...The Long Conversation: LEARNING HOW TO MASTER ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS Oswaldo Lorenzo Peter Kawalek Boumediene Ramdani cquiring large-scale Enterprise Systems (ESs) such as SAP or Oracle is typically a huge investment for any firm. The cost of an ES with sophisticated multi-modules can run into the millions of dollars. A study of total costs of ES ownership by the Aberdeen Group reveals that companies with turnovers between $1–$5 billion pay an average of $5,920,785, and companies with turnovers between $50 and 100 million pay an average of $1,081,869 for a complete ES package, which includes the configuration and implementation of software, after-sales service, and maintenance.1 ESs promise much, but are expensive, complex, and threaten the status quo of relationships in an organization. Hence implementation is frequently fraught with difficulties. Change management costs can mount as old systems are discarded or modified, staff is trained, old processes are set aside and new procedures adopted. Subsequently, organizations seek a rapid return on their investment by designing project plans that minimize risk. In the early years, few ES implementations lived up to their expectations and today many organizations continue to struggle to achieve the results expected and desired from ESs. How can companies reach a point where their expectations are met or exceeded? Far from offering a quick fix, or providing a fast track to an order of magnitude improvement, ESs are better understood...
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...Ingvar applied the lessons learned from his village to the home furnishing market. Nowadays, IKEA’s vision is “to create a better everyday life for the many people by offering a wide-range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at low prices so as many people as possible will be able to afford them”. IKEA had a turnover of 26 billion Euros in 2011 and is present in 35 countries with more than 300 stores. PROBLEM DEFINITION IKEA had faced only successes when expanded from Swedish market in other European countries. The first attempt was in 1973 in Switzerland, followed by Germany in 1974. Since then it expanded across much of Europe with very good results. The issue raised in this case is how a giant like IKEA with a success story all over Europe tries to enter vast markets like the one in USA. So, the problem is how to sustain the corporate culture and brand identity together with the existing cost structure when entering new big markets with the attitude of “feet first”. At the same time, make the next leap in creating customer value and create relationships between the corporate global brand and the local market level activities that is essential for a market driven approach. As a consequence, when IKEA expanded in USA the following symptoms emerged: - Store layout and number of cashiers led to long queues - Supply chain model...
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...Implementation and Standardization Strategies Success in today’s business world implies that all aspects of planning be utilized to the fullest. This includes the analysis segmentation and targeting of a potential market to facilitate sales whether retail, local, or global. When these protocol are combined this results in implementation and standardization strategies. Current research also show that, “targeting implementation also implies developing media and message strategies to reach each selected segment”(Johansson, 2009). Team A will construct a document that reviews the implementation strategy for their products which includes the protocol to be used in the global standardization of the merchandise. Factors influencing local and foreign buyer behavior There are many factors that could influence the local and foreign buyer behavior but in this paper, we will focus on four major aspects of influencing. The four key components that we will elaborate on are Cultural, Social, Personal, and Psychological factors. These four key components can be interchanged on the local and foreign buyers market. Understand these particular factors will not only be a good basis for a successful product launch but it can also help bridge the gap within global affairs and communication. Cultural factors involve many situations depending on the country of orgin, or if there is a specific need for the product within that country. According to Perrau, Culture is essential when it comes...
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...Ghemawat’s “AAA” Global Strategy Framework Ghemawat so-called AAA framework offers three generic approaches to global value creation. Adaptation strategies strategies that seek to increase revenues and market share by tailoring one or more components of a firm’s business model to suit local requirements or preferences. Aggregation strategies focus on achieving economies of scale or scope by creating regional or global efficiencies; they typically involve standardizing a significant portion of the value proposition and grouping together development and production processes. Arbitrage is about exploiting economic or other differences between national or regional markets, usually by locating separate parts of the supply chain in different places. Adaptation Adaptation—creating global value by changing one or more elements of a company’s offer to meet local requirements or preferences—is probably the most widely used global strategy. The reason for this will be readily apparent: some degree of adaptation is essential or unavoidable for virtually all products in all parts of the world. The taste of Coca-Cola in Europe is different from that in the United States, reflecting differences in water quality and the kind and amount of sugar added. The packaging of construction adhesive in the United States informs customers how many square feet it will cover; the same package in Europe must do so in square meters. Even commodities such as cement are not immune: its pricing in different...
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...The Not-So-Wonderful World of EuroDisney: a cultural lesson by Emilio González Introduction This paper introduces some thoughts about the Disney strategy choosing the place for its European park and about the beginnings of its operations; in some way related to cultural factors. It constitutes a personal answer to a case study placed in the book "International Marketing" 13/e by Philip C. Cateora and John Graham, McGraw-Hill 2007. Factors that contributed to Euro Disney's poor performance during its first year of operation. There are several different in nature factors that joined together and contributed to a disastrous beginning of operations. Most of them were management mistakes and others, although external factors, if considered, could have result in different management decisions leading to a better start. In my view these are the most important ones: The timing. EuroDisney opened in 1992, just when two other international events had place: the Olympics games in Barcelona and the World's Fair in Seville; both in Europe and relatively close to Paris. It's obvious that been unrepeatable events, available only for a certain limited amount of time they were a strong competition. A huge amount of people choose attend to these events instead visiting EuroDisney. Suffice it to say that more than 40 million people visited the Seville Expo during the 6 months it was open (versus 9 million EuroDisney visitors accounted for 1992 all year around). To add insult to injury...
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...Global strategy is now in the center of every company and to succeed, a leader has to think global. Nowadays, thanks to globalization, a great idea can makes huge success. The Kirkham’s case really show that point. Started with a car and an idea, they manage to become the largest private employer in a region of Poland. The important thing about global strategy is arbitrage, which means profiting from differences in prices in different market. A company can takes profit of national differences to be powerful. This is also linked to international production which is the most powerful driving force for globalization. A company is no more compulsory to produce next to the selling place but can produce its products in the country it wants thanks to international production and the development of quick way of transportation across the world. Of course global expansion and global strategy require a leap of faith. Set an organizational commitment to global expansion and a long term development plan focusing on international business induced to be totally involved in the project. Globalization gets a huge impact on national economies throughout the world. And China takes profits of this because it has made that leap. For instance China’s annual economic growth rate for the last 3 decades is over 9%. By adopting its open-door policy and started its economic reform in 1978, and entered the WTO in 2001, China showed to the world and to companies that it get a strategy of global thinking...
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...Key Reasons For British Telecom’s Success Include: Key reasons for success can be identified within the company’s ability to adapt to consumer needs. BT were quick to adapt to mobile telecoms when they were introduced and also invested in internet opportunities for the mainstream domestic and commercial markets, beginning with standard dial up connections and followed by mainstream broadband offers. Whilst these adaptations to market products have retained a level of consumer success BT have also used mediums of acquisition and technological development to secure global growth for the business. BT looked to develop international connections through a merger with MCI. Although the potential merger with MCI in 1984 resulted in another organisation fulfilling the requirements and completing on the final deal BT left the situation with a settlement of $465million and netted further pre tax profits when they sold all concerns in MCI in 2000. The unsuccessful merger with MCI left BT with a requirement for an overseas partner, this led to a relationship with AT&T. Unfortunately this partnership was also unsuccessful, although the deal was completed in full the partners were unable to work together and personal differences were cited when the merger broke up. The venture was dissolved and the assets were split between the two parties, BT secured $400million and a portion of the worldwide communications shares whilst AT&T retained the US markets. One could suggest BT success...
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...Essay Nonheritable Cellular Variability Accelerates the Evolutionary Processes of Cancer Steven A. Frank1,2*, Marsha Rich Rosner3 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, California, United States of America, 2 Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, 3 Ben May Department for Cancer Research, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America Summary: Recent cancer studies emphasize that genetic and heritable epigenetic changes drive the evolutionary rate of cancer progression and drug resistance. We discuss the ways in which nonheritable aspects of cellular variability may significantly increase evolutionary rate. Nonheritable variability arises by stochastic fluctuations in cells and by physiological responses of cells to the environment. New approaches to drug design may be required to control nonheritable variability and the evolution of resistance to chemotherapy. Cancer progression is a series of evolutionary changes. Those changes include enhanced cellular proliferation, reduced cellular death by abrogating normal apoptotic mechanisms, greater invasiveness by increased expression of proteases, and improved colonizing ability to achieve metastasis [1]. In response to drug treatment, cancer cells often evolve resistance and continue to spread. Each evolutionary step typically proceeds by acquisition of genetic or heritable epigenetic changes...
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...With the globalization of production as well as markets, you need to evaluate your international strategy. Here’s a framework to help you think through your options. by Pankaj Ghemawat W Managing Dif ferences Ian Whadcock The Central Challenge of Global Strategy hbr.org | March 2007 | Harvard Business Review 59 YEL MAG CYAN BLACK HEN IT COMES TO GLOBAL STRATEGY, most business leaders and academics make two assumptions: first, that the central challenge is to strike the right balance between economies of scale and responsiveness to local conditions, and second, that the more emphasis companies place on scale economies in their worldwide operations, the more global their strategies will be. These assumptions are problematic. The main goal of any global strategy must be to manage the large differences that Managing Differences arise at borders, whether those borders are defined geographically or otherwise. (Strategies of standardization and those of local responsiveness are both conceivably valid responses to that challenge – both, in other words, are global strategies.) Moreover, assuming that the principal tension in global strategy is between scale economies and local responsiveness encourages companies to ignore another functional response to the challenge of cross-border integration: arbitrage. Some companies are finding large opportunities for value creation in exploiting, rather than simply adjusting to or overcoming, the...
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...JOURNAL OF MANAGERIAL ISSUES Vol. XXII Number 4 Winter 2010: 456-475 Incumbents Adaptation to Competence-Destroying Change: Role of Prior Experience and Knowledge Sourcing Mujtaba Ahsan Assistant Professor of Management Pittsburg State University Assistant Professor of Management State University of New York at Oneonta Mine Ozer Assistant Professor of Management California State University, East Bay For the past several decades, the topic of new technological developments has been of interest to strategy scholars (Ansoff and Stewart, 1967; Cooper and Schendel, 1976; Rosenbloom and Cusamano, 1987; Rothaermel, 2001a, 2001b; Tushman and Anderson, 1986). Scholars have repeatedly focused on this topic as innovation and new product development are critical for a firm’s survival and growth (Penrose, 1995) and have stated that one of the core competencies needed to develop new technologies is the ability to assimilate and recombine knowledge in unique combinations (Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001). Simply put, successful innovation and new product development require the ability to create and use new knowledge to offer novel products or services to customers. Research indicates that firms who possess prior experience are in a better position to innovate (Carroll et al., 1996; Henderson and Cockburn, 1994; Klepper and Simons 2000; Nerkar and Roberts, 2004). Prior studies have also highlighted the importance of knowledge and experience in enabling firms to successfully adapt...
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...an unrelenting desire for revenge, or the pursuit of love, his representation of human nature is just as real and as relevant today, as it has been through the centuries. Most of Shakespeare’s characters are complex personalities led into tragedy by their shortcomings (Johnson). Even Shakespeare’s heroes are never just heroes; Shakespeare tends to build his stories through “false heroes” such as Othello, Anthony and Brutus, and “good villains” or “villains with a conscious” like Macbeth (Johnson). It is this type of inner conflict that makes Shakespeare’s stories so insightful and relatable. People love to identify with the hero. They like to think of themselves as heroes in their own lives and the success of a hero in a story makes them feel better about their chances of success in their own lives. While a hero may be the object of any story, a hero is only as great as the obstacle he can overcome (Pattison). The obstacle can be almost anything, it could be a tornado ripping through a city or a killer great white shark, but it is the human villain that develops and changes as the story unfolds, that is the most relatable, and therefore the most interesting obstacle to overcome. Maybe this is because, unlike other obstacles, villains share commonalities with the average person, but they are perverted by some sort of extremism (Johnson), thus making them easy to hate but is still somehow relatable. Shakespeare does a remarkable job...
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...ECONOMIC CONDITIONS For the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) John Kitching Robert Blackburn David Smallbone Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University Sarah Dixon School of Management, Bath University June 2009 URN 09/1031 Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i 1. INTRODUCTION, RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHODS 1 2. RESEARCH CONTEXT 1 2.1 Defining Difficult Economic Conditions 1 2.2 The Current Crisis 1 3. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK 1 4. THE BUSINESS STRATEGY AND MANAGEMENT LITERATURE 1 4.1 Business Strategy: General Considerations 1 4.2 Strategic Adaptation to Environmental Jolts, Turbulence and Radical Institutional Change 1 4.3 Strategic Adaptation to Recession 1 4.4 Retrenchment Strategies 1 4.5 Investment Strategies 1 4.6 ‘Ambidextrous’ Strategies 1 4.7 Business Size as an Influence on Strategic Adaptation to Difficult Economic Conditions 1 4.8 International Experience 1 5. CONTEMPORARY COMMENTARY ON THE CURRENT CRISIS 1 6. STRATEGIC RESPONSES IN THE RECESSION: DELIBERATIONS FROM A THINK-TANK 1 6.1 Introduction and Objectives 1 6.2 Business Responses in Recession 1 6.2.1 Knowledge Base 1 6.2.2 Unevenness of Recession 1 6.3 Modelling Strategic Change 1 6.3.1 Typologies of Strategic Change 1 6.3.2 Strategic Thinking and Strategic Actions 1 6.4 The Role of Innovation under Recession Conditions 1 6.5 Roles for Public Policy 1 6.5.1 Legitimise Change and Innovation within Organisations...
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...bio-psycho-social beings existing within an environment. Needs are created within interrelated adaptive modes: physiological, self-concept, role function, and interdependence” (Taylor 74). Sr. Roy believed that the patient’s modes of adaption were partly innate and partly acquired behaviors; if the behaviors are appropriately applied there is an increase in health restoration. According to "Nursing Theory" (2011), The nursing theory was named “The Adaptation Model,” and includes a “six step nursing process: 1) The first level of assessment, which addresses the patient's behavior, 2)The second level of assessment, which addresses the patient's stimuli, 3)Diagnosis of the patient, 4)Setting goals for the patient's health, 5)Intervention to take actions in order to meet those goals, and 6)Evaluation of the result to determine if goals were met.” Theory’s Historical background: Sister Callista Roy is considered a living legend as she has been awarded various acknowledgements for her contributions to nursing. Sr. Roy developed the Adaptation Model in 1976, and for the past 36 years, she has been researching and updating her work, literally adapting to the ever-changing world and social needs. She has based her works upon a holistic approach that incorporates the patient’s needs that are “individualized in accordance to the patients’ religion, background, education, family, and society as a whole” (Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing, 2012). The patient outcome, good...
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...AGRICULTURAL ADAPTATION STRATEGIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN AFRICA: A REVIEW Akinnagbe O.M* and Irohibe I. J. Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka *E-mails: wolexakins@yahoo.com; oluwole.akinnagbe@unn.edu.ng Tel: +2348035399151 AGRICULTURAL ADAPTATION STRATEGIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS IN AFRICA: A REVIEW Abstract Climate change is expected to intensify existing problems and create new combinations of risks, particularly in Africa. The situation is made worst due to factors such as widespread poverty, overdependence on rainfed agriculture, inequitable land distribution, limited access to capital and technology, inadequate public infrastructure such as roads, long term weather forecasts and inadequate research and extension. By lessening the severity of key damages to the agricultural sector, adaptation is the key defensive measure. Adaptation to climate change involves changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. This paper reviews agricultural adaptation strategies employed by farmers in various countries in Africa in cushioning the effects of climate change. The common agricultural adaptation strategies used by farmers were the use of drought resistant varieties of crops, crop diversification, change in cropping pattern and calendar of planting, conserving soil moisture through...
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...of Community Forestry Users Nepal (FECOFUN). Government of Nepal is a key partner and beneficiary of Hariyo Ban Program as are local communities. The program also partners with other NGOs, academic institutions and the private sector. The program covers east-west Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) and the north-south Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) in the country. The program aims to reduce adverse impacts of climate change and threats to biodiversity in Nepal through three integrated objectives: 1) to reduce threats to biodiversity in targeted landscapes; 2) to build the structures, capacity and operations necessary for an effective sustainable landscape management, especially REDD+ readiness; and 3) to increase an ability of target human and ecological communities to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. Livelihoods, governance, and gender and social inclusion are three cross cutting themes of Hariyo Ban that has to integrate in all its activities. Hariyo Ban has three main components that are closely linked; Biodiversity conservation, Sustainable landscape, Climate change adaptation, livelihoods, gender and social inclusion are important cross-cutting themes for the program. Hariyoban’s success will largely depend on the integration and synergy of the three main components, and the interweaving of the cross-cutting themes. Successful biodiversity conservation through protection of habitat for key species, such as tigers, can help build ecosystem resiliency and combat...
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