Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
For each assignment, you will use the M.U.S.E. link to complete the lab.
In this lab, you will see the time progression of impacts associated with either coal-fired or nuclear power plants for electricity generation to help you write up a scientific paper that centers on the following:
Given that the current 2 primary sources of electricity generation are coal and nuclear power plants, which of these sources is better for human sustainability? Analyze Energy Sources Lab
Everything people do in their daily lives involves the consumption of resources—particularly energy. With respect to energy, electricity is one of the most important resources consumed and also one of the highest in demand. Traditionally, fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil have dominated the U.S. energy mix; however, as it is well-known, carbon-emitting energy sources are very detrimental to the environment and are contributing to global warming. Fortunately, alternative energy resources such as solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power are becoming more efficient and prevalent in today’s energy economy.
Using the M.U.S.E. link, review the background information and gather your data.
Use the Lab 4 worksheet for assignment instructions and data collection.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Compare and contrast the strategic management of the following companies: Walmart, the world's largest retailer who specializes in being the low-cost provider; Nordstrom, the largest volume fashion retailer in the Western United States. While there may be other factors, the most obvious and significant difference between these two retailers is their very different position on price and value. Some aspects of each company that you could consider in your analysis follow. Mission Statements: Compare Walmart's and Nordstrom's mission statements. What do they say about the companies? How does the mission statement affect your impression/expectation of what the customer experience might be for each store? If you have ever shopped at either, did your experience match your expectation created by the mission statement? Why or why not? Refer to Chapter 2 of the course text for Walmart's mission statement; for Nordstrom, use the following: NORDSTROM'S COMMITMENT In store or online, wherever new opportunities arise, Nordstrom works relentlessly to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible. The one constant? John W. Nordstrom's founding philosophy: offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value. Price Points & Positioning: How do the companies' selected price point affect the following: Their image to their customer? To competitors? Their relationship with their employees? The customer experience for purchases? For questions? For problems? Competitive Strategies: Which of the five generic competitive strategies do each use for their: Overall brand? For their retail stores? For their online stores? Why might they use a different strategy for their "bricks-and-mortar” versus their online stores? How does each store respond to competitive threats? Long-term Strategies for Growth and Sustainability: Where are the opportunities for growth for each store? Are these growth opportunities sustainable? What factors affect growth and sustainability for each store? Note growth can refer to sales/revenue, volume of sales, number of locations, market share, number of employees, etc.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Step 1: Assess the Company’s Human Resources Competitive Position/ McKesson Company
Leveraging the work completed in the Individual Assignments for Units 2 and 3, assess the company’s human resources competitive position. Be sure to evaluate the company’s position within the industry and among its comparator group.
Step 2: Identify and Evaluate Human Resources Risks and Opportunities
Leveraging the work completed in the Individual Assignment for Units 1–3, identify and evaluate the company’s human resources risks and opportunities. At least 3 risks and 3 opportunities should be included in your evaluation.
Step 3: Assessment of the Company’s Human Resources Competitive Position
Based on analysis of information obtained in Steps 1–3, prepare a professionally written report assessing the assessment of the company’s human resources competitive position, risks, and opportunities suitable for presentation to the senior executives of the company. Your report should present the information listed below. The body of the report should be 8–10 pages excluding title, references page(s), and any appendices.
Industry Competitive Position Comparator Group Competitive Position Human Resources Risks (minimum of 3) Description Analysis Human Resources Opportunities (minimum of 3) Description Analysis Overall Assessment of the Company’s Human Resources Competitive Position
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Write a paper detailing a comprehensive analysis of operations management. Conduct investigations into operations management practices in an approved, verifiable, or identifiable company, in either a high-technology or service industry, with an international presence.
Within this company, identify and discuss the structured process for selecting the following items:
Productivity indexes Positioning strategies Value chain management Management control Forecasting and aggregate planning The triple bottom line
You should also pay attention to the importance of the following success criteria as it exists within the company: the budget, cost-effectiveness indicators, quality standards, inventory management, clear goals and objectives, and senior management support. Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:
Be 8-10 pages in length, not including the cover and reference pages.
Cite a minimum of six outside sources, four of which are academic, peer-reviewed sources, in addition to your course textbook. These sources should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts that are presented in the course, and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic.
He suggests the following taxonomy of data analysis
1Ask a sharp question 2Put data in a table 3Check for quality 4Transform features 5Answer the question 6Use the Answer He also states that human intelligence will always be necessary to address the "gotchas" of machine learning:
1 the world changes 2 takes a long time to gather 3 analysis provides correlation rather than causation View the videos and describe your most important two takeaways in the equivalent of a half page to a page.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Moore's Law has been widely interpreted to suggest that computation power increases exponentially for computers. If we assume no practical limits on computation, we are only constrained by algorithms.
After watching Jeremy Howard's deep machine learning TED talk, comment on both beneficial and threatening aspects of computing as it progresses into the future. Consider both your personal and professional life. Target a half page response.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Learning Activity #1
Theme One: Strategic thinking is how we craft the GDD story to create organizational wealth for the company, customer satisfaction, a etc. Strategic thinking can be done by anyone, but it does require an open mind, a positive attitude and organizational culture that encourages aligns with the organization.
Vision or direction is so critical to the achievements of the organization. Strategic thinking creates that vision and the direction of activity that flows from the vision. Visit the GDD Company Profile information and review it once again looking for the vision statement, and business philosophy of the company. Choose one of the areas that GDD is looking to improve in the future for sustainability and suggest a strategy as to how they may accomplish this goal.
Learning Activity #2
Theme Two: We said earlier that crafting the strategic plan is not enough a leader has to sell the story to others. Trust is the building block of the leader-follower relationship.
Reading the course readings for the week. What would you suggest Lane do to protect his relationship with Kent and his staff? Include in the answer a description of what trust means to a leader, and how it creates followers and loses them. What suggestions would you give Kent to help him fix and rebuild his relationships? Be specific and practical with your suggestions to both questions.
Lois Lane is the head of the Marketing Division at GDD. GDD is caught in a competitive pricing squeeze with Fed Ex on small packaging deliveries. Lane hired a consultant to study the branding of GDD’s product to see if they can create a broader buyer base for the service; thereby, reducing the price to make it more competitive with Fed Ex. After the consultant’s recommendations were received and Lane evaluated the results, she spoke with Social Media Manager, Clark Kent. Kent, asked Lane if he could implement the consultant’s recommendations immediately. Kent thought the company would see an immediate result. Lane worried that in Kent’s rush to implement, he may not have considered the time required to create quality work.
The campaign designers would be under great pressure to make what Lane considered unrealistic goals. Lane vocalized this point to Kent who assured her that it would work and that her employees could “see the vision”. Against her qualms, and anxious to empower Kent to make his own decisions, Lane did not act on her concerns and gave Kent the green light. Lane did watch things and soon realized that her fears were not unfounded. A handful of workers resisted the new work because they felt they could not produce a strong social media campaign without more time.
Today, a delegation has come to Lane’s office with concern that the new goals are not working and that Kent is refusing to change the deadlines. “Kent claims,” they reported “that they are not using the recommendations properly and if they did, the campaign would be ready by now.” The group says that Kent is untrusting them to do their job. They also said that they do not want him to know that they went over his head by coming to Lane. They are afraid it will make matters worse.
Lane has a couple of other concerns with Kent. Lane recently spoke with another colleague, John, who was complaining about Kent’s lack of dependability. Kent had asked John to attend an operations conference, and at the last minute sent another supervisor instead, without any explanation. Kent has made other promises of supplies and equipment, and then never followed through. Lane thinks Kent makes promises he cannot keep probably, out of a desire to please. The result is that he acts too quickly without adequate implementation and follow-up. Lane can see that Kent is developing serious trust issues. Worse yet she feels that if she doesn’t do something about things soon people will not think her as well as Kent trustworthy.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions; I have selected Walmart as a company for this week’s coursework for evaluation.
I need a three page paper that does an analysis of Walmart and compiles data for supporting why it is a good company with opportunities to expand in the so called BRICS+11 group of countries that include Brazil, Russia, India, China, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam
Task: Specify the economic opportunity for client in this industry (lots of Buyers?). What is the size and projected growth of Buyers in this industry? Please use four sources and two from scholarly peer reviewed journals.
Required Reading:
Required Readings and Multimedia resources: (Note if a link does not connect directly, copy paste the url into a new browser or new window).
• Evaluating the External Environment: Porter's five forces(industry level) (1) https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s07-evaluating-the-external-enviro.html OR
(2) http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n178.xm • Internal analysis (company level) (1). Resource based view of the firm: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s08-managing-firm-resources.html (2) Value Chains in company assessment: http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n551.xml • Strategy at Corporate, Business and Operational/functional levels o Why go global: strategic choices: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-opportunities-in-international-business/s12-01-global-strategic-choices.html o Business and Corporate level strategy: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-opportunities-in-international-business/s14-01-business-and-corporate-strateg.html o Market segmenting and positioning:https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-v2.0/s08-market-segmenting-targeting-an.html
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions; Review your task. You are to provide a research paper that provides a summary of the three top trends in your industry (with associated NAICS codes). Supply sufficient background for your reader that the trend is clear and supported by resources you have found. Review resources in References and Citations to ensure that you are using “in text” citations to give credit for the ideas of other authors and to build your credibility as a researcher, neither ignoring sources nor quoting excessively.
You will develop a paper that accomplishes two objectives:
It will identify the three top trends in your industry and your rationale, based on the resources you have found, for your choices; It will discuss the issue within one of the trends that you deem important, based on the current state of the industry, and will be supported by your analysis of facts and a well-reasoned conclusion of what it means to the industry.
Start with an outline and flesh out the main themes with supporting statements. This will become your roadmap to an organized paper. Draft, sleep on it, and edit. Repeat.
Your paper will be 5-7 pages, not including your cover page and References page(s), double-spaced and set up in APA standards. It does not require an abstract.
Your citations, both “in text” and in References will be in accordance with the APA Style Manual Sixth Edition .
Your headings will follow this general pattern:
Introduction Findings Top Trends of the _____ Industry An Important Emerging Issue in a trend and what it means in context to the industry Conclusions References
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Walmart – Company Profile I have selected Walmart as a company for this week’s coursework for evaluation.
Assignment overview: Please research and write a descriptive profile with title page a table of contents with topic headings matched to the profile contents, and a reference list in APA format. The profile body, excluding title page, table of contents, and references, should be 10 pages, double spaced. (All page estimations are guidelines only). No executive summary is required, but do provide a good conclusion that summarizes the strategic implications of company strengths and weaknesses.
Resources: Use required reading (see bottom of description) on both the value chain and resource based views of company advantages to assess your client company's strengths and weaknesses. Use "Why Go global" reading to infer company expansion rationale for your client company. This will be your own best assessment of the forces that are likely driving expansion efforts of your company.' n needed for this assignment from public sources. It will require multiple sources, including what competitors and business analysts may be saying about the company. The depth of analysis you can perform for this assignment will depend upon the availability of information. A great deal of information is available about these companies through various sources included in our online library system. Databases: • Company Web sites; annual reports • EDGAR (SEC filings) • Hoovers Online (company basic facts; news) • Yahoo: Finance • Hoovers • EIU databases (in ABI/Inform in UMUC library) • Factiva (news items from Dow Jones and Reuters) • The Wall Street Journal
Assignment objectives: To understand your client company's Strengths and Weaknesses in order to assess how successfully it might be able to compete in a new international market. . Note: The company research is intended to be completed based only on secondary sources of information since you will not have time to do primary research. However, for some of the information, you may want to contact the company itself (e.g, for product/service information, special competencies), as long as it is not considered sensitive or proprietary information. If you decide to do some primary research, be sure to capture the list of people interviewed along with their complete particulars (name, job title, organization, address, phone number, email address, as well as the date the information was obtained) for including proper citations in your business plan.
Assignment requirements: This company profile will describe: I. The company, 1. A short description of the type of business and the industry in which it operates (from the above industry analysis) 2. The specific product/service that will be the focus of your market expansion. 3. The Buying proposition. What are the selling features? Why do buyers buy? What does this product/service do for the buyers or Users? How does your client company create value, and what is the specific value created? 4. The company’s rationale for international expansion. Based on your understanding of the company position in its external environment (e.g., Opportunity and Threat), why do you believe it should be looking for new international markets? You will most likely need to infer this goal dimension(s) for the company (e.g, financial gain, market share, volume efficiencies, brand building) • Consider not just “pull factors” based on potential international opportunity. • Consider also what is happening in the home country market that may be “pushing “ the company into international markets (e.g., competition, regulation) • II. The Buyer (target market) for the product/service (in the client’s current markets) 1. Are the Buyers the USERS of the product? 2. If USERS are not Buyers, who buys and how do buyers get the product/service to the users? 3. How can you characterize your Buyers so you can home in on a specific segment of the market? • In a B2C (business to consumer) model, the following demographic characteristics may be relevant to describing your target buyer: age, gender, income, family status, home ownership, education level. o In marketing we often divide consumer groups into different psychographic and lifestyle groups. A familiar example would be "early adopters," consumers who are eager to be the first to use a new type of technology. Another example would be “green consumers” who value environmentally protective products or company policies. • In a B2B (business to business) model, other types of segmentation will be relevant, such as: retail or wholesale; size of the business (number of employees/ revenue); type of business structure (e.g., pharmacies, big box stores); geographic spread or locations
Note: You may have a primary and a secondary target BUYER. For example, you may sell your items retail to consumers (business to consumer or B2C) and you may also wholesale your product to retail outlets (business to business or B2B). In that case, you'll need to select one as primary once you know more about the country market size and growth opportunities (weeks 3 and 4). III. The resources your client will need in order to create or maintain its value in a new country: What will it need to manufacture, distribute, service/maintain/repair and/or market the product/service in a new country environment? For example, some factors that may be relevant for your company's operational processes: o In country workforce-- why needed--to do what tasks? With what skill levels, expertise? o Infrastructure requirements, for delivery of the product/service (e.g., internet facilities, shipping ports, airports, postal facilities) o In country facilities (e.g., for manufacturing, servicing, marketing) o Access to in country suppliers—of what inputs? Note: Once you identify what the company needs in a country, then you can determine whether a particular country can meet those needs! So be sure to carry these country screening factors over into your two-country comparisons in weeks 3-4. IV. . Competition: Specify the likely key competitors in its current markets and in new global markets. , V. Company STRENGTHS relative to competitors
1. Product features that are unique, or can set it apart from the identified competition 2. Company Resources, particularly global Resources that may strengthen the company’s competitive advantage (e.g., consider human competencies, particularly global experience; financial, geographic, contractual, political assets; any proprietary, patented or trademarkedintellectual property) 3. Company processes that may give it an advantage over its competitors in any new international markets. What does it DO better? Does it have processes that set it apart (more efficient, less expensive, more flexible/adaptable)? Does it have excess capacity that may give it a cost advantage in a new market? VI. Company WEAKNESSES. relative to the competition 1 What do you see as potential competitive disadvantages for your client? 2. How are competitors portraying your client’s weaknesses?
As with all group assignments, ONE member should post the assignment in your Group Assignment folder by the end of week 2, titled “Company Profile.” You have now created the data needed to populate Items 2-5 of the draft business plan. Abstract the data from this analysis and add those relevant items to your draft business plan template. Incorporate only the necessary information required in these business plan sections --not the whole analyses! And you have determined the industry level Opportunities and Threats and company level Strengths and Weaknesses to populate a SWOT matrix. Next week you will create and populate your SWOTmatrix with these assessments. Country level O and T will be added to your SWOT matrix in Week 4.
Please use four sources and two from scholarly peer reviewed journals. Required Reading: Required Readings and Multimedia resources: (Note if a link does not connect directly, copy paste the url into a new browser or new window). • Evaluating the External Environment: Porter's five forces(industry level) (1) https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s07-evaluating-the-external-enviro.html OR (2) http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n178.xm • Internal analysis (company level) (1). Resource based view of the firm: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_mastering-strategic-management/s08-managing-firm-resources.html (2) Value Chains in company assessment: http://sk.sagepub.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/reference/organization/n551.xml • Strategy at Corporate, Business and Operational/functional levels o Why go global: strategic choices: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-opportunities-in-international-business/s12-01-global-strategic-choices.html o Business and Corporate level strategy: http://web.archive.org/web/http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/challenges-and-opportunities-in-international-business/s14-01-business-and-corporate-strateg.html o Market segmenting and positioning:https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_principles-of-marketing-v2.0/s08-market-segmenting-targeting-an.html
Using Porter's Five Forces (plus two additional forces: technology trends and government influences) to organize your analysis, summarize the key industry opportunity and threat factors and trends affecting Walmart as a result of its position in its industry. Start with a description of your client's position in the industry: who are its buyers, what are are its supplier inputs, who are its competitors.
Specify the economic opportunity for your client in this industry (lots of Buyers?). What is the size and projected growth of Buyers in this industry?
What threats exist for your client from buyer/supplier trends, potential new entrants, substitutes, level of competition?
Then comment on the strategy implications for your client of both opportunity and threat factors.
Recommend strategies for your client to mitigate global risk (threat factors). You will need to incorporate these strategy recommendations into your entry strategy in week 8.
Format: The title page should show all members who contributed to the assignment; include a table of contents with topic headings matched to the paper contents, and a reference list in APA format (See Course Resources module for review of APA citations). The industry assessment should be approximately 5-7 pages, double spaced, excluding title page, table of contents, and references. (All page estimations are guidelines only).
No executive summary is required, but do provide a good conclusion that summarizes the strategic implications of the Opportunities and Threats identified in your industry analysis and the strategies you client will need to consider tn response to both threats and opportunities.
Questions and Topics We Can Help to Answer Paper Instructions;
Create a six-eight page corporate policy to foster creative thinking in a real-world organization. The policy must include the following components:
-Clearly identify the organization and target audience the plan is written for. -Create sections based on the work activities that contribute to the overall corporate culture. The sections should be tailored to your specific organization and your target audience. -Include specific procedures that will facilitative a creative work environment. Describe detailed procedures using a format that is easy to follow. -Add any templates or worksheets that might be helpful for the leaders to use when implementing the policy. - Use text enhancements and visuals for emphasis and for clarity. In addition to basic enhancements, such as bold, underline, italics, caps, font/font size, and color-coding, you can include graphs, illustrations, or other visual elements.
Use at least one outside resource in your policy. You must relate your discussion of the policy to the outside source(s) use and cite them according to APA format.
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