Outline the rationale for legal rights and safeguards of shareholders.

Assignment Instructions and Approach:

1. Login to Saudi Digital Library (SDL).
2. Click on “Open Access” The search engine page will open
3. In search engine of SDL write the following title as keyword and click search button.

“PKC Laundries: a start-up business at the crossroads”

4. Open the research article, read it thoroughly and answer the assignment questions.
5. Besides this research paper use other relevant material also to support your answers.
6. Support your submission with further scientific references.
7. Use Saudi Electronic University academic writing standards and APA style guidelines

Assignment Questions:

1. Critically analyze the Problems faced by the young entrepreneurs and strategies to overcome those problems. (Marks 2)
2. Discuss the challenges of PKC as an aggregator business and the scope of what PKC can do in the future to strengthen its position. (Marks 2)
3. Discuss the various marketing management issues such as segmenting, targeting and positioning? (Marks 1)

2. The Queen City Style Company makes several lines of skirts, dresses, and sport coats. Recently, a consultant suggested that the company reevaluate its South Islander line and allocate its resources to products that would maximize contribution to profits and to overhead. Each product requires the same polyester fabric and must pass through the cutting and sewing departments. The following data were collected for the study: Product Processing Time (hr) Material (yd) Max. Demand Cutting Sewing Skirt 1 1 1 - Dress 3 4 1 - Sport coat 4 6 4 150 The cutting department has 1000 hours of capacity, sewing has 1600 hours of capacity, and 800 yards of material are available. Each skirt contributes $8 to profits and overhead; each dress, $10; and each sport coat $35.

a. Specify the objective function and constraints for this problem and Use Excel Solver to solve the problem, and then generate Answer Report and Sensitivity Report. What is the best mix that maximizes the profit? What are the binding constraints?

2. The Queen City Style Company makes several lines of skirts, dresses, and sport coats. Recently, a consultant suggested that the company reevaluate its South Islander line and allocate its resources to products that would maximize contribution to profits and to overhead. Each product requires the same polyester fabric and must pass through the cutting and sewing departments. The following data were collected for the study: Product Processing Time (hr) Material (yd) Max. Demand Cutting Sewing Skirt 1 1 1 - Dress 3 4 1 - Sport coat 4 6 4 150 The cutting department has 1000 hours of capacity, sewing has 1600 hours of capacity, and 800 yards of material are available. Each skirt contributes $8 to profits and overhead; each dress, $10; and each sport coat $35.

d. How would you interpret the shadow price = 3 and the allowable increase = 25, which you obtain for the maximum demand constraint in the sensitivity report? Interpret this with the marketing effort to increase demand.

e. How does the shadow price of a resource change if the limited resource decreases by the allowable decrease limit? If the resource increases by the allowable increase limit?

Jersey Dairies, Inc. faced increasing competition that threatened its dominant market share in the Pacific Northwest. Senior management at the 300-employee dairy food processing company decided that the best way to maintain or increase market share was to take the plunge into a quality management (QM) program. Jersey hired consultants to educate management and employees about the QM process, and sent several managers to QM seminars. A steering team of managers and a few employees visited other QM companies throughout North America.
To strengthen the company’s QM focus, Jersey president Tina Stavros created a new position called vice-president of quality, and hired James Alder into that position. Alder, who previously worked as a QM consultant at a major consulting firm, was enthusiastic about implementing a complete QM program. One of Alder’s first accomplishments was convincing management to give every employee in the organization several days of training in quality measurement (e.g., Pareto diagrams), structured problem solving, and related QM practices. Jersey’s largely unskilled workforce had difficulty learning this material, so the training took longer than expected and another round was required one year later.
Alder worked with production managers to form continuous improvement (CI) teams—groups of employees who looked for ways to cut costs, time, and space throughout the work process. Although Alder was enthusiastic about CI teams, most supervisors and employees were reluctant to get involved.
Supervisors complained that the CI teams were “asking too many questions” about activities in their department. Less than one-quarter of the production areas formed CI teams because employees thought QM was a fancy way for management to speed up the work. This view was reinforced by some of management’s subsequent actions, such as setting higher production targets and requiring employees to complete the tasks of those who were absent from work.
To gain more support for QM, Jersey president Tina Stavros spoke regularly to employees and supervisors about how QM was their answer to beating the competition and saving jobs. Although these talks took her away from other duties, she wanted every employee to know that their primary objective was to improve customer service and production efficiency in the company. To encourage more involvement in the CI teams, Stavros and Alder warned employees that they must support the QM program to save their jobs. To further emphasize this message, the company placed large signs throughout the company’s production facilities that said, “Our Jobs Depend on Satisfied Customers” and “Quality Management: Our Competitive Advantage.”
Alder and Stavros agreed that Jersey’s suppliers must have a strong commitment toward the QM philosophy, so Jersey’s purchasing manager was told to get suppliers “on board” or find alternative sources. Unfortunately, the purchasing manager preferred a more collegial and passive involvement with suppliers, so he was replaced a few months later.
The new purchasing manager informed suppliers that they should begin a QM program immediately because Jersey would negotiate for lower prices in the next contracts and would evaluate their bids partly based on their QM programs. Twenty months after Jersey Dairies began its QM journey, Tina Stavros accepted a lucrative job offer from a large food products company in the Midwest. Jersey Dairies promoted its vice-president of finance, Thomas Cheun, to the president’s job.
The board of directors was concerned about Jersey’s falling profits over the previous couple of years and wanted Cheun to strengthen the bottom line. Although some CI teams did find cost savings, these were mostly offset by higher expenses. The company had nearly tripled its training
budget and had significantly higher paid-time-off costs as employees took these courses. A considerable sum was spent on customer surveys and focus groups. Employee turnover was higher, mainly due to dissatisfaction with the QM program. Just before Stavros left the company, she received word that several employees had contacted the Commercial Food Workers Union about organizing Jersey’s nonunion production workforce.
A group of suppliers asked for a confidential meeting in which they told Cheun to reconsider the QM demands on them. They complained that their long-term relationships with Jersey were being damaged and that other dairies were being more realistic about price, quality, and delivery requirements. Two major suppliers bluntly stated that they might decide to end their contracts with Jersey rather than agree to Jersey’s demands.
Almost two years after Jersey Dairies began QM, Thomas Cheun announced that James Alder was leaving Jersey Dairies, that the position of vice-president of quality would no longer exist, and that the company would end several QM initiatives begun over the previous two years. Instead, Jersey Dairies, Inc. would use better marketing strategies and introduce new technologies to improve its competitive position in the marketplace.
Discussion Questions
1. What perspective of organizational effectiveness did Tina Stavros and James Alder attempt to apply in this case?
2. Describe how specific elements of that perspective related to their interventions.
3. Explain what went wrong in this case, using one or more of the other perspectives of organizational effectiveness.

what products do not go well with e-commerce?

FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis)

Smelly Gus’s Gas Station sells gasoline. Each non-diesel station carries 87, 89, and 93 octane unleaded gasoline. Customers must prepay for gasoline by inserting a credit card or by prepaying with cash inside the station.

Instructions

Complete a FMEA. Identify the pump’s: function(s), potential failures, potential effects of failures, potential causes of failures, and any possible process controls. Determine Criticality for each potential failure.

Using the Clampitt et al (2000) model identify strategies for effective communication. Explain

Dear Students,

Fallowing is the topic for discussion and contributing your knowledge and experience to enhance the topic learning.

Participate in discussion and post your idea, opinion and thinking.

Participation is compulsory to all students and this discussion will be graded out of assignments grade.

Those who are not participating in this discussion forum , they will loose their grades.

Total Grades = 05

Last date for submission = 2/4/2020

Good Luck,,,

Discussion points:-

Discuss the implication of Just-in-time and lean thinking for logistics.

Compare and contrast lean supply with agile supply.

pls answer in the computer not a papper

Strong corporate culture, ability to adapt is best blueprint for going global: Lenovo

The blueprint for any company that pursues international expansion starts with building a strong entrepreneurial culture that adapts to the times, according to Chinese technology giant Lenovo Group.

It is a business principle that has served Lenovo well in its decades-long transformation from a start-up electronics company in mainland China in 1984 into the world's biggest supplier of personal computers.

"When a company becomes bigger, make sure that there is a unique culture committed to execute its strategy," Ivan Cheung, Lenovo executive director and general manager for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, said in his interview at the South China Morning Post's Game Changers Forum 3 on Tuesday.

Lenovo has been a role model for many Chinese technology companies since it acquired IBM's PC business in 2005. Photo: AFP

Lenovo has been a role model for many Chinese technology companies since it rapidly expanded its international operations after acquiring the personal computer division of IBM for US$1.75 billion in 2005.

The computer giant, which operates in more than 160 countries, has continued its expansion with the purchase last year of Motorola Mobility for US$2.91 billion from Google and the commodity x86 server business of IBM for US$2.1 billion.

"We're trying to replicate our success in the PC industry, in the smartphone and enterprise server businesses," Cheung said.

He pointed out that Lenovo translated the principles of accountability and entrepreneurship into a few action points: "We plan before we commit; we perform as we promise; we prioritise company first; and we practice improving everyday."

In their book The Lenovo Way, authors Gina Qiao and Yolanda Conyers said the strong corporate culture keeps the company prepared to change and diversify.

"The Chinese have a saying: To cultivate trees, you need 10 years. To cultivate people, you need 100 years. That's fine with us because we know how to be patient," the authors wrote.

Amid changes in the global economy and evolving consumer tastes, start-ups must also realise that being adaptable can help them survive tough times.

Lenovo currently finds itself in need to be more nimble as global personal computer sales continue to decline and competition in the smartphone and commodity server businesses intensify.

The company last month announced that it was laying off 3,200 employees in non- manufacturing jobs, out of its total 60,000 worldwide staff, under a sweeping restructuring plan.

That would help the company reduce expenses by US$650 million in the second half of its fiscal year to March and US$1.35 billion on an annual basis.

The restructuring will see Motorola be responsible for designing, developing and manufacturing smartphones. The production supply chain for personal computers and servers will also be integrated.

Yang Yuanqing, the chairman and chief executive at Lenovo, said last month that the company targeted a 30 per cent global market share in personal computers and the turnaround of its mobile devices business in two to three quarters.

Question:

What changes did Lenovo undergo? Process change or strategic cultural change? Explain your answers based on the consideration of the theme of change, driving force, and the degree of the organization changes. What are the reasons for Lenovo’s to success?

Blaze Manufacturing Company is using a weighted criteria evaluation system to certify suppliers.  Oronto Enterprise, Mintco Company and Vertona Ltd. supply Blaze with components for their manufacturing process. Blaze Mfg. has scored Oronto, Mintco and Vertona on a scale of 0 to 100 (see table below).

Performance Criteria	Weight	Oronto (Score 0-100)	Mintco (Score 0-100)	Vertona (Score 0-100)
Technology	25%	85	80	60
Quality	20%	90	92	72
Environmental Responsibility	15%	84	85	70
Price	15%	77	80	65
On-time deliveries	10%	86	83	80
Flexibility	5%	84	85	90
Customer Service	10%	83	83	70

a) Based on the weights used in the evaluation system, what is Blaze Manufacturing’s purchasing objective?  [2 points]

b) If Blaze Mfg. classifies their vendors based on the following criteria:

i. Unacceptable (score less than 50)

ii. Conditional (score between 50 and 70)

iii. Certified (score between 70 and 90) and

iv. Preferred (score greater than 90)

how well are their suppliers Oronto, Mintco and Vertona doing?  Show all calculations. [4 points]

	A.	a)  The company's purchasing objective is to place the highest value on technology and quality. b)  Oronto classified as Certified, with a score of 84.00,   Mintco classified as Certified, with a score of 74.00 and   Vertona classified as Conditional, with a score of 65.25
	B.	a)  The company's purchasing objective is to place the highest value on technology and quality. b)  Oronto classified as Certified, with a score of 84.50,   Mintco classified as Certified, with a score of 84.00 and   Vertona classified as Conditional, with a score of 69.15
	C.	a)  The company's purchasing objective is to place the highest value on flexibility. b)  Oronto classified as Certified, with a score of 84.50,   Mintco classified as Certified, with a score of 84.00 and   Vertona classified as Conditional, with a score of 69.15
	D.	a)  The company's purchasing objective is to place the highest value on flexibility. b)  Oronto classified as Certified, with a score of 80.50,   Mintco classified as Certified, with a score of 81.25 and   Vertona classified as Conditional, with a score of 68.75

C A S E S T U DY 5-1 Accountabilities, Objectives, and Standards Below is an actual job description for a sourcing and procurement internship position that was available at Disney Consumer Products/Studios. Based on the information in the job description, create accountabilities, objectives, and standards for this position. TITLE Graduate Associate, Sourcing, & Procurement (Disney Consumer Products/Studios) THE POSITION • Provide analytical support for sourcing projects impacting business units, specifically targeting Disney Consumer Products & Studios. • Benchmark current pricing models and develop new approaches to pricing/buying various products and services that yield creative and business advantage. • Support the continuing efforts to increase the percentage of spend influenced, specifically as it relates to business units where we have had only a minor impact. • Assist in the development of spend profiles, key stakeholder lists, savings opportunities where existing contracts are leveraged, savings opportunities in commodity areas that have not been sourced. • Assist in developing overall Sourcing & Procurement strategy for partnering with business units, specifically targeting Disney Consumer Products & Studios. THE COMPANY The Walt Disney Company is a diversified, international family entertainment and media company with 2003 annual revenues of $27.1 billion. Its operations include theme parks and resorts, filmed entertainment, including motion pictures and television shows, home video and DVD products, records, broadcast and cable networks, Internet and direct marketing, consumer products, radio and television stations, theatrical productions, publishing activities, and professional sports enterprises. THE IDEAL CANDIDATE • Ability to conceptualize issues and problems and develop hypotheses around appropriate responses. • Intellectual curiosity and professional commitment to excellence. • Superior analytical skills defined by an ability to identify and rearticulate critical aspects of a business situation from a large data pool (both qualitative and quantitative). • Superior Microsoft Excel modeling skills. • Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build relationships. • Ability to work independently. • Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks, meanwhile retaining focus on project deliverables and strategic priorities. THE OPPORTUNITY This will be an opportunity for an MBA intern to utilize project management skills he or she has learned in the classroom. The intern will be faced with difficult and/or skeptical clients and will learn how to work with them. They will have an opportunity to execute portions of the sourcing methodology and work in teams. This will also be an opportunity for those individuals who have not experienced working in Corporate America, and for those that have had some experience, to further their learnings. The intern will gain experience from working in the Media and Entertainment industry. Through these various experiences, we hope the intern will find value in the internship we are offering.

Evaluating Objectives and Standards Using the results from Case Study 5.1, use the accompanying checklist to evaluate each objective and standard you produced. For each objective and standard, use the first column in the checklist, and place a check mark next to each of the ideal characteristics if the characteristic is present. Then, use the Comments column to provide a description of why or why each objective and standard meets or does not meet the ideal. Finally, review your tables, and provide an overall assessment of the quality of the objectives and standards you created.

Objectives must have the following characteristics: Comments Specific and clear Challenging Agreed upon Significant Prioritized Bound by time Achievable Fully communicated Flexible Limited in number Performance standards must have the following characteristics: Comments Related to the position Concrete, specific, and measurable Practical to measure Meaningful Realistic and achievable Reviewed regularly

Mini case study – Scottish Parliament: the £431m question

Scotland’s new parliament building cost more than 10 times the original estimate and opened three years behind schedule.

Official cost estimates changed 10 times and ballooned from the initial £40 million estimate to a final £431 million.

The procurement model chosen for Holyrood in early 1998 has emerged as the root of the problem. A fast-track contracting method known as construction management was used to build the parliament. It works by splitting a large building job into numerous smaller packages that are designed, tendered and let independently of one another.

Its main advantage is to speed up construction, because the overall design does not have to be complete before basic building work can begin.

It does not allow a client to know the total cost of a project until well after work has begun. It is considered risky for the client, which is responsible for running each individual package – in this case more than 60.

The project cost escalated from about £40 million in 1997 to £109 million in 1999, £241 million in 2001 and £294 million in 2002, and finally £431 million in February 2004. There were 18,000 design change orders over the five years of construction, combining

to form a three-year delay. Requests for design freezes on three occasions were ignored. The reality is that construction management was the only contract option for a client

wanting to make an early start on a project that was still at the design concept stage.
It is also clear that this was a classic case of procurement expertise being bypassed. The procurement department at the Scottish Office was not involved in the project. It was

not consulted over the procurement model.
There is nothing wrong with construction management as a procurement route. It is

best suited to high-quality, potentially high-cost projects, where the client is fully engaged, has a clear goal and works closely with the supply side team.

Some estimates put the money lost to delays and backtracking over design changes at as much as £100 million. If one trade contractor has a problem, it tends to ripple through all the others and cause delay and changes. The contracts are with the client, so the client picks up the cost of that.

However, between the extremes of fixed speedy construction management, a host of options exist under the heading of ‘conventional’ procurement. Their structures affect the risk and control over the final design that falls to the client.

The ‘design and build’ route would have seen the project management team drawing up a detailed design brief, which the main contractor then builds. It leaves the contractor footing the bill for cost overruns, but freezes the design as well.

A middle-of-the-road option, prime contracting, keeps design more open, but cuts the risk of costs going up if things go wrong. This is because a contractor joins the client’s project management team, and brings its entire supply chain of proven builders and suppliers along.

Then there is management contracting, where the client retains the design brief fully and splits up the project into small packages to be individually let, as in construction management. However, a professional intermediary runs all of the contractors on a daily basis, although they are still contracted to the client, which pays for design alterations.

Management contracting may, it seems, have given a more stable framework to the project by introducing an industry expert to run the many contractors.

Construction management was not the most suitable procurement vehicle. Sir Michael Latham, whose influential 1994 report, ‘Constructing the Team’, called on the construction industry to move towards partnering in the supply chain, says that full partnering should have been used to share the risk between client and contractor.

Discussion Question:

1. What was the nature of the procurement including the organization that conducted it and Who was involved in the procurement?

2. What was the process followed (briefly)?

3. Critique the procedure indicating what went wrong and how costly it was.

4. Suggest necessary improvements.

Discuss the risk-benefit analysis, please provide examples of its application.

The Uniform Commercial Code: Negotiable Instruments and Secured Transactions

Marvin Mower (MM) is a college student trying to earn a few extra bucks. Marvin mows yards on the side, and he cuts the lawn for Ursula Unhappy (UU). UU writes MM a document for his work. The document acknowledges MM performed work, and that UU owed MM $50. MM doesn’t have time to get to the bank, so MM gives the document to Tommy Thirdparty (TT), who pays him $40 for it. Predictably, before TT can try to recover $50, UU is unhappy with MM’s work, and refuses to pay TT. Keeping your “eye on the ball” (limiting your post to this week’s material), discuss all the possible rights and responsibilities these three have to each other concerning the check and the yard.