...Ben & Jerry's Homemade ice cream Inc. Tutor’s Introduction This case study comes from the second edition of Business Strategy: an introduction published in 2001. It is very readable and interesting, providing students with insights into how two entrepreneurs who set up an ice cream shop in a renovated petrol station became the names behind one of the most well-known ice cream brands around the globe. Students will find out how Ben and Jerry tackled the almighty (at the time) Pillsbury and Häagen-Dazs, how they developed a brand to distinguish them from competitors which included a focus on people and giving back to society, and how they successfully used PR to come up trumps in the ‘ice cream war’. At the end of the case study you will find a series of questions for students to get them thinking critically about Ben & Jerry’s strategy from its humble beginnings to where it is now. The case also provides the opportunity for students to conduct research into the current state of play. They could find out how Ben & Jerry’s have further developed their brand and product offerings (they now have ice cream counters in cinemas, they offer a full selection of Fair Trade ice creams, etc.) and what competition they now face, if any. Students will find it helpful to read chapter 20 on social responsibililty and business ethics. They could also use this longer case study as a springboard for their work on the Strategic Planning Software (SPS), to which they have free access with...
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...Jenifer Sparke WOST W210-08 DRAFT WITH OUTLINE Working Women As children we are brought up to have the future in mind. What we will have as fully functioning, working adults in society, what we will do as those working adults, and who we will have next to us on our journey. Children of both genders say firefighters, policemen, doctors, actors, astronauts, president, jobs that are glorified to be fun, exciting, difficult, and high paying. As children grow they start to realize that there are walls blocking them from their younger dreams. Boys are told they can do anything they set their mind to, girls are too but they are also told they must be married, have a family, and make a home among many other things that are considered womanly. This is where young girls meet the first glass ceiling when fathers, mothers, peers, and schools tell them their place is in the home and not in the workforce. A glass ceiling is defined in Merriam-Webster as “an unfair system or set of attitudes that prevents some people (such as women or people of a certain race) from getting the most powerful jobs.” The first glass ceiling women break through is the cultural norms ceiling. This ceiling says that a woman’s work is in the home and supporting a family. When women were needed in the workforce in the early 1940s this ceiling was shattered. Women took factory jobs, they were wielding and making supplies for the war, they were truck drivers, served as radio operators, each military branch started...
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...Introduction 1.1 Problem definition Any discussion of higher Education in different countries needs to be conducted within the context of the overall perception of a country’s culture, society, history, salary and intellect. These influences are the foundation of the education in a country. Due to these different influences every country has a different understanding of education. I will also concentrate on the influence of culture on education in China and in the United States (U.S.) with special emphasis on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, because culture and history can lead the way in understanding the differences among student’s higher education. 1.2 Objectives The paper investigates the differences between the education in China and the U.S. against the background of dramatical differences in culture and history. First the country-specific Cultural Dimensions by Hofstede need to be elaborated to reveal a basic approach for the understanding of a nation’s culture. Based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and the history the effect on education and instructional strategies in China and the U.S. will be discussed. 1.3 Course of the Investigation To achieve the objectives the course of the investigation will be carried out in three steps. In the first step the conceptual background on the topic will be defined to provide a basis. Chapter 2 describes the theory and the five Dimensions of Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences. In the second step the explanations focus...
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...“Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya Literary Analysis Throughout the context of “Bless Me Ultima,” it is evident that there are many motifs and examples of dichotomy. I believe that Anaya uses the previously mentioned elements of literature in order to provoke his readers’ thinking and help embody a struggle of understanding the world we live in. Motifs in this novel include: family, dreams, religion, education, and the list continues. For examples of dichotomy, the idea of good versus evil is the most vivid in this novel. An important motif in “Bless Me, Ultima” are Antonio’s dreams. His dreams foreshadow major events and make him question his beliefs, especially revolving around religion. The dream that Antonio had subsequently following his witnessing of Tenorio killing Narciso, best shows why Anaya corporates them in his novel. In this dream Antonio’s guilt and young principles take over. Evil, revenge, and sin lead the end of the world as Antonio views it. At the bottom of page 176 it reads, “A new sun to shine its good light upon a new earth.” (Anaya, Page #176). Based on this text and knowledge from reading the book, we can conclude that after the earth has been destroyed and the golden carp swallows all that is good and evil, a new world is produced. Dichotomy is defined as the contrast between two things that are represented as being opposed or entirely different. What is more contradictory than good and evil? Although these terminologies are very different...
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...the email spread like a tidal wave throughout the company and hit the press, causing the media to ask for comments. Employee morale was down. While women and minority employees were emotionally hurt, it also caused fear and worry among white male employees since they might be accused of starting the email and strong action might even be taken against them for simply agreeing with the sentiments. John Henderson, the CEO, then ordered Jeff Rice, Vice President of Corporate Human Resources to deal with the issues, find out what the issues were in 60 days and later determined what to do next. At the same time, John would write an open letter to all employees to assure them that the company would not tolerate such behavior and would have those responsible duly...
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...WorldCom Characters: 1. Val- Scott Sullivan (CFO) 2. Mila- Cynthia Cooper (Internal auditor) 3. Leslie- Employee 1 4. Kylie- Employee 2 (a junior auditor working with Cynthia Cooper) 5. Donna- Arthur Andersen 6. Brynner- David Myers (Controller) 7. Patrick- Bernard Ebbers (ex-CEO) 8. Ivy- The Government (SEC) 9. Ruby- Employee 3 Scene 1: INTERROGATION Setting: Interrogation room Individual frames on each interviewee (Scott, Cynthia, The Employees, Andersen, David Myers, Bernard Ebbers) Frame 1 (Interrogation of David Myers) Ivy: What was your involvement in the WorldCom accounting fraud? David Myers only smirks confidently. Ivy: Mr. David Myers, let’s not play games here. You were controller for WorldCom. We know what you did. So, why don’t you just get this over and done with? How did you commit the fraud? He only smirks even more. Quite devilishly. Bryner: Did we, now? He looks straight into the “camera”. Bryner: Did we actually commit fraud? He smirks again and sits back confidently into his chair. Frame 2 (Interrogation of Employee, Miss Tubaga) Ivy: Miss Tubaga, you worked as accounts officer for WorldCom’s network services. I’m sure you yourself wondered about their accounting practices. You are, in fact, a certified public accountant. Miss Tubaga is only looking at her knuckles, a habit she has attained when she’s nervous. Ivy: Miss Tubaga—Leslie—you can talk to me. We’ll make this easy for you, make you a valuable...
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...Overindulging in expense account dinners 3. Avoiding risky projects because they are worried about the security of their jobs 4. Manipulating accounting earnings to increase their compensation Reducing Agency Problems The goal is to align the interests of managers and shareholders. This can be accomplished through: • Compensation plans tied to the performance of the firm (assuming of course that the reporting of the numbers is not fraudulent!). It is best is performance is measured by stock value or other cash flow measure. • The Board of Directors oversees management and can fire them -problems with the board of directors lack of independence arises here. Oftentimes the Board and top management are part of (as they call it) “the old-boy network”. They are related, or play golf together, their families know each other, they socialize together, and most likely they all make money off of each other through various business ventures. This lack of independence inhibits the Board’s monitoring power, or willingness to report/question questionable practices. 2. Goal of financial manager and problems w/ alternative goals such as profit maximization Goal- to maximize the wealth of the owners, the stockholders. The financial manger is a caretaker of the stockholder’s money. 3. Forms...
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...which are set as an moral value to us by our parents or guardians in the family. It can heavily be influenced from any major incident in our life. Personal ethics refers to the ethics that a person identifies with in respect to people and situations that they deal with in everyday life. Professional ethics defines adherence to rules and regulation. The individual is expected to follow religiously, the code of ethics framed by the organization .It can be heavily influenced by the culture of the organization but it cannot change as frequently as the personal ethics. Professional ethics refers to the ethics that a person must adhere to in respect of their interactions and business dealings in their professional life. PERSONAL ETHICS VERSUS PROFESSIONAL ETHICS A person's ethical code determines their views on right and wrong, and influences how they interact with other people. 1.Influences • Personal ethics depend largely on a person's background and life relationships and concern. They are also influenced by the experiences you had growing up with dilemmas such as lying, cheating or even violence. Personal ethics may change as you learn and experience more, they often retain much of this early influence. Professional ethics are based heavily on the requirements or principles of your profession. 2.Responsibilities • With personal ethics, your responsibilities may be limited mainly to those people closest to you, such as your family, friends...
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...to describe the invisible barriers that often confront women and minorities when trying to move into the top positions at all levels of employment in business and government because of their sex or race. It’s also important to understand that the “glass ceiling” today has a different meaning than when it was first introduced. The term “Glass Ceiling” originally only referred to women, based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed sexual discrimination in the workplace. It was an article by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt in the March 24, 1986 edition of the Wall Street Journal that brought new meaning to the term. This was the first time that “Glass Ceiling” was used to determine the recognition of the gender bias in Corporate America. By 1991, the US had created a Federal Glass Ceiling Commission with the Secretary of Labor as its chair. The US Department of Labor understood the concept to mean “those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organizations into management level positions”; these barriers reflect “discrimination... a deep line of demarcation between those who prosper and those who are left behind.” There is a false sense of social progress and ethnic harmony that suggests that there is no problem, that discrimination is a thing of the past, even suggests that affirmative action is no longer needed, but there is factual evidence that suggests that...
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...Chapter 03 - Markets, Organizations, And The Role Of Knowledge CHAPTER 3 MARKETS, ORGANIZATIONS, AND THE ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter answers three primary questions: How do market systems work? What are the relative advantages of market systems compared to central planning in large economies? Why do we observe so much economic activity conducted within firms in market economies? In addition to covering the basic principles of exchange and supply-and-demand analysis, the chapter introduces two concepts that are critical to the subsequent development in the book: specific knowledge and contracting costs. The chapter also makes the important point that individuals have incentives to choose value-maximizing organizational arrangements. An appendix presents the basics of present value analysis and the valuation of common stock. It also discusses the concept of stock market efficiency. This appendix provides useful background material (for example, when instructors want to discuss the stock market reactions to events). CHAPTER OUTLINE GOALS OF ECONOMIC SYSTEMS PROPERTY RIGHTS AND EXCHANGE IN A MARKET ECONOMY Dimensions of Property Rights Managerial Application: Patent for Priceline.com Managerial Application: Property Rights Insecurity in Columbia Gains from Trade Managerial Application: While Animosity between the Governments of Venezuela and the U. S. Grow, So Does Trade Managerial Application: Strategic Business Planning—Ignoring Economics of Trade Academic...
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...$100,000-plus diagnostic scanner from six weeks to one. Siemens Medical is now Siemens’s most profitable business. And that cocky young boss? This month Klein- feld, now 47, becomes chief executive of Munich- based Siemens, a $100 billion behemoth that oper- ates in 190 countries and makes subways, light bulbs, power plants, auto parts, automatic mail-sorting equipment, and more. With 430,000 employees and 12 major divisions, Siemens is the rock of Germany Inc., which still needs to learn how to survive and thrive in a world where heavily taxed, slow-moving European companies operate at a disadvantage. If Siemens can reach new levels of profitability, maybe the rest of Corporate Germany has a chance, too. Siemens Chief Executive Heinrich von Pierer and the company’s supervisory board, which includes such corporate luminaries as Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann and former Allianz Group CEO Henning Schulte-Noelle, skipped over more sea- soned top managers to choose the ferociously ener- getic Kleinfeld. He’s a prime example of a new breed of German manager, fluent in English and comfort- able in settings from Tokyo to Toledo. “This genera- tion has grown up in a much stronger international environment than the earlier one,”...
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...J ournal of Intercultural Management Vol. 2, No. 2, November 2010, pp. 16–25 Sylwester Marek Kania Uniwersytet Gdański The Role of Cultural Differences in Forming a Business Strategy 1. Introduction International business covers all transactions undertaken between enterprises from two or more countries. In order to finalise a transaction companies have to form international operational structures distinct from those applied in their domestic market. Besides knowledge of international strategies managers need to comprehend the interdependence between the strategies and their financial results. Differences between an international and a domestic business concern commercial practices, the scope of managerial decisions, disparities in legal systems, as well as restraints put in place by governments, limitations connected w ith different currencies, not to mention cultural differences. Different business cultures in different countries lead to distinct commercial practices. Therefore, executives operating internationally encounter difficulties that people managing enterprises on a local scale do not have to face. Cultural differences are of fundamental importance for running an international business . The aim of this essay is to indicate the impact of cultural differences on the business strategy formulated for various countries and to show the significance of knowledge about the culture, behaviours, customs and traditions of the partner country in international...
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...eate Value for People II. The Human Side of Business 7. Motivating and Managing People and Groups in Business Organizations © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2007 234 Chapter Seven SATISFIED CUSTOMERS. Unlike the other moving companies she had seen, Sheets decided that Two Men would put a premium on customer service. “Moving had a cruddy reputation,” she says. “I made sure everything was spotless. And we went out of our way for the customers.” Sheets put her movers in uniforms and gave them business cards, charged by the hour instead of weight, and paid for any damage to be fixed. The company’s mission statement remains: “Treat everyone the way you would want your Grandma treated.” From the start, Sheets handed out postage-paid reply cards, with just five questions, to her cus- tomers. Last year, the company received 66,000 responses. Sheets says that only 1% of the comments are negative—and she uses them as an opportunity. “We want to get it right with our customers,” she says. “Sometimes we send them flowers or a gift if something went wrong.” As a result, Two Men gets about 95% of its business from word-of-mouth refer- rals, eliminating the need for much advertising. With no formal business background, Sheets says she has relied mostly on her own instincts and expe- rience. She credits her time volunteering at a hospital crisis intervention center with helping her to handle customers over the phone. “It taught me empathy and how to listen,” she says. STICK MEN U. When it came...
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...Synopsis of Tort Cases Team C will analyze the synopsis of four scenarios. The team will identify tort actions, potential plaintiffs, potential defendants, and which elements of the tort claim constitutes the plaintiffs claim. Team C will also identify any defenses the defendant may use in each scenario. Each synopsis is evaluated on how the claim will be resolved with team C stating legal reasons for the resolution. Football Game Scenario A potential lawsuit is torts of past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and mental distress from the plaintiff quarterback whose arm was broken. The defendant in this case is the opposing player. The defense here will be there was no breach of duty or evidence of intentional assault. This case may be dismissed because football contracts will state the possibility of various injuries for football players. Malik a plaintiff against the stadium was injured when the railing could not support his weight. Daniel is a potential defendant for pushing Malik resulting in assault and battery. The defense in this situation is the random act of getting pushed made the railing support more wait than it normally bears. This case could result in damages paid to Malik by the stadium and by Daniel. Ruben, a minor, had beer unintentionally poured on him is a plaintiff against Malik for mental distress. Ruben may also seek damages for future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and mental distress against the concession...
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...The Benefits of Online Education Why take online classes? This question is usually faced by many students nowadays planning to take up college courses. Especially in the military community where many students are working full time. In today’s modern world the demand for online education is astounding. More people opt out for online education because of their busy schedules or because it is difficult for them to travel to and from the university. Other people prefer online education because they can do it on their own pace. Many online universities also offers accelerated courses for the student’s convenience. However, online courses can also a dangerous path for students who does not possess enough discipline or the right study habits. Due to lack of supervision and at many times the procrastination, which I myself have experienced, it can lead to incomplete or withdrawal from the course. Online courses may not be as popular as the traditional education but it can give students many benefits that a traditional college cannot give. History of Online Education I cannot tell you the History of Online Education without mentioning distance education, which started the concept of Online Education in the first place. You may have heard many different versions as to where distance learning started, just like any other inventions. But believe it or not, the very first distance learning schools were founded way back before the 1900’s. Of course, there was no internet back on those days...
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