...Introduction Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is one of the leading information technology (IT) and professional services companies in the world. The company offers IT and business process outsourcing (BPO); and IT and professional services to clients in the commercial and government markets. It is one of the major federal government contractors serving various departments. CSC also licenses sophisticated software systems for the financial services and other industry-specific markets. The company's significant market position in the IT and professional services industry provides a base for its future growth, and also provides a competitive advantage. However, intense competition may lead to pricing pressures, thereby adversely affecting the operating margins and market share of the company. Best Practices for CSC for conducting market research The following are the five best practices in case of CSC in order to conduct market research- * Practice 1 CSC needs to conduct a primary research in order to understand the customer likings. The research process may be in the form of a questionnaire based survey which can be prepared by experts in the field and in consultation with the thought leaders in the event center industry. The main objectives of the primary research should be to know the demographics of its customer and their frequency in the availing the products/services. Moreover the company should also find out the ways (through this research) of attracting the...
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...develop an exhaustive list of every possible factor that could influence the business. 4) External audits attempt to identify key variables that offer actionable responses. 5) Five major categories of external variables are: 1) economic forces, 2) social and cultural forces, 3) political, governmental and legal forces, 4) technological forces and 5) demographic forces. 6) As many managers and employees as possible should be involved in the process of performing an external audit. 7) To perform an external audit, a company first must gather competitive intelligence and information about social, cultural, demographic, environmental, economic, political, legal, governmental and technological trends. 8) Freund argues that key external factors must not be hierarchical. 9) The I/O approach to competitive advantage advocates that internal factors are more important than external factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage. 10) An economic trend in America is the increasing numbers of two-income households. 11) Economic factors do not have much impact on the attractiveness of strategies. 12) An increase in interest rates is directly related to an increase in discretionary income and an increase in the demand for discretionary goods. 13) Motor vehicle firms in the United States are vulnerable when the value of the dollar falls. 14) A low value of the dollar means lower...
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...fact some of the information was still very relevant. The one thing that stood out in the article to me the most was the very first paragraph Porter (2008) "In essence, the job of the strategist is to understand and cope with competition. Often, however, managers define competition too narrowly, as if it occurred only among today’s direct competitors. Yet competition for profits goes beyond established industry rivals to include four other competitive forces as well: customers, suppliers, potential entrants, and substitute products.” ( para 1). Considering the learning groups assignment is to make software suggestions to already established company. * Collaborative software: groupware * Financial software: accounting and cost analysis * Marketing and sales software: customer relationship management * Business intelligence software I find this all too accurate and truthful. As staying competitive in modern business pertains more and more to the level of IT integration that any company that is trying to remain both competitive and productive. Simply put if your software/IT is not as fast accurate and has the upstanding quality that business needs in the modern business world a company can be quickly left behind. Usually the company that is number 1 in any given industry is number 1 for a reason. They do a good portion of what they do better than the next guy or number 2 and 3 and 4 and so on. Having strong IT systems in place can not only make a company the leader...
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...develop an exhaustive list of every possible factor that could influence the business. 4) External audits attempt to identify key variables that offer actionable responses. 5) Five major categories of external variables are: 1) economic forces, 2) social and cultural forces, 3) political, governmental and legal forces, 4) technological forces and 5) demographic forces. 6) As many managers and employees as possible should be involved in the process of performing an external audit. 7) To perform an external audit, a company first must gather competitive intelligence and information about social, cultural, demographic, environmental, economic, political, legal, governmental and technological trends. 8) Freund argues that key external factors must not be hierarchical. 9) The I/O approach to competitive advantage advocates that internal factors are more important than external factors in a firm achieving competitive advantage. 10) An economic trend in America is the increasing numbers of two-income households. 11) Economic factors do not have much impact on the attractiveness of strategies. 12) An increase in interest rates is directly related to an increase in discretionary income and an increase in the demand for discretionary goods. 13) Motor vehicle firms in the United States are vulnerable when the value of the dollar falls. 14) A low value of the dollar means lower...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Abstract II. Problem Statement III. Evaluation IV. Hypothesis V. Procedure/Design VI. Introduction VII. Definition and Examples a. Case I b. Case II c. Case III VIII. Origin of Competitive Intelligence IX. Why Collect Intelligence? X. What is Ethical? XI. Methods of Intelligence Collection XII. What Resources Are Used to Collect Information XIII. How Companies Utilized Collected Information XIV. Keeping Companies Secrets Secret a. Buildings b. Communication Systems c. Administrative XV. Conclusion I. ABSTRACT Intelligence gathering is considered commonplace in corporate America. Companies struggle to maintain the high ground within a competitive marketplace. One source for maintaining an elevated position is through information gathering on competitors, better known as Competitive Intelligence (CI). Collection of this information can be accomplished through numerous means. History has shown that the collection of CI is not a new practice, only that the methods used to collect the information have evolved over the past century. Intense pressure for turning profits, winning contracts, and avoiding expensive research and development costs drive the methods used in CI collection. With an increase in CI collection, companies are required to protect themselves from inside and outside intruders. II. PROBLEM STATEMENT Corporate America has become oblivious to the information being divulged concerning company trade secrets. ...
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...The Sport of Dancing Courtney Packwood ENG-106/Professor Zafonte March 17, 2013 Dancers should be considered athletes as well as artists. Dancers must use their bodies to express emotions, tell a story, commit to years of physical training, develop stamina, work as a team, take care of their bodies, stretch to prevent injuries, and enter into competitions against other dancers. They deserve to be helped at the athletic office. The dance education majors are not even allowed to ask for an ice pack from the athletic trainers. Members of the Grand Canyon University Dance Team are considered athletes, while the Dance Education majors are not. Both programs involve dance training but yet the school team is the only one of the two that reaps the benefits of being an athlete. The label of dancing being an art or sport has been questioned for decades now but no one has given it a definitive answer. When looking up the definition for athlete, several interpretations are given; overall, the main idea of an athlete being, “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina” according to the Webster dictionary. When comparing this definition to dancers, it is clear that they meet each of those standards. So, why are dancers being denied help from the athletic training office when they demonstrate comparable abilities in physical training, competition, teamwork, and dedication; just as much as any of the athletic teams on...
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...community that meets regularly at Club IT.” The club focuses on all music genres, which includes Hip- Hop, Techno, Electronica, MP3, and live bands. With these genres, the music caters to all people from young adults to older adults and single to married couples. Although the club is striving, Ruben and Lisa want their company analyzed for a more competitive advantage. As their intern, I will take a look at the company’s intranet resources, which is an internal network that only the owner’s and employees’ can access. The current intranet is a good resource of information, but it lack security. The access to the intranet needs to be accessible individually. The owners need to have their own login credentials with access to the information related to all the company’s information and employees’ information. The employees need to have their own login credentials as well, so they can access the necessary information related to their job title and personal information. One way to become more competitive is to take advantage of its information base to help a build a community with the support of IT. Several kinds of competitive information and strategies that Club IT can be gain by providing this service, for...
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...Evaluate a Business Intelligence initiative that has been undertaken within your organization or one potential application of Business Intelligence within your organization? I work in the cruise industry. I never really knew how much Business Intelligence was a science. Granted, I knew we have analysts and copious amounts of data, but I never truly gave it much thought. After studying BI, I have come to realize BI is an essential aspect of my organization’s success. From measuring productivity of different departments (such as revenue, event planning, individual & groups reservations, cruising power, our company website, shipboard management, etc…) to understanding travel partner and guests needs and staying ahead of the competition, we wouldn’t survive without BI metrics and applications. Because I work in the event planning division of my company, I am not familiar with the names or metrics used to evaluate important data, but I do know from experience and part of my job function, reports and data gathered are used to make judgments and decisions about new products and constant improvements for existing services we currently provide. Surveys are completed by our travel partners and guests, and even employees. We compile reports and present them to management electronically. Our research, experience, and use of different applications, along with our IT departments, helps management and executives determine which direction to move forward. Feedback from our travel...
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...premiere gourmet grocery store that offers shoppers the finest baked goods, meats, cheese and dairy, produce items and an assortment of domestic and imported wines. Kudler Fine Foods offers all customers a wonderful shopping experience and the finest quality of foods and wines. Leaving room to expand its current services and opening new locations. The company’s growth span is leading to an increased customer base. Kudler Fine Foods is increasing and looking to drive revenue upward while leaving the current prices as set. Kudler Fine Foods is ready to develop changes to increase their revenue . I will discuss in this paper the important elements needed in Kudler Fine Foods goal towards advancement in marketing and the role of using the competitive intelligence tactics. This could include other ways to successfully achieve goals of growth. Marketing Research “Although marketing research isn’t perfect, it seeks to reduce risk and uncertainty to improve decisions made by marketing managers” (Armstrong, , 2011) . Marketing research can help develop new product ideas and offer a fine tuning in slimming down products and services. Businesses use market research t o help determine who will be interested in purchasing their products and services. Marketing research will reach out to a target group of people based on certain feelings, needs, income and age. Mrs. Kudler conducted surveys to reach out to customer and receive feedback in areas of potential improvements. Pointing them...
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...Competitive Landscape When it comes to this type of argument it is very compelling to understand what needs to be done here. It is very important for a company to be able to understand what their competitive landscape market is and how they are going to use it. Within the Jackson Hewitt Company, they have many different competitors that offer similar to the same type of services they do. So the question here really is how Jackson Hewitt markets themselves and the new service of financial services that makes them more appealing to the customer. Marketing is the key, the whole purpose of why a company has marketing teams. Here are some examples of Jackson Hewitt’s competitive landscape. So let’s start out with the most obvious question, what is competitive landscape. “A competitive landscape (also known as “competitive intelligence”) provides cohesive, detailed information on what your competitors are doing including” (Koch, 2009). So when doing the research on Jackson Hewitt, I had come to a conclusion that they do not offer financial advisory to their customer such as some of their competitors do like H and R Block. So when a company wants to start up a new service, they need to research their competitor s to find out exactly what they are offering and the pricing of those services. A company needs to offer more for less in order to be competitive in a field that is already crowded. “In gathering competitive intelligence and creating your competitive landscape, you will...
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...Competitive Algorithms for VWAP and Limit Order Trading Sham M. Kakade Michael Kearns Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania kakade@linc.cis.upenn.edu mkearns@cis.upenn.edu Yishay Mansour Luis E. Ortiz Computer Science Tel Aviv University Computer and Information Science University of Pennsylvania mansour@post.tau.ac.il leortiz@linc.cis.upenn.edu ABSTRACT We introduce new online models for two important aspects of modern financial markets: Volume Weighted Average Price trading and limit order books. We provide an extensive study of competitive algorithms in these models and relate them to earlier online algorithms for stock trading. Categories and Subject Descriptors F.2 [Analysis of Algorithms and Problem Complexity]: Miscellaneous; J.4 [Social and Behavioral Sciences]: Economics General Terms Algorithms, Economics Keywords Online Trading, Competitive Analysis, VWAP 1. INTRODUCTION While popular images of Wall Street often depict swashbuckling traders boldly making large gambles on just their market intuitions, the vast majority of trading is actually considerably more technical and constrained. The constraints often derive from a complex combination of business, regulatory and institutional issues, and result in certain kinds of “standard” trading strategies or criteria that invite algorithmic analysis. One of the most common...
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...to in regards to weaknesses and strengths to determine if it is moving in the right direction (Internal Organizational Analysis, n.d.). When internal analyses are not completed honestly and accurately it will affect various portions of the business. Generally, the finances are affected. Finances determine the sustainability of many organizations because of the overhead. When credit is maxed out and there are no funds available to pay employees, vendors, or produce then the company could potentially go out of business. Upon researching, surveying, and reviewing cost I would ensure that the information received is valid. I think that S.W.O.T. (Strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) internal analysis could increase a level of competitive advantage. Many organizations tend to...
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...STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC WAR ON ORGANIZATIONS FROM A LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE. Individual Term Paper Table of Contents I. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. II. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. C. 1. 2. III. A. B. Background of the topic ............................................................................................................... 3 What is Economic War and what are its practices? .............................................................. 3 Pre-technological Era ........................................................................................................... 3 Technological Era ................................................................................................................. 3 How Competitive Intelligence translates into companies’ life? ............................................ 6 As a tool of Corporate Strategy ........................................................................................... 6 As a part of the Corporate Culture ..................................................................................... 6 Economic War and Corporate Culture .................................................................................. 7 Organizational Leadership....................................................................................................... 7 Where Economic War becomes a problem: advocating ethical behaviour ..................... 7 Where Economic War benefits: crisis leadership ................
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...| MEMORANDUM OF ADMISSION (HALL TICKET) FOR THE COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION TO THE POSTS INCLUDED IN GROUP-IV SERVICE AND GROUP-VIII SERVICES | Register No.: 20126230 Name of the Candidate: MANIKANDAN Father’s Name: THAVADAIYAN Address: NO.29 PANDIAN NAGAR, ALLINAGARAM, PINCODE - 625531 | Subject Opted : 1. GK with GE (002) FN Schedule of Examination: SATURDAY 07th July, 2012 *FN - 10.00 AM to 01.00 PM *AN - 02.30 PM to 05.30 PM Under Secretary | | Centre Name: Theni Venue of Examination: Santhiniketan Mat. Hr. Sec. School, Muthuthevanpatti,Theni | | Scanned sign. of the applicantApplication. No.: 11038900 | | Read the instructions carefully | 1. | The candidates should read the Commission’s Instructions to candidates appearing for objective type examination which is available in the Commission’s Website.viz. www.tnpsc.gov.in | 2. | The candidate should bring this Memorandum of Admission (Hall Ticket) to the Examination Hall. He/She should shade and write Register Number, Subject Code, Question paper booklet series in the OMR Answer Sheet. | 3. | The candidate is admitted to the written examination provisionally based on the information furnished by him/her in the online application. If at any stage, the information furnished by him/her is found to be incorrect and does not confirm to the provisions announced in the Commission’s Notification for this post, Instructions to the candidates, and other Rules this regard, his/her application will be rejected...
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...Kudler Fine Foods After searching for opportunities for a different lifestyle, Kathy Kudler had a vision of opening her own gourmet food department. On June 18, 1998, Kathy Kudler’s first store front of Kudler fine foods opened their doors, in La Jolla, California (Kudler Fine Foods.) Within two years later she open an additional establishment in Del Mar, California, which is within 30 minute distance from the La Jolla Store. Five years later she open a third store located in Encinitas, California. Kudler fine foods’ businesses have been doing great with the exception of one of the stores making enough money to break even. Kathy wanted her store to sell the finer items of the international cultures. Kudler Fine Foods consist of freshly bake breads, the finer meats, freshly organic produce, gourmet cheese, and superior selection of wine. Importance of Marketing Research Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale food supplier that will attract customers who are of a median to upper income. Marketing research is of importance when dealing with this any organization, especially when the products exceed the average price the same items. Kathy would need to know the target market of her customers. The target market consists of the characteristics and dimensions of their present and potential clients. Kathy needs to be aware of the average income of individuals in the area of the store, their lifestyle, population, sex, marital status, and the commute from Kudler fine foods to their home...
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