...Horizon Consulting Patti Smith looked up at the bright blue Carolina sky before she entered the offices of Horizon Consulting. Today was Friday, which meant she needed to prepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is a custom software development company that offers fully integrated mobile application services for iPhone ™ , Android ™ , Windows Mobile ® and BlackBerry ® platforms. Horizon was founded by James Thrasher, a former Marketing executive, who quickly saw the potential for digital marketing via smartphones. Horizon enjoyed initial success in sports marketing, but quickly expanded to other industries. A key to their success was the decline in cost for developing smartphone applications which expanded the client base. The decline in cost was primarily due to learning curve and ability to build customized solutions on established platforms. Patti Smith was a late bloomer who went back to college after working in the restaurant business for nine years. She and her former husband had tried unsuc-cessfully to operate a vegetarian restaurant in Golden, Colorado. After her di-vorce, she returned to University of Colorado where she majored in Management Information Systems with a minor in Marketing. While she enjoyed her marketing classes much more than her MIS classes, she felt the IT know- how acquired would give her an advantage in the job market. This turned out to be true as Horizon hired her to be an Account Manager soon after graduation. Patti Smith...
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...Introduction Focus Learning is pleased to submit our proposal for 2 days- The Service I.M.A.G.E Training Programme, customer service training for your organization, INTI International University, Nilai Campus. The Service I.M.A.G.E Training Programme is specifically designed to encourage and support a more customer centric workforce especially the frontlines thereby enhancing customer satisfaction and retention within your organization. Our training solution is also designed to complement, integrate and support other customer service initiatives within organisation. After reviewing this proposal, we look forward to a decision to implement the training after agreeing final fees and delivery details. Background Globally, successful customer service orientated company internationally and MNC Company within Malaysia vary from industry, Ritz Carlton (Hotel), Singapore Airline (Airline), Telekom Malaysia (Telecommunication) Rapid KL (Transportation), RHB Baking Group (Banking) etc. Their success stories have been told, retold and analysed in numerous trade and professional literatures. These service winners’ stories contain many success variables; however, they all have one common factor. The all are customer driven; hence they channel their effort and recourse to provide solutions to their customers’ needs and wants. In line with his thinking, rather than proceed at a normal or natural growth rate of the organisation, INTI can accelerate growth and profitability by leveraging...
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...chains include a substantial element of importing. When these stores search for new products abroad, they practice another form of international marketing. A whole range of service industries are involved in international marketing; many large advertising firms, banks, investment bankers, public accounting firms, consulting companies, hotel chains, and airlines now market their services worldwide. International marketing encompasses some activities that only indirectly result in international transactions. Entry Strategies Before a firm considers expansion into international frontiers, it must make three strategic decisions; which Markets to enter, when to enter these Markets and What will be the scale of entry. An international business can create in a market suitability of products for a market. It can also create in a market, a nature of indigenous competition which are not widely available and yet satisfies an unmet need. There is also a greater value translated into the ability to charge higher prices and increase sales volume more rapidly. The timing of entry by a firm into a foreign market becomes very important. Early entrants initiate a first mover advantage over the competition. This creates the ability of the firm to pre-empt rivals and...
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...Overview of the SEC Primitive economies are basically barter economies (goods and services traded for other goods and services), while in other mature economies, businesses are organized into proprietorships, partnerships, and joint venture. These types of closely held businesses, in which owners manage their own business, do not need external reporting of the results of operations. However, external reports have become essential with the increase in the size and number of business enterprises, along with the increased amount of people investing capital resources in these businesses. The corporate form of business also increases the need for objective verification of data and creates a need for disclosure of more and better information to owners and potential investors. Furthermore, the increase in value, size and activity of capital exchange in security market also increases the opening of taking advantage in lax conditions and to profit by misrepresentation and manipulation. Hence, the main reason for establishing the securities legislation was because large security market requires operating procedures that would protect investors from fraud and guarantee an adequate supply of capital for economic growth. Background of the SEC The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) is one of several public and private sector rule-making organizations that have an effect on financial reporting for businesses. It plays a crucial role in the development...
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...Careers in Management Consulting WetFeet Insider Guide 2005 Edition The WetFeet Research Methodology You hold in your hands a copy of the best-quality research available for job seekers. We have designed this Insider Guide to save you time doing your job research and to provide highly accurate information written precisely for the needs of the job-seeking public. (We also hope that you’ll enjoy reading it, because, believe it or not, the job search doesn’t have to be a pain in the neck.) Each WetFeet Insider Guide represents hundreds of hours of careful research and writing. We start with a review of the public information available. (Our writers are also experts in reading between the lines.) We augment this information with dozens of in-depth interviews of people who actually work for each company or industry we cover. And, although we keep the identity of the rank-and-file employees anonymous to encourage candor, we also interview the company’s recruiting staff extensively, to make sure that we give you, the reader, accurate information about recruiting, process, compensation, hiring targets, and so on. (WetFeet retains all editorial control of the product.) We also regularly survey our members and customers to learn about their experiences in the recruiting process. Finally, each Insider Guide goes through an editorial review and fact-checking process to make sure that the information and writing live up to our exacting standards before it goes out the door. Are we...
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...Six Sigma is a set of tools and techniques/strategies for process improvement originally developed by Motorola in 1981.[1][2] Six Sigma became well known after Jack Welch made it a central focus of his business strategy at General Electric in 1995,[3] and today it is used in different sectors of industry.[4] Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects (errors) and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes.[5] It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization ("Champions", "Black Belts", "Green Belts", "Yellow Belts", etc.) who are experts in the methods.[5] Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified value targets, for example; process cycle time reduction, customer satisfaction, reduction in pollution, cost reduction and/or profit increase.[5] The term Six Sigma originated from terminology associated with manufacturing, specifically terms associated with statistical modeling of manufacturing processes. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating indicating its yield or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million), although, as discussed below...
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...Are Two CEOs Better Than One? The case of WIPRO Take an organization with business divisions that overlap, add rapid growth, and flavour with problems arising from an uncertain environment. What you have, potentially, is a recipe for confusion. At Wipro, India's largest software services firm, however, little evidence of confusion has appeared despite the turbulent winds that have buffeted the company for the past few years. When former CEO Vivek Paul left to join Texas Pacific Group, a private equity firm, Wipro has had no CEO since Paul's departure, with Chairman Azim Premji -- who owns more than 80% of this Mumbai- and New York-listed company -- combining the roles of both chairman and CEO. Wipro was established in 1947. It was a vegetable oil company to start with and was created from an oil mill established by father of Azim Premji, present Chairman and CEO of Wipro. It later ventured into consumer goods in 1966 under Azim Premji's leadership as Wipro Ltd. In 1975 Wipro Fluid Power was set up to make pneumatic cylinders and hydraulic cylinders. Wipro demerged its non-IT businesses such as in consumer care, lighting, hydraulics and medical diagnostics into a new company to provide more focus for its IT business. Infosys and TCS are pure-play IT services companies. The demerger will help improve profit margins. But analysts think that moving out the small non-IT businesses from the company will alone not help. The company needs to focus on using technology to solve business...
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...Introduce three governmental regulations that have assisted in the checks and balances of government trading. A. Introduce the three government regulations covering the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934, The Foreign Corrupt Practices of Act of 1977 and finally Sarbanes-Oxley Act. B. Origin of Securities Acts of 1933 and 1933 (Beatty, Samuelson & Bredeson, 2013) C. Genesis of the enactment of The Foreign Corrupt Practices of 1977. D. Origin of Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its enactment (retrieving information from: https: www.soxlaw.com/introduction.htm) 11. Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 A. Registration requirement includes the statement and prospectus B. Annual, Quarterly reports and Form 8-k C. Inside Trading D. Private Offerings E. Blue Sky Laws F. Antitrust (The Sherman Act, The Clayton Act, and The Robinson-Patman Act) 111. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 makes it illegal for an American businessperson to give anything of value to any foreign official in order to influence an official decision. A. Applicability of the Act B. Prohibitions under the Act C. Penalties for Violations of the Act 1. Criminal 2. Civil 3. others D. Defense under FCPA 1. Lawful payment 2. Bona fide expenditures E. Fraud/Scandal of the FCPA of 1977 1. Detection method 2. Importance of Early Detection 3. Big problems for small corporations/organizations 4. Types of fraud and who is involved 1V. Sarbanes Oxley Act A. The effects of Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate...
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...74 Management Information Systems JetBlue Hits Turbulence CASE STUDY n February 2000 JetBlue started flying daily to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Buffalo, New York, promising top-notch customer service at budget prices. The airline featured new Airbus A320 planes with leather seats, each equipped with a personal TV screen, and average one-way fares of only S99 per passenger. JetBlue was able to provide this relatively luxurious flying experience by using information systems to automate key processes such as ticket sales (online sales dominate) and baggage handling (electronic tags help track luggage). Jet Blue prided itself on its "paperless processes." JetBlue's investment in information technology enabled the airline to turn a profit by running its business at 70 percent of the cost of larger competitors. At the same time, JetBlue filled a higher percentage of its seats, employed non-union workers, and established enough good will to score an impressive customer retention rate of fifty percent. Initially, JetBlue flew only one type of plane from one vendor: the Airbus A320. This approach enabled the airline to standardize flight operations and maintenance procedures to a degree that resulted in considerable savings. Chief information officer (CIO) Jeff Cohen used the same simple-is-better strategy for JetBlue's information systems. Cohen depended almost exclusively on Microsoft software products to design JetBlue's extensive network of information systems. (JetBlue's...
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...Case # 5-0022 Updated December 15, 2004 Note on Exits D O The number and dollar value of exits declined significantly during the economic downturn of 2000. In 1999, equity underwritings in the technology, health care, and consumer segments totaled 665 but by 2002, the total was just 151 transactions. Mergers and acquisitions for the same sectors totaled 988 in 1999 and just 388 in This document was written by Adjunct Assistant Professor Fred Wainwright and Research Assistant Angela Groeninger, under the supervision of Professor Colin Blaydon as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective management. Copyright © 2003 Trustees of Dartmouth College. All rights reserved. To order additional copies, please call (603) 646-0522. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written consent of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. N As shown in Exhibits 1 and 2, mergers and acquisitions are much more common in recent years than IPOs. Entrepreneurs that dream of an IPO and insist upon it when seeking an exit are vastly reducing their opportunities for successfully monetizing their shares. O The most popular exit strategies are: • A merger with another company, either public or private • An acquisition by another company, either public or private • An Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) whereby a private company offers its shares to the...
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...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 have to exercise tremendous clarity of thought and understand their purpose of existence. Table of Contents 1. Corporate Identity : Concept and Purpose 2. Corporate v/s product brand identity 3. Corporate Identity Elements 4. Reasons for change : Strategic Inflexion Points 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7. 4.8. 4.9. 4.10. Change in Technology (Case Study...
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...PREPARATION - When it came to resume building, I mentioned my internship (which was in Samsung), projects I did and the co-curricular activities - I was confident about my aptitude and was focussing mainly core and analytics. - I didn’t prepare for GD but finally had to give GD in Coca Cola, ITC and Schlumberger. So you can never be too sure of what comes your way during the placements. PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE - I started my placement journey by getting shortlisted in Capital One on Day 1. They shortlisted 125 candidates on the basis of resume. Then they took a case study interview and reduced the number to 30. Then again took an aptitude test but finally didn’t give offer to anyone. - Then came Coca Cola on Day 2. They organised GD in the groups of ten each and then there was a single interview of about half an hour which mainly consisted of HR based questions. The topic of the GD was “Are Engineering students wasting time in studies ?”. The interview mainly focussed on the commitment to work with them and asked whether I did any activity depicting leadership skills. - Coca Cola shortlisted candidates with medium profile like moderate CPI with few extracurrecs. I had a target of gettng placed in Qualcomm from second year itself. It came on Day 2 and I got a call from Qualcomm in the middle of the interview of Coca Cola so I could not take their call. Immediately after this I went for the Qualcomm interview but they were not happy and asked me to leave without much interrogation. The...
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...Jet Blue In February 2000, JetBlue started flying daily to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Buffalo, New York, promising top-notch customer service at budget prices. The airline featured new Airbus A320 planes with leather seats, each equipped with a personal TV screen, and average one-way fares of only $99 per passenger. JetBlue was able to provide this relatively luxurious flying experience by using information systems to automate key processes such as ticket sales (online sales dominate) and baggage handling (electronic tags help track luggage). Jet Blue prided itseft on its "paperless processes." JetBlue's investment in information technology enabled the airline to turn a profit by running its business at 70 percent of the cost of larger competitors. At the same time, JetBlue filled a higher percentage of its seats, employed non-union workers, and established enough good will to score an impressive customer retention rate of fifty percent. Initially, JetBlue flew only one type of plane from one vendor: the Airbus A320. This approach enabled the airline to standardize flight operations and maintenance procedures to a degree that resulted in considerable savings. Chief information officer Jeff Cohen used the same simple-is-better strategy for JetBlue's information systems. Cohen depended a1most exclusively on Microsoft software products to design JetBlue's extensive network of information systems. (JetBlue's reservation system and systems for managing planes, crews, and scheduling...
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...effects in cholesterol management. The compound, discovered by Aravind’s mother, biological scientist Rukmini Cheruvanki, was derived from the byproducts of rice bran oil (RBO) production. Early animal trials had demonstrated that the compound was effective in lowering “bad” cholesterol while simultaneously increasing levels of “good” cholesterol. If manufactured for human ingestion, the compound would provide a natural alternative to synthesized cholesterol-lowering drugs on the market. Although NatuRi was still in the start-up stage, it had captured the attention of at least four potential investors willing to offer a seed investment. Having just received a term sheet from Waltham Partners, a well-known East Coast venture capital firm, Aravind and Kartik were now forced to weigh their options and determine which of the four potential investors currently interested in their venture would be most appropriate for NatuRi’s future growth. Their funding decision for this stage would also impact options for later rounds of funding. The duo had to decide on NatuRi’s valuation and how much equity they would relinquish in exchange for the capital they needed. Waltham Partners had given Aravind and Kartik 24 hours to accept or reject their offer. They needed to make a decision quickly. Background Having met in 1988 as undergraduates at India’s Birla Institute of Technology in Pilani, Rajasthan, Aravind, and Kartik became fast friends. Aravind hailed...
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...Nursing is a diverse and dynamic profession, with many layers that influence how care is ultimately delivered. This paper will explore some of these influences, and outline a Professional Nursing Mission Statement, with a keen look at nursing organizations, ethics, accountability, and professional practice. Mishel’s Theory of Uncertainty in Illness will be explained as a support to the mission statement and support of my personal professional practice. Additionally, two personal anecdotes will be shared regarding the ethical principles of respect for autonomy and beneficence. Functional Difference between Regulatory Agency and Professional Nursing Organization The major functional difference between a regulatory agency like a board of nursing and professional nursing organization is that a regulatory agency governs the education and licensing of nurses; actual nurse practices on the job, and discipline if the nurse falls short of governing practices (National Coumcil of State Boards of Nursing, 2015). The rules and regulations enacted by the board of nursing, after public review, “have the full force and effect of law.” (National Council Board of Nursing Nurse Practice Act 2) In contrast, a professional nursing organization is comprised of voluntary groups of nurses which provide educational opportunities, share information, and promote the profession. (Matthews, 2012) According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website, each state board of nursing...
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