Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational investment banking firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients.

History:

Goldman Sachs was founded in New York in 1869 by the German-born Marcus Goldman In 1882, Goldman's son-in-law Samuel Sachs joined the firm. In 1885, Goldman took his son Henry and his son-in-law Ludwig Dreyfuss into the business and the firm adopted its present name, Goldman Sachs & Co.

Services:

• Investment Banking services include advisory assignments with respect to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, risk management, restructurings and spin-offs, and debt and equity underwriting of public offerings and private placements, as well as derivative transactions directly related to these activities. 
• Investment Client Services facilitate client transactions and make markets in fixed income, equity, currency and commodity products, primarily with institutional clients such as corporates, financial institutions, investment funds and governments.
• Investing and Lending: They also invest in and originate loans to provide financing to clients. They also make investments, directly and indirectly through funds that we manage, in debt securities, loans, public and private equity securities, real estate, consolidated investment entities and power generation facilities.
• Investment Management: They provide investment management services and offer investment products across all major asset classes to a diverse set of institutional and individual clients. They also offer wealth advisory services, including portfolio management and financial counseling, and brokerage and other transaction services to high-net-worth individuals and families. 

Market share:

In the last couple of years Goldman Sachs has been losing it's competitive edge because of the number of scams which have come up within it the customers have started losing trust.

Geographical Spread:

Goldman sachs offices are spread throughout the world being one of the top financial institutions in the world and almost all of us are either directly or indirectly using their services. Because even the money deposited by us in the banks is finally invested in these investment banking firms.

This is because of our inherent human nature wherein we are not satisfied with what we have and always crave for more.

Business Principles:

Goldman Sachs does not have any vision or mission statement instead they have Business principles because of the nature of the business involved i.e. what really is required is a set of ethics and principles to be followed when one is responsible for other peoples money. The business principles as laid down by Goldman Sachs are:

1. OUR CLIENTS’ INTERESTS ALWAYS COME FIRST.
2. OUR ASSETS ARE OUR PEOPLE, CAPITAL AND REPUTATION.
3. OUR GOAL IS TO PROVIDE SUPERIOR RETURNS TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS.
4. WE TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN THE PROFESSIONAL QUALITY OF OUR WORK.
5.  WE STRESS CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION IN EVERYTHING WE DO.
6. WE MAKE AN UNUSUAL EFFORT TO IDENTIFY AND RECRUIT THE VERY BEST PERSON FOR EVERY JOB.
7. WE OFFER OUR PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE AHEAD MORE RAPIDLY THAN IS POSSIBLE AT MOST OTHER PLACES.
8. WE STRESS TEAMWORK IN EVERYTHING WE DO.
9. THE DEDICATION OF OUR PEOPLE TO THE FIRM AND THE INTENSE EFFORT THEY GIVE THEIR JOBS ARE GREATER THAN ONE FINDS IN MOST OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.
10. WE CONSIDER OUR SIZE AN ASSET THAT WE TRY HARD TO PRESERVE.
11. WE CONSTANTLY STRIVE TO ANTICIPATE THE RAPIDLY CHANGING NEEDS OF OUR CLIENTS AND TO DEVELOP NEW SERVICES TO MEET THOSE NEEDS.
12. INTEGRITY AND HONESTY ARE AT THE HEART OF OUR BUSINESS.
13. OUR BUSINESS IS HIGHLY COMPETITIVE, AND WE AGGRESSIVELY SEEK TO EXPAND OUR CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS.
14. WE REGULARLY RECEIVE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AS PART OF OUR NORMAL CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS.

As can be Seen from the above principles Goldman Sachs is mainly looking forward to having honest, competent and Efficient individuals. It is only with such individuals that the organization can hope to achive excellence. Also, as seen from the principles laid above Goldman Sachs expects it's employees to be the best thereby behaving as Theory Y Managers.

Organizational Structure and Top Management:

The above structure shows the Top Management and the lays down the different departments involved. It also shows the chain of command existing in the organization. Also, as can be seen from the structure it is a tall organization as there are a lot of departments involved and therefore it requires a lot of coordination and exchange of information between the departments. Also, the model followed here is that of Specialization coupled with Decentralization of command. Because, in such an organization one single person cannot be expected to know everything. And because of the inherent risk of money involved each and every employee needs to be monitored and accounted for, this brings in the decentralization of command to better track the employees.
It has a 32,400 strong workforce spread out all over the world.

Awards and Recognition:

• Ranked 33 in FORTUNE-100 Best Companies to Work For in 2012 and included on the list every year since inception.
• Ranked 39 in The World's Most Admired Companies, March 2012
• Barron's Listed it as one of The World's Most Respected Companies in February 2011 
• Working Mother listed it under 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in September 2011 
• In June 2011 The Sunday Times listed it under 25 Best Big Companies to Work For 
• Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Award (2012)
• Innovation Award for Workplace Equality from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (2011)
• Human Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work in Banking and Financial Services (2004-2012) 
• Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index—Rating of 100% (2004-2012) 
• Stonewall Workplace Equality Index: Britain’s Top Employers for LGBT professionals—Ranked #6 overall and #1 Investment Bank (2012) 
• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s Diversity Leadership Award (2011, 2009, 2006) 
• Working Mother Magazine’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women (2009 - 2011) 
• Working Mother Magazine's 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers (2005-2011) 
• ACE Golden Key Award from the Utah Governor’s Committee (2011) 
• Charity Times’s Corporate Social Responsibility Project of the Year Award (2011)

And many more....