...replace under the edit tab. However, as the only operator of 58.com Inc. in the United States, Universal Prospect Corporation would not be satisfied with this status quo. To increase the company's market share and profitability, it would be essential to set up a central database that consists of all the contracted and prospective clients' information, and one that also performs data mining to find more potential clients. Even a workplace newbie like me could see that a central database and appropriate analysis tool would be essential for the company's future development. It is not hard to imagine how urgent the demands of business analytical professionals...
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...Best of HBR DAVID J. COLLIS AND CYNTHIA A. MONTGOMERY Competing on Resources AS RECENTLY AS rate level. In the 1980s, it turned out that corporations were 10 years ago, we thought we knew most of often destroying value by owning the very divisions that had what we needed to know about strategy. Portfolio planning, seemed to fit so nicely in their growth/share matrices. Threatthe experience curve, PIMS, Michael E. Porter’s five forces – ened by smaller, less hierarchical competitors, many corporate tools like these brought rigor and legitimacy to strategy at stalwarts either suffered devastating setbacks (IBM, Digital, both the business unit and the corporate level. Leading comGeneral Motors, and Westinghouse) or underwent dramatic panies, such as General Electric, built large staffs that reflected transformation programs and internal reorganizations (GE growing confidence in the value of strategic planning. Stratand ABB). By the late 1980s, large multibusiegy consulting boutiques expanded rapidly ness corporations were struggling to justify and achieved widespread recognition. How EDITOR’S NOTE: This influential their existence. different the landscape looks today. The 1995 article (originally published Not surprisingly, waves of new approaches armies of planners have all but disappeared, as “Competing on Resources: to strategy were proposed to address these swept away by the turbulence of the past deStrategy in the 1990s”) intromultiple assaults on the premises of strategic...
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...Efficiency Student Name University Any Town, Virginia September 2010 Certification and Approval A Directed Research Project on Information System Strategic Planning the Cost of Efficiency: Is there a preferred approach to information systems planning, submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Strayer University in candidacy for the degree of Master’s of Science in Information Systems. Submitted by: _________________________Date: _______________ Approved by: ___________________________ Date: _______________ ABSTRACT Information systems’ planning is often costly to implement and maintain; however, sound planning practices may reduce expenses associated with the development processes. A Formal methodical approach to systems analysis, requirements engineering, systems design, development, and construction may offer a reduction in development and certain aspects of life cycle support expenses. Corporate expenses may reach approximately 5% of their gross income on information systems development and support. This equates to approximately $15,000,000 to $35,000,000 annually (Whitemarsh Information Systems Corp. 2008, p.). Information systems may cost significantly less. In comparison, information systems, contingent upon other factors such as size of the company, and complexity of the information system cost may range anywhere from $2,000,000 to $10,000,000 per system. Corporate leadership clearly has a strong influence upon information system expenditures and may have...
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...KATZ GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Syllabus STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT (BSPP 2409) Instructor: Dr. John C. Camillus Donald R. Beall Professor of Strategic Management 338 Mervis Hall Phone: 412/648-1599 Fax: 412/383-7226 E-mail: camillus@katz.pitt.edu Administrative Assistant: Ms. Janice M. Trygar 341 Mervis Hall Phone: 412/648-1529 Fax: 412/648-1693 E-mail: jmtrygar@katz.pitt.edu Office Hours: 1) Mondays 11:00 am to 12:00 noon 2) Wednesdays 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm 3) By appointment. Course Description: “Strategy,” in the context of management, focuses on creating a harmonious relationship between organizations and their environments. Successful strategy matches an organization’s resources and capabilities with the opportunities that arise in its external environment and, in so doing, creates value for customers, shareholders and other stakeholders, as well as an advantage over the competition. This Strategic Management course offers a set of perspectives, concepts and tools for analyzing and understanding the general management task of formulating and implementing competitive strategies. Frameworks – derived primarily from industrial organization economics and the behavioral sciences – that relate to strategy formulation, the design of management systems, and motivating performance will provide the bases for analyzing and responding to organizational, industry, national and international contexts. The primary...
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...and iacere, "to throw". The word "project" thus actually originally meant "something that comes before anything else happens". When the English language initially adopted the word, it referred to a plan of something, not to the act of actually carrying this plan out. Something performed in accordance with a project became known as an "object". Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. A project is a finite endeavor (having specific start and completion dates) undertaken to create a unique product or service which brings about beneficial change or added value. This finite characteristic of projects stands in sharp contrast to processes, or operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent functional work to repetitively produce the same product or service. In practice, the management of these two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate management philosophy. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honoring the project constraints. Typical constraints are scope, time and budget. The secondary—and more ambitious—challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. A project is a carefully defined set of activities that use resources...
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...ABSTRACT The ethics triangle: national law, culture and political economic system. Key factors of current ethics issues in an international environment. The most visible changes in environment dimensions. Principles of international business ethics. Current ethics challenges in international environment. Common issues of the international business ethics. Comparison of ethical standards in different cultures. Accelerating development of globalization and assimilation between Europe and the USA. Differences between Europe, the United States and Asia in the business ethics perspective. Development processes of global business ethics. Levels of global business ethic level. Principle of normative guidelines for business conduct of multinational corporations. Current functioning of institution engaged in the international business ethics. Key words: The ethics triangle; Current ethics issues; International business ethics; Ethical standards; Global business ethics; Institution engaged in the International Business Ethics. JEL classification: K2, M1 Introduction The present economic situation in the globalized world generates very efficient processes in international companies with large profits for managers but with a relevant risk in economic and noneconomic ambit to eliminate any negative impacts of the crisis from one country to another. In this case, it is necessary to enact and apply ethics principles in international companies into their day-to- day praxis and above all influence...
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...and to propose some good practice in this case. 2. Theoretical framework Culture A lot has changed in world of management since 80s and many leaders tend to ask a question whether corporate culture is still important. However high interest in that area seems to be a sufficient prove that it still is. According to a recent survey by management consultancy Bain & Company, 9 of 10 senior executives believe that corporate culture is as important as strategy for business - - - - - Electronic PDF security powered by www.IndexCopernicus.com 114 Adrian Pyszka, Michał Piłat success1. Corporate culture is described as general constellation of beliefs, mores, customs, value systems and behaviors that are unique for each corporation (Tunstall, 1983). By Schein (199) organization culture is the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and integral integration. Bratnicki, Stachowicz and Kryś (1988) have also connected culture with integration throughout shared symbols, rituals,...
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...Contents Introduction 4 Company’s profile 5 MISSION 5 VISION 5 VALUES 5 SWOT ANALYSIS FOR SONY CORPORATION 6 INTERNAL FACTORS 6 Strength 6 WEAKNESS 7 EXTERNAL FACTORS 8 Opportunities 8 THREATS 9 PEST ANALYSIS FOR SONY CORPORATION 9 Political Factors 9 ECONOMICAL FACTORS 10 SOCIAL FACTORS 10 TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS 11 GAP ANALYSIS 11 Porter’s five forces model of competition analysis 12 Threat of New Entrants (low) 12 Bargaining power of suppliers (low) 12 Bargaining power of Buyers –High 13 Threat of substitutes –High 13 Threat of competitors –High 13 Conclusion and recommendation 14 References 15 Introduction Sony is a global manufacturer of audio, video, communications and information technology’s consumer and professional markets. According with Rebort S.Kaplan and David P.Norton (2007), to measure strategic readiness, identify the intangible assets you needs to perform the internal process most critical to your strategy. Then assess your current capabilities in all these areas, identifying changes needed to improve alignment. Thus, applying the above mentioned approach the Sony Company is uniquely positioned to be one of the leading digital entertainment brands, offering an outstanding portfolio of existing multimedia contents. This approach is known Balanced Score card. Balanced Scored Card doesn’t treat strategy from only a financial perspective; it augments financial measures with objectives and metrics in three additional ’’perspectives’’-Customer relationship...
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...The Marketing Review, 2003, 3, 289-309 www.themarketingreview.com Demetris Vrontis1 and Iain Sharp2 Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and Legal and General The Strategic Positioning of Coca-Cola in their Global Marketing Operation Examines how Coca-Cola has strategically positioned it self within the world’s soft drinks market. Given that they operate in over 200 countries, they are faced with a clear choice of whether to standardise their product offerings globally and reap the potential benefits of economies of scale, adapt their offerings to a particular market (which may facilitate increased market specific penetration), or adopt an integrated approach utilising both approaches simultaneously (Vrontis’ AdaptStand approach). There has been much literature written regarding the external and often uncontrollable factors which may impact upon a firms positioning strategy; this paper looks at these externalities and the internal controllables in order to derive a ‘best fit’ strategic and tactical approach. Moreover, this paper looks at the strategic international positioning of Coca-Cola by utilising a number of models. Keywords: Coca-Cola, global, international, strategy, positioning, adaptation, standardisation, AdaptStand, AdaptStandation, international, marketing, Introduction If we consider business to be akin to war, then perhaps there is no better starting point than the writings of Sun Tzu [circa 400-320 B.C.]. ‘The Art of ...
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.................................................................................................5 2. External Analysis ...................................................................................................5 2.1 Wider Macro-Environmental Analysis ............................................................5 2.2 Industry analysis .............................................................................................7 2.3 Industry Life cycle ..........................................................................................9 2.4 Competitor Analysis ..................................................................................... 10 2.5 Industry‟s Critical Success Factors ................................................................ 10 2.6 Opportunities & Threats................................................................................ 11 3. Internal Analysis .................................................................................................. 11 3.1 Starbucks‟s Strengths & Weaknesses ............................................................ 11 3.2 Evaluation of Starbucks‟ Main Capabilities .................................................. 12 3.3 Value Chain Analysis ................................................................................... 13 3.4 Starbucks‟ Main Internal Capabilities against industry‟s Critical Success Factors ..............................................................................................
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...Bank of Oklahoma: A Critical Review Management of Financial Institutions June 12, 2010 Bank of Oklahoma Bank of Oklahoma is one bank owned by Bank of Oklahoma Financial Corporation. Other Banks owned by BOKF include the Bank of Texas, Bank of Albuquerque, Bank of Arkansas, Bank of Arizona, Colorado State Bank and the Bank of Kansas. BOKF is a publicly traded commercial bank traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange and earns over $23 Billion every year. BOKF also owns a broker/dealer subsidiary which provides services in 10 states. According to the last 5 years financials from BOKF, the company has grown steadily. There was a drop in net income in 2008 but that should be expected with the economic conditions of the time. In just one year BOKF managed to increase their net income back to pre-2008 levels, up from $153K in 20008 to over $200K in 2009. Earnings per share also increased from 2005 through 2007 with a drop in 2008. The economic conditions in 2008 can make it difficult to rely on financial ratios and analysis from the time period before and after but further review will show that although the bank suffered a bad year, they still experienced a large profit during a year when many larger banks would have failed without government assistance. By examining common financial ratios for BOKF both by themselves and against Bank of America, the investor can see the stability of BOKF. The first ratio, Return on Equity, measures the overall profitability of the bank per...
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...THE ENDLESS CRISIS REPORT Introduction The Endless Crisis was written by John Bellamy Foster, the editor of Monthly Review and professor of sociology at the University of Oregon collaborating with Robert W. McChesney. The article came originally from the introduction of the book called The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the United States to China. The Great Financial Crisis and the Great Recession began in the United States in 2007 and quickly spread across the globe, which appear to be the turning point of the world history. The recovery plan was set to two year, however the world economy five years after crisis is still in the sluggishness. The Traid – United States, Europe, and Japan remain caught in a slow growth condition, financial instability, and high unemployment rate. As a consequence, the effects spread globally. Despite the slowdown of the global economy, China is the only country found out to be a bright spot as its economy is still expanding. Different views on the Stagnation In the United States, the focus of financial crisis shifted to the idea of economic stagnation. The idea of stagnation was introduced by authorities and published books as follow. Firstly, Ben Bernanke, chairman of Federal Reserve Board said on his speech in 2011 that the stagnation was not affects only the United States, but the global economy as a whole. He moreover stressed that he do not expect the long-run potential growth...
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...WINNING BUSINESSES IN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS A formal new product process isn’t enough—you need a high-quality process, a clear and visible strategy, enough people and money, and a respectable R&D budget. How does your program rate on these 10 metrics? Robert G. Cooper and Elko J. Kleinschmidt OVERVIEW: 2007 is Research-Technology Management’s 50th year of publication. To mark the occasion, each issue reprints one of RTM’s six most frequently referenced articles. The articles were identified by N. Thongpapanl and Jonathan D. Linton in their 2004 study of technology innovation management journals, a citation-based study in which RTM ranked third out of 25 specialty journals in that field (see RTM, May–June 2004, pp. 5–6). The benchmarking study reprinted here was originally published in 1996 and has been updated with its author’s reflections. Their study of 161 business units uncovered the key drivers of new product performance at the business unit level. Ten different performance measures were gauged, including percentage of sales by new products, profitability and success rate. The ten gauges were reduced to two key performance dimensions—profitability and impact—which defined the “performance map.” Nine possible drivers— including strategy, process, organizational design, and climate for innovation—were investigated, and four key drivers of performance were identified; namely, a highquality new product process, the new product strategy for the...
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...Contents Page Purpose 4 1. External Analysis 5 2.1 Industry Life Cycle............................................................5 2.2 Market Analysis....................................................................6 2.3 PESTEL.................................................................................7 2.4 Porters 5 Force ....................................................................8 2. Internal Analysis 9 2.1 Microsoft Competency Framework....................................9 2.2 Microsoft VRIN Framework.................................................10 2.3 Microsoft Strengths and Weaknesses ..............................10 2.4 Nokia Competency Framework...........................................11 2.5 Nokia VRIN Framework........................................................12 2.6 Nokia Strengths and Weaknesses......................................12 3. Issues and Challenges ...
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...Drawing on academic debates introduced in weeks 1-3, and relevant empirical examples, critically reflect on the above statement, exploring the juxtaposition between classical and critical perspectives on organisation. The organisational regulation of identity, we argue, is a precarious and often contested process involving active identity work, as is evident in efforts to introduce new discursive practices of ‘team-work’, ‘partnership’, etc. Organisational members are not reducible to passive consumers of managerially designed and designated identities. Nor do we assume or claim that the organisation is necessarily the most influential institution in identity-defining and managing processes. Nonetheless, we concur with a number of other commentators who argue that identity regulation is a significant, neglected and increasingly important modality of organisational control, especially perhaps in larger corporations. It is assumed that control is achieved by designing and applying appropriate structures, procedures, measures and targets; and, relatedly, that resistance to these mechanisms is symptomatic of ‘poor design’ or ‘poor management’ that can be rectified by restructuring and/or training or staff replacement. Those working in interpretive and critical traditions of organizational analysis, in contrast, have paid attention to the negotiated and problematical status of allegedly shared meanings, values, beliefs, ideas and symbols as targets of, as well as productive elements...
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