...General Electric General Electric (GE), the producer of countless consumer goods in the 1980’s had been boycotted by INFACT (Infant Formula Action Coalition). The boycott against General Electric came upon the company when the company became involved with the military. For the boycott, INFACT wants to put pressure on GE for the involvement of the production of missiles, weapons, and military supplies. Though in the 1990’s a documentary Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons, and Our Environment (General Electric, 2010, para.2) had won an Academy Award, though this did help to stop most of the boycotts. Throughout the 1990’s, GE was still being charged with dumping waste materials into the Hudson River in New York. “According to a 2002 study, GE is a “repeat offender” in misconduct among the government’s top contractors.” (General Electric, 2010, para.3). The charges that are against GE are environmental harm, fraud, employment discrimination, and poor safety conditions. Though GE feels the charges and the media has damaged the company. For this reason and many others, customers or ethical buyers will not shop through GE, boycotting is what he or she will continue to do. General Electric is ranked over the years as a well admired company though. According to Ethical Corporation, “Two years after launching Ecomagination – which the company describes as “an aggressive, long-term initiative to bring new technologies to market that help meet the world’s...
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...Sigma Significance of Six Sigma By Suhasini Pratapagiri Stratford University INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS SIX SIGMA? Six Sigma is a highly disciplined process that helps a company focus on developing and delivering near perfect products and services. Six Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving toward six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process – from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC and DMADV. The Six Sigma DMAIC process (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an improvement system for existing processes falling below specification and looking for incremental improvement. The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an improvement system used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. It can also be employed if a current process requires more than just incremental improvement. Both Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts, and are overseen...
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...Good Projects Fail Anyway by Nadim F. Matta and Ronald N. Ashkenas Product 4864 Collection Overview COPYRIGHT © 2003 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Has your company’s project management run amok? Are more than half your biggest projects failing outright? And are other large initiatives running months behind schedule, stuck in seemingly permanent logjams? Are you particularly frustrated by projects whose myriad tasks were executed flawlessly—but still don’t deliver the expected results? Worse, do you suspect that projects consuming the most resources have the least connection to your company’s strategy? Such chaos describes many companies— but that’s little comfort. The key is to understand the myopia causing these disasters. Most companies deal with projects individually—pushing each through the pipeline as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. But this approach doesn’t help you make vital big-picture decisions: “What mix of projects would be best for our organization?”“How do we allocate scarce resources to the most strategically important projects?”“How can we roll out large initiatives more confidently?” The Articles 3 Article Summary 4 Creating Project Plans to Focus Product Development by Steven C. Wheelwright and Kim B. Clark Begin ascending to 30,000 feet by creating an aggregate project plan—an analysis of...
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...Six Sigma Brief History of Six Sigma The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard can be traced back to Carl Frederick Gauss (1777-1855) who introduced the concept of the normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920′s when Walter Shewhart showed that three sigma from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. Many measurement standards (Cpk, Zero Defects, etc.) later came on the scene but credit for coining the term “Six Sigma” goes to a Motorola engineer named Bill Smith (“Six Sigma” is a federally registered trademark of Motorola). The evolution of six sigma began in the late 1970s, when a Japanese firm took over a Motorola factory that manufactured television sets in the United States and the Japanese promptly set about making drastic changes to the way the factory operated. Motorola recognized that its quality was poor and management decided to take quality seriously. When Bob Galvin became Motorola's CEO in 1981, he challenged his company to achieve a tenfold improvement in performance over a five-year period. On January 15, 1987, Galvin launched a long term quality program, called “The Six Sigma Quality Program”. The program was a corporate program which established Six Sigma as the required capability level to approach the standard of 3.4 Defects per Million Opportunities (DPMO). The Corporate Policy Committee of Motorola then updated their quality goal as follows: “Improve product and...
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...Utilities Industry: ATCO Power in South Africa BU606 – Economics Group 7 Amanda Downey - 125824690 Ahmed Youssef - 135819900 Alex Zorzitto - 135823380 Tom Vandemoortele - 135824330 Wafik Moussa - 135808970 Word Count = 2,832 (including titles and citations) Contents 1.0 Executive Summary 3 2.0 Electrical Power Utilities Industry in South Africa 4 2.1 Why South Africa? 4 2.2 Environmental Analysis 4 2.2.1 Social Economic and Political Considerations 4 2.2.2 Macroeconomic Trends 5 2.2.3 Aspects of International Trade/Investment 5 2.2.4 Competition Analysis 6 2.2.5 Market Structure and Firm Entry 6 3.0 Opportunity, Issues and Recommended Strategy 7 3.1 Opportunity Description 7 3.2 ATCO Power Current Strategy: Strengths and Weaknesses 7 3.3 Risk Factors in South African Market 8 3.4 Financial Analysis 8 3.5 Recommended Strategy and Entry Mode 9 4.0 Implementation Plan 9 4.1 Immediate Action Plan: 6 Month 9 4.2 Short Term: 1 Year 10 4.3 Long Term 10 4.4 Contingency Plan 10 5.0 References 11 6.0 Exhibits 13 1.0 Executive Summary ATCO Power is yearning to achieve its global expansion goal and establish itself as an industry leading, reliable and environmentally responsible provider of cost-effective solutions for customers and partners worldwide. In search for an investment opportunity in the underserved market in Africa potential target countries were identified based on electricity demand growth trends, production...
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...streamline and standardize the establishment and maintenance of costing and planning for all business activities within the current financial management process. The Six Sigma implementation resulted in a significant reduction in the average cycle time and cost, per unit of activity, needed to produce the required financial reports. Key Words: Six Sigma, Process Management, Quality Management, Finance Application of Six-Sigma, Page 1 Journal of Case Research in Business and Economics INTRODUCTION In 1987, Motorola developed and organized the Six Sigma process improvement Methodology to achieve “world-class” performance, quality, and total customer satisfaction. Since that time, at least 25% of the Fortune 200, including Motorola, General Electric, Ford, Boeing, Allied Signal, Toyota, Honeywell, Kodak, Raytheon, and Bank of America, to name a few, have implemented a Six Sigma program (Antony et al. 2008, Hammer, 2002). These companies claim that Six Sigma has significantly improved their profitability (Hammer, 2002). For example, in 1998 GE claimed benefits of $1.2 billion and costs of $450 million, for a...
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...information technology. As the technology bubble burst in 2000 many executives were asking “Where is the return on investment?” When capital to invest is scarce new e-business and information technology (IT) projects must show a good return on investment (ROI) in order to be funded. This chapter will give the reader the key concepts necessary to understand and calculate ROI for e-business and IT projects. In addition, the limitations of calculating ROI, best practices for incorporating uncertainty and risk into ROI analysis, and the role ROI plays in synchronizing IT investments with corporate strategy will be discussed. What is ROI? One conceptual definition is that ROI is a project’s net output (cost savings and/or new revenue that results from a project less the total project costs), divided by the project’s total inputs (total costs), and expressed as a percentage. The inputs are all of the project costs such as hardware, software, programmers’ time, external consultants, and...
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...Contents 1: Understand the background to organizational strategic change ............................................................. 1 1.1: Discuss models of strategic change ................................................................................................... 1 Kurt Lewin’s 3 phases Change Theory .................................................................................................. 1 McKinsey 7-S Model.............................................................................................................................. 2 Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model .............................................................................................................. 3 1.2: evaluate the relevance of models of strategic change to Philips in the current economy ............... 6 1.3: assess the value of using strategic intervention techniques in organizations................................... 7 2: Understand issues relating to strategic change in an organization .......................................................... 8 2.1: Examine the need for strategic change in Philips. ............................................................................. 8 2.2: Assess the factors that are driving the need for strategic change in an organization. ..................... 9 2.3: Assess the resource implications of the organization not responding to strategic change .............. 9 3: Be able to lead stakeholders in developing a strategy for change...
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...INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW: Today India is on a threshold of massive development, thanks to the various initiatives taken by the Govt. of India over the last 10 years or as we call it the Dawn of the era of liberalization. The economics policies have been liberalized time and again to accelerate the process of industrial growth. The government is making constant efforts to encourage the entrepreneurs by providing the climate conducive for development and growth. as a result of which various projects are coming up and due to which various applications are being received by state and national financial institutions for financial assistance. Project finance is thus becoming a field of specialization in itself. There is an ever increasing thrust on the capital formation and this capital formation is done in any economy through massive infrastructure projects like setting up a new industry , launching of the green field projects to name a few. Apart form this the Govt. of India has identified certain core factors through which it can make a quantum leap in the area of foreign exports namely the IT sector and the Pharma sector. And due to the competitive advantage that India has because of its labour force, which ids highly skilled and at the same time available very cheap, the Pharma Industry in India is set for growth. But at the same time Pharma industry is a different type of industry altogether and it has own set technical requirement and also its own capital...
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...Around The Corner A. Project Scope Statement We aim to provide consumers in the Buckhead area with a healthy, delicious and convenient breakfast meal. We will give people the ability to eat their breakfast foods. This project will span over one year. This one-year will include planning, assessing, gathering materials, execution, control and evaluation, and finally, modification. Our coffee shop Around the Corner already has a standing presence in Buckhead as a popular go-to spot for customers to get satisfy their caffeine cravings and socialize. We want to integrate a breakfast menu into already established coffee shop to attract more customers and expand our business. B. Time, Cost, Performance Trade-off Assessment 1. Cost Estimates Direct costs: Materials, Labor & Equipment a) Increased store hours (morning hours) = additional labor Payroll: Two Shifts: 7-3 & 3-11. Total 8 employees: 4 cooks @ $12.00/hr. and 4 waitresses @ $9.00/hr. = $3360/week b) Cost of new kitchen equipment: 1) Griddle- $700 2) Toaster Ovens: $500 3) Bread Steamer: $800 4) Cook Top: $800 5) Cold Well: $2000 6) Panini Grill: $300 7) Waffle Maker: $500 8) Small wares: $700 c) Weekly Breakfast Food Costs: $2,100 Indirect Costs: Advertising, Cleaning supplies, Utilities, Office equipment a) Advertising expense to promote breakfast - (Paper menu’s, weekly ads in local...
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...Intro Exxon Mobil is one of the most successful businesses in the history of the United States. Though it did not start as Exxon, but evolved through splitting and joining of oil companies, it has always been a strong competitor in the field of oil sales. Exxon is now one of the top companies in the world, and has its eye on growth. According to Fortune 500 Exxon is the second largest company in the world, and though it is not the number one largest, it is the most profitable. In 2011 Exxon’s profits topped $30 billion, a whopping 58% jump. Background In 1870 a man named John D. Rockefeller founded a company called Standard Oil Company and by 1878 it controlled 95% of the US refining capacity. By 1911 the Supreme Court of the United States[->0] ruled that Standard Oil must be dissolved and split into 34 different companies. Two of these companies were Jersey Standard[->1], which eventually became Exxon, and Socony[->2] which eventually became Mobil. [5] Both companies grew significantly over the next few decades. In 1931, Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Co.[->3], an industry pioneer dating back to 1866. In 1966, Socony-Vacuum changed its name to ‘Mobil Oil Corporation’. A decade later, the newly incorporated Mobil Corporation absorbed Mobil Oil as a wholly owned subsidiary[->4]. Jersey Standard, led by Walter C. Teagle[->5], became the largest oil producer in the world. Jersey Standard changed its name to Exxon Corporation in 1972 and established Exxon as a trademark throughout...
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...Capital budgeting Making decisions having significant future benefits or costs for various entities and their stakeholders. Capital budgeting is the backbone of financial economics. Related topics in financial economics include: the time value of money, the meaning of net-present value, accounting concepts consistent with present-value calculations, discount rates, and option valuation techniques. In the public sector, the term is often exclusively associated with infrastructure investments -- plant and equipment. It is more properly associated with all policy choices that have significant, long-term consequences: especially decisions about missions, programs, products, processes, or procedures. There are standard solutions to several kinds of capital-budgeting problems: make or buy decisions, investment in working capital (especially inventories) decisions, maintenance-level decisions, project selection, the choice of mutually exclusive investments, and investments in plant with fluctuating rates of production. However, the same basic calculus of benefits and costs is supposed to guide all classes policy choices with long-term consequences. Financial Theory Financial theory teaches that, in the presence of a capital market where funds can be obtained at a price, welfare will be maximized by the implementation of all policy choices that generate positive net-present values. This means, in part, that the timing of benefits and costs is generally of no...
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...Edition, by Jeffrey K. Pinto. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. 000200010270649984 PROJECT PROFILE Project Selection Procedures: A Cross-Industry Sampler INTRODUCTION 3.1 PROJECT SELECTION 3.2 APPROACHES TO PROJECT SCREENING AND SELECTION Method One: Checklist Model Method Two: Simplified Scoring Models Limitations of Scoring Models Method Three: The Analytical Hierarchy Process Method Four: Profile Models 3.3 FINANCIAL MODELS Payback Period Net Present Value Discounted Payback Internal Rate of Return Options Models Choosing a Project Selection Approach PROJECT PROFILE Project Selection and Screening at GE: The Tollgate Process 3.4 PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT Objectives and Initiatives Developing a Proactive Portfolio Keys to Successful Project Portfolio Management Problems in Implementing Portfolio Management Summary Key Terms Solved Problems Discussion Questions Problems Case Study 3.1 Keflavik Paper Company Project Profile Case Study 3.2 Project Selection at Nova Western, Inc. Internet Exercises Notes Chapter Objectives After completing this chapter you should be able to: 1. Explain six criteria for a useful project-selection/screening model. 2. Understand how to employ checklists and simple scoring models to select projects. 3. Use more sophisticated scoring models, such as the Analytical Hierarchy Process. 4. Learn how to use financial concepts, such as the efficient frontier and risk/return...
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...COST AND VALUE MANAGEMENT IN PROJECTS Ray R. Venkataraman and Jeffrey K. Pinto John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created...
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...JANUARY 2008 ISSUE SUMMARY SAVE SHARE COMMENT TEXT SIZE PRINT 8.95 BUY COPIES VIEW MORE FROM THE January 2008 Issue EXPLORE THE ARCHIVE RECOMMENDED Discovering Your Authentic Leadership (HBR Bestseller) LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE HBR ARTICLE William W. George, Peter Sims, Andrew N. McLean, David Mayer, Diana Mayer 8.95 ADD TO CART SAVE SHARE HBR Tools: Better Meetings ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRESS TOOLKIT 29.95 ADD TO CART SAVE SHARE First, Let's Fire All the Managers LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE HBR ARTICLE Gary Hamel 8.95 ADD TO CART SAVE SHARE For the past half century, there has been consensus about the kinds of places effective business leaders are formed: companies like General Electric and Procter & Gamble, high-powered consulting firms like McKinsey, elite business schools like Harvard and Wharton, the military. But it’s a different world now. Markets and workforces are increasingly global and diverse. Change is so rapid that one leader can’t hope to keep abreast of all developments, much less be responsible for the innovation needed to keep ahead of them. Decision making is broadly distributed across an organization, and collaboration is required with numerous parties outside it. So it’s worth reexamining our image of the ideal business leader and how and where a person will acquire the attributes needed to become one. We may find that it’s through experiences unfamiliar to many of us and in places far from...
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