Gillette Targets Emerging Markets'

As it entered the twenty-first century, Gillette faced a difficult choice. Should it continue targeting emerging markets or not? Its strategy to move aggressively into markets in the developing world and the former Soviet bloc had been hailed as a success only a few years before. Recent poor earnings, however, had management considering whether this choice had been a wise one.

The Boston-based firm was founded in 1895 and is still best known for its original products, razors and razor blades. By the end of the twentieth century, Gillette had grown into a global corporation that marketed. Its products in 200 countries and employed 44,000 people worldwide.

In the mid-1990s, Gillette targeted several key emerging markets for growth through product diversification. Among them were Russia. China, India and Poland. Russia was already a success story. Gillette had formed a Russian joint venture in St.Petersburg and within 3 years Russia had become Gillette's third-largest blade market.

Gillette's move into the Czech Republic had prospered as well and in 1995 Gillette bought Astra as a private Razor Blade Company. Astra gave Gillette expanded brand presence in the Czech market. Astra's relatively strong position in export markets in East Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia proved a boon to Gillette in those markets as well. Just as in other markets in the developing world, 70 percent of East European blade consumers used the older, lowertech double-edge blade. In more developed markets, consumers appreciated product innovation and the shaving market had moved to more high-tech systems such as Gillettes Sensor.

Then disaster struck. A financial crisis that began in Thailand quickly spread across Asia. Many wary investors responded by pulling money out of other emerging markets as well depressing economies across the globe. Bad economies meant slower sales for Gillette, especially in Asia, Russia and Latin America. In Russia, consequently, these products disappeared from retail stores and Gillette's Russian sales plummeted 80 percent in a single month. Gillette found it could not meet its projected annual profit growth of 15-20 percent. The price of Gillette shares tumbled 36 percent in 6 months. To save money, Gillette planned to close 14 factories and layoff 10 percent of its workforce.

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Despite its recent bad experience in developing countries and in the former Soviet bloc, Gillette was still moving ahead with plant expansion plans in Russia and Argentina that would total $64 million. Some even suggested that this was a good time to expand in the emerging markets by buying up smaller competitors that had been hurt even worse by the crises. Meanwhile, back in the developed world, another large global consumer products firm, Unilever, announced that it would be entering the razor market.

Questions

1. Why Companies such as Gillette engage in international business? Give some reasons.
2. What are the global strategic issues to be considered by the managers of Gillette when expand their operation in emerging market? Briefly explain.
3. How the external environment affects the Gillette’s international operations in emerging market?

E was playing bridge with their friends, when they experienced SOB and tightness in their back. The friends called EMT and E was admitted to the hospital. A CABG was conducted soon after arrival. At discharge, E would like to return to their prior activities and apartment in the independent senior living community.

Prior level of function ( PLOF):

El is a 82 year old person that lives in a senior community which provides multiple levels of care. The patient lives by themself in a one-bedroom apartment. The apartment has a bathroom with tub seat and grab bars. These are the only modifications in the apartment. The community provides breakfast and dinner daily in a community dining room, as well as assists with cleaning tasks. The patient must be able to get themself to and from the dining room upon return to apartments. The dining room is 1000 feet away from the patient’s apartment. E was independent with all B ADL and I ADL tasks. E did not use AD for functional mobility prior. They worked part-time as a piano teacher and volunteered as a ‘Reading Grandparent at a local Head Start Preschool.

Utilize universal precautions at all times

Precautions: Sternal, O2 at 3 L at all times

PMH: HTN, elective hysterectomy 2010, smoked 1 pack/day until cessation in 1995, COPD

Current Level of Function (CLOF):  

ADL & Functional mobility

Feeding - independent (GG 6)

Grooming - independent (GG 6)

UE Dressing - Mod A (GG 3)

LE dressing - Mod A (GG 3)

Bathing - S (GG 4)

Transfers - S (GG 4)

PT has provided a rollator for mobility

Activity tolerance:

Poor with 3 L of O2

Balance:

Sitting balance - 3+ on KU

Standing balance - 3+ on KU

Cognition:

OT has assessed the patient using the Allen lacing test - score of 4.8

Assessments week 1 = ADL (LB dressing with pants) & transfer (wc to bed with rollator)

Assessments week 2 = BORG during ADL task (get clothing out of closet and put on sweatshirt) & Pain scale

Assessments week 3 = tub transfer (wc to tub with rollator)

• 1. Assessment & Intervention

     1. Which areas of occupation could be impacted?

     2. List reasons why (ie what assessments led you to these reasons?)

     3. Which areas would you/should the OT practitioner address in the setting from the case study (focus of intervention varies by setting & diagnosis)

• 2. Intervention & Implementation (Activity Analysis/Grading Activity)

     1. Which client factors could impact participation in occupation? How or why?

     2. Which performance factors could impact participation in occupation? How or why?

     3. Which performance patterns could impact participation in occupation? How or why?

     4. Which context or environments could impact participation in occupation? How or why?

3. Review the educational material or manual for the assessments that you will give week one. Then, answer the following questions:

• 3. What areas do these assessments assess?

  4. Who is qualified to administer these assessments

  5. What is the age range that these assessments can be utilized with?

  6. How long does it take to administer?

  7. What kind of scores does it provide?

The data for the per capita demand for chicken ( pounds per household) in the United States from 1990 to 2013 is given in the table below.

475 = unique initial income number.

AVG = AVERAGE

The data suggests that the per capita demand for chicken (Qd) depends on the following factors:

Pc = Price of chicken ( $ per capita)

I = real disposable income per capita ($)

Ad = Advertising dollars per capita

Pj = price of juice – ( a related product) per capita ($)

Using regression analysis, the attached data and a linear functional form, estimate the demand for CHICKEN.

Include the computation and explanation of the following in your report:

1. Write your regression equation i.e. demand function
2. Enter data provided into excel or statplus as per instructions attached and run your regression / derive your coefficient estimates. Interpret all the coefficients in % ( .i.e if PC = - 0.06768, interpret as: - 6.77%
3. Use the average values for the independent variables and your estimated demand function, compute the demand for CHICKEN in a typical market.
4. Define and interpret the standard error of the estimate AND estimate the range within which actual demand for Chicken is expected to fall with a 95% confidence level.
5. Define the coefficient of determination (R-squared). What percentage of demand variation is explained by this model?
6. Define and explain the usefulness of the F-Statistics
7. Are the coefficient’s statistically significant? i.e. does each of the independent variables have a significant effect on the dependent variable? Explain using t-stats.
8. Calculate and interpret the point price, cross price, point advertising and point income elasticity of demand for CHICKEN.

J&L Packaging, Inc.: Cash-to-Cash Conversion Cycle Case Study

Jake and Lilly Gifford founded J&L Packaging, Inc. (J&LP) in 1995 after graduating from the University of Cincinnati. Jake earned a degree in robotics and mechanical engineering, while Lilly graduated with a degree in computer science. They met at the university while working on an information systems course project and married immediately after graduation. Their privately held firm manufactured cardboard packaging and boxes for computer devices such as personal computers, keyboards, replacement hard drives, servers, and so on. Many of their packages were high-end boxes with glossy finishes and the company’s logo on the box. Last year, J&L Packaging, Inc. sales were $106 million.

J&LP Packaging provided many services with their products, such as box and packaging design engineering and consulting, embossing and foil guidance, barcode advice, cartons that fold and collapse for easy storage, and a variety of colors and box strengths. In 2010, J&LP began to research the sustainability issues regarding boxes in the reverse logistics supply chain.Their research lead to a change in production technologies to accommodate up to 100 percent recycled fiber content and solar panels on the roofs of their two U.S. factories. They also hired an engineer to lead the company’s efforts to become a “Green Cycle”-certified manufacturer.

J&LP recently purchased and installed an ISOWA FALCON state-of-the-art, four-color, high-speed flexo box machine with an extensive zero defects quality control system. This box cutting and fabrication machine is manufactured in Kasugai, Japan, by the ISOWA Corporation (www.isowa.com). There are several videos of this automated machine in operation on YouTube,” for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v5XofTns666Aw.

J&LP’s financial information for last year follows. It is assumed the business operates 300 days per year. One note in J&LP financial statement states that the $4,906,000 of inventory does not include $886,000 in inventory allowances for excess, cancelled orders, and obsolete inventories. The note goes on to say, “Inventory management remains an area of focus as we balance the need to maintain strategic inventory levels to ensure competitive lead times versus the risk of inventory obsolescence because of changing technology and customer requirements. The box and packaging business is a dynamic industry that must quickly accommodate customer requirements, changes in forecasts, and new findings from research and development on product features and options.” The following data (in thousands of dollars $) is provided.

1. Should we consider services in the cash-to-cash conversion cycle computations?
2. How will you handle the $886,000 in obsolete inventory?
3. What is the total cash-to-cash conversion cycle for J&L Packaging, Inc. for last year?
4. What are your conclusions and final recommendations?

The Russell 1000 is a stock market index consisting of the largest U.S. companies. The Dow Jones industrial Average is based on 30 large companies. The data giving the annual percentage returns for each of these stock indexes for 25 years are contained in the Excel Online file below. Construct a spreadsheet to answer the following questions.

a. Which of the following scatter diagrams accurately represents the data set?

_________Scatter diagram #1Scatter diagram #2Scatter diagram #3Scatter diagram #4

b. Compute the sample mean and standard deviation for each index (to 2 decimals).

c. Compute the sample correlation coefficient for these data (to 3 decimals).

d. Discuss similarities and differences in these two indexes.

_________There is a strong positive linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a moderate positive linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is neither a positive nor a negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a moderate negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a strong negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000

The variance of the Russell 1000 is slightly _________largersmaller than that of the DJIA.

a. Which of the following scatter diagrams accurately represents the data set?

_________Scatter diagram #1Scatter diagram #2Scatter diagram #3Scatter diagram #4

b. Compute the sample mean and standard deviation for each index (to 2 decimals).

c. Compute the sample correlation coefficient for these data (to 3 decimals).

d. Discuss similarities and differences in these two indexes.

_________There is a strong positive linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a moderate positive linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is neither a positive nor a negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a moderate negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000There is a strong negative linear association between DJIA and Russell 1000

The variance of the Russell 1000 is slightly _________largersmaller than that of the DJIA.

Agree/Disagree and Why?

Question: Describe and discuss the role of planning in the business use of information technology, using the scenario approach, and planning for competitive advantage as examples. In addition, Hash out the role of planning and business models in the development of business/IT strategies, architectures, and applications. Identify several change management solutions for end-user resistance to the implementation of new IT-based business strategies and applications.

Answer: In order to use information technology well, and implement it in a cohesive and effective way requires more than just knowing its importance of it. There needs to be a creation and implementation on an action plan. There are six components to an organization planning process. 1- Team building, modeling, and consensus 2- Evaluating what an organization has accomplished and the resources they have acquired 3- Analyzing the business, economic, political, and societal environments 4- Anticipating and evaluating the impact of future developments 5- Building a shared vision and deciding on what goals they want to achieve 6- Deciding which actions to take to achieve their goals The result of these 6 components results in the planning process, which is then followed by the implementation process. There are different types of planning processes. One of them is the Scenario approach in which is known for making planning easier, more accurate, and more relevant to the real world. This is actually an approach my company takes as we create potential scenarios and play out different ways to resolve it and find the best action course. Planning for competitive advantage is very important within business/IT planning. It involves looking at the potential risks and benefits the company might encounter when using IT strategies and technologies. The role of the business models and planning are to answer specific questions that revolve around how a business will deliver value to its target customers and at what cost. It is very important as it focuses on all the important components of a business and how they fit within the whole system. In order to actually utilize the internet in a competitive advantageous way the company needs to be able to have a strategic framework and continue to access the strategic value it has, by looking into the following different aspects, cost and efficiency improvements, Performance improvement in business efficiency, global market penetration, and Product and service transformation. Some solutions for end-user resistance that can be implemented to assist in the transition are as follows. Involve as many people as possible in e-business planning and application development, Make constant change an expected part of the culture, tell everyone as much as possible about everything as often as possible, preferably in person, make liberal use of financial incentives and recognition, work within the company culture and not around it. O’Brien, James. (2011). Management Information Systems. 10th Edition. The McGraw=Hill Companies, Inc. New York Schoemaker, P. (1995, January 15). Scenario Planning: A Tool for Strategic Thinking. Retrieved October 4, 2020, from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/scenario-planning-a-tool-for-strategic-thinking/ Ali, Rami. (2020.May14). Scenario Planning: Strategy, Steps and Practical Examples. Brainyard. https://www.netsuite.com/portal/business-benchmark-brainyard/industries/articles/cfo-central/scenario-planning.shtml

Please read the following study case "Hot Coffee" then answer:

In a world of get-rich-quick schemes, few are mentioned more frequently than lawsuits. One of the reasons is the infamous McDonald’s coffee case (Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants). This is what happened in 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Stella Liebeck, seventy-nine, was riding in a car driven by her grandson. They stopped at a McDonald’s drive-through, where she purchased a Styrofoam cup of coffee. Wanting to add cream and sugar, she squeezed the cup between her knees and pulled off the plastic lid. The entire thing spilled back into her lap. The searing liquid left her with extensive third-degree burns. Eight days of hospitalization—which included skin grafts—were required.

Initially, she sought $20,000 from McDonald’s, which was more or less the cost of her medical bills. McDonald’s refused. They went to court. There it came to light that about seven hundred claims had been made by consumers between 1982 and 1992 for similar incidents. This seems to indicate that McDonald’s knew—or at least should have known—that the hot coffee was a problem.

Most of the rest of the case turned around temperature questions. McDonald’s admitted that they served their coffee at 185 degrees, which will burn the mouth and throat and is about 50 degrees higher than typical homemade coffee. More importantly, coffee served at temperatures up to 155 degrees won’t cause burns, but the danger rises abruptly with each degree above that limit. So why did McDonald’s serve it so hot? Most customers, the company claimed, bought on the way to work or home and would drink it on arrival. The high temperature would keep it fresh until then. Unfortunately, internal documents showed that McDonald’s knew their customers intended to drink the coffee in the car immediately after purchase. Next, McDonald’s asserted that their customers wanted their coffee hot. The restaurant conceded, however, that customers were unaware of the serious burn danger and that no adequate warning of the threat’s severity was provided.

Finally, the jury awarded Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages and $2.7 million in punitive damages (about two days worth of McDonalds’ coffee sales). The judge, however, reduced the $2.7 million to $480,000. McDonald’s threatened to appeal, and the two sides eventually came to a private settlement agreement.Consumer Attorneys of California, “The Actual Facts About the McDonalds’ Coffee Case,” The ‘Lectric Law Library, 1995, accessed June 2, 2011, http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cur78.htm.

Questions:

1. What does caveat emptor mean? According to this doctrine, who is responsible for Stella Liebeck’s burns? Explain.
2. Does the fact that she’s seventy-nine years old make it more difficult to justify a caveat emptor attitude in this case?
3. One aspect of the caveat emptor doctrine is that it maximizes respect for the consumer as an independent and autonomous decider. Could that be a reason for affirming that a seventy-nine-year-old is a better candidate than most for a caveat emptor ethics of consumption?
4. In general terms, what does it mean to claim that an implicit contract arises around a transaction? How does that contract protect the consumer?

using lunix or C programming to answer this lab please fill in the blanks with the answere being highlighted, so i can understand.

First, type the following command:

            sort employee

What is the order that employee is sorted in? ___________________________________________

Give a brief description of how the file is sorted. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now, sort on the field for last name.

        sort +1 employee

Look at the sorted file. Are all the names sorted in alphabetical order? ______________________

Give a brief description of the output.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sort the file again using the following command:

            sort -f +1 employee

What happens when you sorted it this time? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Type in:

            sort +3 employee > hired1

Use the cat command to list out the file hired1 to see the results. Are the hire dates sorted in order? _______________  

If not, what has happened? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Type in:

            sort -n +3 employee > hired2

What is the result of the sort? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Type in:

            sort -nb +3.4 employee > hired3

What was the result? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Briefly explain what happened. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Type in:

            sort +0 +4n employee

What was the result? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Were both columns sorted? __________________________

Type in the next command.

            sort +0 -1 +4n employee

What were the results of this output. Was the file sorted on both the department and also the salary field?

issue the command:

        sort -n -t: +4 books

What is the result? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Try another sort using the books file. Sort on the price field in reverse. Type in the following:

        sort -nr -t: +5 books

What was the result? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Try one more sort, this time saving the sort to a file. This sort will be on two fields. Put it into a new file called newbooks. Type in:

        sort -t: +0 +1 books > newbooks

Look at the file, newbooks. What does the sorted file look like now?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brunswick Parts is a small manufacturing firm located in eastern Canada. The company, founded in 1947, produces metal parts for many of the larger manufacturing firms located in both Canada and the United States. It prides itself on high quality and customer service, and many of its customers have been buying at least some of their parts from Brunswick since the 1950s.

Production of the parts takes place in one of two plants. The older plant, located in Fredericton, was purchased when the company was founded, and the last major improvements to the plant took place in the 1970s. A newer plant, located in Moncton, was built in 1995 to take advantage of the expanding markets. The same part can be produced in either plant, and the final scheduling decision is based on capacity, transportation costs, and production costs.

At a weekly production meeting, Sara Hunter, the manufacturing manager expresses her frustration at trying to schedule production.

Something isn’t right. We build a new plant to take advantage of new manufacturing technology and we struggle to keep it filled. We didn’t have this problem a few years ago when we couldn’t keep up with demand, but with the current economy, marketing keeps sending orders to the old plant in Fredericton. I know manufacturing, but I guess I must not understand accounting.

The latest order that generated discussion among plant management was placed by Lawrence Machine Tool Company, a long-time customer. The order called for 1,000 units of a special rod (P28) used in one of its many products. The order was received by the marketing department. Following the established procedure at Brunswick, the marketing manager checked the product costs for both plants. Because quality and transportation costs would be the same from either plant, a decision was made to produce and ship from the Fredericton plant.

The cost system at Brunswick is a traditional manufacturing cost system. Plant overhead (including plant depreciation) is allocated to products based on estimated production for the period. Separate overhead rates are computed for each plant. Corporate administration costs are allocated to the plants based on the estimated production in the plant for purposes of executive performance measurement. Production is measured by direct labor-hours. Cost and production information for P28 follows.

Corporate and plant overhead budgets are as follows:

Required:

a. What would be the reported product cost of P28 per unit for the two plants?

b. At what plant should the P28 units for the Lawrence order be produced?

• Moncton

• Fredericton

There is only an Experiment 1 in this lab.

Experiment 1: Double Replacement Precipitation Reaction between Calcium Chloride and Sodium Carbonate

In this experiment you will precipitate calcium carbonate from the reaction between sodium carbonate and calcium chloride. The reaction is:

Procedure

Place a weigh boat on the scale. Once you have the mass of your weigh boat, press the button on the right hand side (0/T). Your scale should now read 0.0 g.Use your metal spatula to weigh out 2.0 g of CaCl2 in the weigh boat (the total mass should be 2.0 g). Record the exact mass of the powder in Table 9.Be sure to wipe off your spatula, gloves, and scale on a paper towel between chemical samples to avoid cross-contamination.Add the 2.0 g of CaCl2 to the 250 mL beaker. Use the 100 mL graduated cylinder to add 50 mL of distilled water to the beaker and mix with the glass stir rod until all CaCl2 has dissolved.

Note: This is an exothermic process, so the beaker may become warm.

Place a 50 mL beaker on the scale. Once you have the mass of your beaker, press the button on the right hand side (0/T). Your scale should now read 0.0 g.Use your metal spatula to weigh out 2.5 g of Na2CO3 in the 50 mL beaker. Record the exact mass of the powder in Table 9.Remove the beaker from the scale. Use your 100 mL graduated cylinder to add 25 mL of distilled water to the 50 mL beaker and mix with the glass stir rod until all Na2CO3 has dissolved. Add all of the Na2CO3 solution to the beaker containing the CaCl2 solution. It is important that all of the Na2CO3 is added. To ensure this, rinse the 50 mL beaker with up to 5 mL distilled water, and pour the rinse into the CaCl2 solution.Stir the solution for three minutes. Then, allow it to sit for 15 minutes. This gives sufficient time for all CaCO3 to precipitate. Record your observations in Table 9.While the solution is sitting, set up the gravity filtration apparatus (Figure 4). Place a funnel in the 250 mL Erlenmeyer flask, such that the bottom of the funnel is also inside the mouth of the flask. Obtain a piece of filter paper. Use the scale to weigh the filter paper and record the mass in Table 9.Prepare a filtering funnel as shown in Figure 5. Fold a piece of filter paper in half twice to make quarters, and place the paper in the funnel so that three quarters are open on one side and one quarter is on the opposite side. Place the paper into the funnel and seat with a small amount of distilled water (this will prevent the filter paper from rising up).  Slowly filter the solution from the beaker. Additional distilled water may also be used to transfer any remaining solid into the filtration apparatus. After all the solution has been filtered, use the pipette to rinse the filter paper with approximately 5 mL of isopropyl alcohol to aid the drying process. Allow the isopropyl alcohol to completely drip through the filter before removing filter paper from the funnel. Carefully remove the filter paper from the funnel and put it precipitate-side up in a safe place to dry overnight. Air drying will take anywhere from 5 to 18 hours, depending on the humidity of your region. Allow the product to dry, undisturbed, and determine the mass of the product recovered (Experimental Yield) by re-weighing the system and subtracting the weight of the filter paper. Record the data in Table 9.

Lab questions

1. Which is the limiting reagent, CaCl2 or Na2CO3? What is the theoretical yield of the product CaCO3? Show all work to prove your answers. Use the correctly balanced equation given in the Procedure

2. What happens to the excess reactant after the reaction is complete?

3. Use the following equation to find the percent yield of CaCO3. Show all work. The Experimental Yield is found in Table 9 and the Theoretical Yield is from question 1 above.

4. Explain why an experimental yield from an experiment (not necessarily this one) could be LOWER than the theoretical yield (i.e. the percent yield is less than 100%). HUMAN ERROR and CALCULATION ERROR are unacceptable reasons. It is expected that you follow all procedures to the letter, and that you know how to do the calculations properly (or find appropriate help to get the calculations right).

5. Explain why an experimental yield from an experiment (not necessarily this one) could be HIGHER than the theoretical yield (i.e. the percent yield is more than 100%). HUMAN ERROR and CALCULATION ERROR are unacceptable reasons. It is expected that you follow all procedures to the letter, and that you know how to do the calculations properly (or find appropriate help to get the calculations right).
6. What is the theoretical yield of CaCO3 if 6.0 g of CaCl2 (instead of 2.0 g) is used for the reaction while the amount of Na2CO3 remains the same at 2.5 g? Support your answer with calculations and numerical values. Show all work. Again, re-read the Introduction the lab Moodle shell and the example before the Post Lab Questions.