Identify and explain the steps of a Supreme Court case. Begin with how the Supreme Court selects cases and then explain the actual steps of a Supreme Court hearing of a case. Lastly, explain the three types of opinions issued by the justices afterward.

Read the following case carefully and then answer the questions.

In the movie Face/Off, John Travolta got a new look by exchanging faces with Nicolas Cage. Unfortunately, he got a lot of trouble along with it. John could receive a much less troublesome new look by using Botox, a treatment discovered by Vancouver’s Dr. Jean Carruthers, who came upon the cosmetic potential of Botox in 1982 while treating a woman with eye spasms.

Botox is marketed by Allergan, a specialty pharmaceutical firm. Founded in 1950, Allergan, Inc., with headquarters in Irvine, California.

In 1990, Allergan was just a small firm selling little-known eye and skin drugs and over-the-counter contact lens cleaners. The introduction of Botox wasn’t such a big deal initially. After all, typical of Allergan specialty products, it was just another specialty drug aimed at a small market (treatment of cross-eye) and supported by little marketing effort.

That was before doctors discovered that injecting Botox around eyes not only eliminated ocular problems, it erased frown lines as well. Once that happened, the buzz was on between doctors and patients. Before long, plastic surgeons across Canada were giving face-saving injections. Demand also grew for the drug from American doctors, but they initially had to give it to patients as an “off-label” treatment since Botox was not approved by the FDA for cosmetic use until the spring of 2002. Even though Allergan could not initially openly market the product for cosmetic purposes in the United States, by 2001 sales of Botox rocketed to $585 million and were growing between 25 percent and 35 percent per year. That translates into over 1.6 billion Botox cosmetic procedures performed on roughly 850,000 patients.

The good news for Allergan does not end with wiping out frown lines. Botox also effectively treats migraine headaches, chronic neck and back pain, excessive sweating, and possibly spastic disorders. With all those target markets, Botox could become a blockbuster drug – with more than a billion dollars in sales – bringing Allergan out of the backwaters of the pharmaceutical business.

Botox Cosmetic is botulinum toxin A, a heavily diluted version of the feared botulinum toxin found in spoiled canned soups and vegetables. It contains only 20 units of the toxin, compared to the thousands of units found in spoiled food, but it works in the same way – by paralysing facial muscles to the point where they can no longer contract.

Frown lines are definitely a sign of age, use, and wear. They occur when facial muscles contract, drawing the skin up. When the muscles relax, the lines disappear. As we get older, it becomes more difficult to relax, so that we seldom fully relax our facial muscles.

Although eliminating frown lines sounds great, there is at least one small problem. Totally relaxed forehead muscles leave you incapable of rendering any expression at or above the eyes. For the celebrities and stars that were among the first to use Botox, this resulted in “performance” problems. One TV star commented that when the director kept telling her to show anger, she replied “I am, I am.” Unfortunately, nothing was moving on the upper half of her face. As a consequence, she stopped using Botox except for Emmy awards night!

For others, however, the loss of expression might be a positive. Business people seeking a softer look might want to eliminate frown lines that make them look irritated or impatient. Trial lawyers attempting to establish rapport with juries might want to eliminate expressions of annoyance and anger. And sales representatives might want to appear unperturbed by what their clients and customers are saying. But while some observers think Botox could give us a kinder, gentler-looking population, others think it could turn us into a world of zombies.

Besides loss of expression, Botox produces additional side effects. When used on the forehead and around the eyes, Botox can cause drooping eyelids (you won’t be able to close or open them completely – this could be either a sexy or a dopey look). Used around the mouth, Botox may cause slurred speech, a droopy mouth, and constant drooling. Other possible side effects include nausea, allergic reactions, headaches, respiratory infections, flu symptoms, and redness and swelling around the injections. The redness and swelling usually go away in a couple of days.

Because a Botox cosmetic treatment lasts only three to six months, all side effects are temporary. This also means, however, that Botox treatments must be repeated when the effects wear off. While that is bad news for consumers, it’s good news for doctors and marketers of the drug. The margins on Botox are quite high – around 80 percent. A vial of Botox Cosmetic costs about $780.00 and can be used for four injections. May patients have more than four injections during a single visit because they get multiple areas on their face injected with Botox so depending on the doctor’s pricing scheme, each treatment can be $975 to $1900. That’s quite a nifty profit for a treatment that usually takes less than 15 minutes and it’s quite a bill for the patient, because insurance companies do not pay for Botox Cosmetic treatments.

Botox has become so lucrative and the demand so great that the treatments are sometimes offered in a party atmosphere. Doctors usually ask a current patient to invite 10 to 15 prospective clients to a party at his or her home, where the partygoers are offered such tidbits as chocolates, brie, and champagne. After a brief social period, the doctor gives a short lecture on Botox and invites the partygoers to sign up go treatment. Patients take turns leaving the room, to take the applause of other partygoers, and the doctor gives the injections in private. Parties provide a nonclinical atmosphere more conductive to patients receptivity and reduce the time and costs incurred by the doctor. Even good champagne costs less than nurses, receptionists, and rent, and the doctor can give patients a price break- maybe charging only $250 per treatment at a party. Thus, parties are “good” for everyone, Some doctors, however, object to the “party scene” on the basis that this is a medical treatment and not a social gimmick. Therefore, thy hold multiple client sessions in their offices in the evening with the same benefits of price breaks for patients and lower costs and less time for themselves.

Once allowed to advertise Botox for cosmetic purposes, Allergan wanted to capitalize on its popularity. It identified the primary market as the approximately 29 million women between the ages of 30 and 54 with household incomes over $95,000. Within that market, the company believed that 7 million women greatly concerned about their appearance were likely to be heavy users. While women constitute the bulk of the market, there are also plenty of guys who want a smoother forehead. Middle-aged men made up 13.8 percent of the market for Botox in 2001, up from 6.1 percent the year before, making males the fastest-growing user segment.

To reach these markets, Allergan began spending $98 million on marketing in 2002. The backbone of this consumer-oriented campaign was advertisements on TV and in twenty-four magazines such as People, The New Yorker, Vogue, andInStyle. Allergan estimated that 90 percent of the audience would see ads at least ten times a year. Most of the ads featured models in everyday clothing and wearing wedding bands - a look that communicated the message that Botox is for everyone.

In addition to the consumer campaign, Allergan began an industry outreach campaign directed at doctors and pharmacists. Beginning with the company website (www.allergan.com), health professionals could obtain information about Botox and its use. The company also beefed up its sales force and armed salespeople with promotional materials for distribution to health professionals. Finally, it conducted clinics demonstrating the appropriate use of Botox in treating patients for cosmetic purposes.

All of this was part of CEO David Pyott’s plan to move Allergan into position as a major player in the pharmaceuticals industry. When he took office in 1998, he found that Allergan had not changed its strategy in decades. Among his first moves were closing plants, slashing jobs, and cutting overhead. To refocus the company, he selected target industries for growth and started making the moves necessary to achieve that growth. The company increased R&D expenditures by 26 percent and expanded the sales force by 28 percent. As a result, Allergan actually employed more people by the end of 2002 than it had two years earlier. The expanded sales force allowed Allergan to establish relationships with many more doctors and pharmacists, relationships that Pyott believes are the basis for sales growth. After all, patients don’t buy treatments directly; doctors buy Botox and use it on patients. As of 2009, David Pyott remains Chairman of the Board and CEO.

Allergan’s major growth opportunity is the ophthalmologic market, where rival Alcon is number one. The second growth target will be dermatology, where Botox gives the company a major advantage and where it can grow by acquiring new formulas or purchasing a license from a foreign producer. Doing that is more cost-effective than developing new products in the R&D laboratory from scratch.Allergan increased R&D spending 13 percent in 2008 over 2007, to approximately $729 million. Allergan ranks in the top quartile of its peer group companies for R&D investment as a percentage of sales in both the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

Sales of Botox fuel much of this growth, as Allergan’s margins on Botox are about 60 percent. To prevent the competition from developing their own Botox, the formula for making it is one of the most closely held secrets in the world. With the dollars from Botox, Allergan can increase its marketing efforts, add products to its line, and attack competitors. The best news of all is that sales of Botox are not likely to decline unless consumers and movie starts suddenly face up to this age – wrinkles and all.

1- Write a positioning statement for Botox to communicate with customers.

2- Into which consumer product classification does the Botox fall? What are the implications of this classification for Allergan’s marketing strategy?

3- What new product pricing strategy do you think Allergan used when it introduced the Botox?

4- Based on the desirable qualities that a good brand name should possess; what is your opinion of Botox (which is a preparation of botulinum toxin used to treat muscle spasm and to remove wrinkles) as a brand name? Why?

5- Explain the distribution strategy used by Allergan to distribute Botox?

6- Draw the various flows in marketing channel of Botox and the direction of these flows.

7- If you are asked to develop an effective communication campaign to promote Botox in the Middle East, explain briefly the steps of developing this campaign.

1. What are the current issues with managing the supply chain? In general, how can blockchain technology address some of the issues facing the supply chain?

2. Discuss challenges of adopting blockchain technology into a company’s existing supply chain.

3. Ideally, what kinds of companies and businesses can benefit from adopting and implementing blockchain within their supply chain?

What are some of the operating challenges related to Supply Chain Management the Canadian company may encounter when shipping to Germany and China in today’s market environment?

How would you implement a training and development program in a huge company?

Provide a detailed VRIO Analysis of Huawei in light of the 2018 Huawei Sustainability Report.

The analysis should discuss the resources and capabilities of the company which provides a sustainable competitive advantage.

The response should be 1200 words long.

Compose an email. In the email, briefly differentiate the features of the 5 BI tools by addressing at least 1 main strength and 1 main weakness of each.

List the top few leaders (at least 4) at your company that will be involved in the product marketing for a cake company:Title and a 1 or 2 sentence description of how they will be involved

Exploring Culture

focuses on culture; specifically the culture of the organization. Our authors define culture as a set of shared assumptions that determines how we act in the workplace (paraphrased from p. 283).

Let's get comfortable describing our workplace in terms of culture.  

In your initial post:

1. Come up with your own definition of culture. What is the culture like at your company? (If you're not currently working, use your most recent position.)
2. Formally identify one aspect of the culture using one of the three levels of organizational culture. Describe which type of culture exists using the competing values framework.
3. Reflect on your responses - do you think you experience person-organization fit?

WinCo Foods, a large Discount grocery retailer in the western United States, promotes itself as the lowest priced grocery retailer. In newspaper ads WinCo Foods published a price comparison for products between WinCo and several competing grocery retailers. One of the retailers compared against WinCo was Walmart, also known as a low price competitor. WinCo selected a variety of prodcts, listed the price of the product charges at each retailers, and showed the sales receipt to prove the prices at WinCo were the lowest in the area. A sample of the products and their prices comparison at both WinCo and Walmart are shown in the following table:

1. What is the null and alternative hypothesis to the case above?
2. Copy the data into excel and do an analysis to test the hypothesis
3. What is the conclusion of your analysis? (State it in terms of the case or scenario)
4. At the bottom of the price list, the following statement appears: “ Though this list is not intended to represent a typical weekly grocery order or a random list of grocery items, WinCo continues to be the area’s low price leader” Why do you think WinCo added this statement?

I have to do a discussion about this question and I'm having trouble finding legitimate sources:

"How can we ensure that farmers and ranchers, not government agencies, are driving the management of natural resources?"

Anything would be appreciated!

Marketing has been described as being both an "art" and a "science." Discuss the differences and similarities between these two marketing thrusts. Provide your theoretical response and a "real-life" example where you have seen both processes work effectively at creating customer value and loyalty.

An analyst must decide between two different forecasting techniques for weekly sales of roller blades: a linear trend equation and the naive approach. The linear trend equation is Ft = 125 + 2.0t, and it was developed using data from periods 1 through 10. Based on data for periods 11 through 20 as shown in the table, which of these two methods has the greater accuracy if MAD and MSE are used? (Round your intermediate calculations and final answers to 2 decimal places.)

CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN BUSINESS LAW: Chapter 12, Page 223, Case 3

Sly operated a used-car business. He sold Fox an automobile that he indicated was in good condition and suitable for use by Fox as a taxi. In the course of this discussion, Sly stated that, in his opinion, the vehicle was “hardly broken in,” as the odometer registered only 26,000 kilometres. Sly suggested that Fox test drive the car to satisfy himself as to its condition. Fox did so and, on his return from a short drive, agreed to purchase the automobile for $12,000. Fox signed a purchase agreement whereby he would pay for the car by monthly installments over a three-year period. On the completion of the transaction, Sly immediately sold the purchase agreement to the Neighbourhood Finance Company for $10,000. Fox was duly notified in writing of the assignment. A week later, the automobile broke down. When the vehicle was examined by a mechanic, Fox was informed that most of the running gear and the engine were virtually worn out. Unknown to both Sly and Fox, the previous owner had driven the automobile 226,000 kilometres and the odometer, which registered only six digits (including tenths of kilometres), was now counting the third time over. When Fox discovered the condition of the automobile, he refused to make payments to the finance company. Discuss the rights of the parties in this transaction.