Please answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What is a decision?

2. Describe the steps in the managerial decision making process.

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What is a goal?

2. What is strategic management? Why is it important to an organization?

company’s personal recommendation service aggregated buying-pattern data to infer who might like which book. Amazon also introduced its revolutionary one-click shopping, which allowed buyers to make purchases effortlessly with a single click. Amazon started to diversify its product line in the late 1990s, first with DVDs and videos and then with consumer electronics, games, toys, software, video games, and gifts. The company continued to expand its product offerings and in 2007 launched Amazon Video On Demand, allowing consumers to rent or purchase films and television shows to watch on their computers or televisions. Later that year, it introduced Amazon MP3, which competed directly with Apple’s iTunes and had participation from all the major music labels. Amazon’s most successful product launch was the Kindle, its branded electronic book reader that delivered hundreds of thousands of books, magazines, blogs, and newspapers in a matter of seconds. As thin as a magazine and light as a paperback, the device has been the company’s best-selling product since 2009. Today, you can find virtually anything you want on Amazon.com. The company has successfully established itself as the biggest online retailer in the world by enabling merchants of all kinds to sell items on the site. In addition to its core business, Amazon also runs an “Associates” program that allows independent sellers and businesses to receive commissions for referring customers to the site in a variety of ways, including direct links and banner ads as well as Amazon Widgets, miniapplications that feature the company’s wide selection of products. Associates can create an Amazon-operated online store easily, with low risk and no additional cost or programming knowledge. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) takes care of picking, packing, and shipping the merchant’s products to its customers. One consistent key to Amazon’s success is its willingness to invest in the latest technology to make shopping online faster, easier, and more personally rewarding for its customers and third-party merchants. During peak season in 2012, the company sold approximately 306 items per second, or 26 million items per day. Small wonder that it continually looks for ways to improve delivery. For a $99 annual fee, Amazon Prime provides unlimited free express shipping for millions of items. While free shipping and price cuts are sometimes unpopular with investors, Bezos believes they build customer satisfaction, loyalty, and frequency of purchase orders.In 2013, Amazon.com announced a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service to begin delivering orders on Sundays. Bezos also predicted on 60 Minutes that the company may use drones in the near future to make same-day delivery of lightweight products within short distances of distribution warehouses. (Critics find this unlikely for many reasons, though.) Amazon has also maintained competitive and low prices throughout its product expansion. The company understands how important it is to keep its prices low in order to drive the volume it needs to remain a market leader and expand geographically. Amazon’s practice of selling books at heavily discounted prices, however, has upset some of its channel partners in publishing, as have its attempts to become a publisher in its own right. From the beginning, Bezos has said that even though he started an online bookstore, he eventually wanted to sell everything to everyone through Amazon. com. The company continues to invest significantly in technology, is focused on the long term, and has successfully positioned itself as a technology company with its wide range of Amazon Web Services. This growing collection of infrastructure applications meets the retailing needs of companies of virtually all sizes. Amazon has successfully reinvented itself time and again and created a critical channel for merchants around the world who are able to reach more than 244 million customers worldwide. Questions 1. Why has Amazon succeeded online when so many other companies have failed? 2. Will the Kindle revolutionize the book industry? Why or why not? 3. What’s next for Amazon? Where else can it grow?

Winning at Work: Working Virtually Takes Special Preparations

Advances in social networking, video conferencing, cloud storage, and mobile technology have enabled more and more employees to work virtually. A sizeable percentage of the U.S. workforce telecommutes from home at least part of the time. There are some challenges that can make it difficult for some people to work from home. One concern is that people miss the personal contact and social interaction that come with working in an office. Many people have difficulty creating boundaries between their work and home life. Finally, it takes discipline to work from home since there are no managers or colleagues around to motivate or prompt you to get things done. To work effectively virtually, you should have an effective work area that feels like an office; you should work specific hours and keep to your schedule; you should establish and maintain a morning routine; your family and friends must leave you alone to focus on your work; you should have a list of goals that must be accomplished; you need to maintain communication with your professional network; and take steps to ensure you get the desired level of human interaction. Not everyone is well suited for virtual work so it is important to know your true characteristics and strengths before beginning virtual work.

Discussion Questions/Topics:

• As a manager, what questions would you ask a job applicant to determine if the candidate is a good choice for a position that relies on telecommuting?
• If you have telecommuted for a current or previous job, what actions did you take to help you focus on work? If you have not telecommuted, what actions would you need to take to stay focused on work?
• What can a company do to create a sense of “community” when most or all of the firm’s employees telecommute?

I have one question to get answered - regarding the company TERRACYCLE and its intrepreneurs at the beginning. It is a recycling company.

Prompt: You will be going through a series of meetings with different investors. Your goal is, of course, to get as much money as possible since fundraising is taking a lot of time. At the same time, you do not want to give up your vision of TerraCycle’s development. In preparing for the meetings, you need to have the following point clear.

--> Exit time – when would you be ready to exit, and how would you reduce the uncertainties and risk your investors may perceive?

How have you used the rational decision-making model to make a decision? What was the context? How well did the model work?

Please explain in at least 120 words.

Scott Cohen, an expert on performance management, says: “Performance Management programs represent a lost opportunity for most companies. These systems, if designed and implemented properly, can have a strong positive impact on individual performance and financial results – our studies suggest a possible 20 percent improvement in shareholder value.” Cohen goes on to observe that too many companies use performance management programs merely as “window dressing” rather than to add real value.

One key to having a successful pay-for-performance plan is to have an organizational culture that embraces pay for performance. Such a culture will emphasize goal setting, rating and/or ranking of performance, and performance dialogue between supervisors and subordinates. A performance-based culture places a premium on obtaining desired behaviours and results, recognizes that the organization’s success depends on the employees’ successful performance, lets strategic outcomes and goals drive the work of the organization, and rewards desired performance but not poor performance.

H e w l e t t – P a c k a r d ’ s

P e r f o r m a n c e –B a s e d C u l t u r e

Hewlett-Packard’s, operating in 178 countries and doing business in more than ten languages, is a company with a performance-based culture. Employing more than 140,000 people, Hewlett-Packard is known as a great place to work. Hewlett –Packard values ideas and believes that ideas are best developed in a teamwork culture. “That is why everyone at every level in every function is encouraged to have original ideas to express them, and to share them.” Each employee is valued for the unique skills, experiences, and perspectives that he or she brings to the job and organization.

Hewlett-Packard provides employees “every opportunity to learn, grow, and develop skills to drive the company toward achieving its business goals.” It encourages employees “to develop their work and life skills in order to achieve personal as well as career goals.” Hewlett-Packards encourages employees to plan individual development paths that are discussed with their respective managers. Employees and their managers reach mutual agreement upon the individual development paths. Learning within the context of these development plans is intended to be flexible, fast, and rewarding. Hewlett-Packard pride itself on having an “empowering culture that allows people to make the most of their skills, personality, and career.”

Not only is goal setting an important part of employees’ development plans, but it is also a crucial element in on-the-job performance management. Employees have three sets of goals: threshold, target, and aspiration. Threshold goals represent the minimum acceptable performance. Target goals represent the desired and expected level of performance. Aspirational goals exceed the desired and expected level of performance by a significant amount. Attainment of these goals is evaluated using appropriate criteria.

H e w l e t t –P a c k a r d ’ s

T o t a l R e w a r d s p r o g r a m

Performance management at Hewlett-Packard relies, in part, on a Total Rewards program that encourages employees to contributes ideas and attain a high level of achievement. The Total Rewards program includes six major components: competitive base pay, performance-related pay, comprehensive benefits, stock ownership, work life navigation, and sports and social facilities.

While the Total Rewards program differs from nation to nation and by organizational level, all employees are paid market rates for their locations and have benefits packages that are designed to address needs of the location. For instance, differences occur in benefits plans from country to country because of the different laws and regulations that govern the distribution of benefits. In the United States, for example, the benefits package includes a variety of programs for managing work and life demands (e.g. flexible work hours, flexible work arrangement, and educational assistance, among others), staying healthy (e.g. medical, dental, and vision plans), and protecting employees (e.g. life insurance and disability insurance).

All employees also receive performance –related pay that is linked to their attainment of threshold, target, and aspirational goals. “When aspirational goals are met, employees may exceed their target pay potential. Conversely, when minimal thresholds are not met, no variable payment will be made,” this provides employees the opportunity to share in HP’s success.

Performance-related pay may be one of three types: a company performance bonus, pay for results, or sales incentives. The company performance bonus links individual rewards to HP’s overall success. The pay for results variable incentive links compensation for executives and managers to individual, business organization, and company performance results. Sales incentives link the compensation of sales professionals to the attainment of individual, business organization, and company performance goals.

The ultimate effect of and justification for Hewlett –Packard Total Rewards program is perhaps best captured in its corporate rewards philosophy: “Our philosophy on rewards is simple: We believe that when excellent performance is acknowledged is rewarded, people are more motivated and work smarter.”

Discussion Questions

1. What are the primary characteristics of an organizational culture that strongly supports performance management?

2. How does Hewlett-Packard's organizational culture support its performance-management philosophy?

What are potential complicating factors in using personality testing for employee selection? Please explain in at least 120 words.

1. Which of the following ad types does NOT trigger emotional responses?

a. fear appeals

b. humorous

c. comparative

d. image ads

Which of the following identifies a basic attitude that marketers measure in evaluating ads?

a. attitude toward the line extension

b. attitude toward the market

c. attitude toward the company

d. attitude toward the ad

From a marketing perspective, pricing should be about the

a. profit.

b. company.

c. competition.

d. customer.

Profit maximization occurs when marginal revenue equals

a. marginal profit.

b. marginal sale.

c. marginal cost.

d. cost-plus pricing.

__________ is greater when the item is a luxury good rather than a necessity, when many substitutes are available, or when the purchase is a relatively big one.

a. Promotion sensitivity

b. Price sensitivity

c. Product sensitivity

d. Place sensitivity

The medium price of a product is determined by

a. the customer's willingness to pay.

b. competitors' price ± fudge factor.

c. cost + markup.

d. the product's popularity.

If you believe the punctuated-equilibrium model is true about groups, how can you use this knowledge to help your own group?

Please explain in at least 120 words.

Make a 2 report page:

Refer to your textbook and other scholar literature references that you will indicate, and answer the following project theme:

“Job analysis is so important to HR managers that it has been called the building block of all HRM functions”. Define job analysis and discuss the way it provides support to each of the following HRM practices:

1. Job description, Job specification, and Job design;
2. Employee Selection;
3. Training needs assessment;
4. Performance appraisal;
5. Compensation and Job evaluation;

Inditex's International Strategy Inditex is a Spanish company started more than forty years ago, which owns Zara and other brands. The first Zara store was opened in La Coruña in 1975. The founder of Inditex tends to compare selling fashion to selling fish. A freshly cut garment in the latest colour, like fresh fish, tends to sell quickly at a high price. However, fish caught yesterday must be heavily discounted and may not even sell. Inditex is the world's largest fashion retailer, followed by H&M Hennes and Mauritz of Sweden. Through Inditex's premier brand, Zara, its clothing has dominated Europe and Asia. It operates across ninety-three countries and has a total number of almost 7,300 stores; of which, 2,200 are Zara stores. It employs 162,450 people. It has invested heavily in its warehouses in its home country, to allow clothing to be packed and dispatched at a faster rate. Inditex continues to grow in all its markets, including the UK—where some rivals, such as Next and Marks & Spencer, have found competing difficult. It achieved record financial results for 2016 with net profit of €3.2 billion, on total sales of more than €23 billion. The group also announced plans to give its employees more than €535 million in 201 7, over and above their existing salaries. Inditex's Business Model Most fashion companies have their clothes manufactured in China. This provides low cost manufacturing but at the expense of flexibility. Managing a distant supply chain creates an inherent problem. By the time finished clothes are on route from your supplier, the prevailing fashion may have changed. The clothes you place in your retail store can end up looking decidedly out of fashion. Most clothing retailers are forced to continue with plans they developed more than six months in advance. Their clothes are usually made and sent out to stores via a centrally controlled system. This permits only slight local changes and most stores receive similar stock. At Inditex, every store receives a tailored assortment, right down to the number of T-shirts, delivered twice a week. Just over half the stock will be designed and manufactured less than a month before it hits the store. Prices can vary considerably between countries. Shoppers in Spain, Portugal, and Greece can buy the clothes much as thirty per cent cheaper than elsewhere in Europe or overseas markets such as China or the US. As one director at Inditex put it, “company is global, but we shape everything in a very exclusive way to individualise it and shape the store to the customer's needs.” Part of Inditex's business model is a reliance on communication and collaboration. The store's stock is developed in partnership between designers, country managers based at the brands' HQs, and the local store. This level of collaboration allows everyone to feedback ideas about what customers want and don’t want. The business is configured in a way that allows decisions to be made from the bottom to the top, not just in the stores, but throughout the supply chain. Just over half of Inditex's product is only ever produced in relatively small amounts; even if something is incredibly successful, it will never be reproduced exactly again. Designers find versatile fabrics that can easily work as well in a skirt as a jacket to help facilitate Inditex's flexible approach. Unlike other clothing manufacturers, Inditex does not advertise. Its avoidance of advertising is party driven by its manufacturing model, which relies on constantly changing its garments. This precludes placing advertisements in magazines or billboards which require a lead time of weeks or month. However, website can be updated every day, reflecting real-time changes. Instead, it relies upon smart locations and regularly updating the look of its stores. It is one of the main areas of capital expenditure for Inditex, with 300 to 400 stores a year to renovate. While competing clothing retailers struggled, Inditex reported a ten per cent rise in sales in 2016, after it had invested €1.4 billion in its warehouses, technology, new stores, and online expansion. As part of the decision-making process for the Zara brand managers, for each country monitor computer screens at headquarters filled with sales data and talk to store managers or regional directors by phone. Managers are helped by computer algorithms, developed in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The use of computer technology helps Zara to get the right mix of sizes for stores. Although managers are guided by these automatic suggestions, they have autonomy to adjust everything manually, according to local feedback and market knowledge. Over ninety-five per cent of Zara's collections are sold internationally. That said, there are still regional differences. For example, Zara's clothes in Germany tend to be a bit sporty; in Russia, they might wear a pencil skirt with high heels, but in the UK it would be worn with a brogue. At the same time, as different stores around the world are selling similar fashions, Zara stores around the corner from each other might be selling different items of clothing. It's all dictated by their shoppers. Staff at head office can make adjustments for products in as little as three weeks in advance, using production in or close to Europe; primarily Turkey, Spain, and Portugal. At headquarters in Arteixo, there are eleven factories owned by Inditex producing goods for the Zara brand. Inditex's capability lies in skilled jobs, such as cutting out garment pieces, clothing design, and logistics; all of which it keeps in-house. It owns just two or three per cent of its manufacturing capacity. The sewing of fabric pieces is undertaken by more than 100 nearby partner factories that make pieces sent from the Inditex-owned factories into finished clothes. Many have referred to this as 'fast fashion'. Executives at Inditex insists: 'It's not fast, it's more accurate. What's fast is the logistics, and the moment of creation must be close to what customers are saying. To be quick is easy. But that is not our model. Everything we do is trying to think inside the skin of the customer. It's more expensive, but you get more loyalty from the customers and more flexibility, more accuracy. Another of Inditex's capabilities is its distribution system. In Arteixo, all Inditex's factories are linked to its distribution centre by tunnels and a 200-km network of ceiling rails on which 50,000 garments a week from each factory flow around on hangers. Basic items of clothing made in Asia are gathered in Spain, before being sorted for individual stores. The model may be under some pressure since Asia overtook Spain as the biggest source of sales. Routing all its products to a small town in Spain to be sorted, may require changing this to a small town in China. Inditex's Business model appears quite straightforward; which begs the question—why has it not been successfully copied?

Please answer the questions below:

3. How is the international strategy of Inditex related to the business strategy of Zara? Explain.

4. Why is it that no other fashion retailer can match Zara's performance? URGENT

How can a supplier with a lower price end up costing the buyer more than a supplier with a higher price?

Outline a detailed plan to analyze the competitive situation for KMC as a Multi-Business corporation in Kuwait.

What are some ways that an organization can manage the social network to be more innovative? Please explain in at least 130 words.