...Business Strategy Case 3 The O-Fold Kyle Huffman Olds College Submission Date: February 14 2013 O-Fold Business Opportunity Introduction Alex Richards was a 4.0 GPA student, double majoring in finance and accounting. Before taking a trip to Colorado, Alex was faced with a problem: whether or not to take a suit on the plane, he did not want to wear it on the plane nor pack a suit case due to having the clothing wrinkle. He came up with the idea of the O-Fold, a cylindrical tube that clothes could be wrapped around, secured with straps, packed into tight spaces, and arrive wrinkle free. After completing a preliminary patent search online and finding nothing similar to his idea, Alex had to make a choice whether or not to start a company. He came up with four options, sell the idea, license the idea, outsource production, or use a crawl-walk-run strategy. External analysis With more then $5 billion in sales the luggage industry strengthened, as the baby boomer generation reached its peak travel ages (45-54). With profit margins growing from 28.9 percent in 1990 to 45.9 percent in 2000 the industry is looking profitable. As well having around 75 percent of the merchandise imported, this lowers the cost of production and materials. An important trend to look at is the use of handbags or carry on items. With the rising cost of fuel airlines started charging for check baggage, resulting in an increase of people buying carry on/handbags. Handbags sales increased from 3...
Words: 1664 - Pages: 7
...Nursing shortage is featured in every magazine, health articles, newspaper, television and other forms of communications. Nursing shortage creates serious concerns not only in the field of medicine but in the consumer’s eyes. Health is considered a basic need of mankind; therefore, everyone is affected in maintaining the health status. Nurses are a major workforce in the provision of health care. Where does this discussion lead? Is there a serious threat? What happens now? Is it global? All these questions pump adrenaline to everyone who is concern about their health status. Health care organizations, specifically hospitals have significantly felt the impact of nursing shortage. Nurses are an integral part of any health care organization; and are known to the health care community as front line workers. The following outline is to discuss a health care situation such as nursing shortage in hospital settings. This outline is to provide a comprehensive overview by analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness of procedures that are in place, and recommend improvement strategies based on economic theories and concepts that support best practices. Key Players Nursing shortage is a work in itself, there is no immediate solution to the problem; therefore, nurses as the key players must be involved in the decision making occurring at every health care organization. As nurses, the sole responsibility lies upon them to establish a safe working environment, ensuring patients and nurses’...
Words: 4300 - Pages: 18
...3 MARKETING AN INTRODUCTION Armstrong/Kotler Analyzing the Marketing Environment Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter Outline • • • • • • • • • The Company’s Microenvironment The Company’s Macroenvironment Demographic Environment Economic Environment Natural Environment Technological Environment Political and Social Environment Cultural Environment Responding to the Marketing Environment 3- 2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Marketing environment The actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. • Studying the marketing environment allows marketers to take advantage of opportunities and combat threats • Marketing intelligence and research are used to collect information about the environment 3-3 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3- 3 Actors in the Microenvironment • The actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers—the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors, and publics 3- 4 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Microenvironment- (1) The Company Top Management Finance R&D Purchasing Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Operations Accounting 3- 5 Microenvironment - (1) The Company ...
Words: 2056 - Pages: 9
...+ Models ORGDYN-404; No. of Pages 9 Organizational Dynamics (2011) xxx, xxx—xxx a v a i l a b l e a t w w w. s c i e n c e d i r e c t . c o m journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/orgdyn Emerging HR management trends in India and the way forward Pawan S. Budhwar, Arup Varma INTRODUCTION Over the last decade or so, India has emerged as a major player on the global economic front. To a great extent, India’s enhanced global economic importance is due to the economic reforms that were initiated in 1991. The reforms have been instrumental in creating tremendous opportunities for businesses, in particular for foreign operators. Bodies like the World Bank predict that if India can sustain its economic growth over the next decade, then it is likely to become one of the leading economies of the world. Needless to say, there are many issues that still need urgent attention — among these, development of infrastructure, control over corruption and bureaucratic red tape, opening-up of key sectors for foreign investments, political and legal reforms, enhancing employable skills in new graduates, control over increasing poverty, internal and external security, and divestments in the public sector, etc. In addition, issues related to the management of human resources have become crucial for India’s sustained economic growth. The liberalization of economic policies calls for a switch from labor intensive to more capital-intensive methods of production, and thus requires organizations...
Words: 8047 - Pages: 33
...company scored $83.86 billion sales in 2012 and ranks 1st in the Fortune magazine’s “Global Top Companies for Leaders.” The company as on February 19, 2013 has a market capitalization of $ 211.38 bn (Source: Yahoo Finance). The company has simple expansion plan. They have, since early days, have believed in both organic and inorganic growth. The company cultivated and grew in house brands for their organic growth. This includes the names of “Ivory” soap, “Tide” detergent, “Pampers” diapers, etc. These names are still big brands and contribute to company’s revenue. The company became international with the acquisition of Thomas Hedley Co. in 1930. The company acquired other renowned companies like Folgers Coffee, Shulton’s Old Spice, Max Factor, etc. The acquisition of...
Words: 3993 - Pages: 16
...Oxford journals Impact of a community-based integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) programme in Gegharkunik, Armenia Results The assessment confirmed the population's poor health status and limited knowledge and application of recommended child care practices. The campaign reached its target: at follow-up, 67% had seen media messages within the past month, 82% had received the IMCI informational booklet, and 30% had seen other materials. Evidence of the success of the programme included the following: exclusive breastfeeding increased 31.4%, maternal knowledge of child illness signs increased 30%, knowledge of HIV increased 28.5%, and physician attended deliveries increased 15%. Conclusions This evaluation documented the significant and substantial impact of the community IMCI programme on both knowledge and practice in rural areas of Armenia. Consideration should be given to continuing and expanding this project as a complement to health sector development activities in this region. Impact of a community-based integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) programme in Gegharkunik, Armenia 1. Michael E Thompson1,* and 2. Tsovinar L Harutyunyan2 +Author Affiliations 1. 1 Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA. 2. 2 Center for Health Services Research and Development, American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia. 1. * Corresponding author. Department of Public...
Words: 6630 - Pages: 27
...International School of Management Identifying and Managing Risks in Professional Services Firms & The Novo Group Incorporated Candidate: Maria Nicholas-Groves Date: August 15, 2013 Executive Summary Identifying, measuring and managing risks are critical for all businesses today. There is substantial research of applying risk management within manufacturing companies, yet limited information regarding services firms and their need to manage risk effectively. Nevertheless, service businesses account for 70% of employment and 70% of domestic product in Western countries (Hollman, 1991). Given the substantial impact this industry has on Western States, it is critical companies understand how to apply risk concepts and become capable of dealing with their risks appropriately and cost effectively. This paper will uncover the core risks professional services firms’ face. It will overlay this assessment on a micro level, reviewing The Novo Group, Incorporated. This is a professional services firm specializing in recruiting professional talent in the United States. In this intersection of risk, the paper will attempt to measure the risk, its impact, and options to manage these possibilities. Professional Services in the United States of America Services are a critical contributor to the United States’ gross domestic product and are responsible for the livelihood of thousands...
Words: 5098 - Pages: 21
...Internship Report on Financial Backup of GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd Introduction: Of all the areas of industrial psychology perhaps the most important and certainly the least understood, is that of motivation of workers. It is saying, “A horse can be compelled forcefully to move up to water, but we can’t compel them to work honestly, efficiently, effectively and economically if they are not motivated. Human factor is the most important factor of industrial production and that human factor is the most complicated phenomenon of industrial life. Mishandling of this complicated factor of production may lead to serious consequences. Workforce must be motivated to achieve desired goal. The Pharmaceutical factories of Bangladesh are one of the most important industrial sectors of the country. There are national and multinational pharmaceuticals companies in our country. There are some obvious factors of motivation which can lead the workmen of the pharmaceuticals industries to attain desired goal; higher productivity; of the companies & the absence of such factors lead to labor unrest and fails to secure company’s target, hence the matter should studied and try to locate the reasons for which the dissatisfaction in labor is prevailing and need to find out the possible scheme for motivating workmen for better performance. GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh Ltd, from its early stage has stimulated the pharmaceutical Industry of the country with its variant existence. The top management...
Words: 11145 - Pages: 45
...The company overview Three ambitious friends, Richard, Adam and John graduated from Cambridge University into professional employment. In the summer of 1998, they spent six months testing various juice recipes on friends, trying to find a successful product. They spent £500 on fruit and tested their recipes on individuals at a London music festival, marking two bins ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and placing a sign next to them reading: “Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these?”. At the end of the day the yes bin was full. They gave up their jobs the following day and Innocent Drinks was formed (innocent, our story) The creation of this company was difficult for the three friends who had no money, they asked their friends for rich contacts and were introduced to Maurice Pinto, a wealthy American who lent them £250,000 after seeing the potential of their plan. After six years, Innocent operates from Fruit Towers in Shepherd’s Bush, an office block with faux-grass walls and trendy young staff. They produce 5 product ranges totalling 17 varieties and are the market leader in Smoothies in the UK (innocent). Innocent is a British beverage producer that makes and distributes a range of natural fruit drinks in the UK. The products of the company include smoothies, thickies, juices, and fruit-enhanced water. Innocent sells its products through coffee shops, grocery stores and department stores. Innocent smoothies contain over three-quarters of a pound of pure and fresh fruit...
Words: 5432 - Pages: 22
...Media Ventures 15.376 Real Estate & Recruitment – A strategic Analysis Introduction: During this semester our team examined two key issues that have a significant impact on the lives of many working professionals: real estate and recruitment. Though these two issues appear to be disjointed, they have a similarly significant financial impact of the quality of life of most individuals in the world. Real Estate: I. Background: The real estate industry is in a unique state of flux brought on by the proliferation of the sharing economy. The advent of AirBnB, UBER, Lyft, Zip CAR have effectively demonstrated that communal ownership of an asset is often much more efficient than singular ownership, provided an efficient channel for distribution and use of the asset exists. Though AirBnB has made great strides towards bringing home ownership into the fold of the sharing economy, an analysis of the notion and future of home ownership indicate that substantial room for innovation exists in addressing the pain points associated with the use of property. II. Pain Points: Despite the innovation of recent years, homeowners continue to be plagued by several persistent pain points related to liquidity, taxation, equity and maintenance of property. Liquidity: Real estate still remains largely an illiquid asset due to the high costs associated with the sale of property. No reliable peer-to-peer network exists for the sale of property, thereby leaving homeowners...
Words: 5275 - Pages: 22
...MIH514-Cross Cultural Perspectives 9/3/2013 Elizabeth Glasser Japanese Culture I am choosing to do my session long project on Japan. I think Japan is a very interesting and beautiful place. No other country in the world has experienced such a confluence of tradition, technology, and circumstance. Japan is the hub for cutting edge technology; it is the only country that has witnessed the wrath of the atomic bomb, and it has the most massive economy in the world. The Japanese have interesting and amazing traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years. Japanese people can be very modern but till hold onto traditions that have been passed on for centuries. They wear amazingly beautiful clothes, have interesting art techniques and have one the largest markets for music. Japan is also known for their Geisha girls, martial arts, and bizarre foods. Origins “The Japanese Archipelago includes more than 3,000 islands, covering a total area of 377,835 square kilometers. The four main islands, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu” (Szczepanski, n.d.). There is evidence that people inhabited Japan 30,000 years ago. According to Szczepanski (n.d.), these people were called Jomon and were hunter and gatherers who lived off the land. Japan first appears in the historical records of China in about 300 BC. There are many theories regarding the evolution of Japan. The most popular is that “Japanese...
Words: 10400 - Pages: 42
...legislation * Handy's shamrock organization Note: Higher Level students will need to be able to analyse reasons for changes in work patterns and practices and the consequences for employers and employees. INTRODUCTION Labour is one of the four factors of production. Many theorists argue that people are a firm's most valuable resource. Employing the right people will help a business to achieve its aims and objectives. To do this, a firm needs to use human resource planning, sometimes referred to as workforce planning. This is the management process of anticipating an organization's current and future staffing needs. It includes the number of employees required and the type of worker sought, such as graduates or ICT-literate workers. Anticipating the human resource needs of a firm can be carried out by looking at: * Historical data and trends. Data on trends, such as the rate of change in the size of the workforce over the past few years or the shift to part-time and flexible working hours, can assist management in planning. * Sales and income levels. Employers will require more workers if the level of customer demand is increasing. Higher levels of income and spending in the economy will lead to more jobs being created. * Labour turnover rates. This measures the number of employees who leave a firm as a percentage of its workforce, per year. The higher the staff turnover rate, the more workers a...
Words: 18984 - Pages: 76
...before 1997, turned sharply negative in 1998 and, at the time of this writing it is not yet clear when these economies will turn the corner and resume positive rates of growth. This paper examines why these countries, which were part of what has been termed "the Asian miracle" and were able to eradicate so much poverty, are now undergoing severe economic contractions, with such harmful effects on their populations. A breakdown of information in financial markets is the key factor that has driven this crisis. After laying out an asymmetric information view of the Asian financial crisis, this paper goes on to use this framework to explore lessons from this crisis. 1. An Asymmetric Information View of the Asian Crisis The financial system plays a critical role in the economy because, when it operates properly, it channels funds from those who have saved surplus funds to those who need these funds to engage in productive investment opportunities. The major barrier to the financial system performing this job properly is asymmetric information, the fact that one party to a financial contract does not have the same information as the other party, which results in moral hazard and adverse selection problems. An asymmetric information view of financial crises, which I have described in more detail elsewhere in Mishkin (1996a, 1997), defines a financial crisis to be a nonlinear disruption to financial markets 1 in which the asymmetric information problems of adverse selection and...
Words: 7371 - Pages: 30
...individual copyright holders noted. This special edition published in cooperation with Pearson Custom Publishing. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Please visit our web site at www.pearsoncustom.com ISBN 0–536–72690–6 BA 996748 PEARSON CUSTOM PUBLISHING 75 Arlington Street, Suite 300 Boston, MA 02116 A Pearson Education Company iii iv Table of Contents SECTION ONE ................................................................. 1 An Investment Perspective and Human Resources .... 2 HUMAN RESOURCE INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS ...6 INVESTMENTS IN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT ..... 14 INVESTMENT PRACTICES FOR IMPROVED RETENTION ............................................................ 32 INVESTMENTS IN JOB-SECURE WORKFORCES .......... 42 ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES ............................................................. 56 NONTRADITIONAL INVESTMENT APPROACHES ......... 58 SUMMARY............................................................... 67...
Words: 132738 - Pages: 531
...before 1997, turned sharply negative in 1998 and, at the time of this writing it is not yet clear when these economies will turn the corner and resume positive rates of growth. This paper examines why these countries, which were part of what has been termed "the Asian miracle" and were able to eradicate so much poverty, are now undergoing severe economic contractions, with such harmful effects on their populations. A breakdown of information in financial markets is the key factor that has driven this crisis. After laying out an asymmetric information view of the Asian financial crisis, this paper goes on to use this framework to explore lessons from this crisis. 1. An Asymmetric Information View of the Asian Crisis The financial system plays a critical role in the economy because, when it operates properly, it channels funds from those who have saved surplus funds to those who need these funds to engage in productive investment opportunities. The major barrier to the financial system performing this job properly is asymmetric information, the fact that one party to a financial contract does not have the same information as the other party, which results in moral hazard and adverse selection problems. An asymmetric information view of financial crises, which I have described in more detail elsewhere in Mishkin (1996a, 1997), defines a financial crisis to be a nonlinear disruption to financial markets 1 in which the asymmetric information problems of adverse selection and...
Words: 7371 - Pages: 30
