Describe a medium-size African business by focusing on the following matters:

The goal of the firm

Partner relations

Organizational Culture

HR practices(specifically practices related to work systems, staffing, performance management, compensation, employee labor relations)

Make sure you can contract between the Western firms and African firms on each of these elements, including the sub-elements.

Simon Sinek says the idea that great leaders and organizations use is the golden circle consisting of what, how, and why. He explained these three components and how leaders use this.

How you feel these should be executed in today's business world? I am looking for good, thought out answers with a lot of depth.

As an intern at a midsized company, you have been asked to submit ideas for improving remote working and managing productivity amid coronavirus outbreak. You will be attending a meeting with your supervisor in order to discuss your ideas and their implementation.

Your task. Prepare an email outlining five to ten suggestions for improving and managing productivity and remote working practice. Address your email to your direct supervisor, Ms. Yunnie Isab, at [email protected], who requested the ideas prior to the meeting.

Subject: Business Communication . Textbook: Essentials of Business Communication (Mary Ellen Gufey).

What types of quality measures might be used by a company to evaluate the overall effectiveness of systems and practices?

What types of analysis can managers perform to help them diagnose a company's financial condition?

How do benchmarking and certification help companies establish their overall effectiveness?

In the end analysis, what elements of budgeting and quality analysis might you recommend for a small, sole proprietorship versus a large, publicly coordinated corporation? Why?

Cross-cultural management and organizational behavior in Africa

Breaking into Africa: Developing a tailored approach

Issues in Cross-cultural management

Eight Principles of modern Africa

Dimension of culture

1) Because of population growth, the state of Washington has been given an additional seat in the House of Representatives, making a total of ten. The state legislature, which is currently controlled by the Republicans, needs to develop a plan for redistricting the state. There are 18 major cities in the state of Washington that need to be assigned to 1 of the 10 congressional districts. The next table gives the numbers of registered democrats and registered republicans in each city. Each district must contain between 150,000 and 350,000 of these registered voters. Use Evolutionary Solver to assign each city to 1 of the 10 congressional districts in order to maximize the number of districts that have more registered Republicans than registered Democrats (hint: use the SUMIF function; decision variables must be >=1 and <=10). City Democrat Republican 1 152 62 2 81 59 3 75 83 4 34 52 5 62 87 6 38 87 7 48 69 8 74 49 9 98 62 10 66 72 11 83 75 12 86 82 13 72 83 14 28 53 15 112 98 16 45 82 17 93 68 18 72 98 USING EXCEL AND SUMIF FUNCTION SHOW ALL WORK

Mary Guffey has identified six main dimensions of professional workplace behaviors that employers desire. However, many professionals feel like they have a split personality. There is the side they portray in the workplace, then, there is another side that they only reveal to family and friends. As a Gen-Zer, what are your thoughts on this? Can you be yourself at work while still being professional? If yes, then how?

Subject: Business Communication. Textbook: Essentials of Business Communication (Mary Ellen Guffey)

A Major League baseball team wants to reach out to fans in their stadium to offer them seat upgrades. Which technology would you suggest they use?

Multiple Choice

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Beacon

• Network

• Interconnected

If Katy Perry tweets a closeup of her eyelashes, lengthened using her favorite CoverGirl mascara, CoverGirl will have instantly reached all her millions of followers. This is an example of the

Multiple Choice

• network effect.

• connected effect.

• information effect.

• dynamic effect.

• timeliness effect.

What is the third step involved in developing and implementing a digital marketing campaign?

Multiple Choice

• develop the budget

• identify the target audience

• develop the campaign

• identify a strategy and goals

• analyze digital marketing analytics

It is important to determine the amount of traffic using a particular site, visits to the blogs, or tweets about the site. A measure used for this purpose is the number of

Multiple Choice

• hits.

• clicks.

• page views.

• click paths.

• conversions.

The company that you work for, Gem Jewelry, wants to analyze data that come from other sites, such as measuring where people have come from to get to Gem’s site. What would you recommend that your company use to determine how people searched the Internet to find its products?

Multiple Choice

• showrooming

• keyword analysis

• bounce rate

• conversion rate

• click path

Jose’s company recently launched a campaign to promote a new product. It is Jose’s job to monitor customer feedback from various social media sources to see whether or not the new product is garnering favorable reviews. The technique for measuring this type of data is called ______ analysis.

Multiple Choice

• customer review

• situation

• sentiment

• product

• user feedback

A person who has downloaded the Flipboard app on his or her smartphone to get full-screen magazines, multiple news and entertainment sources, entertainment, local news, and business news is attempting to fulfill which motivation for using a mobile application?

Multiple Choice

• preparation

• discovery

• accomplishing

• self-expression

• socializing

Which of the seven critical elements of online marketing is best addressed by thought-sharing sites?

Multiple Choice

• context

• core plans

• community

• content

• connection

How does a microblog differ from a personal blog?

Multiple Choice

• A microblog contains professional content, whereas a personal blog contains only personal content.

• Microblogs allow people to share their thoughts, opinions, and feelings with the entire world, while personal blogs are created by and usually for individuals.

• A microblog is categorized as a media-sharing site, whereas a personal blog is characterized as a thought-sharing site.

• A microblog is utilized by corporations to disseminate product information, whereas a personal blog is utilized by individuals for social purposes.

• A microblog can be evaluated by social media marketers while a personal blog cannot.

What type of blogs are central to their digital marketing efforts?

Multiple Choice

• professional blogs

• personal blogs

• microblogs

• personal blogs

• corporate blogs

The second element of website design involves the traditional contextual elements. What do these contextual elements needed to be aligned with?

Multiple Choice

• search criteria

• target market(s)

• corporate blogs

• online marketing activities

• digital communities

To get customers excited about a digital offer, the offer must be

Multiple Choice

• innovative and substantial.

• timely and aimed at a broad-based audience.

• relevant and aimed at a target audience.

• isolated and trendy.

• general and unique.

Red Letter Days encourages Facebook and Twitter followers to post pictures with their mother and tell why she deserves a day off and a chance to win a free lunch at a top London restaurant. In doing so, the restaurant is focusing on which aspect of the 4E framework?

Multiple Choice

• educating

• enlightening

• experiencing

• employing

• exciting

For the following case study address the questions in details (paragraphs, No bullets)

What did Mattel do at the time and in the future? Did they succeed in winning back consumer confidence?

Mattel's Product Recalls (B): Managing the Crisis

'Mattel lnc.'s public apology to China for damage to the country's reputation stemming from a spate of toy recalls is an extraordinary attempt to placate theworid's largest toy maker's most important supplier."'

The "111Street Journal

'The recent outcry over poisonous pet food and the recall of lead-tainted toys sourced by Mattelin China proves one thing:We have a China problem. It is not,however, a China problem in the way most people think. Itis not a problemwith safety standards that threaten ourchildren and ourpets.It is a problemwith the very fact of China as an emerging force on the- global economic stage,and it underscores a profound and worrying trend in American politicaland economic IWe. For half a century we fought for the creation of a globalcapitalist system.Now that we haveone, we seemto haveforgottenone littlething:Capitalism means competition,and we are acting like we can't handle it."'

The "111Street Journal

With a flashback of product llablllty accusations,Mattelfinally decided to recall all Its defective toys. Thereby,Ina perlcd of 4 months from August-November 2007,Mattelrecalled several toys from Its different brands like Fisher Price,Barbie,PONer Wheels,Polly Pocket,etc. InaddlUon,Its chairmanand CEO,Robert Eckert (Eckert)and executive vice president for worldwide operations,Thomas A. Debrowskl,publicly apologised saying that Mattel takes full responslblllty for the crisis.

Mattel's Spate of Recalls in 2007

A23-year veteran of Kraft Foods Inc.',Eckert became Mattel's chairman and CEO InMay 2000 and successfully led the company throughtheyearsto winback customer confidence,amid a slew of product recalls. With the same commitment, In response to the scores of complaints/reports received from customers and public opinion cops, Mattel - Incooperationwith Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) - announced three voluntary recallsof Its China-made toys between August-September 2007.

Firstly,onAugust 1• 2007,Mattelwithdrew 1.5 million Fisher Price unit toys that Included various products like SesameStreet's Big Birdand Elmoand Nlckelcdeon'sDora,the Explorer,etc.,due toexcess lead Inthe surface paint of thetoys. TherecallIncluded those prcducts thatwere manufactured betweenAprll 19"2007 and July 6"2007,and were sold at different retailstores between May-August 2007.

The second recall was onAugust 14"' 2007,when Mattel pulled back more than 18 million toys,which Included Do;igle Daycare,Polly Pocket,Batman Magna,Barbieand Tanner sets and One Piece toys. This was because of the presence of small magnets In dolls and accessories that may come loose and If swallowed may cause Intestinal perforation or blockage. And also Its 'Sarge' dlecast Plxar fllm cars were recalled due to lead contamination In its surface paint.While 436,000 toy carswere recalled due toleadcontamination,18.2 milIIontoyswerewithdrawnowing to loose magnets.' Earlier In November 2006,Mattelcollected neany 170 repats of loose magnetsonItsPolly Pocket toys and recalled over 2 millionunits (Exhibit Ill of theCase Study (A)).The samewas expanded InAugust 2007 after collecting additional400 reports. It Included those that are manufactured betweenJanuary 2002 and January 2007, and sold at retail stores between January 2003 and August 2007.

Again,on September 4'2007, Mattel recalled 848,000 toys due to lead contamination In the surface paint. It Included (I) 675,000 Barbie accessory toys manufactured between September 30" 2006 and August 20" 2007 and sdd from October 2006 throughAugust 2007 (II) 8,900 units of Big Big Wond 6 n-1Bongo Bandtoys of Fisher Price sddbetweenJuly-August 2007and (Ill) 90,000 Geo Trax Locomotive toys manufactured betweenJuly 31" 2006 and August 20•2007,and sold betweenSeptember 2006 throughAugust 2007.

Publicopinioncops raised Issueswith continuous recalls andonSeptember 12'2007,Mattelwas asked totestify before a Senate subcommittee seeking explanation for a senes of high-profile product recalls. Eckert apologised, "Like many of you,Iam a parent. I,like you, care deeply about the safety of children.And I,like you,am deeply disturbed and disappointed by recent events. As to lead paint on ourproducts,our systems were circumvented,and our standards were violated. We were let down,and so we let you down. On behalf of Matteland Its nearly 30,000 employees, Iapologise slncerely....We are doing everything we canto prevent this from happening again."'

The Fingerpointing - Mattel vs Chinese Manufacturers

WhileMattelblamedChinese manufacturers,the Chinesegovernmentaccused Mattel.Already China-madeprcducts were underIncreasing fire,with recalls onevery thing from toys and tyres to seafood and pet food; It was brandedas a country of shoddy production.Though China Is emerglng as a powerful economic force,by serving as the wond's factory,safety concerns over Chinese products tarnished Its Image. Actually,Mattel's main supplierof car prcducts, Early Light lndustnalsubcontracted painting toanothercompanycalled Hong LIDa. Insteadof using the paint supplied by Eany Light,Hong LI Da used lead-contaminated paint and thiswas the nubof the problem.

This made many headlines In American newspapers and other media about unsafe products from China, and caused considerable damage to the 'Made in China' label. Mattel blamed Its Chinese manufacturers for breaking safety rules andstandards. As a resul some Chinese factories Involved Inthe recallswere shut down. Cheung Shu-hung,ownerof Hong Kong-based Lee Der IndustrialCo. -one of Mattel's suppliers who produced faulty toys - committed suicide. The Chineseofficials enraged atAmencancntlcism,defended domestic manufacturers,saying that most recalled products had designflaws (Exhibit I).Americanscapegoating of China hurt It so muchthat It Insisted Mattelapologise for unfalny blaming Its manufacturers for Mattel's design flaws.

OnSeptember 21''2007,ThomasA.Debrowskl,Mattel'sexecutivevicepresident forworldwideoperations,delivered a public apology,saying that Mattelhas a deep commitment In continuing Its business relationship with the Chinese government. In his words,'Mattel takes full responslblllty for these recalls and apolcglses personally to you, the Chinesepeople,and all of ourcustomerswhoreceivedthetoys. It's Important foreveryoneto understand that thevast majority of thoseproductsthatwe recalledwere theresultof adesignflaw InMattel's design,not throughamanufacturing flaw In Chinese manufacturers."' Eckerttoo pied,'We apolcglse again toeveryoneaffected and promise thatwewill continue to focus on ensuring the safety and quality of our toys.'" Many analysts andexperts lauded Mattel's apology as aneffective strategic action Inhandling the cnsls. Andrew Krulwich,a former generalcounselfor the US Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC), says,·1 can't think of any other Instancewhere"a major toy company' has actually come outwith sucha public announcementof defect."'While Eric Johnson,professor at Dartmouth'sTuck Schoolof Business called Mattel's public apology asa'novelpolicy

move' toavoid 'potentialfriction'.'After all,companies,and notcountries, areliable for what they sellunderthe label.

Mattel's Way of Handling the Toy Crisis

After a series of recalls Involving over 21 million toys In just 2 months,Mattelwas In trouble.There were recall costs,new monitoring systemsandquality controls,potentiallawsuits anddamage to Its Imageduring holiday shopping season.This shook up MattelIndealing public relations Issues across the world. Thereby,Mattel focused on advertising and PR campaigns for the holiday season. Michele Sturdivant,a spokeswomanat Mattel,says,·weare a marketing drivencompany,soItwould be safeto assume that weabsolutely need to address this during the holiday season."'0 It published print ads Innationalnewspapers like The New Yori<nmes to reassure parents about the safety of Mattel toys and Its revival efforts after the crisis. A new webpage (www.mattel.c011/safety) was created and featured a video about Eckert's explanation.In his words,"As a parent of four children myself Iknow that nothing Is more Important than the safety of our children. Iwantto ensure that every parent hears about these Issues and returns these products to us. Ican't change what's happened In the past, but I canchange how we work Inthe future.'"' He told reporters thathe was not Insisting for any federalsafety standards -"Idon'trely onanyoneelse to ensure the safety of ourproducts. This Is ourconcern.'' With a hope that hisads and website will ease parentalconcerns,he stressed,"Ithink It's Important to establish a dialog with parents. Iwant to make sure they hear from me.'"' Affected consumers were asked to fill out anonllne form or provide Informationonphone,to receive refund or replacement. He Initiated and Implemented a three-stage safety checksystemfor preventing lead contaminationintoy paints: (I) To use paint only fromcertified suppliers andto test every single batchof paint at fNery singlevendor;abandoning it, Ifa batchdoes notpass the test (ii) To increase testing andunannounced Inspections atevery stage of the production process and(Ill) To test finished toys fromevery productlonrun for lead content,before delivering tothestore shelves.

MattelIs keenonconducting anIn-depth Investigationof allIts products,to Identify anydefects andrecallthem,no matter how minor the defect may be. Eckert Is upbeat,'We have hundreds of people 01the ground [now] In China,doing safety checks. We'vebeenprcduclng toys InChina formany years. What'sImportant here isnot that something happened...but how we respond.'" In October 2007, Eckert flew to China and met vendors and safety experts there -to ensure Implementationof the revised safety monitoring system.Regarding costs associated with safety monitoring system,he assures that It would be below 1% of Its totalcost of sales."

As part of these Initiatives,Mattelannounced additionalrecalls of some of its toys due to lead contamination In paint (Exhibit 11).

The Impact and the Future Outlook

Though Mattelswiftly responded to the toy crisis,Its performance was stillaffected. Its net Income for the third quarterended September30"2007was $237 million,as against $239 millionfor the same period In 2006. Netsales of$1.84 billionrecorded a 3% rise,butmissed analysts' estimatesof$1.91billion." It faced charges of$40 milliondue to product recalls,as sales declined by $30-$50 millioncaused bydisruptions to Its supply chainand revoked Import licenses." Eckert announced that Mattel's overall growth was primarily driven by Its Internationalsales with Its core brands - Fisher Price and Dlsney/Plxar Cars -stillgoing strong. However,sales In the US were a bit sluggish.In an August 13"report, Gerrlck Johnson,analyst at BMO CapitalMarkets estimated that Mattel's revenues would come downby $25 million In 2007 and by $40 mllllai In 2008."

The 'Cars'line toys,to;iether with thenew Radlca gamesandpuzzles,oonstltuted 29% Increase Insales for Mattel's entertainment toys unit,while a 9% surge In global sales of Wheels unit were driven by demand for Hct Wheels and Matchbox brands. However,during the samequarter,FisherPrice sales fellby 34% In the US as against 21% globally. Similarly,domestic sales for Barbie fell by 19% asagainst lntematlaialsales by 4%."Froma year-to-date high,Mattel's stock price fell by 25% and under performed thanrivals like Hasbroand JAKKS Pacific .

"While product recallsclouded this quarter's results,thecompany's domestic business continuesto underperform, a factor that we belleve will continue to weigh on the stock,"'9 says Felicia Hendrix, analyst at Lehman Brothers. Further,Increased prcduct testing resulted In delayed shlpments and banon Mattel's Imports Incountries like Brazil had a significant Impact on Its performance.Thereby, analysts opine that Mattel's sales In the fourth quarter - that account fornearly half of year-on profits,during the holiday shopping seain - may significantly get affected. But Eckert was satisfied with the company's third quarter performance - 'Despite the challenges the company faced during the third quarter,the business has performed falny well,even with some supply chain disruptions that Impactedsales.'"" Outof the million toys that Mattel produceseach year,Eckert feels that the recalled units In 2007 are small. Christopher Byrne,an Independent toy lndustiy consultan asserts that the Impact of recalls on Mattel- both financially as well as In public opinion - is negligible. He says,"Mattel's systems are so strong that they were able to containtwo-thirds of the product from evergetting Into the maiketplace. That's good news and should make peoplevery confident about Mattel.""

Eckert was also optimistic about company's future performance. In his words,'There will be a Christmas and Mattel,Flsher-Pnce,Radlca andAmerican Girltoyswill beunder the tree. I'mconfident that this year's toyswillbe the safest ever."' Such positive outlook came from 2006's top-selling Matteltoys like the T.M.X. Elmo doll. Additionally,to recoopfromdecliningdcrnesHcsales for Barbiebrand for thethirdconsecutiveyear,MattelIntroduced new multimedia products. Its site (www.barbleglrls.com) allowsgirls to play and Interact oollne,and 'Barbie of the Island' Is a direct-to-home DVD. Both these supposedly boost Mattel's sales In the holiday season. In Fisher Price uni Mattel Introduced new Smart Cycle,a 'physical learning arcade system'.Through this,It expects that video game-related toys would beccrne morepopular and even parents would like It for its educationalfeatures.

Sean McGowan,analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities,who rated Mattel's Investments as 'buy',expected It to show strong sales and earnings growth In2008,with recall-related disruptions limited to 2007. In a research note he wrote,"Exdudlng the effect of these costs and disruptions,results would have met or exceeded our estimate.'"' Analyst estimateson earnings of major toycompaniesshow that Matteloutperforms Its rivals like Hasbro and JAKKS Pacific (Exhibit IV).

Mattel Is not alone Inthis keen locus onquality controland safety monltonng systems.Severaltoy llcensors and tradeassociations raised safety measures and Initiated third party testing. Major toy companies likeWalt Disney Co., Toys"R"Us Inc., Viacom Inc., KB Toys Inc.,Nlckelodaon and Sesame Workshop Increased their product Inspection plans. Evena US trade group,Toy Industry Associationwas insisting Congress to make toy testingmandatory.

Onthe other end,absence of comprehensiverulesgoverning recalls and Inability to track reportsonlnjunes from defective products made Chinese manufacturersandsuppliers resellthe recalled productsthroughthebackdoor.This was partlculany the case with those recalled for manufactunng flaws,with foreign companies not ready to pay the domestic manufacturers for the defective toys. So,goods banned In the West are still sold spuriously to Chinese consumers. Soonhong Min,professor of marketing and supply chain management at Price College of Business, Oklahoma University,says,"After a recall,the (factory that made the toy for the foreign company will) try Its best to recover money by distributing the defective products Inthe localmarket. That Is nothing new."'

Many analysts were scepticalabout howwell toy companies like Mattelwithdrew all their recalled products from markets across theglobe. The Wall Street Journal notes,'It raises questions about the responsibility of multinational companies tokeep dangerous toys off the shelves Inpartsof thewondwhereconsumer-protectionlaws areweakand the threat of legalllablllty Is relatively low - butalso about theirability to do so.""

In October,The wanStreet Journal bought Mattel's four recalled toys Including Barbie kitchensetwith lead pain Polly Pocket play setcontaining potentially loose magnets,anda Fisher Price Infant swing (that wasrecalledworldwide because infants suffered Injuries, cuts and bruises for getting trapped between the swing seat and Its frame) from sellers on Taobao.com,China's leading onllne consumer auction site. In the same month, this site listed many toys from Mattel's recalled products andthe sellers also claimed that theyhad as many as 100of eachtoy forsale.'" Mattel was allegedly unaware of this,a monthafter the newspaper reported It.

However,Mattelwas not the only suchtoy company.Montreal-based Mega brands lnc.'s Magnetlx buildingsets wererecalled InApril 2007 due to hazards from loose magnets. AnAmerican child even died after swallowing a tiny magnet that fellout loose from thebuilding set. Butthe samecolourfulsets are frund InChinese retail outletslike New China Children's Store,one of the Beijing's popular toy stores. Similarly,RC2 Corp.'s Thomas and Friends wocden trains were recalled In June 2007 for Impermissible levels of lead In surface paint but were still found in Tian Hao Mcdels toy store. Both got these recalled toys from authorised distributors,sub-distributors and even Individual wholesalers whogot the supplies from the toy factories In southern China.

Thereby,Matteland Mega Brands Inc. hired third-party companies to destroy all the recalled toys either at the factory or after they are collected from distributors and retailers. But,Frederick Felman,chief marketing officer for a US-based brand protection company,Markmonltor,says,"Unless you're very diligent about destroying the toys, the toys could re-enter the market.''27Thereby,Matteland Mega Brands strictly monitored destruction of all recalled toys - whether they are sent abroad or sold In the Chinese market. While Mattel enforced video documentation for all cases of toy destruction in the absence of Mattel's staff,Mega Brands made the company destroying Its toys certify the same.

In spite of efforts to communicate recall information to consumers - either by sending a statement,publishing onllne or translating the documents Into Chinese - Mattel extensively relied on Its Chinese dlstnbutors to transmit recall Informationacross thesupplychaln. Moreover,few sellers of Matteltoys ccrnplalnedthat they received lnccrnplete lnformatlai about the recalls. Gao Yunyun,a Taobao toy seller from Shenzhen,asserts,'We still get peoplewhowant to buy recalled products. Ifind It very strange that nobody kno.vs about these things.•,.

Addressing these Issues,Lisa Marie Bongiovanni,a Mattel'sspokeswoman,says,"Mattel's primaryresponslblllty Is to go through proper channels to notify the retailer butthat the company Isn't responsible for dangerous toys after theyhave reachedthe retailer.Once we sellthe product to the Wal-Marts of theworld or a smalltoyshop InChina,we don't have control over It.""To counter scandals on sub-standard Chinese exports,China Initiated measures - like organising cabinet-level safety conference, setting up product safety working group and a nation-wide 'rectification campaign'.A four-month product-safety Initiative,Included new regulations particularly with food and toy recalls,was launched InAugust 2007. It Is also planning toestablish a comprehensiveproduct safety legislation thatwould Include settingup a database for recalled products and, a system for tracing products and their components through the supply chain. However, Implementation remains complicated due to the Involvement of multiple government bureaucracies. Liu Zhaobln,an officialatAQSIQ",says that the agency functions are restricted only to Issuing recallnotices and stopping manufacture andsaleof recalled prcducts;actually theAdministration of Industry and Commerce monitors retail sales channels.As a result,>Mth worldwide outcry about their safety,China-made productswere cast out.

Fall of 'Made in China and Renaissance of 'Made in USA'

Recall of China made prcducts Including those of Mattel reduced their demand. For Instance,a YouGov survey commissioned by a trade publication Marketing Week, stated that nearly 40% of British consumers are less likely to buy China-made toys because of Mattel's recall crisis. Further,some retailers are thinking about sourcing their toys from Europe rather thanChina."As a resul toymakersand retailers Inthe USwere cashingon people's aversion towards China-made products- by mounting ad campaigns highlighting 'Made In USA' tags. It Included things like appearance of American flags on corporate websites,toy package with patriotic colours,usage of 'Made In USA' labels,etc. It Includes many major domestictoymakers - likeK'Nex Industries Inc. (a family-ownedcompany that produces construction sets In Hatfield,Pennsylvania),Step2 Co. (that makes outdoor playsets and plastic kiddie furniture,based In Streetsboro, Ohio),Michigan-based Walled Lake company,etc. Even retailers like FAO Schwarz are giving prominent shelf space for 'Made in USA' products. John Gessert,president of American Plastic Toys Inc., says,"Suddenly,It's becoming a realselling factor as they look at the package.'"'

As cited In Case Study (A),with 80% of the world's toys made In China,analysts opine that the smart move of homemade markeHng during holiday shoppingseason,may not work out In the long run. It Is more so for Mattelthat makes 65% of Itstoys InChina. The Wall Street Joumal notes,"But since thedawnof the Americanrepublic,we have never faced the kindof economic challenge that China presents. It Is playing the game of globalcapitalism almost as adepHyasweare,and our response for nowseems to be a mixture of fear and disbelief. Ratherthan seeing China as addingto anexpandingglobaleconomic pie,we treat Its ascendance as a zero-sum proposlHon for our workers,our companies, our currency and nowevenour health.While the evdutlon of China and the US Is anything but certain, and while each face Internal Issues that could derail the steady move forward,one thing should be fairly clear: Our China problem Is goingto harnl us more than Itwill derail China.'"' Moreover,notaily for Mattel,trading with China Is appealing to any other global player - due to Its low-coot manufacturing base,reliable Infrastructure and ability to produce at lower costs.

What type of problems in supply chain can be addressed by the travelling thief problem?

What are some of the techniques that are useful to learn from mistakes that are made on a project? Think of some of the examples we discussed in class (eg. Challenger, Bay of Pigs, etc). What are thing these organizations did to learn from mistakes? What is an example of something they could have done?

For each scenarios below "hr strategy: responding to a union organizing drive, assume that the union won and is now bargaining for a contract.

As a local union leader developing a strike contingency plan, what particular concerns should you have in each scenario?

ACME AUTO PARTS Acme Auto Parts is a small nonunion manufacturer of auto parts located in a small town in the South. The work is repetitive and routine. There are no particular skill or educational requirements for the production employees. Acme sells nearly all its parts to the Big Three automakers (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) according to the specifications they provide. The highly unionized Big Three have largely outsourced the manufacturing of parts. Many of their traditional parts suppliers have closed their unionized operations in Michigan and opened nonunion plants in the South and in Mexico. The Big Three, however, continue to face competitive cost pressures from the Japanese car companies and therefore are continually trying to wring cost concessions from their suppliers. The parts workers at various companies that are still represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) face demands for concessions during every contract negotiation. The UAW is therefore trying to organize the nonunion parts factories. You have seen UAW organizers in town trying to contact Acme workers for the past few weeks. This morning you overheard two workers talking about the UAW.

THE ZINNIA The Zinnia is a 300-room hotel in the central business district of a major Midwestern metropolitan area. This is a full-service hotel—a hotel providing a wide variety of services including food and beverage facilities and meeting rooms—that caters to individual business travelers, convention attendees, and local businesspeople who need meeting space. The Zinnia emphasizes outstanding service and amenities and is owned by a prominent local real estate magnate, Ms. Lucy Baldercash, who closely monitors the management and financial performance of her diversified properties. Many of this city’s major hotels are unionized, and the Zinnia’s wage rates are equal to the local union wage scale. You feel that while the Zinnia’s employee benefit package is modest compared to what the union has been able to extract from your unionized competitors, it is competitive with other low-skilled occupations in the area—and is particularly generous for the undocumented immigrants that you have quietly hired to fill the dishwashing and room cleaning positions. You also feel that your unionized competitors are saddled with myriad work rules that restrict flexibility. The local union organizes aggressively and isn’t afraid to have public marches and demonstrations in support of its goal of social justice. But you thought your workers were content, and you were astonished to learn this morning that Zinnia workers have been quietly signing authorization cards. You received notice from the NLRB that a petition was filed by the local hotel union requesting an election covering back-of-the-house workers (kitchen, laundry, and room cleaning employees—not front-of-the-house employees like bellhops, bartenders, and waitresses) and that this petition was supported by signed authorization cards from 40 percent of the workers.

SCHOOL DISTRICT 273 School District 273 is a medium-sized public school district in a Northeastern state with a comprehensive bargaining law that includes teachers. The bargaining law allows strikes (except for police, firefighters, and prison guards) and also allows unions to be recognized through a card check recognition procedure if the employer does not object. Otherwise a representation election will be conducted when a petition is supported by 30 percent signed authorization cards. No employees in District 273 are represented by a union, though teachers in many neighboring districts are. District 273 receives 75 percent of its funding from the state based on a statewide per-student funding formula; the remainder comes from local property taxes and fees. To balance the state budget, school funding was reduced by 10 percent. School budgets are also being squeezed by rising health care costs. And teachers are frustrated by the state’s emphasis on standardized test scores; they feel they are losing control over educational standards and curriculum. A grassroots unionization effort started among some teachers at the district’s high school near the beginning of the school year. It is now the middle of the school year, and the leaders of this grassroots effort—which they are now calling the District 273 Teacher’s Association—claim to have signed authorization cards from 70 percent of the teachers, including large numbers at all the district’s schools. They have asked the school board to voluntarily recognize their union and schedule bargaining sessions to hear their concerns and negotiate a contract that preserves teachers’ input into the educational process.

WOODVILLE HEALTHCARE Woodville HealthCare is a for-profit health care provider formed through the merger of several networks of physicians. It operates 50 managed care clinics and employs 400 doctors in the West. The merger has resulted in a Page 228major restructuring of operations. Several clinics have been closed, and a number of new operating guidelines have been implemented. Doctors are now required to see more patients; specialty medical procedures and nongeneric prescriptions must be approved by the medical authorization department; and expensive procedures can negatively affect a doctor’s salary. Some doctors contacted a national doctors’ union that is affiliated with one of the largest U.S. unions, and an organizing drive was launched. After a petition was filed with the NLRB, Woodville filed objections and argued that the doctors were supervisors and therefore excluded from the NLRA. The NLRB eventually ruled that 100 of the doctors had supervisory responsibilities, but that 300 were nonmanagerial doctors. Woodville then spent $300,000 (plus staff time) on an antiunion campaign leading up to last week’s election for the 300 nonmanagerial doctors. The election results were 142 voting in favor of the union, 128 against. This is a slim seven-vote margin, and you have until tomorrow to decide whether to appeal the results of the election by filing objections with the NLRB. Several days before the election, the union’s website reported salary figures for Woodville’s top executives that were grossly inflated. You have also investigated several allegations of inappropriate union campaigning on the day of the election but have uncovered only weak evidence. Your attorney predicts that there is a 20 percent chance an appeal would succeed.

Find a CSR activity that had been made by company SONY and review about the CSR activity that made by sony. State the pros and cons of the CSR activity involved. Make suggestion to the company about the CSR activity has been made.

Ann is interviewing for job at GRG, Inc.. Bob is the company's hiring manager and is in charge of conducting interviews.

Ann informs Bob that she is in the United States for the next year with an appropriate visa. The job that she is seeking has been advertised as a short-term position to fill a vacancy pending the return of a permanent employee. Without question, Ann is qualified for the position and will remain in the country for a time after the permanent employee returns.

Bob inquires about Ann's national origin after she informed him about the visa. Specifically, Bob asked Ann what country she is from and how many languages she speaks. Bob also made a casual remark about her country's history of "civil unrest" and "history of abusive treatment to women". Bob further informed Ann, during the interview, that he likes to keep up with "foreign affairs" and "contemporary world events". Ann was not offended by Bob's comments or inquiries at the interview.

Ann was not hired for the position. She learned that GRG, Inc. hired a Caucasian female, approximately the same age as she who was born and raised in Illinois. Ann has filed charges of discrimination based on ancestry / national origin with the EEOC. What are her arguments? What are the applicable defenses that GRG, Inc. can raise? Who wins / why not?