List the five reasons companies choose to compete in international markets. Then, describe the pros and cons for the five entry options.
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1. Physical Payment Card Analytics
a) Define this digital marketing tactic today.
b) Share (what is) the innovation relating to this
tactic.
c) How this could be used for marketing in the
future?
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1. Online Payment (Apple Pay / Venmo)
a) Define this digital marketing tactic today.
b) Share (what is) the innovation relating to this tactic.
c) How this could be used for marketing in the future?
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1. Artificial Intelligence
a) Define this digital marketing tactic today.
b) Share (what is) the innovation relating to this tactic.
c) How this could be used for marketing in the future?
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What are the attributes of a good quantitative analysis model? C.W. Churchman once said that "mathematics tends to lull the unsuspecting into believing that he who thinks elaborately thinks well." Do you think that the best QA models are the ones that are most elaborate and complex mathematically? Why or why not?
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1. User Access Innovation
a) Define this digital marketing tactic today.
b) Share (what is) the innovation relating to this tactic.
c) How this could be used for marketing in the future?
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design a Quality Control Program for your retirement finance management
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Discuss your strategy, if you worked at a shipping company that wished to reduce transportation costs?
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If a shipping company needed to move expensive (high value) goods that are small in size from Boston to Seattle, which shipping method would they likely use:
In: Operations Management
Team 3 answer the following questions
1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from reading their paper?
2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or past job?
3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization and quality.
Organizational Culture and its Effect on the Corporate
Environment
An
organization is a commercial or non-commercial place of business
created for a particular purpose, where individuals from many
different backgrounds, both educational and personal, come together
to achieve a common goal. This shared goal is based on
organizational or management objectives, but the primary goal of
most organizations is long term success by achieving productivity,
profitably, and financial benchmarks set forth by company
executives and shareholders. The organizational culture of the
workplace encompasses the beliefs, values and guiding principles
that help decide the way employees, and other stakeholders interact
with one another, while pursuing a path towards long term success
(Brown, 2011). Although company cultures are differentiated based
on classification and function, every organization has a culture.
There are many classifications of corporate culture from normative,
to pragmatic, to club cultures, however there are two main
categories of organizational culture which these classifications
fall under; strong organizational culture and weak organizational
culture.
A strong organizational culture pursues corporate goals by ensuring
that all employees conduct themselves in an ethical and
professional manner to reach corporate benchmarks by promoting a
shared set of values, beliefs, and principles described in the
organization’s mission, vision, and values statements. A weak
organizational culture does not. The organization’s culture is
shaped by the members of the organization, and is subject to
constant change based on who remains within the organization over
time. In society today, corporate culture is said to be influenced
by the motivation of the employees and stakeholders. As we examine
in depth what exactly makes up a strong versus weak organizational
culture, we can better prepare a strategic plan for an organization
that is preparing for change, as well as determine the best
possible solutions for an organization that is receiving
resistance, and other challenges to change by its employees.
Characteristics of Strong Organizational Culture
A myriad of traits and norms encompass strong culture, and a strong
culture is something that is built over time. According to the
Harvard Business Review (2017), “culture is among the primary
levers at top leaders’ disposal in their never-ending quest to
maintain organizational viability and effectiveness.” In order to
have a strong organizational culture, a company should have these
four characteristics: a strong purpose, a sense of enjoyment, a
plan for learning, and evaluation of results.
When
discussing an organization’s culture, one of the most important
characteristics is a strong purpose. As stated by the Harvard
Business Review (2017), “work environments with a strong purpose
are tolerant, compassionate places where people try to do good for
the long-term future of the world. Employees are united by a focus
on sustainability and global communities; leaders emphasize shared
ideals and contributing to a greater cause.” When an organization
has a clear and strong purpose, employees are attracted and
motivated to work there, and are also easier to retain. Working for
an organization with a strong purpose would be fulfilling that need
of belonging and importance that most employees seem to be striving
for today in the workplace.
Another characteristic that makes up a strong organizational
culture is enjoyment. A majority of the working class may have been
working the same job for many years, and have become almost
habitual in their everyday tasks. A company that can bring
enjoyment to the workplace is taking one of the necessary steps to
build a strong organizational culture. The Harvard Business Review
(2017) stated, “enjoyment is expressed through fun and excitement.
Employees are united by playfulness and stimulation; leaders should
emphasize spontaneity and a sense of humor.” Businesses should
strive to provide excitement within the workplace, whether its
during work hours or after hours.
Another important characteristic is learning
or professional development. The Harvard Business Review (2017)
wrote that, “work environments are inventive and open-minded places
where people spark new ideas and explore alternatives.” When it
comes to learning and training employees, one particular
organization stands out; Keller Williams Realty. Training Magazine
had named Keller Williams Realty a top five training organization
for five consecutive years across all industries because of their
incredible employee development programs called MAPS (McLaughlin,
2014). Today, people are always looking to grow both personally and
professionally, so an organization that invests in the time,
training and personal development of its employees is investing in
its future.
Lastly, a strong organizational culture is likely to produce
results. Per the Harvard Business Review (2017), “results are
characterized by achievement and winning. Work environments are
outcome-oriented and merit-based places where people aspire to
achieve top performance.” For example, I can reflect on a time with
a past employer where I found no strong, meaningful purpose in the
work I was performing. The organization also lacked a sense of
excitement, and there were no employee development programs or
promise of advancement. There was no desire from my employer to
keep pushing the boundaries for better results, and organizational
success. Maybe one day that will change for my former employer, but
for organizations that have all four characteristics; purpose,
excitement, learning and results, a strong organizational culture
is attainable.
Characteristics of Weak Organizational Culture
As stated by the Journal of Applied Psychology (2012),
organizational culture is not a steady culture, but it is
constantly evolving. It is important to stay up to date on current
research as to what constitutes a strong or weak organizational
culture, and how to maintain a strong culture within a company.
Members of a weak organizational culture may have vastly different
visions, pulling the organization in their own or opposite
directions. A research study was published in the Journal of
Applied Psychology (2012), which attempted to find a correlation
between organizational culture and performance. The study used a
sample of 138 different organizational teams within a Fortune 500
company. The study showed that there was a strong, positive
correlation between a high-level performance and a strong cultural
organization, and a negative correlation between low-level
performance and a weak organizational culture.
According to a journal article within the Global Business Review
(2017), “the more the organizational members agree on, widely share
and remain committed to a set of common values and practices, the
stronger the culture tends to be.” Therefore, a weak organizational
culture is when members do not share common values. A great example
of a weak organizational culture would be the summer camp I once
worked for. The camp did attempt to maintain a shared vision
throughout all its members, but did lack some elements of a strong
organizational culture. My camp attempted to attract international
diversity within their employees, and I had worked with
co-counselors from vastly different backgrounds. All of us had
different values, attitudes, and beliefs, which contributed to a
lack of similar vision of what an effective summer camp counselor
should be. Therefore, no matter how much training was given to each
of the counselors during orientation week, based on my
observations, we were all fundamentally different in our styles of
interacting and disciplining the children.
Impact of Change on Weak Organizational Culture
A company, no matter its market share or competitive advantage,
will always run the risk of falling behind the competition if it
does not maintain a strong or effective company culture. According
to the course content, many outside factors, such as the general
health of the economy or societal strains, may have an impact on an
organization’s culture. Problems in organizations are often shaped
by a host of factors including, critically, those internal to
organizations (Howard-Grenville, 2007.)
Employees need to feel comfortable with the idea of organizational
change in the workplace in order for executives to not be faced
with resistance, or at the very least, face little resistance. The
reason for resistance is that an organization’s employees are
usually invested in the current policies and procedures that their
organization currently operates under. If something were to change
later on, whether suddenly or over time, they would have to adjust,
which humans have a natural aversion to. According to the course
lectures, the following are some common reasons for resistance to
change, which may cause an organization’s culture to be weakened:
fear of the unknown, complacency, poor communication, and lack of
involvement.
In regard
to a fear of the unknown, employees are usually afraid of how a
change will impact them. For example, their own job or pay will
face the possibility of change, and it is also possible that the
employees may even face termination or demotion. The term
complacency refers to the employees being unaffected by the change,
and may contribute to employees being indifferent about what
management would like for them to change. These specific
individuals will do the bare minimum, and be on their way. As for
poor communication, a lack of clear direction will also cause
employees a good amount of confusion, which can lead to them not
being sure what is expected of them, and can lead to them being
passively or aggressively reluctant to change. Finally, a lack of
involvement refers to the importance of involving the entire team
in process of the organizational change.
For
example, as a front of house manager at the restaurant I used to
work at, I saw a huge need for cultural change to be implemented.
There were many other operational changes necessary, however we
could not tackle the issues together because everyone was divided
due to denied promotions, pay discrepancies and a lack of
motivation. Eventually our employee turnover rate almost tripled in
my department. As a higher-level manager, I would have tried to
repair the weak organizational culture by attempting to tackle
majority of the issues as they became more prominent.
Impact of Change on Strong Organizational Culture
A
company’s culture is the DNA of the organization, and a strong
culture is deeply engrained in the way a company conducts its
business. There is cohesion around traditions, rituals, behavioral
rules, and beliefs, and they usually will have more than one
prominent leader who will articulate their rules, rituals,
traditions and beliefs that are in line with the customer needs and
the company as a whole. A strong organizational culture may not pay
off financially from a short-term perspective, but the long-term
results will be positive when you have happy and loyal employees
(Dizik, 2016). To convert a weak organizational culture into a
strong organizational culture, there are a few key details to focus
on. First, as a manager myself, I would focus on the wellbeing of
my employees before anything. An organization should begin by
implementing a clear mission and vision statement that includes the
company’s values. Employees should know what their direct manager
or organization expects of them in terms of productivity and
conduct, and how they can achieve those expectations or objectives.
This step will give employees a sense of purpose and understanding
of the managerial goals or objectives they should strive to achieve
on a daily basis.
Second, a
manager or organization should have a clear and concise code of
conduct. The code of conduct will set guidelines that will be used
by all employees to specify how employees should conduct themselves
when interacting with one another. The code of conduct should also
bring the behavior of each employee into alignment with what the
company goals are in dealing with day-to-day client, partner and
third-party interactions. In other words, it should specify the
behaviors or actions that should and should not be said or
done.
Third,
a company should focus on pursuing a collaborative teamwork
environment within the workplace. It is important to push for a
synergistic environment, and to employ managers that will help
employees work together as a team. Also, a company should be able
to face challenges and adapt to constant change. When change
arises, employees are usually distracted by the impending fear of
the unknown. This fear debilitates development, and distracts
employees from the mission and vision of the company, but by
keeping a strong organizational culture, the organization should be
able to face certain challenges with ease and advance through tough
times.
Lastly, organizations should offer a safe and healthy workplace for
all employees. A safe and healthy environment demonstrates the
corporate and social responsibility of the corporation for their
employees. The well-being of the employees is just as much, if not
more important than the high standards for product results.
Physically and mentally, employees should feel well taken care of.
But beyond that is the enhancement of their skills and talents
through healthy venues. A safe and healthy work environment makes
employees want to work harder, show up on time and stay motivated
to finish the job at hand with utmost care.
Maintaining a Strong Culture & the Future of the
Organization
An organization’s culture can be seen as the foundation and driving
force behind its practices, goals, and achievements. One of the
main challenges is being able to comply with the company culture at
any given moment, because changes do occur that can have either a
positive or negative effect on the culture of the workplace and its
employees. According to Chapter 16, it states that “organizational
development is an ongoing process because an organization cannot
remain static and be effective. In today’s changing environment,
organizations must develop adaptive mechanisms and anticipative
management systems,” (Brown 2011). This is true, because consumer
preferences, the economy and supply chain systems are constantly
changing, and these operations are a crucial part in the overall
functionality of an organization. For a company’s culture to be
able to remain strong throughout times of change, there needs to be
a strong management system in place. Leaders of the corporation
need to be headstrong with unique and effective strategies that
will uphold the foundation of the company.
Second, there should be a clear understanding of the ethics and
values that remain true to the organization’s structure. Employees
should consent to abide by this aspect of the work culture no
matter what changes occur. Furthermore, relationships and a proper
code of conduct need to be implemented. Given a circumstance, as if
I were to be in a managerial position and had to handle changes
that could affect the culture of my own team, I would be sure to
inform my employees of what changes have or could be taking place
that may have a direct impact on our company or team. Then, I would
demonstrate how our organizational culture will successfully adapt
to that change, and remain vigorous so that our working system,
values, mission and procedures do not fail under the pressure of
those changes. Workshops, programs and orientations are vital tools
that can be used to make sure that employees stay up to date and be
reminded of the culture so they can perform their duties for the
company.
In: Operations Management
For eight straight years, Apple has been recognized as having the best worldwide supply chains in the "Gartner Global Supply Chain Top 25" ranking. In the most recent ranking, Apple was actually classified above the ranking as a "Master (Amazon.com was the listed the number one company). The Master status recognizes the accomplishments and capabilities of long-term global supply chain leaders in the Gartner Global Supply Chain Top 25. Companies qualify for the Masters category if their score places them in the top five rankings for at least seven out of the past 10 years. Numerous accolades have also been made about Apple's supply chain strategy, operations, and results. For example, Apple's supply chains "best demonstrate leadership in applying demand- driven principles to drive business results."Apple dominates because it consistently brings both operational and innovation excellence to bear in some of the most competitive markets in the world.* Basically, Apple gets a lot of credit in the supply chain profession for being able to ramp up volumes both in hardware and software while also uniquely helping redefine the consumer electronics market (e.g., iPhone, iPad, MacBook) Apple is the world's second-largest information technology company by revenue after Samsung and the second-largest mobile phone producer also after Samsung. In Interbrand's Best Global Brands report, Apple is now also the most valuable brand in the world. It overtook Coca-Cola in 2013 for the number one position after Coca-Cola's 13-year run at the top and has stayed at the top every year since that time. Apple has an estimated brand value of more than $170 billion. Few brands have enabled so many people to do so much so easily, which is why Apple has legions of adoring fans. These fans" or customers have downloaded apps for Apple's electronic gadgets more than 60 billion times The company's general supply chain model follows the path of most large multinational corporations' supply chains. They do research and development to cultivate new technologies and/or to acquire intellectual property needed for future products. They test the product concepts via marketing research, product testing, and total cost analysis. After that, Apple typically does a prelaunch of new products, where global production, sourcing commitments, inventory management, and so on are evaluated. The product launch involves doing demand forecasts resolving potential backlogs, and ensuring that the products are in the hands of its customers in as fast a cycle time as possible. After the launch, monitoring starts with periodic reviews of inventory, demand, life cycle status, and component cost forecasts. A number of factors make Apple's global supply chains world leading. First, early on, Apple took steps to manage the total value created in its global supply chains by managing its suppliers and all other providers within the chains. Predetermined expectations of suppliers, exclusivity in supplier arrangements, and volume guarantees ensured a supply chain infrastructure that could support Apple's aggressive market leadership. Apple's relationship building with its network partners is also a strength that has helped with increased scaling of production and resulted in improved quality in the manufacturing processes. Plus, and not to be underestimated, Apple has amassed lots of cash! The available cash funds have partially been used to place high-volume orders, which strengthen supplier relationships, and in other ways maintain global supply chain leadership.
here are some questions concerning apple's case study:
1.According to Interbrand’s analysis, Apple’s brand is valued at more than $170 billion, while Google in second place is valued at $120 billion and Coca-Cola in third is at $78 billion (2015). Do you agree that Apple should be so far ahead of its nearest brand competition? What about Samsung, which is larger in size (Samsung is valued at $45 billion)?
2. With Steve Jobs, Apple’s legendary founder and CEO, passing away in 2011, what can we expect from Apple in the future? Will they be as innovative? Will they remain brand value leadership? Will they run the top global supply chains in the world?
3. Apple products have usually been priced above their competition and sold for their value, intrigue, and market leadership. Some would say Samsung is catching up on many of these fronts and even passing Apple perhaps. Do you think Apple can charge a price premium for their products much longer?
4. Apple’s global supply chains make their business thrive. There is secrecy among suppliers, superior quality standards by every party involved in Apple’s supply chains, and a total value focus that ultimately makes the customers happy. Is this a sustainable business model for their global supply chains?
In: Operations Management
Answer each question in mini ESSAYS and in your own words
ALL QUESTIONS MUST ANSWER IN FORM OF ESSAY. IF YOU CANT ANSWER ALL , LEAVE IT ALONE PLEASE
1- What is meant “by sales force diversity? Do you agree? Where might you disagree?
2- Giving examples, explain the difference between Transactional Selling and Relationship Selling?
3- How E-Commerce changed the dynamics of sales management in today’s market place?
4- China has been your manufacturing base. Now prices are up, deliveries are late, vendors are refusing orders, what is going on? As a sales manager how might you attempt to deal with this critical situation?
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Briefly describe what information a speaker should gather about the audience in regards to public speaking
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You are an I/O psychologist consulting with an individual who wants to start a small business (two or more employees). Your client wants the business to be one in which the employees have a manageable level of stress, so you will need to consider the workload and environmental factors. Your client also wants to promote good communication among all employees, so you may need to consider the office layout, design, and other factors. Your client wants his/her employees to enjoy their jobs and be committed to the company. Consider the responsibilities of the necessary employment positions. Consider what needs to be included in the employee selection process (interview only, tests, screenings, etc.) and what types of training may need to be provided. Design a list of recommendations for your client’s basic plan for his/her small business.
In: Operations Management
Suppose Jones Company has orders from three customers located in the same market area. One order has a total weight of 3,600 pounds, the second weighs 8,300 pounds, and the third weighs 12,100 pounds. The transportation carrier quotes a freight rate of $20 per hundredweight (or cwt.) for direct shipment to the customer for shipments weighing 1,000 to 4,999 pounds, $18 per cwt. for orders weighing 5,000 to 9,999 pounds, and $16 for shipments weighing between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds. Alternatively, the carrier’s rate for shipments weighing more than 20,000 pounds is $13.00 per cwt. However, if the orders are combined into one consolidated shipment, the carrier will charge $260 for each stop it is required to make. Calculate the total cost with or without consolidated shipment charge.
a) total cost using separate shipments
b) total cost using consolidated shipment
In: Operations Management