...Ann Taylor Stores Corporation International Management Project Management 4900 – International Management and Globalization Executive Summary As an opportunity to apply concepts of international management, the following analysis evaluates issues and provides recommendations for the Ann Taylor Corporation. The retail apparel industry as a whole has rapid business cycles because fashion and consumer tastes changing constantly. The already fiercely competition for market share is amplified by the declining economy. Like many apparel companies, Ann Taylor creates the designs and outsources the manufacturing process. Ann Taylor sells women’s apparel and accessories and targets affluent career-minded women. One of the company’s strengths is brand equity. Every aspect of the Ann Taylor brand supports corporate social responsibility. Any association with a supplier or manufacturer that doesn’t support CSR and environmental sustainability will tarnish the Ann Taylor brand and risk losing brand loyal customers. With dependency on over 150 suppliers around the globe, communication and culture awareness is required of all Ann Taylor management. Lack of culture understanding will put business partnerships at risk. Although Ann Taylor doesn’t have ownership rights in China, understanding what drives and motivates Chinese workers will help Ann Taylor management collaborating more effectively with the managers of the outsourced manufacturing located in China. The need for strategic...
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...Market Trends Paper ECO 365 University of Phoenix Name Date Instructor Introduction When one dreams of opening a successful business, they hope to create one that is profitable, yet fair in the market place in which they compete. Every businessperson wants his or her company to be the best and wants to create an empire that surpasses all expectations. Unfortunately, they eliminate all competitors seeking their own success. One such company is the mega-retailer, Wal-Mart. Market Structure The monopolistic structure of Wal-Mart will have a negative impact in the future. Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest civilian employer, but their aggressive overtaking of their competitors and their sales may hinder their retail business. According to the Food & Water Journal (2000), Wal-Mart is being considered a monopolistic beast. The German government has been watching Wal-Mart closely since the corporation came crashing into the German economy two years ago by buying up two of its larger supermarket chains. The German government launched an investigation and found that Wal-Mart knew supermarket chains were illegally selling below their wholesale costs, with the goal being, to bleed their opponents dry and then revel without competition from there on out. Although, Wal-Mart enjoys continued success, some governments are questioning their marketing tactics. Wal-Mart’s disregard of the benefits to the consumer seems to be marginal and temporary and the damage...
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...Confessions of an Economic Hit Man By John Perkins Preface Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development, and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM. I wrote that in 1982, as the beginning of a book with the working title Conscience of an Economic Hit Man. The book was dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been my clients, whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits—Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We EHMs failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in. I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to...
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...Confirming Pages 3 Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has gone green. Since 2005 it has worked to plan and execute a sustainability strategy that includes using renewable energy sources, reducing its waste, and selling sustainable products. A packaging scorecard helps Walmart’s 60,000 suppliers learn about Walmart’s expectations and guides the firm in making its purchasing decisions. The company has built energy-efficient stores and retrofitted others, and it offers reusable shopping bags made of recycled materials. Although Walmart doesn’t disclose financial details on the green initiative, it says the program is already saving money and resources, and it projects billions in savings over time.1 Ethics and Corporate Responsibility Hear the True Story of how today’s managers do the right thing. Listen to what Derrick and Elaine have to say. “Ethics are crucial in the property management business. We are obligated to abide by fair housing laws in our dayto-day operations. Not only do we have an obligation as a company but also a social obligation to make sure our vendors and contractors are aware of these practices.” “The very nature and mission of my project is that of social responsibility. We are trying to do our part to help out developing countries in a way that an agricultural library is best equipped to do. Good workplace ethics translates into a better product for our subscribers. The better I and my employees perform, the better...
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...Confirming Pages 3 Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has gone green. Since 2005 it has worked to plan and execute a sustainability strategy that includes using renewable energy sources, reducing its waste, and selling sustainable products. A packaging scorecard helps Walmart’s 60,000 suppliers learn about Walmart’s expectations and guides the firm in making its purchasing decisions. The company has built energy-efficient stores and retrofitted others, and it offers reusable shopping bags made of recycled materials. Although Walmart doesn’t disclose financial details on the green initiative, it says the program is already saving money and resources, and it projects billions in savings over time.1 Ethics and Corporate Responsibility Hear the True Story of how today’s managers do the right thing. Listen to what Derrick and Elaine have to say. “Ethics are crucial in the property management business. We are obligated to abide by fair housing laws in our dayto-day operations. Not only do we have an obligation as a company but also a social obligation to make sure our vendors and contractors are aware of these practices.” “The very nature and mission of my project is that of social responsibility. We are trying to do our part to help out developing countries in a way that an agricultural library is best equipped to do. Good workplace ethics translates into a better product for our subscribers. The better I and my employees perform, the better...
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...Term paper Topic: Feudal System Of Japanese Manufacturing. Members: Rittik Mondal Sachit Aggarwal Harsh Faujdar Rishi Gupta Prawal Pandey Vineet Anand Nishant chohla Dharmendra Mahjani Surya Prakash Shubham Patel Contents: ● Main paper: Feudal System of Japanese Manufacturing) ● Paper 1: Industrial subcontracting and structure in Japan: evolution and recent trend ● Paper 2:The Evolution of Japanese Subcontracting ● Paper 3: Sustaining growth in electronic manufacturing sector: lessons from Japanese midsize EMS providers ● Paper 4: Competitive Marketing Strategies: A Survey of Japanese Manufacturing Firms' Competitive Performance in the British Market ● Paper 5: BuyerSupplier Relations In The UK Automative Industry: Strategic Implications of The Japanese Manufacturing Model ● Paper 6: C orporate Environmental and Economic Performance of Japanese Manufacturing Firms: Empirical Study for Sustainable Development ● Paper 7: Japanese Manufacturing System: Implications of the organization ● Paper 8: The JIT Philosophy is the culture in Japan ● Paper 9: Kanban System Feudal World Of Japanese Manufacturing: Kuniyasu Sakai Abstract: The entire paper presents us an overview of how Big Industries work in Japan. Subcontracting is the central issue in this paper...
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...CH5. Natural Resource Utilization & Pollution of the Environment * Resource depletion: the consumption of finite or scarce resources. * Pollution: undesirable contamination of the environment by the manufacture or use of commodities. * Conservation: the saving or rationing of resources for future use. * Private costs: costs of production borne by the producer. * External costs: costs of production not borne by the producer. * Social cost of production: = private costs + external costs * Internalization: make producers bear the total social cost of production. * Ecological system: an interrelated and interdependent set of organisms and environments * Ecological ethics: ecosystems as having inherent rights or interests and we have direct duties to them. * Ecofeminism: socio-ethical theory which combines ecological ethics with a critique of paternalistic patterns of domination (top down hierarchical authority structures) in our political and economic institutions as contributing to environmental exploitation. * Unlimited resource view: view encapsulating the attitude of bygone times which regarded the earth’s carrying capacity as unlimited, and air and water as "free goods." * Sustainable growth: a level of economic and population growth which enables each generation to hand down a world no worse than it inherited to succeeding generations, which avoids the Doomsday scenario. * Doomsday scenario:...
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...Contemporary Developments in Business and Management Kenneth Fee The University of Sunderland © 2013 The University of Sunderland First published September 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission of the copyright owner. While every effort has been made to ensure that references to websites are correct at time of going to press, the world wide web is a constantly changing environment and the University of Sunderland cannot accept any responsibility for any changes to addresses. The University of Sunderland acknowledges product, service and company names referred to in this publication, many of which are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks. All materials internally quality assessed by the University of Sunderland and reviewed by academics external to the University. Instructional design and publishing project management by Wordhouse Ltd, Reading, UK. Contents Introduction vii Unit 1 The contemporary world of business and management Introduction 1.1 1.2 The global business environment The importance of developments in the global environment Case Study 1.3 Organisational decision making and performance vii 1 3 10 14 17 19 19 20 Self-assessment questions Feedback on self-assessment questions Summary Unit 2 Globalisation Introduction 2...
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...FINAL DISSERTATION Emotional Branding: Investigating the Role of Emotions in Advertising and Branding SUBMITTED BY Usama Shahzad BITE ID : 35163 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the MBA Innovative Management in collaboration with Coventry University and British Institute of Technology & E-commerce August 2007 -1- The intuitive mind is a scared gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and forgotten the gift. Albert Einstein -2- Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank my research supervisor Dr. Gordon Bowen for his support and advice throughout this dissertation. His critical comments always managed to solve arising problems and helped me understand the subject. I would also like to thank the MBA programme co-ordinator Mr. Innayath for his enormous encouragement and inspiration throughout my course. Also I wish to thank all the respondents who participated in the interviews for providing me with valuable information. And finally, I wish to thank my family for their moral support and blessings. Without them none of this would have been possible. -3- Table of Contents Table of Figures ..............................................................................................................- 6 Abstract ...........................................................................................................................- 7 Chapter 1...................
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...ETHICS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Third Edition This page intentionally left blank ETHICS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Third Edition George W. Reynolds Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States Ethics in Information Technology, Third Edition by George W. Reynolds VP/Editorial Director: Jack Calhoun Publisher: Joe Sabatino Senior Acquisitions Editor: Charles McCormick Jr. Senior Product Manager: Kate Hennessy Mason Development Editor: Mary Pat Shaffer Editorial Assistant: Nora Heink Marketing Manager: Bryant Chrzan Marketing Coordinator: Suellen Ruttkay Content Product Manager: Jennifer Feltri Senior Art Director: Stacy Jenkins Shirley Cover Designer: Itzhack Shelomi Cover Image: iStock Images Technology Project Manager: Chris Valentine Manufacturing Coordinator: Julio Esperas Copyeditor: Green Pen Quality Assurance Proofreader: Suzanne Huizenga Indexer: Alexandra Nickerson Composition: Pre-Press PMG © 2010 Course Technology, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission...
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...OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT TESTBANK CHAPTER 1: Introduction to Operations Management TRUE /FALSE 1. Some of the operations-related activities of Hard Rock Café include designing meals and analyzing them for ingredient cost and labor requirements. True (Global company profile, easy) 2. The production process at Hard Rock Café is limited to meal preparation and serving customers. False (Global company profile, easy) 3. All organizations, including service firms such as banks and hospitals, have a production function. True (What is operations management? moderate) 4. Operations management is the set of activities that create value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. True (What is operations management? easy) 5. An example of a "hidden" production function is money transfers at banks. True (What is operations management? moderate) 6. One reason to study operations management is to learn how people organize themselves for productive enterprise. True (Why study OM, easy) 7. The operations manager performs the management activities of planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling of the OM function. True (What operations managers do, easy) 8. "How much inventory of this item should we have?" is within the critical decision area of managing quality. False (What operations managers do, easy) 9. In order to have a career in operations management, one must have a degree in statistics or quantitative methods. False (What operations managers do, easy)...
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...1. Introduction After independence in 1971, Bangladesh moved to a private sector led export oriented economy in late 1970’s from a highly protected government led economy in search of prosperity and growth. Even though there was little growth and development in the country as a whole; one particular sector, the Readymade Garment (RMG) industry was the beneficiary of privatization. From 0.2 percent in 1980’s, it came to 75 percent in 2004-05 of country’s total export. This industry employs 1.8 million people of whom 90 percent are women. Trade liberalization as a form of globalization followed by the imposition of quotas by US was the key input while entrepreneurs played the anchor role to take advantage of these conditions. Government also came forward with favourable policies for further growth. However, the quota oriented worldwide apparel trade came to an end on December 2004. What is going to happen in the Bangladesh apparel industry, which was predicted to lose its stake in an open market? This dissertation aims to discover the condition of the apparel industry as a whole at present and how the firms adjust to the situation with their internal rearrangement. Additionally, issues considered as vital for industry’s growth, such as infrastructure, information technology in the form of database, internet and software, and capacity building will be discussed. The dissertation starts with the global picture of apparel trade, and with a brief description how this trade...
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...Multinational Corporations and Foreign Direct Investment This page intentionally left blank Multinational Corporations and Foreign Direct Investment Avoiding Simplicity, Embracing Complexity Stephen D. Cohen 1 2007 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright # 2007 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cohen, Stephen D. Multinational corporations and foreign direct investment: avoiding simplicity, embracing complexity / Stephen D. Cohen. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-517935-4; 978-0-19-517936-1 (pbk.) ISBN 0-19-517935-8; 0-19-517936-6 (pbk.) 1. International...
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...Chapter 1 Case Study: Harmonix Embrace Your Inner Rock Star Little more than three years ago, you had probably never heard of Harmonix. In 2005, the video game design studio released Guitar Hero, which subsequently became the fastest video game in history to top $1 billion in North American sales. The game concept focuses around a plastic guitar-shaped controller. Players press colored buttons along the guitar neck to match a series of dots that scroll down the TV in time with music from a famous rock tune, such as the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” Players score points based on their accuracy. In November 2007, Harmonix released Rock Band, adding drums, vocals, and bass guitar options to the game. Rock Band has sold over 3.5 million units with a $169 price tag (most video games retail at $50 to $60). In 2006, Harmonix’s founders sold the company to Viacom for $175 million, maintaining their operational autonomy while providing them greater budgets for product development and licensing music for their games. Harmonix’s success, however, did not come overnight. The company was originally founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy in 1995, focused around some demo software they had created in grad school and a company vision of providing a way for people without much musical training or talent to experience the joy of playing and creating music. The founders believed that if people had the opportunity to create their own music, they would jump...
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...Chapter 1 Case Study: Harmonix Embrace Your Inner Rock Star Little more than three years ago, you had probably never heard of Harmonix. In 2005, the video game design studio released Guitar Hero, which subsequently became the fastest video game in history to top $1 billion in North American sales. The game concept focuses around a plastic guitar-shaped controller. Players press colored buttons along the guitar neck to match a series of dots that scroll down the TV in time with music from a famous rock tune, such as the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” Players score points based on their accuracy. In November 2007, Harmonix released Rock Band, adding drums, vocals, and bass guitar options to the game. Rock Band has sold over 3.5 million units with a $169 price tag (most video games retail at $50 to $60). In 2006, Harmonix’s founders sold the company to Viacom for $175 million, maintaining their operational autonomy while providing them greater budgets for product development and licensing music for their games. Harmonix’s success, however, did not come overnight. The company was originally founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy in 1995, focused around some demo software they had created in grad school and a company vision of providing a way for people without much musical training or talent to experience the joy of playing and creating music. The founders believed that if people had the opportunity to create their own music, they would jump...
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