...Version 1.2 The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm Case for Management and Leadership Program Assessment The Blue Sky is a fifteen-year old software-consulting firm. It was founded by Max Blue, who was until last year its CEO and Chairman of the Board. Blue has stepped down from the CEO role, but remains Board Chairman. The new CEO is Jim Willis, who joined the company as VP for the HR software division five years ago. Before coming to Blue Sky Willis was an executive with a major accounting/consulting firm. Blue Sky is divided into three divisions: Machine Tool Software—This division develops machine tool software used in the auto industry. Some of the software is utilized by the major manufacturing companies, but mostly they serve suppliers of parts and components. HR Software- This division has developed Human Resource Management software to be used in the retail industry. Their major client has been the Best Dollar Retail Chain, which sells upscale style, but affordable clothes for teenagers. They have retail locations in most parts of the country, except for the mid Atlantic and New England states. Most of their stores are in medium to small cities. Heath Payment Software- This division has developed software for state governments to help manage their Medicaid provider payment systems. They provide this software for 15 states scattered across the country. Each division is headed by a Vice President: Machine Tool—Michael James- was one of...
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...Final Blue Sky Management and Leadership Question 1 In the past, Blue Sky leadership led from an autocratic leadership style. An autocratic leadership is similar to a dictatorship where only one person has the authority over the followers or workers. The autocratic leader decisions are to be taken as the final authority and should never be questioned. This leader plans out all of the companies agenda and demands that subordinates work according to their rules. The former CEO but still remained the Board Chairman, Max Blue, believed that meeting was not necessary therefore planning was considered a wasted of time. None of his employees seem to question his authority. This leadership style led to very passive employees at Blue Sky because they were unable to make decision caused them to lack passion about their jobs. Although the past CEO leadership style was autocratic, there were several different leadership styles among the various departments. The structure of the organization was divided in to the CEO, VP of the division, director of marketing, CFO, and the regional directors, who were consider upper management level. With the regional directors being younger and being with the Blue Sky for relatively a short period of time, they were more aggressive wanting to expand different product lines and clientele. However, the younger regional directors were presented with many challenges from the older managers that were mainly in vice presidents roles. These managers wanted...
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...The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm Willie L. Byrd Webster University Prof. James Chester Management 6000 Concept Background The consultant, OD Mr. Willie Byrd, met with the client contact, Jim Willis CEO of the Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm, on Dec. 17, 2014 regarding examination of the management issues facing Blue Sky Software. Also in attendance at that meeting were the three division VPs who, together with Jim, comprised the Search Committee. During the meeting, Jim described Blue's current challenges, which included leadership changes, motivation/innovation, development of a strategic plan and its value, regional design, need for attention to strategic planning, finances, staffing and public relations – and possibly more areas, but Mr. Willis was not sure which yet. OD Mr. Byrd described how an overall systematic approach to organizational development would be the most effective approach to addressing Blue's major problems. He added that, during times of major change, it often is best to include some Board and leadership development in the project to help leaders understand and guide the change throughout the organization. OD Mr. Byrd added that the organizational development activities would best be conducted in the overall context of short-term, internally strategic planning, including the development and implementation of the Strategic Plan. After some discussion, participants agreed that a systematic approach to overall organizational development...
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...The Blue Sky Software Consulting Firm is a company that has many internal problems. Every business has internal problems and the best businesses are constantly in a problem solving mode. Susy Hubres is truly looking out for the best interest in the company to solve the issues. It takes team work to get the issues under control and solved. When companies try to solve problems, they have to figure out how to get to the core of the problem, then come up with a solution option, and implement the selected solution. In this case, it is in need of a consultant to solve majority of the matters internal and external. There are a few strategy plans they can follow to get the company back on track. The management team has to give a base to solve the problems the branches are having and improve systems for many years to come. The first issue stated was Max Blue think that meetings are a waste of time. How are problems going to be solved? A strategic plan is needed and Susy is willing to bring the management team to a retreat to develop a ten-year plan. The management team should all have some state in addressing solutions, but it can be peripheral. In reference to the inventory problem, the manager should meet the following departments to come up with their solution. The departments are Shipping, Manufacturing, Inventory Management, Purchasing, and Accounting because they deal the inventory one way or other. Speaking to all the heads in each of the departments can give the...
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...Jet Blue Airlines Strategic Management (Bus 599) October 16, 2011 In today’s society there are very few things that are limited in number. There are an immense number of companies that provide goods and services; those companies include but are not limited to wireless telephone companies, grocery stores, clothing stores, car dealerships, and airline companies. There are many different airline companies used daily for both national and international travel. JetBlue Airways is one amongst a number of airline companies. At one point JetBlue Airways was a discount airline carrier; which offered customer’s low fares, operated point-to-point systems, used two types of aircraft, served only snacks, and maintained quick turnaround times at airports. One of the airline company’s focal goals was for their customers to feel as if they were in a small cozy den in someone’s home. However, in the first six months of the year 2008 the US economy slowed and crude oil prices rose to a record of $140 per barrel. By this happening businesses had to cut back on employee travel and this rise in crude oil prices also stopped consumers from going on vacations. The rise in oil prices made air travel more expensive. There operating costs were low, especially compared to those of other major US airline companies (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010). Discuss Jet Blue’s strategic Intent Being affected by the increase in oil prices, Jet Blue decided to invest in the new airbus A320 which offered...
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...budget to implement CRM software and has championed the effort for months, touting CRM’s far reaching potential to company department heads but during the project’s latest planning meeting, the executives involved express disappointment when they see that the initiative won’t give them everything on their wish lists. One department head is disappointed that so few of her “must have” items are in Barry's latest plan. Another is sour on the project now that he's discovered he won't get any payback for two years. The CEO, who has given the project his blessing, isn't present to back up Golding, and after the meeting Golding leaves without a sense of what he could have done to keep the department heads on his side. What Went Wrong? Thankfully, Julie, a teammate of Golding’s, brings to light that Barry has fallen victim to the “blue-sky paradox”. The blue-sky paradox, explains Julie, occurs when project leaders, in an effort to “sell” their project for buy-in or budget reasons, asks stakeholders to dream big. In doing so, these project leaders often encourage expectations to be set so high that they can’t be met—setting people up for disappointment. At this point in the project, Golding has essentially shopped around results, which he’s not yet sure the program will be able to deliver on. Mathew & Co.’s CEO has asked him to increase “closet-share” by helping regional managers better understand customer needs and desires--but can Golding’s CRM software deliver in the short-term...
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...Pixar has had many challenges. When they first started out, they lacked the required items. They had an idea of dwelling more into the world of computer graphics, and had trouble with figuring out a solution. They eventually did, and released a couple of short films before releasing the first computer animated film Toy Story in 1995. The company uses computer animation software to create their beautiful films, and uses this software to help with marketing. Pixar is planning to release various films throughout the years, and will be successful throughout the future. I believe that Pixar will be an up and running company for many years to come. If I could change one thing about how they market themselves, it would be to keep their upcoming movies to themselves, and not put a release year for them. I would do this because events happen and situations come up to where maybe the set date for a movie maybe pushed back a year. If anticipated movie release dates fail, this could cause disappointment within the fan base. I would hint at that the movies are going to be released, but I would not give them a set year in case of cancellation or other...
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...Origin: Buoy is ring shaped and in red color in UK. Lifebuoy logo originates from here. It’s logo is oval shaped which reminds you of ring shape. g) Brand Color: Red as buoy is red in UK 3. Apple: a) Brand Launching: on April 1, 1976. It’s original name was Apple Computer, Inc. But, in 2007, it removed the word ‘Computer’. According to me, this is their branding strategy to thrive into consumer electronics goods. Very soon, they will launch HD TV. b) Country of Origin: California, USA c) Founder: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne. d) Industry: Computer Hardware, Computer software, Consumer electronics, etc. e) Brand Name origin: Steve jobs, the founder of Apple, came up with the name ‘Apple Computer’. No significance was behind this name. Many used to say Steve Jobs was working in a community type farm and that inspired him to name his company as ‘Apple Computer’. Again, some other claims that this name was given to depict the story of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. The learning thing is that Mr. Steve never disclosed the why he had selected the name and let other to continue the debate on. f) Brand Logo Origin: Very first Apple computer logo had a picture of Newton sitting...
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...illustrate the business strategy of Jet Blue airways. The company’s strategy advantages, i.e., the quality of services, market strategies, and employees trained and challenges of a company competing on price. Latterly, focus on how the company deals with high competitive market industry, shareholder and financial management. Assignment: #1 - Crafting and Executing Strategy 1. Discuss the trends in the U.S. airline industry and how these trends might impact a company’s strategy. The trends in the U.S. airline industry, most of the U.S. airlines are operate in discount airline carrier by offering the passengers low fares, operated point to point system, used two types of aircraft and served only snacks, also provided quick turnaround times at airports. The most of the U.S. airline concentrated in the domestic route, however most the domestic flight can help the company gain small amount of the profits margin. It is the high competition between the pricing of each airline to attract the customer. Many airlines save the time ranged from 20 to 30 minutes during the flight because no meal served during the flight, so the plane do not have to wait for catering services to replenish the aircraft. Although, to save time for flight attendants to clean up all the trash, that is also help the airline save budget for the operation system. Most of the airline will use the pricing strategy to competition with other company and also reach the goal of the company. Lastly, the airlines industry is...
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...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 IT industry and Globalisation 2008 Financial crisis and Impact on Indian IT sector Response steps taken by Indian IT firms (HCL, Infosys and TCS) Conclusion Introduction IT industry belongs to the servicing industry in India since India has not grown completely as Indigenous product developers in IT domain. So the growth and performance of Indian IT industry is completely attributed towards the institutions and organisations to which the software solutions or servicing is exported. It is very tough to comprehend and list out the types of macroeconomic shocks that an IT industry would face. The main reason for this would be IT sector as a whole doesn’t provide its software solutions not just one sector. It provides software solutions to almost all of the sectors like Manufacturing, Retail, Insurance, Banking, and Media, Entertainment so much more and still has scope in so many unexplored domains. Since the onset of globalisation in the early 90s, large capital influx and the crises that could be attributed with it have become one of the known risks. Large flows of capital into another country has created currency crisis in most of the countries. The most predominant of these shocks was recorded was in the East Asian countries. India never fell prey to these shocks and was effectively insulated from these shocks, until it has opened up its markets for investment by foreign players. The globalization and reforms of 90s...
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...Third Pass Value CHAPTER 7 PART 2 5 The Time Value of Money 6 Valuing Bonds 7 Valuing Stocks 7.1 Stocks and Stock Markets 7.2 Market Values, Book Values, and Liquidation Values 7.3 Valuing Common Stocks 7.4 Simplifying the Dividend Discount Model 7.5 Growth Stocks and Income Stocks 7.6 There Are No Free Lunches on Bay Street 7.7 Market Anomalies and Behavioural Finance 7.8 Summary 8 Net Present Value and Other Investment Criteria 9 Using Discounted Cash Flow Analysis to Make Investment Decisions 10 Project Analysis Valuing Stocks LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter, you should be able to: LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 Interpret stock trading information found on financial Web sites. Calculate the present value of a stock given forecasts of future dividends and future stock price. Use stock valuation formulas to infer the expected rate of return on a common stock. Interpret price-earnings ratios. Explain what professionals mean when they say that “there are no free lunches on Bay Street.” bre0089X_ch07_219-261.indd 219 31/01/12 11:32 AM Third Pass At the Toronto Stock Exchange and many other stock exchanges, all of the stock trading is done electronically, using computers. © James Leynse/Corbis. A corporation can raise cash to fund its investments by borrowing or by selling new shares of common stock to investors. If it borrows, it has a fixed obligation to repay the lender. If it issues shares, there is no fixed obligation, but the new...
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...the website's membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to their high-school students. Facemash, the Facebook’s predecessor, opened on October 28, 2003. Initially, the website was invented by Zuckerberg and his fellow tech buddies. Zuckerberg wrote the software for the Facemash website when he was in his second year of college. The website was set up as a type of “hot or not” game for Harvard students. The website allowed visitors to compare two student pictures side-by-side and let them choose who was “hot” and who was “not.” Facebook was initially incorporated as a Florida LLC. For the first few months after its launch in February 2004, the costs for the website operations for Facebook.com were paid for by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin, who had taken equity stakes in the company. In the summer of 2004, Peter Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in the social network Facebook for 10.2% of the company and joined Facebook's board. This was the first outside investment in Facebook. Facebook allows you to maintain a large, active network without putting in a great deal of face time, which for most users is the most important aspect of Facebook. Facebook is designed to allow easy, fast communication with a single post; you can reach your entire network in an instant. For businesses or individuals with a personal...
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...In regards to the issue of how effective and efficient mobile-based applications are at capturing customer data and tools that utilize geolocation technology, we will begin with the current state of smartphone app usage and specific processes made in correlation with mobile devices. Experts predict that by 2020 there will be more than three billion mobile devices making 450 billion mobile transactions. (Chordas, 2012) This key set of projections made by experts concerning future trends in the mobile space, have many companies taking notes and preparing to use mobile based apps using tools like geolocation and customer data usage to their advantage. For example, in the insurance sector, companies like State Farm are creating apps that allow young drivers and parents to study driving trends, utilizing young drivers’ smartphones with mechanisms like accelerometers. State Farm just released its Driver Feedback app for use on Android devices. (Chordas, 2012) State Farm did not just focus on the Android smartphone platform for publishing their apps, the Apple iPhone was also part of the focus regarding their market expansion. State Farm published this unique app for Apple iPhones to engage broader smartphone markets. In 2011, the carrier launched an application for iOS devices that tracks driving behavior. This app as Chordas reports, offers teen drivers and their parents access to nonbiased feedback so families can have constructive conversations about safe driving. (2012) When...
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...movie, thoughts and philosophy. This movie is like a harmony between thoughts of every historical period. Firstly, every character name is chose especially in this movie. For example, In Greek mythology, Morpheus is the God of dreams. Furthermore, “morph” means “morphine” which is used in medicine as tranquillizer. Morpheus lives in another world and he always be stand by Neo. Neo is nick name of Thomas Anderson in matrix. According to mysticism Neo is referred to as "the One". In Christianity “one” symbolizes Jesus Christ. The name Thomas is Hebrew and means "twin." As Thomas, he works for a software company. As Neo, he is a computer hacker in matrix who wakes up in the real world. In Christianity, Jesus dies on the cross, but later is resurrected and ascends up to heaven. In the movie, Neo dies but later comes back to life. At the end of the movie, Neo resurrects and flies up into the sky. Trinity is the third character. According to Pythagoras, three is the perfect number. In Christianity, there are three holy power: The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. From this point of view, Morpheus is The Father, Neo is The Son and Trinity is The Holy Spirit. The Oracle is a person who was intermediary between God and people in Greek history. Also, she is a soothsayer in the movie. Cypher is a form of “Cipher”. In some computational systems, Cipher means “zero”. It can be referred as no value. His devilish beard and his red dress symbolizes Satan. The Agents represent human races. Their...
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