In September 2017, Hurricane Irma was forecasted to have a major impact on South Florida; many were affected by her strong winds and water. Drinking water before and after Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys was scarce for South Florida residents.

• Imagine that on August 21, 2017, the Vice President of Distribution for Zephyrhills Water was notified that Hurricane Irma, a Level 4 hurricane may be on track to hit South Florida on September 10th, which of the three decision-making styles would the Vice President need to exhibit to ensure that South Florida residents are provided sufficient supplies of water? Provide support for your choice. Describe the possible plan of action.
• Imagine it's September 6, 2017, and the Vice President of Distribution for Publix was notified that Hurricane Irma, a Level 4 hurricane was on track to hit South Florida on September 10th, which of the three decision-making styles would the Vice President need to exhibit to ensure that South Florida residents are provided sufficient supplies of water? Provide support for your choice. Describe the possible plan of action.
• In reflection, what could leadership at these entities have done to better prepare before and after Hurricane Irma's arrival that would have had a lesser impact on the residents of South Florida.

Submit a 1 - 1.5 page, double-spaced essay document. Provide the reader with an introduction.

Managers at Fluid Induction Industries are reviewing the economic feasibility of manufacturing a part that the company currently purchases from a supplier. Forecasted demand for this part is 16,800 units. Fluidoperates 250 days per year.

Fluid’s financial analysts established the cost of 9% for the use of funds for investments within the company. Also, over the past year $2,200,000 was the average investment in the company’s inventory. Accounting information shows that a total of $101,000 was spent on taxes and insurance related to the company’s inventory. Additionally, an estimated $29,000 was lost to inventory shrinkage, this included broken and damaged goods, and pilferage. $100,000 was spent on warehouse overhead, including expenses for heating and lighting.

Two hours are required to process and coordinate an order for the part regardless of the quantity ordered. Purchasing salaries average $28 per hour, including benefits. A detailed accounting analysis on 1,250 orders revealed that $25,000 was expensed for internet, paper and postage directly related to this ordering process.

Lead time for this part is one-week. The use of the part during the lead time is normally distributed with a mean of 960 units and a standard deviation of 16 units. The company’s policy regarding stock-outs is that one stock-out per year is permitted.

The company has a current contract to purchase the part from the supplier for $90 per unit. Fluid has increased its manufacturing capacity and is considering producing the part in house. The utilization of the increased capacity will produce at a rate of 4,800 units per month with up to 5 months of production time available. Management believes that with a two-week lead-time it can schedule the production of the part when needed. . The use of the part during the lead time is normally distributed with a mean of 1,280 units and a standard deviation of 200 units. Production costs are estimated at $76.50 per unit.

A major concern for the company is the fact that it will take two full 8 hour shift to set up the equipment. The total cost of labor is estimated to be $150 per hour.

Managerial Report.

Develop a managerial report that will address the question as to whether the company should purchase or manufacture the part itself. Include the following factors in your report:

1. An analysis of the holding cost.

2. An analysis of the ordering cost.

3. An analysis of setup cost.

4. Develop an inventory for ordering a quantity form the supplier and producing a quantity in house.

5. Include such information as Q, number of orders/production runs, cycle time, ROP, amount of safety stock, expected maximum inventory, annual cost of the units purchase or manufactured.

6. Make a recommendation to management whether the company should purchase or manufacture the part and the cost savings associated with your recommendation.

how do non- profits, government organizations or cooperatives leverage the concepts of corporate and business level strategies?

What are some legal matters comcast has been involved in and describe their customer services, tell whether it is good or bad.

Over the last few years, brick and mortar retailers have come up with some ingenious ways to gather data about the customers who walk into their stores. We’ve taken a look at many of them in past issues of this newsletter, including one story about “smart” mannequins that observe consumer patterns using cameras in the dummies’ eyes. Although that may skew a bit on the creepy side, it’s important to keep in mind that physical retailers are merely trying to imitate their online rivals. After all, websites like Amazon don’t need invasive cameras in order to track your every move.

Still, people are understandably wary about being watched while they shop. That’s why the latest customer-tracking tech doesn’t use cameras or any other equipment that might seem particularly invasive. Instead, this system relies on determining customers’ locations using small, inexpensive “beacons” distributed throughout a store. These beacons transmit signals that can be picked up by a smartphone’s Bluetooth technology, pinpointing the position of the phone’s holder within 2 centimeters. Once the customer’s location has been determined, they can then receive special offers and coupons if they’ve downloaded the store’s app.

Retailers like Macy’s, American Eagle, and Safeway have already implemented this tracking method in some of their stores. Not only are the beacons’ accuracy and effectiveness appealing, but also the system’s opt-in aspect removes much of the creepiness factor. “People won’t know these beacons are there,” said one industry expert. “They’ll just know their app has suddenly become smarter.” The beacons have applications outside the retail world as well. For instance, Major League Baseball and the National Football League have both tested the method in stadiums in order to direct users to shorter concession stand lines. The beacons have also been used at museums to give visitors historical information as they walk through a gallery.

1. Are the “beacons” being used by retailers a violation of consumer privacy?

2. Can the “beacons” be considered a benefit to consumers?

What is procurement of material and what is purchasing of material . i want valid source , not copy from anywhere else with reference .

Robin Hood

Essentials of Strategic Management. The Quest for Competitive Advantage

P. 346

Questions (4)

1. What problems does Robin Hood have? What issues need to be addressed?

2. What strategic options does Robin Hood have? Is continuing with the present strategy an option or is the present strategy obsolete? Explain.

3. What action plan would you recommend to Robin?

4. How should Robin implement the recommended plan? What action steps will need to be taken to make the recommended strategy work successfully?

#1)

• What are the primary differences between managers and leaders?
• Can someone be a manager and a leader? Why or why not?
• Consider your current place of employment, or any past place of employment. List the job title and describe at least one position which fits your description of manager. Then list the job title and describe a different position that fits your description of a leader.
• Consider the leadership position you've listed and described in Requirement #3, did this person display or utilize any management skills in addition to their leadership skills? Why or why not?
• Can you think of anyone else who is a manager but not a leader? Or someone who is a leader but not a manager? What makes them one and not the other?
• Please note: Do not use examples such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Richard Branson or other similar leaders.
• What traits do you believe characterize successful leaders, based upon the trait approach? Please explain the reason for your selection(s).

Case Incident 1

Jack Nelson’s Problem

As a new member of the board of directors for a local bank, Jack Nelson was being introduced to all the employees in the home office. When he was introduced to Ruth Johnson he was curious about her work and asked her what the machine she was using did. Johnson replied that she really did not know what the machine was called or what it did. She explained that she had only been working there for two months. She did, however, know precisely how to operate the machine. According to her supervisor, she was an excellent employee.

At one of the branch offices, the supervisor in charge spoke to Nelson confidentially, telling him that “something was wrong,” but she didn’t know what. For one thing, she explained, employee turnover was too high, and no sooner had one employee been put on the job than another one resigned. With customers to see and loans to be made, she continued, she had little time to work with the new employees as they came and went.

All branch supervisors hired their own employees without communication with the home office or other branches. When an opening developed, the supervisor tried to find a suitable employee to replace the worker who had quit.

After touring the 22 branches and finding similar problems in many of them, Nelson wondered what the home office should do or what action he should take. The banking firm was generally regarded as a well-run institution that had grown from 27 to 191 employees in the past eight years. The more he thought about the matter, the more puzzled Nelson became. He couldn’t quite put his finger on the problem, and he didn’t know whether to report his findings to the president.

Questions

1. What do you think is causing some of the problems in the bank’s branches?
2. Do you think setting up an HR unit in the main office would help?
3. What specific functions should an HR unit carry out? What HR functions would then be carried out by supervisors and other line managers? What role should the Internet play in the new HR organizatioN?

Discuss the basic steps of the program evaluation. Do you believe that the 2016 State of Evaluation Report by Innovation Network appropriately followed all those steps? Were there any additional steps possibly overlooked by the Innovation Network? Defend your argument with examples.

Read the attached HBR Case Study: "Keeping to the Fairway" Should Pace Sterling proceed with this sponsorship?

Companies regularly face decisions centered on how best to market their brand. Choices involving spokespeople or organizations with which they partner are critical. This week's assignment is to prepare a case analysis which responds to the information listed below. Your analysis should be in a MS Word document in paragraph form, minimum 2 pages, double-spaced, Arial, 12 pt font: Should Pace Sterling proceed with this sponsorship? Defend your position Pro or Con. When drafting your answer, take the following into consideration: In your introductory paragraph(s) be sure to provide some brief information about the case Do you feel that this sponsorship made any sense in the first place? Why or why not? Is the sponsorship for Pace Sterling worth any negative publicity that might accompany their relationship? If a company associates itself with a sexist organization, what is that saying about their own values? Is that important particularly in today’s #Me Too movement

Please consider a product of your choice and use the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) matrix to determine whether the product is a star, a question mark, a cash cow, or a dog. What steps would you take to achieve cost leadership and differentiation for the product?

Name a well-known provider of information technology products and/or services with a strong global presence. They may provide software, hardware, communication infrastructure, cloud-based infrastructure, technology services, or any combination of these sub-areas. (Note: Your selected supplier needs to still be in business as a stand-alone entity.)

How could you use a diagnostic test for immunity to change the process to better understand employees' immunity to change? Provide examples for two employees (either employee in a current change situation at your work, from a situation you find on the internet, or some hypothetical example. Please type out your answer.

The TMA Questions

PART A: FORTUNE MOTORS (TAIWAN): IMPLEMENTING STRATEGY CHANGE USING THE BALANCED SCORECARD

Jung Hua Li, chief executive officer (CEO) of Fortune Motors, the largest Mitsubishi dealership in Taiwan, sat in his office in eastern Taipei on a chilly day in January 2004, thinking carefully about his vision for the survival of his company. He knew that Fortune Motors’ sales in 2003 had fallen below 50,000 units for the first time in 10 years. Fortune Motors’ market share had in fact been falling for several years, which Li attributed in part to Toyota’s aggressive growth. With long experience of selling and financing new Mitsubishi cars and small commercial vehicles throughout Taiwan, Li had what he thought was a good plan to enter the business of financing used-car purchases. He thought the “Balanced Scorecard” would be a very useful tool to help implement this change. The first step would be to construct a corporate scorecard. But what should the corporate scorecard look like? What critical variables should he monitor carefully to give him a clear picture of how well his change plan was proceeding?

TAIWAN IN THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Taiwan, with a population of 22 million in 2000, was one of the so-called “Asian Tigers” that had experienced enormous economic growth since 1960. Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) had doubled approximately every five years until the mid-1990s, exceeding $1,000 for the first time in 1976. (This value was considered by some to indicate that a country was no longer “developing.”) Even the Asian financial crisis of 1997 had only put a small dent in that decade’s average annual growth rate of approximately 7 per cent: growth in 1998 had been 4.5 per cent, but had recovered to nearly 6 per cent the following year. Part of this increase had been attributed to the growth of the People’s Republic of China (mainland China). Taiwanese companies were active and enthusiastic investors in the mainland economy, despite political differences between their respective governments, which created difficulties for the Taiwanese. For example, except for holiday specials, no direct flights were available from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China; travelers had to fly via Hong Kong. The new millennium had brought more difficulties. For the Taiwanese economy, 2001 had been an annus horribilis: GDP per capita had fallen 2.2 per cent, and by the end of 2003, had still not recovered to 2000 levels.

THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY IN TAIWAN

Several major automakers were represented in domestic auto manufacturing industry in Taiwan. Toyota, Nissan, Ford/Mazda, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Honda all had local assembly plants, which primarily served the local market, though Ford exported approximately 4,500 units (7 per cent of output), and Mitsubishi exported approximately 1,500 units (1.5 per cent) of production in 2003. This domestic manufacturing industry operated under the protection of an import tariff, which had been 30 per cent during most of the 1990s, but in 2002, had been reduced by one percentage point per year.

The total market for new cars in Taiwan was approximately 400,000 vehicles per year. The market had been in steady decline during the late 1990s and had fallen drastically in 2001. Sales had recovered to some degree in the two following years, but 2003 sales had still not recovered to their 2000 level. Toyota was the most successful local manufacturer, with sales of about 100,000 units (28 per cent market share) in 2003. Mitsubishi’s share was nearly 24 per cent market share, or about 86,000 units. Various reasons for this decline had been suggested, including high oil prices and the fact that in recent years, many Taiwanese businesspeople had either temporarily or permanently immigrated to China. Exact numbers of immigrants were difficult to obtain, but some estimated the number at between two million and four million.

As in most countries, new cars in Taiwan were sold through dealerships appointed by the manufacturers and were usually exclusive to a single automaker. Financing for new car purchases was provided by both banks and the dealers (or by automakers through their dealers). Auto loans in Taiwan were a small part of most banks’ business, so they usually subcontracted the credit evaluation to outside companies, which relied on public credit data and were paid based on the number of applications processed, not on the accuracy of their risk assessment. As a result, banks’ bad auto loans were about 3 per cent per year, whereas Fortune Motors, for example, with a close relationship with its customers, enjoyed a bad loan rate of only 1.3 per cent on its new car loans. Consequently, new car financing was a profitable business for dealers.

The used-car market, however, operated differently in Taiwan. Because new car dealers were registered for tax purposes, when they sold cars, they were required to charge 5 per cent sales tax on both new and used cars. However, when private individuals sold their used cars, the transaction attracted no tax — the purchaser simply registered the new ownership. As a result of this 5 per cent price advantage, the market for used cars was served by approximately 3,000 unregulated small, often family-owned, used-car dealers who were not — and did not need to be — registered for sales tax purposes. Thus, when a new car customer wanted to trade in an old car, the new car dealer did not typically buy it. Instead, the salesperson would put the customer in touch with a reputable used-car trader to complete the transaction. If someone wished to buy a used car and needed financing, finding a source of finance was often difficult. Used-car buyers were perceived as high-credit risks by banks, and banks did not have the expertise to evaluate that risk. The only sources of used-car financing were family or the illegal underground financing market where interest rates could be up to 1 per cent per day. In contrast, a low-risk customer would pay about 20 per cent per year for a personal loan.

FORTUNE MOTORS LTD.

Fortune Motors was the larger of the two Mitsubishi retail dealers in Taiwan and was the exclusive supplier of Mitsubishi’s line of small commercial vehicles (less than 3.5 tons). The typical price of these vehicles was approximately NT$300,000. Fortune Motors was 40 per cent owned by China Motors Corporation, the Taiwanese manufacturer of Mitsubishi vehicles, and 60 per cent owned by three local families.

In 2004, Fortune Motor Company operated 89 sales centres throughout the country and dominated the market for small commercial vehicles, with 80 per cent market share. Within Mitsubishi vehicles (including passenger cars), Fortune held 60 per cent share (Shung Ye Group, which sold only the Mitsubishi car line, held the remaining share). In the previous two years, the market for new vehicles in Taiwan had rebounded, growing at about 9 per cent per year after several years of decline. Mitsubishi’s share had declined from 25.4 per cent in 2002 to 20.8 per cent in 2003, and within that, Fortune Motors’ share from 15.8 per cent to 12.1 per cent.

The company sold and financed new cars (about 40 per cent of Fortune’s new car sales were also financed by them) and provided service. Selling new cars was unprofitable, but the financing was profitable, so overall, Fortune Motors’ new car sales and financing activity broke even. Servicing was profitable and made about as much profit as financing new cars.

A critical part of financing was the accurate assessment of the credit risk of the customer. Historically, approximately 10 per cent of applications were not approved for credit risk reasons.

Li attributed the company’s success over its 30-year history to its strong core values, which centered on its careful attention to customer service and satisfaction. Fortune Motors’ service motto was “Get it right the first time — or it is free.”

THE BALANCED SCORECARD

The Balanced Scorecard was a tool first proposed by Professor Robert Kaplan and others, based on field research into best practice performance measurement. Each company’s scorecard was unique, reflecting the company’s corporate strategy, with a limited number of (typically four) measures on four interrelated dimensions or perspectives: Financial, Innovation, Customer and Internal Processes. Senior management would usually prepare each company’s corporate scorecard. Sub-units of the company would then build their own lower-level scorecard, informed by and linked to the corporate scorecard. Often, the process of identifying the key measures and their interrelationships was a valuable process in its own right, clarifying the role of sub-units in the corporate strategy. The ongoing annual review and fine-tuning of the scorecard was also a valuable strategy communication and implementation process.

THE NEW STRATEGY

Li’s vision was to build on the company’s expertise in financing new cars and on the powerful network of relationships between its 1,500 salespeople located in the 89 sales centres with the thousands of small and medium-sized used car sellers around the country. These two strengths would allow Fortune Motors to sell used-car financing profitably through the thousands of small and medium-sized used car dealers in Taiwan. The dealers that would offer Fortune’s financing would not merely be a more attractive source of financing than the illegal market or relatives but would need to meet strict requirements for cleanliness of their premises and for quality and safety standards.

Li envisioned a nationwide umbrella branding of used-car dealers that Fortune Motors would approve as vendors of its financing service. The name-mark he proposed for this venture was SUM, which stood for “Serve Your Motors.” SUM-appointed car dealers would be required to maintain high ethical and customer service standards, compatible with Fortune’s own values. Not all used car dealers would be able to become members of the SUM family. Li felt it important that the SUM dealers share his values of the importance of customer service. For this reason, Li believed that husband-and-wife owner-managed small dealerships were most suitable. (The very largest used-car dealers would typically be run by hired managers and were already too large to be able to easily change their existing values, so they would not be appointed. Very small dealers were excluded because they would probably not be economical, since signing up a dealer required considerable effort on the part of Fortune Motors). Li estimated that approximately 3,000 dealers would qualify. In effect, the SUM brand would become a quality and integrity certification of a used-car dealer. For warranty purposes, certified dealers would only be permitted to sell Taiwanese-made vehicles less than five years old. Li did not plan to charge a fee to the used-car dealers for the use of the SUM brand, unless their volume was very small.

Customers buying from a SUM dealer would know that they would be receiving a guaranteed high-quality used car, and if they were financing their purchase, a fair interest rate. In fact, customers would be able to buy an additional warranty if they wished. All this would make purchasing (and financing) a used car from a SUM-certified dealer far less stressful and risky than was the case at present.

IMPLEMENTING THE PLANNED BALANCED SCORECARD

Li was aware that he needed to first recruit used car dealers over the next several years and, through them, build up the used car loan business. At the same time, he was concerned about the downturn in the economy, the pressure from Toyota, and the risks of the new business. His management team fully supported the new strategy. He knew that as CEO, it was his responsibility to create the corporate scorecard. How could he best measure the effectiveness of his new strategy?

(Source: Ivey Publications, 2011)

Required:

Explain each of the following points or inquires separately:

1. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the used-car financing business proposal. (190 words)
2. What must Jung Hua Li do well in order for the new business to succeed? (100 words)
3. Prepare a balanced scorecard for the implementation of this business and discuss the linkage between the measures. (200 words)

            [Marks: (20+10+30) = 60]

PART B: THE SUPPLY CHAIN

Several studies of inter-firm accounting have shown how accounting and controls are
implicated in the management of supply chains. Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an essential element to operational efficiency.

Required:

1. Briefly explain the supply chain management. (70 words)
2. Discuss, using examples, four five of the risks encountered in strategic alliances. (150 words)
3. Discuss the link between the management accounting and the supply chain. (100 words)
4. Elaborate on how a good management of the supply chain, using accounting systems, improves the customer’s satisfaction. (140 words)