...HeroBuilders.Com Case Study Greta B. Sorvik College of St. Scholastica March 24, 2014 HeroBuilders.Com Case Study This case assignment will analyze HeroBuilders.com’s research study. Emil Vicale created a super hero action figure, and with interest expanded his prototype into a global business. This essay will describe the research performed, while applying MGMT 6431 course concepts. Type of Study The HeroBuilders.com case study is closest related to an example of an explanatory research study. Emil Vicale formed a theory based on the forces that caused a certain phenomenon to occur (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Mr. Vicale detected the need of personalized action figures based on individual requests after friends and acquaintances saw his personal collection. To determine viability of the action figure business, research was started by searching the internet for viability of the action figure business. It was determined there were dozens of companies worldwide, and Hasbro would be the biggest competitor. He also concluded that action figures take up most of the space in the toy aisle. The research was done to justify the phenomenon of personalized action figures and to determine the feasibility in the industry. The explanatory study was conducted to answer the “why and how questions” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 22). Research The research was not clearly defined; the product was created prior to conducting an industry needs analysis, it was not until the product...
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...will be resolved, and answers in the most economical way, and with valid, reliable, stable, and practical information. Research Problem and Purpose The most prolific management dilemma that modern businesses encounter is identifying innovative ways to reduce costs. A way businesses can reduce costs is through changing the organizational structure. It is the function of management to organize the resources, locations, and authority within the organization to ensure optimal use of resources, manpower, money, capital, and equipment. The purpose of the research study is to determine whether outsourcing to an overseas corporation will provide enough cost savings to maintain their competitive advantage. Clarifying the Research Question Research questions are open-ended questions, with the objective of discovering future tasks, identifying variables, ethical considerations, and defining the hypothesis (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). This step is essential to ensuring that the research team solves the right management dilemma. U.S. based companies outsource with the goal of lowering the cost of production but prior to the research team would develop a lot of research questions....
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...Silvio Napoli at Schindler India Analysis Name University Course Introduction When a company embarks on an international endeavor they are faced with many obstacles and adversities. The corporation’s keys elements are challenged, management tested, strategies examined, and decisions questioned. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Silvio Napoli at Schindler India case study. This analysis will address Silvio Napoli’s actions while establishing an Schindler subsidiary in India. It will discuss the strategy, organizational structure, staffing, and Silvio’s progress. Also, this analysis will examine Schindler VRA’s decision of Mr. Napoli as General Manager and provide future recommendations for Schindler. Lastly, the paper will discuss lessons that may be applied to BG Group’s international endeavors. Analysis Schindler’s Indian Strategy Alfred Schindler, Schindler’s Chairman, recognized the huge market potential in India and decided to embark on establishing an Schindler subsidiary. The VRA appointed Silvio Napoli as General Manager to lead this endeavor. Silvio desired to differentiate Schindler from its competitors. Silvio developed a strategy of a narrow product line to serve low and mid to high markets, S001 and S300P respectively. Also, to gain a price advantage, Mr. Napoli planned to outsource the logistics and manufacturing sectors, with the exception of the safety-related components. This strategic plan had many shortcomings. Schindler was the first...
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... http://wps.prenhall.com/bp_daniels_ib_13/148/37970/9720352.cw/index.html Recommended Media: Segment 15 Video, “Global HRM,” Course Content. Assignment: Individual Paper #2. Case Analysis. (15%) Read: “Silvio Napoli at Schindler India.” You purchase the cases directly from Harvard Business Press. Copy and paste this link directly into your browser: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/access/11520415 Deliverable: Submit an analysis of the operational and managerial challenges Schindler faces in India. Your report should clearly demonstrate your ability to apply, integrate, and cite relevant theories, concepts, frameworks and ideas from course readings into your analysis. Additional research is not required or desired. Use the data and information provided by the case study, course readings and conferences discussion. Format: The report is to be 7-to-8 pages, double-spaced with 1-inch margins, 10-to-12 point type, and posted as rtf or Word document. Use APA format for references. The cover page, references, and appendixes are not part of the page count. The organization of the report is to include: Introduction: A brief, one-to-two paragraph introduction that succinctly states the issues or problems you will discuss in the report. Do not restate the facts presented in the case. Analysis: 1. From the list below, identify and briefly discuss what you consider to be the two major issues and management problems challenging Schindler’s cultural adaptation for its operations...
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...Akron Children's Hospital Executive summary The health care market in the Northeastern Ohio has been experiencing tremendous changes in the last few years. These changes have been more prominent among the health services for seriously ill children. Institutions that have in the past been involved in other health care services have turned to pediatrics. In order to combat this, Akron Children's Hospital has resulted to trying to understand the decision making procedures on institution or physician selection among the parents with seriously sick children. This was in an effort to differentiate itself from the other health care service providers. With the identification of similarities in advertisement approaches within the major contenders for the Industry, more unique differentiation strategies were sought through researches to identify how to best communicate with the customers in a unique way that would give the company a competitive edge over other service providers. Marcus Thomas LLC, the researcher contracted by Akron Children's Hospital, used telephone interviews and focus groups in learning the decision making behaviors. In both research approaches, parents with children between the ages of one month and eighteen years were sampled. The geographical spread of the sample exceeded the Summit County, where the hospital is based. From the survey, it was inferred that the decision makers use their emotions rather than rationality when making decisions on health care provision...
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...responsibility of conducting a research study to estimate the sales potential of your products in the domestic (U.S. or Canadian) market. Discuss key issues and concerns arising from the fact that you, the manager, are also the researcher. Key issues and concerns 1. The key issues and concerns relating to any research project such as to estimate the sales potential in the domestic market, first points to the issue of defining the purpose of the research, the area sales manager or researcher must distinguish between symptoms of organizations problem regarding the manufacturing and marketing of the outboard engines, the manager’s perception of the problem, and the research problem (Cooper, & Schindler, 2011, p. 13). Conner (1997) also posited the importance of building market research plan by starting the process with a clear statement of the decisions one have to make.(Conner, 1997, p. H15) The purpose of the research should be clearly stated followed by the research process detail. 2. Figuring out the research process detail, the researcher or the manager should provide complete research proposal (Cooper, & Schindler, 2011, p. 13). 3. Research design thoroughly planned would require the manager to ensure exploratory procedures outlined with constructs defined. Sample unit clearly described along with sampling methodology. And also data collection procedures selected and designed. (Cooper, & Schindler, 2011, p. 13) 4. For the manager to...
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...a valuable tool for organizations to plan for the future. Question 9.4 – Ethical Problems in Conducting Experiments with Human Subjects After choosing the experimental design, the researcher must then select and assign participants for the study. According to Cooper and Schindler (2014), participants selected for an experiment should be members of the population in which the researcher wishes to make interpretations about. When choosing to conduct experiments with humans as the main subjects, researchers should be aware of various ethical concerns that may arise. When ethical problems are debated in the research design process, most people often think first about defending the rights of the participant. Whether observations are taken from an interview, survey, or an experiment, the participant has many rights that need to be protected during the research process. As discussed in the text, research must be designed in a way that a participant will not suffer any harm or adverse consequences from research activities conducted during the study (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). To take precaution against these concerns, Cooper and Schindler (2014) recommend incorporating these three guidelines into the experiment process: explain study benefits, explain participant rights and protections, and obtain informed consent....
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...research is “a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide managerial decisions” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 4). When making business decisions, it is imperative that the researcher is clear on the terms that are being used. There are different methods that are applied to conduct the research that vary from topic to topic. Many researchers sometimes use the wrong research method to when conducting business research because they do not understand what method and variables to use. This paper will explore two different articles, one using quantitative research methods and one using qualitative research methods, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and how they can be used more effectively when combined. Quantitative research “attempts precise measurement of something”(Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 146) that in business research “methodologies usually measure consumer behavior, knowledge, opinions or attitudes” ” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 146). Article one titled Assessing the Effectiveness of Mental Health Courts: A Quantitative Review is a study where meta-analytic techniques are used to answer the main objective which is “to provide a clearer picture as to whether mental health courts are an empirically efficacious intervention for a significant health and criminological problem” (Sarteschi, Vaughn, & Kim, 2011, para. 1). This article uses meta-analysis, which is a nonintervention research while also using a correlation approach to solving their purpose...
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...accurate and relevant analysis. Data collection can take the form of quantitative and qualitative methods. In a qualitative method, your data is more interpretive. This data is used when trying to discover more of a meaning of specific question rather than the frequency (Cooper, Schindler 2014). This data is generally obtained through interviews, participant observation, or focus groups. On the other hand quantitative data is the precise measurement of a specific behavior or phenomena (Cooper, Schindler 2014). Quantitative data is generally gathered by experiments, standardized testing, surveys, or non-participant observation (Cooper, Schindler 2014). While gathering both types of data, it is important to focus on the type of sampling method you utilize. For example, simple random sampling, or probability sampling, can be used to test a targeted representation of a test population (Cooper, Schindler 2014). There are other sampling methods as well. Stratified random sampling, for instance, is probability sampling that draws from each strata of population. One study I found to demonstrate descriptive statistics used stratified random statistics. In this study, they used stratified random sampling to test accuracy in medical billing (Buddahulsomsiri, Parthanadee 2008). They use two different ways to test accuracy; one is through percent accuracy, and the other is total dollar amount accuracy. The other study I chose was a quantitative study on using telephone sampling...
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...Case Analysis of Schindler By University of Maryland University College AMBA 660 Week 8 August 31, 2012 Introduction The paper will discuss the challenges faced by Silvio Napoli, in carrying out Schindler’s expansion into the Indian elevator market at the request of the VRA, the corporate committee of Schindler which included Alfred Schindler (CEO), Luc Bonnard (Vice Chairman), and Alfred Spoerri (CFO). To begin Silvio Napoli, a young MBA from France, a third-country national, was fully responsible for the Indian expansion, and he had to get operations up and running and profitable in for years. His challenges included staffing and implementing a business plan he developed. Napoli’s plan two basic premises 1) to sell standardized elevators in India, and 2) outsource manufacturing and logistics in India. Napoli’s plan had success earlier in his career in 1995 with the Swatch Project that bested industry standard 20- to 30- week cycles by 50% with this same approach. Other challenges faced by Napoli included pressure in family his family life as a result of poor planning and no employee assistance program to get his family acclimated to Indian culture. That poor work-life balance distracted Napoli to the point where he could focus on neither his work, nor personal life. After 8 months he had not installed one unit and had orders that were contrary to the standardization strategy his entire business plan was based on. Government activities that affected Schindler’s...
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... and strategic. A study of the company’s pension plan compared to other firms in the industry should be in a management report form. Management reports are best when the reader has little time to absorb details and needs prompt exposure to critical findings (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). The order of the management report allows clients to grasp conclusions and recommendations quickly, without much reading, or with efficient use of time in this case (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). It may be helpful to have a technical report available for further information at the president’s request, but a management report should be presented first. It is likely that the President would rely on a Chief Financial Officer to further evaluate the report, or maybe even an actuary if the pension plan analysis involves heavy calculations and projections. A technical report format should be used to describe a marketing experiment for submission to the Journal of Marketing Research. A technical report is “the report that other researchers will want to see because it has the full story of what was done and how it was done” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 506). The audience of a research journal is likely to be very educated and interested in the details of the experiment and how the conclusions were formed. “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance” (Proverbs 1:5, English Standard Version). They may reference your study and apply it to their...
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...Research Methods Unit I and Unit II Assessment Question # (1): How might business research help the new president make the right decisions? Answer: Cooper & Schindler (2008) argues, “Although not all organizations use business research to help make planning decisions, increasingly the successful ones does.” (Cooper & Schindler, 2008) The authors further argue the fact that “The managers of tomorrow will need to know more than any managers in history.” (Cooper & Schindler 2008) This statement along introduce and sheds light into the present situation regarding the problem that the new president of the old established company is facing and he must make the best possible decisions to proceed further so that this company can go back to a profitable status. It is fair to say that all decisions related to business related matters are about problems of some sort, and decision processes are usually different from company to company. An important difficulty in a decision dilemma is failure to act until one is too close to the decision point—when sometimes information and options are greatly limited. Managers and/or organizations usually work or respond in a “reactive” mode. Problems are “found” only after the issue has begun to have a negative impact on the company, such as the case of the problem for the new president. He stated in the question scenario, that he felt the company was operating inefficiently. ...
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...attempts to achieve precise measurement of something; often the responses received are veiled, classified, and condensed to numbers to be manipulated for statistical analysis (Cooper & Schindler, 2011, p. 164). The insights gained from completing this research is limited by the opportunity to probe respondents, and the quality of the original data collection instrument. Additionally, this will follow data collection and data entry, with a small window of opportunity to circle back with survey participants. In contrast, qualitative research is intended to tell the examiner how and why things happen as they do, it also aims to achieve a thorough understanding of a situation. The expected result or insights with this method provide a more profound level of understanding; which is determined by the type and amount of open-ended questions. Using qualitative research allows the researcher to inform insights and test them throughout the study process. Qualitative research is used solely based on the purpose of the research; other reasons include the schedule, budget, issues and or the topics (Cooper & Schindler, 2011, p. 167). Qualitative research is designed to answer questions for the researchers such as how and why things occur. The general designs used for qualitative research are focus groups, interviews, case studies and surveys (Cooper &...
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...Napoli Case Study Schindler Holdings Ltd. is a Swiss-based company that designs and produces elevators and escalators. Silvio Napoli, who is Schindler Holdings’ head of corporate planning manager in Switzerland has been relocated to New Delhi and has been promoted to vice president. Napoli obtained his new position by creating a business plan that strived for “core standardized products,” which meant that the production of elevators in India would be simple and of minimal design. Napoli thought the plan of producing standardized elevators would be a great idea and create a competitive advantage over other companies that made customized elevators. This plan in actual fact turned out to be a failure due to certain factors. Due to high import costs, many foreign elevator companies were forced to manufacture locally. Since Napoli knew about this situation, he decided to do things a different way. To keep costs low, Napoli would have elevator parts outsourced by local suppliers in Europe. However, when Napoli looked over the transfer prices he noticed that they were 30 percent above the costs he had originally calculated. When he contacted the company to complain, it turned out that a new transfer system had been created, so raising costs were necessary. Also, while communicating to one of his leading managers in India, Napoli had discovered that the company had accepted an order for an expensive glass customized elevator, instead of the original standard elevator...
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...Silvio Case Analysis Introduction The Silvio case reads as a classic case of a manager born far earlier than he should have been. The facts that will be analyzed paint a picture of a smart but untested manager that was set out with a noose already around his neck and tightened with little room for escape. The lack of analysis of feasibility of his original plan and a proper risk assessment led to a very difficult situation. Silvio made some key mistakes on his approach to starting up a new business in a country that already had key leaders and a culture he did not understand. This report will analyze some of those mistakes so that a clear picture can be gleaned of what not to do during a start-up in a new market. Analysis From the list below, identify and briefly discuss what you consider to be the two major issues and management problems challenging Schindler’s cultural adaptation for its operations in India. * Strategy, mode of entry The largest of the issues faced is the strategy and mode of entry that Silvio proceeded with to enter an already established market. The Swatch model of low cost standardization works because it is a simple design in a watch. This was implemented by many different production managers in the 90’s with varying levels of success depending on what they were manufacturing. This deviation may work in some situations, but in this case it is a very poor choice. The market was already flooded with low cost versions of elevators and the...
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