In order to address the course learning objective. "...demonstrate your ability to justify if current Corporate Strategies work to achieve competitive advantage'..."

An eBay executive was once asked a question about some of the firm's new acquisitions. The question and his answer follows:

Q - With your other acquisitions, what have you learned about how to make them work, how to integrate them into the culture?

A - We think about acquisitions in three categories: acquisitions to strengthen our core, adjacent acquisitions, and capability acquisitions. The easiest are the first kind, like the acquisition two years ago of (the Korean auction site) Gmarket. We’re letting adjacent acquisitions, such as StubHub and Bill Me Later, run relatively independently. With Bill Me Later we’ve integrated core capabilities into PayPal and eBay. Positronic, a small search company, is in the third category. In many cases we’re buying the people—Christopher Payne, who’s running eBay North America now, was a founder of Positronic—which helps us integrate faster and acquire great talent.

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Now it is your turn. Please address the following questions:

1. What benefits would eBay have from allowing an acquired firm, such as "Bill Me Later" to function relatively independently?
2. Is it a good idea to impose the acquiring firm’s culture onto the acquired firms? Why? Why not?   

Why a contingency plan was not always appropriate for long term operations due to inflexibility in organisational structure for WOW Sight and Sound (answer in a short paragraph)

Discuss the following quote from Steve Jobs, Co-Founder of Apple, Inc. Also, detail whether you agree/disagree with the quote and why. Please support your stance with specific details.

"Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient." (min 200 words)

How attractive is the institutional environment in Egypt

Provide a comprehensive explanation of the major categories of decisions that may be linked to the function of technology and its strategy. Then explain the Top 3 measures of performance that you would recommend to an organization.

You obtain a position as a community pharmacist in a small town by a pharmacist who is on the verge of retirement. You have an idea that you want to expand the clinical services of the pharmacy. As a certified immunizer, you decide that you want to implement vaccine services. Utilizing all of the modern four Ps (people, processes, programs, and performance), describe the marketing plan you would put in place to build these services (2-3 paragraphs). Describe in one to two sentences the cost objects that will be factored into the budget when starting the immunization service.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION:

different segmentation variables (demographic: income/gender/ethnic group) geographic, psychographic (when looking at AIO: lifestyle, activities, interest and opinions) and geodemographic /benefit/usage.

need 3 paragraphs to a page max on the different methods of segmenting consumer markets. WITH a couple of EXAMPLES

Products often service different needs, appeal to different buyers, or are perceived differently in different markets.

Consider a good or service that is sold in your country and another using different marketing strategies in each.

One of the countries must be the countries home market.

Describe the factors to consider in developing international product strategies.

Explain the factors to consider when designing international distribution strategies.

The term social sustainability? What does it mean for organizations in the developed world?

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

what are the advantages of in-house vs outside agencies with details and examples. dont be so advanced with words please, and 3-5 paragraphs max.

need as soon as possible. thank you

Identify and explain each of the six domains that are measured when the VOI of an Employee Health and wellness program is assessed

The principle of the separate legal entity has been considered as the most fundamental principle of modern corporate law. This independence or distinction is not a new concept as it forms the backbone of the corporation’s legal issues. It is argued, however, that the sanctity of the principle of corporate veil principle is only drawn under compelling

Critically analyses the above statement in light of recent development of cases in the commonwealth jurisdiction of Malaysia and United Kingdom.

After having initially started out in 1988 as a reseller of third party software to small distribution businesses and corporate systems for retail home offices, by 1993 Datavantage grew to 16 employees and $1.5 million in sales with only $50,000 of external financing. Very few products were developed internally and, by 1993, Datavantage was slowly transforming itself into a consulting company. Despite relative success, it wasn’t exactly what Marvin envisioned to be an exciting entrepreneurial opportunity and he was ready to get out of the business. A radical change was needed in order for Marvin to consider staying and growing the company.

The opportunity for change arrived in 1994 when Datavantage acquired the services division of LDI, with Chaz joining Datavantage as part of this acquisition. LDI was a reseller of products for store systems and provided a complementary foundation for Datavantage’s further development. This dramatically changed Marvin’s perception of Datavantage’s future potential.

Also in 1994, the organization made a conscious decision to better control its own destiny and transition away from reselling third party software and into internally developing its own Point of Sale software products. After developing Store 21, a complete store management system based on full transaction Point of Sale (POS) applications software, Chaz and Marvin were considering the acquisition of XBR Track, a small loss prevention software company, based in Boston, Massachusetts.

The opportunity for XBR Track emerged out of the need of Specialty Retailers to minimize their internal losses from theft and shrinkage. Chaz and Marvin determined that retailers in the U.S. were losing an average of 2 percent of sales due to retail theft or shrinkage each year. The losses due to shrinkage directly affect the bottom line of the retailer in the form of a pure profit loss. It was estimated that retail employees account for 55 percent to 75 percent of lost revenue because of various fraudulent transactions. Transaction fraud ranges from improper cash refunds and price overrides to employee discount abuse and fraudulent credit card activity. XBR Track was offering the retail industry a solution to the $13.2 billion loses annually due to employee theft.

Chaz and Marvin find themselves in the final stages of negotiation to acquire XBR discussing many related issues regarding the acquisition and its impact on the entrepreneurial culture currently at the company. While there is no doubt about the attractiveness of the acquisition, the case brings up multiple concerns about the post-acquisition integration directly relating them to the challenge of continuing the organizational entrepreneurial culture. Specifically, the two founders are concerned with whether Datavantage will be able to successfully serve the existing customers and maintain its current level of customer support; whether XBR’s geographical location will become an issue during the integration; whether the existing sales force has enough knowledge and competency to sell XBR; and whether Datavantage will be able to effectively execute the “get into the castle” strategy intended for XBR. Above all, however, Chaz and Marvin were wondering if the potential rapid growth that XBR can provide for Datavantage can have a negative impact on the small start-up entrepreneurial culture that made the company successful.

1. There are many reasons for the growth success of the company for its current (at the time of the case) growth. What does the case describe as the main reason? Hint: it has to with entrepreneurship.
2. What are the aspects of the company’s performance that are directly affected by these factors? Identify what aspects of the company’s performance are directly affected by its ability to sustain and nurture its entrepreneurial culture. What are the 3 areas that ensured the company’s success?