...i. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the case “Avoiding the Alignment Trap”, the objective is to inform the readers that companies relying on technology to distance themselves from competitors can sometimes be a problem versus doing them good as they can potentially fall into the “alignment trap”. This term is used to refer to companies who believe that IT and business priorities have to be tightly linked or aligned to produce growth not putting into consideration other factors. The key problem is aligning a poorly performing It organization to the right business objectives won’t get the objective accomplished and hence the company falls into the alignment trap. IT can pose as a bottleneck to growth in most companies if executives are focusing on the wrong remedy for IT problems if they are not considering other factors. The case recommends that the path to IT-powered growth is to reduce complexity, source IT staffing and software wherever it makes the most sense and create start to finish accountability connected to business results. Once this is accomplished, then align their entire IT organization to the strategic objectives of the overall business using governance principles that cross organizational lines and making business executives responsible for key IT initiatives. ii. CURRENT SITUATION Currently, eleven percent of the surveyed respondents are caught in the alignment trap where they are spending 13% more than the average company on IT but are receiving 14% lower revenue...
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...61/80 Q-2 SPA WORKS MEMO To: Glen Mori, President From: Meghal Desai, Information System Manger Date: 1 January 2014 Subject: Proposed Advisory Committee Hello Glen. In the preceding years, rapid growth of spa works has created new customer base by acquiring new locations and capturing competitors market. Actually, increase of daily operations and business transactions, the current legacy system has been creating lots of issues with financial statement and decision making process because of data from numerous sources have to be combined. Such a rapid growth needs a change in legacy system in terms of selecting new committee members. As a result and as per request from a President to form a new advisory committee has been proposed to provide assistance and guidance in creation of new integrated system. This will improve Spa works business process. Below stated five committee members presented with their roles and tasks: 1) Human Resources manager: Spa Work has been going through the stage of expansion. Human Resources Manager is the key member of this organization. Main goal of Spa Works is to improve their legacy system and these will only possible through people and HR. Human Resources manager is responsible for all people related activities like recruitment, training and retention of employees as well as their daily concerns that consists of payroll, tax provisions, and benefits. Human Resources team also needs to comply all government related policies and follow...
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...The Kashmir Issue: Some options towards solution By Dr. Misbah Islam As we all know the Kashmir issue has been has been a perennial problem ever since the birth of Pakistan. Kashmir is one of the two most intractable problems that have stymied the world for so long resulting in horrendous loss of life and negative impact on the development of the belligerants. Nature of the Problem: The origins of the Kashmir issue lie in the illegal instrument of accession to India signed on October 26, 1947 by Raja Hari Singh that violated the rights and hopes of 77% Muslim population of Kashmiris to join Pakistan. It has resulted in or associated with at least four major wars: 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Besides loss of liberty for 10 million people it has entailed loss of lives (more than 102,000), in the form of executions, bombardment and disappearances, horrendous tortures, injuries, crimes against women, destruction of property, businesses and the list goes on [Ref 1]. No value can ever be assigned to the psychological losses. So far India has refused visits by Amnesty International to investigate and report impartially. We have also to take into account other costs. The purpose of this exercise is to highlight the seriousness of the issue and to prove Pakistan’s commitment to the cause. The Kashmir issue has involved direct expenditure in terms of resources: military, diplomatic, journalistic and so on. Resources, that could have been better spent for mitigating and solving...
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...“Critically analyse the performance of an organisation or campaign (non-profit or commercial) in relation to their promotion of sustainability/sustainable development. Assess its value and level of success in achieving meaningful change. The organisation or campaign can be local, national or global and may range in size from large to small (eg Greenpeace, The Body Shop, Travelsmart, Friends of Kings Park).” Introduction: Founded in 1992, Planet Ark has encouraged environment change and sustainability for over twenty years and is specially focused on the impact we have on our planet and the sustainable ways we can use to minimize this impact. Planet Ark aims to ‘protect and enhance the natural environment’ (Planet Ark, 2013) and get individuals and businesses involved together to protect the planet and work towards sustainability. Planet Ark undertakes a special annual activity, National Tree Day, planting tress to provide for a sustainable future, which begun in 1996 and continued each year with growing support. One of the main points of focus for National Tree Day is to educate on and plant native trees and plants, creating a sustainable future for the environment by supporting local bio-diversity, however the question remains is Planet Ark achieving this and National Tree Day actively educating and making for a sustainable future? Through the use of various articles, Planet Ark’s own findings and reports and other critical analysis’s we will explore and discover how...
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...C DESIGN ERS R E D I STACY LONGSTREET T S SE N IOR A RT DI REC TOR R P G R& D A RT DI REC TOR S GWENDOLYN F.M. KESTREL , JENNIFER CLARKE WILKES, KOLJA RAVEN LIQUETTE DEVELOPMENT TEAM KARIN JAQUES, STACY LONGSTREET C OV E R A RT I S T BRUCE R. CORDELL , ANDY COLLINS, ROB WATKINS EDITORS STEVE PRESCOTT I N T E R IOR A RT IST S MICHELLE LYONS, CHRIS SIMS EDITI NG MANAGER KIM MOHAN DESIGN MANAGER STEVEN BELLEDIN, ED COX, DAARKEN, WAYNE ENGLAND, EMILY FIEGENSCHUH, CARL FRANK, DAN FRAZIER, BRIAN HAGAN, RALPH HORSLEY, CHRIS MALIDORE , JIM NELSON, ERIC POLAK CA RTOG R A PHE R CHRISTOPHER PERKINS DEV ELOPMEN T MANAGER MIKE SCHLEY GRAPHIC DESIGN ER JESSE DECKER DIRECTOR OF RPG R&D DEE BARNETT G R A P H IC P RODUC T ION S P E C I A L I S T BILL SLAVICSEK P RODUC T ION MA NAGE R S ERIN DORRIES IMAGE T ECHN ICIAN JOSH FISCHER, RANDALL CREWS CHRISTINA WILEY Playtesters: Kraig Horigan, Jason H. Haley, Richard Hughes, Richard Stephenson. Some information in this book is taken from or derived from Draconomicon: The Book of Dragons by Andy Collins, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison. This product uses updated material from the v.3.5 revision. This WIZARDS OF THE COAST® game product contains no Open Game...
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...nes Student’s name College Nestle is one of the world’s largest food and beverage corporation in the food industry. It commands wide brand name recognitionand significant influence with customers, businesses, and also governments. Its products range from ice cream, water, coffee, and baby food to performance and also healthcare nutrition, pet care,confectionery, pharmaceuticals and others. Nestlé’s major brand names comprise of Toll House, Nestea, Lean cuisine, Perrier, Nescafe, and Perrier. Nestle’s share price has experienced an eighteen-fold increase over the last 20 years. From 1970 to 2000, Nestle shares outperformed the Morgan Stanley Capital Index of Swiss blue chip stock companies by over 250% and the Morgan Stanley World Blue Chip Stock Index in USD terms by 25%. For decades, Nestle has had consistent, stable and accelerated growth in overall turnover. In terms of current performance, the year 2001 was once again a record year for sales, net profits and dividends to shareholders, with CHF 84.7 billion in sales, CHF 6,681 million in net profit and 4.4% real internal growth. According to Stern Stewart’s Wealth Added Index (WAI), Nestle is among the top 15 companies worldwide in creating shareholder wealth in a ranking of the 5069 largest quoted companies. Stern Stewart calculates that between June 1996 and June 2001 Nestlé’s wealth added to shareholders amounted to USD 43.8 billion. The WAI rankings emphasize the notion that companies increase the money’s worth...
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...How to have a Healthy Relationship: Marriage and Family A research paper on how to have a healthy relationship 2014 Philippine Women’s University Prepared by: Abu-Aisha, Najeeb Madera, Alyssa Mae P. Resurreccion, Jr. Rodel A. Galang, Isabella How to have a Healthy Relationship: Marriage and Family A research paper on how to have a healthy relationship Contents Introduction p.3 Chapter 1 FAMILY OF ORIGIN IN-LAWS, OUTLAWS AND MOVING ON p.4 Chapter 2 Healthy Relationships/Effective Communication p.5 Chapter 3 DEALING WITH CONFLICT p.12 Conclusion—Marriage is a Good for Society p.14 Bibliography p.15 INTRODUCTION Someone once said that marriage is the riskiest activity taken on by the greatest number of people in our society. In western society half of marriages are expected to end in divorce. This book is a compact, concise and informative guide for couples who want to save or strengthen their marriage and relationship. The content is based on over fifteen years’ experience in relationship counselling and in mental health and social research. It aims to provide psychological and social insights that will enable readers to transform, consolidate and most importantly enjoy their marriage and relationship. There can be no doubt that the core social and personal challenge of our time is how to make loving, permanent marriage work for ourselves and our children. It is the married couple who provide...
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...doi:10.1016/j.emj.2006.03.005 European Management Journal Vol. 24, Nos. 2–3, pp. 151–162, 2006 Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 0263-2373 $32.00 The Underlying Vulnerabilities in Key Account Management Strategies NIGEL PIERCY, Warwick Business School NIKALA LANE, Warwick Business School Recent years have seen substantial growth in the development of Key Account Management (KAM) systems and structures to meet the escalating demands faced by suppliers from major businessto-business customers. KAM promises to replace adversarial buyer–seller relationships with cooperation, joint problem-solving and integration in a new model of buyer–seller interaction. Large expenditures have been made by many major companies in building KAM and similar strategies, in the face of ever-growing demands of powerful, large customers. However, these structures appear frequently to have been built on assumptions which are increasingly dubious. There is a compelling case for arguing that in many cases KAM strategy is fatally flawed and will, in the long term, fundamentally damage many of the supplier companies which have invested in this route to market. The challenge is to understand better the inherent weaknesses in KAM strategy to balance these against the potential benefits, and to develop more robust strategic alternatives to managing relationships with major customers. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Key account management, Strategic account management, Buyer–seller...
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...Word Count: 2453 KAM is a perfect example for micromarketing. (Barrett, 1986) Introduction: Key Account Management (popularly known as KAM) is an organizational form emphasizes partnerships and strategic alliances with customers and suppliers, and focus on relationship building through repetitive, rather than single, sales transactions. It involves the sales and marketing process like customer selection, customer satisfaction, channel management, relationship management, etc. in building long-term relationships creating competitive advantage for the organization. It improves performance, which leads to shareholder value creation (Gosseling & Bauwen, 2006). This reports discusses the briefly the business of company B and its relevance to KAM, and then looks into problems which the company B is facing in terms KAM. The issues are analysed using various frameworks and recommendations made in the research articles on the topic and identifies the ways to tackle these problems. Recommendations are made for improving the status quo in terms of KAM. The real problem The company B which is being referred is into manufacturing of industrial pressure relieving devices which are used in petrochemicals, refineries, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, cement and power plants. The sales forces is responsible for generating MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) businesses, following new projects in the region and handling KA (Key Accounts), which are majorly OEMs (Original...
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...A Dissertation Report On “Putting HR on Balanced Scorecard” (A Case Study of Verizon) (SUBMITTED TOWARDS PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT) (Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India) ACADEMIC SESSION (2008-10) Under the guidance of: Submitted by: Supervisor Name Your Name Lecturer (college name) Roll: - PGDM-08/012 College Address PREFACE There is a famous saying “The theory without practical is lame and practical without theory is blind.” Alignment of the Human Resource with the overall strategy of the company is a very big and toughest challenge for the company. Human resource is an important part of any business and managing them is an important task. Our institution has come forward with the opportunity to bridge the gap by imparting modern scientific management principle underlying the concept of the future prospective managers. To the emphasis on practical aspect of management education the faculty of College Name has with a modern system of practical training of repute and following management technique to the student as integral part of PGDM. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “It is not possible to prepare a project report without the assistance & encouragement of other people. This one is certainly no exception.” On the very outset of this report, I would like to extend my sincere & heartfelt obligation towards all the personages...
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...QUIZ: WHY THE CONCEPT OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IS CENTRAL TO THE STUDY OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT, AND EXAMINE THE USE OF PORTER’S GENERIC STRATEGEIS BY COMPANIES TO COMPETE. KEY TERMS Competitive advantage. This is the favourable position an organization seeks in order to be more profitable than its competitors. Strategic management. It is the systematic analysis of the factors associated with customers and competitors (the external environment) and the organization itself (the internal environment) to provide the basis for maintaining optimum management practices. The objective of strategic management is to achieve better alignment of corporate policies and strategic priorities. Porter’s generic strategies. These are three general types of strategies developed by Michael Porter that are commonly used by businesses to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. Company. It is a voluntary association formed and organized to carry on a business. Types of companies include sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability, corporation, and public limited company. INTRODUCTION The concept of competitive advantage is central to the study of strategic management, since a company or an organization must follow an aligned strategy to outperform their rivals in the industry. Michael Porter introduces three generic strategies that a firm may apply in order to do so they include; overall cost leadership, Differentiation and Focus. In order to create and sustain competitive advantage...
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...Vertical View A Nano Car in Every Driveway? How to Succeed in the Ultra-Low-Cost Car Market Henry Ford’s historic promise in 1908 to “build a car for the great multitude” resulted in the production of more than 15 million Model Ts and created unprecedented mobility for consumers everywhere. Will India’s Tata Motors deliver on its equally bold promise to a new generation of consumers to bring the Nano to market for the “great multitude” at a price of $2,500? T o fulfill his promise “to build a car small enough for the individual to run and care for, [of ] the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise, [and] low in price,” Henry Ford exploited innovative product design, vendor relationships, manufacturing techniques and distribution methods. One hundred years later, entrants into the ultra-low-cost car (ULCC) market have the same agenda in their attempt to build a car with a price tag of $2,500 to $5,000, which is lower in comparable dollars than Henry Ford’s $850 Model T. Vertical View But this is not a history lesson that can be easily repeated. Today, all indicators point to an automotive industry in recession, requiring its leaders to balance the global economic crisis with future market demand. Industry consolidation and restructuring in global markets will accelerate, propelled by the lack of availability to capital and consumer financing, high fuel costs and low consumer confidence. Undoubtedly, a new and improved automotive...
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...Talent and Competitiveness In the United Arab Emirates A study by Aleron Partners in conjunction with Boyden Global Executive Search Aleron Partners London │ Dubai │ Singapore 2 Aleron Partners FZ-LLC 2012 © Contents Foreword by Matthew Lewis – Boyden Global Executive Search Executive Summary: ‘The Two Page Version’ 1. Introduction 2. The Economics of Talent 3. People Power 4. Acquiring Talent Olympic Potential Opportunity for the UAE An Example More Money, More Problems pg 14 pg 20 pg 28 pg 34 5. Managing Talent 6. Making Decisions 7. Final Remarks Investing in People Better by a Margin Starting the Process pg 48 pg 64 pg 72 3 Aleron Partners FZ-LLC 2012 © 4 Aleron Partners FZ-LLC 2012 © Foreword by Matthew Lewis Much has been written about the Macro and Socioeconomic impact on the UAE and its economy since the global financial crisis – the oil price, the Arab Spring and on-going Middle East instability are all valid factors in this regard. What we have not seen until now is the resultant effect and impact on the often overlooked but most important assets of any business – its people and their productivity. Our research seeks to fill that omission. The period from 2008 to 2012 has seen a cataclysmic shift in the fundamental areas of demand, quality and flexibility of the talent pool in the UAE. High costs of expatriation and the regional pressure of localisation have put more focus on the productivity of people...
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...LEADERSHIP STYLE AND BEHAVIOR AMONG BABY BOOMERS, GENERATION X AND GENERATION Y By Nortini Isahak Table of Contents Page Introduction 2 1.0 Work Behavior Characteristic between Baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y 1.1 Baby Boomers 3 1.2 Generation X 4 1.3 Generation Y 5 2.0 The Challenge 2.1 Characteristics of each generation 6 2.2 Perception of other generations 7 3.0 Leadership Styles for Different Generational Groups 9 4.0 Recommendation 11 Conclusion 13 References 14 ABSTRACT Generation Y (born 1981 and 2000) is young worker, Generation X (born 1965-1980) is middle generation and Baby Boomers (Born 1946-1964) is older employers. Usually young workers want to make a quick impact, the middle generation needs to believe in the mission, and older employees don’t like ambivalence. It is important organization to take time and build the trusting relationship where each generation brings ahead their potentials and works towards the organization goal. The leaders should recognize the different work characteristics between generational groups and apply leadership styles that will positively contribute to employee motivation. As a result, due to the shifting nature of the job/task itself and the changing nature of subordinate characteristics and behavior. Leadership styles have also had to make changes. Accordingly, a task-oriented leadership style is more acceptable to Baby boomers...
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...Best Practices for Negotiating with Key Suppliers Excerpted from the Vantage Partners study Negotiating and Managing Key Supplier Relationships: A Cross-Industry Study of 20 Best Practices by Jonathan Hughes and Mark Gordon Introduction Based on 15 years of working with clients in the sourcing and procurement arena, Vantage Partners identified twenty best practices for managing critical supplier relationships. These practices represent a reasonably comprehensive (though certainly not exhaustive) approach to maximizing value in important supplier relationships. While not a recipe for guaranteed success, these practices comprise a roadmap for systematically negotiating and managing key supplier relationships more effectively. Today’s sourcing and procurement professionals face a multitude of negotiation challenges: from internal negotiations with business units around sourcing strategies; to negotiating agreements with single and sole source suppliers; to ongoing negotiations over individual statements of work, change orders, issues of scope, and the like. This excerpt describes the four best practices related to negotiation and offers some practical ideals about how to implement them. About the study The study was based on data collected from sourcing and supply chain executives at more than 100 companies about relationship management practices with their key suppliers, across six fundamental areas: Evaluation and Selection Negotiation Post-Deal Relationship...
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