicating internally and externally, Tetra Pak considers the fact that they have acompetitive advantage due to the unique product they offer. Unlike majority multinationals, tetraPak doesnt promotes any brand, instead; they promote their environmentally friendlytechnology. For example; they are not promoting Nestle milk but they are promoting the ideathat Nestle milk will reach consumers in its best condition only if it is packed in Tetra Pak.B To B Communication:For decades, Tetra Pak has been involved in business to business communication only. Businessto business communication refers to the idea that a company or organization sells and market itsproduct to another company or organization. In business to business communication, consumersare not targeted. For example; Tetra Pak communicates with Nestle to convince them that theirproduct (milk) will have a healthy shelf life if it is packed in Tetra Pack. Tetra Pak did notcommunicate (previously) with the users of Nestle milk (target market). Due to the nature oftheir product, Tetra Paks clientele includes multinationals like Nestle and local brands likeHaleeb Foods.B To C Communication: However, with increasing competition and consumer knowledge, Tetra Pak is now also usingbusiness to consumer communication. Business to consumer communication refers to the ideathat an organization directly sells and market its product in the target market. For example; TetraPak is successfully running an advertisement on GEO TV with a tag line, strike for balance.The TVC starts off with showing a class room with a back ground vocal claiming that it isessential for children to have good quality milk in order to remain active throughout the day. Thevoice continues claiming that the student in the commercial feels lethargic because he gets todrink boiled milk. The commercial continues to explain that home boiling results in loss ofessential nutrients while at Tetra Pak, milk is carefully boiled at high temperature and cooleddown instantly. Moreover, the milk is packed in six-layered carton so that its nutrients stay freshtill its expiry date. The six layer carton is the unique selling proposition (USP) being used in thisTVC. 19. Business Communications19Consumer Awareness:While communicating with the consumers, Tetra Pak is making efforts to create consumerawareness regarding the importance of shelf life for fast moving consumer goods. They aretrying to educate the consumer that how important it is that the packing of fast moving consumergoods is germs free, environmentally friendly, chemicals free, and in A grade hygienic packing.For example; now consumers are conscious to use only that brands which come in excellentpacking. Moreover, consumers are now also aware of the fact that how important it is to considershelf life before buying any good. In addition, Tetra Pak is also communicating to the consumersof FMCGs that ease of use, durability, comfort, etc should also be kept in mind before makingpurchases.Emotional Communication:Tetra Pak is also actively involved in sponsoring events and providing platforms for schools totake part in debates and other international youth programs. These are also creative techniques tocommunicate effectively with the external world. Further, Tetra Pak actively celebrates worldSchool Milk Day. It is celebrated in more than forty countries and is now being introduced incountries like Pakistan and Gaza. This program is implemented with the collaboration ofgovernment and NGOs. It is specially formulated for developing countries where more than sixbillion packs of milk are distributed amongst school going children. 20. Business Communications 20Supply Chain:A supply chain is a network of retailers, distributors, transporters, storage facilities, and suppliersthat participate in the production, delivery, and sale of a product to the consumer. The supplychain is typically made up of multiple companies who coordinate activities to set themselvesapart from the competition.A supply chain has three key parts: Supply focuses on the raw materials supplied to manufacturing, including how, when, and from what location. Manufacturing focuses on converting these raw materials into finished products. Distribution focuses on ensuring these products reach the consumers through an organized network of distributors, warehouses, and retailers.Organizations increasingly find that they must rely on effective supply chains, or networks, tocompete in the global market and networked economy. During the past decades, globalization,outsourcing and information technology have enabled many organizations to successfullyoperate solid collaborative supply networks in which each specialized business partner focuseson only a few key strategic activities. This inter-organizational supply network can beacknowledged as a new form of organization.Supply chain initiatives like JIT (Just-In-Time), ECR (Efficient Customer Response) and VMI(Vendor Managed Inventory) driven by organizations to make their supply chains moreresponsive and keep all the supply chain members in tune with the end customer demand, both interms of the product and its volumes. By ensuring end-to-end communication, the occurrence ofthe "Bullwhip Effect" is prevented thus reducing inventory levels across the chain. It also allowspartners to visualize the bigger picture in terms of the entire supply chain rather than theirenterprise alone. As partner collaboration is initiated right from the planning till thereplenishment stage, the supply chain as a whole is in a better position to respond to exceptionalcircumstances making it a more proactive entity rather than a reactive one. The first step is forsupply chain executives to clearly understand how the enterprise chooses to compete. This isimportant not only for the obvious reason of working off the same play book, but also for the 21. Business Communications21reason that it forces the supply chain operation to see itself as a customer facing entity servingthe competitive goals of the enterprisenot merely an operational department. Supply chainstrategy is not simply a linear derivative of the business strategy. At best, supply chain strategycan be the enabler of the business strategy. If the business strategy is to be the low cost provider,the supply chain strategy should support this.Communication Process in Supply Chain at Tetra Pak:Tetra Pak has a very big and comprehensive Supply Chain department and as Tetra Pak ensures agood, complete and comprehensive communication process in all its other departments it alsomakes sure a good communication process in the Supply Chain. According to Tetra Pak aneffective communication process is a part of its core values and also helps them achieving theirgoals and objectives. As Tetra Pak gives importance to the communication process in alldepartments, it also lays emphasis on the communication process at the Supply Chaindepartment. According to one Executive of Tetra Pak, An effective communication process inthe Supply Chain helps us in minimizing our inventory costs and maximizing our profits henceachieving our long-term goals.The Supply Chain department of Tetra Pak consists of the Suppliers, Distributors and all thoseorganizations or personals who are involved in bring raw materials and then after thetransformation of raw materials to finished goods they also distribute them and finally sell themto the Suppliers.Communication Channels:TetraPak prefers face to face meetings and Emails in its general communication process in alldepartments both internally and externally. A full function of Supply Chain is developed and afull department is working on it and a comprehensive and vast system is followed. For theSupply Chain following are the methods or communication techniques that Tetra Pak usuallyfollows: 1) Telephones: The most important and largely used communication medium that Tetra Pak follows to communicate with all the people that are a part of its Supply Chain is through telephone calls. According to them the easiest and nowadays the cheapest medium to reach people directly and instantly is the Telephone. About 70% to 22. Business Communications 2275% of the communication done with the Suppliers, distributors and Retailers etcis by making telephone calls. The reason for using telephone as a medium isbecause most of the suppliers and distributors are not literate so the best way tocommunicate with them is with the help of telephone and because they are notmuch advanced so intranets and extranets are also not used to communicate withthe vendors.2) Newspaper Advertisements:Another medium that Tetra Pak uses to communicate with its Suppliers is thenewspaper advertisements. This type of communication is usually done whenTetra Pak needs two or three suppliers at one time for the completion of a specificproject. So in this ad the required services are published so that the mostinterested and eligible Supplier may contact and submit a sealed tender. Thetender submitted by all the suppliers are examined and the one which is mostsuitable and convincing is informed by a telephone call and then face to facemeetings are also arranged to make sure that all questions of the supplier arebeing answered and now the supplier could start its work.3) Notification through Emails:In its communication process Email is a very important medium which Tetra Paksome way or the other follows. In the Supply Chain also Email notifications arewidely used. Tetra Pak send notifications and certain updates to its Suppliers ordistributors through formal Emails also. These notifications may consist ofmessages like deadline date, targeted sales, quality improvement etc. Mostly theseEmails are sent to the regular Suppliers and distributors of Tetra Pak.4) E-Supply Chain:E-Supply Chain is another way of communication that is followed by Tetra Pak inwhich the company communicates with its suppliers and distributors. Allnotifications and updates are communicated to the Suppliers with the help of thissystem. The suppliers etc could login through this system and could communicatewith the company if they have any queries. The most beneficial thing of thissystem is that it enhances a two way communication process and it is quick whichSaves a lot of time. 23. Business Communications23 5) E-Orders: As the MIS systems of Tetra Pak are very efficient and advance they also give an opportunity to the company and to the the customers to directly communicate with each other. In E-Orders the customers could directly log in and then could place an order for example 200 million packs and as soon as the order is booked online the process starts without any wastage of time. So such an effective communication process with the customers also helps Tetra Pak in saving a lot of costs and time.So this basically all covers the communication process of Supply Chain at Tetra Pak and wecould also conclude that the success of Tetra Pak is surely due to its efficient communicationwith its Supply Chain and all other departments.Human Resource Management:The information which we received from the communication manger of Tetra Pak Pakistan thatthey mostly recruit people from outside (external Hiring) because of specialization inengineering and other process. Because they need high caliber engineers, operation mangers,supply chain managers, marketing and finance managers. For that they use different ways torecruiting employees. Techniques used by Tetra Pak for recruiting are as following. Newspaper Ads. Headhunters. Online website.Newspapers Ads:Tetra Pak place ads in different newspaper whenever they find that there is a need to recruit moreemployees. Newspaper ads helps encouraging potential applicant to apply for existing oranticipated job opening. As news paper ads are inexpensive and targeted to the larger audience.They place ads in different newspaper both English and URDU. For English News paper theyprefer Dawn news, daily times and for Urdu ads they use Jang, Nawaiwakth. They use 24. Business Communications 24newspaper as second source for recruiting, because so many people apply for different post thatmakes the selection process much more difficult.Headhunter:Headhunter or sometime also known as a third party recruiter or an employment agency acts asan independent contact between its client companies and the candidates it recruits for a position.These firms or individuals specialize in client relationships and finding candidates, with minimalor no focus on other HR tasks. Most recruiters tend to specialize in permanent, full-time, direct-hire positions or contract positions, but occasionally in both. They have wide range of personalcontacts in the all kinds of industry. Executive search professionals are also involved throughoutmore of the hiring process, conducting detailed interviews and presenting candidates to clientsselectively, when they feel the candidate meets all stated requirements and would fit into theculture of the hiring firm they refer to applicant to the firmTetra Pak recruiting process main depend on headhunting they hire headhunting firms for thateven headhunting is expensive and took longer period of time but they hire the desire candidatethat company needs. They use headhunting for position of middle manager or top management.Managers of a company target an agency specialized in head-hunting, makes a list of employeesfrom competitors, employees that are very good in their field of activity. And if head-hunterssucceed in process they are paid commission.Online Website:Web site is also a official recruitment channel (www.tetrapak.com). On website they havementioned all of the available positions and work opportunities. Applicants can go to their siteand can register themselves in their electronic database. Many of worker who are working incompany are hired through company website or other websites like rozee.pkWhen work is assign to HRM department HR people understand the scope of the project thenthey do activities according to that. If the project is of a small scale they align to the mostappropriate person for doing that job. And if the employee is already available in the firm thenthey choose the best person for that job. If a team is require for that they job they made a proper 25. Business Communications 25hierarchy level and deadline and time frames are given to them and they have to complete theirjob in that time period.Communication with other Department:Communication with the other department depends whether that message is formal or informalfor formal messages they use Emails for emails they have proper format and templates whichthey have to follow. And for informal they have their internal instant messaging software whichis internally connected and all of the employees can send instant messages to each other. TetraPak have their own intranet through they can communicate with other departments theycommunicate changes in the policies and in return other departments can use intranet to givefeedback or advice. Employees also receive their salary and medical bill through intranet.