...2010 International Conference on Science and Social Research (CSSR 2010), December 5 - 7, 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2010 CSSR 2010 Final Submission Learning from Kmart’s Mistakes: New Improvements on Mydin Hypermarket’s Business Strategies Normah Binti Omar, Zuraidah Mohd Sanusi, Norilmiah Abdul Aziz and Nor Ashikin Ismail Accounting Research Institute & Faculty of Accountancy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia Abstract— In Malaysia, the hypermarket business is an extremely competitive venture. Beside the high amount of capital that one needs to invest in, the business also exposes new players to global and well– structured competitors such as Giant, Carrefour and Tesco, to name a few. The current paper explores and describes the experiences of one Malaysian player, the Mydin Hypermarket in its quest to champion the local consumer market. A 2003 publication of a US bestseller entitled KMart’s Ten Deadly Sins had a tremendous impact on the business strategy and future direction of the Mydin business in this country. Originally built in the 1990s to emulate the then highly successful K-Mart Superstore in the United States, the Mydin Business had to immediately change its business strategic direction. Premised on interviews, site visits, observation and document analysis, this article provides a qualitative narration and a discussion on the various counter strategies undertaken by the management of Mydin Hypermarket in order to avoid having to face the same fate as...
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...‘M&As: why don’t people ever learn from the mistakes of others? by William Richards Introduction Over the years, mergers and acquisitions research has identified the importance of leadership and workplace learning as critical determinants of M&A activities and outcomes. However, surprisingly little systematic attention has been paid to conceptualising or studying the impact and effect of either leadership styles or learning on the success of M&As – either in the academic or in the practitioner literature (Cartwright and Cooper, 2001) Although scholars and practitioners recognise that acquisitions frequently fail to live up to their potential (Larsson and Finkelstein, 1999), the impact of leadership on the outcomes of the acquisition process and the learning that takes place, has not been well developed or even widely recognised. A review of scholarly and practitioner focused writing on M&As suggest that while much has been written on the actual M&A process, others have only occasionally noted the critical importance of leadership and learning in the success or failure of M&As. Even in those cases where the leadership impact has been acknowledged, past work on M&As has neither examined nor proposed any details concerning what constitutes what learning that actually takes place during M&A or how it makes a difference. A review of academic and practitioner literature on M&A reveals that discussion of the primary determinants of M&A process and outcomes rarely ever...
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...británicos que están aprendiendo español. La conclusión mostrará que el análisis de estos errores puede ayudar a predecir algunos de estos errores. PALABRAS CLAVE. Influencia negativa, transferencia lingüística, español como segunda lengua, dos partes: una teórica y un análisis práctico, transferencia negativa, predecir errores. ABSTRACT. This paper focuses on the negative influence of Language Transfer on the learning process Spanish as an L2. It is divided into two main parts; a theoretical one and a practical analysis. The former includes the different aspects considering language transfer, whereas the latter analyses different mistakes due to negative transfer, which have been taken form texts written by several British students when learning Spanish. The conclusion will show that the analysis of these mistakes may help predict some of these mistakes. KEY WORDS. negative influence, language transfer, Spanish as a L2, theoretical part and practical analysis, negative transfer, predict mistakes.. 1. THEORETICAL PART 1.1. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS Whenever one is learning a new language, there are certain aspects that have to be considered in order to achieve a good knowledge of that new language. Among these aspects several concepts should be defined before...
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...Learn From Your Mistakes Mistakes are unavoidable in life and leaders certainly make their share of them. Any time you look to break new ground or technologies or whatever it is you are leading, you open up many new avenues for mistakes and they are inevitable with change. You can’t have one without the other and so learning to use mistakes well is an important leadership trait. The first point about mistakes is that a great leader learns from their own mistakes. They know when they make it and will quickly look at what can be salvaged or gained from the mistake as to avoid it in the future or to streamline some action or process to improve it next time. This makes no difference if the mistake is big or small, there is always something to be learned from it and mistakes offer an immediate piece of feedback to anyone who is wise enough to learn from it. Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom. (Phyllis Therous) Another point of learning from mistakes is to also be a leader in this area and actually admit your own mistakes. Admit when you were wrong, and emphasize what you have learned from it and what your next steps are work around that mishap. If you encourage and set the example of owning up to mistakes quickly and working past them, you can quickly inspire your followers to do the same and look at the value of the mistakes instead of hiding from them. Leave Room for Mistakes to Happen If you have done the first part and owned up and admitted...
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...Business Mistakes and Failures Tynesha Walker December 19, 2012 Business Mistakes and Failures “Nobody cleared a path for themselves by giving up” stated Alacia Bessette (2010) .How do entrepreneurs and small business owners learn from their mistakes and failure? There are many ways they learn from their mistakes and failure. Everyone makes mistake but, mistakes are made to be learned from to better you in the future. There are mistakes like scheming over your business plan, putting too much money into it, and ignoring strong criticism. There are also many steps to rebound from your failure such as rebounding from failure and learning from setbacks, so let me explain. “The failure of an entrepreneur means the social death of the individual—not to speak of the consequences for his/her creditors, contractual partners, workers, employees, and his/her family”. (Roethe, T. 2012).When failure comes along it is heartache, but it is also one mistake you will learn from. After making a mistake business owners will get the idea of the things he or she need to do to become more successful and not make the same mistake again. Business owners must learn to accept their failures, understand why the mistake happened, and learn how to keep it from happening again. Many small business owners may be tempted to drain themselves dry when it comes to financing their business and much more. Failure of any kind can be a setback for entrepreneurs, but it doesn't have to spell disaster (Bartmann...
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...Intro to Music Education Philosophy of Music Education My Philosophy of Music Education Music is more than just notes on a page, pitches, and rhythms. Its more than just learning how to play an instrument or learning to sing well. Its an emotional learning experience, where not only are you physically involved, but you are emotionally involved to the point where your soul is touched. Music can express things in a way that words are inadequate of accomplishing. Music is a universal language of beauty. It brings people together, promises hope, peace and joy, and heals even the deepest of wounds. To me, music is something that speaks to me and impacts my life in very powerful ways and I want to pass that passion and love for music along to many, many students someday. I believe that children can learn so much from music. Their capability at a young age to be very passionate about a certain subject is wonderful and therefore must be capitalized on. They bring so much energy and passion that to shy away from giving them the opportunity to learn and develop through music would be a waste of all that energy and potential passion. With children, getting them involved earlier on in their lives can be very effective. There are some who can pick up that same passion and energy later on in their lives, but when started early in music, there is time to develop. They develop in skill and also in their appreciation for the beauty of what music really is. This combination of perspectives...
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...reading different articles. I have come to the conclusion that a lot of businesses make the same mistakes, they try rushing everything. You can survive your mistakes and tuen then into great learning tools and turn things possive for your business, instead of your business being a failure.I will be telling you some of the most common mistakes that are made . Ways to learn and remendy the problems. Enpretrenuers and Small Businesses Owners I read just a few articles on mistakes and failures .I found out a lot of small business owners and enpretrenures make a lot of the same common mistakes. Usually this happens when they are trying to get their business off the ground. Some of the mistakes that were made were very expensive learning lessons. However you can survive most of the failures and mistakes that are made. You can overcome them , but most importantly you must learn from them. Once you see where you went wrong. You must try again, just cause you failed one does not mean you will fail again . As far as mistakes go you will always make some mistakes. One of the articles I read that I thought was interesting to me was Greenbulb LLC . This a electronic cigarette company. These very young enpretreneurs had no problems listing off many mistakes that made getting their business of the ground. Some of the mistakes they made were inadequate research, financeing, and the biggest mistake of all outside distractions. I am going to tell you about this in detail. If you don’t do...
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...Learning Team Reflection: Week 2 March 4, 2015 Jean Goodman Learning Team Reflection: Week 2 Arthur Anderson was a leading accounting firm in 2002 and the organization was destroyed that same year A number of mistakes were made by Arthur Andersen leading to the failure of the organization; these were portrayed in the case, “A Sad Tale: The Demise of Arthur Anderson”. Arthur Anderson became commonly known for the motto “Think Straight and Talk Straight” (Parrino, Kidwell, & Bates, 2012). This motto served as an ethical guideline for the organization. Mistakes Made within the Organization Arthur Andersen quickly fell victim to accounting scandals within the accounting practice. The first mistake made within the organization was due to financial conflicts between the auditing department and the consulting department. Some of the consulting clients were also auditing clients and when the consulting departments profits exceeded the auditing departments profits, this created a conflict of interest. Maintaining the separation between these departments and the funds would have alleviated this issue. Another mistake made by the organization was the unethical act of forcing auditors to sell consulting contracts to their clients. This led to the largest mistake of reporting false information; the SEC charged Arthur Andersen with obstruction of justice, as the organization was found guilty of falsifying documents relating to Enron’s financial records. Actions to Prevent...
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...As long as you learn from your mistakes, nothing is lost. Even your mistakes made are then one of ‘all things’ which work together for good for them that love Me. As long as you come to Me, and I can teach you about the things you did wrong or could do better, there’s no need for remorse, which never helped much, anyway. But you can turn right around, determine to keep an eye on that weakness, ask Me to help you be on guard & ‘deliver you from evil’, strengthen the feeble knees & the hands that hang down, & go to work on building new, healthier habits. And that’s what you call ‘progress’ & learning. Mistakes are an essential part of the meaning of life. It’s just the inborn sinful human nature not to want to obey me at first. The Devil comes up with his contra immediately & pipes up, ....’Sssssso, did God reaaally ssssay ssso...?’ And you know what’ll happen next. You’ll make a mistake. Call it a sin – you miss the mark. I have to punish you, you learn the lesson, and that’s the cycle of things at the present state of creation under the curse. It will not always be so. This is only practice with weights, so that soon you’ll be able to fly. It took that road of humbling, the road of making mistakes, the road of failure, to come to the realization of My unconditional love for you. You cannot turn back time, and everyone has made mistakes, but you’re not meant to make the same mistakes over & over. Some mistakes you don’t even realize until much later, some only when you get here...
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...WHAT DID I DO I attended a seminar held in Arcada about learning. I took part in the seminar. The topic was about "WHAT DO WE DO TO LEARN” . The seminar was interesting and everyone seemed to enjoy and involved. The room was full in the beginning but in the end so many people had left. Personally I feel that this was so wrong because if people had to attend the seminar then they had to stay until the end. WHAT I LEARNT I learn that you don’t trust one theory because this will make you lost. I strongly believe this is true because one theory could be challenging the other and it could be good source of knowledge. Learning is relational, we learn through relationship for example through our parents, our peers and from any relationship that we make. No one can be forced to learn, for learning to take place there must be willingness, so basically there should be cooperation between students and teachers. Learning takes place by listening to the eyes, voice and body. You cannot force people to change, this is because change should come from the victims own will. An effective therapist supports the self help of clients; this means that the therapists should help clients and support them as they try to solve their problems. This also shows that learning is all about relationships. Learning is also through experience. During the discussions quite a good number of the participants supported this is because everyone seemed to have learned something through experience. This...
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...Kermit and the Keyboard Three years ago, Kermit decided that he wanted to learn to play the keyboard. Many years ago, he studied music formally, and he enrolled as a music performance major at a local university. He became proficient at clarinet and saxophone and played in both the community symphony and a five- piece dance band. However, the repetitive nature of concerts— playing the same pieces time and again—eventually bored Kermit, and he dropped out of school before earning a degree. Kermit became attracted to the keyboard because he liked the idea of a one-man band. The electronic capabilities of these instruments are truly amazing. One person at the controls can indeed sound like many instruments playing in harmony. The instrument Kermit bought had many built-in features (e.g., prerecorded backgrounds and accompaniments, different voices and rhythms, the ability to play and record multiple tracks, the ability to slow down or speed up the accompaniments). As one might imagine, the instrument also came with a lengthy manual illustrating and describing all its various features and how to use them. Although Kermit learned to read a musical score when he was taking formal lessons, he has never played a keyboard before, so he spends time hunting and pecking on the keys to familiarize himself with the layout. He hauls out some old music instruction books with simple exercises in them, and he buys a couple of fake books that contain familiar popular songs. Fake books show what...
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...Introduction Organizational Learning has become an important theory in the development of leadership and organizational growth. There are many works available on the topic but Peter M. Senge’s book “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization” is held as the foremost organizational learning concept that others have built upon. In 1990, Senge outlined the five disciplines as follows: 1. System Thinking: is the conceptual framework where organizations see the total picture to make effective change. It is considered the cornerstone of the disciplines. 2. Personal Mastery: is dependent on the commitment of the organization’s members to effect change so the organization may learn. 3. Mental Models: exposes the biases that we carry with us, which we may be unaware of. In order to learn and change it is necessary to “turn the mirror inward.” It opens the member to “learningful” conversations and other’s input. 4. Building Shared Vision: this is the shared commitment of the future goals of the organization. The key component of this discipline is that the vision is shared by the stakeholders and not dictated by the organization. 5. Team Learning: this is the foundation to the organization’s ability to thrive. It is a vital component of modern organizations as the learning unit is the team, as opposed to the individual. The teams must learn so the organization may learn. Senge defined his framework as disciplines because he considered them...
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...survived a horrible massacre at Cannae by the Carthaginian commander, Hannibal. When he was only 17 years old, he saved the life of his father in an act of extreme bravery and selflessness. Later, his father and uncle would each die in battles against the Carthaginians, in part due to limited Roman forces sent by an uncommitted Roman senate. Instead of being bitter and turning away from responsibility from fear, Scipio learned everything he could about Hannibal’s war tactics. Eventually, in an act of obligation for his fallen patriarchs and from a desire to test his strength and skill, Scipio volunteered as Commander of Legions in Spain when no one else would. Following his appointment, he spent time to get to know his allies and to commend those he was leading in order to build their confidence and their support for his leadership. Despite an initial battle loss against the Carthaginians, Scipio didn’t give up, and he ultimately defeated Hannibal by knowing his enemy’s strengths and weakness and by implementing his own creative battle strategies. There are many leadership lessons to be taken from Scipio’s life. He took responsibility as a leader to take his fathers place when...
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...Philosophy of a Learning Organization STEPHEN G. LIND Central Michigan University Dr. Spyros Catechis MSA 620: Effective Administration and Organizational Behavior October 21, 2008 Philosophy of a Learning Organization The purpose of this essay is to provide my philosophy and discuss my beliefs and ideas of a learning organization. It will answer questions such as, what is a learning organization?; what are the characteristics of a learning organization?; what research or doctrine supports my philosophy?; what assessments would be used to document that the organization is learning?; and how do you know the organization is effective? BusinessDictionary.com defines a learning organization as: An “organization that acquires knowledge and innovates fast enough to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Learning organizations (1) create a culture that encourages and supports continuous employee learning, critical thinking, and risk taking with new ideas, (2) allow mistakes, and value employee contributions, (3) learn from experience and experiment, and (4) disseminate the new knowledge throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day activities” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2008). This definition covers succinctly, how my philosophy of a learning organization should think and operate. It is important to consider the mindset and goals of an organization, as well as the definition...
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...Leadership An interdisciplinary team requires many different disciplines working together to accomplish the same goal of excellent patient care by focusing on outcomes. Two strategies that enable a nurse on an interdisciplinary team to exert leadership without occupying a formal leadership role is knowing what issues need to be addressed and taking a stance to do something about them and remaining positive. By speaking up, the nurse brings concerns to light and reduces patient risks. The nurse also needs to have a clear, concise, and appropriate plan of care for the patient that everyone on the team is aware of. Also, remaining positive and not contributing to “whining” or “finger pointing” will help make the members of the team support and respect the nurse's input. By attempting these strategies, the nurse is able to keep the patient's best interest at hand. It is extremely important for a nurse to be actively involved in an interdisciplinary team because the nurse is the front line of patient care. The nurse spends the majority of her day at the patient's bedside. This gives the nurse an opportunity to really get to know the patient and what needs the patient may have. In order to adequately meet the needs of the patient, the nurse must take the lead role in the patient's plan of care. The nurse has the responsibility of seeing the “big picture” and making all the “tools” the other disciplines have to offer work together in harmony. Effective teamwork, open communication...
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