...Tom Brewster, one of the field sales managers of Major Tool Works, Inc., was promoted to his first headquarters assignment as an assistant product manager for a group of products with which he was relatively unfamiliar. Shortly after he undertook this new assignment, one of the company's vice presidents, Nick Smith, called a meeting of product managers and other staff to plan marketing strategies. Brewster's immediate superior, the product manager, was unable to attend, so the director of marketing, Jeff Reynolds, invited Brewster to the meeting to help orient him to his new job. Because of the large number of people attending, Reynolds was rather brief in introducing Brewster to Smith, who, as vice president, was presiding over the meeting. After the meeting began, Smith—a crusty veteran with a reputation for bluntness—began asking a series of probing questions that most of the product managers were able to answer in detail. Suddenly he turned to Brewster and began to quest ion him quite closely about his group of products. Somewhat confused, Brewster confessed that he did not know the answers. It was immediately apparent to Reynolds that Smith had forgotten or had failed to understand that Brewster was new to this job and was attending the meeting more for his own orientation than to contribute to it. He was about to offer a discreet explanation when Smith, visibly annoyed with what he took to be Brewster's lack of preparation, announced, Gentlemen, you have just seen an example...
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...Abstract This research looks at the General Motors Company and what led to company failure and filing of bankruptcy in 2009. The American automotive industry was poorly managed for years and was almost eliminated when the economy crashed in 2008. Without the help of the U.S. government, General Motors and Chrysler would not have been able to survive. How did GM, as the number one auto manufacturer and seller, go from being at the top to almost ceasing to exist? This kind of financial mess usually takes years of poor decisions and does not happen to a large company overnight. To come to my conclusion I analyzed four books written by people with inside knowledge of the company, as well as magazine articles and a couple of online websites. As a result of my research, I believe that the problems that GM faced stemmed from poor risk management. Rick Wagonner, former CEO, made several poor business decisions that did not take into account any future risks or market changes. A new management team and a fresh perspective were able to turn the company around and put them back at the top of the automotive industry. Risk Management within the General Motors Company General Motors has been in business since 1908 and currently employs 202,000 people in 157 countries world-wide. It is a well-known fact that GM took government bailout money and filed bankruptcy in 2009. How did one of the largest companies in the world fall to needing financial assistance and declaring bankruptcy...
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...School of Management Course Syllabus Purpose Seminar/Constructive Action: Intra & Entrepreneurship/Business Planning Course Code: FLD 521 PCA Course Description Students create an intra or entrepreneurial plan for the development and growth of a beneficial and profitable venture incorporating the necessary marketing, financial, legal, organizational and administrative components. Course Objectives After completing the course, the student will be able to: 1. Apply acquired business skills (finance, accounting, marketing, management, negotiation, human relations, legal, and administrative) to create an intra or entrepreneurial business plan for the development and growth of a beneficial and profitable venture. 2. Improve on key business skills including writing, oral communications, goal-setting, and organizational leadership and planning. 3. Produce a business planning document that will enable you to successfully implement your Purpose III Constructive Action project. Course Relevance to CA The course introduces the students to business management: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling that are applicable to managing entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial ventures. This course prepares the students for real life business operations and teaches them practical application of theoretical learning. Course Prerequisite Purpose I Constructive Action Required Textbook: Stutely, R. (2007). The definitive business plan: the fast-track...
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...CASE – 1 INTERNATIONAL CASE: MCDONALDS’S – SERVING FAST FOOD AROUND THE WORLD Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in1955. He offered a limited menu of high-quality, moderately-priced food served in spotless surroundings. McDonald’s QSC&V (quality, service, cleanliness, and value) was a hit. The chain expanded into every state in the nation. By 1983 it had more than 6,000 restaurants in the United States and by 1995 it had more than 18,000 restaurants in 89 countries, located in six continents. In 1995 alone, the company built 2,400 restaurants, and by 2001 it had more than 29,000 restaurants in 121 countries. In 1967, McDonald’s opened its first restaurant outside United States, in Canada. Since then, international growth has been accelerate. In 1995, the “Big Six” countries that provide about 80 per cent of the international operating income are: Canada, Japan, Germany, Australia, France, and England. Yet fast food has barely touched many cultures. The opportunities for expanding the market are great, as 99 per cent of the world population are not yet McDonald’s customers. For example, in China, with a population of 1.2 billion people, there were only 62 McDonald’s restaurants in 1995. McDonald’s vision is to be the major player in food services around the world. In Europe, McDonald’s maintains a small percentage of restaurant sales but commands a large share of the fast-food market. It took the company 14 years of planning before...
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...needed. However, there are trade-offs when organizations make jobs highly specialized. Highly specialized jobs can cause organizations to lose the ability associated with employees who can be flexible in what they do. By spending all their time performing specialized tasks well, employees fail to update or practice other skills. Accounting majors, for example, might specialize in taxes or auditing. Some larger companies might hire these graduates for their ability to do either auditing or tax—but not both. Other companies might be looking for an accountant who can perform either aspect well, depending on how they divide up accounting duties within their organization. Still other companies might want to hire “general managers” who understand accounting, finance, management, marketing, and operations as a part of their job. Thus, high levels of specialization...
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...Assignment of General Management on the Abilene Paradox: The Management of Agreement Joseph NGENZI MPAM/3020/11 This Term Paper is Submitted in partial fulfillment of UNIT MBA 603 grades of the School of Business and Public Management for the award of Master of Public Administration and Management. Mt. Kenya University July, 2011 INTRODUCTION Four adults are sitting on a porch in 104-degree heat in the small town of Coleman, Texas, some 53 miles from Abilene. They are engaging in as little motion as possible, drinking lemonade, watching the fan spin lazily, and occasionally playing the odd game of dominoes. The characters are a married couple and the wife’s parents. At some point, the wife’s father suggests they drive to Abilene to eat at a cafeteria there. The son in-law thinks this is a crazy idea but doesn’t see any need to upset the apple cart, so he goes along with it, as do the two women. They get in their unaired-conditioned Buick and drive through a dust storm to Abilene. They eat a mediocre lunch at the cafeteria and return to Coleman exhausted, hot, and generally unhappy with the experience. It is not until they return home that it is revealed that none of them really wanted to go to Abilene–they were just going along because they thought the others were eager to go. Naturally, everyone sees this miss in communication as someone else’s problem. Dr. Harvey used this wonderfully simple parable to illustrate what he believes is a major symptom of organizational...
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...Case – 1 ALEXANDER GAVIN’S DILEMMA: CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND BUSINESS AS USUAL April 10, 1983 Dear Professor Hennessey: I have not talked with you since my participation in The Executive Program at Tuck School in the summer of 1978. Many times I’ve hoped I might come back to visit but my life has been one surprise after the other, and I have been too busy to take any vacations in recent years. I want to tell you about a situation that happened to me recently. I know you will be interested in it, and if you have time I’d like you to tell me what you would have done had you been in my position. As I think you know, I am Senior Project Manager for the El Sahd Construction Company in Kuwait. The company is a prosperous one, with an excellent reputation for producing in a timely and cost-effective way on major construction projects in the Middle East. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is a wellknown Kuwaiti and my direct boss is another American expatriate who is Senior Vice President for urban construction projects. Two months ago, we put in a bid to be the principal subcontractor on a project in Iran. Our bid was $30 million, and we expected to bargain with Ajax, Ltd., the British-based company asking for the bids. We had built a heavy profit into the $30 million. I was asked to go to Tehran on March 3rd to talk with the Ajax manager of the major project. That manager told me that we were going to get the job. I was delighted. The job meant a lot to us. We had...
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...Q1. What are the different approaches to Globalization? Comment on relevance of Swadeshi movement in today’s Globalized environment. Ans. Globalization has become a ‘magic’ word used to express a change in all areas of life from economy to politics or from social politics to culture. Globalization is the growing role of external factors (economic, social and cultural) in the reproduction of all member of a country to form of a single world market(s) without barriers. 'A global shift'; that is, a world being molded, by economic and technological forces, into a shared economic and political arena. Major phase in international relations, which has been established several decades ago, but its formation was not completed by the beginning of the third millennium. However, the public attention it attracted only in 1990. Approaches towards Globalization The Indian companies are adopting the following approaches to globalization- The First Approach is the Reliance approach. Here the Indian company attains global parameters of production but its market focus is mainly domestic. E.g. Bajaj Auto, Hero Cycles, Maruti Udoy, BHEL, Mahindra & Mahindra. The Second Approach is the Sundaram Fasteners route where an Indian Company emerges as a global sub-contractor. The Chennai based Sundaram Fasteners is now a major supplier of radiator to GM. The Third Approach is the one personified by the Tata Tetley deal itself. Taking over foreign companies or investing in the foreign ventures....
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...Warren Oats was a highly successful executive for American Auto Suppliers, a Chicago-based company that makes original-equipment specialty parts for Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Rather than retreat before the onslaught of Japanese automakers, AAS decided to counterattack and use its reputation for quality and dependability to win over customers in Japan. Oats had started in the company as an engineer and worked his way up to become one of a handful of senior managers who had a shot at the next open vicepresidential position. He knew he needed to distinguish himself somehow, so when he was given a chance to lead the AAS attack on the Japanese market, he jumped at it. Oats knew he did not have time to learn Japanese, but he had heard that many Japanese executives speak English, and the company would hire a translator anyway. The toughest part about leaving the United States was persuading his wife, Carol, to take an eighteen-month leave from her career as an attorney with a prestigious Chicago law firm. Carol finally persuaded herself that she did not want to miss an opportunity to learn a new culture. So, armed with all the information they could gather about Japan from their local library, the Oats headed for Tokyo. Known as an energetic, aggressive salesperson back home, Warren Oats wasted little time getting started. As soon as his office had a telephone—and well before all his files had arrived from the States—Oats made an appointment to meet with executives of one...
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...Caution: This written script is purely a work of fiction and it has no resemblance with any person, living or dead. If any such resemblance is found, it would only be co-incidence and nothing else. The Undercover Characters: Denny : an undercover agent from America. He will do anything it takes to save his country. Sunny : Denny’s assistant. A man who can get away with his tounge from every situation. Vin : A loyal cop from Iraq. High on morals and powerful with his fists. Dwyane : Denny’s friend from America. A short tempered samoan killing machine. General Mushtaq : Head of arab military. He controls all the power of Arab countries. Nexus 5 : A group of 5 mindless geniuses who just like to blow everything off. Scene 1: Istanbul , Turkey. In a abandoned old building of Istanbul. Drug mafia of turkey were all set to have a meeting. They were gonna exchange their communication codes in a magnetic chip through which they export drugs to America, Canada and some parts of Asia. 2 groups arrive, the old head of mafia was to pass the chip to the new manager, a suited booted person with a business degree to take the trades to a whole new level. Somehow this news got leaked to the Intelligence agency of USA, so they sent the best man, Denny Cruise to eliminate the whole setup of mafia all at one place in one go. Denny got there with his partner, Sunny, well not quite charming as Denny but a man who could get away with anything at anytime with anyone just by his talking...
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...Measuring Customer Satisfaction Introduction – Customer Satisfaction The definition of customer satisfaction is very simple. A customer is satisfied whenever his or her needs, real or perceived, are met or exceeded. So how do you know what the customer needs, wants and expects? It’s very simple. You ask, and then you provide what the customer wants and more (Gerson, 1993, p.17). There exists an interaction between the desired results and customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer retention. Without the customer it is impossible for any business to sustain itself. Achieving the desired results is frequently a result of customer actions. Any business without a focus on customer satisfaction is at the mercy of the market. Without loyal customers eventually a competitor will satisfy those desires and the customer retention rate will decrease. There are several levels of customers: 1 1. Dissatisfied customer - Looking for someone else to provide product or service. 2. Satisfied customer - Open to the next better opportunity. 3. Loyal customer - Returns despite offers by the competition. Dissatisfied customers are an interesting group. For every one that complains there are at least 25 who do not. Dissatisfied customers by word of mouth will tell eight to sixteen others about their dissatisfaction. With the web some are now telling thousands. 91% of dissatisfied customers never purchase goods or services from the company...
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...CASE STUDY Succession Management at General Electric# General Electric (GE) is widely recognized and respected for its leadership talent and its succession management system. One of the best examples of succession management is how GE’s former CEO, Jack Welch, shaped and elevated the company’s philosophy, practice, and reputation for developing leaders. In a 1991 speech, Welch stated, “From now on, choosing my successor is the most important decision I’ll make.” GE’s commitment to developing leaders from within has yielded positive results for both the company’s employees and for GE. In fact, the program has been so successful that it’s been widely emulated by other global organizations. Measuring and developing talent lies at the forefront of GE’s business strategy discussions. GE’s operating system, referred to as its “learning culture in action,” entails year-round learning sessions in which leaders from GE and outside companies share best practices with one another and generate ideas for new practices. Harry Elsinga, manager of executive development at GE, notes, “We really have a tight organization around how we combine our leadership meetings and how we approach our business. We have a constant cycle going on throughout the year where we talk about business and people at the same time. How do we develop talent in those businesses, how do we make sure that we have the right people to open a particular plant or to do an acquisition, etc.? Those discussions always...
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...GM591F Leadership and Organizational Behavior Case Study Group development Christine’s group is now facing the storming stage of team development. This is the point when there are high emotions and tension between the members of the team. During this stage there may be conflict, arguments, hostility and possibly fighting. Separate cliques may form within the group and each group may begin to compete against one another. During the stage of storming communication may be cut off and assumptions are made. Social loafing may occur as a result of the storming phase. The separation between teams may cause certain members to withdraw from the group because they may not have the personality to handle conflict. This is an issue because that team member will stay away from meetings in fear of having to confront or be confronted by the issues present. Another reason for the storming phase is due to the personalities of each member surfacing. If Christine was familiar with the storming stage of team development she may have recognized the red flags leading up to this phase. The text describes recognition of the storming pressures that should result in establishing goals and expectations. Once Christine recognized the storming was beginning, she should have taken the initiative as a leader to redirect the focus from the negative to working towards confronting the obstacles that were going to change the focus of the original task at hand. Problem Identification The primary issue...
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...Problema # 1: Un ingeniero diseña una herramienta para trabajar en máquinas las cuales se encuentran a distintas temperaturas. El único parámetro de diseño que él puede seleccionar en este punto es el material con que se recubrirá la herramienta y cuenta con cuatro alternativas. El ingeniero no tiene control sobre los extremos de temperatura que tendrán las máquinas donde operarán las herramientas y sabe por experiencia que es probable que la temperatura influya en la duración de de la herramienta. El ingeniero probará la herramienta a tres temperaturas: 100 ºF, 200 ºF y 300 ºF. Se prueban dos herramientas a cada combinación de material de recubrimiento y temperatura y las 24 pruebas se ejecutan al azar. Tipo de material Temperatura (ºF) 100 200 300 Ti 1 4 2 10 12 15 15 58 2 5 3 5 7 5 7 32 3 4 4 10 11 4 6 39 4 3 3 12 12 10 12 52 Tj 28 79 74 181 Solución.- i) Ho: σj² = σ² Vj Ho: σj² ≠ σ² al menos uno Vj Aplicando la dócima Cochran: Cc = 2 / 14.5 = 0.14 < > Ct,n-1,r-,95% = 0.60 Entonces: Cc < Ct Ho ii) Ho: Bj = 0 Vj Ho: Bj ≠ 0 al menos uno Vj SCT = (N-1) x S² SCT = (24 – 1) x 16.78 SCT = 385.96 SCTr = 36 / 2 + 64 / 2 + 64 / 2 + 36 / 2 +484 / 2 + 144 / 2 + 441 / 2 + 576 / 2 + 900 / 2 + 144 / 2 +100 / 2 + 484 / 2 - 181² / 24 SCTr = 1686.5 – 1365.04 SCTr = 321.4 SCE = SCT - SCTr SCE = 64.56 ANVA: F.V. G.L. S.C. S.C.M. Fc Tratamiento 12 – 1...
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...Case 11’s problems are very typical for many organizations and movements. In this case, a normally strong group of walruses are effectively weakened by the lack of communication and the lack of approachability of the leading walrus. Many things came to my mind as we were working on this case. The things that stood the most out to me was how well that the elements of loyalty and respect had been fused with fear and lack of accountability. This “fusion” is not new to the business world, even if it was used in this fable to illustrate a very valid scenario. Many organizations and businesses like Enron, even if it was one of the biggest scandals the business world of U.S. ever experienced, has had to deal with the inflamed issue of secrets and notifications that have been suppressed when the organizations were in dire need of having these things exposed, to change the negative course of happenings. Many companies that merge with other larger companies may make seem to us outsiders that they are being bought up because they just wish for a collaborative effort with a larger and more experienced company. This is most of the times not true. Companies that are bought up by other larger companies, usually get into the merge due to an internal problem, that very often can be attributed to an issue related to the lack of communication or behavioral misconducts, that has lead to a grave lack in the input section of the organization, whether it be human capital or just capital. By allowing...
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