...BASF is the world’s largest chemical company by sales, ahead of their competitors Dow, DuPont, and Bayer. BASF is a global chemical company with operations on five continents and in more than eighty countries. They operate more than 380 facilities worldwide. The company is comprised of five main business segments: plastics, performance products, agricultural products, basic chemicals, and oil and gas exploration and production. The company’s recent actions to move a greater share of their production to the United States is a logical and sustainable move for the chemical giant for a myriad of reasons, which are reviewed below. Despite the recent economic decline and sustained recession in the United States, BASF has identified a booming section of the U.S. energy market in the form of natural gas production. Natural gas produced through hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling through shale has turned America into the largest producer of natural gas in the world. This increase in production, combined with the recent nuclear disaster in Japan and continued unrest in the Middle East, provides a lower cost energy market that can’t be found in many parts of the world. This low cost energy market is one of the main attractions BASF has for building additional operations in the U.S. With supply of natural gas expected to be sustainable for well over the next 100 years, BASF will increase their profit margins and provide little risk to operational disruption that can occur from nuclear...
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...E.I Du Pont Nemours Principles of Management MGT 212 Nathan Butterbaugh December 2011 I. Purpose/Objective Through an in depth analysis of DuPont I plan on utilizing the principles and concepts studied throughout the textbook to break down the structure and provide a tangible valuation on how management works to stimulate the future growth of the company. With a tough several years embroiled in a downturned economy, a focus will be put on how DuPont has responded and adapted through its management style and implementation of strategies to maintain profitability and realign themselves with the market. II. Introduction/ History E. I. Du Pont De Nemours was founded in 1805 and was incorporated in Wilmington Delaware in 1915. The company first produced high-grade powder used in explosives. However, by the early 1900’s, the company shifted their focus to chemicals and energy to meet escalating needs by consumers and businesses. Today, DuPont is a world leader in science and innovation across a range of disciplines, including agriculture and industrial biotechnology, chemistry, biology, materials science and manufacturing. As of December 2010, according to the annual 10-K, DuPont employs over 60,000 people, amassed revenue of 322.7 billion with profits of just over 3 billion. The company has a diversified portfolio of business segments that range from seed production to auto paint-coatings...
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...adaptations and internal integrations that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (as cited in Guzman, Stam, & Stanton, 2008, p. 34). Therefore, IT managers must consider that organizational culture is an important factor to be taken into consideration within the value chain. As stated by Schein, culture is relevant and it matters because it is a powerful, latent, and often unconscious set of forces that determine both our individual and collective behavior, ways of perceiving, thought patterns, and values (Guzman et al., 2008). In order to take a look deep inside an organization’s social and technical dynamics, via value chain we turn our attention to “The Mini-cases: 5 companies, 5 strategies, 5 transformations”. This unique interaction case study was conducted by Balu Bagopal, Maurice Berns, Zayna Khajat, Martin Reeves and Andrew Townsend a MIT Sloan Management Review and knowledge partner. The Boston Consulting Group, with sponsorship support from business analytics provider SAS, are collaborating on a project called the Sustainability Initiative. This case study is a survey of five corporate executives and managers about their perspectives on the intersection of sustainability and business strategy (Berns, M., Townsend, A., Khajat, Z., Bagopal, B., Reeves, M., et al. (2009). The researchers started...
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...Research Paper. Dear Sir, I am very glad to submit you the paper on “Power of Social Business in Poverty Alleviation”. I would like to say that this paper is helpful for me to know about the social business concept. I am very thankful to you for giving us such a fantastic opportunity to make a paper on this topic. I have tried my best to make this report meaningful by providing necessary information. Yours sincerely, ………………………… (Md. Rased Mosarraf) MBA Roll: 16-469 BBA Roll: 16-062 Department of Finance University of Dhaka ii Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Literature Review ....................................................................................................................................... 2 What is a Social Business? ......................................................................................................................... 3 Types of Social Businesses .......................................................................................................................... 3 Seven...
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...Challenge of embedding Sustainability in Organizations: The role of HRM and Leadership INTRODUCTION In the last decade, the importance of sustainability in any part of business in any industry has increased. Sustainability needs to move from being an add-on to a way of life at the firm such that companies can balance their social, financial and environmental risks and obligations. While companies have begun identifying the need to ingrain sustainability into the organisation, most business leaders still do not have a clear idea on how to go about doing so. THE CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY When talking about sustainability in business we mean managing the ‘triple bottom line’ such that decision making takes into account not only profits but also people and the planet along with social and environmental risks and obligations. In this sense, corporate reporting takes into account the environmental and social impact of the firms operations. But a culture of sustainability is more than just the corporate report and the face value of the initiative. It is one in which all the members of the organization share the spirit and the passion for the cause of balancing profitability with environmental accountability and social well being. Such a culture constantly strives to improve the lives of stakeholders while successfully carrying out its operations over the long term. WHAT DIFFERENTIATES SUSTAINABILITY FROM OTHER INITIATIVES? Most organizational change initiatives are largely...
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...Insights into the Food, Beverage, and Consumer Products Industry GMA Overview of Industry Economic Impact, Financial Performance, and Trends The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) represents the world’s leading branded food, beverage, and consumer products companies. Since 1908, GMA has been an advocate for its members on public policy issues and has championed initiatives to increase industrywide productivity and growth. GMA member companies employ more than 2.5 million workers in all 50 states and account for more than $680 billion in global annual sales. The association is led by a board of member company chief executives. For more information, visit the GMA website at www.gmabrands.com The Food Products Association (FPA) is the largest trade association serving the food and beverage industry in the United States and worldwide. FPA’s laboratory centers, scientists, and professional staff provide technical and regulatory assistance to member companies and represent the food industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety, food security, nutrition, consumer affairs, and international trade. For more information, visit FPA’s website at www.fpa-food.org The member firms of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network (www.pwc.com) provide industry-focused assurance, tax, and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 130,000 people in 148 countries across our network work collaboratively...
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...Andres de la Rosa Ms. Stone ENGL 101/M18 31 July 2014 Food of the Future When was the last time that you checked how your food was produced? Are you sure that everything that is offered in supermarkets won’t harm your health? Food Industries can do terrible things to generate profit. For example, advertising junk food, causing health issues, and raising food prices. However, the most atrocious thing that foods industries are doing today is the implementation of genetically modified organism in agriculture. According to Behrokh Maghari and Ali M. Ardekani in their article titled “Genetically Modified Food and Social concerns” which was published in 2011 in the Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology, “Genetically modified organisms are being made by inserting a gene from an external source such as viruses, bacteria, animals or plants into usually unrelated species. Genetically modified food (GMF) means any food containing or derived from a genetically engineered organism” (119). Nowadays, genetically modified food can be founded everywhere in supermarkets, restaurants, and grocery stores (Guthrie 1). Its production has been a dilemma in our society since the 90s. Many people claim that the production of genetically modified food will cause improvements in our society. In the other hand, many studies have claim that it wont. The goal of this paper is to find out if our society really needs genetically modified food by explaining what are the benefits and consequences...
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...I. Introduction This is a country that has abundant and diverse natural resources and naturally attracts high levels of foreign investment. It includes extensive reserves of coal, iron ore, copper, gold, natural gas, uranium, and renewable energy sources. A series of major investments, such as the US$40 billion Gorgon Liquid Natural Gas project, will significantly expand the resources sector. The country also has a large services sector and is a significant exporter of natural resources, energy, and food. Key principles of it’s trade policy include support for open trade and the successful culmination of the Doha Round, (aimed to achieve major reform of the international trading system through the introduction of lower trade barriers and revised trade rules), for multilateral trade negotiations, particularly agriculture and services. The economy grew for 17 consecutive years before the global financial crisis. Subsequently, the government introduced a fiscal stimulus package worth over US$50 billion to offset the effect of the slowing world economy, while the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to historic lows. These policies - and continued demand for commodities, especially from China - helped the economy rebound after just one quarter of negative growth. As a result of an improved economy, the government could return to budget surpluses as early as 2015. It was one of the first advanced economies to raise interest rates as well, with seven rate hikes between October...
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...www.pwc.com Global Agribusiness Monthly commentary from our Agribusiness experts around the Globe. October 2014 Contents Regional views Did you know? Publications Calendar of events Prices Global Agribusiness contacts 2 8 11 13 14 21 Regional views Overview With teams around the Globe, this document sets out to give a flavour of what our local agribusiness experts are observing in their territories. This month we are reminded of the ever present impact of volatility on Global agriculture. We have seen significant falls in dairy commodities, grains and oils in 2014 with coffee soaring in the opposite direction on the back of a drought in Brazil. The moves have happened quickly (e.g dairy down over 50% in New Zealand since February 2014 and coffee spot prices up over 30% since August 2014) and this can be difficult for farm families or small holders to deal with. For example in the UK, dairy farmers have taken to public protests and blockades. At PwC we are bullish on the long term prospects for agriculture given Global population and wealth trends however we also recognise that this future optimism can be meaningless to a farmer when short term production costs exceed selling price. Agriculture is a volatile industry and participants have to put in place their own strategies to deal with this which are right for them, be it selling forward or hedging for budget certainty, insuring where possible against crop loss, keeping a buffer of cash or liquid assets which...
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...2. Oil and gas sector This chapter begins with an overview of the oil and gas industry in Malaysia. Description of the value chain of the industry is given in section 2.2, followed by the industry’s economic performance in section 2.3. Section 2.4 focuses on the scope of the inquiry regarding issues in the oil and gas industry. 2.1 Oil and gas industry in Malaysia This section provides an overview of the oil and gas industry in Malaysia. 2.1.1 History Oil and gas production have been a mainstay of Malaysia’s growth since oil was first drilled in 1910 in Miri, Sarawak. The first oil well (known as The Grand Old Lady) which was discovered by Shell, started with a production of 83 barrels per day (bbls/d) and reached a maximum of 15,000 bbls/d in 1929. There were no other drilling activities elsewhere in Borneo or Peninsular Malaya until the 1950s. [1, 2, 3] Petroleum activities began increasing significantly in 1960s due to the discovery and development of offshore fields in Borneo. The late 1960s saw the beginning of offshore oil exploration in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In the 1970s, some oil fields in Malaysia were producing 90,000 to 99,000 bbls/d. [2] In the early days, foreign oil companies dominated the oil and gas industry in Malaysia with Shell and Esso being the two major players. This was followed by several other foreign companies such as Conoco, Mobil, Aquitaine, Oceanic and Teiseki. The national company, Petronas came on to the scene in...
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...A RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD - FUELING THE FUTURE WITH BIOMASS Malathi.N I year MBA, School of Management Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore. ABSTRACT Concerns about the availability and long-term supply of petroleum-derived fuels have caused the search for alternative sources of energy. After a century of unprecedented growth in science, technology, and the economy, we now face tremendous challenges to our ability to fuel the future: a fluctuating oil price, a changing climate, and continued dependence on unreliable energy sources. These problems are increasingly personal, and the demand for solutions becomes increasingly urgent. The ultimate solutions will only come from fundamental innovations in science and technology. Liquid fuels will for some applications be necessary for an indefinite period of time. Therefore, defining relevant feedstocks, producing fuels from these feedstocks and the properties of these fuels are critical issues. The utilization of biomass resources assumes importance due to the soaring crude price and depleting reserves of fossil fuels coupled with the rising environmental concern. Ethanol derived from renewable ligno-cellulosic biomass of non-edible variety has been identified globally as the future solution for meeting the energy demand. Apart from fuel and energy, biomass can also be the source of large number of derivatives. Biomass can be used for fuels, power production, and products that would otherwise be made...
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...s nmnsn m EAR GOVERNMENT COCA COLA SWISSAIR PASSENGERS 50 issue 25. summer 2006 EBF D6PTH By Dominique Turpin, IMD "No comment". Those two simple words can shatter a company's reputation and cost it millions in lost sales. So how can you turn a corporate crisis into competitive advantage? n October 2001, news of potentially harmful bacteria found in a McChicken Burger in Buenos Aires, Argentina, spread across South America via television and the internet. Although no one was proved to have been made sick or placed at risk, the incident cost McDonald's several million dollars in lost sales and damaged brand eguity {Turpin, 2002). Effective or ineffective communication during the first hours - or even minutes - of an emergency can have dramatic implications for the image of a company (Dawar and Pillutla, 2000). A study of 2,645 consumers conducted by the advertising agency DDB Needham showed that a company's handling of a crisis ranked as the third most important influence on consumer purchasing, after product quality and handling of complaints {Marketing News, 1995). issue 25. summer 2006 51 When disaster strikes: communicating in a crisis Crisis-management experts are unanimous in concluding that it is not a matter of if a company wiil be faced with a crisis, but when and how weii-prepared executives wili be to weather the storm {Albrecht, 1996). Indeed, no company is immune to a potential crisis created by flawed products, blackmail by unscrupulous...
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...Electronic Business Models A Conceptual Framework For Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Enterprises Intitiated by: In collaboration with: CEFRIO is a networking centre with over 140 university, industry and government members whose mission it is to help improve organizational performance through the application of information and communications technology(ICT). With offices in Quebec City and Montreal, CEFRIO works with partners conducting research and strategic monitoring activities that affect Quebec’s economic sectors as a whole. This document is part of the project entitled “New Electronic Business (E-business) Models and Small and MediumSized Enterprise (SME) Development”, a CEFRIO initiative conducted in partnership with the National Bank of Canada, CANARIE, Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and TELUS Québec. CEFRIO wishes to underscore the assistance provided by these organizations throughout the execution of this project. The members of the project’s research team are Louise Côté, associate professor, HEC Montreal, Vincent Sabourin, associate professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Michel Vézina, full professor, HEC Montreal. The researchers are also CEFRIO research associates. For information regarding the project, please contact Josée Beaudoin, CEFRIO’s Montreal office manager and the project manager. June 2003 Quebec City office 900 René-Lévesque Blvd East, Suite 717 Quebec (Quebec) G1R 2B5 Canada Telephone : (418) 523-3746 ...
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...increasingly visible in the marketplace today. This strategy is generally used to enhance Brand Potential and works on the rationale that, “If a consumer understands the functions, attributes and benefits of the ingredient, he or she will pay more attention to this offering and if it is unique compared to others, it can lead to loyal and profitable customer relationships”. The goal of this Dissertation is to conceptualize Ingredient Branding Strategy and measure its effect on Brand Choice. It seeks to examine the impact of an Ingredient Branding Strategy on consumer’s attitude toward the Host Brand depending on the Partner Brand. To better understand this impact, a review of the most relevant theories on Co-Branding, perceived quality and attitude towards the brand is first presented. On the basis of this literature review, a conceptual framework is proposed concerning the overall transformation of the associations tied to the host brand, the perceived quality and the consumer attitude towards the brand. The overall evaluation of the brand is based on three parameters viz. Perceived Quality, Brand Image & Brand Attitude. INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION In today’s dynamic economy, companies try to find new ways to maintain their competitive advantage, which helps them to better manage the commercial key success factors of their market. They paid attention to their tangible resources, such as products, but there is a tectonic shift toward intangible resources, such as brands....
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...4 111 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 711 8 J. International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, 2006 Sustaining competitive advantage in the global petrochemical industry: a Saudi Arabian perspective Salem M. Al-Ghamdi Department of Management and Marketing, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P.O. Box 667, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia E-mail: sghamdi@kfupm.edu.sa M. Sadiq Sohail* Department of Management and Marketing, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, PO Box 210, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia E-mail: ssohail@kfupm.edu.sa E-mail: sadiqsohail@hotmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper analyses the competitive advantages of Saudi Arabia in the global petrochemical industry. Porter’s model is used for this purpose. Saudi Arabia, a leading producer of oil, is also the largest worldwide producer of a number of petrochemical products. Competitiveness in the global market demands an examination of comparative advantages and is the reason why Saudi Arabia is yet to succeed in the global market. This paper is an attempt to analyse the industry and to provide strategic alternatives. Keywords: petrochemical; Porter; Saudi Arabia; strategy. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Al-Ghamdi, S.M. and Sadiq Sohail, M. (2006) ‘Sustaining competitive advantage in the global petrochemical industry: a Saudi Arabian perspective’, Journal for International...
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