1. On the Basic- Ford Motors

a. We have said that strategic management is an evolution and a destination. What does this mean? Discuss in detail.

b Provide three examples of how ford motors is or is not a ‘strategic management’ firm.

about company, the purchasing operation 4 hours are need to process a purchase order, regardless of the quantity purchased. Salaries in the Purchasing Department average 12 dollar per hour, including employee benefits. a detailed analysis of 30 previous purchase orders showed that 400 dollar  was spent on calling , paper, and other consumables directly related to the ordering process and a holding cost of 15%

annual demand is 6000 units, and the plant operates 240 days per year, the company has a contract to purchase from the supplier at a cost of 40 dollar per unit, and it is using a policy of replenishing its inventory of compressors once a month.. Service level indicate that 0.7 stockouts per year is acceptable

1_find reorder cost ?

2_ find current annual total inventory cost under the company’s current policy

3_Find the optimal order quantity.

4_How much safety stock is recommended for the company to carry?

5_find optimal total annual inventory cost?

6_ How much savings does the Company achieve by implementing the optimal policy?

Based on Article below,Discuss the promotion mix for IKEA in Russia and its effectiveness. How would you improve it?

(word limit: 300)

IKEA is a leading home furnishing company with around 340 stores in 40 countries, selling a range of some 10’000 articles and having more than 150’000 employees. The company was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Småland, a province in Southern Sweden where people are renowned for working hard, being thrifty and innovative, and achieving big results with small means. Today, the IKEA group is controlled by a private foundation and the company is thus not on the stock market. Ingvar Komprad’s innovative idea was to offer home furnishing products of good function and design at prices much lower than competitors by using simple cost-cutting solutions that did not affect the quality of products. This is a prominent philosophy at IKEA, which is now realizing its ambitious plans in Russia. IKEA opened its first store in Moscow, Khimki, in March 2000, followed by one more in Moscow in 2001, one in St Petersburg in 2003, and one in Kazan in March 2004. In 2012, IKEA had 14 stores in Russia and some of them in distant places such as Novosibirsk (2007) and the newest ones in Ufa (2011) and Samara (2012). All Russian operations are controlled as fully owned ventures by the IKEA group. IKEA is characterized by a strong brand based on its vision to create a better everyday life for many people. A set of explicit values is linked to the vision and plays a guiding principle in the strategy development. The values are the foundation of a culture called internally the ‘IKEA Way’, which is an expression of lKEA's history, the product range, the distribution system, the management style, the human resource idea, etc. Brand and cultural values coincide and affect the strategy, organizational processes product development and customer relationship. Thus the key value of cost-consciousness that lies at the heart of IKEA's flat-package concept dictates the necessity of global sourcing, define the customer relationship where 'IKEA does a half and customers do a half' and guides the product design, choice of material and logistics. The value of simplicity is reflected in the fast planning process, behaviours and routine governed by common sense, straightforward relationships with suppliers and customer as well as in the product development process. By linking vision and values, IKEA thus create a firm platform for entering a new market. In each new market lKEA enters it must recreate its company culture from scratch. In Moscow that included the replication of the store design and layout in accordance with the latest version of the existing store and extensive cultural education that was implemented by the team of experienced IKEA people. It was the overall company vision that guided the desire to establish business in Russia; most particularly, the impression that few companies in Russia focused on solving the needs of the many people by offering attractive products at reasonable prices. However, knowledge of the Russian market when IKEA initially decided to open its first store in Moscow was very scarce. No special market research was carried out before setting up the store. IKEA’s basic strategy is to neither adjust the style of products to local needs nor follow the competitors’ products development was central as the cornerstone in preserving the IKEA concept and image: ‘The range is supposed to be IKEA – unique and typical IKEA’. All products are divided into four major categories or styles – Scandinavian, Country, Modern, and Young Swede – which are clearly distinguished in all business areas across the store. One of the reasons why IKEA was successful with its standard product ranges in Russia was the fact that several of these IKEA ranges emphasis the modern style, which is very different from the traditional Russian style but is attractive and fresh for the Russian customers because it symbolizes change. An important factor in the market approach was to identify needs that are not fully recognized and to teach customers what IKEA is about. IKEA's retail proposition is based to a large extent on its Swedish roots and history, which is, in turn, very different from Russian traditions. Therefore, learning as much as possible about the local culture and customer needs was considered essential. For example, IKEA made home visits to customers to talk to people, see how they lived and used their homes and to identify potential needs and wants not fully acknowledged by customer themselves. Understanding local family conditions and furnishing traditions then provided a basis for the effective introduction and marketing of the IKEA concept. As exemplified by a store manager, the main priority for Russians is normal living costs; then comes the car and TV; and afterwards maybe a trip abroad. The idea of changing people's priorities by explaining to them that a beautiful home does not have to cost a fortune and they can afford both the wardrobe and a trip abroad is an essential leitmotif of the marketing campaigns in Russia. The importance of aligning the IKEA concept with the desired image was critical from the very beginning. The intention was to build an image with a low price brand that also guaranteed attractive and modern products of good quality. To achieve this, IKEA has faced many challenges such as: high customs fees; the requirement to purchase more from the local producers; difficulties in finding and developing suppliers in Russia; still low buying-power of Russian customers etc. For IKEA, it was critical to associate the low price with the desired significance. An increased capacity and bigger volumes by the Russian suppliers will allow the company to cut costs and reduce prices in Russia as well as to export the Russian made furniture to its other markets. As a matter of fact, IKEA prices are still very high for many ordinary Russians. For example, even in St Petersburg, the second-largest city, shopping power is, according to different estimate, 30 to 50 per cent lower than in Moscow, where an average purchase value equals that in Stockholm. But for Russian customers low price was very strongly related to unattractive products of poor quality, and one challenge has been to overcome this and explain how it is possible to offer good product at low prices. Therefore, it has also been an ambition to provide the Russian market with the best and most attractive IKEA products. Marketing communications became an important tool in creating the right image of IKEA in Russia. The ways to communicate the image were many: the outdoor product ads (price), image ads in the glossy magazine, TV (though IKEA has used this very restrictively due to high cost), and articles in the newspapers (press coverage has become very broad and quite positive towards the IKEA culture and philosophy). Another very important communication means in Russia is the buzz network or word-of mouth communication that works very effectively. In addition, IKEA had an open and friendly approach towards Russian journalists. This was in sharp contrast to most other large organizations. IKEA was completely open to the journalists and introduced them to the IKEA way and values by organizing press trips to Älmhult in Sweden to learn how the range is created. The result was that the press coverage of IKEA in Russia became much more positive. In the spring of 2009 IKEA thus had 11 stores operating in Russia. Most of these locations were mega mall shopping complex operated by IKEA. The shopping complex at the Tyoplyi Stan site in Moscow for example accommodate around 210,000 square meters of retail space and 240 retail outlets. The mega malls were treated as a separate business, and were an addition to IKEA's core concept. Normally, IKEA does not manage or develop shopping centres but this was considered necessary in Russia due to its lack of an existing structure of large branded stores and external as well as central shopping centres of a Western kind. Previously, many Russians have shopped for furniture as well as other products in outdoor markets or at smaller, local stores. From IKEA’s perspective developing a whole mega mall was part of attracting Russian customers to the stores. As a whole, IKEA has made substantial investments in Russia, and turnover is increasing rapidly. However, a major principle has been that monetary returns are needed to back up further expansion: ‘As soon as we make a profit, I can see at least ten years ahead when we will need all the money that is generated in Russia. So, the day when we will start to take out profit from Russia and use it in other countries is perhaps 15 years away'.

Reflection on the complex subject of creativity, discovery, and innovation, what do you project for future challenges, trends, and opportunities for organizations? Will organizations embrace innovation or revert to production? Should they and will it be done the same as now or in a different way? Where are we going when it comes to being an innovative society? Support at least one of your ideas with one academic reference, appropriately cited.

Question 195 pts

___________ is the strategy a firm follows when it sells the same product or service in all of its international markets.

Group of answer choices

E

A

C

D

B

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Question 205 pts

China has a comparative advantage in that

Group of answer choices

E

C

A

D

B

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Question 215 pts

International franchising is generally used in manufacturing industries whereas international licensing is used mostly in service industries.

Group of answer choices

True

False

. What is a campaign proposal? Why and for whom do we write them? Discuss as many uses as possible. Next, identify the elements that appear in a campaign proposal, how it should be organized, and how PR practitioners use it to guide their work. And since messages are an important part of any campaign, explain how messages should be constructed, written and effectively used

a) Describe the organizational culture at the Newskool. Be sure to use specific course concepts in your answer .

b) Is the culture at the Newskool strong or weak? How do you know?

c) In general, what are the pros and cons of a strong culture?

Imagine you are a senior manager at Newskool Grooves who has been tasked with putting together a cross-functional team that will decide on which type of communication platform the company should use for corporate communications (e.g., email, video conferencing, secure group chats, etc).

Imagine CEO Gerd Finger wishes to introduce a new line of music equipment at Newskool Grooves and that several of the other managers do not like his idea.

Discuss factors affecting the adoption of environmentally friendly technological innovation among firms.

From your perspective what is the most important factor?

Support your answer with realistic examples.

Imagine CEO Gerd Finger wishes to introduce a new line of music equipment at Newskool Grooves and that several of the other managers do not like his idea.

1. Based on various perspectives and models of leadership, how would you describe the leadership style of the CEO Gerd Finger? Why would you associate him with form of leadership?

2. Why is Path-Goal Theory considered a contingency theory of leadership?

3. Using Path-Goal Theory, provide examples of leadership behaviours enacted by CEO Gerd Finger.

4. Of the contingencies from Path-Goal Theory, which two are most important for deciding how to best lead employees are Newskool Groove? Why?

The Brampton store has customers arrive every 95 seconds and average service rate of 55 customers per hour. What is the average number of customers waiting in line? Answer to 2 decimal places.The Hamilton store has an arrival rate of 30. If the store wanted the average time in the system to be 6 minutes, what would the service rate have to be? Answer to one decimal place.The Brantford store has a service rate of 60 customers per hour. What is the probability that checkout time will take between 1 and 3 minutes.

Please read case and answer the questions thank you.

As B2B e-commerce continues to grow, companies are placing more emphasis on upgrading their e-commerce infrastructure, taking many cues from B2C companies in the process. Streamlining their online stores and ensuring that potential customers can make purchases across a variety of channels has become just as important for B2B companies as it is for B2C companies. B2B e-commerce accounted for $6.7 trillion of the total $14.6 trillion in B2B trade in 2016, and that B2B e-commerce is expected to increase to around $9 trillion by 2020. For B2B e-commerce companies, there’s a lot at stake.Sana Commerce is a B2B e-commerce software company founded in 2008 and headquartered in the Netherlands. Sana provides B2B enterprise multichannel e-commerce, which is integrated with ERP systems. This means that Sana allows its clients to initiate transactions from physical stores, online stores, mobile app stores, telephone sales, or any other method. A number of companies offer these types of services, but Sana is unique in that it integrates within already installed enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Sana Commerce allows businesses to achieve better customer service, higher sales efficiency, and increased revenue. It’s compatible with many major ERP systems, including most versions of Microsoft Dynamics and SAP systems, and its Webshop is installed within that system, as opposed to functioning separately and interfacing with that system externally. This ensures that companies using Sana don’t have to make large investments in new ERP systems. Sana uses the pre-existing ERP’s business logic and information rather than forcing a complicated integration.This feature of Sana Commerce appeals to many companies, including Mechan Groep, distributor of agricultural machinery, wholesale goods, and aftersales supplies. Mechan Groep is based in Achterveld, Netherlands, employs 180 people, with clients in both the Netherlands and Belgium. The company earns 180 million euro per year, according to Mechan Groep CFO Rene Schwiete, who is featured in the video.Mechan Groep’s aftersales department uses Sana to better serve the needs of its dealers. Mechan Groep implemented Sana because of its preexisting use of SAP ERP software, and Sana’s Webshop worked within its larger SAP systems flawlessly. There are 105 dealers in Mechan Groep’s network. These dealers use Sana’s Webshop to access Mechan Groep supplies. Dealers can view inventory on a daily basis and select the urgency with which they need supplies. Mechan Groep’s custom Webshop offers over 700,000 items to Mechan Groep’s dealers.

1.How does Mechan Groep staff fulfill each order as it comes in on Sana Webshop?

2.What type of clients does Mechan Groep serve? Why is the speed of Sana Webshop important?

3.What types of B2B e-commerce companies is Sana best suited for?

Below are returns on the stock A and S&P500 index. All numbers are in decimals (-0.0222 is equivalent to -2.22%). A S_P500 -0.0222 0.0032 -0.0048 -0.0058 0.1333 0.0434 0.0765 0.1081 -0.0161 -0.0121 0.1250 0.1400 0.0145 0.0368 -0.0475 -0.0454 0.0430 0.0577 -0.0260 -0.1374 0.0071 0.0064 0.0249 0.0186 0.0850 0.0215 -0.0624 -0.0752 0.0933 0.0365 0.0456 0.0528 -0.0632 -0.0131 0.0450 0.0009 0.0200 0.0017 0.0280 0.0985 What is the sample standard deviation of the S&P500 returns? Please write an answer in decimals. For example, 12.34% would be 0.1234. Also, round your answer to the fourth decimal

A) What is “Strategic Workforce Planning”?

B) In 5 sentences or less, in your opinion, what is the most critical aspect of Strategic Workforce Planning?

Select three US companies that are publicly traded using your knowledge and experience and make sure you are practicing good diversification. Jim Cramer, Money Manager, on CNBC, plays a game at the end of his show called "Am I Diversified." Check out the short clip, Am I Diversified - Mad Money [Video], to get a sense of industry diversification.

Ideas for Sources of Information: There are many ways to find such companies and the stock prices, including the New York Stock Exchange, Google Finance, NASDAQ, andYahoo! Finance.

Describe how you will divide $25,000 across the three companies (e.g. $10,000 in Company 1, $10,000 in Company 2, and $5,000 in Company 3).

You decide the amount you are investing in each company. You do not have to provide any analysis to justify your decisions.

Provide a reason for picking each company.

For example, you might invest in Ford because that company gets a lot of your money and you hear that Ford is doing well, and will continue to do well.

Identify the number of shares you are buying, and the price of the shares you are buying for each company.

Once you decide the companies and the amount for each company, determine how many shares you can buy. For example, if Company 1 is selling for $42.16, then you may buy $10,000/$42.16, or 237.19 shares. But you cannot buy a part of a share, so you decide to buy either 237 or 238. In this example, you buy 237 shares at $42.16 per share, investing $9,991.92. You won’t be able to buy exactly $10,000, or $5,000, or $25,000, but it will be relatively close.

Q1. What is:

Quality? Total Quality? Total Quality Management? And Quality Culture?

Q2. Explain the role of the leadership and top management in total quality.

Q3. Explain the role of the customer in total quality.

Q4. Explain the role of the employees in total quality.

Q5. List four benefits of total quality management.