Please answer the following questions:

1) Assuming you have just become CEO at Coca-Cola. Outline the strategic steps you would take to remedy the concerns emanating from the company’s board of directors, customers, employees, the business partners, government, and the media. What elements of social responsibility would you draw from in response to these stakeholders’ issues?
2) What do you think of Coca-Cola environment initiatives? Are they just window dressing or does the company seemed to be sincere in its efforts?

Suppose that you are using the? four-period weighted moving average forecasting method to forecast sales and you know that sales will be decreasing every period for the foreseeable future. What of the following would be the best set of weights to use? (listed in order from the most recent period to four periods? ago, respectively)?

A.0.00, 0.00,? 0.00, 1.00

B.?0.25, 0.25,? 0.25, 0.25

C.?1.00, 0.00,? 0.00, 0.00

D.0.10, 0.20,? 0.30, 0.40

E. ?0.40, 0.30,? 0.20, 0.10

Shop Til you drop: Corporate in the real world

To understand more about corporate culture, visit two retail stores and compare them according to various factors. Go to one discount or low-end store such as Kmart, or Walmart, and to one high-end store, such as Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom. Do not interview any employees, but instead be an observer or a shopper. After your visits, fill out the following table for each store. Spend at least two hours in each store on a busy day and be very observant.

                                                                                                  Brainstorming Question

What good or service has experienced a shift in demand or supply. Explain the reasons behind the shift and how that has influenced the equilibrium price.

In at least 500 words Perform the following steps:

Step 1: Identify global technology trends. What do you think are the top 3 technology global trends in business today?

Step 2: Identify technology. Identify what technology you may want to incorporate into your business (such as mobile apps, iPad devices, or interactive web sites).

Step 3: Identify other trends. Identify any other trends that may impact your business idea.

Step 4: SWOT analysis Of these trends, identify if they are a strength, weakness, opportunity, or threat. Use a SWOT template from the previous topic.

What are the key components of an evaluation plan and why is evaluation considered such an important component of program/project work?

Identify the management, organization, and technology factors responsible for impeding

adoption of internal corporate social network using NASA's Goddard spacebook,Red Robin and retail bank as case study examples

Please conduct an analysis of the United States current legal system.

List all the offerings that LA Fitness provides (for example, gym, basketball, etc...) . Moreover, what are their external environment, resources, and capabilities? And the strategy to the external environment, resources, and capabilties? Can you list the VRIO of the LA Fitness?

Summary:

Mick is a project manager at Zarlink, a multinational manufacturer of semiconductors for a variety of high-technology military, medical and consumer applications. Mick is also a part-time MBA student at his local university. As part of his MBA, Mick has to complete a dissertation on a management topic of his choice. Since Mick had recently been selected to embed a new quality management system called TS 16949 into his manufacturing site at Swindon in the West of England it seemed sensible that he chose to study quality for his dissertation. Mick’s particular fascination was his firm belief that the route to high-quality process in organizations was not through introducing specific techniques but through ensuring that quality was embedded in everything done at Zarlink: part of the lifeblood of the organization. ‘Quality is even about more than people’s attitudes’ said Mick; ‘it’s about their beliefs. Quality must be a way of life and dominate the thoughts of everyone in the organization, irrespective of their job.’ Mick wanted to use his dissertation as a way not only of obtaining his MBA but also of learning how he could be more effective in introducing embedded quality at Swindon.

Mick started off his research by searching the quality literature. There was no shortage of this. But soon Mick realized that he was concerned with that branch of the quality literature that dealt with the ‘soft’ issues of organizational culture change. He became rather disenchanted with much of the literature because it was largely prescriptive. ‘I was dubious about a lot of what the gurus were saying,’ said Mick. ‘They seemed to be saying that if you get your employees to believe this and do that then everything will be fine. I was skeptical of this because I knew through my MBA studies that the success of certain techniques is usually contingent upon the individual circumstances of the organization.’ Nonetheless Mick became attracted to the idea that embedding certain core values in the organization was a good way of achieving quality goals. The problem was that he did not know which core values were appropriate for his site. Therefore his research question became: ‘What are the core values that need to be adopted in Zarlink, Swindon, if embedded quality is to become a success?’

More specifically, Mick’s research objectives were:

to identify general constructs that constitute ‘embedding quality’ within an organization;

to compare these beliefs with those espoused by a sample from the senior Zarlink Management team;

to establish the behaviors and attitudes of the current workforce towards the quality management system at the Zarlink foundry, Swindon;

to propose a framework of core values to facilitate the embedding of quality into Zarlink, Swindon.

Having used the literature to refine his research question and objectives Mick then turned his attention to collecting primary data within Zarlink. Initially he thought of using a positivist approach based on a questionnaire using qualitative data, but discussions with Philippa, his tutor, convinced him that there were other ways of collecting data. Mick began to think more deeply about his research strategy, and thought that the advantage of triangulating his data by using multi-method would convince not only his examiners that his data were valid but also the managers at Zarlink who he was hoping would give him the go-ahead to introduce his ideas.

Mick’s first research objective had been met by his coverage of the literature. This had been useful in concentrating his mind on embedded quality, but it only took him a limited way. The second and third objectives would lead to a much more meaningful management dissertation.

The second objective involved conducting interviews with key managers in order to ‘test’ the ideas that Mick had developed about core values as a result of the literature review. The managerial sample he chose comprised managers from other Zarlink sites in the world who had an excellent reputation for embedding quality. At the same time Mick thought it important to include those managers who were concerned with implementing quality at Swindon. Mick conducted six interviews across three sites: one in Canada and one in southern England in addition to the third in Swindon. In each site he interviewed the foundry director and the quality manager. These were the key managers concerned with quality. The non-Swindon managers were interviewed by telephone, and the Swindon managers were interviewed face to face by Mick. He hoped this phase of data collection would give him a very clear idea of Zarlink’s view of quality.

In order to meet the third objective he decided to collect data in two ways. The first was to conduct what he called a ‘gap analysis. The purpose of this was to establish the current behaviors concerned with quality – that is, what people actually did in their working lives. This would tell Mick what was being done well and what was being done badly, or not at all, and therefore identify what needed to be done to embed quality. In order to do this Mick designed an audit form based on a purpose-made audit that had been used before in similar organizations. This was administered in all departments of Zarlink, Swindon. Ten of Mick’s colleagues were responsible for carrying out the audit. This involved Mick in training them in its use in order to achieve reliability. Mick was opportunistic in the second way he collected data in respect of the third objective. He was fortunate that a general employee attitude survey was imminent. He decided to insert a subsection in this survey that consisted of questions to establish employees’ attitudes to quality. This went to each of the 130 employees at Swindon.

Mick was confident that his research strategy would yield rich, valid and reliable data on management beliefs and employee attitudes and practice, which would enable him to propose a framework of core values to facilitate the embedding of quality into Zarlink, Swindon. This would enable him to make a valuable contribution to the well-being of Zarlink and pass his MBA!

Discussing the case and incorporating answers to the questions below. It is important to address each of the questions presented. Respond to these questions in an essay format using APA style of writing, and use at least 5 peer-reviewed references.

Question:

1 Which type(s) of research strategy is Mick employing?

2 In what other ways could Mick have used the literature to refine his research question?

3 In what other ways might Mick have achieved his research aim?

Explain how a manager would avoid having espoused reality enter into his or her department. Include a discussion on the tools they could use, would department meetings help?

Consider this statement: Cultures around the world are becoming increasingly similar, so companies should standardize both their products and global marketing efforts. 1. Do you agree or disagree with this line of reasoning? Explain. 2. Are there certain industries for which the statement might be more or less true? Your response to each question should be a minimum of 6 sentences long.

THIS IS A BUSINESS LAW PROBLEM!!!

Describe the decisive factors in determining whether a business organization is a partnership and what factors are used to determine partnership property. Explain in detail. Give examples.

How rare are diamonds really? How did De Beers popularize them for engagement rings? How has the diamond trade led to political issues? War? A black market? What is the most expensive element? Why? Please answer in at least 150 words.

a.      What is Costco’s business model? Is the company’s business model appealing? Why or why not?

b.     What core values or business principles did Jim Sinegal stress at Costco?

c.      What recommendations would you make to Costco top management regarding how best to sustain the company’s growth and improve its financial performance?