...POLYTECHNIC OF NAMIBIA HAROLD PUPKEWITZ GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc Case Report By Leonardo Imerne Strategic Human Resources Management (SHM910M) Date: 21 June 2014 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report will focus on the performance management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc, which is a cosmetics and beauty products oriented business. The business started off well with a fast expansion approach. As the company grows, performance management of its staff was necessary to reward top performers as a motivation factor, and also to identify poor performers so they could be trained further or relieved from their positions. The report will therefore highlight the problems associated with performance management and rewards appraisals at Vitality Health Enterprises Inc, such as failure to reward top performers accordingly, identify worst performers, and recommends solutions thereof. STATEMENT OF KEY PROBLEMS OR ISSUES Vitality Health Enterprises Inc was founded in 1987 in Ames, Iowa by an Fred Kikuchi who identified a market niche of health, wellness and beauty products in the Ames where he resided after he left Japan. The company at the beginning of its operations relied on importing re-branded beauty products from Japan until it established its manufacturing plant in the United States of America. As planned, the company grew rapidly and later acquired Herba Nutraceuticals to increase its market share and profitability...
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...Harvard Business Review Case study Analysis BY John Raphael Marty Vitality Health A better Corporate Performance Management System to Retain Top Talent Vitality Health Vitality Health Introduction Issues Beth Williams stepped in to fill the shoes of Fred Kikuchi in 2009 as the new CEO. Her primary stated purpose was to “find a better way to identify and reward top performers in order to keep ‘A’ players in their positions and accelerate company growth by attracting new top talent.” To do this, Beth created a new performance management team (PMET) to study the existing rewards & compensation, and uncover changes that needed to be made. With over 50% of the staff in Des Moines consisting of scientists and engineers, and a total R&D budget nearing 30% of total gross revenue in 2009; Vitality’s growth depended heavily on continued human resources for R&D, especially due to Vitality’s focus on emerging markets and the volatility that comes along with such growth. Beth’s prompt delivery of a new performance management system only eight weeks after discovering problems likely delighted Vitality’s board as well as some staff, but her no-nonsense approach must have also been a shock internally as she was “a notable contrast from Kikuchi’s more conciliatory management style.” The email sent to management to simply review the online guidebook of the new performance management system hardly created “buy-in” within the organization, that was...
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...Harvard Business Review Case study Analysis BY John Raphael Marty Vitality Health A better Corporate Performance Management System to Retain Top Talent Vitality Health Vitality Health Introduction Issues Beth Williams stepped in to fill the shoes of Fred Kikuchi in 2009 as the new CEO. Her primary stated purpose was to “find a better way to identify and reward top performers in order to keep ‘A’ players in their positions and accelerate company growth by attracting new top talent.” To do this, Beth created a new performance management team (PMET) to study the existing rewards & compensation, and uncover changes that needed to be made. With over 50% of the staff in Des Moines consisting of scientists and engineers, and a total R&D budget nearing 30% of total gross revenue in 2009; Vitality’s growth depended heavily on continued human resources for R&D, especially due to Vitality’s focus on emerging markets and the volatility that comes along with such growth. Beth’s prompt delivery of a new performance management system only eight weeks after discovering problems likely delighted Vitality’s board as well as some staff, but her no-nonsense approach must have also been a shock internally as she was “a notable contrast from Kikuchi’s more conciliatory management style.” The email sent to management to simply review the online guidebook of the new performance management system hardly created “buy-in” within the organization, that was...
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...State versus Private Ownership Andrei Shleifer Department of Economics Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abstract Private ownership should generally be preferred to public ownership when the incentives to innovate and to contain costs must be strong. In essence, this is the case for capitalism over socialism, explaining the "dynamic vitality" of free enterprise. The great economists of the 1930s and 1940s failed to see the dangers of socialism in part because they focused on the role of prices under socialism and capitalism, and ignored the enormous importance of ownership as the source of capitalist incentives to innovate. Moreover, many of the concerns that private firms fail to address “social goals” can be addressed through government contracting and regulation, without resort to government ownership. The case for private provision only becomes stronger when competition between suppliers, reputational mechanisms, the possibility of provision by private not-for-profit firms, as well as political patronage and corruption, are brought into play. 1 What kinds of goods and services should be provided by government employees as opposed to private firms? Should government workers make steel and cars in government-owned factories? Should teachers and doctors be publicly employed or should they work for private schools and practices? Should garbage be picked up by civil servants or employees of private garbage haulers? Should the whole economy be "socialized"? Although...
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...1. Type of business, which form do you recommend and why? The most recommended and simplest form of business is a sole proprietorship. An individual proprietor owns and manages the business and is responsible for all transactions. The owner is also responsible for all debts and liabilities. A sole proprietor can own the business for any duration of time and sell it when he or she sees fit. As owner, a sole proprietor can even pass a business to heirs. In this type of business, there are no specific business taxes paid by the company. The owner pays taxes on income from the business as part of personal income tax payments. Sole proprietors need to comply with licensing requirements in the states in which they're doing business, as well as local regulations and zoning ordinances. The paperwork and formalities, however, are substantially less than those of corporations, allowing sole proprietors to open a business quickly and with relative ease from a bureaucratic standpoint. It can also be less costly to start a business as a sole proprietor, which is attractive to many new business owners who often find it difficult to attract investors. Advantages of a Sole Proprietorship • Sale or transfer can take place at the discretion of the sole proprietor. • No corporate tax payments. • Minimal legal costs to forming a sole proprietorship. • Few formal business requirements. • Easy and inexpensive to form: A sole proprietorship is the simplest and least expensive business structure...
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...1. Introduction A paradigm shift currently indicates the global challenges that industries are facing and more companies are pressured to embrace sustainability as business conditions change. However, only recently corporations started integrating sustainability as the part of their business strategy as they came to recognize that it is an essential part in growing and establishing themselves as the leader in the competing environment. A well-executed sustainability strategy can enhance the company’s value and reinforce competitive advantage in the market while protecting the capital base. The balance of power has shifted between corporations and it is important to balance economic prosperity along with environmental and social dimensions. Sustainable business strategy represents a marked shift in traditional business practices and companies who do not adapt to the changes in these practices in order to achieve sustainable profitability will be more likely to face the brand value decline or even extinction in the future. For instance, the change represents the need to understand how all three dimensions affect each other and companies ought to consciously create new consumer preferences. However, a lot of companies still are missing guidelines to implementing a marketing strategy of sustainability as an essential part, which is at the core of ensuring organizational, social, economic and environment growth while managing overconsumption issues (White, 2011). Current researches...
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...enough impact to the field to fill the gap in the canon of mathematics and history? My intention with this paper is to offer the reader the opportunity to consider the field of mathematics in which five individuals have made and are making contributions, while at the same time suggesting that their path to their achievements were unusual. The first section of this paper is a summary of these five. The second section is concise and provides an overview of how many math Ph.D.s, were awarded to African Americans during that same period. The next two sections examine the contributions and mathematical achievements in general and the barriers and psychology that perhaps has created a dismal increase in underrepresented populations entering the field. The final section highlights the importance and implication of stagnate educational pipelines. In addition, I would like to stretch the mind to consider educational practices, as we know them now and to urge the reader to, bear in mind that in the 21st century, we need the talents, contributions and resources of all citizens in United States. A Summary of Five Ph.D.s in Math from 1925 to 2000 While there are numerous achievements by minorities the individuals researched are: 1. Elbert F. Cox was the first African-American awarded a Ph.D. in mathematics from Cornell University in 1925. The topic of Cox's dissertation concerned polynomial solutions of difference equations. 2. Euphemia Lofton Haynes was the first African-American...
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... NIT Kurukshetra 136119, Haryana E-mail: aakriti21@gmail.com Author 3: Vaishali arora Affiliation: Student of Department of Business Management NIT Kurukshetra 136119, Haryana E-mail: vaishaliarora1@gmail.com *Author to contact in case of any query. Social entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is a topic of interest to academics, business people, and governments around the world. The dynamism and vitality of entrepreneurship research is reflected in the flow of new ideas and themes in the entrepreneurship literature. For many, mainstream entrepreneurship is inextricably bound with the creation of new technology firms, however, this is only part of a wide and varied terrain. The focus of this paper is social entrepreneurship - those activities associated with the perception of opportunities to create social value and the creation of social purpose organisations to pursue them. Social enterprises adopt financially sustainable strategies to pursue social aims, and address a wide range of social problems, such as unemployment, inequalities in access to health and social care services, low quality housing, high incidences of crime, deprivation and social exclusion. This paper categorises the...
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...industry in Bangladesh: A case study of Shell By Delwar 2014 Dissertation submitted to Anglia Ruskin University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters Programme Abstract The research issue is that multinational organisations in the petroleum industry such as Shell and British Petroleum are being pressurised by their stakeholders to take responsibility for their business activities. In view of stakeholder pressure, companies have developed and implemented CSR policies and practices. However, the effectiveness of these CSR policies and practices is questionable as the effects of companies activities have negatively impacted the lives of their stakeholders and continue to do so (Amao, 2013). There is extensive research being carried out on understanding the effectiveness of multinationals CSR practices as there exists a wide gap between what companies are saying and what they are actually doing. Practising CSR makes companies responsible for looking after the needs of their stakeholders, makes companies take steps to protect the environment, improve people's livelihoods, motivates employees and increases organisations' effectiveness and efficiency. Multinational state they are practising CSR. Yet their activities have caused much harm to stakeholders. Shell's activities in Nigeria have caused severe health risk to families’ drinking water containing high levels of carcinogens (BBC, 2011). This study is important as it is seeking...
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...2007 Deloitte Tax Case Study Competition Regional Case Study This is the story of the Vitalité health and fitness phenomenon created by three American heroes. You’ve worked out in their gyms, bought their nutrition books, and devoured their frozen entrees – and you’ve seen them a hundred times on The Ophira Show! You even spent months wearing their “Cal Pal” to find out how many calories you burned. Here’s the story of how they rocketed to the top and the fallout of their success. Macy. When she was in her mid-20s, Macy Vitale was the picture of confidence and, in keeping with her name, Vitality, with a capital V! She graduated from college with a degree in journalism, and, by the time she was 32, her gorgeous face, perky attitude, and deep understanding of current affairs landed her the position of anchor for the Channel 8 evening news. Macy never took anything too seriously. She was such a natural on camera that it couldn’t count as “work.” Her carefree attitude ended one morning when she overheard the director tell the camera man to shoot Macy only when she was seated behind the desk. He whispered, “She’s starting to look a bit wide in the hips.” As soon as they were off the air Macy, picked up the phone and called Mark Newcomb from “Mad Mark’s Gym.” Mark. Mark isn’t your typical trainer. He is serious! He served in the Special Forces in Kuwait in the early 90s, has Masters Degrees in Health Sciences and Nutrition, and a Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Physiology. He has spent the...
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...LIFECYCLE OF CORPORATE IDENTITIES Executive Summary The research attempts to explore the need for a change in corporate identity by organizations and to figure-out a pattern, if any, associated with such a change across organizations. As the introduction to the paper we have defined ‘Corporate Identity’, its purpose and elements. In this paper we have limited our case studies to corporate identities that have reflected some kind of a visual change apart from changes in any other element. We have analyzed ten inflexion points ranging from mergers and acquisitions to business re-orientation to changes in organizational culture and how these factors necessitate changes in corporate identity. Based on this we have proposed a model which showcases the growing impact of these factors over time and how the occurrence of World events has intensified the ‘change factors’ which in turn are putting all the more pressure on corporations globally to reconsider their identity. The intensity of these factors would vary from industry to industry, with each industry having a different lifecycle. The model brings out the paradox of shortened lifecycle of corporate identities which itself poses an extraordinary challenge to companies for effectively elongating and managing their identities. Changing ones corporate identity is not only an expensive affair but can also create dissonance in the minds of the stakeholders, if not managed and communicated properly. In order to succeed companies will...
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...to customers voting with their feet and embracing the very fact that we offer something different. Despite ALDI’s successful establishment in Australia over the last 13 years, the fact is that our expansion has been considerably slower than planned due to regulatory constraints. These take the form of rigid and overly-prescriptive land use planning and zoning rules at state and local government levels that have resulted in a chronic shortage of suitably zoned land for small format supermarkets in many built-up areas. The direct consequence of this significant barrier to expansion is that fewer Australians are able to benefit from the competition, lower prices and innovation that ALDI offers. ALDI has been consistently making the case to Federal, State and Local Government in support of land use planning and zoning reform for over a decade. For this reason, we welcome the focus of the Review on identifying and removing unwarranted regulatory impediments to competition, including those relating to the grocery retailing sector. 2. About ALDI...
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...to customers voting with their feet and embracing the very fact that we offer something different. Despite ALDI’s successful establishment in Australia over the last 13 years, the fact is that our expansion has been considerably slower than planned due to regulatory constraints. These take the form of rigid and overly-prescriptive land use planning and zoning rules at state and local government levels that have resulted in a chronic shortage of suitably zoned land for small format supermarkets in many built-up areas. The direct consequence of this significant barrier to expansion is that fewer Australians are able to benefit from the competition, lower prices and innovation that ALDI offers. ALDI has been consistently making the case to Federal, State and Local Government in support of land use planning and zoning reform for over a decade. For this reason, we welcome the focus of the Review on identifying and removing unwarranted regulatory impediments to competition, including those relating to the grocery retailing sector. 2. About ALDI...
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...A PROJECT REPORT ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUBMITTED BY APOORV CHITNIS FOR THE DEGREE OF THE BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. BHUMIKA MORE SIES COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND COMMERCE, NERUL, NAVI MUMBAI-400706 ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-2012 DECLARATION I, APOORV CHITNIS, studying in T.Y.B.M.S, of S.I.E.S COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND COMMERCE, NERUL hereby declare that I have completed the project on SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP in the year 2011 – 2012 as per the requirements of Mumbai University as a part of Bachelor in Management Studies (B.M.S) programme. DATE: PLACE: NAVI MUMBAI __________________ APOORV CHITNIS CERTIFICATE I, BHUMIKA MORE hereby certify that APOORV CHITNIS student OF S.I.E.S COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND COMMERCE, NERUL has completed his field work project on the topic of “SOCIAL ENTREPRENUERSHIP” in the Academic Year 2011-12. The project is based on bonafide information. _________________ _______________ ______________ Prof. Bhumika More Prof. Smita. R Dr. Rita Basu (Project Guide) (BMS Coordinator) (Principal) ________________ External Examiner ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My thanks to my project guide, Prof. Bhumika More for assisting me in every way possible and gently steering...
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...Brics summit “The aim of brics is to convert their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout” BRICS is the title of an association of leading emerging economies, arising out of the inclusion of South Africa into the BRIC group in 2010. As of 2012, the group's five members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. With the possible exception of Russia, the BRICS members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, but they are distinguished by their large, fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional and global affairs. As of 2012, the five BRICS countries represent almost 3 billion people, with a combined nominal GDP of US$13.7 trillion, and an estimated US$4 trillion in combined foreign reserves Presently, India holds the chair of the BRICS group. Due to steady growth in BRICS nations in the recent past their share in global output has grown from 11% in 2005 to 18% in 2010. President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao has described the BRICS countries as defenders and promoters of developing countries and a force for world peace. The BRIC grouping's first formal summit commenced in Yekaterinburg on June 16, 2009, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,Dmitry Medvedev, Manmohan Singh, and Hu Jintao, the respective leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, all attending. In 2010, South Africa began efforts to join the BRIC grouping, and the process for its formal admission began in August of...
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