...Antitrust Laws for Fair and Competitive Business Laws in the United States that aim to promote fair, balanced, and competitive business practices are known as antitrust laws. According to Bovée & Thill, (2013), “Antitrust laws limit what businesses can and cannot do to ensure that all competitors have an equal chance of succeeding” (p.40). Three such laws are The Sherman Act, The Federal Trade Commission Act, and The Clayton Act. These laws (particularly The Sherman Act) provide general guidelines for business practices, but not all of them define specific rules that a business must follow. There are too many situations that may arise for each one to be addressed. Therefore, when a business is accused of breaking an antitrust law, the outcome must be determined by the courts, leaving the results open to subjective interpretation given the circumstances. Because these laws are general outlines for acceptable business practices, there are ways that they can be circumnavigated. Despite these challenges, antitrust laws are effective in reducing, although not eliminating, unethical business practices in the U.S. However their reach does not extend to many aspects of international business. The Sherman Act, passed by Congress in 1890, (“The Antitrust Laws,” n.d.) protects against a restraint of trade. In other words, it restricts individuals or businesses from carrying out a particular policy or agreement that prevents other businesses from competing fairly for a portion of the...
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...Antitrust Laws and Competitive Business Practices The fair, balanced and competitive application of U.S. laws as applied to business practices Introduction Several laws have been enacted to provide protection to businesses in our free-trade market. There are times when trading within the free market does not demonstrate the fair, balanced and ethical conduct deserved in competitive business. Trying to compete in a market where practices aren’t regulated deprives businesses the benefits of competition, resulting in higher prices for products and services which in turn affect the economy. Unfair trade practices have been around for as long as trade itself. Unfair practices were under scrutiny as early as 470 B.C. Grain was so vital to Greece’s population that trade laws were enacted. A percentage of grain was taken by the state therefore taxes were applied to anyone not importing directly to Athens. Death applied to anyone restricting imports (http://www.ancient.eu/article/115/). The latter was definitely extreme but regulations now cover a broader range of violations with less severe consequences. The federal government enforces three major antitrust laws. These laws address unfair practices that deprive businesses the benefits of interstate and international trade. Federal antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. The Sherman Antitrust...
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...STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC WAR ON ORGANIZATIONS FROM A LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE. Individual Term Paper Table of Contents I. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. II. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. C. 1. 2. III. A. B. Background of the topic ............................................................................................................... 3 What is Economic War and what are its practices? .............................................................. 3 Pre-technological Era ........................................................................................................... 3 Technological Era ................................................................................................................. 3 How Competitive Intelligence translates into companies’ life? ............................................ 6 As a tool of Corporate Strategy ........................................................................................... 6 As a part of the Corporate Culture ..................................................................................... 6 Economic War and Corporate Culture .................................................................................. 7 Organizational Leadership....................................................................................................... 7 Where Economic War becomes a problem: advocating ethical behaviour ..................... 7 Where Economic War benefits: crisis leadership ................
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...Mariam Diab ID:10931041 Sec: C Date: 19-4-2014 Dr.Ali Dirani IMGT497 Entrepreneurship 1- Competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers making strategic decisions for an organization Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, as opposed to industrial espionage, which is illegal Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what's happening in the world outside your business so you can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible as soon as possible about your industry in general, your competitors, or even your county's particular zoning rules. Ethics has been a long-held issue of discussion among CI practitioners. Essentially, the questions revolve around what is and is not allowable in terms of CI practitioners' activity. A number of very excellent scholarly treatments have been generated on this topic, most prominently addressed through Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals publications. The book Competitive Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Gray Zone provides nearly twenty separate views about ethics in CI, as well as another 10 codes used by various individuals or organizations. Combining that with the over two dozen scholarly articles or studies found within the various CI bibliographic entries, it is clear...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Abstract II. Problem Statement III. Evaluation IV. Hypothesis V. Procedure/Design VI. Introduction VII. Definition and Examples a. Case I b. Case II c. Case III VIII. Origin of Competitive Intelligence IX. Why Collect Intelligence? X. What is Ethical? XI. Methods of Intelligence Collection XII. What Resources Are Used to Collect Information XIII. How Companies Utilized Collected Information XIV. Keeping Companies Secrets Secret a. Buildings b. Communication Systems c. Administrative XV. Conclusion I. ABSTRACT Intelligence gathering is considered commonplace in corporate America. Companies struggle to maintain the high ground within a competitive marketplace. One source for maintaining an elevated position is through information gathering on competitors, better known as Competitive Intelligence (CI). Collection of this information can be accomplished through numerous means. History has shown that the collection of CI is not a new practice, only that the methods used to collect the information have evolved over the past century. Intense pressure for turning profits, winning contracts, and avoiding expensive research and development costs drive the methods used in CI collection. With an increase in CI collection, companies are required to protect themselves from inside and outside intruders. II. PROBLEM STATEMENT Corporate America has become oblivious to the information being divulged concerning company trade secrets. ...
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...Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case Tristen Leeder RES/351 January 14, 2013 Instructor: Steve Roussas Abstract In this paper I will show the usefulness of corporate intelligence. While this tool is helpful in making solid business decisions effort needs to go into monitoring of the gathering process. Intelligence gathered by unethical means does more harm to an organization then good. The financial repercussions of involvement in corporate spying are steep, and the damage it does to an organizations reputation can take years to repair. Management teams must continually monitor how intelligence is gathered to make corporate intelligence work for their benefit. Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case In spring of 2001 John Pepper, then chair of Procter and Gamble was faced with a dilemma (Tuck School). It had been brought to light that P&G’s competitive analysis department had engaged in corporate spying (CNN). An outside firm hired by P&G had engaged in spying on Unilever, P&G’s main competitor in the hair care industry. According to Jordan and Finkelstein “the spying operation gathered about eighty documents detailing Unilever’s plans for its U.S. hair care business over the next three years, including information on its launch-plans, prices, and margins (Tuck School, p. 1).” In April 1999 John Pepper was the keynote speaker at an SCIP CEO Roundtable, held in Montreal. In his address Mr. Pepper...
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...Competitive Intelligence Term Paper Dr. Ahmed Nassar Prepared by Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed El Mizayen 1. What is CI? he process of collecting and analyzing information about competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in a legal and ethical manner to enhance business decision-making. Competitive intelligence activities can be basically grouped into two main types – 1) Tactical, which is shorter-term and seeks to provide input into issues such as capturing market share or increasing revenues; and 2) Strategic, which focuses on longer-term issues such as key risks and opportunities facing the enterprise. Competitive intelligence is different from corporate or industrial espionage, which use illegal and unethical methods to gain an unfair competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence means different things to different people within an organization. For example, to a sales representative, it may mean tactical advice on how best to bid for a lucrative contract. To top management, it may mean unique marketing insights to gain market share against a formidable competitor. The ultimate end goal of competitive intelligence is to help make better decisions and enhance organizational performance. While most companies can find substantial information about their competitors online, competitive intelligence goes way beyond merely trawling the Internet, on the premise that the most valuable information is seldom – if ever – easily accessible online. A typical competitive intelligence...
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...Analyzing Your Competition Overview Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. Gaining an advantage is the key to success and even survival. But many of the so-called advantages that businesses rely on are not sustainable. They can be easily copied, stolen or negated. Real competitive advantages — things like brand name recognition, patented manufacturing processes or exclusive rights to a scarce resource — cannot be easily copied. Every company has a unique set of strengths, and it's critical that you determine yours, as well as your competitors'. Hold a brainstorming session with your staff and advisors to perform a formal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This analysis helps you to see how your strengths stack up against your competitors' weaknesses and suggests ways to take advantage of marketplace opportunities. After you have performed the analysis, there are four basic competitive strategies to consider. 1. Become the low-cost supplier. By under-pricing the competition, you can achieve greater volume, which can drive your costs down even further by realizing economies of scale. Of course, it's important to still maintain a healthy profit margin so the key here is to lower costs, not just prices. 2. Achieve product or service quality differentiation. Think about the hundreds of companies that have achieved such differentiation for themselves...
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...MANAGEMENT Competitive intelligence: It’s the process of ethically, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating accurate, relevant, specific, timely, foresighted and actionable intelligence regarding the implications of business environment, competitors and the organization itself. SCIP – Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals 3 main axes: 1. An ability to procure accurate and validates information to decision makers, project managers and even project team members 2. A capacity to produce specific studies and assessment describing a situation, the effect/cause of an event, the action/strategy of an actor 3. A mission consisting in delivering alerts and warnings to decision makers CI and crisis “ Lack of transparency can mean the management doesn’t see or doesn’t want to see important, vital competitive information. At time, this can lead to crisis.” Leonard M. FULD The secret language of competitive intelligence DEFINITION * BRUTAL,SUDDEN AND TRAUMATIC EVENT * Effect of surprise * Low probability (which make prevention difficult) * Considerable stakes (even the survival of the organization) * COMPLEX SITUATIONS WITH UNCERTAIN OUTCOMES * AN EXCEPTIONAL SITUATION REQUIRING “EXTRA-ORDINARY” MEASURES * Major impact * Fast reaction is imperative GOALS * You have to preserve your company’s activity, employees and assets, but not by any means * Laws, standards...
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...CLAT 2013- The Countdown begins The countdown for the Common Law Admission test (CLAT 2013) has begun. With less than 50 days left for CLAT, which is the stepping stone for the National Law Universities across the country, the anxiety amongst the students is rising. Gyan Central caught up with Saiyed Anzar Abbas, founder of CLATapult, one of the premier coaching institutes for CLAT, to ask him about his views and tips for students appearing in CLAT 2013. GC- Congratulations Anzar for the immense success of your brainchild-CLATpult. Anzar- Thank you very much. This success is mainly attributed to the dedication and support of all my friends and well wishers. The true success of CLATapult shall be reflected in the CLAT 2013 results in which I am confident that the students of CLATapult would pass with flying colors. GC- The first question which comes to the mind of any student who is contemplating to start preparation for CLAT 2013 is whether 50 days is an adequate time period for preparation for CLAT. Anzar- CLAT, unlike other exams like the IIT-JEE or AIEEE, is not an examination which requires dedicated study for a period of years together. CLAT requires dedicated study for a shorter duration as compared to other examinations. Though 50 days is a very short time period, it still is not inadequate for the preparation for CLAT. 50 days of immense hard work, dedication and sincerity is enough to guarantee a student to crack CLAT 2013. GC- With the board examinations going...
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...By knowing our Competitors we may be able to predict their next moves, exploit their weaknesses and undermine their strengths. There are four stages in monitoring competitors - the four "C"s: * Collecting the information (with a first stage - deciding what to collect) * Converting information into intelligence (with three steps: CIA -Collate and catalogue it, Integrate it with other pieces of information and Analyse and interpret it) * Communicating the intelligence. * Countering any adverse competitor actions - i.e. using the intelligence. One mistake a lot of people make is to start by collecting information without thinking how the information will be used. There is no value in information that will just sit on a shelf. If it cannot be used to inform the business's strategic or tactical decisions then the time, money, and effort spent collecting it is wasted. * The business may be planning a new product - so information on what competitors are doing in the same area will help in the decision processes and plans for this new product. * Alternatively, the business may be looking at how the industry will develop over the next 5 or 10 years. * Or perhaps the board is looking at a potential merger, acquisition or business partnership. The information requirements for each of these business decisions will be completely different and so the information that should be sought will also be different. Thus before starting to search for information...
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...INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT APPLICATION FOR EXAMINATION OR EMPLOYMENT (FORM CT-HR-12) PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE COMPLETING THE APPLICATION GENERAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS This application form is the official State of Connecticut Application Form for Examination or Employment effective October 1, 2010. PLD-1 application forms should not be used on or after October 1, 2010. Check the State Employment Pages on the DAS website (http://das.ct.gov/employment )for more detailed information about completing the State Application Form and about state examinations, job opportunities and to sign up for e-mail notification of current exams and job openings. 1. The CT-HR-12 is a PDF document that can be completed on-line or it can be printed and completed manually. If you complete the form on-line, you can save it in your documents for future reference. 2. This application form can be used to apply for currently posted State of Connecticut examinations or currently posted 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. job opportunities (positions/job postings). If you are applying for a currently posted examination, make certain you include the examination title and examination number. If you are applying for a currently posted job/position, make certain you include the position title and position number. Type or print (in ink) all information requested on the application form. It is critical that you complete all sections of the application form...
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...The Sport of Dancing Courtney Packwood ENG-106/Professor Zafonte March 17, 2013 Dancers should be considered athletes as well as artists. Dancers must use their bodies to express emotions, tell a story, commit to years of physical training, develop stamina, work as a team, take care of their bodies, stretch to prevent injuries, and enter into competitions against other dancers. They deserve to be helped at the athletic office. The dance education majors are not even allowed to ask for an ice pack from the athletic trainers. Members of the Grand Canyon University Dance Team are considered athletes, while the Dance Education majors are not. Both programs involve dance training but yet the school team is the only one of the two that reaps the benefits of being an athlete. The label of dancing being an art or sport has been questioned for decades now but no one has given it a definitive answer. When looking up the definition for athlete, several interpretations are given; overall, the main idea of an athlete being, “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina” according to the Webster dictionary. When comparing this definition to dancers, it is clear that they meet each of those standards. So, why are dancers being denied help from the athletic training office when they demonstrate comparable abilities in physical training, competition, teamwork, and dedication; just as much as any of the athletic teams on...
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...community that meets regularly at Club IT.” The club focuses on all music genres, which includes Hip- Hop, Techno, Electronica, MP3, and live bands. With these genres, the music caters to all people from young adults to older adults and single to married couples. Although the club is striving, Ruben and Lisa want their company analyzed for a more competitive advantage. As their intern, I will take a look at the company’s intranet resources, which is an internal network that only the owner’s and employees’ can access. The current intranet is a good resource of information, but it lack security. The access to the intranet needs to be accessible individually. The owners need to have their own login credentials with access to the information related to all the company’s information and employees’ information. The employees need to have their own login credentials as well, so they can access the necessary information related to their job title and personal information. One way to become more competitive is to take advantage of its information base to help a build a community with the support of IT. Several kinds of competitive information and strategies that Club IT can be gain by providing this service, for...
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...Evaluate a Business Intelligence initiative that has been undertaken within your organization or one potential application of Business Intelligence within your organization? I work in the cruise industry. I never really knew how much Business Intelligence was a science. Granted, I knew we have analysts and copious amounts of data, but I never truly gave it much thought. After studying BI, I have come to realize BI is an essential aspect of my organization’s success. From measuring productivity of different departments (such as revenue, event planning, individual & groups reservations, cruising power, our company website, shipboard management, etc…) to understanding travel partner and guests needs and staying ahead of the competition, we wouldn’t survive without BI metrics and applications. Because I work in the event planning division of my company, I am not familiar with the names or metrics used to evaluate important data, but I do know from experience and part of my job function, reports and data gathered are used to make judgments and decisions about new products and constant improvements for existing services we currently provide. Surveys are completed by our travel partners and guests, and even employees. We compile reports and present them to management electronically. Our research, experience, and use of different applications, along with our IT departments, helps management and executives determine which direction to move forward. Feedback from our travel...
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