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What are some important considerations when negotiating with people from China? How does that differ from the United States?

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What are important verbal and non-verbal characteristics and variables of communication in China?

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Which of your own communication characteristics (verbal and non-verbal) might you need to modify to assure good communication with someone from China? Why?

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What the two-price cotton policy?  How did this effect U.S. textile producers?

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Find an example of an organized anti-RFID group that wants to stop the spread of RFID technology. What are their assumptions about RFID technology and its impact on society and business? Do you agree or disagree with the anti-RFID group? Why or why not?

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What implementation challenges do you anticipate Netflix will have in the future? How would you ensure successful results? 

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Research Project about the invention of the first disposable cell phone invented by Randice- Lisa Altschul

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For this case study, I want you to create a mini, 1.5–2-page marketing plan for The Gril-Kleen Corporation. It should follow the same guidelines outlined for the marketing plan section of your business plans
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.CASE 8 THE GRIL-KLEEN CORPORATION “Well, where do I begin?” Warren Ryan wondered as he surveyed the chaos before him. Boxes and bottles were piled all over the place, invoices and order forms cluttered the desktop and filled the drawers, and he couldn’t seem to locate anything resembling an orderly set of books. It was spring of 2010, and just a few days earlier Ryan had quit his job with a large management consulting firm to assume the presidency of Gril-Kleen Corporation and help get the young company off the ground. The company’s efforts to market its innovative product, a liquid restaurant grill cleaner, had been extremely successful. Ryan felt that with a professional marketing approach, the product could capture a sizable share of a national market. The product, a chemical solution that could be applied directly to a working grill to clean off burnt-on food and accumulated grease in a matter of minutes, represented a significant departure from the existing methods of cleaning restaurant grills. It appeared to have several major advantages over competing products, and initially it had generated such enthusiastic response from users that the product had practically sold itself. 
PRODUCT EVOLUTION Gril-Kleen had been developed for their own use by two brothers who owned a small, busy restaurant in Eastern Massachusetts. The restaurant’s grill needed cleaning Page 494 several times a day, especially during busy periods, and the brothers were disturbed by the amount of time and effort it took to clean the grill. They were also bothered by the orders they lost while the grill was being cleaned. Most grill-cleaning products then available could not be used on a hot grill, and the time required to cool, clean, and then reheat the grill varied from about 20 minutes to almost an hour, depending on the method being used and the condition of the grill. Two of the most popular methods of cleaning grills used a carborundum “stone” or a wire mesh screen to scrub the grill clean. Though inexpensive, they required a great deal of physical labor and both products tended to wear, with some danger of stone chips or metal particles ending up in food cooked on the grill. Spray foam oven-cleaner type products, similar to those sold for home use, were easier to use but considerably more expensive. Most had critical effective temperatures of around 160°–200° Fahrenheit, compared to normal grill operating temperatures of around 3508, and often had objectionable odors, which restricted their use in small or poorly ventilated restaurants. Dissatisfied with the products then on the market, the two brothers decided to develop their own grill cleaner. They sought the advice of one of their customers in the chemical business, and from him they learned about some chemicals and began to experiment with different combinations in various proportions. The cleaner they sought would clean grills quickly, easily, and at normal operating temperature. It had to be economical, easy to mix, and have no discernible odor or taste, and it would have to pass safety requirements (i.e., be both nontoxic for use on food preparation surfaces and noncaustic to the user’s skin). In addition, it had to leave the grill “seasoned” so that food wouldn’t stick to the grill after it had been cleaned. After experimenting and modifying the solution for a couple of years, the brothers finally arrived at a mixture having all the desired properties. It would work on both hot and cold grills, and the grill operator could clean a grill in less than five minutes by simply pouring the solution on, allowing it to dry, and then rinsing the grill with water. After a light seasoning with cooking oil, the grill was ready for use again. Soon, friends in the restaurant business heard about the product and began asking for samples, then coming back for more. As demand increased, the brothers started to sell the product by the gallon, charging whatever they felt the market would bear. 
THE GRIL-KLEEN CORPORATION The product appeared to be so successful that the brothers began to think about marketing it on a larger scale. One of the restaurant’s customers, a line foreman for a Boston electric Company, was impressed by the demand for the product, and urged the brothers to consider manufacturing and selling it on a regular basis. In early 2007, the three of them formed the Gril-Kleen Corporation. Working out of the basement of the restaurant, the three new partners bottled and sold Gril-Kleen in their spare time and on their days off. The chemicals were mixed in a large plastic tub with a spigot, then transferred to gallon-size plastic bottles labeled “Gril-Kleen.” On Tuesdays, when the restaurant was closed, the two brothers made sales calls to other restaurants, leaving behind samples of the product. Even with this minimal sales effort, orders began to increase to the point where larger facilities were needed to bottle and store the product. Less than a year after its incorporation, the Gril-Kleen Corporation moved to a new and larger headquarters in a nearby industrial park. The new plant was a 1,500-square-foot cinderblock building, and the equipment consisted of a large stainless steel tub, formerly used for pasteurizing milk and capable of producing 450 gallons of Gril-Kleen per day. The company hired one part-time employee to mix the chemicals and fill the bottles. After one unfortunate experience with a traveling salesman who offered to sell the product and instead, sold several phony “exclusive distributorships” for Gril-Kleen throughout New England before he disappeared, the company established relationships with half a dozen bona fide distributors of restaurant and cleaning supplies in New England. As sales volume grew, the need for a full-time manager became increasingly apparent. Orders and invoices were piling up, billing was haphazard, records were disorganized and incomplete. With no regular system of record-keeping, orders often went unfilled, or customers were never billed for orders that had been shipped. Recognizing that the company had grown too large to continue operating on a one-day-per-week basis, the owners hired a local politically ambitious individual to run the company, and offered him a 25 percent interest in the business. The new partner was well known locally, had a number of important connections, and the company owners felt that his name would lend some prestige to the operation. Page 495 As it turned out, he devoted little of his time and attention to running the business and most of it to campaigning for re-election, even charging some of his campaign expenses to the company. After more than a year, with company sales declining, the other three partners bought him out, paid his bills, and returned to running the business on their days off. 
WARREN RYAN At this point, Warren Ryan, a management consultant working on an assignment nearby, began patronizing the restaurant and became friendly with the owners. When he learned of the situation at Gril-Kleen, he suggested that the company hire his consulting firm to do a market study and map out an operating and marketing plan for the company. He also recommended that they utilize his firm’s Executive Search service to find a new president for Gril-Kleen. Reluctant to deal with a large consulting firm or to hire anyone they didn’t know to run the company, the brothers asked Ryan if he would take over the job himself. Ryan, an MBA with extensive experience in marketing, advertising, and industrial management, was intrigued by the idea. He had grown up in a household with a small, family-owned business, and had long been interested in applying his management and marketing skills to running a company. He agreed to consider the offer, and then began to research the product and its market. From library sources, he estimated the national restaurant cleaning market at about $80 million a year, and learned that no single company held a dominant share of the market. From experience with the product and interviews with current users of Gril-Kleen, he became convinced of Gril-Kleen’s performance superiority over competing products. Moreover, he was impressed by the apparent success of the company despite the lack of good planning, and concluded that the product could be developed successfully. After serious consideration and considerable research, he decided to accept the offer, and in April 2010 became the new president of the Gril-Kleen Corporation. 
THE SITUATION IN EARLY 2010 When Ryan took over, he found the product being manufactured in the small, one-story cinderblock plant in Hingham. The company’s one part-time employee could mix and bottle up to 200 gallons a day to meet orders, and plant capacity could easily be increased by buying a larger mixing tank and hiring more labor. It was also possible to rent additional floor space if necessary. The product was packaged in cases of four (4) one-gallon-size plastic containers. It was sold for $28 a case retail, $18 a case wholesale, F.O.B. the wholesaler’s warehouse. Included with each case was a 16-ounce squeeze-type plastic applicator bottle. Sales volume at the time was approximately $35,000 a year. The average usage rate was approximately one case per month. The company’s primary customers were six wholesale distributors in Massachusetts: two of these were suppliers of cleaning and chemical products to restaurants, one was a paper products distributor, another one sold restaurant equipment, one sold janitorial supples to hotels and motels, and the last one sold food products and supplies to theaters. Ryan found few records, little financial data, and no regular flow of paperwork within the company. Prices were based on those charged for a competitive product, with no regard for or knowledge of actual costs or profit margins. To apply for a working capital loan, Ryan had to develop a marketing plan for the next 12 months and projected cash flow statements for the next 3 years and then present his marketing plan and cash requirements to a bank. 
ADDITIONAL PRODUCT USES Before he could develop a marketing plan, Ryan had to decide which markets to approach and determine realistic market-share goals for Gril-Kleen. There was considerable evidence that the product could do much more than just clean restaurant grills. Preliminary tests had indicated that the product was effective in cleaning stainless steel, ceramic tile, formica, vinyl, plastic, chrome, machine tools, clothing, and fiberglass. The last use suggested a possible application in cleaning boat hulls, a market which strongly appealed to the owners of Gril-Kleen. (See Exhibit 3.) The product also appeared to be effective as a rust remover and preventative, suggesting a wide variety of possible industrial uses. Ryan had to determine which markets to develop, which product lines to offer, and what degree of market penetration could be achieved in each market segment before he could set profit targets and schedules. The restaurant, marine, and industrial markets required different selling methods and different channels of distribution and posed different pricing, packaging, promotion, and selling requirements. Before deciding which markets to pursue, Ryan needed additional information on the requirements of each market segment and the dollar and volume potential for each. Page 496 Within each market, he had to decide whether to segment the market by uses, type of customer, or geographical territory. Ryan wondered whether market testing would be useful in analyzing market need, product potential, and the habit patterns of users in the various markets, and if so, whether market testing should be accomplished by field product testing, field interviews, or mail or telephone surveys. It was felt by Warren Ryan that Gril-Kleen could significantly increase its share in this market. Current sales of $35,000 a year represented a little less than half of 1 percent of the potential market for restaurant cleaning products in the New England area alone. However, the product appeared to fill a particular need in this market, while there was considerable competition from similar products in the other markets under consideration (marine, industrial, consumer). 
PRICING To help determine standard costs, break-even volumes over a range of possible product prices, and profit margins, Ryan collected the cost data in Exhibit 1.(attached)
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Ryan needed to determine a pricing strategy, set profit targets, determine the volume necessary to meet those targets, and establish a policy on trade discounts, allowances, and credit terms. He also needed further information on price elasticity (one dealer had tripled his sales from 4 to 13 cases a month by lowering the retail price from $28 a case to $24).
Checking the reorder rates, Ryan calculated the rate of usage of the product to be approximately one case every month in a small, one-grill restaurant. Approximately 97 percent of end-users who had tried Gril-Kleen continued to order it.
DISTRIBUTION
Among the distribution decisions to be made were whether to (1) hire a sales force (and if so, how large), (2) use manufacturer’s representatives (and if so, how many and with what commissions), (3) sell exclusively to wholesalers, (4) sell directly to restaurants and large chain operations, and (5) grant exclusive privileges to any dealers, distributors, or representatives (and if so, what demands to make upon the holders of such exclusive rights).
Other decisions related to distribution included questions on consignment sales, volume discounts, and shipping costs. Ryan also had to decide whether to expand his distribution network geographically or to concentrate on getting a larger share of the New England market.
PROMOTION
To successfully promote the product, Ryan had to determine which media to employ, how much to spend on advertising, and how to push or pull the product through to the ultimate user. In addition, he had to design some catalog sheets and fact sheets for Gril-Kleen similar to those in Exhibits 2 and 3. In designing these, he had to decide which product features to stress: price, convenience, effectiveness, safety, and so on.
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.PATENT AND TRADEMARK Ryan also wondered whether he should try to patent the product. He didn’t know if it was patentable, if it infringed upon any existing patents, or if he could obtain a trademark on the name Gril-Kleen and/or on the product logo he planned to design. He wasn’t sure that a patent would be valuable to the company, or even necessary, or whether it was worth all the trouble and expense required for a patent application. Legal costs alone, whether the patent were granted or not, could amount to about $4,000 or more and would afford doubtful protection from imitators. The company would have the right to sue if it discovered anyone else using its formula, but patent litigation would be too time-consuming and expensive for a company of Gril-Kleen’s size. 
COMPETITION The most common grill cleaning products then in use, especially in smaller restaurants, were the “stone” and the “screen.” The stone is a block of carborundum (hard soapstone) about the size of a brick, which was used to scrub the grill and remove grease and food residue. The screen was a wire mesh screen placed in a device similar to a sandpaper holder which was used to scour the grill much like home scouring pads. Both were inexpensive but required a great deal of effort to use, took about an hour to clean a fairly dirty grill, and could not be used on a hot grill. In addition, the stone especially tended to wear and chip, with some danger that stone chips might end up in food cooked on the grill. Page 497 There were also several chemical liquid and spray foam oven-cleaner-type products on the market that could be used to clean grills. Most of these were fairly expensive and had critical effective temperatures of around 1608 to 2008F. These competitive products were generally marketed by fairly large companies, with large advertising budgets, and wide distribution networks. Among these were Swell, DuBois, Easy-Off, and Jifoam. Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers also had plans to introduce new chemical oven cleaner products. Page 498 DuBois liquid oven cleaner (see Exhibit 2) was sold in four-gallon cases for $28.00 a case retail and employed its own sales force to sell directly to retailers. Swell was marketed via wholesale distributors for $7.00 a gallon or $26.50 a case retail and used its own sales force to sell to wholesalers. 
DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN To develop a sound marketing plan, it was necessary to determine the size of the potential market in units and dollars, estimate the market share that Gril-Kleen could expect to attain, and then develop sales projections over a 12-month period. Page 499 They needed to find out who and where the distributors of restaurant cleaning products in New England were and determine the best means of selling to them. They also had to calculate potential sales volumes at various prices and price the product to maximize profits (or volume). They would need to construct volume discount schedules and determine the effects of any increase or decrease in price on demand and on profits. They should consider whether any market or product testing is necessary, and if so, what type and how much. These decisions would form the basis for Gril-Kleen’s marketing plan, from which Warren Ryan could develop projected cash flow statements and Page 500 estimate his working capital needs over the next 12 months.

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This first (leadership) module of the course has attempted to offer you models for analyzing organizations and research about the styles, skills and practices of effective leaders.  My intention has been to help you understand the field of business leadership with a strong emphasis on practice - how can you improve your own leadership practice and effectiveness.  So, this take-home final is intended to give you a chance to synthesize your learning . . . by applying it to a real-life situation that you have faced, or perhaps one that you currently are facing.

The length of your writing should be 5-7 pages.

As was indicated in the prelude to this assignment, please write about a leadership situation from your life during which you fell short in some significant way.  I remind you that in leading you may or may not have been in "the" authority position, but you were in some way attempting to "mobilize others to want to struggle for shared aspirations" or to "mobilize others to do the work that only they can do."  Your job in the paper is to dissect your leadership breakdown.  How do you understand what happened (or is happening, if the situation is live)?  How has your understanding changed as a result of the class? What options did you see - and what options do you now see - relative to your understanding of the situation?  How do you understand the causes of your and others' behavior?  

You should therefore first provide us a context for understanding the leadership challenge which you faced (or are facing).  After your introductory paragraph, you should provide 2-3 paragraphs of context:  who were the key players, what were their roles; what was the organization, its purpose, and important elements; what was/is your failure or breakdown or shortfall?  You may want to share how you had been thinking about your failure, how you had framed it; and then share how that may have changed due to the course. 

Your job, then, in this exam is to be a leadership analyst and consultant to yourself.

What new tools of analysis can you bring to assess the situation?  How would/do you now understand it (and what do you still not understand)?  What steps would you recommend taking?  What guidance would you give yourself in taking those steps? 

You have many tools to bring to your analysis:

Your personality style (drawing from Big 5 and/or MB and/or Goleman-Hay
The McKinsey 7-S tool for understanding the broader systems ("systems" analysis alone can tell you much: what systems were open or closed; what dynamics resulted?
Senge’s model of structural tension
Frederickson on positivity
Kouzes & Posner’s 5 practices and 4 characteristics
Leading by 2
OKRs
Skills and practices of Coaching, Managing, Clearing the Air
PAPER GRADING GUIDANCE (The paper is worth 20/90 course points.) The following elements will be roughly equally graded:

Accurate reference to course materials – lecture and/or readings/videos – for all key points made.
Argumentation:  Do you offer coherent, supported positions on your hypotheses as to the root problems you now see and the options for leadership responses on your part.  
Structure: Your paper should make your position clear from the outset (strong first paragraph, which you may have written before you began the whole paper and/or which you wrote after you had clarified your thinking and writing; and then should have good logic flow in the paper overall and well-structured paragraphs.
Personalization: Reflects heightened self-awareness through course tools, referencing what you have learned about yourself from course tools and how that learning can be applied to the leadership shortfall you are analyzing. 
Style: This exam gives you an opportunity to write in a personal, revealing way (great leaders find ways to share openly); yet there should be some detachment, some willingness to ask yourself the hard questions about both your experience and your reflection. 
References: Business writing doesn’t use footnotes or any other kind of references. However, as this is an academic exercise, please use the end note function in Word to document your sources. You can use any format of citation. Just list each source one time without repetition. Any direct quotes in your paper should be contained within quotation marks.  (We do look at the "Turn It In" score which will point out use of language that is not your own. The best way to avoid unfair appropriation of others' ideas/language is to quote them accurately!)
Please Remember:

The paper should be about 5-7 pages long .  Properly format your answers: 11 or 12-point Verdana font, one-inch margins on all sides. Single-spaced within paragraphs, double-spaced between paragraphs. It is important to organize your thoughts and break your essay properly into paragraphs.  (It should be obvious that writing flows in this direction: words, sentence, paragraphs, pages. Paragraphs that exceed half a page will almost certain result in lost points.)
It is acceptable to label different sections of your essay if they lend themselves to discrete topics. This can enhance readability considerably.
Bullet-point lists will not score well.  For example copying lecture notes without application, analysis and critical thinking will be obvious to us and will add little value. Explain course concepts as they make sense to you in assessing your situation.    
If you have any questions, please drop me an email.

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Personal Brand Development Project

Demonstrating a command of all of the branding concepts taught via this class, develop and describe your personal brand development plan.  Specifically, your Personal Brand Development Project paper should, at least, address these topics:

1)    What brand elements are descriptive of you now?
2)    What other brand elements do you desire to develop and how will you do such?
3)    Describe your strongest brand factors and your weakest brand factors.
4)    How will you communicate your “brand”?
5)    Who will likely be your primary target market?
6)    How will you develop and manage your evolving personal brand?
7)    What research will you conduct?
8)    Display your brand via your developed resume 

This highly creative paper should be 8 pages (double-spaced, stapled).  Please include a cover/title page and, if relevant, a research sources citations’ page—both of which do not count in the required page total.)  The paper’s “Appendix” should be your developed resume, i.e., one of your brand elements.

You don't have to cite the note like the general citation. That means you understand the notes first, then use your words and combine the notes to write some explanation.
2. The whole essay should be original 
3. Please do not use any outside sources (Use note only) 
4. Use the note as much as you can that I upload to you. 
5. Please don't copy online or plagiarism Read

Make sure you follow all the instructions, Thanks.

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You are the Risk Manager for an auto manufacturing company. Your company is outsourcing the procurement of a very critical component to a third-party supplier based in Florida. How would you go about identifying and assessing the operational risks? Who are your key stakeholders and how would you communicate these risks to them?
Hint: Think supplier risk(s), business continuity risks, technology risks.

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After exploring the role of Human Resource Management and its various requirements, it's now time to demonstrate that you can apply these concepts in your own chosen industry or career path! Late work will lose 10% each day.  You may consider researching how other organizations have managed these core HRM policies, practices and procedures.  Specifically, consider what you have learned over this first few chapters and write an essay that explores in detail:

how strategic planning and HR planning work together in your industry or career path
steps that managers in your industry or career path should take to ensure alignment with EEO requirements and best practices
your recommended approach for conducting a job analysis of a common job in your industry or career path
any specific implications for job design in your industry or career path
This assignment should include at least 6 pages of double-spaced content in 12-point Times New Roman font, summarizing your key learnings in class and how they are relevant in your industry or career path. Written assignments require application of content from the textbook and any other learning materials provided in the course, as well as your own independent research (especially around industry-specific aspects of the assignment).