Strategy and management control system: Tata Motors

Strategy and forethought asc devastationancy arranging Tata MotorsIntroductionThis essay organizees a precise elusive yet imperative topic relating to the link amidst the system and wariness tick off system of an organization. The countersign in this essay roots from Andrew Campbells paper, Tailored, non Benchmarked A Fresh Look at Corporate Planning. This paper discusses the daze of benchmarking and the put up of efficient planning strategies on the value of an organisation. He suggests that in place of deploying standardized benchmarking and planning strategies based on an different organisation, each(prenominal) organisation needs to evaluate its internal environment and devise strategies agree to the needs of the undivided organisation. Campbell describes the planning process very appropriately in his paper as, A good planning process is funny to its club () railway railway c arfully tailored to the needs of the artes as well as to the skills, insights, and experiences of elderly corporal parcel step forwardrs. Further much, Campbell lays stress on the fact that organisations need to constantly observe and modify their planning strategies to match the needs of the organisation and the dynamic business environment. In this paper, Campbell has very modestly touched upon the fact that trouble operate on systems (MCS) and schema essenti tout ensembley complement each other and should be coordinated to produce the desired firm value (Campbell, 1999). MCS ar defined as any formal, in arrangement-based procedures and statements riding habitd by man whilers to monitor and mildew the behavior and activities in a firm (Simons, 1994). While, schema is a continuing pattern of finding making for the future of an organization (Mintzberg, 1978) deliberate (formal) or unintended (informal), that emerges payable to the opportunities that arise in the organization or market (Merchant Stede, 2007 Langfield-Smith, 1997)An earlier posture on this topic was provided by Anthony (1965, 1988) suggesting that, strategy is the constant given instalment in the organisation and commission check up on systems hold the job of monitoring, modifying and introduce the progress of their implementation. Lorange et al (1986) introduced another association of management hear and strategy in the concept of strategic control. Strategic control is a system constantly examining an organisations strategy with respect to its goals, and modifying them whenever the need arose. The unriv wholeed limitation all these sights suffered from was the fact that, management control systems identified with the task of monitoring and modifying strategy plainly (Simons, 1990). Robert Simons (1990) introduced a new perspective proposing that management control systems were trus devilrthy for not barely monitoring or implementation, simply similarly for formation of strategy hence establishing a very unfathomed relationship between managemen t control systems and strategic choices of an organisation.Building on these ideas, this essay aims to read the link between management control system and strategy of Tata Motors bound (TTM), a multinational automobile corporation headquartered in Mumbai, India. During the course of this essay, we forget premiere endure a ask at TTMs background strategy, control systems, cognitive process measurement system, and the risks they are facing. Fol secondaryed by this will be a discussion on TTMs case in the light of disparate perspective menti sensationd above to observe whether there exists a link between the strategy, management control system and doing measurement measures of TTM. Finally, we will set out a look at whatever suggestions with regard to their control systems that could help TTM recognize better their position.Tata Motors Limited Background and StrategyTTM is a part of the Tata Group, the largest private corporate group in India. Tata group has business v entures in steel, communications, tea, education technology, baron and hospitality aside from automobiles. TTM is Indias largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues $20 billion in 2009-10. It is the leader in commercial fomites in each segment, and among the top leash in passenger vehicles along with universe the worlds quaternaryth largest truck manufacturer, and the worlds uphold largest bus manufacturer. In addition to domestic growth, TTMs important strategic cue everywhere time has been international expansion. TTM has get a lined Daewoo Commercial fomite Company Limited, Hispano Carrocera S.p.A. Spain, has a joint venture with Marco Polo of Brazil for crossingion of b uptakes and or so recently acquired the iconic British discolorations Jaguar and basis Rover (Just-Auto editorial team, 2010). Tata motors follow a straightforward rule for expansion since they have limited expert availability to get a presence on the global industrial scene, they look for countries with entrance to technology and point of intersections, find a strategic partner in that market, and then sell Tata motors products in that country whilst exporting their products and capacities regionally (Seshan Kumar, 2008). For example, In January 2006, Tata motors signed an agreement with Fiat Group to sell Fiat vehicles by the Tata Motors outlets in India. In May 2006, the joint venture of Tata Motors with Fiat grew into an industrial partnership for sharing Indian facilities to manufacture vehicles, engines and transmissions for Indian and overseas markets (Just-Auto editorial team, 2010).Along with Internationalisation of operations, TTM follows the strategy of product unveiling, which provides TTM with its competitive edge middling priced products. It started with introducing the innovative 407 platform for trucks in the 1980s, knowing especially to suit Indian road conditions, in consideration with rural areas. Moreover, even today towards the end of the third decade of its existence it dominates deuce-third of the market. In 1998, TTM launched the starting line indigenously designed passenger car in India, the Tata Indica sporting innovation by providing much space, contemporary features at a very competitive price. In 2005, TTM launched Indias first mini truck, a small sub superstar-tonne vehicle facilitating intra-city or shorter distances. This vehicle was designed to replace the three-wheeler carriages market in India by a to a greater extent(prenominal)(prenominal) than sophisticated four-wheeled mode of transport at almost the equivalent price. It used a two- cylinder engine, provided only in Irish crme falsify and had a rigid front axle and muster up wheel drive for low cost. The most recent innovation TTM has come out with is the 632-cc Tata Nano, claimed to be the cheapest car in the world as well as called the Peoples car/ Rupees 1 lakh car ($2500). The target price itself became the source of innovation, a s labor claims that it is impossible to cook a car at that price. This car is developed based on a series of innovative ideas engine was computer softwared on the rear side two cylinder engine (conventionally there are three-four cylinder engines) identical handles and mechanisms for left field and right side doors. Moreover, the speedometer and other instruments bloodshed in the Nano are in the centre of the dashboard, rather than facing the driver, to make it easy and cheaper to switch the position of the steering wheel from the right to the left facilitating exports to other markets as well (Seshan Kumar, 2008). Furthermore the car has unconventional seating area maximising the interior space by pushing the wheels to the corners and power check out to below the rear seat creating sufficient space to accommodate three-to-four peck (BMA, 2010).Analysis Management control system and Performance Measurement strategyTo sustain the innovation in products and expansion in mark ets TTM had to introduce changes in their MCS to complement their strategic moves.TTM has two main divisions based on the suit of vehicles passenger cars and commercial vehicles (CVBU). With increasing operations TTM In the year 2000, TTMs CVBU suffered its first loss of $2.5 trillion that led the company to adopt the Tata Business virtue Model (TBEM). TBEM, based on Malcolm Baldridge Award for business excellence and equilibrise boards as its surgical operation measurement, which will be discussed in depth afterwards (Tata Group Corporate Governance Busniess Excellence, 2010). TTM saw shift from a more hierarchical building to a flatter organisational structure, facilitating easy communication between employees. The change in business model complimented the change in the information technology system too. TTM uses an integration of outsourced facilities most of which are Ariba for supplier negotiations product lifecycle management and advanced computer aided designs for t he engineering and designs of their products SAP enterprisingness software application and programmes for enterprise resource planning and increasing motion effectiveness. Through this, the activities of all departments production, manufacturing, purchase, finance operations etc, were interlinked facilitating better control and coordination by means of an efficient supply-chain management system. Furthermore, TTM changed their product development process and introduced a more collaborative process utilizing the capabilities of different venture partners, suppliers, design houses, subsidiaries and assort companies specialising in different verticals. With the transition of the in-house production process TTM realised the importance of expanding into the international market and thus adopted the internationalisation philosophy mentioned above, to lionize in line with their goals and objectives at the same time as gaining access to different markets (BMA, 2010).TTM has a strateg ic p round off of their plans either 5 age where plans are altered whilst introducing new goals and objectives. A well-defined process for the preparation and monitoring of the annual budgets and long-term business plans is followed. There are meetings doubly a month of the management committee at operational levels to fall over the operations and plans of describe business areas. TTM has a set of corporate policies, the Tata polity of Conduct, covering the integrity of financial reporting, ethical conducts, regulatory compliance, conflict of interests surveil and reporting of concerns. All employees have fixture exposure to this through flying flowing information between the management and the employees by means of articles, magazines and newsletters (Jamble, Sukate, Guha, Mhasade, Sumeet, Tonk, 2010).TTM has an built-in performance measurement system keeping in line with their strategy of offering innovation at a competitive price, as mentioned above the Balanced Scor ecard. After suffering their first loss in more than fifty years in 2000, TTM had to resort to stringent cost pungent across all business units, which poised a challenge. TATA Motors Commercial Vehicle Business Unit then employed the symmetricalnessd board. With the process in progress, the genuine job revealed itself. It turned out that the manual nature of the redirect examination procedures of much(prenominal) a huge structure was getting extremely gruelling to implement and consuming valuable amount of time. To cut through this, the Balanced Scorecard Automation Tool was implemented that would centralise, assimilate and collate the data, providing rapid review and analytical functionality and a comprehensive single picture of organisational performance. Within two years of this, CVBU registered a profit of $ 2.3 Million from the loss of $ 2.5 Million, leading to 60% of TTMs inventory turnover. Initially, CVBU had started the balanced scorecard with only corporate level scorecard only if with its success, now it has expanded to six hierarchical levels with three atomic enactment 6 and thirty one scorecards, additionally looking forward to proliferate it to the worst level of organisational structure (Huda, 2009).RisksFetching the expediency of low cost of beat back in India, and cheaper resources, TTM places itself as a firm providing innovation at a lower cost, still they do not necessarily produce severalize products. Their innovation only lies in the fact that they offer a muckle of features suitable for Indian conditions at a lower price, that no other Indian company does (lower disceptation in domestic market). The threat that TTM faces is the managing of two different segments of vehicles at the same time, the higher priced premium segment (Jaguar and Land Rover) and the very low priced segment (Tata Nano) the low cost manufacturing would not be as advantageous its premium segments car (Seshan Kumar, 2008). Moreover, other Indian m anufacturers teaming up internationally like Renault Logan (joint venture between Mahindra and Renault) will intensify the competition for TTM. Further, by entering into the premium cars and sports utility vehicles segment, TTM now faces competition from diverse other brands like Audi, BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen (Wentz, 2008). Moreover, Through TTMs core strategy of internationalisation, they depend on exports for revenues. But, as the position of the Indian Rupee has now strengthened, it is posing a challenge resulting in a lesser than expected export realisation (Kurup Toms, 2008). Aside from that, TTMs low cost products rely on low graphic symbol and its international competitors like Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki have internationally approved quality. Therefore, TTM needs to address its circumstantial quality free to be an international player (editorial team, 2010)From the discussion about TTM, it can be observed that there is a very unvarnished alignment of its strategy w ith its performance measurement system and management control systems. The corporate strategy of a company helps in the ratiocination of the company regarding the type of businesses to operate in (Johnson Scholes, 1989), how to structure and finance the company, how to acquire and utilize the resources to convert distinct competencies into competitive advantages (Andrews, 1980 cited in Langfield-Smith, 1997). TTMs MCS boasts a much-organised structure comprising of formal control standard operating procedures, budgetary controls informal controls regular interaction with employees, interactive communication system ( as well facilitating personnel control) administrative and hearty controls plying ethical codes of conduct which exemplifies that TTMs MCS has a well-defined structure complementing its precise strategic perspective (Langfield-Smith, 1997). By changing the organisational structure and introducing a new performance measurement system (the balanced scorecard), it can be noticed that TTM reviews its MCS has a frequent strategic preview and initiate changes as and when the need arises. Furthermore, it is pronounced that TTM is a follower of the contingency school of thought, which advocates that organisational effectiveness results from deploying administrative practices (like performance measurement) in a way that fits the contingencies the organisation functions within. Rather it is noticeable that, eon adapting to these contingencies, TTM is finding new practices that match their organisation than relying on the ones other organisations use (Chenhall, 2006).Scope for ImprovementRobert Simons (1995) suggested that for managers of modern organisations, it is a difficult task to manage employees and organisation efficiently while giving them enough space to come up with new and innovative ideas at the same time unequivocal them enough so that they do not misuse this freedom. He suggested four levers of control, the belief system boundary syste ms symptomatic control systems and interactive control systems (Simons, 1995). While the belief systems inculcate core values of the organisation, the boundary systems restrain what needs avoidance. On the other hand, diagnostic control systems determine critical performance variables and the interactive control systems help resolve strategic un certain(prenominal)ties (Triantafylli, 2010). For productive implementation of lever of controls, the organisations has to make sure that all the four levers are complementarily in place to produce the desired organisational performance keeping in line with the strategy. For TTM while the appropriate belief and boundary systems are in place, there seems to be a lack of diagnostic and interactive control systems. A number of key issues that require attention have been eyeshadeed out in the earlier section relating to their strategy with respect to competition, quality and exports. If TTM had the diagnostic and interactive control systems i n place then these critical areas would have been resolved with an appropriate solution leading to effective organisational performance. Alongside, TTMs strategy would have accounted for these shortcomings if intact levers of controls were in place.ConclusionTTM is one of the strong contenders in the Indian automobile market heading towards a more international sphere. If it continues with innovation and the cost advantage, the organisation would be able to make successful headway. To grasp that, TTM needs to look into some areas that require attention, bring the required changes to its organisational processes, strategy, and control systems. Although, there is a strong link between the MCS and strategy for TTM, but it could be put to a more valuable use by employing the appropriate changes. Reverting to Campbells statement mentioned earlier, it is clear noticeable that TTM does not benchmark, but focus on its external and internal advantages and utilizes the resources appropriate ly. This is evident from the fact that they use the availability of cheaper resources and labour to obtain their cost advantage and that TTM introduced new performance measurement system with the change in their strategy to complement it. Furthermore, TTM has utilize the availability of technical expertise to manufacture innovative products, gain a competitive edge in the market, and carve a niche for itself. Therefore, TTM has its unique strategy and competitive edge gained by virtue of its effective management control system that has been responsible for TTMs success.Banning baccy advertizingthe unavoidableness of a subsequent solutionBanning tobacco adthe urgency of a consequent solutionBanning tobacco commonplaceizingThe unavoidableness of a consequent solutionBonded Tobacco Co. Making smoking interruptative for smokers., Old Gold Cigarettes Not a cough in a carload., Camel Cigarettes More doctors smoke Camels than any other fanny. (http//www.tvacres.com/tobacco_slog ans.htm, 12/12/09).These are just some examples of slogans common in tail advertisement in the history of tobacco ads. The belittlement of the harmfulness of smoking in advertisement is one of the main reasons why Health Organizations and Governments worldwide enforce the toss awayishment of cigarette forwarding from the world of advertisement. The progress of this enforcement varies from country to country but most of the above the line promotion is already tobacco free and some sponsorship promotions follow this example. The following essay displays the necessity of regimenting advertisement in the tobacco industry and explains why a consequent realization is requisite.First, a brief look at the historic development of tobacco advertisement and the root system of its regulation. In 1789 the first advertisement on tobacco products was placed in the brisk York daily paper by P. Lorrillard Company (Petrone, G. S.,1996, p.7). In the mid-twenties Bull Durham was the first bran d name which was advertised on a large scale by picturing a linksman swinging his club while smoking and introducing the slogan On every green they all roll Bull. Its easy for YOU to roll your ingest Genuine Bull Durham. (http//www.owdna.org/History/history25.htm,12/12/09). The tobacco industry took advantage of the development of color lithography in the late 1870s and new approaches to advertisement arose such as the idea of James Buchanan Duke, of W. Duke Sons, to create cigarette boxes with the imprint of the cigarettes brand name and a decorative picture which was part of a collectible series (http//library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/tobacco.html, 12/12/09). The cigarette packet is still one of the greatest marketing tools of the industry. The first restrictions on tobacco advertisement were penalize in Germany during public War II and signed by Heinrich Hunke, the president of the Advertising Council on 7 December 1941 with the justification of the negative influ ence smoking has on ones wellness. Any advertisement illustrating smoking as be harmless and a symbol for masculinity was forbidden. As were print advertisement at sport events and in the country side (http//www.smokersnews.com/cigarette- advertise/301/smoking- vetoned-by-nazi-germany/, 12/12/09).The law on these restrictions have changed and have become more relaxed over the decades but are nowadays again at a point where a consequent prohibition of tobacco advertisement is posited.In this mount one may ask what effect advertisement really has on the behavior of the consumer and if advertisement can be made responsible for the alarmingly high number of smokers worldwide. According to Professor George Stigler (1963), author of the book The able and the Market Place, The denote industry has no sovereign power to accede mens will Moreover, denote itself is a completely neutral instrument, and lends itself to the dissemination of super contradictory desires (p.91). The tobacc o industry refers to these kinds of opinions and arguments that advertisement meliorates the market share of certain brands and does not engage new smokers. There are however a great number of scientific studies providing evidence of the coherence of tobacco advertising and consumption (Redmond W.H. 1999), showing the effects on tobacco consumption onwards and after an advertisement ban (Rimpel M.K., Aaro L.E., Rimpel A.H. 1993) as well as sleep together the success of anti-tobacco measures (Laugesen M., Meads C. 1991) which shall be further described hereafter.The majority of econometric studies came to the windup that increasing investments in tobacco advertising stimulate and increase the demand for cigarettes, whilst an advertisement ban diminishes tobacco consumption (http//www.globalink.org/en/advertising.shtml_edn312/12/09). This has been confirmed in the latest surveys by the unite States Institute of treat (Lynch B.S., Bonnie R.J. (ed) 1994), the United States Departm ent of Health and Human Services (USDHHS 1994) and the existence Health Organization (Roemer R. 1993).The research on the effects of an advertising ban on the number of smokers cumulate convincing data, showing that a consequent advertising ban significantly contributes to the reduction of the quantity of smokers as seen in Finland in 1977, where tobacco ads were banned, smoking in public building was forbid and a strong public information campaign was put into action, which decreased the cigarette consumption by 6,7% ( Smee C., Parsonage M., Anderson R., Duckworth S. 1992).It is common knowledge that the goals of advertisement are to create awareness among existing and electromotive force guests, to create customer loyalty by identifying with the product and its brand and to gain new customers. In the tobacco industry the target audience for recruitment is boylike pack. For cigarettes cosmos an addictive product it is more profitable to win young pile for the smoking habit , since they bear the potential of becoming life-long customers. Due to this fact and the glib-tongued power of advertisement, especially young people need to be defend from the marketing influence of the tobacco industry.Advertisement in general and specifically tobacco advertisement wants to deliver a statement to which the existing and potential new customer identifies with and feels connected to. Brand statements and brand images influence young people in particular no matter if dealing with clothes, technological devices, alcohol or cigarettes. (http//www.globalink.org/en/advertising.shtml_edn1312/12/09). rough brands are perceived as especially cool, casual or hip and accordingly higher frequented. In order to contain the severe influence of advertising an perspective of life, tobacco promotion of any kind needs to be banned. The tobacco industry has been very clever finding more collateral ways to promote their products than any other industry (http//www.globalink.org/e n/advertising.shtml_edn13 12/12/09). This inventive talent has become a necessity for tobacco marketing departments due to the increasing and very strict regimentation on advertisement already existing. Sponsorship of cultural events and sports, merchandise products available for free, point of sale promotion displays and even the use of cigarette brand names for products of a different industry, e.g. Marlboro Classics clothing (http//www.marlboroclassics.com12/12/09), and especially the design of the cigarette package are just some examples of the tobacco industrys creative output. But again, all these promotion types transport the pretended positive lifestyle the customers are hypothetic to identify with and after all one fact not organism transported by the industries advertisement is how harmful smoking is to the health.Smoking does not only have a negative effect on the smokers health, but also effects passive smokers, especially children. Contrary to many other stimulants su ch as alcohol or sweets, cigarettes have a damaging effect on the body after the first consumption. No other legitimate product is as addictive as cigarettes. The consequences of smoking are evident in a variety of diseases, e.g. blocked arteries, which can lead to a heart attacks and strokes, lung cancer, withdrawal syndromes when the body is under supplied of nicotine and general unfitness. The Center for sickness Control and Prevention claims in its 2007 published Best Practice authorship an annual death of 438.000 people worldwide by the aftermath of cigarette consumption (p.7). In March 2005 a report was published by the British Medical Journal providing authoritative data on the refer of passive smoking and stating that passive smoking is assumed to kill 11,000 people a year in the UK only (http//www.in underage.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/passive-smoking-is-there-convincing-evidence-that-its-harmful-476472.html 12/12/09).An evidentiary amount of docum ents describe the severe impact tobacco advertising has to embolden non-smokers to begin smoking. Advertising is especially effective among young people. The number of smokers can be considerably decreased if a consequent ban on tobacco advertisement and its manifold promotion activities is put into action. excessively prohibiting the display of brand details on the cigarette package, promotion at sponsorship events, distribution of merchandise products, as well as any public print, tv, cinema or radio advertisement. Additionally Dr. Murray Laugesen from the Department of Health in New Zealand subsumes the figure of tobacco consumption can be trim back by 6% if a coherent advertising ban is linked by a public information campaign on the health effects of smoking, this conclusion is supported by the latest report of the World Bank (http//www.globalink.org/en/advertising.shtml_edn13 12/12/09). To finally conclude a consequent solution of banning tobacco advertisement is necessary, because the tobacco industry will continue to mesh out ways to promote their product and by this influence the consumers, convincing them only of the positive effect a certain brand has on the personal image rather than distributing the risks of the insidious habit of smoking.Is Single Parenting a Social Problem?Is Single Parenting a Social Problem?DefinitionThe issue of solitaryly(prenominal) parenting is quite clearly one that is of significant importance and impact in the modern complaisant context. It is also one that has different viewpoints, which are important to recognise in the context of this report. While the actual term of lone parenting is a given, it is important to understand the various views which are taken in order to address this problem. For example, New pokes friendly insurance towards lone parents is slackly governed by the attitudes epitomised in the mantras reforming wellbeing around the work ethic and backup a system that believes in empowerment no t dependency (Millar and Rowlingson, 2001, p xv). This quite seemingly conflicts with the view which was held by previous governments, which is said to conserve the view that poverty is relieved by cash handouts (DSS, 1998, p 19). It is also said that the differences between these two viewpoints epitomises the differing views of old Labour and new Labour (Millar and Rowlingson, 2001, p xv), and also highlights the shift between the public assistance state policy to a more capitalist approach to addressing the lone parenting issue.Main Issues habituated the discussion of the United Kingdoms approach to lone parenting, it energy be relevant to compare these provisions with those of other jurisdictions. Take, for example, New Zealand which categorises alone parents as(a) A charr who is the mother of one or more drug-addicted children and who is living apart from, and has lost the support of, or is being inadequately maintained by, her husband(b) An unmarried woman who is the mot her of one or more dependent children(c) A woman whose marriage has been fade out by divorce and who is the mother of one or more dependent children(e) A woman who is the mother of one or more dependent children and who has lost the regular support of her husband because he is subject to a sentence of imprisonment and is-(i) serving the sentence in a penal institution or(ii) subject to release conditions or detention conditions (as those impairment are defined in section 4(1) of the Parole work 2002) that prevent him undertaking employment(f) A man who is the father of one or more dependent children whose mother is dead or who for any other reason are not being cared for by their mother (Social gage Act 1964 (NZ), s 27B(1)).Arguably, in consideration of the above, it is clear that the New Zealand social security system is geared more towards caring for a woman who may be a lone parent, as opposed to a father. It might also be noted, however, that social security benefits are onl y paid to lone parents in New Zealand if the parent is of the minimum age of sixteen (16) years, unless emergency circumstances exist (Social Security Act 1964 (NZ), s 27B(2)).Compare this situation to that across the Tasman Sea in Australia, where the Australian dresser of Statistics has recorded a three-fold increase in lone parenting families in the pop off thirty (30) years, from 7.1% in 1969 to 21.4% in 1999 (ABS enumerate). However given this increase, it might also be worthwhile to note that lone parenting in Australia remains at lower levels than other English-speaking countries, but still higher than some countries in continental Europe (Millar and Rowlingson, 2001, p 61). Further to this, it has generally been the attitude of Australian governments to extend social security benefits to all classes of lone parenting families, no matter of the cause of the lone parenting situation (Millar and Rowlingson, 2001, p 65). Around 47% of lone mothers were employed in 1999 and a round 63% of lone fathers, and approximately 9% of both lone mothers and lone fathers were unemployed (ABS, June 1999). This perhaps symbolises a non-dependency on the welfare system, and that lone parents in Australia generally try to work at least part-time to supplement their welfare incomes and provide for their family.Key DilemmasThe key dilemma that has been the recurring theme throughout this paper is the need to balance income support and welfare with the need for non-dependence on the welfare system. There is a conscientious push by governments in the above countries to not get ahead reliance upon welfare handouts and to push these people to seek active employment, but also recognises the various situations of lone parents who may be unable to work full time for any number of reasons. The United Kingdom obviously recognises this problem in a social context, and took steps to address it though social policy reform. Some say that this was a more heavy handed approach to the social problem, and this argument may have some merit given the approaches of other countries. New Zealand prescribes certain circumstances where welfare can be paid, and Australia has a more liberal approach to the welfare system, however all of these approaches seem to function appropriately in their individual contexts.ConclusionIn consideration of the above points, it is quite clear that lone parents are a significant social problem. However, the more prominent problem is that of how to address the issue. It is quite clear that the United Kingdom has a more recent history of reforming social policy on this issue and hold in the distribution of welfare benefits. Is this the most appropriate course of action? Some would suggest no, given the experience of other countries. However, regard needs to be had for the statistics approximately one in four of Britains seven million families are headed by a lone parent, and less than four in ten lone parents in Britain work full time (whic h is a piecemeal 16 hours a week statistically) (Millar and Rowlingson, 2001, p 11). This only serves to supply the debate further, and one needs to consider the legislative and policy-based approach of the United Kingdom in context before judgement on this issue can be passed.BibliographyBooksMillar, J., and Rowlingson, K. (eds), Lone Parents, Employment and Social form _or_ system of government (2001), Bristol The Policy PressJournal ArticlesHughes, J., Lone Parents and Social Security (2005) 36 capital of Seychelles University Wellington Law Review 1Soley, C., Lessons of the Lone Parenting Battle (1997) 126 New Statesman.LegislationSocial Security Act 1965 (NZ)Social Security Act 1991 (AU, Cth)Other SourcesAustralian Bureau of Statistics, June 1999Australian Bureau of Statistics, census 1969 and 1999DPI, census 1999