Based on the following case study answer two of the questions

a. Dell is a pioneer in stimulating exchanges with customers through social media. With reference to Dell, discuss the differences between e-marketing and traditional marketing activities.

b. As more companies are moving towards green businesses, should Dell adopt a similar strategy to market its products? Justify your answer

Dell Direct and Not-So-Direct Case Study:

When Michael Dell started his Texas-based computer business in 1984, he chose a distribution strategy that was radically different from that of other computer marketers. Instead of selling through wholesalers and retailers, the company dealt directly with customers. This kept costs low and allowed Dell to cater to customers' needs by building each computer to order. Using a direct channel also minimized inventory costs and reduced the risk that parts and products would become obsolete even before customers placed their orders, a constant concern in high-tech industries.

By 1997, Dell's website alone was responsible for $1 million a day in sales. Relying on the strength of its online sales, catalogs, and phone orders, Dell expanded beyond the United States and added new products for four target markets: consumers, large corporations, small businesses, and government agencies. Meanwhile, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and other competitors were reaching out to many of the same segments with a combination of direct and indirect channels. Apple Stores, for example, proved to be major customer magnets and gave a significant boost to sales of Macintosh computers and other Apple electronics. Hewlett-Packard forged strong ties with value-added resellers (VARs), intermediaries that assemble systems of computers, servers, and other products customized to meet the special needs of business buyers.

Although Dell tested retail distribution on a number of occasions, it never let the experiments go on too long. In the 1990s, it tried selling PCs through a few big U.S. retail chains, but soon discontinued the arrangement because the profit margins weren't as healthy as in the direct channel. Later, it opened a series of branded retail kiosks in major U.S. markets to display its products and answer customers' questions. Unlike stores, however, the kiosks didn't actually sell any-thing: Customers could only place orders for future delivery. Dell ultimately closed the kiosks down. By 2007, with competitors coming on strong, Dell was ready to rethink its worldwide channel strategy. As convenient as online shopping was for many U.S. computer buyers, it was much less popular in many other countries. To gain market share domestically and internationally, Dell would have to follow consumers into stores, malls, and downtown shopping districts. The company began selling a few models through Walmart's U.S. stores, Carphone Warehouse's U.K. stores,. Bic Camera's Japanese stores, and Gome's Chinese stores. In addition, it opened Dell stores in Moscow, Budapest, and other world capitals.
By 2010, sales through retailers had gained enough momentum that Dell sought out other retail deals. In another channel change, it began selling through VAR partners that serve small- and medium-sized businesses and lined up wholesalers to distribute its products in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere. When Dell introduced a new line of smart-phones, it needed a new channel arrangement to reach buyers. Therefore, it arranged for cell phone carriers such as AT&T to sell the new models to their customers.

As successful as Dell has been in revamping its indirect channels, selling directly to customers remains a top priority. Dell invites orders around the clock through Web pages tailored to the needs of each 'target market. It also maintains an online outlet store to sell 4 discontinued and refurbished products. It mails millions of catalogs and direct-mail pieces every year. And its sales force calls on government officials and big businesses that buy in volume. Dell's website notes, with pride, that the 10 largest U.S. corporations and five largest U.S. commercial banks "run on Dell."

Moreover, the company is a pioneer in stimulating exchanges with customers through social media. Dell has 139,000 fans on Facebook, for example, and regularly posts offers that drive customers to its various websites. It's become a pioneer in selling directly to customers via the micro blog site Twitter. In less than three years, it generated $6.5 million in revenue from sales transactions that originated on Twitter. That may be a tiny sliver of Dell's $53 billion in annual revenue, but it demonstrates the company's flexibility in adapting to shifts in customer behavior and environmental forces, such as technological advances. With market share and profit-margin challenges still facing the company, and global demand just picking up steam after a long, difficult recession, watch for Dell to make more channel adjustments in the coming years.

Employee salaries are one of the leading expenses for health care organizations. Most organizations have pre-determined salary ranges for each position within the organization. When hiring new employees, these ranges are often questioned by applicants, and hiring managers must be confident in their ability to handle the salary negotiation process, to benefit all parties involved. You recently interviewed several qualified candidates for a clinical nursing position in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). You have narrowed your selection pool down to the following three candidates: Candidate

1) Associate’s Degree in Nursing, graduated two years ago with a 4.0 GPA, was president of nursing class and held a part-time job as a CNA for the duration of nursing school. Since graduating, has been working in Labor & Delivery. During the interview, this candidate mentioned she was thankful to have received a full scholarship for nursing school, and had no education debt. Candidate

2) Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree, graduates next month, previously worked as a paramedic for five years before entering nursing school. During the interview, she mentioned her recent marriage, and stated she was excited by the excellent benefits your hospital offers. Candidate

3) Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree, graduated a year ago, held multiple leadership positions in undergraduate school, intends to pursue Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) program at some point. During the interview, you noticed this candidate had several visible tattoos.

Assuming all other factors are equal, which candidate would you NOT consider for this position, and why?

Your pool is now narrowed to two candidates. Each one has expressed their salary expectations, with one being significantly higher than your typical range.

Explain how you would go about discussing and negotiating the salary for the candidate in the higher range. Include both internal and external processes.

You spoke with references for the candidate with the lower salary expectation. While there wasn’t anything concerning about the references, none of them seemed overly-enthusiastic.

Based on this information, should you offer the job to this candidate, especially considering their salary expectation is well within your range, and would save your budget a significant amount of money compared to the other candidate?

Identify a company that has expanded or is planning to expand into international markets. The company you identify could be a small firm, a large multinational, or a new start-up going global from the beginning. Your analysis should consider the following:

A. Brief overview of the company. what it makes or sells, when it was founded, number of employees, annual revenues/profits, form of operations.

B. Analysis of its international/global strategy. What was the motive for expanding into international markets? You may choose to focus on strategy in a particular region or country or focus on how the strategy changed from country to country.

C. For the country you researched in project 1, analyze if this company should enter that market and if so, how...ie export, licensing, franchising, strategic alliance or FDI

ASSUME THE COMPANY IS NOT OPERATING IN YOUR COUNTRY NOW, EVEN IF THEY ARE.

D. Discuss challenges, obstacles and setbacks to their globalization efforts and what the firm did to overcome them. What were the company's key success factor? If not successful, why not? What might have been done differently? Your sources will include at least one academic journal, two quality Web sources and two other popular business sources (Forbes, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review)

BE VERY ELABORATE!!!!!!!

Make it at least 800 words.

I will like and comment if you make it too 800 words

Quintiles Transnational: Dennis Gillings founded Quntiles Transnational in 1982 when he realized that drug companies were great at inventing new medicines but not particularly good at analyzing the vast amounts of data that came out of clinical trials. He thought drug testing should be broken down into a series of standardized steps and he signed up a network of doctors interesting in enrolling patients in clinical trials. In the ten years leading up to 2010, Quintiles had conducted 4,700 trials on 2.7 million patients.

Quintiles also established a large contract sales organization (CSO) to support its pharmaceutical company clients. Large pharmaceutical companies, faced with cost pressures as well as the costs of maintaining their own sales forces, have increasingly turned to CSOs like the Innovex division of Quintiles, PDI Inc., or inVentive Health to provide variable cost “flex reps” as an alternative to adding the fixed cost they would incur if they added to their own sales forces. CSOs are widely used in therapeutic areas that require somewhat less scientific knowledge, like respiratory, dermatology, and lifestyle. The growth rate in contract sales and marketing was projected at 35% to 2015.

Question: Assume you are the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Do you think you might use the CSO capabilities of Quintiles? Why or why not? 200 words or more

Please use the economics knowledge you have learned so far to analyze the case below. You can propose your own questions and then answer them. Remember, there is no absolutely correct answer to this exercise. Its purpose is to provide you an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think like an economist by applying economic principles to interpret the logic of a real-world phenomenon.

Economic Growth and the Business Cycle at Corning, Inc.

In 1851, Amory Houghton founded the company that became Corning, Inc. By 2015, Corning had more than 34,000 employees and sales of nearly $10 billion. Corning’s experience has mirrored two key macroeconomic facts: In the long run, the U.S. economy has experienced economic growth, and in

the short run, the economy has experienced a series of business cycles. During the 2001 recession, Corning suffered a $5 billion loss as the market for fiber-optic cable collapsed. Similarly, the recession of 2007–2009 caused a sharp decline in durable goods, which caused Corning’s sales of ceramics for automobile emissions systems and display panels for computers and televisions to decline. Despite these setbacks, Corning continued to make a profit during the recession due to sales of new products, such as Gorilla glass. A similar product, Willow glass, can be wound and shipped in rolls, which might make it possible for Apple and other firms to produce foldable electronic devices.

1. What additional revenue and market opportunities might the Children party businesses investigate? (300 words please)

Case study:

The children’s party market is no jelly and trifling matter. “It’s a huge industry,” Tim Jenkins writes after his interview with Amanda Frolich from Amanda’s Action Kids. According to Frolich, “People spend an absolute fortune on their children’s birthday parties and fortunately the recession hasn’t affected our business.”

Like Paul Lindley, founder of Ella’s Kitchen, who used his parenting experience to launch a successful start-up, the party business with low barriers-to-entry sees numerous parent small business concepts. Michelle Hill incorporated her own party business called The Land of Make-Believe after spending hours creating props, themed food, and thinking up games suitable for her five-year-old son’s shared birthday party. This birthday spectacular experience helped her identify a clear gap in the market.

According to Tim Jenkins, a modest £50 party spend per UK child equates to an annual £35 million for a single school-year group. With £250 not untypical for an outsourced party service, it is easy to value the industry in the hundreds of millions.

The Land of Make-Believe party concepts include themes for cheerleaders, pirates, and fairies; cowboys and Indians; witches and wizards; Fairy Godmother, Teddy Bear picnic, glamor, and Grease the musical with Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Party concepts that tend to appeal more to boys, perhaps relying less on dressing up and dancing, include club energy sports, go-karting, football, army games, reptiles and pets, and fire engine–themed parties. Leisure venues also offer some stiff competition with swimming pool visits, laser quest, bowling, cinema, and restaurant visits also popular. Business Model Essentials Successful party concepts need a certain “wow” factor that is popular with the children, but also satisfies parents’ social needs too. Thus, it is important to also consider appropriate services for parents. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs framework perhaps offers some useful cues: shelter, comfort, psychological self-actualization—be that social linger space, self-service hot beverages, a glass of wine, or a latte bar. Party providers need to balance novelty with tried and tested formulas, perhaps offering evolving theme linkages that might anticipate new film releases, particularly sequels. They look to reduce parental hassle with branded off-the-shelf invitation cards and party bags that appeal particularly to cash-rich, often time-poor, parents. Entrepreneur.com neatly summarizes the party service offering: “You’ll plan the theme, provide costumes (unless guests arrive wearing their own), décor, food, favors and other assorted goodies, entertainment, and clean up afterward so parents can enjoy the festivities instead of running themselves ragged.”

The business model usually has relatively low start-up costs—a website and a telephone number will generally suffice. Wardrobe, props, and base supplies are not insignificant items and should be carefully considered in financial planning. There is some wide variation in the complexity of offerings in the sector from a light touch and self-contained entertainer magician or comedian whose equipment might be limited to a costume, a music system, and some props that fit into a large suitcase or two to the full-service party-planning-solution provider offering a venue, full catering, the all-important candle-covered cake, decorations, and party bags. Three core components are required for a successful party operation, namely venue, catering, and entertainment. Fixed costs can be kept low, but are dependent on avoiding the purchase of a specialized vehicle and/or long-term premises by using a client-arranged venue. Children’s party planning is clearly not a job for someone craving regular Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours. The ability to successfully interact with children and their parents, balancing controlled fun and calm authoritativeness, is particularly important but often rather taken for granted.

Marketing Communication Angles

A reputation for running successful parties is crucial to stimulate positive word-of-mouth referrals via parental social networks, accentuated by frequent contact at school pick-ups and drop-offs, but also on social media, and in particular parenting website communities such as mumsnet.com, which offers local listings, discussion boards, and advice-based content. In addition to successfully hosting enjoyable parties, which should drive positive referrals, a number of low-cost marketing activities can be implemented to help generate future bookings such as

• Arranging to share a business card or small colour flyer via the party bag that is often given to departing guests.
• Posting flyers at local clubs and church halls.
• Advertising in directories (telephone and web).
• Donating a free party to a school/community charity auction.
• Writing advertorial content accompanied by strong images in the local press (note parental permission and ethical issues around publishing photos of children).
• Creating a website and social media presence on key sites.
• Performing at community group/school events.
• Printing car stickers to build brand awareness and share web and telephone contacts.

Rugged Earth Adventures

One ex-army officer’s start-up inspiration led to a birthday party business centered on a military outdoor adventure theme. Having experimented with a number of temporary locations, the business finally settled on a large piece of underutilized agricultural land that comprises a mix of scrub land, combined with lines of commercially unsuccessful shrubs and trees.

The customer segment that this business proposition appeals to is mostly parents of boys—approximately 75 percent of participants are male, aged between 6 and 10 years. The children participate in a two-hour party that sees them run around outside in a natural environment. Issued with a foam bullet Nerf gun and protective glasses, participants are initially put into two teams, jungle versus desert, utilizing authentic British army terminology. A second game, the less frenetic snipers-and-seekers, is a form of hide-and-seek using realistic camouflage costumes. Then the young people are carefully instructed on how to thoroughly cook their own sausage, which is served as a hot dog, and the party concludes with toasted marshmallows. During one of the well-timed rest periods, a picnic basket is offered to the participants around the campfire with a variety of foods—an array that is low in chocolate and big on fruit and vegetables, which is appealing to parents, but it also includes less healthy but popular cupcakes and crisps. With overprotective parents, toy guns that fire projectiles, and an open fire, the safety briefing is taken very seriously and uses a highly authoritative army style. Children are regularly reminded about safe behavior requirements around the fire pit, particularly when wearing flammable costumes. Compliant use of safety glasses is paramount, with regular and direct reinforcement of the safety rules taking place. Hosting and supervising parents are made to feel at ease, provided with access to self-service hot and cold drinks and a place to perch. An informal satisfaction polling takes place just prior to the end around the campfire; positive responses are anticipated, thanks to a fairly simple formula that is well executed. The opportunity afforded to parents to relax while watching a group of children enjoy a totally stress-free afternoon is actually quite enjoyable. The business income comes predominantly from weekend parties, with the current site offering a capacity of three or possibly four parties per day. Each party can entertain 10 to 24 young people and costs between £120 and £295 (£12 to £20/child, excluding cake and party bags, which are £5 per child extra). Activity days, attractive for dual working parents, are also offered during the Easter and summer school holidays, priced at £26 to £34 per day. The revenue generated covers operating costs after a very short operational period.

Recently, a student came into a faculty member’s office and handed the faculty member a card he had found in the business school building advertising a company called 12 Daily Pro. He said someone had been distributing these cards around the building, encouraging students to invest in a “business opportunity.” It suggested that you could invest $6 to $6,000 and earn a 44 percent return in 12 days. The card called this program a “new eco- nomic paradigm.” The faculty member decided this had to be a Ponzi-type scheme and sent an e-mail to all students in the school reminding them that such schemes are illegal, unethical, and immoral. The next day a local TV channel carried the story, and the fol- lowing day the electronic payment service for the scheme froze all the company’s accounts and essen- tially shut them down. A few weeks later, the SEC filed a securities fraud charge against the head of the company and against the company itself, calling it a Ponzi scheme.

Questions

1. What do you think made the faculty member believe this was a Ponzi-type scheme?

2. What is the annual return the scheme operators were promising on investments in this scheme?

3. Why do you think this scheme, which had been operating for over a month, attracted so many investors?

4. Was the action taken by the faculty member appropriate?

4. What is the difference between the null and alternative hypotheses? What does alpha

      represent? (4 pts)

The proportion of professional baseball players who take steroids has been assumed to be twenty percent by the team owner council. The Commissioner of Baseball has instituted a new campaign to reduce the proportion of players who take steroids. The Commissioner would now like to test whether their campaign has worked. (α = 0.05)

      State the null and alternative hypotheses that the Commissioner would test. Use

      symbols in the hypotheses. State alpha and define the parameter. (7 pts)

Ho: p = 0.2 (.)       

      Ha: p < 0.2 (.)                                

Time Magazine states that the nationwide drop out rate for high school seniors is ten percent. You conduct a test to see if the drop out rate for high school seniors is actually more than ten percent. ( α = 0.01)

     State the null and alternative hypotheses for this test. Use symbols in the hypotheses.

     State alpha and define the parameter. (7 pts)

The Maryland Department of Health claims that the proportion of heroin users in Maryland that have been infected by HIV is four percent. Suppose a researcher wants to show that this claim is not true. ( α = 0.1)

     State the null and alternative hypotheses to dispute the Maryland Department of

     Health’s claim. Use symbols in the hypotheses. State alpha and define the parameter.

    (7 pts)

Ho:        

      Ha:

Subject:EC230/EEC2225 Section 1 Guiding children's behavior. But I chose psychology to be easy. I need this answer by today.

Jana is a 4-year old girl. During the summertime, Jana's mom works from home in order to provide childcare for Jana and her older sister, Jolena, who is seven. Over the past few months, Jana has been displaying some challenging behaviors: She talks a lot and ignores any and all requests to be quieter or stop talking. She climbs on top of tables and counters and it seems she is always getting into something, even when told not to. She often laughs because she thinks it's funny when the adults get frustrated with her. It's a new school year and Jana is returning to the home daycare that she attended during the previous school year. The daycare provider has noticed that those behaviors persist in the home daycare setting. In a 1-2 page paper, given the information provided above, address the following: Discuss what you think might be going on with Jana, in general, and give at least two (2) reasons that you think might be causing her to behave this way. Choose two developmental domains (PILES) that you think she needs some support with. Explain why you chose those domains and how you would help Jana out with regard to those areas.