CASE STUDY:

"BMW is the ultimate driving machine. Manufactured by the German company Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, BMW stands for both performance and luxury. The company was founded in 1916 as an aircraft-engine manufacturer and produced engines during World Wars I and II. It evolved into a motorcycle and automobile maker by the mid-20th century, and today it is an internationally respected company and brand with $106 billion in sales in 2012. BMW’s logo is one of the most distinctive and globally recognised symbols ever created. The signature BMW roundel looks like a spinning propeller blade set against a blue sky background—originally thought to be a tribute to the company’s founding days as an aircraft-engine manufacturer. Recently, however, a New York Times reporter revealed that the logo, which features the letters BMW at the top of the outer ring and blue-and-white checkered design in the inner ring, was trademarked in 1917 and meant to show the colors of the Free State of Bavaria, where the company is headquartered. BMW’s growth exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, when it successfully targeted the growing market of baby boomers and professional yuppies who put work first and wanted a car that spoke of their success. BMW gave them sporty sedans with exceptional performance and a brand that stood for prestige and achievement. The cars, which came in a 3, 5, or 7 Series, were basically the same design in three sizes. It was at this time that yuppies made Beemer and Bimmer the slang terms for BMW’s cars and motorcycles, popular names still used today. At the turn of the century, consumers’ attitudes toward cars changed. Research showed that they cared less about the bragging rights of the BMW brand and instead desired a variety of design, size, price, and style choices. As a result, the company took several steps to grow its product line by targeting specific market segments. This resulted in unique premium-priced cars such as SUVs, convertibles, and roadsters, as well as less expensive compact cars like the 1 Series. In addition, BMW redesigned its 3, 5, and 7 Series cars, making them unique in appearance yet maintaining their exceptional performance. BMW’s full range of cars now includes the 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X Series, Z4 Roadster, M Series, Hybrids, and BMWi. BMW created the lower-priced 1 Series and X1 SUV to target the “modern mainstream,” a group who are also family-focused and active but had previously avoided BMWs because of their premium cost. The company nurtures these loyal consumers and continues to research, innovate, and reach out to specific segment groups year after year."

QUESTION:

Explain why this segmentation strategy works for BMW

On November 14, 2019, Washington University and University of Texas A&M publicly launched their research efforts to collect information on over 10,000 dogs, (see https://dogagingproject.org/ (Links to an external site.)). The objective of this research effort is to collect data from dog owners across the USA to identify factors that may affect the life expectancy of canines. The dependent variable is ‘life expectancy of dogs as measured in years and months. The following variables were collected from dog owners:

• Breed of Dog
• Brand of food fed to dog
• Number of times dog is fed per day
• Veterinarian visits per year
• Owners median income
• Owners years of education
• Dog primarily stays outdoors or indoors.
• Marital status of owner

a. From the data collected, which variable(s) are best represented by a dummy variable(s)?

b. From the data collected, which variable is least likely to be relevant to the life expectancy of a dog and why?

c. From the data collected, which TWO variables are most likely to positively affect the life expectancy of a dog and why?

1. Do you think all workers – including government employees- should have the right to form unions? Explain.

2. Should public service employees receive roughly the same pay and benefits earned by comparable workers in the private sector? What about firefighters and police who face danger in their daily lives?

3. Do you support the position taken by Governors Kasich and Walker to reduce union power? Or do you side with these unions and want to see them remain strong? Explain.

- A strip footing is founded on sand having strength parameters (Φ =40⁰ and c = 0 kPa). Dry and saturated unit weights of the soil are 17.8 and 21 kN/m³ respectively. The foundation is designed to to carry a load of 4.8MN/m at a Factor of safety against general shear failure of 3. The footing depth is 1.5 m and the water table is 5 m from the surface.

a) Determine the minimum footing width (m) to satisfy the design requirements (2 d.p). Show all working

b) Is water table affecting foundation support?

c) Is water table affecting foundation support? Verify your assumption. Use unit weight of water of 9.8 kN/m³.

Interview Notes

Martin is married, but did not live with or have contact with his spouse in 2017. He does not know where she is. He indicated on the intake sheet that he is not legally separated.

Martin does not have children or any other dependents.

Martin worked as a clerk and earned $36,000 in wages. He had no other income.

In 2017, he took a computer class at the local university to improve his job skills.

Martin has a receipt showing he paid $1,200 for tuition. He paid for all his educational expenses and did not receive any assistance or reimbursement.

He paid $400 for course books from an online bookseller.

Martin paid $150 for a parking permit. It was not a requirement of enrollment.

Martin does not have enough deductions to itemize.

He is a U.S. citizen with a valid Social Security number.

8. What is Martin's most advantageous allowable filing status?  

A.            Married Filing Separately             

B.            Head of Household        

C.            Single   

D.            Qualifying Widower

9. Considering Martin's filing status and using Publication 4012, Tab J, Education Benefits, which education benefit is Martin eligible to claim?               

A.            American opportunity credit      

B.            He does not qualify for any education benefit   

C.            Lifetime learning credit

D.            Tuition and fees deduction   

THE SCENARIO

I am a team leader who works in a warehouse where, we conduct monthly inventory counts. The monthly counts are done by a quick visual check and then matching the numbers to what is showing in the inventory management computer system. Once a year we shut production down for a day and do a full, manual inventory count. We then compare it to the numbers showing the inventory system. If the numbers are off by more than 5%, we are required to determine why there is a difference and submit a report to the supervisor who then submits the report to the operations manager. If the numbers are under the 5% variance, we all receive a letter of appreciation from the company’s president with our next pay stub. It is also posted on our employee bulletin board and included in the company newsletter.

I have been with the company for 2 years; first as a warehouse employee and then was promoted to team lead six months ago. As team lead it is my job to ensure that all employees take the inventory management seriously by entering materials into the management system when it arrives and then removing it when we use the material during production operations. We use a scanner for this as all the raw materials have a UPC scan code on them. But we onl3

scanners as they are very expensive.It is quite stressful as not all the staff follow the inventory count rules. During my first year the inventory count was correct but the second year it was not. Our numbers showed a variance under 5% but when the purchasing manager put in a production run for a customer order that was due to be delivered in one week; it was found that we were short two of the required materials by more than 15% each. This caused a lot of problems as he then had to order the raw materials from the suppliers who couldn’t get it to us for another 2 weeks. The customer then was told they

wouldn’t get their order until 3 weeks. It ended up that they pulled their order. The senior

management team was very upset and let us know about it. Our manager was told to write us up about this and put a warning letter in our employee files. He told us he didn’t want to do that and gave me 2 days to find out why it happened so the correct person(s) could be written up. I believe it is because a couple of the employees are lazy. I know that they take shortcuts. When I catch them lazing around, I tell them to get back to work and do their job properly or they will be docked pay. This warning seems to get them to do what they are supposed to but not for long. I have also heard from other employees that these 2 guys are constantly complaining about the job and management, including me. I yelled at these 2 guys and told them I was going to tell Ahmad, the manager it was their fault due to their bad attitude and laziness. I also told them they would be written up and would lose a day’s pay. One guy told me to GO AWAY and walked off the job.

He didn’t come back. The other guy said it wasn’t his fault and then gave me a list of reasons

why it wasn’t his fault. Looking back, I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper and yelled like that, but I am so stressed out with this issue. I haven’t been sleeping well and am having some difficulty concentrating. I am afraid that I will lose my job if I don’t get this solved. I am thinking maybe I should quit before I get fired.  I don’t want my Record of Employment (ROE) to show I was fired.

END OF SCENARIO

Your Instructions:

Recognize and effectively use your managerial skills to resolve workplace issues.  You are required to analyze and identify the underlying cause of the issue/behaviour and the skills you will utilize to resolve the problem(s) in the above case scenario. You will include a minimum of 5 managerial skills/concepts in your assignment e.g. communication (including listening), time and stress management, recognition, definition and resolution of the problem, motivating others, goal setting, self-awareness, power, conflict management, etc. You choose and apply the five; please note two forms/types of a concept i.e. directive vs non-directive counselling count as one, not two concepts. You are required to answer not only what is occurring and where it happens but also why and then your suggestions for how you would deal with the issue(s)and why you made that particular choice i.e. identify expected behaviour change, organizational impact, personal outcome. You are analyzing and resolving this from the perspective of a manager.

NEED TO DISCUSS PROBLEM AND UNDERLYING ISSUE AND IDENTIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF 5 MANAGERIAL CONCEPT.( GOOD AMOUNT OF WORDS AND NOT FROM INTERNET) THANK YOU

THE SCENARIO

I am a team leader who works in a warehouse where, we conduct monthly inventory counts. The monthly counts are done by a quick visual check and then matching the numbers to what is showing in the inventory management computer system. Once a year we shut production down for a day and do a full, manual inventory count. We then compare it to the numbers showing the inventory system. If the numbers are off by more than 5%, we are required to determine why there is a difference and submit a report to the supervisor who then submits the report to the operations manager. If the numbers are under the 5% variance, we all receive a letter of appreciation from the company’s president with our next pay stub. It is also posted on our employee bulletin board and included in the company newsletter.

I have been with the company for 2 years; first as a warehouse employee and then was promoted to team lead six months ago. As team lead it is my job to ensure that all employees take the inventory management seriously by entering materials into the management system when it arrives and then removing it when we use the material during production operations. We use a scanner for this as all the raw materials have a UPC scan code on them. But we onl3

scanners as they are very expensive.It is quite stressful as not all the staff follow the inventory count rules. During my first year the inventory count was correct but the second year it was not. Our numbers showed a variance under 5% but when the purchasing manager put in a production run for a customer order that was due to be delivered in one week; it was found that we were short two of the required materials by more than 15% each. This caused a lot of problems as he then had to order the raw materials from the suppliers who couldn’t get it to us for another 2 weeks. The customer then was told they

wouldn’t get their order until 3 weeks. It ended up that they pulled their order. The senior

management team was very upset and let us know about it. Our manager was told to write us up about this and put a warning letter in our employee files. He told us he didn’t want to do that and gave me 2 days to find out why it happened so the correct person(s) could be written up. I believe it is because a couple of the employees are lazy. I know that they take shortcuts. When I catch them lazing around, I tell them to get back to work and do their job properly or they will be docked pay. This warning seems to get them to do what they are supposed to but not for long. I have also heard from other employees that these 2 guys are constantly complaining about the job and management, including me. I yelled at these 2 guys and told them I was going to tell Ahmad, the manager it was their fault due to their bad attitude and laziness. I also told them they would be written up and would lose a day’s pay. One guy told me to GO AWAY and walked off the job.

He didn’t come back. The other guy said it wasn’t his fault and then gave me a list of reasons

why it wasn’t his fault. Looking back, I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper and yelled like that, but I am so stressed out with this issue. I haven’t been sleeping well and am having some difficulty concentrating. I am afraid that I will lose my job if I don’t get this solved. I am thinking maybe I should quit before I get fired.  I don’t want my Record of Employment (ROE) to show I was fired.

END OF SCENARIO

Your Instructions:

Recognize and effectively use your managerial skills to resolve workplace issues.  You are required to analyze and identify the underlying cause of the issue/behaviour and the skills you will utilize to resolve the problem(s) in the above case scenario. You will include a minimum of 5 managerial skills/concepts in your assignment e.g. communication (including listening), time and stress management, recognition, definition and resolution of the problem, motivating others, goal setting, self-awareness, power, conflict management, etc. You choose and apply the five; please note two forms/types of a concept i.e. directive vs non-directive counselling count as one, not two concepts. You are required to answer not only what is occurring and where it happens but also why and then your suggestions for how you would deal with the issue(s)and why you made that particular choice i.e. identify expected behaviour change, organizational impact, personal outcome. You are analyzing and resolving this from the perspective of a manager.

NEED TO DISCUSS PROBLEM AND UNDERLYING ISSUE AND IDENTIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF 5 MANAGERIAL CONCEPT.( GOOD AMOUNT OF WORDS AND NOT FROM INTERNET) THANK YOU

Marking rubric:

Issue identification (1 mark), analysis & resolution of org issue(s). The overall total of 5 marks.

Five course concepts identified and properly defined .

Correct application of each course concept to the issue (should be applied to the analysis & resolution) .

Draw the class diagram of University; University (name and location etc) is maintaining the student affairs, faculty or non-faculty record, student record, hostel management, route management etc. University has a chancellor and different departments. Faculty and non-faculty members are the part of each department. Minimum 2 or 3 attributes and operations of each class. Show the cardinality or multiplicity constraints as well.

How do organizations use a product differentiation strategy to distinguish their products from competitors? Take the example of GM car company - discuss how the models GMC, Chevy, Buick & Cadillac are positioned.

You should discuss how a company positions its different brands. Take for example - GM. They have different customers in mind for different models - Chevy is for customers who want a car for basic needs, an affordable one. Buick and Cadillac for luxury class and GMC pick-up truck for customers who want a powerful truck to use not only for the commute but also to move heavy items more often,