IMA Ltd.

Material Master Data Solutions

Overview:

In 2019 IMA celebrated 30 years in business. This is a big milestone for the company and clearly demonstrates our credibility and longevity in the market. In 1989 when the company started we were the trailblazers and focused on indirect material data (data related to the spare parts that keep manufacturing equipment running) before there were large ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. At that time our service allowed customers to find their spare parts quicker which allowed them to repair failed production equipment faster; thereby reducing expensive production downtime. Our sales team is responsible for revenue generation pertaining to the sale of our Material Master Data Management services. These services allow asset intensive organizations the ability to leverage normalized data within their ERP to achieve benefits related to reduced production downtime, better MRO part procurement, and the elimination of excess spare part inventory. For the most part our customers consist of manufacturing companies with multiple sites. The sites can range from a few within a province to hundreds worldwide. Customers such as Pepsi, Honda, and McCain Foods have been long time customers and rely on IMA to ensure their data remains best-in-industry.

The price model for our main revenue stream of project data cleanse has remained the same for the last decade; charges vary based on the work performed to each line of customer data. There are three service levels consisting of a cosmetic cleanse, standardization, and item enhancement with pricing by line item of $1.50, $2.50, and $3.50 respectively. Every project is subject to a $5,000 IT fee for data preparation. The average dataset is 60,000 line items but projects range from 2,000 line items to 750,000 line items. The sales team sells $25 million annually worth of project based dataset cleanse services worldwide. Recurring revenue is currently generated from a data governance solution that allows the customer to maintain the integrity of their newly cleansed data condition using a web based portal for item addition and item modification. Users pay $150 per person per month to access this service. Currently the recurring revenue represents $7.5 million or 15% of the company’s overall sales. The sales team is lean and consists of a team of 6 Territory Managers defined globally by geographic region. They report to a VP of Sales. Customer acquisition cost is high (approximately $5,000) due to the technical demand of this type of project. The sales process typically includes initial introductory web conference, customized data evaluation, sales proposal, ROI calculator, in-person proposal review and negotiations, and final proposal acceptance. Social media and the company website generate most of the leads. Competition is limited globally as we compete in a niche market. We project the total market globally for data set cleanse projects to be $500 million.

In 2017 the owners recognized a change in the market. Customers now have Data Governance teams of their own and attempt to perform the IMA services in-house. The IMA executive team allocated $3 million to generate a SAAS model solution that would provide customers the tools they need to clean and maintain their own data. If nothing was done to adapt to the market changes IMA could risk losing the project based revenue steam. Instead, the SAAS would generate a solution for the changed market while creating a new revenue stream for IMA.

The SAAS solution is branded as uManage Pro and consists of the following:

uManage SEARCH – allows users to effectively search their item master data. Currently the typical ERP is weak at best with its search capability.

uManage DATA LIBRARY – users can access a data repository of over 3 million items to assist with item addition. This is the largest single data repository of its kind in the global marketplace. IMA is the first to allow external users to access the data. It has been created over 30 years and would be costly and timely for a competitor to re-create.

uManage DATA GOVERNANCE – this tool allows customers to maintain their data using an embedded data schema. Doing so ensures consistency amongst the data in their item master while preventing duplicate entries. Data Governance includes both the SEARCH and DATA LIBRARY services.

uManage PRO – includes search, data library, data governance, as well as a full cleansing tool that allows the user to clean their own data. This advanced technology replicates the tools IMA has used for the last decade. AI (neural network) is a significant contributor to the SAAS and is the first of its kind.

Market Pricing

Service                                     Monthly cost per user

SEARCH                                   $     49.00

DATA LIBRARY                         $     99.00

DATA GOVERNANCE               $     99.00

uManage Pro                          $5,000.00 (monthly fee, unlimited users)

The challenge:

The executives at IMA recognized the change in the market in 2017 and made a bold decision to prepare for the changes before it was too late. They should be commended for their foresight and their commitment to change the company to meet the market demands. However, hiring a software development team and creating the technology is only a portion of what it takes to maintain their position as markets leaders. IMA has realized that their current marketing team is unfamiliar with the strategies involved in marketing an innovative SAAS. The VP of sales has admitted that his current team is extremely successful at selling the typical IMA project based services however software, specifically SAAS, is an area that they are not currently skilled to sell. The technology is now completed and IMA is unprepared to take their market leading solution to market.

Options to consider:

1.

Do we train the current marketing and sales team to better understand how to perform

their area of responsibility with regards to SAAS?

2.

Do we hire a new marketing/sales team that specializes in SAAS Social Selling?

Marketing?

3.

Can a third party marketing company be leveraged in the short term to augment the

existing marketing team?

4.

Should there be a test period for any of these ideas?

Question. what will be the sale strategy of the company?

b) who will be targeted market and customers?

c) action plan and financial forecast for one year to reach mention target?

What are the concerns about sustaining competitive advantage with Apple and Google?

Many organizations are engaging in mass layoffs (or reductions in force) due to the effects of physical distancing measures.

What are the effects such a decision can have on employees and employers?

What are the alternative options that organizations might consider?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of layoffs versus any alternative options that might be available?

How does Friedman’s claim “anything that can be done will be done” influence sustaining competitive advantage through technology with Apple and Google?

Instruction for students:

Assume that you are the plant manager for Brice Company. The company is plan to implement a bonus system for purchasing and production managers that provides an annual 10 percent bonus for favorable direct materials variances (MPV and MQV).

Required:

Write a report for the CEO in which you explain the primary assumptions and considerations used in making your recommendation.

1. In your opinion, does having a favorable variances is better than unfavorable? In other words, does achieving favorable variances means that managers in charge have to be rewarded? Conversely, does unfavorable variances always reflect a poor performance by the manager in charge?
2. Explain the potential benefits associated with the new bonus system.
3. Elaborate the potential costs associated with the new bonus system.
4. Identify the potential ethical concerns on the new bonus system.
5. Finally, provide the CEO with a recommendation on whether to adopt or not to adopt the new bonus system.

working on a business plan for my business 101 class. what is a good marketing plan and location analysis for a renting clothes business running in New York

You have two candidates for a marketing position. Both have similar educational backgrounds and certifications. However, the first candidate has 20 years of related experience, while the second candidate has 6 years of similar experience. The first candidate is asking for a competitive base salary plus one week extra vacation as part of the benefits package. The second candidate is asking for a competitive base salary plus a company smartphone (upgraded each year) and paid Internet service at home. The first candidate is willing to work a flexible schedule (nights, weekends, etc.), while the second candidate prefers to work remotely from home. Both are requesting to be included in the company's annual bonus plan. Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that includes the following: Compare the direct and indirect compensation requests for each candidate. As an HR professional, what do you think is the best hiring decision for the company, and why? Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

Say It Ain't So! Is this the real thing?

David Ortega is the lead researcher for an upscale restaurant group hoping to add another chain that would compete directly with the upscale Smith and Wollensky restaurants (http://www.smithandwollensky.com). Smith and Wollensky is also considering opening a lesser priced “Grill.” David wants to learn what people are willing to pay for and what sacrifice can be made to deliver a satisfying if not luxurious experiences, and how can he create a unique experience at a lower price?

David decides a qualitative research approach will be useful. He wants to understand how the fine dining experience offers value and what intangibles create value for consumers. He uses a phenomenological approach, and the primary tool of investigation is conversational interviewing. He enters into casual conversations with businesspeople in the lounge of the Ritz Carlton by commenting on the wine he is sipping by saying, “It ain’t bad, but it’s hard to believe they get $14 for a glass of this stuff.”

Comments of the five consumers he conversed with are given verbatim (the comments are not given/included), and he decides to use a word count to try to identify the main themes. He hopes this will clarify the business problem and provide a better understanding of the total value proposition offered by restaurants, wines, hotels, and other products.

In no less than 5 sentences a paragraph, answer the following questions related to the problem.

Questions:

1. Comment on the research approach. Do you feel it was an appropriate choice?

2. [Ethics Question] David did not inform these respondents that he was doing marketing research during these conversations. Why do you think he withheld this information and was it appropriate to do so?

3. [Internet Question] Using the Internet, try to identify at least three restaurants that Smith and Wollensky competes with and three with whom the new S&W grill may compete.

4. Try to interpret the discussions above. You may use one of the approaches discussed in the text. What themes should be coded? What themes occur most frequently? Can the different themes be linked together to form a unit of meaning?

5. What is the result of this research? What should David report back to the restaurant group?

you can see in the following​ table, demand for heart transplant surgery at Washington General Hospital has increased steadily in the past few​ years:

Year 1 2 3 4 5

Heart Transplants 48.0 48.0 53.0 57.0 57.0  

Year 1 2 3 4 5

Heart Transplants 44.0

The director of medical services predicted 6 years ago that demand in year 1 would be 44.0 sureries.

A) using exponential smoothing with a of 60.0 anf the given forecast for year 1, the forecasts for 2 years through 6 are? (round your answers to one decimal place)

For the forecast made using expotienal smoothing with a=60.0 and the given forecasts for year 1, MAD= _ surgeries (round your response to one decimal place)

Using expotiental smoothing with a of 90.0 and the given forecast for year 1, the forcasts for years 2 through 6 are (round your responses to one decimal place)

For the forecast made using expotiental smoothing with a=0.90 and given forecast for year 1, MAD= _ surgeries (round your response to one decimal place)

b) forecasts for years 4 through 6 using a 3 year moving average are? (round your response to one decimal place)

For forecast made using a 3 year moving average MAD = _ surgeries (round your answer to one decimal place)

C) forecasts for years 1 through 6 using the trend-projection method are (round your response to one decimal place)

For forecasts made using the trend-projection method, MAD= _ surgeries (round your response to one decimal place)

D) based on the comparison of MAD, the best forecast is archived using the _ method

In ethical decision making. discuss about the important of fundamental principles and core values. (750 words)

You are a community leader with a long experience in fighting for quality improvement in health care. The new CEO of the most important hospital (nonprofit) in your city received the mandate from the Board of Directors (BOD) to set a formal patient and family advisory council (PAC). This council will report directly to the BOD. Additionally, the BOD has appointed you as the first Chair of the PAC.

You are told that the hospital has serious problems in quality and performance.

Following the Five C’s rationale

• Identify at least two possible problems by each C (a total of 10 problems) that you presume the hospital might be having;
• Discuss how the PAC could cooperate in solving those problems. If you think that the PAC would not have any role in addressing/solving the problem, please say so for each problem and mention who could address them.

please this is a health care system question not nursing or psychology.

Frederick Taylor is most famous for:

Question 18 options:

Question 19 (5 points)

The company that relies on computer and telecommunications technologies instead of physical presence for communication between employees is a:

Question 19 options:

Question 20 (5 points)

Strategy is the concept of how an organization will achieve its objectives; therefore strategic management is

Question 20 options:

How does the company deal with conflict and negotiation?  

whats the impact od social media during recruiting also what benefit job hunters get from these social media during job hunting?