Short answer (6 points each) – Please answer 6 of 7

2.) Define contingency thinking and give an example of how it might apply to a “management” situation you have encountered. Why has contingency thinking become increasingly important for modern managers?

Contingency thinking is when management does not follow other management system or sets of procedures. This is because many situations may come up that do not fit in with how other management theories should play out. The idea is that managers basically follow their own sets of management ideology because situations will always vary and what works one situation may not necessarily work for another situation.

3.) Identify 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages of a Bureaucratic organization structure. Where might one be useful and where would one be inappropriate?

When going with a bureaucratic ideology, it is so structured and organized and requires specialized skill that a major advantage would be performance itself. That is if it is done correctly. Also, because it based on organization and structure, everyone learns the same skill and therefore there is no judgement coming from management. One of the major disadvantages of instilling bureaucratic theories for management is that too much authority may be vested in too few people and cause managers to ignore protocol in order to get the job done. This leads me to another disadvantage that when following this organizational structure may cause and that is underperformance. Because the bureaucratic organizational system may require people to follow many stricter rules and regulations along with rapid decision making skills, if the position is given to the wrong candidate they can become overwhelmed with the task at hand.

4.) Define the term “Big Data,” and explain how and why its capture and use can be beneficial to a Manager – and a potential threat to consumers.

5.) Identify the 5 sources of Competitive Advantage and identify the one you believe is most essential for companies competing in the “business of fashion.” Explain your reasoning.

The first source of Competitive Advantage is innovation. It is imperative that companies learn to adapt to change, especially in the technologically advanced world that it is today. It is also imperative that they learn that adapting to change and constantly evolving as a company is essential for survival. Their target audience’s demands will always evolve as will their primary and secondary competitors. The second source is quality, this includes not only just the quality of the good or product but the quality of the service as well. Companies sometimes are under the misconception that customers are only worried about the appearance or characteristics of the products but these days’ customers want products that are designed for quality. Companies need to plan accordingly and carefully to create and manufacture goods that have zero defects before hitting the market. Companies should follow the idea of always trying to improve themselves in order to better meet the satisfaction of their customer. Customers want options and companies need to understand that that is a qualitative service that should be offered to their target audience, which takes me to the next source which is none other than service itself. Customers are always going to be having more wants and needs for the years to come. The quality of service should be focused on constantly meeting the needs to the customer. This will help create long term relationships which are beneficial to both the customer and the company. The next source is speed. How fast you can create and get your product or service out to the general audience is a huge factor. Along with customers wanting higher quality products that are innovative, they want it in a decent amount of time or even right away. The faster the better. Getting your product out to the customer quickly and effectively not only satisfies and benefits your customer but the company’s image and sales as well. Lastly, cost competiveness plays a vital role in the survival of the company. Companies need to figure out what are the best ways for them to cut costs in any way possible whether it be labor costs, distribution cost or even manufacturing costs. The company should always remember that keeping low costs will help your sales to increase. Also, keeping all these corporate costs low will aid in keeping product costs competitively low, especially now where it’s so easy to compare prices for products via internet.
In order for companies in the business of fashion to maintain their livelihood I think it is essential that are innovative. But then again it just depends on what kind of retailer you are. If you’re a high end company such as Givenchy, your customers are going to want to see innovation and higher quality in your merchandise. If you’re a mass retailer like Zara or Forever21, their customers don’t really expect much innovation. Their target market wants what they saw on the runways of high end designers during fashion week so they want it right away and at a decent price point as well. I don’t really think service/customer service is a huge factor cause most people don’t like to be bothered by employees anymore unless you’re a company like Nordstrom where they’re known for having the on hand stylists there to help customers with their wants and needs. Like I stated above, it’s really hard to pinpoint which factor is more essential because not all retailers are the same. What works for one retailer may not necessarily work for another.

6.) Apply the 6 steps in the Strategic Planning process to your decision to attend LIM College.

To be quite honest there wasn’t really much of a decision process. I knew I wanted to come to LIM College for a long time because of the real world experience that the college was able offer their students with. That was a service that neither FIT nor FIDM could offer so to me that was the deal breaker.
7.) From a strategic standpoint, evaluate Facebook’s recent decision to offer a “dislike” feature on the site. Identify two risks and two potential benefits to this strategy shift? If you were Zuckerberg, would you have gone in this direction?

In my opinion, I honestly think that Facebook’s decision to offer the highly demanded “dislike” feature is nothing but bad news. Facebook as we know it is a platform made in order to connect with friends and family but I feel that Zuckerberg doesn’t understand that with the new generation of tweens/teens, they have used Facebook to bully and harass one another. Facebook has also been greatly known for being drama central. I personally don’t go on Facebook much these days, usually only when my parents, who live in Buffalo, NY and Kissimmee, FL have tagged me in a post. But anyway, whenever they do happen to do so, I always find other posts where people are bickering and arguing with each other back and forth and sometimes it even leads to bigger problems outside of this social media world our generation happens to live in. These arguments, especially amongst the younger crowd, always ends up with some big fight at school or at very public places. Someone whinds up getting very hurt or injured. We see it all the time whether we are “friends” with these people on Facebook or their posts are being shared to point where the drama filled post has gone viral. Now my point here is that deciding to offer the “dislike” button is pretty much like adding fuel to an already uncontainable fire. All it will do is create even more unnecessary drama. For example, say a person posts a picture that they feel they look great in but I don’t like it so I decide that I can just simply hit the “dislike” button that clearly will offend the person who posted the picture. I just feel it’s just so unnecessary to have it. Most people, if they don’t like the post, they just simply keep scrolling. I feel like people will play too much into it and over think why people are disliking their posts or pictures. The only reason I could see this being a great thing is that companies or entertainers that actually care about what their audience wants can get actual responses or results. For example, say the singer Rihanna wants to know what songs her fans want her to make a new video for, she can put out a few songs and then her anyone of her 81.5 MILLION followers can sound off by saying yes or no by liking or disliking. Retail companies, any company really, could take advantage by doing the same thing finding out what it is that their target audience wants and don’t want to see from them. It’s basically taking this feature that Facebook wants to offer and use it as another way to do some corporate research about their customers but for free!