EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT AT ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, known as ESPN, is in the global multimedia sports and entertainment business. To remain in its leadership role in the sports and entertainment business, ESPN needs to continue to provide the best live sports programming as well as expand and develop its digital presence through social media. To do so, ESPN recognizes the importance of creating exceptional employee experiences through its commitment to people, partnerships, culture, and excellence. Employee development plays a key role in helping to create exceptional employee experiences at ESPN. But employee development at ESPN faces several challenges. One challenge is the speed at which the global news, broadcasting, and entertainment business operates. This can make it difficult for employees to take the time away from activities such as producing and delivering programming to focus on development activities. Another challenge is that ESPN has reportedly been asked by its parent company, Disney, to cut as much as $250 million from this year’s budget. This likely will result in layoffs for 200–300 employees. ESPN has taken several steps to ensure that its development efforts overcome these challenges and support employees’ career interests and goals, enhance their skills, and grow top leadership talent. ESPN requires every employee to complete an individual development plan (IDP). The IDP helps employees consider where they currently are in their careers, their career goals, and how they plan to reach their career goals. The learning function at ESPN reviews and supports the IDP, which has been completed by over 95% of employees. Similar to other companies, ESPN uses the 70-20-10 approach to development. This means that most employee development occurs on the Page 418job, whereas 20% comes from relationships and informal learning, and 10% from formal courses targeted at specific skills. For example, ESPN has a Leadership GPS, which is a tool used by employees to track their development progress. The Leadership GPS helps employees set development goals. It also provides advice on which types of development activities (such as courses, job shadowing, or experiences) are available and will help them meet their goals. ESPN The University offers courses related to different business areas, which are taught by executives and business leaders. This is important because its gets company leaders from different business areas involved in developing employees. It also helps to provide employees with a greater understanding of the different aspects of ESPN’s business such as production, programming, and HR and how they fit together. ESPN Center Court is a development program targeted exclusively to high-potential employees who are on the fast track to future leadership roles in the company. Center Court uses job rotations to give high-potential employees the opportunity to experience different aspects of the business. They also interact with the company’s president and top executives. To facilitate development through relationships, ESPN has a mentoring program known as Open Access that is available to all employees. The only requirements are that employees desire to learn from others and want to build relationships to achieve their development goals. To ensure that development activities support business needs, ESPN has a learning and advisory board, which includes senior leaders and vice presidents from its different businesses. Every major initiative is reviewed and has to receive support from the board before it is implemented. Also, the Employee Learning Council, which includes employees from each of ESPN’s business units, provides feedback and helps to plan development programs.

How could ESPN identify employees with the potential for top leadership positions?

Briefly state the basic characteristics of pure competition, pure monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Under which of these market classifications does each of the following most accurately fit? In each case, justify your classification.

a. a supermarket in your hometown

b. the steel industry

c. a Kansas wheat farm

d. the commercial bank in which you or your family has an account

e. the automobile industry.

Briefly explain what school accountability policies are and provide the economic arguments that support these policies.

What event led to Congress creating new financial regulations?

1. Why do you think corporate universities are becoming more popular among MNEs? How do both MNEs and employees benefit from corporate universities?

Pick a state and check the unemployment compensation laws of that state (choose a different state than your peers). Determine the answers to the following questions:

How do nonprofit organizations, subject to coverage, make payments to the unemployment compensation fund?

Can part-time teachers collect unemployment compensation between school terms?

Can professional athletes receive unemployment compensation?

Are aliens covered by the unemployment compensation law?

1. How do employers protest or appeal benefit determinations and charges against their accounts?
2. Briefly describe how a person's weekly benefit rate and maximum benefit amount are determined.
3. Can an unemployed worker collect additional benefits if he or she has dependents? If so, how much is paid for each dependent?
4. Does the state provide payment of partial benefits?
5. Are benefits payable to a female during pregnancy?
6. Can employers make voluntary contributions to their state unemployment reserve accounts?
7. For what reasons may an unemployed worker be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits?
8. What steps are taken by the state unemployment agency to prevent the improper payment of claims?

A government wishes to borrow £1 million. It issues a one-year bond at a price of £950,000 at a fixed rate of interest of 5%. Suppose in investors become concerned about a possible default, causing the bond price to fall to £930,000.

1. Calculate the bond yield before and after the fall in the bond price.
2. How will this affect the interest rates that companies and households pay on their debts?
3. What can governments do to prevent a debt default?

Suppose that, prior to the passage of the Truth in Lending Simplification Act and Regulation Z, the demand for consumer loans was given by Qdpre-TILSA = 6 -100P (in billions of dollars) and the supply of consumer loans by credit unions and other lending institutions was QSpre-TILSA = 5 + 100P (in billions of dollars). The TILSA now requires lenders to provide consumers with complete information about the rights and responsibilities of entering into a lending relationship with the institution, and as a result, the demand for loans increased to Qdpost-TILSA = 20 -100P (in billions of dollars). However, the TILSA also imposed “compliance costs” on lending institutions, and this reduced the supply of consumer loans to QSpost-TILSA = 3 + 100P (in billions of dollars). Based on this information, compare the equilibrium price and quantity of consumer loans before and after the Truth in Lending Simplification Act.(Note: Q is measured in billions of dollars and P is the interest rate).

Instruction: Enter your responses for the equilibrium price in percentage terms, and round all responses to one decimal place.

Equilibrium price (interest rate) before TILSA: 0.5 percent

Equilibrium quantity (in billions of dollars) before TILSA: $ 5.5 billion

Equilibrium price (interest rate) after TILSA: __ percent

Equilibrium quantity (in billions of dollars) after TILSA: $ __ billion

(first two answers are correct, I just need help with parts 3 and 4)

In the market for foreign currency exchange, the amount of U.S. net capital outflow desired at each real interest rate represents the quantity of U.S. dollars supplied for the purpose of buying foreign assets.

Select one:

True

False

Tony, a U.S. citizen, wants to use his U.S currency to purchase bonds from a German corporation. As a result, Tony is a supplier of U.S. dollars in the foreign currency exchange market.

Select one:

True

False

Question text

Suppose the imposition of a trade policy did not alter the interest rate or level of NCO. If an import quota was imposed, then the demand curve for the domestic currency would shift to the right and the real exchange rate would increase.

Select one:

True

False

Question text

When Mexico suffered from capital flight in 1994, Mexico's real interest rate fell and the Mexican peso appreciated.

Select one:

True

False

Question text

In the open-economy macroeconomic model, the market for loanable funds equates national saving with the sum of net capital outflow and net exports.

Select one:

True

False

According to the open-economy macro model, if the budget deficit of the U.S. increases then U.S. interest rates increase, U.S. domestic investment increases, NCO decreases and the U.S imports decrease because the U.S. dollar appreciates.

Select one:

True

False

In the market for foreign currency exchange, the amount of U.S. net exports desired at each real exchange rate represents the quantity of U.S. dollars demanded for the purpose of buying U.S. goods and services by foreign residents.

Select one:

True

False

Question text

Ceteris paribus, an increase in the U.S. interest rate raises net capital outflow which increases the quantity of loanable funds demanded.

Select one:

True

False

Question text

According to open economy macroeconomic model, an increase in the real exchange rate would tend to shift the demand for U.S. dollars in the foreign-currency exchange market to the left.   

Select one:

True

False

Question text

A tax on imported goods is called a tariff and an import quota is a limit on the quantity of a good that can be produced abroad and sold domestically.

Select one:

True

False

The final meeting of the “Big 3” occurred in Yalta in February 1945. Concessions made to Stalin by FDR and Churchill would cause problems for Europe in the future. First, what were those concessions and what did Stalin

promise in return? Secondly, when Stalin went back on that promise, how did the Truman administration deal with the soviets over the next eight (8) years?

The story

Huawei of China is the world’s second- largest supplier of telecommunications equipment. The company has been expanding into international markets since 1997 but its brand has until recently remained little known outside its native country. One reason is that Huawei is a business-to-business supplier rather than consumer-focused.

As part of its globalization strategy, Huawei decided to begin operations in India in 2000.

The challenge

In India, Huawei faced various difficulties. First, the company needed to build a strong and distinctive brand for non-Chinese markets. In India in particular, the telecoms equipment market was crowded. So Huawei needed to establish a reputation as a reliable partner and create a distinctive identity.

Its Chinese roots worked against it on several levels. An enmity still exists between India and China, with an unresolved border dispute in the north and a history of armed conflict as recently as the 1970s. Also, many Indians perceive Chinese companies to be closed rather than transparent. Thus, Indian businesses often find it difficult to establish relations of trust with Chinese partners.

Chinese companies also have a reputation – not always deserved – in India for producing low-quality goods. Similarly, Huawei was seen primarily as a low-price manufacturer, which meant its products were regarded as of low quality. The fact that the company spends 10 per cent of its profits a year, about $3bn, on research and development, was not widely known.

The response

Huawei realized that in order to compete in India it would have to invest heavily and get to know the market and its particular features.

With this in mind, it established R&D and service centers in India, and 90 per cent of the jobs created went to Indians. This helped to persuade sceptics that Huawei was interested in value creation in India, not just value extraction. Today, India is Huawei’s second-largest research base outside China.

At the company’s two production plants in Chennai, Huawei staff work with local companies to help bring the latter’s production quality up to international standards. The long-term plan is to source as many components locally as possible. Not only are such components cheaper, they also help local companies achieve higher- quality standards, making them more competitive, spreading skills and boosting the economy.

Huawei has also begun promoting consumer products such as smartphones. Recently the company established a link with a leading Indian English-language news channel to sponsor a contest that projected Huawei smartphones as aspirational products, contrary to the prevailing low-quality perception of Chinese brands.

To build an employer brand, Huawei has developed a strong culture of rewarding R&D talent and promoting Indian employees to managerial positions. The hope is that this will be an added boost to the company’s reputation in the country, which has a strong young talent base in engineering. Strengths in research and innovation in India could help Huawei to enhance its reputation worldwide.

The lessons

There is a tendency to think of cultural barriers as being strongest between west and east, and writers on strategy and marketing sometimes assume that there is a cultural affinity between China and India that greatly reduces such obstacles.

In fact, Chinese companies find market entry in India just as difficult as western companies. Huawei’s strategy is one that can be adopted by other foreign companies no matter what their origin: demonstrate trustworthiness, build relationships, commit to India and provide superior quality.

1. Explain the challenges faced by Huawei to enter Indian Market.
2. Based on the case study, explain the market entry strategy adopted by Huawei to enter Indian Market.