...Competitive Strategies and Government Policies ECO3665 Externalities When looking at economics we have learned the invisible hand always pushes the market to arrive at the best outcome for society as a whole. However sometimes what is good for a market or in this case WalMart may not be good for society. WalMart has a global presence which creates negative and positive externalities. WalMart does business with suppliers all over the world and has to obey a variety of government regulations in different countries. A negative externality WalMart is accused of is Pollution. The pollution is created by manufacturers who supply products to WalMart. WalMart has taken the approach not only to comply with regulations set by the governments, they go above and beyond regulations leading other businesses and setting a higher standard than required. WalMart insures their suppliers are also complying with government regulations, if suppliers do not comply they will no longer conduct business with them. WalMart’s model is responsible sourcing; they conduct audits verifying compliance of worker safety, well being and insuring environment friendly programs are enforced. In 2009, WalMart launched the Sustainability Index in collaboration with The Sustainability Consortium which will help WalMart and its suppliers reduce waste in the supply chain and create synergy so that waste can be recycled and eliminated and improve buying and selling of products. WalMart currently has three sustainability...
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...Competitive Advantage Paper Strategic Management MGT/498 Competitive Advantage Paper Riordan Manufacturing has several competitive advantages it can establish, which coincide with previously researched organizations. This paper discusses those advantages and competitive strategies meant to improve innovation and the sustainability both domestically and globally. An explanation and estimation of how these strategies will affect sustainability of long-term performance and an explanation of the impact of the global market on Riordan’s business strategy concludes the paper. Competitive Advantage Every organization can establish some type of competitive advantage. Recent research about the competitive advantages of FedEx, Southwest, Toyota, McCain Foods, and Cargill assists in identifying Riordan’s competitive advantage. The first step in creating a competitive advantage is creating a mission statement and developing a strategic plan. Firms that operate with a strategic plan develop a focus and tend to have everyone in the organization aligned. Introducing unique core products or services leads to the establishment of a competitive advantage. In the case of FedEx, the core service is transporting products...
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...Competitive Advantages Paper Competitive Advantages Paper * Estimate which competitive strategies Riordan could use to improve innovation and sustainability of business operations both in the United States and in the global market. Riordan Manufacturing Inc. can improve innovation and sustainability for the business operations in both the United States of America and global market through executing strategic capacity planning for products and services. This strategy improves efficiency, enhances development in the direction of the supply chain, as well as implements processes and theories of a lean manufacture. This will also help to increase value over time while sustaining their competitive advantages. Strategic capacity planning begins with a fawner usage of capabilities by minimizing excess supplies and manufacturing products in a timely manner at a lower rate. Riordan Manufacturing Inc. must be certain that the product is at a constant availability and in stock in order for the inventory rate to grow. Riordan Manufacturing Inc. should use perceptive capacity planning because this will help them advance in their competiveness while they are able to cover all their expenditures and finally start to make a profit with their financial statements With that said, the companies operation process in use is able to improve by increasing inventory and decreasing waste, also known as just in time inventory (JIT). These strategies play a big part and take place to make...
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...Kudler Fine Foods is a premiere gourmet grocery store that offers shoppers the finest baked goods, meats, cheese and dairy, produce items and an assortment of domestic and imported wines. Kudler Fine Foods offers all customers a wonderful shopping experience and the finest quality of foods and wines. Leaving room to expand its current services and opening new locations. The company’s growth span is leading to an increased customer base. Kudler Fine Foods is increasing and looking to drive revenue upward while leaving the current prices as set. Kudler Fine Foods is ready to develop changes to increase their revenue . I will discuss in this paper the important elements needed in Kudler Fine Foods goal towards advancement in marketing and the role of using the competitive intelligence tactics. This could include other ways to successfully achieve goals of growth. Marketing Research “Although marketing research isn’t perfect, it seeks to reduce risk and uncertainty to improve decisions made by marketing managers” (Armstrong, , 2011) . Marketing research can help develop new product ideas and offer a fine tuning in slimming down products and services. Businesses use market research t o help determine who will be interested in purchasing their products and services. Marketing research will reach out to a target group of people based on certain feelings, needs, income and age. Mrs. Kudler conducted surveys to reach out to customer and receive feedback in areas of potential improvements...
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...Competitive Algorithms for VWAP and Limit Order Trading Sham M. Kakade Michael Kearns Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania kakade@linc.cis.upenn.edu mkearns@cis.upenn.edu Yishay Mansour Luis E. Ortiz Computer Science Tel Aviv University Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania mansour@post.tau.ac.il leortiz@linc.cis.upenn.edu ABSTRACT We introduce new online models for two important aspects of modern financial markets: Volume Weighted Average Price trading and limit order books. We provide an extensive study of competitive algorithms in these models and relate them to earlier online algorithms for stock trading. Categories and Subject Descriptors F.2 [Analysis of Algorithms and Problem Complexity]: Miscellaneous; J.4 [Social and Behavioral Sciences]: Economics General Terms Algorithms, Economics Keywords Online Trading, Competitive Analysis, VWAP 1. INTRODUCTION While popular images of Wall Street often depict swashbuckling traders boldly making large gambles on just their market intuitions, the vast majority of trading is actually considerably more technical and constrained. The constraints often derive from a complex combination of business, regulatory and institutional issues, and result in certain kinds of “standard” trading strategies or criteria that invite algorithmic analysis. One of the most common...
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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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...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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...Term Paper Competitive Intelligence (CI) Answer any 6 of the following questions: 1. What Is CI? 2. Why is CI important? 3. Does CI really make a difference to the bottom line? 4. Is it true that CI is only important for big businesses? 5. How is CI different than business espionage? 6. What are the general uses of CI information? 7. Information has numerous sources, which have different degrees of reliability. Describe 5 such sources and rank them in terms of highest to lowest level of reliability for competitive intelligence. 8. For the table shown below, plot the SPACE Matrix of the firm, find the firm’s strategic posture, and determine what strategy the firm ought to pursue. Competitive Strategic Position (CA) | Industry Strategic Position (IS) | Financial Strategic Position (FS) | Environmental Strategic Position (ES) | -2 Product Quality | +3 Barriers to Entry | +4 ROA | -6 Inflation | -3 Market Share | +2 Growth Potential | +3 Leverage | -4 Technology | -1 Brand & Image | +2 Access to Finance | +6 Liquidity | -2 Demand Elasticity | -4 Product Life Cycle | +6 Consolidation | +5 Cash Flow | -3 Taxation | 9. Competitors can foil your CI program. Describe 3 potential sources of intelligence attack against your company. 10. Case study question: Describe a situation in your company in which if CI was used, it could have resulted in a better decision than the one taken. Deadline: Friday, March...
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...A 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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...In a market where that are so many different competitors, Coca- Cola continue to dominate the industry with their innovative products and strategies. However, that could change in the blink of an eye. There are many issues and situations that could affect their competitive edge and their profitability, one being that in reality they are in a Monopolistic competition with other competitors. Monopolistic competition can be defined as a market structure where there are many that sell distinguished products that set them apart from the rest and has limited barriers to enter the industry. According to Colander (2013), “Because there are numerous sellers it gives monopolistic competition its competitive edge. However, product differentiation gives it its monopolistic aspect. In this viable market, the merchandise that are sold aren’t standardized, as in perfect competition; they are slightly different. Irish Spring soap is different from Ivory, which in turn is different from Yardley’s Old English.” The same knowledge can be applied for the soft drink industry. Coca Cola is different from Pepsi, as it is also different from 7up & etc. Coca Cola has one of the largest corporations globally and through each of their global divisions, their goal remains to maximize their growth and increase profitability for their investors. Marketing, advertising, pricing, technology, and valuing their consumers need are all key essentials that will aid Coca Cola in this industry. Although there...
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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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...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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... Since the growth of information technology there has been a change in the banking industry from branch banks and paper to net working and digitized banking services. The ways of communicating information and knowledge through computers has truly changed the way we think, work and live. A good example is through Information Systems, which can be defined as any method of communication knowledge from one person to another and/or from one source to another. It works by providing the best possible information to its users while also taking into account that different users with their own specific tasks may need their information presented in different ways. Improving the ways users retrieve, identify and respond to information. In contrast to a data system, that simply provides raw data to the user. Competitive advantage in the digital economy is even more important now than ever before, as for some businesses the impact of the digital economy is groundbreaking. The fast changing technologies, markets and the appearance of new business models have introduced major changes in industry structure shifting the nature of competition while keeping the core business but not the core business of most firms , not changing the, instead information systems simply offer tools that can increase the company’s success through the traditional sources of competitive advantages - be it reduced expenses, enhanced customer service, or superior management skills. This report studies...
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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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...many transactions are made like the entrance examination. Education institutes admit students on the basis of their abilities such as understanding of concepts, sharpness of mind and knowledge. These common exams are especially designed to test special characteristic of students and are often called Entrance Exams. Through entrance examination, institutes are able to choose best students. Rationale: Our group will focus on the entrance examination that will help minimize the work of the examiners and upgrade the system of manual entrance examination to a new computerized entrance examination. With the use of this innovative program the school will become more competitive for the future years. Problem statement: Most schools with entrance examinations are use papers, answer keys, and questionnaires. The results are checked manually by the person who takes charge of that based on the answer key provided by the school. PROJECT DESCRIPTION Goals and Objectives * To make the examination process in the school reliable, and as possible error free. * We can easily manage large number of student and manage all details for student. * Reduce the time used in the process of the examination. * To secure the storage of records gained from the examination. * Real time report generation gives quick results to given exams. Scope and Limitation of the Case Study * The system can create, edit, and delete the user and exams...
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