Class: International Business

1. Compare and contrast geographic and product structures for international companies.

Thanks!

Is BPM an enterprise capability and how best can it be used to drive strategic advantages for the organization?

1. On August 1, Ralph, the owner of a towing company, sends a letter to Blanch, the owner of a used car lot. In the letter, which was signed by Ralph, he offered to sell Blanch 4 specific used cars for $4,000. He also stated, “I will keep this offer open for you until August 15. Please let me know what you decide.”

On August 5, another used car lot owner saw the 4 cars on Ralph’s impound lot and offered him $5,000 cash on the spot. Ralph sold the cars to the other car lot owner. He then emailed Blanch and said, “I’m sorry, the cars are no longer available as I have sold them to someone else.” Blanch received the email but did not respond to it.

On August 10, Blanch mailed a letter to Ralph, which said, “Ralph, I have decided to accept your August 1 offer and purchase the 4 specific used cars. I will come by your lot on August 20 to pick them up and I will bring you payment at that time.” Due to weather problems that affected the mail, Ralph did not receive Blanch’s letter until August 16.

When Blanch went to Ralph’s lot on August 20 to pay for and pick up the cars, Ralph told her that they had already been sold to someone else. Blanch sued Ralph for breach of contract. Discuss, explaining the significance of each communication and action. If Blanch wins the case, what remedies area available to her?

One of the most successful discount department stores in America is known as Wal-Mart stores and is named after its founder Sam Walton. Because of the phenomenal success of these stores, Sam Walton became one of the richest men in America. Also, because of his leadership, the stores have enjoyed continuous growth and expansion, so that by mid 1980s, the chain had over 700 stores and was increasing at the rate of an additional 100 stores per year. Its sales increased annually by over 35% and the profits have soared close to 40% per year every year since 1975.

Sam Walton, until he died in 1992, took personal interest in his employees. His managerial philosophy was to get the right people in the right places and then give them the freedom to be innovative to accomplish their tasks. He called his employees as associates and treated them as associates. As per company policy, all associates are eligible for profit sharing plans that motivate the employees further. The managers of the stores are required and encouraged to meet with their employees in a social setting to discuss their concerns as well as issues of organizational interest, and this makes the employees feel that their input is taken seriously by the management.

Sam Walton himself led a simple life. He did not exhibit any aura about himself, giving the employees a feeling that he was one of them. He and his executives regularly travelled in company owned planes to visit Wal-Mart stores situated at various sites across the country. He met with sales clerks, stock boys and sales managers to find out what items were popular. He knew most of them by their first names and addressed them so. He initiated "employee of the month" in all categories and created honour roles for more successful stores. This created inner competition requiring extra effort to improve sales and service. This policy gained high respect for him as a leader.

Case Questions:

a. How would you describe Sam Walton as an effective leader? What leadership theory is consistent with his leadership style?

b. How important it is for a leader to mix with the employees? How does this leadership style of "being one of the boys" affect the motivation of the employees?

the difference between traditional vs. collaborative leadership styles and then give your opinion on each leadership style. Finally, relate the leadership styles to your country context.  

Locate an article that demonstrates an example of malpractice in the medical field. The example should be no more than three years old. Attempt to find information about an actual case, not one where a possible malpractice has been identified in the media or online. Conduct a search of whatever matter you note to see if there has been an appeal or follow up reporting since its initial action. Summarize in your own words, the details, the finding of the court and the amount of the award to the plaintiffs. Indicate whether you believe the award is commensurate with the reason for the claim and whether you believe the law should be changed to limit this type of award.

Consider the project described in the below Excel

a. Use Excel to find the critical path and the project duration using normal activity times.

b. What is the shortest duration the project can be crashed down to?

c. If you were to crash the project manually and your goal is to minimize crashing cost, which activity would you start with?

d. Find the cheapest way to crash the project to 33 weeks. What are the critical activities in the crashed network, and the cost of crashing?

describe one pay and employee benefits issue for flexible work schedules, compressed workweeks, and telecommuting arrangements. What do you think can be done about each issue?

3. How is the cellular/modular structure different from the network structure? Give at least three differences at least 400 words

Consider the project described in the below Excel

a. Construct an Activity-on-Node network for the project.

b. Determine the critical path using the expected time for each activity (you can use Excel), and the expected project duration.

c. What is the probability that the project will be finished in 3 weeks? In 4 weeks?

Two of the departments in your community are not working together after a flood because of priority conflicts among the leaders of these organizations. In particular, the search and rescue team in the fire department is not happy with the traffic control provided by the police department. What can you do to ensure that this conflict does not hinder post-disaster operations?

• Describe an operation where higher quality will cost more. What is your definition of quality? What does higher quality cost more? If you use a different definition of quality, will higher quality cost less?

Explain Briefly about Technology Managment in 400 words

explain, with examples, the four characteristics of services that a company must consider when designing marketing programs. (Marketing An Introduction 12e)