Case Study: The Huffington Post: How a Singe Voice Became Many Instructions:

Read the following case study and watch this video: https:// youtu.be/jscdWufGB24

Introduction The Huffington Post began life as just another liberal blog in an already crowded field; it aggregates news from other sources, but eventually it grew into a full-fledged news organization. The Huffington Post i s an unlikely success story, built i n large part on the notoriety of Arianna Huffington and her allies. According to a Washington Post article, ''skeptics dismissed it as a vanity outlet for [Arianna Hllffington] and her Hollywood friends. But the Huffington Post has become an undeniable success, its evolution offering a road map of what works on the Web" (37).

History Arianna Hllffington was born Arianna Stasinopoulos in Greece, educated in England, and gained wide fame as an author, conservative columnist, and popular commentator in the 1980s and early 1990s. She is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington. In the late 1990s her views shifted radically to the left. She explains her change in political leaning during a 2008 Time interview: "I left the Republican Party [because] my views of the role of government changed" (38). On May 9, 2005, Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti launched the Huffington Post with about $2 million in seed capital. The website consisted of little more than a few blogs and some basic political news. It drew on news stories published by reputable news organizations, as well as the general public, "but what set the Huffington Post apart was the humor with which It was delivered. This is not to say the publication did not have a serious point to get across" (39). Indeed, the Huffington Post positioned itself to be the liberal counter to right-wing media (40). In August 2006 the Huffington Post announced its first round of venture capital funding, With a $5 million investment from SoftBank Capital, which enabled the publication to increase its staff with in-house reporters who could update the site around the clock as well as a multimedia team to produce video reports." Among the new hires was a political editor, Melinda Henneberger, a former Newsweek magazine print journalist, who brought conventional journalistic credibility to the publication. Just a year after its launch, the site drew approximately 2.3 million unique visitors a month, thus making it one of the more popular blog sites. In early 2008 the site garnered 3.7 million unique visitors and enabled It to beat out its conservative competitor; the Drudge Report, for the first time (42). Its success drew further funding in 2008, with an additional $15 million investment, which allowed the publication to "finance the expansion of Huff Po, as it is known, into the provision of local news across the United States and into more investigative Journalism" (43).

Challenge Ms. Huffington faced several significant challenges In cofounding the Huffington Post. At the time, the landscape was dominated by powerful conservative voices, such as the Drudge Report. Moreover, the failure of other liberal blogs to draw huge audiences or active participation had produced a conventional wisdom that progressives were simply not interested in this type of content or interaction. Hence, convincing advertisers to support a liberal blog site would be a herculean undertaking. In addition, "[w]hen she launched her group blog in 2005, skeptics dismissed it as a vanity outlet for her and her Hollywood friends" (44). Lastly, the meager seed capital of $1 million had to be supplemented before long (45). In short, Arianna Huffington had to quickly prove that a liberal blog site could not only capture but sustain a sizable readership before investors or advertisers would make any commitments.

Strategies Ms. Huffington's two objectives were obvious: drive traffic to the blog site and keep them coming back. "In 2006, she was named to the Time 100, Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people" (46). As a popular cable talk show pundit, author, and notable proponent of the political left, she took every opportunity to promote the Huffington Post. With appearances on shows ranging from Real Time with Bill Maher and Charlie Rose to The Mclaughlin Group and Larry King Live, she continually drove traffic to her namesake fledging blog site (47). In addition, the staff of the Huffington Post became adept as news aggregators in identifying the most compelling content on the web that matched its left-leaning editorial slant, as well as some juicy celebrity gossip, and reposting portions of these articles on the blog site. Ms. Huffington's editors are especially skillful at optimizing these story snippets "for search engine results, so that in a Google search, a Huffington Post summary of a Washington Post or a CNN.com report may appear ahead of the original article" (48). This practice is not without its critics. Indeed, Jack Shafer, who covers media for Reuters.com opinion section, characterized it this way: "Huffington glories in carving the meat out of a competitor's story, throwing a search-engine optimized (SEO) headline on it, and posting it" (49). The company site defends the practice as falling under the fair use doctrine. As the funding and ad revenues for the Huffington Post grew, the site eventually hired inhouse reporters, columnists, and investigative journalists to create original news items to complement the content it aggregates. To achieve Huffington Post's second goal of retaining readership, it was clear from the start that it had t o provide quality content from well-known political posters. Ms. Huffington led the way as a prolific blogger. In addition, she initially relied heavily on her impressive "rolodex of A-list celebrities and high-powered friends, soliciting early contributions from the likes of Larry David, Diane Keaton and Alec Baldwin" (50). Soon other notable voices followed, and, perhaps most importantly, the site threw open its doors to a legion of bloggers.A lthough bloggers received no remuneration, tens of thousands of posts poured In. This approach was not without its critics, as CNET writer Josh Woff indicates, "([i]n most industries refusing to pay your labor force is not only unethical, It would likely border on slavery and be illegal as well. Apparently in the world of blogging it's considered good business practice" (51). The company justified the practice by saying they offer bloggers "visibility, promotion, and distribution with a great company" in exchange for their contributions (52). Finally, Ms. Huffington's role in fundraising played a key role in the !blog site's success because it gave the site the capital necessary to rapidly expand its staff and infrastructure.

Results Today, the Huffington Post is the number one blog in the blogosphere.53 It has over 9,000 bloggers,54 with approximately 25 million visitors every month. The viewership, content, and success o f the Huffington Post have not gone unnoticed. The site won the Webby Award for the best political blog in 2006 and 2008 and was the People's Voice Winner lh the political blog category in 2009, 2010, and 2011 (55). Time named it the second best blog in 2009 (56). As with other successful blog sites, AOL snapped up the Huffington Post in February 2011 for $315 million (57). Arianne Huffington was appointed president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group at AOL in order to help ensure continuity in the quality of content and contributions (58). Some fear that HuffPo's distinctive viewpoint may be compromised by a loss of independence. However, Huffington Post executives claim that "[t]he AOL deal has the potential to create an enterprise that could reach more than 100 million visitors in the United States each month ... [and we] estimate that the Web site will generate $60 million in revenue this year, compared with $31 million in 2010" (59). Whether such optimism is justified remains to be seen. It is worth noting that publication expanded into Canada in May 2011, a promising sign that the site Is aggressively attempting t o expand Its readership (60). However, there has been a dark cloud on the horizon for the blog site. In April 2011 Jonathan Tasini, a well-knowrn labor advocate, filed suit against the Hufflngton Post in the United States District Court of New York on behalf of 9,000 uncompensated bloggers. He is alleging damages of over $105 million (61). Ms. Huffington was quick to counter, asserting the blog site is two things, "[a] journalistic enterprise, hiring hundreds of journalists with benefits, great salaries and we are a platform that is available to anyone who does quality work to disseminate their ideas, promote their books, movies, political candidacies or whatever it is they are engaged in" (62). The courts will determine if this is, indeed, the case.

Questions 1. Arianna Huffington drew on some of her celebrity contacts early on to popularize the website. Do you think a person without her connections could have been equally successful? What strategy changes would a non-celebrity have to make to succeed? Explain. Support your answer with specific, cited examples from the case study and the course text.

2. Do you expect that AOL's purchase of the Huffington Post will have a largely positive or negative effect on its viewership? Name some pros and cons, and compare them. Support your answer with specific, cited examples from the case study and the course text.

3. Beyond Arianna Huffington using her celebrity contacts, what other strategies did the staff implement to make this the number one blog in the blogosphere? Can these same strategies be applied to other blogs? Explain why or why not. Support your answer with specific, cited examples from the case study and the course text. *

4. What are the possible strategic marketing benefits and drawbacks of the acquisition of the Huffington Post by AOL? Explain. Support your answer with specific, cited examples from the case study and the course text

Review the three scenarios below. Look for which, if any, of these scenarios presents an example of post-investment holdup.

1. Your firm conducted a search for a new chief financial officer and hired a highly qualified candidate with a yearly salary of $250,000. After six months, the person left to join another firm.
2. Your firm has an exclusive contract to assemble automobile seats for a number of luxury models. Almost 100% of the materials are imported and, of those, over 50% include parts manufactured in China. All of the prices on the parts from China increased by 25% when the U.S. imposed tariffs on China. Your company has informed all of its customers that increased cost must be passed on for your firm to continue supplying the seats. All of your customers reluctantly agreed to pay the additional cost.
3. Your company took note of your progress toward your MBA, and when the director for customer services left the company, you were asked to take over as interim director. You were encouraged to apply for the full-time position once you got your MBA. You served for 13 months, at which time your company was acquired by another company and your position was abolished.

In your discussion post, address the following:

• Which of the above, if any, are an example of post-investment holdup?
• Define the following and explain each within the context of a chosen scenario:
  • What is the sunk, or stranded, cost?
  • What is the contract?
  • Was the contract breached?
  • What are the damages?

The Gourmand Cooking School runs short cooking courses at its small campus. Management has identified two cost drivers it uses in its budgeting and performance reports—the number of courses and the total number of students. For example, the school might run two courses in a month and have a total of 63 students enrolled in those two courses. Data concerning the company’s cost formulas appear below:

For example, administrative expenses should be $3,700 per month plus $46 per course plus $7 per student. The company’s sales should average $850 per student.

The company planned to run four courses with a total of 63 students; however, it actually ran four courses with a total of only 59 students. The actual operating results for September appear below:

Required:

1. Prepare the company’s planning budget for September.

Prepare the company’s planning budget for September.

2. Prepare the company’s flexible budget for September.

Prepare the company’s flexible budget for September.

3. Calculate the revenue and spending

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002). Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keen indecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supply techniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’s leads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

Consult chapter 7 of your text book or secondary available data on internet and answer the following questions.

Question:

1. Why Companies adopted Lean Thinking and JIT model?
2. Discuss major types of Waste, companies has to keep in mind during production.
3. Assess the reasons for using lean thinking (suitable examples), what are the benefits from Suppliers to end users?
4. Due to COVID 19 emergency do you think agile supply chain is the right concept in this kind of situation? Give reason with example.

The Answer should be within 4- 5 pages.

The Answer must follow the outline points below:

• Lean Thinking and JIT Concept
• Agile Supply chain
• Their Main functions
• Reasons with suitable Examples
• Reference

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002). Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keen indecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supply techniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’s leads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

Consult chapter 7 of your text book or secondary available data on internet and answer the following questions.

Question:

1. Why Companies adopted Lean Thinking and JIT model?
2. Discuss major types of Waste, companies has to keep in mind during production.
3. Assess the reasons for using lean thinking (suitable examples), what are the benefits from Suppliers to end users?
4. Due to COVID 19 emergency do you think agile supply chain is the right concept in this kind of situation? Give reason with example.

The Answer should be within 4- 5 pages.

The Answer must follow the outline points below:

• Lean Thinking and JIT Concept
• Agile Supply chain
• Their Main functions
• Reasons with suitable Examples
• Reference

with APA style reference

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002). Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keen indecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supply techniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’s leads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

secondary available data on internet and answer the following questions.

Question:

1. Why Companies adopted Lean Thinking and JIT model?

2. Discuss major types of Waste, companies has to keep in mind during production.

3. Assess the reasons for using lean thinking (suitable examples), what are the benefits from Suppliers to end users?

4. Due to COVID 19 emergency do you think agile supply chain is the right concept in this kind of situation? Give reason with example.

The Answer should be within 4- 5 pages.

The Answer must follow the outline points below:

• Lean Thinking and JIT Concept

• Agile Supply chain

• Their Main functions

• Reasons with suitable Examples

• Reference  

course: MGT322 Logistics management

Critical Thinking

The global marketplace has witnessed an increased pressure from customers and competitors in manufacturing as well as service sector (Basu, 2001; George, 2002). Due to the rapidly changing global marketplace only those companies will be able to survive that will deliver products of good quality at cheaper rate and to achieve their goal companies try to improve performance by focusing on cost cutting, increasing productivity levels, quality and guaranteeing deliveries in order to satisfy customers (Raouf, 1994).  

Increased global competition leads the industry to increasing efficiency by means of economies of scale and internal specialization so as to meet market conditions in terms of flexibility, delivery performance and quality (Yamashina, 1995). The changes in the present competitive business environment are characterized by profound competition on the supply side and keen indecisive in customer requirements on the demand side. These changes have left their distinctive marks on the different aspect of the manufacturing organizations (Gomes et al., 2006). With this increasing global economy, cost effective manufacturing has become a requirement to remain competitive.

To meet all the challenges organizations try to introduce different manufacturing and supply techniques. Management of organizations devotes its efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs and to improve the quality of product. To achieve this goal, different manufacturing and supply techniques have been employed. The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed the adoption of world-class, lean and integrated manufacturing strategies that have drastically changed the way manufacturing firm’s leads to improvement of manufacturing performance (Fullerton and McWatters, 2002).

Consult chapter 7 of your text book or secondary available data on internet and answer the following questions.

Question:

1. Why Companies adopted Lean Thinking and JIT model?  

2. Discuss major types of Waste, companies has to keep in mind during production.  

3. Assess the reasons for using lean thinking (suitable examples), what are the benefits from Suppliers to end users?  

4. Due to COVID 19 emergency do you think agile supply chain is the right concept in this kind of situation? Give reason with example.

The Answer should be within 4- 5 pages.  

The Answer must follow the outline points below:

• Lean Thinking and JIT Concept

• Agile Supply chain  

• Their Main functions

• Reasons with suitable Examples

• Reference

(1) C&A's potato chip filling process has a lower specification limit of 9.5 oz and an upper specification limit of 10.5 oz. The standard deviation is 0.3 oz. and the mean is 10 oz. What is the process capability index (Cp) for the chip filling process?

(a) 0.56
(b) 1.11
(c) 0.33
(d) 3.33

(2) Which of the following represents customer requirement from a process?

(a) Sample size in control charts
(b) USL and LSL
(c) Process standard deviation
(d) UCL and LCL

(3) The mean of a process is 50, and the standard deviation is 2. The company uses statistical control process (SPC) to monitor the process. It uses sample size on 4, and 3 sigma (z=3) control limits. What are the Upper Control Limit (UCL) and Lower Control Limit (LCL)?

(a) LCL=48 and UCL=52
(b) LCL=44 and UCL=56
(c) LCL=47 and UCL=53
(d) LCL=49 and UCL=51

(4) If a company narrows the control limits for a process without making any other changes, which of the following will happen?

(a) The process will generate more products not acceptable by customers
(b) The process will not be stopped even when assignable cause is present
(c) The capability index for the process will reduce to a lower value
(d) The process will be stopped more often suspecting assignable cause

Urban Office LLC, a major office furniture manufacturer, and supplier, manufactures office tables
according to the customer requirements. They have a workshop facility where the table is
fabricated and a painting facility where the final finishing and painting of the table is done. The
company follows a Job Order scheduling process where each job is scheduled using appropriate
priority rules. During a particular period, the company receives six different orders from six different
customers. The six orders with the respective processing time are listed in table 1. The orders
are listed in the sequence in which the orders are received. Considering the finite capacity
scheduling method, determine the most appropriate job sequence which will maximize the number
of jobs that can be completed on time. Discuss the reasons for the selection of the sequence. If
all the jobs could not be finished on time, what appropriate measures could be taken to solve the
problem?

Job Time at the workshop
facility (Days)
Time at painting
facility (Days)
Days remaining till
due date

Table 1 : Details given

Urban Office LLC, a major office furniture manufacturer, and supplier, manufactures office tables
according to the customer requirements. They have a workshop facility where the table is
fabricated and a painting facility where the final finishing and painting of the table is done. The
company follows a Job Order scheduling process where each job is scheduled using appropriate
priority rules. During a particular period, the company receives six different orders from six different
customers. The six orders with the respective processing time are listed in table 1. The orders
are listed in the sequence in which the orders are received. Considering the finite capacity
scheduling method, determine the most appropriate job sequence which will maximize the number
of jobs that can be completed on time. Discuss the reasons for the selection of the sequence. If
all the jobs could not be finished on time, what appropriate measures could be taken to solve the
problem?

Job Time at the workshop
facility (Days)
Time at painting
facility (Days)
Days remaining till
due date

Table 1 : Details given