1. State the two(2) types of implementation control that Apple Inc. could use to assist their overall strategy.                                                                                               (6 marks)

Questions:

Discuss three operation research (OR) problems of Amazon, and explain appropriate quantitative methods (QM) which may help solve the problems.

Amazon uses e-commerce to lower inventory and facility costs, but processing costs and transportation costs increase. Amazon is able to decrease inventories by consolidating them in a few locations. A bookstore chain, on the other hand, must carry the title at every store. Amazon carries high-volume titles in inventory, but purchases low-volume titles from distributors in response to a customer order. This also tends to lower costs because the distributor is aggregating (consolidating) orders across bookstores in addition to Amazon.

E-commerce allows Amazon to lower facility costs because it does not need the retail infrastructure that a bookstore chain must have. Initially, Amazon did not have a warehouse and purchased all books from distributors. When demand volumes were low, the distributor was a more economical source. However, as demand grew, Amazon opened its own warehouses for high-volume books. Thus, Amazon's facility costs are growing but still remain lower than for a bookstore chain. Amazon does, however, incur higher order-processing costs than a bookstore chain. At a bookstore, the customer selects the books, and only cashiers are needed to receive payment. At Amazon, no cashiers are needed, but every order is picked from the warehouse and packed for delivery. For books that are received from distributors, additional handling at Amazon adds to the cost of processing orders.

Amazon's distribution incurs higher transportation costs than a retail store. Local bookstores do not have the cost of shipments to customers, as most customers take the books with them at the time of the sale. Amazon, in contrast, incurs this cost—which represents a significant fraction of the cost of a book (as high as 100% on an inexpensive book). As demand has grown, Amazon has opened six warehouses, with more than 3 million square feet, in an effort to get close to the customer, decrease transportation costs, and improve response time.

Due to Covid-19, businesses have had to shift how they market their products and services. I would like to see an example that you feel did a great job of this over the last couple of months. PLEASE USE WALMART

3. Does your product/company do Retail Marketing? How has it changed? Provide a few sentences of detail.

6. How do you think the company/brand/product/service you selected can utilize this to create a competitive advantage? Provide a few sentences of detail.

Can you think of any instances in which non-shared, traditional approaches to leadership would be preferable to a shared leadership approach? What are they, and how are they preferable? What sort of situational or individual factors lead to the traditional approach being more effective in these instances?

Describe 3 topics or concepts that are of your interests that you would like to get
more details and have a better understanding for business info system
Please answer the following questions:
1. List the top 3 concepts of topics of your interests
2. Describe the reasons of interests
3. Describe the impact and/or implications that you think these concepts may have on your study, activities anr/or work.

Please be descriptive and provide concrete details/explanation.

What is competition like in the printer/copier hardware industry? What is the competitive strength of buyers and suppliers? How strong are the threats of substitute products and new entrants to the industry? How strong is rivalry among competing firms? Explain.

Select “true” for those statements that are accurate and choose “false” for those that are not.

1. There is not a direct substitute for printing and copying or the subsequent maintenance activities. However, companies are moving toward cloud technology and digital documents.
   (Click to select)  True  False
   
2. The bargaining power of suppliers is low in this industry.
   (Click to select)  True  False
   
3. Component suppliers are unable to leapfrog over large printer/copier companies because of the high degree of skill required to manufacture these products.
   (Click to select)  True  False
   
4. Buyer bargaining power is low for this industry; buyers do not have the ability to negotiate the price of services/products.
   (Click to select)  True  False

1. What are your recommendations for this company in order to be more ethical (for both internal and external stakeholders)? Be creative in this.

Even organizations as large and successful as State Farm Insurance have to plan for the future. Without planning, strategies can become obsolete as the environment changes, and organizations can miss opportunities for growth. In short, an organization without adequate planning has no sense of direction or purpose and risks becoming mired in the present or the past. For State Farm, planning involved helping customers plan for their future.

State Farm has been a leader in the highly competitive insurance industry for more than   80 years. The company, proclaimed in its ads as being “like a good neighbor,” has been at the forefront of insuring customer liabilities. With 16,000 exclusive insurance agents across the United States, State Farm management believed it had a perfect opportunity to add more financial services. The deregulation of the banking industry in 1999 and the explosion of the Internet paved the way to achieving this goal. Today, State Farm Bank offers traditional services like loans and deposit accounts, but without actual bank buildings and at lower fees. Clients can do every typical banking transaction either on-line, over the telephone via State Farm’s 24/7 call center, through ATM machines, or through the same agents that sell the company’s insurance products.

State Farm’s move into banking was no simple matter. To protect consumers, it has had to meet requirements keeping the line between insurance and banking very clear. The State Farm insurance company provides insurance products and services and is required by law to be separate from the State Farm banking company that offers loans and deposit instruments. The State Farm mutual fund organization is yet another separate entity providing mutual funds through agents. Since State Farm mixes multiple businesses, it doesn’t have the same flexibility as traditional banks. For example, State Farm Bank doesn’t provide loans directly through automobile dealerships. It is subject to federal banking laws rather than state laws because it is technically a thrift institution, a category that includes savings banks and savings and loan organizations.  

Diversifying into different businesses is creating new opportunities for State Farm, and banking services is natural fit. Agents find that their insurance review is the perfect opportunity to bring up the topic of financial services and to make customers aware of their company’s available services. Now when clients buy a new car or change insurance coverage, an agent can offer to help them with the loan; it’s a natural to talk about auto insurance and auto financing. Perhaps the best example of the flexibility State Farm can offer customers is found in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Customers with mortgages through State Farm Bank received two 90-day extensions on loan payments. State Farm also forgave the interest on credit cards and allowed customers to miss payments for a period of time.

For now, State Farm Bank is focused on growing the business among current customers and adding new ones as clients refer friends and relatives. A unique bank with tremendous resources, State Farm Bank sees excellent opportunities to expand business beyond retail customers.

In summary: State Farm Bank resulted from the insurance company’s plan to diversify into the financial services sector. With more than 16,000 agents selling insurance products nationwide, moving into banking services was a natural fit, though not a simple transition. Now when State Farm agents talk to customers about homeowner or auto insurance they can also discuss financing options. State Farm Bank presents tremendous growth opportunities for State Farm.

1. What is the impact of State Farm Bank on the society?

2. What is a market segment (s)? Describe whether the State Farm Bank is working B2C or B2B? or both?

3. What are the prominent values State Farm Bank’s founders should have held?

The world post Covid 19 has created the concept of social distancing which will impact on the way we do business. Online purchasing is expected to increase because it will reduce human interaction and contribute to the reduction of Covid 19 related illnesses. However, online purchases have created contemporary legal issues which may be a novel for most legal systems in several Caribbean Countries.

You are required to critically discuss the concept of online purchases and the various methods used in online transactions with supporting case laws.

Secondly, critically discuss FIVE (5) CONTEMPORY CASE LAWS related to online purchasing at the International Level, focusing on the judgements handed down in those cases and most importantly how do you think that will impact on the Caribbean online purchaser.

Finally, bearing in mind your answers above; what do you think (your opinion) that Caribbean Governments can initiate via its legal systems to enhance and protect online purchasers legal rights?

1. What artifacts, espoused values, enacted values and norms, and assumptions demonstrate the culture of Southwest Airlines?

.Centralized and decentralized service offer some challenges to the food service .what are these challenges and how they are best addressed please explain ?

7)If a venture does not have the potential to be scaled up and capture a significant share of a market then venture capital may not be an appropriate funding source. True or False?

8) Base your answers on data at Crunchbase.com. The pre-money value of Zoom before the series A funding round was $6 million.  True or False?

9)Successful venture capital investing depends on finding and financing companies that offer “big market” opportunities.  True or False?

10)The risk of overvaluing a venture in an early venture capital round is that future investors may be unwilling to buy additional shares at this high valuation and this could starve the company of essential capital.  True or False?

What are some of the intended and unintended consequences of using recommendation engines? Explain in 3 sentences

HOW NEW YORK GOVERNOR AND THE US GOVERNOR GOT IT WRONG ELDER DURING THE CORONA VIRUS OUTBREAK