Group Case Study Assignment: IKEA

(In 2-3 Pages) answer the following in relation to the company IKEA

-The company we are talking about is IKEA, also –Please cite all sources used.

-For your group assignment, I'd like you to engage in a strategic investigation of

one of the companies listed or your own selection—with instructor’s

approval. First, you will define the larger strategic context, specifically focusing

on the industry and generic strategy. Then you will identify your company’s

core competence.

Finally, you will comment on four potential strategic initiatives that you suggest

your company take to grow their business. In all instances, you will need to

USE FRAMEWORKS (the models we have studied) TO JUSTIFY

YOUR ANSWERS. As you're doing the analysis, please answer the following

questions in a clear, concise and logical approach. Remember, how you

support your answer is more important than the answer itself. Please keep in

mind that grammar and spelling are as important as your analysis.

1. Please use Porter's Five Forces framework to complete a thorough

industry analysis of your company’s industry in general. Is this

industry viable? Growing? Shrinking? Discuss. What are the

competitive forces that squeeze profitability? Second, how might

your company protect itself against those five competitive forces?

Make sure to be explicit when attending to the Five Forces.

2. Define your company’s generic strategy (Cost leadership,

Differentiator, Focused CL, Focused D, SiTM), as well as its major

competitors – who are their competitors? Then, use all components

of the Strategy DNA (OE, positioning, fit, etc.) to make the case for

how your company separates itself from the pack, given that there is

considerable overlap in the market place. BE CONCISE!

3. Next, what is your company’s Core Competence? To get to the core

competence: Begin with your company’s generic strategy, which will

influence its Value Chain. Create a value chain for your company that

reflects its generic strategy. For a model of this, take a look at the text

P71, fig 6.2, Reed’s Value Chain. Technological Development is the

third horizontal item in the Reed’s VC and it reflects Reed’s core

competence. Each item in the VC supports the generic strategy of the

company and its core competence. Keep in mind your company may

more than one core competence or like Best Buy have many with a likely

GS being SITM (in a good way in Best Buy’s case). Once you have

completed the VC, DRAW A CORE COMPETENCE TREE that covers

their End Products, the Business Units, the Core Products, and then

the Core Competence. Work from the top down to hone in on the core

competence. Make sure your tree is clean, compact, and flowing -if

something doesn't align or fit, justify for me why it doesn't. Lastly,

administer the three-part core competence test and comment in

detail on whether your company passes it. Explain why or why not?

Discuss the types of consumer promotions that would be the most effective with respect to reaching that market for families and influencing them to buy Six Flags tickets.

write an essay about drones(unmanned) vs manned aircraft.

in the essay make sure we talk about the disadvantages and adventages

also comprasion between the costwise and also about there future.

Discuss the issues of dilution and cannibalization as related to the proliferation of new product introductions and inappropriate channel design.

Léger and National Public Relations last week released their annual report ranking Canada’s most admired companies. While some results were indeed surprising, others were not. But Tim Hortons’ year was just plain awful. It went from No. 4 to No. 50 in just 12 months. This significant free fall can be linked to the very public spat between Tim Hortons franchisees and the Tim Hortons parent company, Restaurant Brands International (RBI). How Tim Hortons lost its connection with the Canadian public?

Which of the following is a true statement?

Discuss what emotional intelligence is? Why is it important in organizations?, and provide at least two examples of cases where Emotional Intelligence enabled a company to be successful, or has caused management and / or a company problems. Conduct research Online and find examples... Discuss your findings.

Next - -

Describe how Southwest’s planning process helped establish their organizational objectives, business model, address problems, adapt to changes in the environment and remain successful.

In order to receive full credit for your Essay Part of the Exam, you MUST be sure to use a MINIMUM of four (2) In-Text citations and Work References (Per Essay Question) to support your opinions and facts. (One source can be your textbook, but the other source must be from a credible online resource – i.e., Montclair database, journal, news article, magazine, etc… ). Wikipedia, Blogs, Online Dictionaries, and Weblinks Only - are NOT Acceptable Sources.

personal sensing devices are becoming more commonplace in everyday life. Unfortunately, radio transmissions from these devices can create unexpected privacy concerns if not carefully designed. We demonstrate these issues with a widely-available commercial product, the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, which contains a sensor that users put in one of their shoes and a receiver that users attach to their iPod Nanos. Students and researchers from the University of Washington found out that the transmitter in a sneaker can be read up to 60 feet away. Through the use of a prototype surveillance system, the researchers could track someone wearing Nike+iPod sensors, plot their location on a GoogleMaps-based website and emai and text-messaging real-time surveillance data to anyone.

You are interested in deploying sensor technology in the cafe to help revamp operations. How would you address the following:

Many cafes are putting sensors on the bottom of cups to help alert the wait staff that a customer needs a refill. Would you introduce this technology to the cafe? If so, are there any concerns with using this type of technology?

What other types of sensors could you deploy throughout the cafe to help operations? What concerns would you have regarding these sensors?

Are there any current laws that you would need to be aware of when deploying wireless technology? If so, what types of liabilities for potential lawsuits should you be aware of to protect the cafe? If not, what types of laws should be created to help protect customers, employees, and the cafe?

What does enterprise resource planning (ERP) allow an organization to do?

Discuss a performance appraisal process on which you or someone was evaluated for work performance. Stay as even-handed as possible and discuss what you think were the (a) “positives” of the system, (b) the “negatives” of the system, and (c) how you would reform the system using what you know from human resources and the performance appraisal process.  

How are TQM concepts illustrated in the DoD example

A textbook publishing company has compiled data on total annual sales of its business texts for the preceding nine years:

a. Using an appropriate model, forecast textbook sales for each of the next five years. (Round your intermediate calculations to 3 decimal places and final answers to 2 decimal places.)

b. Compute +/- 2s control limits for the control chart for forecast errors using just data from the original nine periods. (Round your intermediate calculations to 4 decimal places and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

Control limits are 0 ±             

c. Suppose actual sales for the next five years turn out as follows:
       

Is the forecast performing adequately?

Yes

No

What restrictions or recommendations should be applied to firms/companies when using social networks? Are these tools a security threat? Can they tarnish the reputation of the company? Can they enhance the reputation of the company? How so? Please, indicate your point of view in detail.

is email marketing less effective than other forms of advertising? why or why not?

Tracking and Delivery Information System Research paper outline